Britain today: Police defend action in phone-hacking row

THE Metropolitan Police today defended its handling of phone-hacking allegations against the News of the World after former home secretary Alan Johnson suggested an independent investigation.

He said his Conservative successor Theresa May may have to consider calling in the Inspectorate of Constabulary.

No charges for cricketers

THE three Pakistan cricketers at the centre of match-fixing allegations have been released without charge after being questioned under caution by police.

Test captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer were interviewed separately by detectives yesterday.

Online supermarkets fail to stop teen booze sales

NOT enough is being done to stop teenagers buying alcohol through supermarket online delivery services, according to a report.

A study has found that supermarkets are not as stringent about asking for ID when delivering alcohol to people's homes as they are at the checkout, a study found.

Test purchases on retailers' online operations this year found that the percentage of those failing was "significantly higher" than the 22 per cent in stores.

Gap years have rocketed

THE number of Britons taking gap year trips and other long breaks has increased 14-fold since the 1970s.

In the ten-year period 1970-79k, research found that gap year-stye breaks were enjoyed by only around 270,000 people.

The study found that this number rose to around 710,000 in the 1980s before soaring to four million in the period 2000-10.

Kennedy leaving Radio 2

PRESENTER Sarah Kennedy is to leave BBC Radio 2 after more than 17 years in the early morning slot.

Kennedy, 60, said it was "time for a change" and will not return to the station.

Her slot will be covered by Lynn Parsons for the next four weeks.

Blackpool: Robbie Williams relived his childhood when he switched on the world famous Blackpool illuminations. Williams told the crowd last night that Blackpool was a familiar destination for his family when he was growing up.

Cheshire: Two police officers have been suspended from driving duties after they stopped a suspected drink-driver and then wrote off his sports car by crashing through a garden wall. Both officers, who are under investigation, were found inside the high-powered Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, which had been stopped in Hale, Cheshire.