Gaming industry fails to tackle addiction

Ministers will tell the gaming industry today that it is not doing enough to tackle problem gambling as the Manchester supercasino is finally killed off. Sixteen smaller casinos will be allowed.

Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary, will voice his shock at the failure of the industry to do more on problem gambling. The industry was asked to contribute to a £4 million trust fund to pay for research into preventing problem gambling, but fewer than one tenth of the 3,800 licensed gambling operators have paid up. Mr Burnham will say that if they have not contributed by the end of the year, he will make the levy compulsory. He also plans to increase the fund.

Entry right may end

Ministers are considering scrapping a scheme that gives Commonwealth citizens an automatic right, through descent, to come to Britain. It allows those with a British grandparent to come here for four years and eventually stay. It is mainly used by people from Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

Regional visits bias

New regional ministers have visited more than twice as many Labour as Conservative constituencies since they were appointed by Gordon Brown last year. The introduction of nine ministers to act as “regional champions” may have allowed the use of public money for party political ends, critics claim.

Sarah Kennedy gaffe

Ofcom has expressed concern over comments made by Sarah Kennedy, the Radio 2 presenter, in which she claimed that it was difficult to see black people in the dark. The BBC denied that the comments were racist. Radio 2 escaped censure because the BBC told Ofcom that it regretted not making an on-air apology.

Hope for Shannon

Police investigating the disappearance of Shannon Matthews have insisted that they have not given up hope of finding her alive. No trace of the nine-year-old has been found since she went missing last Tuesday after leaving West Moor Junior School in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

Man stabbed in neck

A 66-year-old man is being questioned on suspicion of murder after a 25-year-old man was fatally stabbed. Police said the victim died in hospital after being knifed in the neck in Canal Street, Manchester, at about 7.30pm last night. Officers said he had been approached by two men before being attacked.

Diesel price reaches a record £5 a gallon

The price of diesel has reached more than £5 a gallon for the first time, according to an AA survey. Average petrol prices have also reached a record high of £4.77. Diesel has soared to a record average price of 110.31p a litre, compared with 91.09p a year ago.

The AA said it cost £8.79 more to fill a 50-litre fuel tank now than a year ago. Edmund King, the president of the AA, said: “The Chancellor must accept that global oil prices are soaring out of control so he should not add fuel to the fire by hiking up tax. Rural motorists, the disabled and car-dependent communities are suffering enough.”

Jail play dropped

A production of Sweeney Todd in Kingston jail, Portsmouth, has been abandoned after a member of Pimlico Opera, the visiting production company, was found to be in possession of cannabis. Ian Telfer, the governor of the prison, said: “The destructive effect of this, should drugs have got into the prison population, would be great. It is a sad and disappointing situation.”

Officer left dying

A half-naked woman officer was left dying in a diabetic coma in her cabin because shipmates thought that she was drunk. Lieutenant Emma Douglas, 29, from Huntley, Aberdeenshire, was seen collapsed and gurgling on board HMS Cornwall at Devonport Naval Base undressed from the waist down by a rating who shut the door and left her there, an inquest in Plymouth heard. The hearing continues.

Pilot dies on flight

A British Airways flight from Manchester to Cyprus was diverted to Istanbul after the co-pilot died during the journey. The captain of the Airbus A320, operated by GB Airways, with 156 passengers aboard, landed at Istanbul on Sunday afternoon after Michael Warren, 43, from Ormskirk, Lancashire, suffered a fatal heart attack. Passengers were put up in hotels before being flown to Cyprus yesterday.

Accessible houses

All new homes in England will have to be built with staircases that can carry stairlifts and wide doorways to cater for the ageing population. The building industry has been issued with a list of 16 features that must be included in new homes, including space for a downstairs bathroom and bays for turning wheelchairs. Builders have two years to introduce the changes, otherwise they will become compulsory.

Venice ‘drowning’

Richard Raynor, the British tourist found dead in the Venice lagoon, was “completely drunk” when he died, according to the police pathologist who conducted the post-mortem examination. He said that Mr Raynor’s lungs were “full of water”, reinforcing the theory that he drowned in an accident. Mr Raynor, 23, from Retford, Notts, had been on a Valentine’s Day trip with his girlfriend, Kate Robinson, 22.

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