London: Got a drinking problem? Pop this pill! A new once-a-day pill which could help problem drinkers reduce the amount of alcohol they consume has been launched in the UK. Manufacturers claim that dependent drinkers who take the drug nalmefene and undergo counselling can cut their alcohol consumption levels by 61 per cent.
The pill, also known as selincro, has been licensed for use by health officials in the UK and will be available for doctors to prescribe to their patients from Monday. The drug has been licensed for "the reduction of alcohol consumption in adult patients with alcohol dependence without physical withdrawal symptoms and who do not require immediate detoxification", The Independent reported.
While current drugs help patients to quit alcohol, nalmefene helps people with drinking problems to cut back on the amount they drink. The drug works by modulating the reward mechanism in the brain, Press Association reported.
A clinical trial into the drug helped patients cut the amount they consumed from 12.75 units a day to five units a day - a 61 per cent reduction. Also patients who underwent counselling as well as taking the drug reduced their "heavy drinking days" from 23 days a month to nine days a month after undergoing the treatment for six months, researchers said. ...
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04:25 PM, May 06, 2013
London: Borne on a horse-drawn gun carriage, the coffin of Margaret Thatcher made its final journey from the centre of British political power on Wednesday past thousands of supporters who lined the streets of London to bid farewell to the "Iron Lady". The former prime minister was honoured with a gun salute from the Tower of London every minute and the silencing of Big Ben's bells. British military musicians played...
04:30 PM, Apr 17, 2013
London: A coffin bearing the body of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was placed in a chapel in Britain's parliament before her funeral on Wednesday as a debate about the ceremony's scale and guest list deepened. Draped in the red, white and blue British flag, Thatcher's casket was driven through London's Whitehall government district in a black hearse as tourists and parliament workers looked on in bright sunshine. Four undertakers...
12:23 AM, Apr 17, 2013
London: More than 2,000 people are being invited to attend the ceremonial funeral for former British prime minister Baroness Margaret Thatcher next Wednesday, an initial list released by Downing Street said on Thursday. Thatcher, Britain's first woman and longest serving prime minister of the 20th century, died on Monday aged 87 after suffering a stroke. She had suffered dementia for more than a decade. Downing Street said over 2,000 invitations...
07:57 AM, Apr 12, 2013
Almost 100 firefighters battled a blaze earlier on Tuesday that engulfed Newington Library at London's Southwark. 15 fire engines spent hours putting out the fire, while no injuries have been reported so far. ...
10:45 AM, Mar 26, 2013
British Prime Minister David Cameron today unveiled further plans to tighten rules for foreigners in the country, even as the department in charge of tackling immigration came under severe criticism for its inability to clear backlogs of over 300,000 unresolved immigration cases. ...
06:33 PM, Mar 25, 2013
Defence Minister AK Antony was not part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's delegation holding talks with UK Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday. Government sources say his presence was not required and his absence was not linked to the AgustaWestland chopper controversy. ...
12:37 PM, Feb 19, 2013
British designer handbag manufacturer, Modalu, has come under fire for outsourcing work to an Indian firm that pays extremely low wages to some of its workers. The Hampshire-based firm is best known for designer handbags used by British celebrities such as Pippa Middleton, Prince William's sister-in-law. ...
07:45 PM, Jan 20, 2013
Two men and a woman have been arrested in Britain after a pig's severed head was left at the doors of a Muslim place of worship, British newspaper the Daily Mail reported Friday. Police were called after the head was found at the entrance to the community centre in Thurnby Lodge area of Leicester. The centre is used by a local Muslim group. ...
07:36 PM, Dec 29, 2012
A seven-year-old boy in Britain left his parents dumbfounded when he discovered a buried torpedo-shaped World War II bomb, with the help of a metal detector he got as a Christmas present. Sonny Cater was exploring fields near his house when the metal detector led him to a mud-caked metal capsule, British newspaper Daily Telegraph reported. ...
08:29 PM, Dec 28, 2012
London: Winter is playing havoc in the United Kingdom, where dozens of flights have been cancelled due to thick fog and ice. Europe's busiest airport, Heathrow, has seen a bulk of cancellations. Visibility has been falling across central, eastern and north-west England. Ferry services too have been cancelled in London. Road and rail travel has also been disrupted, especially in North Yorkshire. Heathrow Airport had around 60 cancellations affecting incoming...
08:10 PM, Dec 12, 2012
London: The British government has said it will introduce a bill next year legalising gay marriage but banning the Church of England from conducting same-sex ceremonies. Equalities minister Maria Miller said on Tuesday the bill will authorize same sex civil unions, as well as religious marriages if religions decide to 'opt in'. But she says the legislation will make it unlawful for the Church of England and the Church of...
10:57 PM, Dec 11, 2012
London: A 17-year-old boy in Britain was on Tuesday found guilty of stabbing his mother 94 times after he lost his temper. Kieren Smith killed 42-year-old Leah Whittle at her home in Weymouth, Dorset, July 21, British newspaper Daily Mail reported. A jury at Winchester Crown Court found him guilty of murder. He will be sentenced Wednesday. Smith inflicted knife wounds across his mother's head, back and front in the...
08:58 PM, Dec 11, 2012
London: Indians are expected to rank as the largest ethnic minority group in the UK in the latest results from the 2011 census, according to a media report. Data from the 2011 census, to be released tomorrow, will suggest there are now more than one million people born to parents in interracial relationships, the British newspaper Daily Mail reported. The mixed-race population is among the fastest growing in Britain and...
04:54 PM, Dec 10, 2012
London: Thousands of protesters in London, Glasgow and Belfast on Saturday held a loud but peaceful march against British government's austerity measures aimed at slashing the nation's debt. Labour leader Ed Miliband is among dozens of speakers addressing crowds at the biggest march in London. Demonstrators want the coalition to end public service cuts and instead create policies they say can create growth. However, the government says austerity measures are...
08:00 PM, Oct 20, 2012
London: Two Asian-origin children, a two-year-old boy and his 10-year-old sister, were critically injured when they were knocked down after buying onions for the family's Eid celebrations, in a hit-and-run in Leeds. Raham Saleem and his sister Sabam were hit by a Vauxhall Astra in Brudenell Road in the Hyde Park area on Saturday. Police said Sabam had taken her brother to a shop and they were heading home when...
10:18 PM, Aug 19, 2012
London: A test that all immigrants have to pass before being allowed to settle permanently in the UK is to be revised to include more questions on British history and knowledge about key personalities such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Edward Elgar. Called 'Life in the UK Test', the mandatory 45-minute test was introduced by the Labour government in 2005, testing the knowledge of immigrants about history, customs and practicalities...
03:28 PM, Jul 01, 2012
New Delhi: Indian students who wish to work after their studies in the UK will now need to apply for a job with a licensed Tire 2 sponsor, the government said on Wednesday. In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Human resource Development D Purandeswari said the Post-Study Work visa, which earlier allowed students to work in the UK for two years after they completed their...
12:17 AM, Apr 26, 2012
New Delhi: The Dalai Lama on Wednesday said he was "shocked" and saddened by the riots in London and other parts of Britain. "I felt shocked. I consider England quite matured and peace loving society," the Tibetan spiritual leader said while addressing the fourth annual lecture of National Commission for Minorities here. He suggested that the British government should find out reasons for the violence there and prepare a long...
05:27 PM, Aug 10, 2011
London: Indians visiting Britain on tourist visas will now be able to visit neighbouring Ireland without a visa, under a visa waiver programme announced in Dublin. The waiver programme will run from July 1 until October 2012, a period that includes the London 2012 Olympics, when a large number of Indian and other tourists are expected to visit Britain. Currently, Indian citizens need a visa to enter Ireland. Under Ireland's...
06:00 PM, Jul 02, 2011
