World Briefs

Cigarette branding is helping to hook young smokers, it was claimed yesterday.

A UK survey found 87 per cent of teenagers and young adults thought plain cigarette packs were less attractive than branded ones.

One in six (16 per cent) said they would consider pack design when deciding which cigarettes to buy, while one in eight (12 per cent) admitted choosing a brand because it was “cool”.

Among the 2,700 16 to 25-year-olds polled, just over a quarter of regular smokers judged one cigarette brand to be less harmful than another purely on the basis of packaging.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) commissioned the online OnePoll survey ahead of a government consultation on whether to make plain packaging compulsory for tobacco products.

Doctor Who’s Tardis home?

A Doctor Who fan has turned her house into her very own Tardis.

Erica Quinn has recreated the famous time machine from her front door in Glasgow, Scotland, even matching the paint from an original 1960s police box that still sits a stone’s throw away at the corner of the city’s Botanic Gardens.

She said her tribute to the cult show began as a joke, but rapidly expanded, adding: “I’m no more of a Doctor Who fan that most people in Britain - I watch it and I enjoy it, but I’m not obsessed.”

Dogs sniff out £9.9 million

Dogs which are used to fight against smuggling and the movement of drug money sniffed out nearly £10 million in the last year.

The animals working for the UK Border Agency (UKBA) managed to pick up on the scent of £9.9 million of hidden cash. The money, which was detected by dogs stationed around the UK’s airports and ports, was seized by border officials in the last financial year.

Of the detector dogs used by the border force, there are 19 specially trained currency detector dogs which routinely check passengers and cargo and sniff out suspicious quantities of bank notes.

The dogs are trained to smell the inks and cottons which make up a bank note.

Cartier watch found at last

A woman has been reunited with a Cartier watch of great sentimental value two years after it was stolen.

The unnamed 49-year-old was the latest victim to be traced by officers probing the discovery of almost 500 items during raids at addresses in Essex and east London in July.

The woman, whose watch was bought for her by her parents, said: “I am delighted to get my watch back after a burglary that took place over two years ago and would like to thank Tower Hamlets Crime Squad for their help in returning it to me. I would not have found it had it not been for the Flickr website that urges people to look at the site to see if their property has also been recovered.”