A number of bingo hall toilets in the UK have tested positive for cocaine, according to a newspaper investigation, amid concerns that increasing numbers of older people are turning to the drug.
Eight out of 17 bingo venues showed traces of the Class A drug in the toilets, including one that tested positive for crack cocaine, the Sun newspaper reported. The newspaper used swabs similar to those used by the police to test toilet seats and cistern tops.
A report released last month by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs found the use of cocaine in the UK has more than trebled in two decades and is no longer the “the preserve of wealthy bankers and celebrities”.
All change at London Tube station
A Tube station is to be named after a sponsor for the first time – but just for one day.
In a deal worth £110,000 to Transport for London (TfL), Canada Water on the Underground’s Jubilee line is to be called Buxton Water – on the day of the London Marathon on Sunday.
The Derbyshire-based company is one of the Marathon’s sponsors, supplying the water for the runners. With the change only lasting 24 hours, Tube maps are not being altered and the name outside the station is not being changed.
Steaming ahead for Glastonbury
The founder of the Glastonbury Festival is to have a train named after him in honour of the contribution the world renowned event has made.
Michael Eavis was at Paddington station in London for the ceremony to put his name on a First Great Western train.
The festival logo will also feature on the high-speed train, which will run between London and South Wales and the South West. FGW trains stop at Castle Cary, the closest station to the Glastonbury site in Somerset.
Marathon effort by last finisher
An inspirational Venezuelan man has become the last finisher of this year’s Boston Marathon, crossing the finish line about 20 hours after he started.
Maickel Melamed finished at about 5am on Tuesday, after battling torrential downpours and thunderstorms for the last few miles. The 39-year-old has a form of muscular dystrophy that severely impairs his mobility.
He was accompanied along the race by volunteers and met at the finish line by dozens of cheering friends and supporters. Mr Melamed has participated in marathons in Chicago, New York, Berlin and Tokyo, but he says Boston is special because it is where his parents brought him as a child for treatment.
Beer boost thanks to World Cup
Germany saw a slight uptick in beer sales last year, boosted in part by the country’s run to the football World Cup title.
The Federal Statistical Office said that Germans drank 22 million litres of beer per day in 2014 on average, up from 21.8 million litres in 2013. Overall, the office says beer consumption was up 0.4 per cent in 2014 to eight billion litres.
Brewers saw sales rise 14 per cent year-on-year in June, the month in which the World Cup in Brazil began. Germany won the World Cup, its fourth, beating Argentina 1-0.
Sea lion rescued on US highway
Authorities in northern California have rescued a sea lion pup that waddled about a quarter of a mile from the ocean.
Mendocino County sheriff’s deputies patrolling a highway just south of Fort Bragg spotted a sea lion pup, weighing about 20lb with a tag on its front flipper, moving slowly in dense fog. The animal was friendly with the deputies, rubbing against their legs for attention.
Officials identified the pup from its tag as having been released from an animal rehabilitation centre in southern California. It then climbed into the back of a patrol car, and deputies drove it back to the ocean.