News in Brief

Brits boozy: Truth and alcohol may not mix, particularly when people are asked how much they drink.

That’s the implication of a study released Wednesday that reveals a big gap between the booze Britons own up to drinking and the amount of alcohol sold nationwide. The study indicates that people routinely underestimate their alcohol consumption by around 40 percent.

That may not be particularly surprising, but the study puts a figure to the phenomenon of the drunk who claims not to have anything more than a couple of beers. Lead author Sadie Boniface said the unreported alcohol equates to nearly one bottle of wine per British adult per week - an amount she said wasn’t just disappearing. (AP) Briton jailed: A drug dealer who supplied a gun to the man whose shooting by police sparked riots which ripped through English cities in 2011 was jailed for 11 years on Tuesday.

Kevin Hutchinson-Foster, 30, was found guilty at London’s Old Bailey court in January of giving Mark Duggan the gun just minutes before he was shot dead by police.

The death of 29-year-old Duggan in the north London district of Tottenham on Aug 4, 2011 led to local protests amid rumours that he was unarmed.

The demonstrations swiftly escalated into a wave of violence across London and other major English cities that left five people dead. (AFP) Badgers to be culled: Britain is set to cull up to 5,000 badgers in a bid to combat tuberculosis in cattle which has outraged animal welfare groups, after two pilot schemes were given the green light on Wednesday.

The culls will see 70 percent of the black and white animals killed in two areas of southwest England — Gloucestershire and west Somerset — after the Natural England government agency approved the pilots. (AFP)