The UK's medicines regulator is examining a possible link between a swine flu vaccine given to millions of Britons and the sleeping disorder narcolepsy.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it is "evaluating" case reports in Europe of patients developing narcolepsy after taking the drug Pandemrix.
Made by GlaxoSmithKline, the vaccine was the most widely used in the UK at the height of last year's flu pandemic.
On Friday, the European Medicines Agency said it was looking into Pandemrix after a number of cases of narcolepsy were reported, mostly in Sweden and Finland.
The vaccine was given to millions of people in high-risk groups, including children and those with conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and asthma. Overall, it was given to at least 30.8 million Europeans.
Narcolepsy is a rare sleep disorder which causes a person to fall asleep suddenly and unexpectedly.
In a statement, the European Agency said: "Although the cases of narcolepsy have been reported in temporal association with the use of Pandemrix, it is at present not known if the vaccine caused the disorder. The Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) will look carefully at all of the available data to determine whether there is evidence for a causal association."
On Tuesday, Finland's National Institute for Health and Welfare recommended that vaccination with Pandemrix be stopped until the suspected link with narcolepsy had been thoroughly evaluated.
A spokesman for the MHRA said it was "aware of the case reports of narcolepsy" and was "evaluating these in collaboration with other EU authorities".
"Narcolepsy is a rare, natural illness, with around 10 new cases per million people every year and at present no link with the vaccine has been established," he added. "After use of more than six million doses of swine flu vaccine in the UK, no cases of narcolepsy have been reported following vaccination in the UK. Pandemrix vaccine remains available for use as recommended."
The UK's medicines regulator is examining a possible link between a swine flu vaccine given to millions of Britons and the sleeping disorder narcolepsy.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it is "evaluating" case reports in Europe of patients developing narcolepsy after taking the drug Pandemrix.
Made by GlaxoSmithKline, the vaccine was the most widely used in the UK at the height of last year's flu pandemic.
On Friday, the European Medicines Agency said it was looking into Pandemrix after a number of cases of narcolepsy were reported, mostly in Sweden and Finland.
The vaccine was given to millions of people in high-risk groups, including children and those with conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and asthma. Overall, it was given to at least 30.8 million Europeans.
Narcolepsy is a rare sleep disorder which causes a person to fall asleep suddenly and unexpectedly.
In a statement, the European Agency said: "Although the cases of narcolepsy have been reported in temporal association with the use of Pandemrix, it is at present not known if the vaccine caused the disorder. The Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) will look carefully at all of the available data to determine whether there is evidence for a causal association."
On Tuesday, Finland's National Institute for Health and Welfare recommended that vaccination with Pandemrix be stopped until the suspected link with narcolepsy had been thoroughly evaluated.
A spokesman for the MHRA said it was "aware of the case reports of narcolepsy" and was "evaluating these in collaboration with other EU authorities".
"Narcolepsy is a rare, natural illness, with around 10 new cases per million people every year and at present no link with the vaccine has been established," he added. "After use of more than six million doses of swine flu vaccine in the UK, no cases of narcolepsy have been reported following vaccination in the UK. Pandemrix vaccine remains available for use as recommended."
British code-breaker Gareth Williams was last seen alive eight days before his corpse was found stuffed in a bag at his flat, police have revealed.
A confirmed sighting of the 30-year-old was made on August 15 in London, officers said as they continued to probe his suspicious death.
Meanwhile Mr Williams' family last night hit out at rumours that suggested the dead man was involved in risky sexual practices.
In a statement they said speculation linking the secret service employee to a male escort and bondage equipment had been "very distressing". The mathematics genius, who was on secondment to MI6, was found dead in a sports holdall in the bath of his Government flat on Monday.
As police continued to investigate whether the GCHQ codes expert lived a secret double life, his family paid tribute to the murdered spy.
They said: "Gareth was a generous, loving son, brother, and friend, and he was a very private person. He was a great athlete, and loved cycling and music. His loss has devastated us and we would ask that anyone with information to come forward and assist the police inquiry."
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We can confirm that Mr Williams was in London from Wednesday August 11, and what officers believe is the last confirmed sighting of him still alive in London was on Sunday August 15."
Police turned their focus to Mr Williams' private life as they attempt to account for his death.
The mystery over his final hours deepened after a post-mortem examination failed to identify a cause of death. Further tests will determine if the cycling fanatic was asphyxiated or poisoned, as well as if drugs or alcohol were present in his system. A pathologist found Mr Williams was not stabbed or shot and there were no obvious signs of strangulation. Police refused to categorise the death as a murder, despite the bizarre circumstances and say he may have died innocently.
They were considering whether he became the victim of a sex game that went wrong. Officers are examining his mobile phone and financial records. They suspect he may have known his killer as there was no sign of forced entry at his top-floor flat in smart Alderney Street, Pimlico.
The BBC "will lose established stars" as it goes through a series of massive cuts, Director General Mark Thompson has warned - while the corporation's top brass will not be exempt from the axe either.
Speaking in Edinburgh, Mr Thompson said "top talent" pay will be reduced, adding: "Sometimes we will lose established stars as a result. When we do, we will replace them with new talent".
The corporation recently lost two of its most high-profile stars, Christine Bleakley and Adrian Chiles, when they moved to ITV.
He also said the number of senior managers would be reduced by at least a fifth by the end of 2011 and the senior management payroll will fall by at least a quarter. He added: "If we can go further, we will and we will look for reductions at every level in the organisation up to and including the Executive Board."
The audience at the James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture were warned to expect "significant movement" on executive pay and told the next round of discussions with the Government about the licence fee "will be a moment for realism".
A large part of the speech at the Edinburgh International Television Festival was made up of a robust defence of the corporation and broadcasting in general, with Mr Thompson hitting back at what he called "exaggerated claims about waste and inefficiency" aimed at the BBC.
The BBC has come under fire from both inside and outside the corporation in recent years. It has been widely criticised for the large sums of licence fee money paid to its stars and top managers. Staff are currently being balloted on whether to take strike action over plans to reform its pension scheme and its rivals accuse it of being overly-powerful.
Last year, News Corporation director James Murdoch used the lecture to deliver a withering attack on the BBC, saying the size of the corporation was a "threat" to independent journalism.
Mr Thompson called for increased collaboration between broadcasters to ensure the future success of the industry. He said: "I don't believe that decline - creative, financial, institutional decline, above all, a decline in the quality of British television - is inevitable." He also warned that every pound taken out of the corporation's commissioning budget is a pound taken out of the country's "creative economy".
In the lecture, called The Battle for Quality, he cited public support for the BBC and referred to the 17 million people who tuned into BBC1 after the general election. He said: "There is still a very strong instinct in this country to come together through broadcasting to share great national moments".
A city is braced for a demonstration which could see clashes between a far-right group and its opponents.
Static demonstrations are expected to be held by the English Defence League (EDL) and Unite Against Fascism in the centre of Bradford, West Yorkshire.
Concerns were raised that the event could give rise to a possible repeat of the devastating 2001 riots following an attempted march by the National Front and police forces in the region were this week preparing for possible trouble between the two groups.
Home Secretary Theresa May authorised a blanket ban on marches in the city, but the two groups are still expected to hold the static demonstrations.
Locations have now been confirmed, with the EDL demonstration taking place in the city's Urban Gardens, while Unite Against Fascism/We Are Bradford will hold a protest at the Crown Court Plaza.
A community celebration event called Be Bradford - Peaceful Together is also taking place at Infirmary Fields.
A police spokesman said: "There will be a significant, high-profile policing operation in place in order to ensure public safety.
"West Yorkshire Police's role is to facilitate peaceful protest. If anyone commits a criminal offence they will be dealt with fairly but firmly.
"The police will not tolerate damage to the city or acts of violence."
Medical helpline NHS Direct is to be scrapped as the new non-emergency phone number 111 is rolled out.
Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham criticised the move and the manner of its announcement - apparently via a slip of the tongue by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley during a hospital visit this week.
The Department of Health confirmed that NHS Direct, which is used by 27,000 people a day, would be replaced by 111 when the new non-emergency number is introduced nationally.
NHS Direct provides expert health advice and information to callers, as well as out of hours support for GPs and dental services, telephone support for patients with long-term conditions, pre- and post-operative support for patients.
A spokeswoman said "many" of the services offered by NHS Direct "may be subsumed" by the 111 service.
Providing health advice and information about out-of-hours GPs, walk-in centres, emergency dentists and 24-hour chemists, 111 is currently being trialled in the North-East.
Mr Burnham said: "NHS Direct is a valued service that helps tens of thousands of people every day and takes pressure off A&E. Over the last decade, it has played an important role in the improvements in patient care in the NHS.
"The Health Secretary's statement will stun people across the NHS. It is yet more evidence that Andrew Lansley is on a vindictive mission to break up the NHS, ruthlessly dismantling services before alternatives are in place.
"The manner in which this announcement has been made is quite simply appalling. It shows a total disregard for patients and the thousands of staff it will affect across the NHS. That the Health Secretary feels he can let slip such a major announcement smacks of the arrogance of a Government who believe they are above public consultation."
The Department of Health spokeswoman said: "When NHS 111 is rolled out nationally, it will replace the NHS Direct 0845 4647 telephone number. While NHS Direct will no longer exist as a separate phone number, many of the services provided by NHS Direct may be subsumed by the new NHS 111 service. 111 will give patients one easy to remember number to access non-emergency NHS healthcare wherever they are, 24 hours a day."
Rates of food pipe cancer in men spiked by 50% over the last 25 years, figures reveal.
Cancer Research UK said the annual number of men diagnosed with oesophageal (food pipe) cancer rose from 2,600 in 1983 to 5,100 in the last year for which data was available.
The charity said poor diet and higher levels of obesity could be behind the increase.
Food pipe cancer is the ninth most common cancer in the UK. In 2007, around 8,000 people were diagnosed with the disease.
It is seen as one of the trickier cancers to detect and treat, with only 8% of sufferers living for more than five years.
In 1983 rates of food pipe cancer in men stood at 9.6 in every 100,000. This has now jumped by 50% to 14.4 per 100,000 men.
The most dramatic rise was seen in men in their 50s. Over the last quarter century, rates increased by 67% for the age and sex group.
Rates in woman also rose, but by a slower rate, figures show.
Professor Janusz Jankowski, cancer specialist at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, said: "We don't know exactly why we're seeing this steep rise in oesophageal cancer rates, and why it's having such a dramatic effect on men.
"But we think the obesity epidemic may be a big reason behind the increase."
Floodwaters have made another break in the levees protecting a southern Pakistani city, as thousands of residents fled for high ground and left the city nearly empty.
Both sides of the main road were crowded with people from Thatta and nearby flooded villages fleeing the floodwaters. Many had spent the night sleeping out in the open.
Hadi Baksh Kalhoro, a Thatta disaster management official, said more than 175,000 people had left the city, leaving few behind.
Some are heading for nearby towns or cities, he said, with thousands also headed for the high ground of an ancient graveyard for Muslim saints.
He said the latest levee breach could leave the outskirts of Thatta flooded later over the weekend. The city is about 75 miles south east of the major coastal city of Karachi.
The floods began in the mountainous north west about a month ago with the onset of monsoon rains and have moved slowly down the country toward the coast in the south, inundating vast swaths of prime agricultural land and damaging or destroying more than one million homes.
More than eight million people are in need of emergency assistance across the country.
The United Nations, the Pakistani army and a host of local and international relief groups have been rushing aid workers, medicine, food and water to the affected regions, but are unable to reach many people.
Flood victims blocked a road in Thatta to protest the shortage of aid, most of which is randomly thrown from trucks into crowds of needy people.
"The people who come here to give us food treat us like beggars. They just throw the food. It is humiliating," said 80-year-old Karima, who uses only one name. She was living in the graveyard with more than two dozen relatives.
Investigators are still days away from finding out the exact cause of death of British code-breaker Gareth Williams, police said.
The complicated nature of the tests currently being carried out mean it could be well into next week before police are able to piece together how the maths genius died.
A post mortem examination undertaken earlier this week proved inconclusive and officers are still days away from determining if he was asphyxiated, poisoned or if drugs or alcohol were present in his system.
He was last seen alive eight days before his corpse was found stuffed in a bag at his flat.
A confirmed sighting of Mr Williams, 30, was made on August 15 in London, officers said.
But police would not say whether the sighting was made on CCTV or came from another source.
The investigation is being led by the Met's Homicide Command with the security-vetted Counter Terror Command (SO15) also playing a lesser role in proceedings.
Scotland Yard played down reports that thousands of pounds had passed through Mr Williams' bank account shortly before his death as "pure speculation".
It was reported that three sums of £2,000 were paid into his account on consecutive days and then withdrawn on consecutive days.
Meanwhile, Mr Williams' family hit out at rumours that suggested the dead man was involved in risky sexual practices. In a statement they said speculation linking the secret service employee to a male escort and bondage equipment had been "very distressing".
Members of a far-right group have begun gathering for a controversial demonstration that could see clashes with opponents.
Supporters of the English Defence League (EDL) and Unite Against Fascism started to assemble for static demonstrations in the centre of Bradford.
Police had erected a temporary barricade around the city's Urban Gardens, where the EDL are meeting.
There is only one entrance open to the Gardens and protesters have to pass through metal detectors to gain entry.
A heavy police presence was also on duty to ensure the demonstration passed off without any trouble.
As the EDL gathered in the Urban Gardens, Unite Against Fascism/We Are Bradford met about half a mile away at the Crown Court Plaza.
A community celebration event called Be Bradford - Peaceful Together was also taking place at Infirmary Fields.
Events were held on Friday to urge people in the city to unite.
Bradford Together organised a peace vigil which took place outside the council offices on Jacobs Well.
Bradford Women for Peace also held an event at Ivegate in a show of "peace, unity and solidarity".
Insurgents have launched pre-dawn attacks on a major Nato base in eastern Afghanistan and a nearby camp where seven CIA employees were killed last year in a suicide bombing.
Nato said there were no coalition casualties and the attacks were repelled.
It said 13 insurgents were killed - four of whom were wearing suicide vests - and five captured.
The assaults on the sprawling Forward Operating Base Salerno in Khost province and nearby Camp Chapman came just as area residents were rising for early morning prayers.
The area, about 60 miles south east of Kabul near the border with Pakistan, is a hotbed of activity by the Taliban and other insurgent groups, including the December attack on Chapman that killed four CIA officers and three contracted security guards.
Afghan police said about 50 insurgents attacked using rifles, heavy machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons, but had been repelled.
Khost provincial police Chief Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai said they found the bodies of 14 militants outside Salerno and five others had been captured alive. He said police believed the bodies of more insurgents would be found.
After being driven away from the bases, the insurgents approached the nearby offices of the governor and provincial police headquarters but were driven off, Ishaqzai said.
"Given the size of the enemy's force, this could have been a major catastrophe for Khost. Luckily we prevented it," he said.
The former chairman of Northern Rock has spoken of his remorse for his part in the Northern Rock crisis.
Matt Ridley, who was non-executive chairman of the Rock between 2004 and 2007, was blamed for "damaging the good name of British banking" when the lender almost collapsed and needed a £26 billion Government bail-out.
Mr Ridley, 52, followed his father Viscount Ridley in the role, who was chairman of the bank from 1987 to 1992.
At the height of the financial crisis Mr Ridley was hauled before the Treasury Select Committee along with senior executives at the bank and found himself criticised for his lack of banking knowledge.
"I enormously regret what happened at Northern Rock," he told The Journal newspaper.
"It's an incredibly painful memory for me and it's something that I will live with for the rest of my life.
"I have nothing but remorse for my role in what happened. I've apologised and explained as much as I can what happened before the Treasury Select Committee.
"We were all taken by surprise by that. There was almost nobody who saw it coming. Those who did were not in the right place to warn everyone else.
"Northern Rock ended up suffering a fate no different from any other mortgage bank. They all disappeared as a result of the crisis, and I learnt a lot from it."
Mr Ridley, who is a respected science writer, was criticised by the Treasury Select Committee in 2007 for overseeing the bank's risky business strategy.
James Bond star Daniel Craig became the two millionth supporter of England's bid to hold the 2018 World Cup.
The "Back the Bid" campaign, which was launched by former England captains David Beckham and Gary Lineker at Wembley last year, has seen a plethora of stars lend their support to bring the competition back to the UK for the first time since 1966.
McLaren duo Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton were two of the first celebrities to register their support and were quickly followed by the likes of funnyman James Corden, musicians Sting, Noel Gallagher and Robbie Williams and entertainers Ant and Dec.
Football fans from more than 100 countries have also registered their support over the past 15 months.
England most unusual bid backer was revealed last week as Weymouth-born Paul the Octopus, the international star of the South Africa 2010 World Cup, became an official ambassador.
The passing of the two million mark was reached almost 100 days ahead of schedule and the milestone represents a significant landmark for the Bid.
Supermarket chain Morrisons has secured more than one and a half million signatures thanks to a campaign led by former England captain Alan Shearer while BT has created a virtual England 2018 flag with photos and signatures of thousands of fans.
The World Cup Bid was officially launched in May last year with support from all three major political parties.
England is one of five competitors bidding to host the 2018 tournament and one of eight bidding to host the 2022 tournament. The decision for both tournaments will be announced in Zurich in December.
Cuts at the BBC will lead to the loss of "established stars" and a cull in senior management, the corporation's Director General warned.
Mark Thompson will face industry insiders and journalists after he used a speech to lay bare the scope of future job losses.
He said "top talent" pay will be reduced, adding: "Sometimes we will lose established stars as a result. When we do, we will replace them with new talent."
The corporation recently lost two of its most high-profile names, Christine Bleakley and Adrian Chiles, to ITV.
He also said the number of senior managers would be reduced by at least a fifth by the end of 2011 and the senior management payroll will fall by at least a quarter.
He said: "If we can go further, we will and we will look for reductions at every level in the organisation up to and including the Executive Board."
The audience at his James MacTaggart Memorial Lecture in Edinburgh was warned to expect "significant movement" on executive pay and told the next round of discussions with the Government about the licence fee "will be a moment for realism".
A large part of the speech was made up of a robust defence of the corporation and broadcasting in general, with Mr Thompson hitting back at what he called "exaggerated claims about waste and inefficiency" aimed at the BBC.
It came under fire from both inside and outside the corporation in recent years and was widely criticised for the large sums of licence fee money paid to its stars and top managers.
Staff are being balloted on whether to take strike action over plans to reform its pension scheme and its rivals accuse it of being overly powerful.
Comic Russell Kane has scooped the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award at the third time of asking.
The Englishman, who was shortlisted twice before, was finally rewarded with the £10,000 top prize for best show at the world-famous Fringe.
The result was announced by comedy star Al Murray, who won the award in 1999.
Other previous winners of the Foster's award, formerly known as the Perrier, include Steve Coogan, Frank Skinner and Harry Hill.
Awards organiser Nica Burns said: "Following in the footsteps of Al Murray with a hugely popular win on the third consecutive nomination, Russell Kane takes the audience by storm with his boundless energy and enthusiasm. An extremely funny show from a very talented comic."
Kane, whose show was called Smokescreens and Castles, was shortlisted along with Josie Long and Sarah Millican, who have both picked up Best Newcomer prizes in the past. Greg Davies and Bo Burnham were also in the running.
This year's £5,000 Best Newcomer award went to Roisin Conaty, for Hero, Warrior, Fireman, Liar.
Fellow nominees were An Audience with Imran Yusuf, Asher Treleavan: Secret Door, Gareth Richards: Stand Up Between Songs, Late Night Gimp Fight! and The Boy With The Tape On His Face.
Ms Burns said: "In a diverse and highly talented shortlist Roisin impressed the panel with her ability to make the audience laugh at her daily struggle to understand life. She is charming, charismatic and popular."
The Foster's Panel Prize, also worth £5,000, went to Bo Burnham for Words, Words, Words.
The love between father and baby daughter is there for all to see in the first images of David and Samantha Cameron's four-day-old daughter.
The pictures feature Florence Rose Endellion Cameron wrapped in a white blanket and being cradled and kissed by the Prime Minister.
Mrs Cameron and the baby, both said to be doing well, left hospital on Friday and the family are continuing their holiday in Cornwall. It is not clear when they will return to London.
Before Tuesday's surprise early birth Mr Cameron had been expected to return to work after the weekend, but he is now thought to be planning some additional time off as paternity leave.
The Camerons evaded waiting photographers as they left the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro on Friday, exiting its maternity wing by a back door before being driven away in a people carrier with blacked-out windows.
The baby, born weighing 6lb 1oz, was due next month, but caught the family by surprise while they were on holiday in Cornwall.
Speaking outside the hospital on Tuesday, Mr Cameron described her as an "unbelievably beautiful girl".
Her middle name, Endellion, refers to the village of St Endellion on the north Cornish coast, near where the Camerons were staying.
Christine Rashleigh, director of nursing, midwifery and allied health professions at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, said the length of Mrs Cameron's stay - three nights - was "perfectly normal" after a Caesarean section.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said on Friday that that he would "just carry on holding the fort" until Mr Cameron returned to work.
Skirmishes have broken out at a controversial demonstration by far-right group the English Defence League.
EDL supporters threw bottles, cans, stones and a smoke bomb at opponents gathered in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
Police moved the public away for their own safety as missiles sailed over a temporary 8ft high barricade separating the two groups congregating at the Urban Gardens.
Opponents of the EDL, Unite Against Fascism/We Are Bradford, met about half a mile away at the Crown Court Plaza to hold an alternative static demonstration.
At lunchtime, buses began bringing EDL supporters from areas including Hull, Merseyside, Manchester, Stoke, Southport, Dudley, Wigan and Stockport.
Police erected the barricade around the Urban Gardens to ensure EDL members and their opponents were kept apart. Only one entrance to the gardens was open and protesters had to pass through metal detectors to gain entry.
Beyond the heavy police guard, opponents gathered to hold their own demonstration and the two groups traded insults with each other.
Several hundred people gathered in the Urban Gardens, many wearing black EDL hooded tops with the name of their home town or city printed on the back.
When trouble started, police pushed the EDL members away from the edge of the barricade towards the centre of the gardens, while their opponents were moved into neighbouring streets.
Then the far-right group held a rally as police in riot gear held their line across the gardens. Skirmishes broke out between EDL supporters and their own stewards, who stood in front of the police.
Skirmishes have broken out at a controversial city centre demonstration by far-right group the English Defence League.
EDL supporters threw bottles, cans, stones and three smoke bombs at opponents gathered in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
Nearly 100 supporters of the far-right group then climbed over a temporary 8ft barricade - aimed at keeping them inside the city's Urban Gardens - to get on to neighbouring waste ground from where they threw missiles at police.
As the skirmishes were breaking out in the gardens, nearly 300 people gathered for an alternative event hosted by Unite Against Fascism/We Are Bradford about half a mile away at the Crown Court Plaza.
West Yorkshire Police said five people were arrested. One person was taken to hospital for treatment to a leg injury.
The EDL supporters met in Halifax before travelling to Bradford on buses under police escort for the static demonstration. Members had travelled from many areas across England, including Hull, Merseyside, Manchester, Stoke, Southport, Dudley, Wigan and Stockport.
Only one entrance to the gardens was open and protesters had to pass through metal detectors to gain entry.
Police said around 700 people had gathered in and around the venue, as a heavy police presence ensured trouble would be kept to a minimum.
Beyond the heavy police guard, opponents of the EDL gathered to hold their own demonstration and the two groups traded insults with each other.
When trouble flared, police pushed the EDL members away from the edge of the barricade towards the centre of the gardens, while their opponents were moved into neighbouring streets. Then the far-right group held a rally as police in riot gear held their line.
One of the country's most prestigious museums has been evacuated after visitors complained of suffering from sore throats.
People were escorted from the British Museum in central London shortly after 1pm on Saturday and investigators are currently inside trying to determine the cause of the scare.
The move came after a number of visitors complained of throat and eye irritation.
It is not believed anybody required hospital treatment as a result.
A Met police spokesman said: "The museum has been evacuated as a precaution.
"A few people reported a funny smell on the premises and had mild irritation to the throat and eyes.
"No treatment from paramedics was necessary and we do not know at this stage the course of it.
"Officers are currently in the process of finding out what it is."
The British Museum is one of the capital's most popular tourist attractions.
The sprawling building boasts a collection of more than seven million objects representing the history of human culture.
The world of cricket has been left reeling by allegations of a betting scam focused on the current England and Pakistan Test match.
A 35-year-old man was arrested and members of the Pakistani team were talked to by police at their north London hotel over claims about the Lord's Test.
The arrest came after the News of the World said it was able to buy its way into a match-fixing ring by posing as Far Eastern businessmen.
Despite the police probe, the fourth Test match in the series - in which England have a commanding lead - will resume on Sunday, the sport's governing board said.
In a joint statement, the International Cricket Council (ICC), the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said: "No players nor team officials have been arrested in relation to this incident and the fourth npower Test match will continue as scheduled on Sunday."
The statement added that all three bodies were assisting police with their inquiries and would make no further comment.
The allegations centre on the timing of no balls delivered during the Lord's Test match.
Undercover reporters from the paper allegedly paid a middleman £150,000 and in return were told exact details relating to play during the following day.
The manager of Pakistan's cricket team confirmed that British police were questioning players over the allegations. Yawar Saeed told The Associated Press: "I can confirm that we are aware of the allegations and Scotland Yard police are with us now at the hotel and we are helping them with their inquiries."
Scotland Yard said it arrested a man in relation to the newspaper's investigation.
