Hospital admissions linked to alcohol use have more than doubled in England since 1995, an NHS report shows.

Alcohol was the main or secondary cause of 207,800 NHS admissions in 2006/7, compared to 93,500 in 1995/96.

There has also been a 20% rise in the number of GP prescriptions for treating alcohol dependency in the past four years, the NHS Information Centre said.

The British Liver Trust warned that the health impact of alcohol will only get worse in years to come.

Several thousand foreigners have fled South Africa after days of violent attacks by angry mobs.

Mozambique is laying on special buses, which have taken some 9,000 people home this week, an official said.

Some Zimbabweans are also going home, preferring to risk the violence there than stay in South Africa.

At least 42 people have been killed and some 15,000 have sought shelter from the mobs, who blame foreigners for high crime and unemployment.

The army is to be deployed in South Africa to contain the violence - for the first time since the end of apartheid.

But police in Johannesburg, where most of the attacks have taken place, say the situation is now much quieter than in recent days.

The police have used rubber bullets and tear gas to dispers

Manchester United won the Champions League by beating Chelsea 6-5 on penalties after a dramatic 1-1 draw.

Cristiano Ronaldo headed United in front after 26 minutes but Frank Lampard equalised before the interval.

Lampard and Didier Drogba hit the woodwork before the striker saw red in extra time for slapping Nemanja Vidic.

Ronaldo missed his penalty, but John Terry hit the post with a kick that would have won it for Chelsea and Edwin van der Sar saved from Nicolas Anelka.

It sparked wild celebrations for Sir Alex Ferguson and his players in the Moscow rain as United won Europe's elite trophy for the third time, a triumph made more poignant as it came 50 years on from the Munich air crash.

Ferguson had made it his mission to take the trophy back to M

UK retail sales have fallen for the second consecutive month, official figures have shown, the first time this has happened for more than two years.

Sales fell by 0.2% last month, the Office for National Statistics has said, following March's 0.4% decline.

But the slight improvement in trading in April suggests the feared High Street slowdown is not yet as severe as many experts have predicted.

Food and household goods sales were weak but computer games performed well.

Football fans have started arriving back in the UK after the Champions League final in Moscow between Manchester United and Chelsea.

Around 40,000 English supporters were at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium to see United win 6-5 in a penalty shoot-out.

No trouble was reported inside or outside the stadium although there had been some scuffles in the city earlier.

Returning United fans were jubilant, but some Chelsea fans complained journey delays had added to their woes.

One returning Manchester United fan told BBC News: "We're shattered. We haven't slept for about 26 hours and we don't care.

'Friendly' Russians

"At the end of the day, I thought we were the better side in the first half; we got murdered in the second half and we're just p