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Britain's Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott was breathalysed yesterday after a hoaxer falsely told police he had been drunk…

Britain's Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott was breathalysed yesterday after a hoaxer falsely told police he had been drunk at the wheel of his car.

Mr Prescott returned to his home in the Sutton area of his Hull constituency after a night out with friends at Indian restaurant Mr Chew's in the city. Humberside police arrived at his home just after midnight after receiving a call alleging that he had been seen staggering towards his car from the restaurant.

A spokesman for the Deputy Prime Minister said: "He was breathalysed and it proved negative. He never drinks and drives, he just has soft drinks."

Welsh film star Anthony Hopkins says he will quit acting because he finds it "very bad for one's mental health," the British newspaper News of the World said yesterday.

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Hopkins, (60), said in an interview with the newspaper that after 35 years in the business he finds it "tiresome, disturbing and deeply distasteful." He spoke from Italy during work on his last film, Titus Andronicus, based on a Shakespeare play.

"I'll be back and forth until January to finish my film and then it's all over," he said.

Hopkins won an Oscar for best actor in 1992 for The Silence of the Lambs.

Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan today accused the Pakistan government of political harassment after his British-born wife Jemima's shipment of tiles was confiscated by customs.

Jemima Khan, the daughter of the late millionaire businessman James Goldsmith, was sending 300 tiles to her mother in London when the package was seized by the customs authorities earlier this week, Pakistani officials said.

The tiles will be examined by Pakistan's archaeological experts to determine whether they are antiques. Exporting antiques from Pakistan is illegal and carries a fine or jail sentence or both.

Irish girl group B*witched received an early birthday present as they broke Cher's seven week spell at number one in the British charts yesterday.

The quartet's song, To You I Belong, went straight into the charts at number one to oust Cher's Believe from its mammoth reign, making them only the second group ever to debut at the top with their first three singles.

The group's Lindsay Armaou, who celebrates her 18th birthday on Friday, said: "We are absolutely ecstatic, we just cannot believe it."

The group's twin sisters, Keavy and Edele Lynch, both celebrate their 19th birthdays this week.