What the papers say - July 25, 2007

The family of a British boxing champion who was shot at point blank range after asking three men to put out their cigarettes in a London bar said last night he was in a critical condition. James Oyebola, 47, a father of two, was shot when one of the smokers pulled out a gun after he made a polite request for him to stub out his cigarette in accordance with the 23-day-old law - The Times, Guardian, The Sun​

Britain's flood crisis continued today as emergency services evacuated 250 homes in Oxford after the city became the latest area to be hit by rising waters. Residents in the Botley area were moved overnight as police worked to protect a nearby sub-power station at Ferry Hinksey Road in west Oxford - Daily Telegraph​

Shoppers are being warned that the price of milk, vegetables and other foods are set to soar as farmers struggle to cope with the devastating floods, which have left many crops ruined. The higher food prices will come on top of a bill to the British economy far in excess of the £3 billion that has been estimated by the insurance industry, economists warned yesterday. Farmers, mostly uninsured, are the worst affected with the pea harvest particularly hard hit - Daily Telegraph​

Patio heaters pumping out tons of carbon dioxide should be banned because they are destroying the environment, the government's energy watchdog has demanded. Shops must stop selling them and those who enjoy relaxing outside should put on a woolly jumper instead, said the Energy Saving Trust - Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph​

Admiral Taverns, the privately owned tenanted pub group, has completed a £760 million debt refinancing. The group has secured a three-year debt facility from Bank of Scotland and the Irish Nationwide Building Society taken out against 1,755 of its 2,600 pubs - The Times, Daily Telegraph, Financial Times​

Fuller, Smith & Turner, the London brewer and pub operator, reported a 5.4 per cent rise in like-for-like sales in its managed pubs in the first 16 weeks of the year, adding that the weather was having more of an impact on trading than the smoking ban - The Times​

The world is so awash with tea that Britons are paying far less than 30 years ago. Global overproduction, supermarket price wars and a weak dollar mean that we can now slake our thirst for less than a penny a cup. In real terms the price of a brew is a quarter of what it was in 1977, industry research published yesterday has revealed - The Times​

Binge-drinking reduces levels of essential fatty acids which play crucial roles in concentration and memory, scientists have found. Research shows that not only do heavy drinkers need to consume more omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFAs), but that their diets contain lower amounts of the important nutrients - Daily Telegraph​