Other NI News In Brief

Poll Bomb Alert

General Election counting in Foyle and East Londonderry was suspended for an hour and a half after a car was abandoned at Templemore Sports Complex in Londonderry overnight. A pipe bomb left outside an election count centre in Londonderry was later described as a viable device. Police said that a taxi was hijacked and a gun put to the driver's head. He was told to bring the pipe bomb to the count. Dissident republicans have been blamed.

Jobs On The Line

Some 80 jobs are at risk at the call centre operator Gem with a consultation period already underway. The company has said 60 staff at its Belfast offices and 20 in Londonderry could be made redundant from the 500 people it employs now. It would happen between June and September this year with a spokesperson for the company saying that the reduction in the workforce followed decisions by two of its clients not to renew contracts.

PMS Savers Cash-In

Preliminary payments have been made this week to some savers in the Presbyterian Mutual Society - but only the larger investors in the collapsed PMS had cheques delivered - and then, they were only worth 12% of their own money. Smaller savers with under £20,000 will not benefit from the cheques, as the High Court has ruled that they are not creditors and must take second priority to larger savers.

Pensioner Hurt By Robbers

A 79-year-old woman has been left injured and two younger people badly shaken when a gang ransacked the elderly woman's house at Castlereagh on Wednesday. The east Belfast pensioner, a 20-year-old man and a woman, aged 19, were held in one room of the dwelling at Mayfair Avenue while a number of men searched the house. The men eventually made off with a sum of money.

(BMcC/GK)