Text For Charity

Michael Carlin, Instagiv and Arlene Creighton, a member of the Institute of Fundraising highlight the potential of mobile fundraising solutions for charities as the NI company, Instagiv, leads the way with a new text donation package. The new system means that donors simply send a text message to the charity's keyword and short code and a donation from £1 to £10 is applied to their mobile phone bill. Instagiv then retrieves the donation from the mobile phone company and passes it to the charity. See: www.instagiv.com

Second Antrim Bomb Alert

For the second time in a day, a pipebomb found on the window-sill of a house in Antrim has been defused. The device was discovered in the Beechfield area on Thursday morning. The PSNI found the bomb when they were responding to a warning call about a suspect device and four homes were evacuated during the alert. This latest incident comes after a pipe bomb was discovered on the window-sill of a different house at Fir Grove Lane, also in Antrim.

Arrests Follow Stabbing

A woman aged in her 20s and two men - one aged in his 50s, the other in his 30s - have been arrested after a man was stabbed in the head and eye in an attack in west Belfast. The victim, who is in his 20s, was assaulted by a number of men in a communal area outside his flat at Lenadoon Avenue at about 2am. His injuries are understood to be serious but not life-threatening.

Watch The Skies!

Shooting stars are set to provide a dazzling display of celestial fireworks across the UK on Thursday night. Experts said the annual Perseid meteor shower, which occurs each August, would be one of the most spectacular in recent years. Every August, the Earth ploughs through a swarm of dusty particles shed by passing comet Swift-Tuttle. As the particles, each no bigger than a grain of sand, hit the atmosphere at 135,000mph they burn up, producing trails of light that shoot across the sky. This year, the Perseid shower will peak at around 11pm, when observers in the countryside may be able to see meteors streaking overhead at a rate of one almost every half a second.

Murder Charge

There was a court appearance in Magherafelt yesterday for a 24-year-old man charged with the murder of Michael McLaughlin at a weekend party. Leon Robert Paul Johnston of Ballydugennan Villas in Toomebridge was charged in connection with the attack on Mr McLaughlin who was stabbed at a flat on the Hillhead Road in Castledawson on Sunday night. Mr Johnston was remanded in custody to appear via videolink on 8 September.

Tesco Boss Remanded

A manager in Tesco's Limavady store has been remanded in custody after he appeared in court charged with robbing his own store. Michael Thomas Kearns, 41, from Brecan Lee in Claudy is charged with stealing £36,201 from the store on Saturday. Londonderry Magistrates Court heard that Mr Kearns had claimed he was threatened by four men who made him steal the cash and then abducted him. However, a detective said the accused had since made full admissions in relation to the robbery and said it was to get cash to cover discrepancies in the store. The court was told he drove to Geeveagh in Co Sligo where he left the money in a post office owned by his uncle but members of Mr Kearns' own family had reported his actions to the Irish police.

Crossmaglen Hold-Up

Two gunmen have robbed a bank in Crossmaglen. The PSNI said that one of the robbers approached a staff member yesterday morning when they were carrying out a cash in transit delivery and took a box and then demanded cash from a teller. The robbers made off in a blue Vectra car with a substantial sum of money. Police have appealed for anyone with information to contact them.

Powerful Deal

A Co Armagh-based manufacturer of emergency, standby and prime electricity generators, AJ Power, has won its first business in Russia from its participation in recent Invest Northern Ireland trade missions to this important and developing market. The Craigavon engineering company is now supplying gensets to a company in St Petersburg, which is a major distributor of products to the construction industry across Russia. It is also negotiating for rights to the Northern Ireland company's complete range of power generation equipment. Initial contact with the Russian business was made by AJ Power's Sales Director Joe Bradley on the Invest NI mission to Moscow and St Petersburg last October. "This mission, our first to Russia, enabled us to show our products to this distributor in St Petersburg and around 10 others," Mr Bradley said.

Planning Policy 'Prevents Town Cramming'

Stormont Environment Minister Edwin Poots has published new planning policies that he said would help safeguard areas of established residential character from so-called 'town cramming'. Welcoming the NI Executive's agreement to publishing the Addendum to Planning Policy 7 (PPS7), the Minister said: "These additional planning policies are designed to ensure greater control over the density and pattern of development in established residential areas, and to ensure greater control over conversions to flats and apartments. This is not however a blanket ban on redevelopment, flat conversion, infilling or development of gardens. It is about getting the right developments in the right places. It is aimed at providing good quality homes in keeping with the overall character of the existing area. It will also help reduce flash flooding in urban areas by encouraging greater use of permeable paving within new residential developments," he said.

(BMcC/GK)