24/08/2010

Other NI News In Brief

Designs Save Lives

University of Ulster student Dan Farnan, Navigator Blue's Marco McKay, Lucy Latewood from Action Cancer and students Jonathan Fleck, Coleen Fitzsimmons and Sean McCaffrey are celebrating their success with a new breast screening awareness campaign which was launched this month. Communication and design students from the University of Ulster created the winning designs with Celina Stretz, Séan McCaffery, Dan Farnan, Jonathan Fleck, Coleen Fitzsimmons, and Rachel Lusty together with mentor agency Navigator Blue all featuring in a series of Action Cancer 'ambassadors' promoting the benefits of the charity's free screening service. The eye-catching advertisements can be seen in national and local newspapers, posters in pubs and restaurants and on billboards.

Death Probed In Belfast

The PSNI is investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a man in north Belfast. The body of the man, aged in his 50s, was discovered at Etna Drive. A post mortem examination to establish the cause of death is to be carried out.

PSNI 'Bombed'

An unexploded pipe bomb has been found in the grounds of Woodburn police station in west Belfast. The object was seen at the back of the station at about 3.30pm on Saturday and Army bomb experts were tasked and the complex evacuated while the object was examined. They said it was a "viable pipe bomb".

Motorbike Tragedy

The woman critically injured in a road accident in a Co Down village on Sunday has died in hospital. A motorbike was in collision with a car on Main Road in Cloughey shortly before 3pm. The 21-year-old woman, who died on Monday, is believed to have been a pillion passenger on the motorbike.

GCEs Revealed

There has been a increase in the number of pupils in NI scoring the top grades of A* to C in their GCSEs. In total, 76.3% of results were in that bracket, compared to just over 69% across the UK as a whole. However at the top A* grade, there has been a small decline overall, which is against the rising trend across Northern Ireland, England and Wales as a whole. In all 183,899 GCSE grades were published in NI this year. The most popular GCSEs in Northern Ireland are the core subjects of Mathematics, English, and Science Double Award. See: Pupils Score Record GCSE Results

Dungannon Stab Suspect Held

The bloody murder of a foreign national, Luisa Cabral Pereira Silva, 29, who was stabbed to death in the street in the Merron Mews area of Dungannon on 12 August, has led to the arrest of the man taken to hospital with stab wounds at the same time. He was arrested in Craigavon on Monday by police officers investigating the murder. Police said Ms Cabral, originally from East Timor, had an address at Lisnahull Road in Dungannon. Both the dead woman and the injured man were believed to be migrant workers.

UUP Gets New Councillor

The Ulster Unionist party has welcomed a new councillor to its ranks as Stormont Health Minister Michael McGimpsey has decided to stand down from his role as Belfast City Councillor after 17 years service. Joining the UUP south Belfast team is 33-year-old Michelle Bostock from Sandy Row. "I am thrilled to be taking on the role as a new Ulster Unionist councillor and to be working for the people of south Belfast. This is where I grew up with my family running a local shop," she said. "I have always been interested in local communities and from a very young age I knew that I wanted to make a difference. I approached my local UUP councilor who encouraged me to join the party so I could lobby for the issues that I felt needed addressed."

Debt Stymies Housing Plans

Some 500 houses planned for Omagh won't now be built after news that the firm behind the plan was placed into receivership. The Ulster Bank is owed more than £19.6m by Shergrim Properties who were to build 413 homes at Strathroy Road and another 106 at Beltany Road in the Co Tyrone town. Ulster Bank appointed a receiver in May who said the directors of Shergrim Properties believe the two sites will be worth £19m after they have been fully developed. But, it is believed that, if the sites were to be sold immediately they would be worth "substantially below" £19m and discussions with Ulster Bank to establish the best way forward are continuing.

IFA Heads For Chaos

The Irish Football Association (IFA) has been shocked by four board members' resignations. It came just weeks after its president Raymond Kennedy was criticised in a report into the sacking of former chief executive Howard Wells. Now, Mr Kennedy and IFA Vice-President David Martin are among the four to have quit the association's executive board meaning that effectively, the executive board is now unable to function.

(BMcC/GK)

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