Corrie Star Banned

Coronation Street actress Sue Cleaver has been banned from driving for 17 months after she was caught nearly twice over the legal drink-drive limit. The 46-year-old, who plays taxi operator Eileen Grimshaw in the soap, was stopped in Northenden, Manchester, when her car ran into the kerb. Cleaver admitted driving with excess alcohol when she appeared at Manchester Magistrates' Court. She was also ordered to pay a £1,000 fine after the 29 March incident.

Suspect Bomb Disrupts Derry

The latest of a series of dissident republican security alerts in Northern Ireland is underway on the outskirts of Londonderry. Police said they received reports that a suspicious object had been left in a 24-seater bus on the junction of the Springtown and Groarty roads. Yesterday evening, the Army defused a bomb in a car abandoned outside the police station in Newtownhamilton in Co Armagh and said that the cordon at the scene had been reduced and families have been allowed to return to their homes as a forensic examination is continuing. The latest incident follows a car bomb attack on Palace Barracks in Holywood, Co Down, in the early hours of Monday.

Mountain Body Found

Members of Ogwen Mountain Rescue team spent more than two hours recovering a body from water above Aber Falls on Tuesday night. The body of a young man was found in a pool in Snowdonia by a walker. A rescue helicopter from RAF Valley airlifted the body from the scene. North Wales Police said its officers were called out at 5.30pm and confirmed the body of a male had been recovered.

BBC Axe Casualty Staff

BBC Executives responsible for the programme Casualty are planning to dismiss staff in order to prevent them accruing employment rights. An emergency meeting of the Casualty crew was called followed by a lunchtime protest outside the production studios (St Philips Road, Bristol) on Wednesday 14th April to launch the campaign to reverse the BBC's decision. The staff affected, who work as part of the props team, face dismissal after 11 months and two weeks of continuous service. Broadcast union BECTU's Regional Official, David Donovan, is leading the campaign and a petition is currently in circulation.

(BMcC/GK)