A man from the North-East who died when he was struck by a number of vehicles as he walked along a motorway was named by police today. Raju Gurbaksh Singh, 28, died on the M74 near junction 16 at Johnstonebridge, Dumfries and Galloway, in the early hours
IF you're into late night gaming sessions then a decent set of headphones is pretty much compulsory if you hope to remain on speaking terms with your neighbours. The UrbanCruiser headset from Sandberg comes in a variety of stylish colours (
INTEGO, the biggest name in anti-virus software for the Macintosh, has released a new version of its award-winning VirusBarrier software. This latest version provides armour plated protection against viruses (of which there are a growing number
A 23-year-old man was airlifted to hospital tonight after falling from a crag. The Great North Air Ambulance was called to the scene - just off the Cleveland Way - near Great Broughton, North Yorkshire, at 5.46pm. Paramedics on board together with
A TOWN council has appointed a new mayor after his predecessor resigned less than two months after taking the post. Coun John Parkin has become the new town mayor for Spennymoor, replacing Garry Heslop who relinquished the post and resigned as a councillor
TWENTY groups ranging from football clubs to village halls in the Newton Aycliffe area have received funding from a small grants fund. The Great Aycliffe and Middridge Partnership (Gamp) small grants fund has allocated its current budget but is hoping
BIKE fanatics are being invited to display their vehicles at a trikes and bikes day. The event takes place at Locomotion: The National Railway Museum, in Shildon, on Sunday, August 15, from 10am to 5pm. The exhibition is open to motorcycles and
THREE junior golf group coaching sessions for under 16s are taking place in Newton Aycliffe next week. PGA Golf professional Ernie Wilson will lead the sessions, at Woodham Golf Club, on Tuesday, Thursday, August 5, and Friday, August 6, from 11am
DETECTIVES could finally be a step closer to solving a mystery that has left them baffled for more than 20 years. In the early morning of May 4, 1989, the body of a man was dragged from the harbour at Scarborough but despite intensive inquiries
Stewart Regan has resigned from his position as the chief executive of Yorkshire County Cricket Club. The 46 year-old will remain with the county until the end of September before taking up an identical role with the Scottish Football Association on
POLICE have turned to the public for help after jewellery worth thousands of pounds was stolen from a home in Thirsk. Thieves made off with watches, rings and earrings valued at £8,650 from a property in the Castlegate area. A pair of black Paul Smith
A mum and dad who are watching their daughter slowly deteriorate in a hospital bed have spoken of their turmoil as they desperately wait for a heart donor to be found. Georgina Powell, 15, developed a condition called dilated cardiomyopathy as
The 19-year-old who died in an apparent suicide pact has been named by police as Kieran Kenny, from Cramlington. Christopher Harrington, 20, was found next to the body of close pal Kieran in woods. Before Christopher left the family
I'VE never had any time for devices that pirate video games. Maybe it's because I've met and interviewed scores of games developers and playing pirated software felt like sticking a gun in their faces and saying: “Hand it over.” Strangely
OIL producer BP yesterday caused more concern for UK pension funds after plunging into the red for the first time in 18 years as it racked up a $32.2bn bill for the Gulf of Mexico spill. BP, which also confirmed the departure of under-fire chief
THE finance director of Northern Rock at the time of its near collapse last night branded a ban and fine by the financial watchdog “unfair and disproportionate” as penalties for former executives reached £1m. The Financial Services Authority
BLUE-CHIP banks soared yesterday on news that regulatory reforms were expected to be watered down. P a r t - n a t i o n a l i s e d Lloyds Banking Group led the charge with a gain of nine per cent, while Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays
NEW research has warned that the North-East is failing to keep up with other local economies when it comes to employment rates and productivity. The report, Ambition 2020: World Class Skills and Jobs for the UK, has been published today by The
MY schooldays were happy ones, even though there was no central heating (we weren’t sent home), no computers and desperate overcrowding (45 in a class). Things had improved when my boys were at school in the Seventies and Eighties, but I remember
WE have had an exceptionally dry spring and areas of the country are again facing water shortages. People in Scotland, Wales and the North-East are well supplied. We have Kielder Reservoir. Our neighbours in Yorkshire, however, are facing yet
RE your story about Tees Valley Unlimited (Echo, July 26), a consortium of five local authorities, seeking to create a Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). Oh dear, here we go. The disintegration of the North-East into four or five clusters of
MANY people are devastated by the announcement that Durham County Council’s executive cabinet has agreed to close seven residential care homes. But people’s reactions to such a decision won’t change the fact that the coalition Government had to
PRIME Minister David Cameron’s pronouncement in New York last week that during the Second World War, and in particular during the dark days of 1940, Britain was the “junior partner” to the US (Echo, July 22) was a very surprising remark. It is
AMONG the truths universally acknowledged is that the utterances of politicians are rarely quite what they seem. Faced with the increasing unpopularity of the Afghanistan war, the Cameron-Clegg coalition has made what is widely seen as a commitment
OUR concerns about the postcode lottery over cancer drugs are well documented. We believe it is fundamentally wrong that one patient should be given a drug because they happen to live on one side of a geographical boundary, while another is denied
I WRITE with consternation about Bishop Auckland’s new football stadium. My fair town’s football team has had its ups and downs over the past couple of decades, but the stadium brings with it the dawn of a new era and fresh hope. But there are
LOOKING back over the decades, you cannot avoid the conclusion that, for some considerable time, something fundamental has been missing from British life. Call it public spirit, patriotism or that deep sense of loyalty and devotion to things higher
THERE have been some valid points about Middlesbrough’s quest to become a city in HAS recently, but one letter (HAS, July 12) was incorrect in stating that it’s the largest town in UK without city status. Reading in Berkshire is the largest town
On July 27, 2012, London will host the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. With less than two years to the start of the biggest sporting event Britain has ever seen, Chief Sports Writer Scott Wilson looks at the best ways of getting involved
JEREMY NOSEDA used the Betfair Gordon Stakes as a launch pad for Sixties Icon’s Ladbrokes St Leger success and he again captured the Goodwood Group Three - but his latest winner Rebel Soldier looks unlikely to take in the Doncaster Classic. In
JACQUES RUDOLPH has backed Yorkshire’s Jonny Bairstow to play for England within three years. South African Rudolph has seen enough of the 20 yearold to suggest that he will be giving Matt Prior and Craig Kieswetter a run for their money. Wicketkeeper
CANFORD CLIFFS can gallop one step nearer towards greatness by winning the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood. Last year’s runaway Coventry Stakes winner has fulfilled juvenile promise and more recently, recording nonchalant victories in the Irish 2000
ANDY MURRAY has parted company with his coach Miles Maclagan to end their working partnership after almost three years. Maclagan, 35, began working with the Scot at the end of 2007 to replace Brad Gilbert. Alex Corretja later came on board and
FOR the last couple of months I've been the proud owner of an iPad. It doesn't actually belong to me, the company bought one for “evaluation” purposes because the iPad is supposed to herald a new beginning for the print. Like any Apple product
PAUL COLLINGWOOD insists England now have a squad to rival any nation in world cricket as he gets set to lock horns with Pakistan this week at Trent Bridge. The 34-year-old from Shotley Bridge has enjoyed a golden 12 months in an England jersey
MO FARAH last night became the first British man to win the European 10,000 metres title, turning on a display of supreme confidence, bordering even on arrogance, as he took gold in 28 minutes 24.99 seconds ahead of teammate Chris Thompson. The
DWAIN CHAMBERS underlined his status as favourite for the 100 metres at the European Championships with a commanding performance in last night’s heats. Chambers, who won the title in 2002 but had to hand back his gold medal following his positive
Benfica 2 Sunderland 0 STEVE BRUCE will this morning be assessing the fitness of striker Kenwyne Jones who became the latest player to join Sunderland’s walking wounded. Last night’s encounter with Benfica may have been billed as a pre-season
EVERTON have refuted David Hodgson’s suggestion that the Merseyside club’s complacency resulted in Dan Gosling’s free transfer to Newcastle. Gosling controversially became a free agent earlier this summer when Everton’s failure to table a written
Workington 0 Darlington 3 DARLINGTON’S first victory of the Mark Cooper era arrived at a cost last night when it emerged two of his key signings are facing spells on the sidelines. With a little more than two weeks remaining until the Quakers
THE man in charge of the region’s doomed school rebuilding programme has rejected Government allegations that costs had ballooned out of control. Tim Byles, head of the Partnerships for Schools (PFS) agency, said studies had shown that the Building
THE case for axeing a £464m hospital planned for the region was in “disarray” yesterday, after the Government put forward three different figures for alleged savings. Health Minister Simon Burns was accused of spreading confusion as MPs staged
FAMILIES fighting to save seven residential homes have issued an 11th-hour plea for opposition councillors to try to block the closure. Last week, cash-strapped Durham County Council’s Labour-controlled cabinet agreed to close the homes, which
THE world’s most authentic rebuilt Spitfire could soon be flying high again. Engineers are refurbishing aircraft X4650, which crashed in the North-East 70 years ago, with the hope of getting it into the sky later this year. Pilot Sergeant Howard
TWO teenagers have been bailed as part of the investigation into the death of a homeless man. George Akers was found under a tree in St Cuthbert’s Churchyard, in Darlington. Mr Akers, 59, was discovered on the morning of Saturday, June 12,
MIDDLESBROUGH were last night still negotiating with Ajax over the proposed transfer of Egyptian striker Mido after premature claims a deal has been struck between the two clubs. Boro officials are privately insisting no agreement has been reached
A GRIEVING girlfriend flipped when she saw a couple looking happy and went on a terrifying rampage through her neighbourhood with a knife. Jennifer Hatch wanted police to shoot her because she had struggled to cope with the death of her partner
NEWCASTLE will confirm the capture of Sol Campbell later today after the veteran centre-half underwent a medical on Tyneside yesterday afternoon. Campbell will sign a oneyear deal with the Magpies after turning down alternative offers from Sunderland
A tiny stretch of a babbling brook is at the centre of a costly legal feud between neighbours living in a dales village, but for the losers of the latest appeal, heard by three of country’s top judges, the fight may continue. Will Roberts reports.
TERMINALLY-ILL patients were given fresh hope last night after the Government announced a £50m fund to pay for cutting-edge cancer treatments. The fund will pay for medicines that can extend life or improve a dying patient’s quality of life –
INNOCUOUSLY headlined “Pupils bump into boxer”, two passing paragraphs from our South Durham edition on Monday: “Students from Bishop Auckland King James I Community Arts College, who are visiting Montego Bay as part of their Jamaica Difference
Brits are fatter than ever… and seemingly proud of it. But we’re building up health problems of enormous proportions. TELEVISION’S sexiest woman as a role model? Fantastic. Great idea. But for the wrong reason. Curvaceous Christina Hendricks voted
The closure of Whitby’s historic swing bridge has effectively cut the seaside resort in two. And traders on its east side aren’t happy. Stuart Arnold takes a trip to a divided town. IT’S been at the heart of Whitby since 1906, but the steel
A JAPANESE company hoping to build trains in the North-East would bring longterm benefits to the region, an MP has declared after meeting the manufacturer. Yesterday, Darlington MP Jenny Chapman met Alistair Dormer, managing director of Hitachi
There's an item from the Metro website which is doing the rounds about flying ants - and I love it. Headlined "Flying ants plague London", it's all about how the insects gather in huge numbers on one particular day of the year when queen ants
A PART of town which traders feared would be forgotten when a supermarket relocated will receive a triple boost. Business people in the north of Bishop Auckland were concerned for their future when Asda moved from the Newgate Centre to a new
