THE UK's largest electricity supplier, Innogy, which took over Northern Electric's domestic supply business, is being bought by German energy firm RWE for £3.1bn. The move, widely expected in the City, comes a month after the Swindon firm revealed it
A FAMILY of Macedonian refugees have vowed to ask the Government for permission to stay in the North-East, after their appeal for asylum was denied. Lile and Marjun Dimitrievski fled to Britain two years ago to escape the bitter war raging in their country
WORK to reverse the ravages of time at the world's first custom-built locomotive factory has moved an important step closer to completion. Yesterday marked the beginning of the final stage of the restoration of the Robert Stephenson and Company boiler
DRAMA student Jenny Taylor is one step closer to realising her dream of becoming an actress after impressing the critics at a major arts event. The talented teenager may be studiously working on her GCSEs at Bedale High School, North Yorkshire, but she
AN appeal has gone out for information on a North-East orphan. Adam Morin, of Northampton, is trying to discover more about the early life of his grandfather, Cooper Slater, who was sent to Lanchester Orphanage, when he was four. Mr Slater, who died 19
A VIDEO of the popular Northern Echo Local Heroes Awards has gone on sale. The awards, held last November, were organised to recognise the achievements of unsung amateur sportsmen and women in the North-East. Many sporting heroes were honoured and the
TOURISTS returning to the countryside for the first time since the foot-and-mouth crisis have become easy prey for criminals, police have warned. Some sightseers have even been left stranded after a spate of car thefts in North Yorkshire tourist spots
A CHARITY concert is being organised by two musical brothers to raise money for children at a hospital's limbs unit. Graeme and Mike Ross, two-thirds of Durham band Taller Than, have been spurred on to help the cause after their mother, Amelia, had to
UNION leaders yesterday staged the first of a series of public meetings aimed at getting justice for victims of asbestos-related diseases. The GMB event, at Sunderland's Stadium of Light, came in the wake of the Fairchild judgement, in December. In that
A SPELL in police custody has worked wonders for a nanny goat who has changed her ways. Muffin is settled at Farplace Animal Rescue, Westgate, Weardale, County Durham, after going on the rampage through Bishop Auckland a few weeks ago. Motorists smirked
A YOUNG crime victim is to get his money back from the drug addict who snatched it from his hands. The 11-year-old boy was about to buy his mother a birthday present in York when Julie Greenwood, 22, grabbed £40 from his wallet, York magistrates heard
TROUBLE-HIT Arriva Trains Northern has published a new customer charter for its beleaguered rail passengers. The charter sets out the company's commitment to deliver and continually improve services. Passenger groups say they welcome the good intentions
A PICTURESQUE corner of the region is staking its claim for a share of more than £50m in European regeneration funding. Pickering Area Partnership has been set up to examine ways of boosting the economy of the town and neighbouring parishes in Ryedale
SOUTHAMPTON manager Gordon Strachan could have put his finger on the reason for Sunderland's fall from grace this season - their secret weapon is no longer a secret. For during the last two campaigns Peter Reid's men climbed to dizzy Premiership heights
Durham manager Brian Honour won't be changing his tactics for one of the biggest days in the club's history today. City visit Tyneside to take on fellow Northern League club Whitley Bay, with the eventual prize over the two legs a place in the FAVase
Bishop Auckland are going full steam ahead with ground improvements at Shildon to meet the UniBond League's deadline. Bishops announced yesterday that they have signed a two- year groundshare deal with Shildon, while their old ground Kingsway is sold
Darlington will be looking to avoid taking their winless run into double-figures when Swansea City visit Feethams today. Quakers haven't collected three points since the beginning of February, when Carlisle were beaten 3-1 at Brunton Park. Darlington
GENIUS is an over-worked word, especially in the world of football where hype and hyperbole are rife. Yet when a man of the stature of Bobby Robson readily lavishes such praise on a player, it is difficult to disagree. That is particularly so when the
ROCK lovers Paul Scott and Adam Sayers have turned their love of music into a business. Castlegate Quay, in Stockton, no longer rocks once a year with performers at the Riverside Festival, but daily now thanks to recording studio Sanity Multi-Media. Adam
A JUDGE yesterday began summing up the evidence in the case of a man who admits killing his girlfriend's baby. Richard Baxter, 30, who is on trial for murder, is alleged to have shaken to death Paula Moore's 14-month-old baby, Jake. The child, who died
THE new studio of a talking newspaper which was rehoused by The Northern Echo received its first high-profile visitor yesterday. Darlington Talking Newspaper for the Blind welcomed Alan Milburn, the town's MP, for a tour and interview a week after the
A reward has been offered as police step up the hunt for the people who carried out a shotgun attack on a bus . The bus driver was lucky to escape unharmed from the incident last Saturday night, in which shots were fired at the bus, damaging the windscreen
TRADING standards officers who raided a car boot sale recovered hundreds of bootleg films, a court heard yesterday. Copies of Lord of the Rings and the soundtrack album from Moulin Rouge were among the items seized at Buttersyke Bar, Pannal, Harrogate
A FARMING couple, who have endured a year-long foot-and-mouth nightmare, are looking to a brighter future with the re-opening of their pony trekking centre. Sheila Ashby, who runs the centre at Johnston Arms, Boltby, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, is hoping
Warrants have been issued for the arrest of two people who failed to appear in court on charges involving a teenager who died of a drugs overdose. Lisa Brown, 26, and Mark Anthony Gibben, 31, both of Middlesbrough, are charged alongside Anthony Ernest
A MAJOR revamp of the Scout Movement will be launched in the North-East this weekend. Tomorrow's launch comes after seven years of consultation and review involving 30,000 people. The announcement, which will contain the largest changes to the Scout Movement
TRADING standards bosses are warning people about sweets which have caused some youngsters to choke to death. The sweets have names such as Mini Fruit Gels and Mini Fruit Bites. Imported from Asia, they contain thick jelly in a small plastic cup. Some
A FALKLANDS War veteran has started a campaign to buy the Royal Navy's oldest warship and convert it into a memorial to the conflict. Former Royal Marine Colin Waite, of Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham, has vowed to save HMS Fearless before it is
A TAXI driver was attacked and robbed of his takings by a passenger in the early hours yesterday. The driver, from Hartlepool's Premier Taxis, picked up the fare outside Wesley's nightclub in the town at 2am. He was asked to take the passenger, a man
AN innovative Internet scheme set up by The Northern Echo to help community groups in the region has already helped more than 1,000 organisations to create their own website. The CommuniGate scheme became an instant success when it was launched in September
A TEESSIDE rock band and a Darlington recording studio have teamed up to show the power of the Government's New Deal for Musicians scheme. Through the New Deal programme, four members of the five piece group, Iridium, were able to gain access to recording
A SECURITY firm boss has been found not guilty of the attempted murder of his former business partner. Robbie Doneathy, 35, Appleby Close, Eaglescliffe, Teesside, was cleared on the charge over the shooting in Preston Park, Teesside. Unarmed combat expert
A WOMAN celebrating her friend's 40th birthday died after suffering massive head injuries when she fell down stairs at a party, an inquest heard. Frances Camplejohn, 34, suffered serious brain damage in the fall and died six days later at Middlesbrough
FREE tickets are still available for Monday night's Positive Young People Awards 2002 ceremony. The achievements of more than 100 young people in the community will be recognised at the awards at Darlington's Civic Theatre. Members of the public have
JAMES Bond depended on many things during his 40-year reign as the world's coolest secret agents. Magnetic watches, exploding Parker pens, fast cars and not so fast cars (he once drove a Citroen 2CV) have all helped 007 out of a sticky situation. Moviegoers
Baroness Thatcher will never make a public speech again after suffering "a number of small strokes" over recent months, her office announced yesterday. Doctors have told the former Conservative Prime Minister that these strokes can neither be predicted
A HIGH-class crook, jailed for his part in the theft of a £400,000 Rembrandt painting, has won his fight for holiday pay earned while serving his sentence. Former antiques dealer David Duddin, 56, was sent to prison at Newcastle Crown Court in 1997 for
VICTIMS of bungling surgeon Richard Neale have been given only four days to come up with £10,000 if their fight for a public inquiry into the scandal is not to end in defeat. Despite losing in the High Court last week, lawyers representing furious patients
A goalless draw at home to Swansea City can never be considered anything to be proud of and on Saturday that certainly applied, but, rather refreshingly, Darlington were disappointed with the point. Darlington made plenty of good attacking moves, tested
WHEN Sven-Goran Eriksson named his 27-man squad on Saturday night to face Italy, once again there was no place for Middlesbrough midfielder Paul Ince. Ince's international career looks to be at an end as the England boss opts for youth ahead of experience
As Mick Easterby doesn't have many runners at Newbury, it looks significant that he should be treble-handed at the Berkshire venue this afternoon. And the Sheriff Hutton handler has fair prospects with all of those runners - Flat Top in the three-mile
DARLINGTON Mowden Park have received confirmation from the RFU that they are to have two points deducted from their National Division Three North total. They have been told that they did not carry out the full registration requirements before including
HARTLEPOOL United have never enjoyed taking on Macclesfield at Victoria Park. Four previous meetings had brought two draws and two defeats for Pool - but few have been as costly or important as last night's reverse. Because with the defeat came the distant
ANTH Lormor has revealed he is gutted that his loan move to Shrewsbury Town has come to an end. The Hartlepool United striker, who returned to the North-East after a one-month spell this week, scored two goals in seven starts at Gay Meadow. And Lormor
Thornaby could be marooned in the bottom three if they fail to win their crunch relegation clash at Newcastle Blue Star today. Thornaby have won just once in their last 16 matches, and conceded six goals in each of their last two home games, against Bedlington
REPUBLIC of Ireland veteran Niall Quinn has warned his Sunderland team-mates that defeat against Southampton this afternoon could prove "catastrophic" in the battle for Premiership survival. A double for Gordon Strachan's men would leave the Wearsiders
EMBATTLED Peter Reid finds his managerial reputation - and the Premiership safety of Sunderland - on the line this afternoon as he faces one of the biggest tests in his seven-year career on Wearside against Southampton at the Stadium of Light. Defeat,
STEVE McCLAREN heads back to Old Trafford today acutely aware of the harm Middlesbrough can do to Manchester United's Premiership title defence. Boro boss McClaren, whose side are preoccupied with the opposite end of the table, summed up the importance
OUR front page story today will add to the growing concern that the criminal justice system is geared to the interests of those who break the law. Nearing the end of his nine-year sentence in Kirklevington Grange Prison, Yarm, David Duddin was correctly
First, the one sure thing. Shrek will win the first Oscar to be handed out for best animated feature film. Other than that, nothing is certain when the 74th Academy Awards ceremony gets under way in Los Angeles tomorrow. The annual gong-giving film bash
