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Parties unite against dissidents

Ulster BankDissident republicans were responsible for this blast on Derry’s Culmore Road in October
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The mainstream political parties in Londonderry have united to urge dissident republicans to end their armed campaign.

The appeal came in a joint New Year statement signed by senior members of the SDLP, Sinn Fein, DUP and UUP.

In it they called on dissidents to “put away your weapons and join with us in making this a better city for all”.

“Irrespective of political differences, 2011 will be the year we commit to working together.”

“We invite every citizen to work with us to create the conditions for a shared city life in this culturally vibrant city.”

The signatories included Foyle MP Mark Durkan and East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell.

Speaker of the House William Hay and assembly members Martina Anderson and Raymond McCartney from Sinn Fein and the SDLP’s Pat Ramsey and Pol Callaghan also signed the statement, as did UUP councillor Mary Hamilton.

Jim Roddy from the City Centre Initiative, who helped bring the parties together, said work began after the last dissident car bomb attack in October.

“None of us want this any more.

“People are saying, let’s build a positive future for the city and create jobs and give our young people a chance and a hope for the future.

“After the last bomb there were a few phone calls made between friends, and we decided we can’t really be going back to where we were.

“So we started talking to some politicians and it grew from there.

“The one thing that came through at all times is how proud we are to be from the city.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Teenager rescues sisters in fire

Penrhyn Bay mapThe incident happened at Penrhyn Bay

A 13-year-old-girl has rescued her two younger sisters from a house fire in Conwy, which left her mother and two other adults seriously injured.

The teenager threw a laptop through a downstairs window and neighbours helped the children, aged eight and 18 months, to safety.

Firefighters reached the adults upstairs in the house at Penrhyn Bay near Llandudno.

The girl was woken by a smoke alarm at 0030 GMT on Monday.

North Wales Fire and Rescue Service said the children were all sleeping in a downstairs bedroom of the semi-detached house in Trafford Park.

The adults – the mother, 32, and her two friends, a 32-year-old woman and a 38-year-old man – were upstairs.

The mother is described as being in “serious but stable” and her two friends are said to be “critical”.

The girl was praised for staying calm after speaking to the fire control.

Alyn Edwards, of the fire service, said the girl then used a laptop computer to smash a window and helped the eight-year-old out.

She then passed the baby to her younger sister through the window before breaking another window to make her own escape.

“Her actions certainly gave the family a chance of getting out of the property,” Mr Edwards told BBC Wales.

He said the three children were being checked out at hospital but were not believed to be seriously hurt.

Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus entered the house three times through thick smoke to rescue the adults.

An investigation into the cause of the fire, which is believed to have started downstairs, is under way.

Five fire crews from Colwyn Bay, Rhyl and Llandudno attended the incident.

Gary Brandrick, senior operations manager at the fire servuce, said: “The children were alerted to the fire by a smoke alarm.

“We carried out a home fire safety check at the address in September 2010, when we fitted two smoke alarms and advised the family of fire safety precautions they should take – such as testing the smoke alarms regularly, the importance of having a night time routine and of formulating a family escape plan.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Social networking site Facebook ‘valued at $50bn’

Mark ZuckerbergFacebook’s billionaire founder Mark Zuckerberg has brushed aside suggestions of a flotation
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Facebook has reportedly raised funds from Goldman Sachs and a Russian investor in a deal valuing the social networking site at $50bn (£32.3bn).

The New York Times said that Goldman was investing $450m in Facebook, and Digital Sky Technologies another $50m.

The paper, citing unnamed sources, said the terms of the deal implied a value for Facebook of just over $50bn.

Goldman’s involvement will also raise speculation that Facebook might float on the stock market.

The New York Times said that representatives for Facebook, Goldman and Digital Sky Technologies had all declined to comment.

If valued at $50bn, Facebook is worth more than eBay and Time Warner.

The fresh investment is expected to be used to fund develop of new products and possibly make acquisitions, the New York Times said.

It may also enable Facebook employees and early investors to cash in some of their stakes.

The paper said the Securities and Exchange Commission was looking at the growth in the private market for trading in companies like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Regulators are concerned that, with this private market booming, companies are able to circumvent public disclosure requirements.

Further scrutiny by the SEC could help push Facebook towards a public listing, although the company’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has denied there are plans for a flotation.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Councils facing rubbish mountains

Exeter rubbishExeter Council has urged residents to compost and recycle as much refuse as possible
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A combination of severe winter weather and the festive break has led to a backlog of rubbish waiting to be collected in parts of the country.

There are concerns the situation could encourage rats and cause other health hazards.

Angry residents in Exeter say they have been told they may have to wait for up to a month for bin collections.

Many councils have asked crews to work through the bank holiday to try to clear the backlog.

A Local Government Association spokesman said: “There has been an extremely prolonged period of bad weather – in many cases the worst weather for a generation – and it has caused disruption for up to three weeks in some areas.”

In many roads, especially untreated cul-de-sacs, refuse lorries have been unable to make their regular collections.

“It’s a safety issue. It’s not safe to send a 24-ton truck down an icy road,” said the LGA spokesman.

The problem has been exacerbated by the Christmas and New Year holiday which produces large amounts of rubbish, including turkey carcasses and left-over food, and also delays regular collections.

But the LGA spokesman said: “As a result there is a backlog, but councils are working hard to clear that backlog.

“Residents can rest assured that they are working hard to catch up.”

‘More initiative needed’

But the Local Government Minister, Bob Neill, told the Daily Telegraph: “We need to think again about how we maintain these basic services over the holiday period.

“If we can’t go out and get rubbish picked up… we’re clearly not an excellent council”

James Taghdissian Conservative councillor in Exeter

“People do produce a lot of rubbish over Christmas, and it is disappointing that in some cases councils haven’t showed more initiative about how to ensure people still get the services they pay for.”

Rob Hannaford, who is responsible for the environment at Exeter Council, said it had been a difficult period and, although they were putting on extra crews, residents should recycle or compost as much as possible.

But James Taghdissian, a Conservative councillor in Exeter, said collecting rubbish was one of the most basic services and a statutory function.

“If we can’t go out and get rubbish picked up… we’re clearly not an excellent council,” he said.

In Birmingham, the situation was made worse by industrial action, which led to binmen walking out on 20 December in a pay dispute and subsequently working to rule.

But Councillor Timothy Huxtable said 19 additional refuse crews had been working over the holidays and would be out on the bank holiday Monday.

There have also been problems reported in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire; Weston-super-Mare, Somerset; Poole, Dorset; St Helens and the Wirral, both on Merseyside.

Councils in Wales are also dealing with a backlog of waste, with extra collections taking place in some areas.

Rhondda Cynon Taf Council said staff were working until 1900 GMT last week to fix the problem, but admitted the “sheer amount” meant some areas had still not been cleared.

Refuse staff worked throughout Sunday in Swansea and Cardiff City Council put on extra crews to catch up.

Caerphilly Council said normal collections were due to resume on bank holiday Monday while Merthyr Council said it could understand frustrations, but safety was “of the utmost importance”.

In north Wales, Conwy Council was “working hard” to catch up with collections missed last week.

The situation appears to be better in Scotland where most councils say they are up-to-date with collections.

Only Perth and Kinross Council and Fife Council are reporting some limited disruption due to access problems caused by snow and ice.

The LGA said most councils were prioritising black bin bags ahead of non-perishable recycling material and were also relaxing rules on the types of vehicles allowed to drop off rubbish at municipal dumps.

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This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Pete Postlethwaite dies aged 64

Pete PostlethwaitePostlethwaite was made an OBE in 2004
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Oscar-nominated British actor Pete Postlethwaite has died at the age of 64, a spokesman has announced.

Journalist and friend Andrew Richardson said Postlethwaite, who was made an OBE in 2004, died peacefully in hospital in Shropshire after a lengthy illness.

In 1994, he was nominated for an Oscar for In The Name of the Father.

Actor Bill Nighy, who performed with Postlethwaite at Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre in the 1970s, paid tribute to “a rare and remarkable man”.

“I was honoured by his friendship – he is irreplaceable,” Nighy added.

Mr Richardson said the actor, who also starred in films including The Usual Suspects and Brassed Off, had carried on working in recent months despite receiving treatment for cancer.

He is survived by his wife and two children.

Postlethwaite, who lived near the Welsh border in Shropshire, was being treated at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

He recently told the Shropshire Star that staff there had been “wonderful and I am grateful to them”.

The actor, who was born in Warrington, Cheshire, began his career at the Everyman working with Nighy and other future stars including Julie Walters and Alan Bleasdale.

He returned to the Everyman in 2008 to play the lead in King Lear, a role he had always wanted to take on, and said afterwards the theatre had been “where I started really, or where I realised that being an actor wasn’t just a flippant job”.

He starred alongside his friend Daniel Day-Lewis in In The Name of the Father, about the wrongful convictions that followed the IRA’s Guildford pub bombings.

His role as Giuseppe Conlon earned him a best supporting actor Oscar nod. He and Day-Lewis had previously worked together in repertory theatre during the 1970s.

Postlethwaite was once described by director Steven Spielberg, whom he worked with in films including The Lost World: Jurassic Park, as “the best actor in the world”.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.