Ben E King dies aged 76
Ben E King, the soul singer whose classic 'Stand By Me' became a worldwide hit in 1961, has died at age 76, his spokesman said Friday.
King, who lived in New Jersey, died of natural causes on Thursday, spokesman Phil Brown told AFP.
Public transport strike in NI called off
A public transport strike due to take place next week in Northern Ireland has been called off.
The 24-hour strike action had been planned for Wednesday 6 May and would have seen all Translink train and bus services across the North cancelled for the day.
The trade union Unite, which represents the Translink workers, said the strike had been called off after the Stormont Minister for Regional Development Danny Kennedy agreed to place proposals for cuts in bus and rail services and associated job losses on hold .
Job loss for Belfast as engineering firm moves to Glasgow
100 jobs will be lost with the closure of an engineering works in east Belfast.
Howden UK, formerly known as Sirocco makes equipment for the mining industry.
The positions in Belfast are being transferred to the operation in Glasgow in Scotland.
US ambassador to Turkey hits back over sexist remarks
The US ambassador to Turkey hit back at sexist remarks by Ankara's mayor to the US State Department spokeswoman in unusual style, posting a picture of himself with blond hair.
Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek on Wednesday tweeted over the Baltimore rioting, telling the US State Department acting spokeswoman Marie Harf to "come on blonde answer now."
"Where are you stupid blonde, who accused Turkish police of using disproportionate force?" he added, referring to US criticism of the harsh response by Turkish police to demonstrations.
US ambassador to Turkey John Bass took to Instagram to make his response, posting a picture of himself with his normally brown hair turned blond. "American diplomats: we're all blonde," he wrote in English and Turkish.
Waterford house fire death not treated as suspicious
The death of a man in his 60s in a house fire in Co Waterford is not being treated as suspicious by gardaí.
Emergency services from Carrick-on-Suir and Kilmacthomas were called to the scene in the Clonea Power/Rathgormack area at 7.30am.
The man's body has been taken to University Hospital Waterford for a post-mortem examination. The house was substantially damaged.
Mass grave found in southern Thailand
Around 30 graves believed to belong to migrants from Burma and Bangladesh have been discovered in southern Thailand, a rescue worker said, in an area criss-crossed with trafficking routes.
"There are 32 graves, four bodies have now been exhumed," a rescue worker said.
A local policeman said 30 suspected graves had been found in a remote jungle camp.
Residents evacuated in Belfast security alert
Residents of homes that were evacuated during a bomb alert in east Belfast this morning have been allowed to return to their houses.
The alert began after a suspicious object was discovered in the area.
In north Belfast, police are searching the Brompton Park and Crumlin Road areas and have warned the public not to touch any suspicious objects they may find.
Meanwhile, the PSNI are investigating after a pipe bomb type device was thrown into the front garden of a house in east Belfast early today.
Two people believed to have been involved in the bomb attack in the Island Street area made off on a motorcycle.
A motorbike thought to have been involved in the incident was recovered by police a short time later near Castlereagh Street.
Detectives are also investigating whether a single vehicle road traffic collision just before 5am today involving a red coloured Honda Civic car was also linked to the incident.
Broadband boost for Castlebar
All politics is local... Taoiseach announces new initiative to sort broadband access in Castlebar pic.twitter.com/89oPKS3BK4
— Pat McGrath (@patmcgrath) May 1, 2015The Taoiseach's home town of Castlebar looks set to get a boost in broadband speed.
Network operator enet is to invest €1.5m of its own cash in the construction of a fibre network around the town.
Construction of the ducts, sub ducts and fibre optic cables are due to begin immediately, and should be complete by November.
The open access network will be available for use by all broadband providers. Enet already operates 94 Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) on behalf of the State, but Castlebar does not currently have one.
