Other News In Brief

Man Arrested Over Cathedral Quarter Bomb

A man has been arrested by detectives investigating a bomb that went off in the Cathedral Quarter area of Belfast just before Christmas.

The 41-year-old man was detained in north Belfast this morning and taken to Antrim police station for questioning.

The arrest follows the planting of a bomb in a holdall in Exchange Street West on Friday 13 December. The bomb exploded at about 19:00 that night, as the busy area was beginning to fill up with festive revellers. The device went off as the area was being cleared following a security alert. No-one was injured.

About 1,000 people were affected by the explosion. A bomb warning had been given; however police said it was left at a different location to that named in a telephone call to a newspaper.

Heroin Found In Rugs At Manchester Airport

Two men, aged 35 and 51, have been arrested after Manchester Airport officers found 50kg of heroin woven into handmade rugs from Pakistan.

The Class A drug was found to have a street value of about £5m.

It was discovered in the dispatch area from Peshawar via Abu Dabi and Border Force sniffer dogs that alerted officers.

The pair, were held on suspicion of drug importation at a business premises in London and released on bail.

BBC To Move Headquarters In Wales

The BBC has unveiled plans to move its main headquarters in Wales to a new, purpose-built broadcast centre in Cardiff city centre by 2018.

BBC Cymru Wales, currently based in Llandaff in north west Cardiff, says it plans to relocate to a new 150,000sq ft. development in Capital Square - on the site of the current bus station at the northern entrance of Cardiff Central rail station.

The decision follows a detailed three-year study prompted by the ageing facilities at the current base in Llandaff and the pressing need to modernise the outdated and unreliable technology. Options to upgrade the current site were ruled out as they were costlier, more disruptive and would have taken longer to deliver.

The new centre will be roughly half the size of the current premises and less expensive to run.

The announcement of the BBC's preferred development site – which has been approved by the BBC Executive and BBC Trust - is subject to concluding legal agreements over the coming months. The sale of the current sites on Llantrisant Road in Llandaff will help fund the new development.

The BBC's decision is also expected to help kick-start one of the capital's biggest urban regeneration projects in recent decades, with the city developing a major new masterplan for both the northern and southern sides of Cardiff Central station.

(CVS/CD)