Media tycoon Black 'granted bail'

Media tycoon Conrad Black is set to be freed from jail in the US on two million dollar bail, according to reports.

His expected release comes just two years and four months into a six-and-a-half-year sentence for defrauding investors out of millions of dollars.

US district court judge Amy St Eve said the former proprietor of the Daily Telegraph must appear in her Chicago courtroom before he is released from custody.

He has been serving his sentence in a minimum security prison in Coleman, Florida.

BBC staff to be balloted on strike

Thousands of BBC staff, including journalists and technicians, are to be balloted for industrial action in a row over pensions, unions have announced.

The Corporation had been given a deadline of Wednesday to withdraw controversial plans for a 1% cap on pensionable pay, irrespective of future pay rises or promotions, or face the threat of strikes in September.

Sue Harris, of the National Union of Journalists, said: "BBC management have shown complete contempt for staff in the face of the clear message from staff attending the series of consultative meetings that have taken place over the past two weeks."

A55 crash causes traffic delays in North Wales

A55

A CAR left the A55 and rolled down an embankment in a crash that caused delays on the expressway on Friday morning.

The vehicle came off the eastbound carriageway between the two turn-offs for Llandudno Junction just before 10am.

Firefighters were called and assisted the woman driver from her car.

She was not understood to have been seriously hurt.

It forced the closure of a lane in the eastbound direction, causing tailbacks for traffic.

School friends of boys killed in Marianglas fire hold memorial service

Heather Bickley's sons Felix (left) and Oscar

SCHOOL friends of two brothers killed in a bungalow fire along with their mum held an emotional memorial service for them yesterday.

Poignant notes and drawings were placed on a memory wall at Ysgol Goronwy Owen, Benllech, the school attended by Felix Bickley, 10, and six-year-old Oscar.

Mum Heather, 46, a North Wales Police detective constable, and the boys died after flames engulfed their detached home in Marianglas, Anglesey, in the early hours Wednesday.