News

More than £100,000 has been raised to help relocate a visually impaired disabled pensioner who was left too scared to go home after being attacked near his home on Sunday.

An online campaign to raise money for 67-year-old Alan Barnes was set up earlier this week after he spoke out about his fears of returning to his house in Low Fell in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, after he was pushed to the ground and threatened during an attempted robbery.

The Help Alan Barnes online donation page has so far caught the attention of 7,724 donors and raised £100,085 to help with the pensioner's relocation costs.

Italy has elected constitutional court Judge Sergio Mattarella as its new President.

Mattarella is a former defence minister and a member of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party.

Demonstrators have taken to the streets of Madrid to join a 'march for change today' as the far-left Spanish party Podemos encouraged the public to call for politics to "serve the people, not private interests".

Ahead of the march the Podemos party said they were hoping that the outdoor mass rally would attract tens of thousands of supporters to the Spanish capital.

Two pilots who broke the world distance record for a flight in a helium balloon made history for a second time yesterday by setting a new record for time aloft in a gas balloon.

American Troy Bradley and Russian Leonid Tiukhtyaev, who are currently on their 157th hour in the air, smashed the previous air balloon flight duration record of 137 hours, five minutes and 50 seconds at 7:29am local time on Friday.

New Mexico's Albuquerque balloon museum posted news of the pair's record breaking feat on Twitter:

The record setting pair also broke the world distance record for a flight in a helium balloon on Thursday after soaring over the Pacific Ocean as they set a course from their starting point of Saga, Japan to tomorrow's landing site in Mexico.

The British healthcare worker who has been flown home for Ebola testing following a needle-stick injury in Sierra Leone was exposed to the virus in a "frontline care setting" according to Public Health England.

The patient, who arrived back in the UK today on an RAF flight, will be monitored for the remainder of their 21-day incubation period at London's Royal Free Hospital.

Yorkshire police officers have issued warning over driving in heavy snow, posting images on Twitter.

Public Health England have confirmed that a British healthcare worker has been flown home from Sierra Leone and admitted to London's Royal Free Hospital for Ebola testing.

Professor Paul Cosford, PHE’s director for health protection and medical director, said: “Our thoughts are with this person, who has been courageous in helping those affected in West Africa, and in preventing the wider spread of Ebola.

“We have strict, well-tested protocols in place for this eventuality and we are confident that all appropriate actions have been taken to support the healthcare worker concerned and to protect the health of other people.”

The hospital said the individual is likely to have been exposed to the Ebola virus but has not been diagnosed with the disease and does not have symptoms.