BBC Newcastle

Three pupils from a Sunderland school have been excluded after a video emerged on social media of boys sniffing a white powder off a key.

The 20-second clip shows several children in uniform laughing and passing the unknown substance around.

The Venerable Bede Church of England Academy has confirmed it's investigating the incident, and it says it has a zero-tolerance policy to drugs.

Northumbria Police has told us it's working with the school to establish the full facts.

Image source, Getty Images

The Bank of England governor Mark Carney, who is Canadian, says he may copy Gareth Southgate and start wearing waistcoats.

He made the joke during a meeting at a Northern Powerhouse Business Summit in Newcastle.

During a speech he said a Three Lions win at the World Cup would be an “unalloyed, unadulterated absolute good” for the UK economy.

Two of Sunderland's leading sportswomen have been honoured in a special ceremony in their home city today.

Distance runner Alison Dixon, the former England and Great Britain international, represented her country at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Jill Scott, the England international and ex-Sunderland midfielder, who now plays for Manchester City, were awarded fellowships from Sunderland University.

Bournemouth forward Mikael Ndjoli joins Kilmarnock on loan as defender Stuart Findlay makes his switch from Newcastle United permanent.

Anna Snowdon
BBC Local Live

Dogs Trust’s Rehoming Centre in Darlington, external are appealing for more dog foster carers.

Image source, Dogs Trust

The Rehoming Centre in Sadberge is undergoing a makeover to create even more facilities and kennels for it's canine residents, including a hydrotherapy room.

But the staff need more active foster carers to give the dogs a temporary home away from the kennels while the rebuild is taking place.

Local Democracy Reporting Service

A city centre bar is set to clash with council bosses and the police over plans to extend its alcohol licence.

Nelson Street haunt Billy Bootleggers wants to be able to sell booze until 3am, but authorities fear it will add to anti-social behaviour problems in the area.

The bar says that it has had 'no issues' since it opened and 'believe our policies will be successful in handling one more hour of trade'.

However, Northumbria Police have lodged an objection against the plans to extending its licence from the current 2am limit.

The bar says it wants its licence to be in line with sister bar No28 and has also applied for permission to sell its own-brand moonshine for customers to take home.

The council's licensing authority added that it believes there are 'no special circumstances' to justify deviating from its usual policies on city centre bars.

A decision on the licence will be made on July 10 by Newcastle City Council's licensing sub-committee.

Daniel Holland
Local Democracy Reporter

The number of former rough sleepers going back on Newcastle's streets has almost doubled in the past year, new figures have revealed.

There were 53 people who returned to rough sleeping in the city after a gap of a year or more in 2017/18, up from 28 in the previous 12 months and just 17 in 2015/16.

Brian Burridge, of charity North East Homeless, said more support was needed to stop people being forced back onto the streets.

He said: "We have seen a lot of people who have been off the streets and are now back on, and it is alarming.

"It is all about support. The funding to stop people being on the streets just is not there, for mental health services and so on."

However, the new statistics from Newcastle City Council do show that the overall number of rough sleepers in the city did decrease slightly from 260 to 254.

While there are an average of six people sleeping rough every night according to the official count, the number can range between zero and 20.

A council spokesman said: "We are working to make the prevention of homelessness everyone's business.

"The increase in returning rough sleepers is a combination of an inadequate supply of affordable housing, frailty of funding for NHS services, welfare reform, cuts to local authority funding and a fragmented response by government to deal with the complex causes of rough sleeping.

Sunderland Echo
Newspaper

It was a huge success., external Everybody really enjoyed it. Jordan Henderson played a pivotal role in midfield against Colombia, while goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was England’s hero, producing a crucial save in the penalty shoot-out which allowed England to make it through the last eight.

Image source, Sunderland Echo

Newcastle-born Emmerdale star Laura Norton has told how she lost three stone in weight after kicking her four litres-a-day Coca-Cola habit.

The actress, who plays Kerry Wyatt in the soap, revealed she had a secret addiction to the sugary drink which started when she was a teenager.

Image source, PA

At one point she said she was drinking two two-litre bottles a day - but the 35-year-old managed to break the habit and credits Emmerdale with the achievement.

She said: "It was about three years ago when I started to lose weight.

"I was in skimpy outfits all the time on telly, and the camera also adds weight to you, so I thought I'd do something.

"I started to do a bit of exercise, which I hadn't done for years.

"You get a bit older and weight is harder to lose. Then I cut the Coca-Cola out and started to notice the difference and then just decided to keep it up."

The NHS is 70 years old today.

As part of its celebrations, landmarks across the country will be lit with blue light.

It's an idea that started here in the North East and quickly spread to other towns and cities.

Newcastle’s Tyne Bridge and the Sunderland Empire are the latest to confirm they will be lighting up in blue.

Bank of England governor Mark Carney (pictured) is due in Newcastle later to addresses a Northern Powerhouse Business Summit.

Other speakers at the event, at the city's Boiler Shop, include Business Secretary Greg Clark.

Image source, PA

The Shields Gazette

George Telford is proud to share his 70th birthday with the NHS. , external

He was one of the first children born on the first day of the new health service, which delivered free healthcare to everyone.

Image source, Shields Gazette

Anna Snowdon
BBC Local Live

Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson has called for a £1bn regeneration scheme to save the NHS by replacing leisure centres with community wellness hubs.

It would provide swimming pools, gyms and sports halls, with GP drop-in centres, libraries and police services everything the public would need to take greater responsibility for leading a healthy lifestyle.

Baroness Grey-Thompson will say that putting physical activity and well-being at the heart of communities is the only long-term solution to save the NHS from bankruptcy.

Currently physical inactivity costs the UK £20bn a year and significantly increases risk of up to 20 conditions including heart disease, type-2 diabetes, cancers and mental health problems.

Abbie Dewhurst
Weather Presenter, BBC Look North

It will be another mostly dry day with some sunshine.

We should all see a fine start with early temperatures easily reaching 15C.

Later there will be more in the way of cloud and this could thicken up enough to give the odd shower over the Pennines.

There'll be generally light winds, with a maximum temperature of between 20C to 23C (68F to 73F).

Morning. Welcome to BBC Local Live. We'll be with you throughout the day to bring you the latest news, weather, sport and travel updates.

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George Ormond "used his position as a respected football coach" to target 18 victims over 25 years.

Richard Smith says he suffered "abuse and intimidation" after criticising homosexuality and Muslims.

Judith Garrett died after being hit by an out-of-control mountain biker during a downhill race.

Our live updates have finished here for the day but this feed will be updated with any breaking news and sport stories overnight as well as travel updates.

You can also stay up to date on BBC Tees, BBC Newcastle and Look North.

We'll be back with more updates from 08:00 tomorrow and hope you can join us then. Have a good evening.

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