Prisoners bring town to a halt

TRAINED negotiators had to be called in when Drogheda town centre was brought to a halt by six prisoners.

The six barricaded themselves into a holding cell in the town courthouse in a tense stand-off with gardai yesterday afternoon.

The area around the courthouse on Dyer Street had to be cordoned off for about two hours as the garda armed support unit and the control and restrain unit of the Irish Prison Service were brought in to diffuse the situation.

Negotiators eventually got the men to come out at about 3.10pm.

Dublin Wheel axed after flop

The Dublin Wheel is rolling out of town after site owner Harry Crosbie pulled the plug on the tourist attraction.

The wheel will be disassembled just 16 months after it first opened, with its demise being attributed to a lack of business during the winter.

It will now be shipped to the English city of York.

Bomb threat to drugs postman

A former postman had a pipe bomb left outside his home by "dark and sinister people" after he was arrested with over €76,000 of drugs, a court has heard.

Alan Browne (29) of Donomore Park, Tallaght, agreed to store and distribute the drugs after receiving "sinister" phone calls .

After his arrest he had to move his wife and children out of the family home because of threats, including a viable pipe bomb, being left outside the house.

Judge Yvonne Murphy sentenced Browne to four years after he pleaded guilty to having €48,760 worth of cocaine and €18,375 ephedrine tablets for sale or supply at his home on January 28.

Migraine link to depression

People who get painful migraine headaches may be at a higher risk for developing clinical depression, a new Canadian study shows.

The research, published in the journal Headache, also hints that the relationship may go both ways, and people with clinical depression could have a higher risk of developing migraines.