Exeter

Russian MPs have backed an amnesty law that may see the charges against Arctic 30 dropped allowing them to return home for Christmas.

If the amnesty bill passes at its final reading in the Russian Duma (parliament) tonight the 26 non-Russian members of the Arctic 30 will be able to leave Russia and return home.

Six Britons including three from Devon are among those arrested following a protest against a Gazprom oil-drilling platform in the arctic circle.

The amnesty law, backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, could also see the release of two members of Pussy...

A 12-year-old girl has been taken to Frenchay hospital in Bristol after being hit by a car in Newton Abbot yesterday afternoon. (Tuesday 17 December).

The girl, a pupil at Newton Abbot College, is in a critical but stable condition with a head injury.

The car is thought to have collided with the girl on Highweek Street at around 3.30pm while she was walking back from school.

The collision was witnessed by passersby including school pupils and the school will offer support to the children who witnessed the collision.

The driver, a 69-year-old woman, from the...

READERS of The Exeter Daily are being encouraged to vote for their Healthcare Hero for 2013.

The Exeter Daily has linked up with the Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust, which is running the Healthcare Hero Awards for the second year.

The Trust needs your help to find those staff who deserve to be recognised and rewarded for going above and beyond the call of duty.

The Trust manages a variety of services in Exeter including Exeter Community Hospital at Whipton and the NHS walk-in centre in Sidwell Street, while its community nursing and therapy teams care for people...

The Bank of England has confirmed plans to introduce its new polymer banknotes starting with the introduction of a new Winston Churchill £5 note in 2016. The first note will mark the end of a 320 year tradition of using cotton paper notes but will introduce a range of newly developed security features making counterfeiting the notes far more difficult. The new notes are also much more durable than the cotton paper notes lasting more than twice as long before becoming damaged by age. This includes dirt and moisture resistance which mean the new notes will remain cleaner for longer. The Bank...

Jamie Courtney, 24, from Exeter joined more than 200 officer cadets in a prestigious graduation ceremony at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. Passing out from Sandhurst marks the completion of 44 weeks of intensive military and academic training for the cadets, combined with adventurous training and sporting challenges.

As part of the ceremony, all the commissioning officer cadets took part in the Sovereign's Parade in front of Her Majesty’s representative, Field Marshal the Lord Guthrie. The parade is a key milestone for every Army officer and has been run at the end of...

Marks and Spencer has confirmed that their toy ranges will be gender neutral from Spring 2014.

The store announced their decision on twitter yesterday afternoon following criticism over their separate toy ranges for male and female children.

Shoppers accused the store of “casual sexism” for its “Boy’s Stuff” and “Little Miss Arty” ranges.

The criticism started when twitter user Jane Merrick complained over the branding of a Marble Run game she had planned to buy for her daughter was heavily branded as “Boy’s Stuff”.

The store has since changed their online...

East Devon District Council has announced a further Christmas parking concession to help town centre businesses in the final few days of the run-up to Christmas.

With effect from Wednesday 18 December and up to Christmas Day, there will be daily repeats of the successful ‘Small Business Saturday’ offer that applied on Saturday 7 December 2013. This means motorists can park all day (from 10am) for a maximum daily charge of just £2.

Councillor Iain Chubb, Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “We estimate that on Small Business Saturday an additional 400 customers were...

On Thursday 12 December, Exeter School’s Sixth Form girls played a charity football match to raise money for the school’s charities with the Lower Sixth beating the Upper Sixth 2-0. Since mid-November, pupils, parents and teachers have raised an astonishing £4,700 through cake sales, mufti days, Movember and collections at the schools’ Advent service and carol concert. Every year, Exeter School pupils from both the Junior and Senior school help select a number of local and internationalcharities for whom they raise funds and awareness. This year’s charities are Children In Need, Shelterbox...

It was a good weekend for Exeter’s Badminton Performance Centre (EPC), with players out in full force for the Devon Bronze tournament held at the University of Exeter’s Sports Park on 14-15 December.

Under 11s girls Charlotte Freer and Learna Herkes both performed well; Freer finishing second in her group, before an ankle injury ended Herkes’ blistering form just one match short of the final.

Meanwhile Exeter’s Lloyd Skinner, Alex Moir, Callum Cheung all took their rightful place in the semi-finals of the U15 boys singles event, alongside Welsh National player Oliver...

Exeter based singer and songwriter Charlotte Ward, has joined local campaigning beauty therapists the Skin Angels, on their crusade to educate young people about looking after their skin.

Charlotte, who is 15 and has made it through to the national finals for the UK Open Mic competition, has become an ambassador for Skin Angels and will be working with the team to promote year round protection against the sun as well as talking to young people about techniques to help overcome common skin conditions such as acne.

Charlotte will performing outside Purity Boutique Spa,...