Overnight news digest - PNE brawl duo learn their fate, elderly man dies after crash and floods 'most extreme' on record

Catch up with all the latest headlines from Lancashire and across the country with our morning roundup.
PNE strikers Eoin Doyle and Jermaine Beckford clash at HillsboroughPNE strikers Eoin Doyle and Jermaine Beckford clash at Hillsborough
PNE strikers Eoin Doyle and Jermaine Beckford clash at Hillsborough

ELDERLY MAN DIES AFTER BEING HIT BY MINI

A 90-year-old pensioner has died hospital after being hit by a car in South Ribble. The man, named as Edwin Westerman of Longton, suffered a “life-threatening” head injury after colliding with a Mini One near Booths Supermarket in Longton on Friday. The crash happened as he crossed Liverpool Road at 5.25pm and he was immediately taken to Royal Preston Hospital but died there on Sunday afternoon.Read more

PNE BRAWL DUO TO LEARN FATE

Brawling strikers Jermaine Beckford and Eoin Doyle were due at Springfields today to face the music after their red cards in Preston’s defeat to Sheffield Wednesday. The team-mates made the headlines for all the wrong reasons after fighting with one another during the closing stages at Hillsborough. PNE boss Simon Grayson labelled their behaviour as ‘embarrassing’ and ‘disgraceful’, saying they had let the fans, their team-mates and the club down.Read more

LANCASHIRE AT THE HEART OF FOOTBALL SEX ABUSE SCANDAL

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The first ex-player to blow the whistle on abuse in football after 30 years of silence saw his career derailed by the nightmares from his childhood and ended working as a police officer in the county. And a former professional footballer, now living in Lytham, has also broken his silence to claim historical justice.Today we look in detail at an investigation which could eclipse the Jimmy Savile inquiry for the number of its victims and offenders and ask the question: Has football changed since the 1980s? Former footballer David Lean is ready to turn his life around after breaking his 30-year silence as a victim of sex abuse.Read more

BIKER HURT IN BLACKPOOL CRASH

A biker has been injured in a road collision in Blackpool. The incident happened at the junction of Devonshire Road and Warley Road last night in North Shore, Blackpool at around 9.20pm.

FURY AT BUS STONING ATTACKS Transport bosses have hit out at yobs who smashed the windows of four buses. As previously reported, an investigation is under way after stones were thrown at the vehicles in the Nel Pan Lane area of Westleigh of Wigan. Three of the buses were targeted on the same night, while one was damaged a week earlier. Now, Transport for Greater Manchester, which co-ordinates public transport in the region, has condemned the incidents.Read more

NEW CRISIS FOR EU AS ITALY'S PM QUITS AFTER CRUSHING REFORMS DEFEAT

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The European Union is facing fresh turmoil as Italy's prime minister Matteo Renzi announced his resignation after suffering a decisive defeat in his constitutional reform referendum. Ninety minutes after polls closed, the 41-year premier conceded defeat as exit polls suggested 57% of voters had rejected his plan to streamline the country's system of government. Financial markets were braced for fresh volatility amid fears his fall could spark a run on Italy's tottering banks, further weakening the euro.

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GOVERNMENT GOES TO SUPREME COURT TO OVERTURN BREXIT RULING

The Government goes to the Supreme Court today in the latest stage of the legal battle over Brexit. The highest court in the land is being asked to overturn a High Court ruling that the Prime Minister must seek MPs' approval to trigger the process of taking Britain out of the European Union. In a decision that infuriated Brexiteers, three senior judges said Theresa May lacked power to use the royal prerogative to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and start the two-year process of negotiating Brexit without the prior authority of Parliament.

THERESA MAY PUSHES TRADE DEALS DURING GULF VISIT

Theresa May is pushing a £30 billion trade deal agenda as she visits the Gulf. Attending the Gulf Co-operation Council summit in Bahrain, the Prime Minister is moving to free up business transactions between the UK and Middle East. Mrs May is only the third Western leader, and first woman, to be invited to the gathering.

PUPILS MUST BE TAUGHT BRITISH VALUES TO HELP BIND COMMUNITIES - REVIEW

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Schoolchildren should be taught "British values" of tolerance, democracy and respect to help bind communities together amid growing "ethnic segregation", a major government-commissioned review has said.

Dame Louise Casey - who was brought in by David Cameron to report on social integration amid concerns hundreds of radicalised young Britons were joining Islamic State - warned the country was becoming more divided as it became more diverse.

Following a year-long study, she said there were areas which were struggling to cope with the pace and scale of change they faced as a result of immigration while there were still large social and economic gaps between different ethnic groups.

LAST WINTER'S FLOODS 'MOST EXTREME ON RECORD IN UK'

Last winter's floods were the UK's most extreme on record, experts have said.

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An appraisal of the winter floods of 2015/2016, published on the first anniversary of Storm Desmond, reveals it ranks alongside the devastating flooding of March 1947 as the largest event of at least the last century.

November 2015 to January 2016 was the wettest three-month period in records dating back to 1910, while December was both the wettest and on average, the warmest on record for the UK.

HANDFUL OF NUTS A DAY CAN HELP KEEP THE DOCTOR AWAY, RESEARCH SHOWS

A handful of nuts a day can help to keep the doctor - and the undertaker - away, research has shown.

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People consuming at least 20g of nuts daily were less likely to develop potentially fatal conditions such as heart disease and cancer, the study found.

Being nuts about nuts reduced the risk of heart disease by nearly 30%, the risk of cancer by 15%, and the risk of premature death by 22%.

BRITON DIES ON OXBRIDGE SKI TRIP TO FRENCH ALPS

A British man has died during a university ski trip in France.

He was found by friends in their accommodation in Val Thorens resort in the Alps on Sunday morning, local reports said.

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Thousands of students from Oxford and Cambridge universities attend the popular annual Varsity ski trip, which dates back to 1921.

CHILDREN'S COMMISSIONER HAILS PUSHY PARENT POWER

Northern parents should learn from their pushier southern counterparts to help their children get the best grades, the children's tsar has said.

Children's Commissioner for England Anne Longfield, a mother who lives in Leeds, said the demanding parents of London and the South East have helped spur their children on.

A report by the public body has found there was little difference between the academic achievements of primary school children either side of the divide, according to The Times.

PAKISTANI CRICKETERS AT KARACHI HOTEL HIT BY DEADLY BLAZE

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A massive fire has swept through a four-star hotel in Karachi where members of Pakistan's cricket team were staying, killing at least 11 people.

More than 50 people, including foreign guests, suffered injuries in the early morning blaze, which started in the hotel kitchen, police officer Tauqeer Naeem said.

Several Pakistani cricketers were also staying at the hotel, and one of them broke his ankle when he jumped down, he said.