A pharmaceutical firm has laid out aggressive growth plans that could see it snap up new acquisitions in Europe and the US, and invest £5m on upgrading its Northumberland headquarters.

Drugs giant Aesica, which employs around 150 people in Cramlington, has trebled in size since its inception five years ago and now expects to treble its £100m-a-year turnover by 2013.

It says it is hopeful of acquiring businesses in the US and Europe by the end of the year as it looks to expand overseas, and in the longer term is eyeing up opportunities in India and China.

Blyth Valley MP Ronnie Campbell is urging his voters to make clear their opposition to charges for car parking in areas where drivers have always parked for free.

Northumberland Council has begun a consultation process on the idea of bringing in parking charges in the Blyth Valley and Wansbeck areas.

But Mr Campbell last night warned that charges in places which currently enjoy free parking could sound the "death knell" for local businesses.

Slick thieves stole almost five miles of underground telecom line after an expert "insider" masterminded a wave of cable crimes.

The copper running through the cables had become a high-value target after scrap prices soared.

And a Gateshead-based gang began hitting otherwise unknown BT sites, singled out by someone using knowledge from within the communications industry.

Residents, businesses and organisations across Northumberland are being asked to have their say on a major review which will shape future car parking policy in the county.

County council bosses are undertaking the review in a bid to devise suitable management arrangements for all of the car parks that it owns or manages.

The exercise will also help county councillors decide whether to leave car parking free in Blyth Valley and Wansbeck, or introduce charges similar to those currently facing motorists in towns such as Berwick, Alnwick, Hexham and Morpeth.

It was all about decorating at the Cook and Turnbull Cramlington and District Sunday Football League's annual awards presentation.

First Billy Mill as good as swept the board, decorated on five counts.

Then guests of honour Paul Donaldson and Marc Jobson, directors of decorating firm and sponsors Cook and Turnbull, revealed they are to extend their backing of the league.

A mother from Northumberland has won a competition to become the face of a new anti-aging cream.

Dawn Harris will be the focal point of an advertising campaign for Q10 Revitalising Face Cream, a product manufactured by Northumberland based pharmaceutical company Pharma Nord UK.

The 45-year-old, of Southfield Green, Cramlington, Northumberland, was chosen from dozens of entries from across the region.

A community support officer in Cramlington has been working to bring the police and the deaf community closer together.

Barry Elliot, who has served as a CSO in Cramlington and Seaton Valley for the past four years, identified a communication issue between police and the deaf communities in Northumberland.

He was nominated by the area command to attend a year long British Sign Language course at Newcastle College, which he has now achieved a level one in.

Work starts next week on building two new community fire stations in Northumberland as part of a once-controversial £10m shake-up of 999 cover in the county's most heavily-populated area.

The state-of-the-art stations - in Pegswood near Morpeth and West Hartford near Cramlington (pictured)- are scheduled for completion next summer, and are among five being built across the North East in the next 12 months under a £60m fire and rescue service Private Finance Initiative.

Public meetings have been taking place across Northumberland and North Tyneside asking people for their views on the £200m package of proposals for hospital services.

The scheme involves a new specialist emergency care hospital off the A19 near Cramlington, improvements to Wansbeck and North Tyneside general hospitals and rebuilding community hospitals in Berwick and Haltwhistle.

In response to concerns about emergency care, a spokesman for the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said: "We're disappointed that a small number of councillors have expressed these concerns.

Senior police officers will be attending a public meeting in Cramlington next week to discuss local crime problems.

Chief Superintendent Steve Storey will be available to meet local residents at Doxford Place Methodist Church on July 22 to discuss plans for the future policing of the area.

The meeting is the latest in a series of Police and Community Forum meetings where people can ask officers about policing in their area or simply listen to what is being discussed. It starts at 6.30pm.