Welcome to your daily look at the news in the North East.
Each morning and afternoon we'll bring you some of the latest news from the North East - from breaking news and top stories to NUFC updates and the cost of living latest.
Today, we hear from a Ukrainian family living in the North East one year after the Russian invasion in their home country. We also report on a family's touching tribute to murdered teenager Connor Brown on the fourth anniversary of his death.
Read more: Touching reason Dan Burn, Bruno Guimarães and Kevin Keegan are wearing this 'magic hat'
This is your afternoon North East Today update.
Ukrainian couple in Rowlands Gill look back on year of uncertainty as war rages in their home country
One year on from the Russian invasion in Ukraine we hear from a Ukrainian couple in Rowlands Gill. Ukrainian couple Slava and Oleg Shumihin spoke to our reporter Catherine Furze about how they feel it is their duty to do what they can to help as war continues to ravage their country.
Family of Connor Brown share their pain on fourth anniversary
The family of murdered teenager Connor Brown shared a moving message on the fourth anniversary of his death. Connor died after he was stabbed in an alleyway near the Gatsby's pub in Sunderland on February 24, 2019. The 18-year-old had stepped in to defend others.
Connor's parents Tanya and Simon vowed to continue his legacy. Speaking on the anniversary of their son's death the couple expressed the heartache of losing their son and the pain of missing him everyday.
In a touching social media post, they said: "Another year has passed, but not a single second has gone by where we haven’t thought about our beautiful boy Connor. People say time is a healer, but for us, every day that passes is just another reminder of the things you have missed.
"Birthdays, Christmas's, weekends at the football match with your friends, lads holidays…. every single day that goes by we miss you and grieve for the life you would have lived if your life wasn’t cruelly taken. He is the reason behind everything we do, we miss him more than words can say and our hearts are broken without him."
They added: "There is not a thing we don’t miss, and we long for the day where we get to be with him again. For now though, we continue to get up, stay strong and work tirelessly to make sure what happened to Connor does not happen again.
"We love you with all of our hearts, our beautiful, precious boy."
Metro scraps plans for Wi-Fi on trains – with hope for 'seamless' 4G and 5G signal instead
Our Local Democracy Reporter Daniel Holland brought us an update on the new Metro fleet. He reported on how plans to install Wi-Fi on the Tyne and Wear Metro have been dropped after being deemed too expensive – but bosses say they want to give passengers ‘seamless’ mobile signal instead.
Wi-Fi connectivity was meant to be one of the upgrades coming with the Metro’s long-awaited new £362m fleet of trains, the first of which is now in the UK and should shortly arrive in the North East. But transport chiefs announced on Friday that they have decided against the move, saying it would be too costly and likely used by “very few” people.
However, Metro operator Nexus still has big plans to boost digital connectivity on the network in other ways. The public body says it will instead focus its investment on improving 4G and 5G connection across the Metro system, getting rid of “not spots” around the network.
Read next:
- Ashington pensioners forced to use blankets at home instead of heating as energy prices soar
- Ponteland restaurant owners resubmit plans for The Orchard with new design idea
- Byker Grove, Vera and Indiana Jones: 11 TV shows and films shot in the North East
- Berwick town council hits back at 'ghost town' tag and says it's no all doom and gloom
- Plans to transform former Blyth police station and court into offices
