METRO Friday, September 25, 2009 D METRODigest NATURISM is usually tolerated in Germany but a plan to give naked ramblers their own walking route is proving to be off the beaten track. Heinz Ludwig, who wants to set up the first naked ramblers 18km walking mountain route, said: People are against it. But its a secluded area, away from traffic. He hopes to open the route by next summer. ARMY explosives teams in the North dealt with more than 750 dissident Republican bomb alerts in the past two years, it was revealed yesterday. In at least 420 of those incidents, a viable device with the potential to kill or injure was discovered, chairman of the Police Federation of Northern Ireland Terry Spence added. The head of the officers representative body outlined the severity of the current threat posed by the dissidents as he warned that funding cuts were undermining the ability of the Police Service of Northern Ireland to tackle the ongoing problem with extremists. 750 Northern bomb alerts in 2years Model Gail Kaneswaren wants to make sure things are not worn out... your tyres that is. She is calling on all motorists to stop and ensure their cars are fit for the road after a national car survey by Advance Pitstop indicated more than half of all Irish cars are unsafe with badly worn or damaged tyres cited as the main safety issue Picture: Jason Clarke oh so tyred... taoiseach defends deputys snip slip THE Taoiseach has insisted he has full confidence in Tnaiste Mary Coughlan, despite her claims that the Bord Snip Nua report didnt make sense. Speaking at the National Ploughing Championships yesterday, Brian Cowen claimed his second-in-com- mand was merely criticising a single recommendation in the report, and not the whole thing. On Wednesday, responding to Labour leader Eamon Gilmores criti- cism of proposals to shut down 350 garda stations, Ms Coughlan said there were many recommendations within McCarthy that dont make sense. Mr Gilmore said the disagreement over economist Colm McCarthys proposals for 5.4billion worth of cuts to public spending showed the Government was in disarray. Yesterday, Mr Cowen denied the Tnaistes position had become unten- able, describing Ms Coughlan as an excellent minister, hard-working and a very good member of Cabinet. He also denied that the Government was in disarray, and described the storm over the Tnaistes comments as a manufactured story. BY ROSS McDONAGH THE Irish record for a multiple hot air balloon launch was broken at Waterford Airport yesterday. At 8am, 23 balloons took to the skies as part of the Irish National Hot Air Ballooning Championships, the longest running such event in the world. Event organiser and balloonist Joe Daly said: We are delighted to have set the Irish record for a mass in-line launch at an Irish airport. We are even more delighted that we broken this record at Waterford Airport while Waterford is hosting the 39th Irish National Championships. Graham Doyle, chief executive of Waterford Airport, said: Breaking this record just crowns what has been an amazing week here at the Airport. New Irish record for hot air balloons RT 2fm are to mark U2s 30th anniversary of radio play with a weekend dedicated to their music, starting from 5pm this evening. In September 1979, three songs were in contention to be the A-side for U2s first single U2 3. RT 2fm DJ Dave Fanning (pictured) asked listeners to vote which should be the A-side: Out of Control, Boy/Girl and Stories For Boys. Listeners chose Out Of Control, a song Bono wrote on his 18th birthday, and the rest is history. 2FM to mark 30years of U2 index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html