THE revelations about Peter Robinsons wife Iriss affair have indirectly led to a political first for a Democratic Unionist leader a handshake with Sinn Fins Martin McGuinness. The troubled politician (pictured) revealed yesterday the Norths Deputy First Minister offered his hand to him to commiserate over his personal troubles. and finally... A HOTEL chain is employing human bed warmers to help guests get a good nights sleep. The living electric blankets, dressed in all-in-one sleeper suits, will try out five-minute bed- warming sessions at the Holiday Inn in London and Manchester this month. Its like having a giant hot water bottle in your bed, spokeswoman Jane Bednall said. homedigest AN INQUIRY into the banking crisis will be held in private at first to gather evidence, the Governments chief whip has said. Pat Carey said the Government was not excluding the possibility of later public hearings, adding that it was important the Dil eventually discussed the matter. The Minister for Finance will outline his proposals for a banking inquiry tomorrow. Labour leader Eamon Gilmore and Fine Gael finance spokesman Richard Bruton both earlier called for a full inquiry, with Mr Gilmore (pictured) saying the taxpayer had been left to pick up the tab and Mr Bruton saying the inquiry must be done in public. Banking hearings may be private Robinsons plight leads to handshake Petrol prices have increased by 31% A LITRE of petrol has increased in price by an average of 31 per cent since January 2009, according to figures from AA Ireland. The average price of a litre of petrol is now 1.22, compared with 0.95 in January 2009. Diesel rose by 22 per cent in the same time period and now costs 1.15 per litre. The rises are mostly down to international factors, such as the cost of a barrel of oil, but motorists are also paying for the tax increases in last months Budget, which added four cent to petrol and five cent to diesel. Motor insurance has also risen by 15 per cent in the last year. News Monday, January 18, 2010 D Haiti earthquake A woman takes care of a wounded child at a destroyed orphanage near Port-au-Prince Hope remains as rescue workers find 70 survivorsRESCUE workers have saved more than 70 people from the rubble in Haiti. UN spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said the success rate is unusually high as 1,739 rescue worker searched for survivors of the earth- quake. She said people are still alive in the collapsed buildings and might live for six days in such conditions. About 43 teams with 161 dogs and high-tech equipment are already in place and more are on their way. In the capital, Port-au-Prince, an American team pulled a woman alive from a collapsed university building where she had been trapped for 97 hours. Another crew rescued three survivors from the ruins of a supermarket. American and Turkish teams freed a seven-year-old Haitian girl, a Hai- tian man and an American woman from the rubble of the five-storey building. They were dazed but did not appear to be injured. Elsewhere, a woman was pulled alive, dehydrated but uninjured, from the ruins of the Montana Hotel, to the applause of onlookers. The son of co-owner Nadine Car- doso said he could hear her voice from the rubble. Twelve hours later, with friends and relatives watching, she was lowered from a hill of debris on a stretcher. Its a miracle, her hus- band, Reinhard Riedl, said after hearing she was alive. Shes one tough cookie. She is indestructible. But the rescue was bittersweet for Cardosos sister Gerthe: rescuers had to abandon a search for her sev- en-year-old grandson after an after- shock closed a space where he was believed to be. Rescue workers, including a team from Ireland, used hammers and chisels to free a woman trapped be- neath a collapsed concrete build- ing. A British team spent six hours digging the 39-year-old woman out from under the ruins of her home in Port-au-Prince. Dan Cooke, a fire- fighter with the team said: There was a woman yesterday under three or four floors of concrete squashed in with dead members of her family. It took six hours. By Ross McGuinness Demand for global fire brigade AN IRISH charity has called for the setting up of a world fire brigade in the wake of Haitis earthquake. Goals John OShea said the formation of an international rapid response force would be an appropriate memorial to the tens of thousands who lost their lives in the disaster. Charities have stepped up efforts as the predicted final death toll rose to 200,000, with a quarter of this already confirmed. Haven secured ten tonnes of non-food items such as mattresses, plastic sheeting and blankets by truck, while Concern landed a cargo flight with water, food and medicine in the neighbouring Dominican Republic, bringing it into Haiti overland. Susan Finucane, with Concern in Haiti, said aftershocks were still a very real danger as rescue workers searched the rubble. Meanwhile, Unicef is to hold a candlelight vigil at Christ Church Cathedral at 5pm tomorrow for members of the public to show their solidarity with victims. Global force: OShea 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