Plans to build a new 'mini-city' in Salford Quays could create 15,000 jobs, developers claim.

Peel Holdings have submitted proposals to transform a half-square-kilometre site with a 30-storey skyscraper, more than 1,000 flats, and hundreds of offices.

A man has died after he was hit by a car on the M6.

Police were called to the motorway near Junction 29 at Bamber Bridge following the collision on the southbound carriageway at 3.50am today.
 

It was a heartfelt plea from a schoolgirl to a military chief to spare her beloved pony from the First World War.

And now the note from Freda Hewlett to Lord Kitchener is to become the centrepiece of an exhibition revealing the true stories behind Steven Spielberg’s new Hollywood blockbuster War Horse.

Greater Manchester’s biggest bus firm is being hauled before the industry watchdog after a probe into the punctuality of its services.

Bosses from First will appear before the region’s traffic commissioner, Beverley Bell, at her office inWigan on Monday.

Estate agents would no doubt call it ‘compact’ or ‘bijou’ – but neighbours of a 14ft wide house think it’s the thin end of the wedge.

Work on the detached home – one of the narrowest in Britain – has begun after it was given planning permission by Manchester council.

Motorists have been warned not to leave cars running to defrost them after a rash of ‘frost-jackings’.

In the latest incident, a BMW X3 was stolen from a driveway in Rochdale on Friday morning.

A little girl has travelled to America for surgery which she hopes will make her dream of dancing with her twin sister come true.

Isabella Platt, four, was born with cerebral palsy and is unable to walk more than a few steps.

A murder investigation has been launched after a man was found dead at a house.

Police were called just before 2pm today following reports a man had been assaulted at a house on Lower Bamford Close, Middleton, near Rochdale. 

Five must-read stories from the Manchester Evening News website 

A nurse arrested then freed over the poisoning deaths of patients at Stepping Hill Hospital has lost her appeal for her job back.

Rebecca Leighton, 28, from Stockport, spent six weeks in jail after being held by police. 

A man has been charged after racist abuse was shouted at players during Manchester United’s game with Stoke City on Tuesday.

Stewards were alerted during the Old Trafford match that a United fan in the north stand was shouting abusive comments towards Stoke City players. 

A rapist broke into a woman’s home and attacked her at knifepoint as her toddler daughter slept.
 
Landriston Macanda, 24, of Bank House Road, Blackley, has been caged indefinitely by a judge who told him he had subjected his victim to ‘every woman’s nightmare’. 

The mercury fell to -7.7C at Woodford near Stockport, according to the Met Office. At the same time it was -7C at Manchester Airport and -3.8C at Hulme Library.

And forecaster say it could be a degree colder tonight before temperatures fall with a good chance of heavy snow from Saturday lunchtime.

Police began looking for Robert Vincent, 30, after his fingerprint was found on a Wiseman Dairies bag containing shotgun cartridges at the scene of a firearms raid in Wythenshawe.

When they caught up with him at Wiseman’s Trafford Park site, where he had worked as driver for several years, he was found with keys to a locker. There, in a portable strong-box, was a Glock 26 handgun, two magazines and 143 bullets.

Anthony McDonagh, 21, and pals dragged their helpless victim into the middle of the road and punched and kicked him unconscious after they had been out drinking.

A total of five men took part in the attack that followed, raining blows on the victim until he passed out.

The Manchester United defender has been quick to rule himself out of the running to replace John Terry, who was stripped of the armband today.

The FA announced that Terry would not skipper his country until after his July 9 court case where he is accused of racially abusing Ferdinand's brother Anton. Terry denies the charge. 

A derailed train has blocked the West Coast rail line between Manchester and London, causing major disruption for commuters travelling to and from the capital.

Manchester will be home to a new £45m centre to research wonder-material graphene.

The ultra-thin substance - which has the potential to revolutionise computers and electronic gadgets - was discovered by two Manchester University professors who later received the Nobel Prize.

The Health and Safety Executive confirmed its investigation is complete – more than a year after the explosion flattened a number of houses in Irlam and left one woman seriously injured.

It follows 14 months of forensic analysis and interviews.

Residents and councillors in Openshaw West say they are sick of losing out on important funding which could transform their homes.

The estate – which takes in more than 300 homes and stretches from the Ashton Canal down to Alan Turing Way – is on the doorstep of Manchester City’s massive Etihad campus.

Little Millie Burke left her grandad in deep water when she volunteered to do a sponsored swim. After recently gaining her 50m badge, the nine-year-old was expected to complete a couple of lengths of the 25m pool.

Her proud grandad, Ian Jones, sponsored her £5 a length and was left speechless when she broke into double figures – then kept going for an amazing 80 lengths.

Firefighters failed to spot a blaze victim’s body after a series of mistakes – but they could not have saved his life, a coroner has ruled.

Danny Holt, 33, was discovered behind a sofa by a police officer at his Eccles home after fire teams said no one was inside.

Shahnaz and Alias Ahmed have always been the perfect match. Not only have they been married happily for 32 years but Shahnaz has now given Alias the ultimate gift of life – her left kidney.

Alias, a 57-year-old taxi driver, had been on dialysis after kidney failure for more than five years.

David Talbot, 22, has been left with a 10-inch scar around his face after being stabbed outside the K2 nightclub in Manchester city centre in the early hours.

Probation chiefs are set to oppose gangster Domenyk Noonan’s latest bid for freedom, we have learned.

The 47-year-old is currently behind bars in Strangeways awaiting a parole hearing. He was arrested amid the August disorder in Manchester last year and recalled to prison – even though an investigation into whether he was a riot ringleader was dropped.

Celia Hodkin is to become a mascot at Manchester City at the age of 88 after waiting decades to fulfil her ambition, having made her first visit to Maine Road as a nine-year-old in 1933.

We can reveal children’s services chiefs have drawn up proposals to keep the centres open.

But the cuts mean plans to end council-run daycare for under-fives will go ahead. Instead, there will be an outreach programme that will see every family of a newborn visited at home by a council worker, who will stay in touch until the child is three.

I think that all cycling on major arterial roads, especially at peak periods, should be outlawed on pain of jail, writes Andrew Grimes. 

Patients are 16% more likely to die if they are admitted to hospital on a Sunday than a Wednesday, and 11% more likely to die if they are admitted on a Saturday, a major review of NHS data has found. 

A two week festival promoting peace and community cohesion is celebrating its tenth year. Peace Week will run across south and central Manchester for the final time after a decade of events.

A 28-year-old man was beaten up and bundled into a car by four men in front of terrified shoppers at Fallowfield retail park during an attack in broad daylight.

The money, intended for a pension funds account, was transferred into Mark Rafferty’s name by Oldham-based Auto Battery Services, weeks after his contract came to an end.

Pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca, which has sites at Macclesfield and Alderley Park in Cheshire, said today that it will axe 7,300 jobs by the end of 2014 as part of a fresh round of cost savings.

The company, which has 61,000 staff globally of whom 8,000 are in the UK, axed 12,600 positions between 2007 and 2009 and removed another 9,000 roles by the end of last year.

Manchester United have slashed Liverpool's allocation for next weekend's Premier League clash at Old Trafford by almost a third, the M.E.N. can reveal.

In what may be considered a tit-for-tat move Reds bosses have cut the number of tickets given to their Merseyside rivals for the Saturday showdown from 3,100 to 2,100. 

Budding stars of stage and screen will have a chance to follow in TV talent show winner Danielle Hope's footsteps when Andrew Lloyd Webber auditions for Jesus Christ Superstar in Manchester.

Danielle, 18, from Urmston, landed the lead role of Dorothy in Lord Webber's production of the Wizard of Oz when she won the public vote in the last series of his TV talent show.

Coronation Street bad boy Terry Duckworth is set to make an explosive return to the cobbles, bosses have revealed today.

The wayward character, played by Salford-born actor Nigel Pivaro, will arrive back in Weatherfield this spring, unaware that the son he sold is now living on the street.
 

Britain is braced for snow this weekend as bitterly cold weather continues to grip the country.

The cold snap has seen daytime temperatures plummet four or five degrees lower than average for February - traditionally the coldest month of the year.
 

The two-week Irish extravaganza, now in its 17th year, brings more than 200 events – covering everything from music to literature, film to sport – to scores of venues across the city.

Organisers expect more than 200,000 people from all over the world to visit for the events connected to the celebration, between Friday, March 2 and Sunday, March 18.

Low-paid women workers including cooks, cleaners and lollipop ladies have finally won a battle for fair wages.

The case, which has dragged on for years, set Bury council against hundreds of its staff.

Tanned toned bodies, glamorous models and posh nightclubs could be making their way north – as Manchester’s answer to the hit TV show TOWIE.

TV bosses are making a new fly-on-the-wall drama, following residents and community leaders as they go about their lives for the next six months. And it is more likely to be a few pints in the Embassy, sun-starved bodies and your typical northern lass that feature in the Harpurhey version.

The stars came out to take in hit musical Oliver! staged at the Palace Theatre. David Henry gives his verdict on the performance ...

A fire brigade boss has given a heartfelt apology to a grieving family after an inquest heard his officers had failed to spot a body in a house.

Watch Commander Andrew Roughley told the hearing that ‘mistakes’ had been made. But he said his firefighters were ‘good men’ who would ‘run through brick walls to protect the public’.

Hate crime against Jewish people has rocketed in Greater Manchester, it has emerged.

There were 244 anti-semitic incidents over the last year – the highest ever recorded and more than in London which has a Jewish population six times the size of Manchester.

Town hall chiefs have been forced into a second year of huge savings after the government reduced its grant by a total of 19.6 per cent.

Council bosses said they had worked hard to minimise the impact of the cuts on the weakest members of society. But they said the sheer scale of the savings required meant it was impossible to protect them altogether.

Jordan Watkins, 17, has set his sights on a high-flying career after being spotted in action on the internet by a Hollywood talent agent.

Jordan hopes to go to the US to make his name in advertising campaigns, music videos – and even films.

Restaurant and bar group Living Ventures today said it will be investing around £1m to create Manchester’s first Michelin-starred restaurant in the heart of Spinningfields. 

Pensioners have been left without heating and toddlers have had playtime cancelled after thieves stole copper piping from a church hall.

The metal was wrenched off the outside wall at St James’ Church Hall, Gatley, Stockport.

A beauty therapist has told of the terrifying moment she was attacked by a ‘grunting’ masked raider as she locked up her shop.

Tracey Jayne Cropper, 38, says that as well as the trauma of the attack, she is now struggling to work as the thief took her handbag, which had her appointments diary in it.

A speed limit of just 20mph is set to be introduced in all non-major residential roads in Manchester.

The plan has received cross-party backing among city councillors – and town hall bosses will now draw up detailed proposals, saying it will help cut accidents.

Bob Bibby, 69, the former leader of Bury council, says he is being accused by police of accepting a cash bribe of £10,000. But he told us he had done nothing wrong and would vigorously fight the allegations.

Coun Bibby, and senior Bury Tory councillor Jim Taylor, who also denies the claims, were both arrested on suspicion of corruption in a public office during a series of police raids.

Metrolink will offer two-for-one tickets every Tuesday in February as part of a month of discounts to entice people into Manchester.

Tram bosses have agreed to the deal on tickets into the city centre bought after 6pm using a special voucher.

Fraudsters have targeted a hospital in a bid to cash in on a new lottery. A conman made a phone call to a member of staff on a ward at the Royal Oldham Hospital and told them the ward had won £20,000 on the ‘Health Service Lottery’.

TV madam Lillian Tyler shows she really is Shameless as she recreates a cheeky poster pose for Sport Relief.

Actress Alice Barry - who plays the Chatsworth estate's vice boss - bared her bum to update a timeless saucy Athena pin-up.
 

The Co-operative Group today promised to recruit 800 apprentices this year – half of them in Greater Manchester.