A STRETCH of the A12 has just been reopened to traffic following a fatal collision earlier today (Wednesday). A man died at the scene of the single vehicle crash near Blythburgh after the car he was in left the road and entered a field.

A MAN has died after a single vehicle road traffic collision on the A12. The emergency services, incluiding the air ambulance, are currently at the scene of the collision at the A12 in Thorington, near Blythburgh, which happened this lunchtime (Wednesday).

BRIT award-winner Florence and The Machine is among the headliners at this year's Latitude Festival, it has been announced. The pop and indie songtress will play the Obelisk Arena on the Friday night when the event returns to the Henham Park Estate, Southwold, for a fifth year, from July 15-18.

NEARLY 80 communities in Suffolk have lost their post offices in the past eight years, latest figures have revealed. Rural campaigners say the loss of local branches has come as a major blow to many villages, with a quarter of Suffolk's post offices having closed in under a decade.

Two Norfolk women are proud to be an inspiration to others on No Smoking Day - both having successfully kicked the habit after more than 50 years. Joan Plummer, 67, of The Staithe, Belton, near Great Yarmouth, began smoking at nine when her mother gave her a cigarette to calm her nerves when she had her ears pierced.

A replica of an 1879 locomotive that served passengers in Suffolk for half a century is being built in Southwold and each component can be sponsored - from the whistle to a 2ft6 driving wheel.

Fire chiefs were urged to think again on plans to cut the level of cover in Norfolk amid fears lives would be put at risk and the impact of proposals for thousands of new homes in the county had not been taken into account.

Brit Award winners Florence and the Machine have been named as one of the headline acts at this summer's Latitude Festival. The critically-acclaimed band, led by songstress Florence Welch, will take centre stage at the festival along with fellow headliners indie pop band Belle and Sebastian, New York indie rock quartet Vampire Weekend, and Australian electric music duo Empire of the Sun.

POLICE are trying to trace the driver of a van which failed to stop at the scene of a collision with a pedestrian today (Tuesday). A man was hit on the head by a wing-mirror as he walked near the job centre in Clapham Road South, Lowestoft, shortly after 2pm.

A VIRTUAL tour of Suffolk will be available through just one click of a mouse. From Thursday, all towns and villages in Suffolk and Essex will be on show on the Google Street View website, which offers 360-degree photographs.

A new report has revealed that two competing supermarket plans for Halesworth would both have been refused by councillors. The news comes after Tesco and Anglia Regional Co-operative both lodged appeals against Waveney District council after the local authority had failed to make a decision on their plans months after both applications were submitted.

Villagers who objected to plans to build 100 new homes on the outskirts of Lowestoft have taken their official complaint to Westminster. Last summer, people living in Ullswater in Carlton Colville, near Lowestoft, sent an official complaint to the local government ombudsman about the way in which Waveney District Council made the decision to grant planning permission for the 70 houses and 30 flats being built by Persimmon Homes.

Kathryn Bigelow might have been the biggest winner at the Oscars - becoming the first woman to win the best director statuette - but cinema bosses in the region are also celebrating after having a bumper year despite the recession.

A HARD-working volunteer who has spent the last 30 years keeping the hands of time turning in Wangford has proved he has no intention of slowing down. At 82, Eric Stockdale is still as keen as ever to continue his role winding up the clock at Wangford church, and the twice-weekly trip up the clock tower's 32 steps has served to keep him fit and agile.

FIREFIGHTERS spent several hours tackling a large fire at a former Aldi store in Suffolk last night (Monday). Four fire crews were called to the former Aldi store in Commercial Road, Lowestoft, at just after 9pm.

TEACHERS claim they are being placed under huge stress because of the way middle schools are being reorganised in Suffolk. Two middle school teachers facing redundancy under a move to a two-tier school system in Suffolk say the reorganisation is making teachers “physically and mentally ill”.

A CONSTRUCTION firm has been fined after admitting damaging the habitat of endangered newts while building a hotel. Work on the Travelodge hotel on Leisure Way in Lowestoft came to a standstill in spring 2008 when great crested newts, which are protected by law, were found living on the site.

FIRE crews were called after a motor scooter caught alight in Lowestoft. At 5.26pm yesterday (Monday), firefighters from South Lowestoft Fire Station were called to the woods at Princes Walk in Lowestoft, after receiving reports of a motorised scooter on fire.

IT may currently be the toast of Tinseltown having picked up six Oscars - but The Hurt Locker has come in for stinging criticism from a Suffolk-based war correspondent.

PREVIOUSLY secret MI5 files have revealed how the chief of police in Suffolk was ordered to keep an eye on a group of Hitler Youth teenagers cycling through Britain.

Teenagers living in the most isolated parts of Norfolk have been given an education boost after the government handed more cash to the county to help them travel to study the new 14-19 diplomas.

The matriarch of a Brazilian acrobat troupe which has entertained large crowds at Great Yarmouth's Hippodrome Circus in the last year has died in a horrific crash on the A11.

THE organisers of a stock car and supertstox meeting at Great Yarmouth in which a marshal was injured during a two car collision on Sunday have launched an inquiry into incident.

As the fight to secure high speed internet access across Norfolk and Suffolk continues, Hayley Mace finds out that there are lessons to be learned from a community project which has boosted internet access in the rural north west.

SWIMMERS in Waveney will make a splash for charity as they complete the Swimathon 2010 challenge at Bungay Pool and Gym. The event, on Saturday April 17, will help to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Care and The Swimathon Foundation.

SMOKERS interested in quitting are being urged to use No Smoking Day as their moment to stop. Health bosses from NHS Great Yarmouth and Waveney are inviting anyone thinking of quitting to contact their Stop Smoking Team and begin their journey as a non-smoker.

Transport chiefs in Norfolk and Suffolk have launched an investigation after it emerged that roads re-surfaced last year are already in need of repair because of the icy weather.

Immigration officers from the UK Border Agency found seven illegal workers during a raid of two Chinese restaurants in the Great Yarmouth area on Thursday.

NEW research shows thousands more people a year could be affected by dementia in Suffolk in the future - costing £40 million extra to care for them. Officials say the cost of helping people suffering from the disease could rise from the current £26m a year to £64m annually in the next 18 years.

Jobcentres, tax offices, coastguard stations, driving test centres, courts and prisons across the Eastern region face disruption today and tomorrow as up to 15,000 civil servants take part in a 48-hour strike.