01/11/2013 BBC Newsline

changes to grading and assessment. That is all from the

Good evening, the headlines on BBC Newsline...

Tony McCoy moved a step closer to 4,000 winners today, and he

after more discussions on flax, parades and the past, the chairman

Richard Haass is still in optimistic mood.

I continue to believe there is still a real chance of achieving

meaningful progress. There is some good news for Ulster

Bank staff today, but what does the future hold in six months?

A former SAS member reflects on the changes here since his time as an

undercover soldier in the 1980s. More than one week on the run - the

last of the elusive monkeys from the Belfast zoo is finally caught.

Tony McCoy moved a step closer to 4000 winners today We'll hear from

the Champion jockey. And did

It's all change in the weather - after a beautiful day for much

Northern Ireland today, wind and rain are on the way for the weekend.

Richard Haass says he believes there is a chance of meaningful progress

as he tries to resolve the problems over flags, parades and the past. He

chaired talks with the five Stormont Executive parties today as the

process ends its first stage. Dr Haass revealed his team has received

about 400 submissions to its online consultation. He will return in a

fortnight, when negotiation will start to replace consultation.

Here's our political correspondent, Gareth Gordon.

After another week grappling with Northern Ireland's passed through

London, Dublin and back to Belfast again, Richard Haass has appeared

again, perhaps uprising the optimistic. I continue to believe

there is a good chance and a real chance of achieving meaningful

progress. What that might look like is yet to

emerge, but already there are suggestions that should agreement be

reached, some of the parties are in favour of a referendum. There is the

issue of involving, to quote, the people, the citizens of Northern

Ireland, and there is an array of potential ways of doing that, from

informal consultations, which in -- political figures do as a matter of

course, to something more structured and formal.

I am not prepared yet to... Speak about that definitively. It is also

not my call. It is only the second time the five executive parties have

met Dr Haass around the same table, but already his optimism appears to

be rubbing off on some. I think that some of the meetings

have been surprising. Sometimes you are left with something you

discussed some time ago and you still think that is the way it will

be. I find that interesting. I don't want to go into that, but I think it

interesting. I find a lot of people speaking about this have found it

helpful, as well. It is all about moving on. Are you more optimistic

than you were when it started? Honestly, yes.

I think that all of the parties, including those with low ambitions,

are more beginning to heed the voices from outside saying will you

get your act together? I think the responsibility for the

failure of this process rests not with Richard Haass but with the

political parties gathered at the table who bring the wants and needs

of the community to the table with them.

Unionists struck a note of conflict -- caution. We have laid down very

clearly to Dr Haass the basic principles, and they offer us the

kind of bottom line is we need to see in a process that will

comprehensively deal with what is a very troubled past.

People are being somewhat cagey at the moment. Quite a lot of

submissions have come in from the wider public and I am a shaming Dr

Haass is trying to make some sense of where everyone is coming from. We

have to be realistic, I am sure there are some of those submissions

that are diametrically opposed to each other. Dealing with the past is

probably the most difficult part of Dr Haass's agenda and today he spent

more than two hours with victims right across the spectrum.

There cannot be a sense that one narrative is more valuable or

important than another. Everybody's experience is important and

everybody's narrative counts. Richard Haass, who will leave for

the US tomorrow, was asked if the process was wearing him down?

Does it look like it is! ? Everyone has agreed real negotiations have

not begun but the process should speed up when Richard Haass returns

to Belfast in two weeks time. Ulster Bank says it is going to

continue doing business but is undertaking a comprehensive review

of its operations. There had been questions about its future. The

Chancellor considered breaking up its parent company, RBS. But now

there will be no change to its structure, although the Ulster Bank

will have to consider its size and shape. Our economics and business

editor, John Campbell, reports. Ulster Bank has been under a cloud,

with huge property losses, and IT crash and in recent months questions

about its future. The Chancellor was considering breaking up the parent

company, the state owned RBS. That would have created two banks, one

good, the other full of bad loans. That may have led to radical changes

at the Ulster, but what has been decided is less dumb Attic Tash and

internal bad bank to manage dodgy loans.

-- it is less dramatic - and internal bad bank. That allows the

team at company Micro to focus on what it should be doing, lending to

its Irish customers. Will the customers notice any

difference? The final batch micro-finance minister says

stability is important for the local economy. It is very reassuring, in

any case. Hearing that the Ulster bank is here to stay and will

continue to do his business, yes there are details we will have to

look at as they are worked out in the months ahead, but by and large

this is good news for Ulster -- Northern Ireland. Ulster Bank got a

lot wrong in the boom years. It loaned one company more than ?30

million to buy this site. The firm is bust and the site is worth one

fraction -- a fraction of the loan. Ulster Bank already has a unit to

manage assets like these, but the new bank will speed up the pace at

which they are sold off, even meaning bigger losses.

That worries one former finance minister. We will have a fire sale,

probably prices knocked down. That will affect people not in --

negative equity in the moment. Ulster Bank staff have had a tough

you years, with job losses and customer anger over the IT fiasco.

-- a tough few years. Now there is to be a review that will mean more

changes and maybe more cuts. There will be sizeable relief amongst many

staff today. The parent company has made a firm

commitment to keep doing business, but with another review under way it

will be six months before we know the size and shape of the bank into

the future. A sixth person has appeared in court

in Glasgow charged with conspiring to murder loyalist paramilitaries.

It is alleged that John Gorman, 56, acted with five others in planning

to murder Johnny Adair and Samuel McCrory. He was also charged with

conspiring to commit acts of terrorism. He was remanded in

custody. Detectives investigating the murder

of David Black have appealed to people living in Lurgan and

Cookstown for help in tracking down his killers. The prison officer, who

was from Cookstown, was shot dead on the M1 as he drove to work at

Maghaberry Prison a year ago today. The police say the Toyota Camry car

used by his killers was in Lurgan the night before the shooting. Two

men face charges linked to buying and moving the car.

The Policing Board says The Policing Board says it will be

reviewing the appointment of the PUP's The BBC understands that the

review will centre on a declaration members make on appointment to those

partnerships. The declaration states that a Policing and Community Safety

Partnership member will not by word or deed support a proscribed

organisation or acts of terrorism. You're watching BBC Newsline, and

still to come before 7pm... The game is finally up for Roxy, the

last of the six escaped monkeys from Belfast Zoo.

I got him on the phone straightaway and said, you have a monkey in your

garden! He said, you are winding me up!

As England faces radical changes to the GCSE exam system, there is a

warning that hard-won grades of students in Northern Ireland could

be seen as second class. A teachers' union says because of that grammar

schools may want to choose the English exams rather than the local

ones. Earlier, our education correspondent, Maggie Taggart, told

me more about the changes. These changes will affect three

subjects firstly, English language, literature and mathematics. There

will be no module in the English exams, no tears for weaker pupils

and the grades will be 1-9, not A* to C.

How will that affect Northern Ireland? Northern Ireland plans to

stay much the same at the moment though they are not ruling out big

changes. The problem is one third of students

in Northern Ireland go to university in England, Wales or Scotland, and

that means universities are choosing pupils on the grounds of exam

results. There is a worry that if these English exams are seen as more

robust Northern Ireland exams will be undermined. There will be

pressure on schools, and one union says it wants to know that it will

have the freedom to go for the English exam board if necessary.

What is the Department for Education's opinion? The department

is very aware of the responsibility of undermining the Northern Ireland

exam board results. When I asked I got no definitive answer on whether

schools would be able to use the English board exams in the future.

The Minister has previously said he currently sees no reason to

discourage an open market, but to my mind that is not a wholesale

agreement. The problem is that come if some Northern Ireland schools go

for the English exam boards, which are seen as more robust, that could

damage the reputation of the exam and the schools which do not go for

those. The irony is that some Northern Ireland have in the past

one for the English board is because they have been seen as easier to

score a good grades in. And if you have an opinion, that

consultation continues until the 20th of December.

A former SAS soldier who was involved in numerous undercover

operations during the Troubles has been talking about that time. He

says, while there are still problems involving dissidents and ideology,

he believes the vast majority of people here are focused on getting

on with their lives. BBC Newsline's Mervyn Jess reports.

Is the last time this former SAS soldier walked down Royal Avenue he

was probably carrying an army issue weapon under his jacket. Since

then, Andy McNab has become one of the best-known members of these

secretive -- the secretive special air service. The millionaire author

is you're promoting his latest book, a sequel to bravo to zero. Despite

his fame, he still keeps his identity under cover. Basically, it

is to do with the operations conducted in Northern Ireland. When

I got into the SCSI was part of the special ear service contingent here

in the province. Then I came back as an intelligence group, which is a

group documented as undercover qubit -- operations. It is just being

sensible. There have been two credible death threats over the

years. There will be a controlled explosion

in two minutes, over. During the 1970s and 1980s he was

involved in firefights with the IRA on the border and undercover work.

How did he view the enemy at that time two first of all, we called

them players, not the enemy. Whoever we were operating against.

Certainly, if I was a kid in a Bogside, in the Creggan, any of

those estates, I would have joined the IRA, simple as that.

Culturally, it is somewhere you would go. But I was not, I was a kid

coming out of a housing estate in South London. I landed up joining

the Army. I could understand what was going on. The more involved I

got in the darker side, where there was no ideology, it was all about

power, drugs, guns and money. As he strolled around Belfast today, he

took in the enormous changes, at least architectural it.

There are still problems, but there are problems everywhere.

-- at least architecturally. There are still going to be two sets of

ideology or posed to each other. It is early days and there are a

couple of generations to go before the troubles of the past four

gotten. -- before the troubles of the past are forgotten.

There's plenty more to come on the programme - Gavin Andrews is in

Antrim for us. Northern Ireland's Netballers are looking to make their

mark here as hosts of an international tournament. More

shortly. The last of the six monkeys that

escaped from Belfast zoo is back in her enclosure.

It was a nice ripe banana that coaxed Roxy to stay put long enough

in a nearby garden to allow a team from the zoo to tranquilize and

catch her. Martin Cassidy reports on the return of Roxy the runaway

monkey. A final few moments of freedom, but

after two weeks in the wild, Roxy's adventure was about to end in a

garden near the zoo. I give it a couple of bananas, the poor thing

was obviously hungry. Then the guys from the zoo came and unfortunately

shot it in its backside with a dark and put it to sleep. Incidentally,

it just pulled the dart out and threw it away. It knew what it was

doing, I figured that seen them before.

How did they get it down? Well, it fell asleep in the branches and once

it actually keeled over and fell asleep they had to get their nets

and poke the branches until it dislodged it. This has been the most

wanted face in Belfast, not so much behind bars again as back home safe

and sound. She had a dark, she is recovering

from the anaesthetic at the moment. -- she had an anaesthetic dart.

Tomorrow she will be back with the trip and Elaine extra week she will

be allowed out in the packet -- paddock again. -- early next week.

What a cheeky monkey, turning the city upside down and now just making

faces. After a fortnight out in the cold,

Roxy looks to be happy back in the warmth with a plentiful supply of

food. Living wild was OK, but now fresh

food on demand and a roof over her head seems a good idea. Roxy has

decided to have a weekend in. Halloween is a time when people

dress up as ghosts, monsters and witches. An eight-year-old in County

Antrim, though, was told he was too scary for his primary school disco

and he was sent home. Claire Millar went to meet him.

Children can sometimes be known as Little horrors, but for Chad Morris

that phrase became all too real. On the final day of term last week, the

children were allowed to dress up for a Halloween disco. I decided to

dress up as a zombie. I decided to put pyjamas on, because if I was not

really in pyjamas it would not look like it was that scary, but I didn't

want it to be too scary. The school had sent a letter to parents in

advance which said there are children who may be frightened by

scary costumes and there are also family is uncomfortable with the

idea of Halloween celebrations. The school asked nor one where

anything which may cause offence to anyone else.

Chad Morris's mother thought it was a bit extreme.

The school could have rallied around and thought if it was too skinny to

let him take off his make up and attend.

-- if it was too scary. I was upset and frustrated, because

there are not many discos in schools.

I felt really left out. Today, no one from the school was available

for comment. There were plenty of strange-looking

characters at the big Halloween Festival in Londonderry last night.

An estimated 30,000 people travelling from near and far turned

out for the carnival and fireworks display. Our North-west reporter,

Keiron Tourish, was there for us. Around 600 people spent months

making floats which captured the imagination of the huge crowds

lining the route. Fantastic, where else would you want to be tonight?

It is brilliant, buzzing, so it is. It is brilliant, so it is.

It is brilliant to be in Derry, you cannot beat Derry for higher --

Halloween. People watch the first ever

performance of a new feature called in thermal.

-- Inferno. The council said that increasingly more visitors are

coming to enjoy the celebrations. Absolutely fantastic, we came all

the way from Dublin. The atmosphere is great, loving it.

You have travelled from Fermanagh, and it is incredible for Derry to

turn on this show for us tonight. It is fabulous.

The PSNI said that 17 arrests were made during the evening.

Four were for Russell is that were not of a serious nature. The

remaining 13 arrests were mainly for disorderly behaviour.

The police described the evening is very successful. -- four were for

assaults that were not serious. By all accounts it was a successful

night in Derry. Next, a successful jockey who isn't just a champion,

but is aiming to achieve what no other has in the sport. Tony McCoy

from Moneyglass was on home turf adding to his wins. Gavin Andrews

can tell us more at the Antrim Forum.

First of all, the Northern Ireland netball 's are warming up behind me

ahead of the game with St Lucia tonight at 7pm. A decent turnout for

this international tournament. In a moment I will be speaking to

the Northern Ireland captain, but first the great JP McCoy was back at

down Royal today for the first time in five years.

-- a P McCoy was at -- AP McCoy was at Downroyal.

Earlier this week, Downroyal was mooted as a possible venue where

money could be placed and one on this man reaching a remarkable

number of wins. That was not possible today, but the

star attraction cruised to victory in the feature race.

Tony McCoy's last winner was in 2008 at Downroyal.

I was on Jezki today, a very good horse, but he did the job

professionally. It is nice to be back home, I have not ridden here

for five years. That is just the circumstances of my job. It is nice

to come back. I am not sure how many days I will be back in Downroyal,

but it is nice to be back here. He will not achieve it at home, but the

18 times champion jockey has his 4000th win on his mind.

It is something I will be very proud if I am able to achieve that sort of

number. You take it day by day if you are a jockey, you only have to

look at other jockeys to realise if you take it day by day -- to realise

you have to take it day by day. Hopefully in the next few weeks I

will be lucky enough to ride another eight winners.

When number 4000 is just ate a way as Tony McCoy celebrates win number

3900 and 92. -- 3992. Only a matter of time.

The Northern Ireland women have had a good start in the netball

tournament, beating Botswana yesterday, Saint Lucy as tonight and

tomorrow is Barbados. With me is the captain, how big is

it for netball to have this tournament here two we have

qualified for the Commonwealth Games next year so this is a massive

opportunity to play against different countries.

We are used to play against Scotland, Wales, England every

year, whereas this is an opportunity to play Caribbean and African

companies, where it is a different type of netball. It has been a good

opportunity for us in the build-up to next summer, which is the main

target this season. There is a big boost to watch the

Commonwealth, there is a big new coach, how is that going? Yes, Kate

Carpenter, it is great to have someone full-time in the post. She

is not just coaching but doing a lot of background stuff in netball and

pushing us further, making us think about the game and we are learning a

lot with her. It is a great opportunity for us. What happens

between now and the Commonwealths next year?

Well, hopefully we will have more competitive opportunities. There is

nothing organised yet but we are hoping for a couple of tools away

places -- a couple of tours away. Sport Northern Ireland has put more

funding behind us and we have more opportunity for that now.

Also next May it is the world qualifiers for the Sydney World

Championships in 2013. 2015, sorry. We are looking forward to that as

well. Quickly, how is your injury? Not too bad, coming along, hopefully

I will be back after Christmas time, that is my focus now.

Gemma Gibney, thank you for joining us.

Let's move on to the rest of the sport, and golf first.

Rory McIlroy is in a tie for second place after a frustrating second

round level par-72 at the World Golf Championship event in Shanghai. He

is now five shots off the lead, with Graeme McDowell a shot further back.

Were it not for a few wobbles on the back nine today, it could have been

so much better for McIlroy. Just one of those things. I don't

know, I just hit a couple of bad shots and even I guess I let it

affect me a little bit. Then I started to doubt myself sometimes

and didn't hit a lot of quality shots on the back nine.

Now to rugby. Ulster Head Coach Mark Anscombe has made eight changes to

his side for tomorrow evening's Pro 12 game against the Scarlets. Eight

Ulster players are away on international duty, but Andrew

Trimble and Roger Wilson were released by Ireland for the game.

international duty, but Andrew Trimble and Roger With Johann Muller

out injured, Jared Payne is named as captain. Michael Allen returns to

the wing with Darren Cave and Chris Farrell paired in midfield. Ruan

Pienaar moves from scrum-half to out-half with Paul Marshall starting

at nine. In the forwards, Rob Herring is at hooker while an

all-new second-row features Lewis Stevenson and Neil McComb. And Nick

Williams returns at number eight. The game is live on the BBC Sport NI

website. In Gaelic Football, the standout

fixture of this weekend's Ulster Club Championship quarterfinals sees

current holders Crossmaglen take on the Down champions Kilcoo. The game

is a repeat of last year's final, which Crossmaglen won by six points.

There's live coverage on BBC Radio Ulster medium wave from two on

Sunday. As for local football, sports sound

is near at 2pm from tomorrow, and all the goals are on Final Score

tomorrow at 5pm. Here from the netball it is Northern

Ireland against St Lucia you at 7pm. All of the games are over this

weekend at 3pm and I think you should come down and have a look.

Now to the weather forecast, and I think indoor netball might be a good

idea. Good evening. After what has been a

lovely day for many parts of Northern Ireland today we have a

chilly night ahead. Clear skies today mean the

temperatures drop off sharply tonight. In fact, as we go through

this evening, don't be surprised to see the overnight low hovering just

above freezing tonight. Definitely on the chilly side tonight. Then it

is all change come Saturday. The reason for that is a low pressure

system heading in our direction. That will bring rain and strong

winds across Northern Ireland on Saturday. Here it is heading in our

direction, straight at us. It is going to be pretty unpleasant. All

that rain and some really strong winds swirling around it, too.

Because the law is tracking right across Northern Ireland there will

be a point where, when it is on top of us, the winds drop out a little

bit and it will feel less literary ice blustery, but as it continues

its journey to the North Sea we get some very strong winds following on.

Look at the wind speed gauge in the North Channel, because on Saturday

evening at the Irish Sea coasts could see gusts up to 70 mph. A cool

night, not quite as cold as tonight but still pretty chilly. If you are

near the coast I think you are going to need more than an I love the

North Coast T-shirt because it will be quite blustery. Sunday is a

better day, dry, still on the chilly side with highs of eight or nine

Celsius. As we head into next week, Monday at least is not looking like

a bad day. Make the most of it. If you are travelling by ferry

tomorrow I would contact your operator.

Our next news is at 10:25pm here on BBC One. Whatever you are doing this

weekend, have a good.