06/05/2014 BBC Newsline

report from South Africa, on the impact of the long-running Oscar

Pistorius murder trial. Now it's time

Good evening. 15 extra nursing staff have been brought in to the

Emergency Department at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast tonight

to deal with an increase in the number of people looking to be

treated. The Belfast Trust has told us additional beds have also been

made available to try to ease what it calls "significant pressure". At

one stage around 100 people were waiting to be seen by a doctor.

That's now down to 70. At the moment there are 19 people on trolleys. One

patient waited for 11 hours to be admitted. In January a major

incident was declared at the hospital before extra staff had to

be called in - but the BBC understands this evening is not on

the same scale. The Chief Constable has rejected allegations by Sinn

Fein that the arrest of Gerry Adams was the work of a "dark side" within

the police. Matt Baggott said questioning the motivation or

impartiality of the police was unfair and inappropriate. There's

some flash photography in this report from Vincent Kearney. Gerry

Adams was released on Sunday night, four days after what his party

claimed was a politically motivated arrest. A short time later he

criticised those behind the decision to detain him. It is the old guard

using the old methods, those who authorised this didn't make the

right strategic decision. Last week, Martin McGuinness suggested Sinn

Fein could withdraw its support for the police because of the actions of

what he called the dark side of the PSNI. There is a section of the PSNI

who have a different agenda. A negative and destructive agenda, to

both the peace process and Sinn Fein. The Chief Constable today

defended the actions of his officers. In a statement, Matt

Baggott said the accusation of a dark side within the PSNI is one he

refutes. He said questioning the motivation and impartiality of the

police was unfair and inappropriate. The Chief Constable said the arrest

and questioning of Gerry Adams was legitimate and lawful, and that it

would have been wrong to treat him differently to any other citizen.

The statement said the police are tasked with following the evidence

without fear or favour in accordance with the law, and that the PSNI will

continue to do so regardless of any undue pressures. The First Minister

today said the DPP would have tried to exclude Sinn Fein from the

assembly. We would not be slow in bringing forward a motion for

exclusion, and if Sinn Fein had not corrected its position, that motion

would have gone down. Peter Robinson is also seeking a meeting with the

Chief Constable over reports that the Sinn Fein president is unlikely

to face any charges unless new evidence emerges. . A woman in her

80s has died in a car crash in County Down. It happened in

Rathfriland this afternoon when her car was in collision with a lorry on

Downpatrick Street. The woman who died was from the area. Her name

hasn't been released yet. Police officers have been meeting community

representatives and councillors to discuss recent hate crimes in

Belfast, and are reviewing the number of patrols in some areas.

Helen Jones reports. Loyalist East Belfast, and another attack on a

Polish family. I run half past 11 last night a 27-year-old man who

lives here look to the sound of breaking glass. He says he saw three

hooded men smashed the windscreen of his, before running off. I have been

speaking to the man who owns the property, he lives here with his

mother. He pays the mortgage and taxes and works in Lisburn. He says

he is very scared, he has nowhere else to go because he owns that

property. The PSNI held a meeting today to address concerns.

Representatives of the Polish community, politicians and other

interested parties were there. Many of the companies employing Polish

people could not manage without them. They have brought such

wonderful skills to our economy and have contributed vastly. It is

scandalous what is happening, it must be stopped. Words are no longer

enough important issues that require a very significant response. I think

everyone needs to decide that this is not good enough. These attacks

are not helping the image of an area which is trying hard to move out of

the shadow of the Troubles. I want it to stop happening. We are trying

to create a welcoming community for everybody to live in, to work in and

to visit, and it doesn't make that a good place to be. There has been a

70% increase in the number of racially motivated attacks, it is

estimated. There is growing speculation that an American company

will be facing itself in Northern Ireland and making airline seats.

Two men from Northern Ireland have been jailed for smuggling nearly

200,000 litres of alcohol into the UK. 55-year-old Kieran Patrick

Hughes from Portadown, was sentenced to six years and 44-year-old William

Canning, from Ballykelly, was sentenced to 27 months in prison.

They were found guilty of faking paperwork using details stolen from

legitimate companies. -- There's growing speculation that a US

aerospace firm which employs more than 800 people in Kilkeel is up for

sale. B/E Aerospace says it has hired an investment bank to advise

it on a possible sale or merger of the firm. The County Down factory

makes aircraft seats. The train and bus company Translink has announced

that its new Chief Executive is to be David Strahan. He was previously

the Managing Director of Phoenix gas and replaces Catherine Mason who was

Northern Ireland's highest paid public service official, earning

just under ?200,000 a year. The Assembly welcomed it's newest MLA

today. Independent Claire Sugden took the seat once held by the late

David McClarty. Miss Sugden worked with the former Ulster Unionist at

Stormont. Mr McClarty retained his seat as an independent in the 2011

Assembly election after leaving the UUP. Miss Sugden told Stormont Today

that she didn't see herself joining a political party. Thomas Kane got

some coaching from Stephen Roche, the only man to win this was the

just race from Ireland. Do you have any debts? Just hanging. Even though

the road looks intimidating just take it at your own time and place

and you get there in the end. The important thing is to enjoy it. This

was only a small section of the route that the professionals will

write during the Giro d'Italia but every incline seems never ending.

-will ride. As it went on my legs became heavier and every revolution

of the pedal was tougher and it felt like the finish line would never

come. It did not help that I was with the group of riders that took a

wrong turn, adding a few more painstaking miles to the journey.

Always find out where you are supposed to go! As the rest of the

pack and Stephen had broken away far into the distance I was starting to

struggle more and more. There were no records broken but eventually at

one time after the majority of the group I arrived at my final

destination. --and a long time. The scenery was beautiful and the

weather was beautiful but as a non-cyclist that was one of the

toughest things I have ever had to do. And to coincide with the pink

theme of the Giro race many places have been changing colour. We got

these pictures this evening of the giant cranes at Harland and Wolff in

Belfast. It will be reasonably dry here

overnight and temperatures holding up in most places. Tomorrow it looks

like we're in for another fairly rainy days you will need to keep the

umbrella handy and the food on the back of your court will be more up

than down, I suspect. It may be drive when you are leaving home and

you may see some brightness for a time, especially in parts of County

Antrim that overall it will be quite cool and cloudy. The rain bullocks

then eased into northern England and Scotland --will extend east. It will

be a cool and breezy day for Northern Ireland with more rain than

not and temperatures will struggle to get to around 30 degrees in areas

and the rain will only slowly stop towards the latter part of the day.

It will stay and settle through the rest of the working week and weekend

and through Thursday and Friday we have heavy showers and some fairly

blustery winds as well. On Saturday and 80 of low pressure bring