25/01/2016 BBC Newsline

Last night's rioting in Lurgan has been described by the police

as an orchestrated, intense and prolonged violent attack.

A shot was fired and more than 100 petrol bombs were thrown at officers

during several hours of trouble in the Lake Street area.

The police had been there because of a security alert,

which has since been declared a hoax.

A mixture of easily influenced young men and bewildered old men

who do not realise the world has moved on.

That is how the top police officer described the people who threw

petrol bombs at police for more than five hours.

The people who are behind this have no ideology.

In many respects they can be compared to Isis.

It is the people in their own community who are suffering

The security alert that lured police into the area is just the latest

in a string of incidents, each one coming with a price tag

running into perhaps tens of thousands of pounds.

The police officers who were absorbing petrol bombs

and paint bombs and were at one stage the target of a live

round of ammunition ought to be chasing after burglars

and dealing with domestic abuse and keeping the roads safe.

There is the greater cost of this society.

For evacuated residents and inconvenienced commuters,

This happens on a regular basis in this area.

This afternoon, there was an uncharacteristic slip

by the robot of the bomb disposal team.

But police officers said the attackers

will not be allowed to derail society.

There will be more political reaction to the unrest in Lurgan

on Good Morning Ulster Tomorrow morning.

The police say a gun recovered in Strabane was a powerful military

type rifle that was going to be used to try to kill officers.

The Justice Minister has praised the local police for their work

Police released photographs of the military style assault

It was fired with ammunition during an investigation

The rifle was taken away by police during a security alert on Friday

For any of us to think that that sort of weapon

is in existence and circulation on our streets.

I welcome the fact that we have been able to remove it.

It does show the success that the police operation is having

People who would have such a weapon and are

solely intent on killing people and causing harm to the community.

The Justice Minister appealed to the PSNI.

What we need to see is the continued united response against it.

Until we see this kind of success on the part

Critics say they have nothing to offer a society that does not

A lower speed limit in the centre of Belfast will come

The 20 miles per hour restriction is aimed at improving road safety.

As BBC Newsline's Mark Simpson reports, some believe it will lead

Traffic around the city centre in Belfast is about to slow down.

The new 20 mph zone concentrates on the

Looping round the City Hall and going as far as the Cathedral

and right past the Castle Court shopping centre.

But it is a relatively small area and doesn't

include other traffic hotspots, so what is the verdict

on the new restricted zone from road users?

It is probably quite sensible because 30 miles an hour is too fast

if you hit a pedestrian or something like that.

It is going to cause a lot of problems.

30 mph is the normal speed so what genius decided to bring

Roy Gordon is the Road Service manager for Belfast.

A taxi driver said what genius thought of this?

We do not see this as an anti-car measure but as a pro-pedestrian

Research shows clearly that a pedestrian

struck at 40 mph is 90% likely to be killed.

But at 20 mph, the chances of that are reduced to 10%.

When you look at the new restricted zone, it is pretty clear that it

will take a lot of getting used to, whether you like it or not.

For example, this road behind the City

Hall is now 20 mph when this one close by is 30 mph.

To try to help drivers, there are lots of shiny

Most of them are already up but the new speed limits won't be

enforced until Sunday.

Two men accused of taking part in a plot to smuggle in cannabis

valued at nearly ?20 million have been granted bail.

They are Wenjie He, who's 38, of no fixed address in Newtownards

and 31-year-old Jaizhu Cai, with an address at Dunleath Drive in

Prosecutors claim the men were involved in smuggling the drugs

They were arrested in March last year.

The Attorney General has lodged an appeal against a high court

Last month a judge, Mr Justice Horner, said

Northern Ireland's legislation was incompatible with

He said women who are the victims of sexual crime and cases of fatal

foetal abnormality are entitled to exemptions in the law.

Abortion is banned here unless the woman's life is at risk

or there is a permanent or serious risk to her mental

The Taoiseach has warned that if the UK decides to leave

the European Union it could cause serious difficulties not just

for the Republic but for Northern Ireland.

Enda Kenny was speaking after meeting the Prime Minister

From our perspective, it would create serious difficulties for

Northern Ireland. We don't want to see that happen and we work on the

positive end of this. Ireland associated with that, North and

south. A senior judge has accused

the government of failing to properly resource delayed

inquests into almost 100 deaths He also said some of the excuses

offered by state agencies for the lack of progress

were preposterous. Lord Justice Weir is carrying out

a major review at Laganside Courts Terence McDaid was gunned down

in front of his family in 1988. It was claimed he was

murdered by a UDA gang in a case of mistaken identity,

based on information given In court, they said the cases

could not be worked on at the same time but Lord Justice Weir said

they could if they were adequately He said the only thing that stopped

them being worked on was the absence of resources on the government

provides those resources. The judge is also looking

at the case of Gerard Slane, who, like Mr McPake,

was shot at his home and also by the UDA, in a killing also linked

to the agent Brian Nelson. The barrister for the family said

resources may not be the only issue The QC said there was a history

of the MoD and police obstructing enquiries

into investigations on state agents. Lord Justice Weir

is set to recommend which ones can go to inquest

when he completes his 10-day review. Our older citizens have got used

to not paying for their TV licence. A bill to reduce the number of MLAs

at Stormont was granted passage today. It proposes to reduce the

number from 108 to 90 and 2021. You can see more on that at Stormont

today at 11: 15. BBC is considering if it's now time

for people aged over 75 to give to its cost.

a voluntary contribution Our Arts Correspondent Robbie

Meredith has been getting reaction It is a popular leisure and past

time but providing free TV licences People over 75 get the ?145.50

licence fee paid for by the government but

they are looking for the BBC to cover that instead

and that will cost ?650 million. They are looking for over 75s

to volunteer paying the money It is just another move that

usually are continuously. When there is money required,

always go to the weakest Yes, there are some people

who could afford to pay it and whether they do so is up

to their conscience but why did they take it on if

they cannot afford it? It is something older people

will be worrying about now. A recent report from the Institute

for Fiscal Studies said that pensioners were

increasingly well off. Some have second pensions

and supplementary income and have We are not dealing with

the community where the word Many could afford to

pay the licence fee, just as many could afford to pay

for public transport and not use It is uncertain how much pensioners

will want to give up what is a free The bill for the BBC is only

going to get bigger, however. The weather is next.

Yesterday, Aldergrove had its warmest January day since records

began in 1927, reaching 14.1 degrees. Still have some mild spells

this week but not as mild and there will be chillier snaps interspersed

and also unsettled spells of Wayne -- rain. We have had quite a gusty

wind today. Through the night, but wind picks up further as the next

weather system approaches. This is a reference of the snowstorm which

affected America but no snow for us, just wet and windy weather and that

is how we go into the start of tomorrow. Not very pleasant on the

roads, a lot of surface water and sprayed through the morning rush

hour and it looks as though that persistent and heavy rain could

linger right through rush hour. That wet and windy weather affecting many

parts tomorrow across the Republic of Ireland, the south-west of

England. Heavier pulses of rain across north-west England and into

the West of Scotland. They could be some flooding issues again. It will

be damp as times and breezy. For Northern Ireland, come the

afternoon, things are mortuary. We should see some brighter spells with

highs of 12 or 13 degrees. Showery rain starting to edge in and another

batch of wet and windy weather coming in on Wednesday morning and

early morning is in place. Our next BBC Newsline is at 6:25am

during Breakfast here on BBC One.