18/10/2016 BBC Newsline

Join me now on BBC Two, 11.00pm in Scotland.

Around 100 workers at the clothing chain Exhibit could lose their jobs

as it's been put into administration.

The firm says it has been hit by a significant change

Our economics and business editor John Campbell has more.

This was the Exhibit store in Belfast's Castlecourt

It has a total of 14 branches across Northern Ireland.

It operated in the intensely competitive world of

The HNH Group, which is acting as administrator, said Exhibit had

suffered from a general downturn in trading conditions

and a significant change in consumer spending patterns.

Around 100 jobs are now under threat.

These members of staff worried about getting paid.

I don't think I'm in the worst position, to be honest.

I can get on by that, but our managers have got houses

When you've got a kid coming up to Christmas,

I am kind of stuck for things like that.

I'll just have to look for another job.

The number of people employed in retail has actually been

rising over the last year, and some new brands have

But with more shopping being done online and consumers

demanding bargains, it remains a challenging environment.

A murder trial has heard that a knife was held to the throat

of a man whose body was later found in a bin.

The claim was made on the first day of evidence by a woman

who is jointly accused of the murder of Owen Creaney

Shaunean Boyle is charged along with Stephen Hughes.

They're blaming each other for the killing.

Half of the ?40 million in funding that was supposed to be spent

cutting hospital waiting times was spent elsewhere

The figures were given to the Assembly, as BBC

It's a topic we've covered extensively on BBC Newsline -

patients facing excessive waits for treatment.

Last November, the then Health Minister Simon Hamilton announced

?40 million would be spent to get some of those waiting lists down.

We are well down the line of planning for this.

Some people will start to get notifications

The appointments and the assessment survey will be going

But figures from the current Health Minister

show a big chunk of that money went elsewhere.

?25 million was spent reducing waiting lists across the board

but a further ?18.5 million went to various other areas

including GP out-of-hours and independent care homes.

Time and time again, cancer waiting times have been

We've heard the words "disappointed" from Minister Wells in 2015,

"silence" from Minister Hamilton in last October's debate, and,

last week, "shock" and "regret" from Minister O'Neill.

When, after all those condemnations of the service

that they are leading, will they turn from words to action?

The 6.7% of women presenting with potential breast cancer

with an urgent referral, 6.7% of those are in

the Southern Health trust and have had that referral

But the DUP largely defended the service.

Do I believe that there is a deterioration in

I believe we have one of the best systems in the world,

The Health Minister questioned some of the statistics in today's debate

but admitted there's more work to be done.

I have never stood in this House and said they are perfect.

There is a recognition right across the board

that we need to tackle this and deliver better

outcomes for people, that is the job for Government.

The fact that not all of the money earmarked

for waiting lists was spent where it should be will be of little comfort

to those hoping they'll get treated soon.

A letter from the Prime Minister in response to one from the First

and Deputy First Ministers on Brexit was at the centre of a row today.

It was made public on BBC Radio before being

Our political correspondent Enda McClafferty reports.

For more than six weeks, Stormont has been waiting and waiting

Today, we learnt that letter has finally arrived but not everyone

I would like you to rule on the issue of whether it is

appropriate for important documents that will have influence on debates

in this Chamber to be released to the Assembly first, rather

than to The Stephen Nolan Show this morning, as was the letter

And this is what Steve Aiken was talking about.

When the DUP's Gavin Robinson was challenged

by the SDLP's Sinead Bradley about the long-awaited letter

Gavin, perhaps you could ask for a reply from the letter.

We have got a reply from the letter, Sinead.

Could you tell the people of Northern Ireland?

I don't read your post, Stephen, and I don't read Sinead's so I wouldn't

read the letter to the First Minister.

That letter from Theresa May arrived at Stormont on Friday but yet no-one

told the opposition parties as they debated in the chamber

yesterday as to why Northern Ireland should be given special status

It definitely isn't good enough, Mr Speaker, to send a letter

in August to the British Prime Minister and

Little did he know that reply was sitting upstairs on a desk.

Today the First Minister sought to clear up the confusion.

We then had a discussion with the Secretary of State, but

unfortunately for you there is no big mystery in all this.

It is very straightforward and as I say it is now

Much of it we have heard before, but we now have a commitment

in writing from the Prime Minsiter to ensure the continued free

movement of people and goods across the island of Ireland.

But the opposition parties say they are less than impressed

Whatever the circumstances of how this letter landed here at Stormont

the fact is that it provides little comfort for those

Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness will be looking for a much more when

they meet Theresa May in Downing Street on Monday.

The former Alliance Party leader and Justice Minister David Ford has

been removed from his role as an elder in his local

He clashed with the congregation over his support for

For 30 years David Ford was a ruling elder of this rural

County Antrim church, but now, although he remains

an elder with the wider Presbyterian church,

he will no longer be an influential member of Second Donegore.

His support for same-sex marriage caused the rift and the congregation

It's clear from his written statement that David Ford is upset

at the downgrading of his position in the Presbyterian church, and it

is also clear when he talks about for a difficult years that the

conflict has been going on for some time, in spite of his appeal to the

Presbyterian church's highest authority.

People arriving for a bowling club were reluctant to comment,

but one said the former Alliance leader's stance

He had to step down if that was his choice then.

Mr Ford says church authorities have failed to promote healing and unity

in the church, but he said some members had supported

Thousands of householders have received an apology

from Belfast City Council for not being told about a change

Officials say human error was to blame for letters not

This street one of many to have its collection day changed

as part of a massive overhaul of bin lorry routes across the city.

Residents of this street knew about the change -

they'd received a letter from the council telling them.

The problem is that not everyone received those letters.

It's only because I listened to it on the radio this morning.

Then it was on Facebook again yesterday.

Did you receive anything from the council?

I put ours out yesterday and it wasn't lifted.

It's usually on a Monday that they come.

This is one of the letters the council sent out through

a contractor they had hired to deliver them.

Out of 160,000 households, more than 60,000 didn't get one.

Hundreds were found dumped in a skip.

It has all led to confusion and missed bin collections.

Many people turned to social media to complain.

We did rely on a contractor to do the letters.

All that has fallen below our expectations.

And a lot of people didn't get those letters.

First and foremost, I want to apologise to

We had mitigation in place, but this is much more significant.

Now I give more assurance that we will

resolve this situation as quickly as possible

Anyone still unsure about their bin collection day should check online

on the City Council website or phone the council on this number.

A French coroner has found that Munster Rugby's head coach,

Anthony Foley died after a heart condition which caused a build-up

The 42-year-old was found in his hotel room

His body will be returned home tomorrow.

Football, and in tonight's Danske Bank Premiership game,

Cliftonville kept Linfield from topping the league

James Knowles put the home side into the lead

But Paul Smyth got an equaliser for the Blues just after half time.

A few minutes later, Jay Donnelly scored the winner,

And in international football, Northern Ireland's under-19 women's

team were beaten 4-0 by France at the Ballymena

It was their first game of a mini warm-up tournament

which is being held at four local venues ahead of next summer's

The weather - after a cold wind and some showers today, there's

Angie Phillips has the latest forecast.

We had a chilly wind blowing today, particularly gusty towards the north

and north-east around the coast, where we had a few showers. The

breeze to ease a little tonight but still noticeable around the coast

and some showers feeding into the coast and the channel, but inland

it's drier with clear spells and quite chilly. We could get the odd

pocket of grass frost. Winds continue to ease tomorrow, it should

be a better day and a lot of dry weather and sunshine but still a few

showers, particularly during the morning in the north and east,

otherwise a fine start. For many parts of Britain and Ireland, a fair

amount of sunshine, lighter wind, a few showers on the west coast of

Ireland, the West of Scotland, inland it is mainly fine and sunny,

but different if you're under North Sea coats, still affected by the low

pressure soda will be showers rolling in, brisk northerly winds

making it feel chilly. Here in Northern and then, given to lighter

winds, similar temperatures to today that with a bit of sunshine it

shouldn't feel as chilly and we're looking at a largely dry story.

Through the rest of the week, apart from the risk of some patchy rain in

the west on Friday, it's nothing largely dry with some sunshine,

clear spells at night mean there's a risk of some and fog.

Our next BBC Newsline is at 6:25am during Breakfast here on BBC One.