18/12/2016 BBC Newsline

we are back with the late news at 11.00pm.

Good evening and welcome to BBC Newsline.

The police are investigating an alleged assault on the Sinn Fein

MLA Gerry Kelly in Belfast city centre last night.

The incident took place on Gordon Street in the Cathedral Quarter

The police confirmed that a man in his 60s received

A 21-year-old man has been arrested and is still in custody.

Gerry Kelly, who represents the north Belfast constituency,

says he has made a formal complaint to the PSNI.

The Strangford MLA Jonathan Bell has been suspended from the DUP.

Last Thursday, he gave a television interview during which he accused

DUP advisors of delaying his plans to close down the flawed

This afternoon it said that it supported the need for a speedy

resolution to the issue and would support the motions of officials to

reach the conclusion. This morning paper will have made

interesting reading for the major players in this political drama,

Foster and Bell. The fallout from his interview with Stephen Nolan

continues daily. The party have now suspended him or allegedly speaking

to the media without permission. In a separate development, a series of

allegations have been made about his behaviour by two female and three

male colleagues. His solicitor declined to comment. Tomorrow the

action switches to Stormont, where a DUP and other -- motion is in place

to call on the leader to step aside. Arlene has a job to do, she's not a

quitter, she's not going to run away from her responsibilities as some

would want her to do. She is up for the challenge, has nothing to hide,

as made it absolutely clear that she will give full disclosure. But Sinn

Fein want Arlene Foster stepping aside. They haven't made it clear

whether they will accept the exclusion motion. It has been asked

that she step aside until the report can be made, but the motion tomorrow

is about excluding her for six months. As is traditional, it seems

Christmas and political crisis go hand-in-hand here. Tomorrow focus

will be on Arlene Foster as she faces her biggest test as First

Minister. The Northern Ireland electricity

supplier Open Electric has gone into administration

and had its licence revoked. All its customers have automatically

been moved to Power NI. Open launched in August

2015 and had about 1,100 domestic customers,

less than 1% cent of the market. Customers have been

assured there will be Open Electric is a small firm. We

have seen a number of new suppliers come into the market over the last

18 months, and that is good, we want a healthy competitive market but

they came into the market when wholesale gas prices were low and we

have seen increases in those gas prices over recent weeks, the

regulator having been monitoring all the suppliers and all prices and

this small supply has just found it very difficult as prices have gone

up to maintain its position in the market.

Ulster have lost their crucial European Champions Cup tie away

to Clermont-Auvergne by 38 to 19, despite a spirited second half

comeback against the French side. Gavin Andrews reports.

In a near carbon copy of last week public game between the sides

Claremont got off to a flying start. What a step from the world club

runner. It was 21 nil by by half-time. Ulster struggled with the

French giants. The second half started with Clermont confirming

their bonus point with a drive. Lesser teams may have crumbled at

that point because they came back at the French with a second-half

revival. It continued as Ulster rumbled over and the hosts were

suddenly rattled. Both the right back into it! A penalty try and a

yellow card for Paddy Jackson and did Ulster resistance, and with two

bonus point wins in their remaining games there are hopes of a final

rest upon them. The Black Santa charity

sit-out is underway outside The charity fund raising event

is in its 40th year and so far The Dean - who is in his sixth

year as Black Santa - is hoping to raise ?200,000

by the time the sit-out Not only has it become past of

Belfast tradition the actual amount of money is also assisting a great

number of charities, and so it is a tradition and it is important from

that point of view but it is also important that we maintain it

because they charities are receiving a lot of money and the generosity of

the people of Belfast is also being represented by it.

Good evening. This time next week it will all be over but you may be

listening to some wild winds outside your house because it looks like

we're in for a very windy weekend next weekend. Wyatt 's delight, dry

and frost free largely but some damp drizzle by the end of the night by

the west. , but improving for the second half of the day. Here is

Wednesday, cold, blustery, sunshine but also showers. By the end of the

week, this area of low pressure threatens some very windy weather

for Friday the Christmas weekend and possibly some disruption to travel.

Stay tuned to the forecast as looks like we will be reacting to the

weather. Wet and windy spells, turning colder, some snow on the

hills but also some very windy conditions at times. Tomorrow

morning, then, dull, damp, drizzly. Some rain on the hills but nothing

too serious in the forecast. If you are travelling, fog could affect

areas for southern Britain at a time. Bits and pieces of rain and

drizzle at times, brightening up from the west lunchtime onwards and

hopefully most of Northern Ireland will cheer up with some sunshine

before the day is finished. It is then pretty clear and frosty on

Monday night with even some fog in places on Tuesday morning. Not a bad

start to Tuesday, wet and windy rushing in from the west, that's the

first weather system this week. It clears to leave the bright, blustery

conditions before Wednesday. Sunshine but also some snow on the

hills. Our next BBC Newsline

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