:00:14. > :00:20.Good evening. This is BBC Newsline with Noel Thompson and Sarah
:00:20. > :00:23.Travers. The headlines this Wednesday evening.
:00:23. > :00:32.Crisis again at Northern Ireland Water as the chief executive says
:00:32. > :00:35.he wants to go. The public sector pension dispute.
:00:35. > :00:38.Three workers tell us why they feel ripped off by the Government.
:00:38. > :00:48.The new economic landscape brings hard choices for school leavers the
:00:48. > :00:58.these are going to mind up, so we need a good Korea to pay them off.
:00:58. > :00:58.
:00:58. > :00:59.The secret story of American troops in Londonderry during World War Two.
:00:59. > :01:03.Some of the world's top celebrities plus 20,000 screaming fans will be
:01:03. > :01:04.here at the weekend. Can Belfast handle it? Find out later in the
:01:04. > :01:07.programme. And we're halfway through the week.
:01:07. > :01:10.A busy weekend approaches - I'll have the weekend weather for you
:01:10. > :01:13.later in the programme. Just on the verge of winter, which
:01:13. > :01:15.last year brought so much disruption to our water supplies,
:01:15. > :01:17.Northern Ireland Water is about to find itself without a Chief
:01:17. > :01:20.Executive. Trevor Haslett took over in January
:01:20. > :01:23.when his predecessor resigned over the company's poor response to the
:01:23. > :01:25.crisis. Now, to the surprise of the board, Mr Haslett is saying he
:01:25. > :01:32.wants to go. Our Business and Economics Editor
:01:32. > :01:37.Jim Fitzpatrick is here. What is going on?
:01:37. > :01:44.I understand that he told the company last week that he did
:01:44. > :01:48.intend to resign. There has been no change in a position. That is where
:01:48. > :01:53.things stand. An emergency board meeting will be held as soon as
:01:53. > :01:57.possible. It is clear that he is going.
:01:57. > :02:02.Does he have a term of notice do workout? Well at the company be
:02:02. > :02:08.without a chief Executive at this most imported time?
:02:08. > :02:13.They are hoping that he will be in position during the coldest months,
:02:13. > :02:17.but that is not sure. The details have still to be worked out.
:02:17. > :02:22.What do we know about the reasons behind his decisions?
:02:22. > :02:29.I am speculating here based on people who know him. He is not
:02:29. > :02:38.being paid as much as the last chief Executive, probably about a
:02:38. > :02:41.half. He wants to work in private consultancy. It is a very tough job
:02:41. > :02:46.politically if you are the person in charge. Perhaps he thinks there
:02:46. > :02:52.is not enough reward for that responsibility. Storm that has
:02:52. > :02:58.brought NI Water under direct control. It is not an independent
:02:58. > :03:02.company. The problem they face is a recruiting a new chief Executive
:03:02. > :03:06.with pay rates that do not compare with the private sector.
:03:06. > :03:11.If he does go immediately, does that mean that major problems for
:03:11. > :03:18.the company in the months ahead? It does. And it means that the
:03:18. > :03:23.politicians who have chosen this structure have to take the
:03:23. > :03:32.responsibility to -- as well. I understand that NI Water there will
:03:32. > :03:42.begin at the recruitment. But any Uplyme it will have to be approved
:03:42. > :03:44.by the minister. -- but any appointment.
:03:44. > :03:47.Unions are warning that strike action over planned changes to
:03:47. > :03:50.public sector pensions could still go ahead at the end of the month
:03:50. > :03:53.despite an improved offer from the Government. Under new proposals,
:03:53. > :03:55.the retirement age will not change, but contributions are still set to
:03:55. > :03:59.rise. Health workers have told BBC Newsline they feel undervalued,
:03:59. > :04:01.even cheated by the proposals which will see some paying up to �800
:04:01. > :04:04.extra a year. Our Health Correspondent Marie-Louise Connolly
:04:04. > :04:08.reports. Health care workers are doing very
:04:08. > :04:16.different jobs, they have one thing in, however. The prospect of having
:04:16. > :04:21.to pay more into their pensions which made a late retirement. This
:04:21. > :04:25.woman is a health visitor. Her job means she is often the first point
:04:25. > :04:32.of contact for families in crisis. But she feels undervalued and let
:04:32. > :04:40.down by the government's plans. have been experiencing a cut in my
:04:41. > :04:45.pay. We had been on a pay freeze for two years. we are not
:04:45. > :04:54.anticipating a pay rise at next year. My pension contributions are
:04:54. > :04:59.set to rise by almost 26%. health service also employs a
:04:59. > :05:06.maintenance staff which keep buildings in good shape. In at 2004,
:05:06. > :05:13.a bonus payment of �3,000 was given to workers to attract them off the
:05:13. > :05:19.building sites and into the NHS instead. Plans to scrap that
:05:19. > :05:28.payment has caused ill-feeling. was the it to recruit and maintain
:05:28. > :05:36.our staff. With paying extra into the pension, I am good to have to
:05:36. > :05:41.work till I am 60 it. -- I will have to work until I am 68. The
:05:41. > :05:47.Prime Minister has announced that he will revise his initial offer.
:05:47. > :05:51.It means that those are due to retire in 10 years will not have to
:05:51. > :05:56.work any longer and will keep their existing final-salary schemes, but
:05:56. > :06:02.will have to pay more in contributions. Unions saying that
:06:02. > :06:12.does not go far enough. They say they will have to go back to their
:06:12. > :06:14.
:06:14. > :06:19.members. This man says he will have to read the proposal in full.
:06:19. > :06:26.fear we have been unfairly treated. Coming to the end up of my career,
:06:26. > :06:34.to make these changes seems unfair. It is also not necessary to make
:06:34. > :06:44.these changes right now. A around 1 million public sector workers are
:06:44. > :06:45.
:06:45. > :06:49.due to walk out in their strike. It could mean mums on rest for the
:06:49. > :06:52.government. An 80-year-old man has been tied up
:06:52. > :06:55.with cable during a burglary in Dundrod in County Antrim. A gang of
:06:55. > :06:56.masked men demanded money and ransacked the pensioner's home.
:06:57. > :07:00.It's not clear if anything was taken.
:07:00. > :07:02.A 31-year-old man has appeared in court charged with the murder of a
:07:03. > :07:05.man in Londonderry at the weekend. James Healey from Hollymount Park
:07:05. > :07:10.is accused of stabbing 56-year-old Christopher McGaughey in the
:07:10. > :07:13.Gobnascale area of the city on Sunday.
:07:13. > :07:16.The treasurer of the BNP Clive Jefferson, seen here with the stick,
:07:16. > :07:19.has denied helping to hold a woman against her will in a lorry in
:07:19. > :07:22.Comber and ordering her to falsify accounts. He was giving evidence on
:07:22. > :07:29.the final day of an industrial tribunal into claims by Marian
:07:29. > :07:31.Thomas that she was unfairly dismissed by the party.
:07:31. > :07:34.As A level students grapple with their university or further
:07:34. > :07:38.education application forms, they have double worries. What grades
:07:38. > :07:39.will they get, and will their degree get them a job when they
:07:39. > :07:42.graduate? There are worries that students are
:07:42. > :07:44.deserting some careers because of the recession. Our education
:07:44. > :07:54.correspondent Maggie Taggart has been in Magherafelt to meet some
:07:54. > :07:59.students. This college digs pupils with a wide range of abilities, but
:07:59. > :08:07.more and more of them are choosing to stay on to do A-levels. At this
:08:07. > :08:15.time of the year, the -- they are working on the applications for
:08:15. > :08:25.universities. Competition is set to be fierce this year. The recession
:08:25. > :08:29.
:08:29. > :08:34.has focused A-level pupils on job prospects. I was thinking of
:08:34. > :08:39.biomedical engineering. Thomas has decided to stay at school.
:08:39. > :08:49.recession has affected the family business. I thought it would come
:08:49. > :08:55.back to school. This girl has rejected a vocational degree.
:08:55. > :09:02.doing a business studies course so I can go down any line after that.
:09:02. > :09:08.It leaves my options open. Some of our students to do not want to go
:09:08. > :09:13.to university. They are quite happy to do an HND. It may take longer to
:09:13. > :09:17.get their degree in the end, but they will not have the same debt as
:09:17. > :09:22.someone going to university. economy may have improved by the
:09:22. > :09:26.time these young people start looking for work, but employers
:09:27. > :09:31.want to see well-grounded staff what ever their degrees. When you
:09:31. > :09:37.are looking, if you are not sure what area you want to go into, pick
:09:37. > :09:41.a degree that you are interested them but be very conscious of the
:09:42. > :09:51.employability skills that you need. My cull is determined to go for the
:09:52. > :09:54.
:09:54. > :10:04.subject he loves. -- Michael is determined. After the degree, you
:10:04. > :10:06.
:10:06. > :10:10.can do want to become a teacher. Still to come on the programme. The
:10:10. > :10:13.endurance cyclist looking for new mountains to climb.
:10:13. > :10:16.Transformations as homeless people help bring new life to this waste
:10:16. > :10:19.ground in north Belfast. Next year marks the 70th
:10:19. > :10:22.anniversary of the official arrival in Europe of the first American
:10:22. > :10:27.troops to fight in World War Two. They landed in Belfast docks in
:10:27. > :10:30.January 1942. But an advance party of US Navy personnel had been
:10:30. > :10:33.secretly working in Londonderry seven months before that. And that
:10:33. > :10:40.fascinating story is now going to be recorded for future generations.
:10:40. > :10:44.Here's our North-West reporter, Keiron Tourish.
:10:44. > :10:49.The American sailors and marines who arrived in Delhi during the
:10:49. > :10:54.Second World War led him two large camps are just outside the city.
:10:54. > :10:58.They were widely welcomed by the locals. The City it was
:10:58. > :11:02.strategically very important. One local heritage group wants to shed
:11:02. > :11:09.light on the huge network of facilities established by the
:11:09. > :11:19.Americans in the city during the war. There was an able dockyard --
:11:19. > :11:19.
:11:19. > :11:25.and naval dockyard, a storage facility, where houses. This
:11:25. > :11:33.building is now that Beech Hill Hotel. It wants provided
:11:33. > :11:38.accommodation for marines. They were helping to guard the base. One
:11:38. > :11:45.American researcher has been given special access to secret American
:11:45. > :11:52.files from 1945. The files and tell us who was here, the hundreds of
:11:53. > :12:00.ships that came, the social life, almost 25% of the men married women
:12:00. > :12:05.from here. There are letters from the men and women explaining why
:12:05. > :12:10.they want to get married. documents will form part of an
:12:10. > :12:17.archive there was almost lost for ever. It is a family history of the
:12:17. > :12:23.people of Derry and it shows that the interaction of the US military.
:12:23. > :12:31.There were almost 300,000 based here during the war. When I was a
:12:31. > :12:35.reading about it, I was quite excited. Big American names came to
:12:35. > :12:42.visit the men stationed here. Very exciting stuff and massive tourism
:12:42. > :12:51.potential. Planning for the new museum is well advanced. It is
:12:51. > :12:54.hoped to have it all up and running by next February.
:12:54. > :12:57.20,000 music fans are expected in Belfast for the MTV awards this
:12:57. > :13:00.weekend. Belfast is the smallest city ever to hold the awards, but
:13:00. > :13:03.MTV say the event on Sunday night is its most ambitious yet, with
:13:03. > :13:07.three separate venues involved. A- list celebrities and some of the
:13:07. > :13:10.top media executives in the US will be here, so just how prepared is
:13:10. > :13:20.the city? Our reporter Natasha Sayee is live at Victoria Square
:13:20. > :13:20.
:13:20. > :13:27.where they're planning for a very Retailers are planning for a big
:13:27. > :13:37.weekend. They hope the City will be really busy with music fans coming.
:13:37. > :13:39.
:13:39. > :13:42.20,000 are expected. Can we really They are coming. Some of the top
:13:43. > :13:49.celebrities in the world. Many of them have been here before but
:13:49. > :13:54.never all at once. The stages are almost set. The last details are
:13:54. > :14:02.being sorted and everything is getting the once over. Can Belfast
:14:02. > :14:07.do it? We can because we have done other major events. One day we had
:14:07. > :14:17.250,000 people here. We have the capacity and the skills and we can
:14:17. > :14:24.
:14:24. > :14:29.deliver. BVI P's are expected to arrive here on Friday night. People
:14:29. > :14:36.arrive from all over the world for the event. We have celebrities
:14:36. > :14:41.arriving by private jet and helicopters. All of the staff are
:14:41. > :14:45.going to keep an eye out for their feet -- favourite celebrity.
:14:45. > :14:51.this hotel, the finishing touches are being put in place for the
:14:51. > :14:59.arrival of the eight Lister's. Extra bottles of bubbly have been
:14:59. > :15:04.arriving. What else to superstars need? There will be off the wall
:15:04. > :15:11.products that we get in from America. Some people like the air
:15:11. > :15:21.conditioning to be at certain temperatures. They like the
:15:21. > :15:21.
:15:21. > :15:26.humidify air to be regulated. hotels know which celebrities they
:15:26. > :15:34.are accommodating that they can't tell us. The city is speculating
:15:34. > :15:40.about who will arrive where. brings a great burst to the city.
:15:40. > :15:45.Many celebrities coming. You may get Lady GaGa in the back of your
:15:45. > :15:55.car. You never know. Or would you do if you has Lady GaGa in the
:15:55. > :15:55.
:15:55. > :16:00.back? She can't sing! I would love her to come in and see us. There
:16:00. > :16:06.are some of us who still have our feet on ground. We are not living
:16:06. > :16:15.in the dark Ages, people are able to do their own thing. There are
:16:15. > :16:19.many moguls in this industry. They are welcome here. It is clear that
:16:19. > :16:25.the message from Belfast is, Bring It On. Tomorrow night, we have
:16:25. > :16:30.special coverage of the MTV awards. I will be live on stage at the
:16:31. > :16:37.Ulster Hall with one of Northern Ireland's biggest bands.
:16:37. > :16:42.You are having a great week Natasha. I insist that all the red Smarties
:16:42. > :16:47.are removed. Looking ahead, to tomorrow night,
:16:47. > :16:52.our environment Correspondent will be reporting from the secret tunnel
:16:52. > :16:56.that time forgot. It is almost a kilometre long and begin have to
:16:56. > :17:00.take an articulated lorry. It costs millions and we have been paying
:17:00. > :17:03.for it ever since. Fresh challenge beckons for two
:17:03. > :17:09.former Northern Ireland soccer players.
:17:09. > :17:14.Steve Lomas and Tommy Wright are set to join forces at Scottish
:17:14. > :17:21.Premier League side St Johnstone. Lomas will be his new manager with
:17:21. > :17:24.Wright as his assistant. Lomas had been reserve team manager at West
:17:24. > :17:28.Ham United and is said to be revealed as St Johnstone boss at a
:17:28. > :17:31.press conference tomorrow morning. Tommy Wright has resigned as
:17:31. > :17:36.manager of Lisburn Distillery to become his number two. He leaves
:17:36. > :17:39.the club after feeding them to their first silverware in 18 years
:17:39. > :17:44.last season. Less than two weeks ago, he was
:17:44. > :17:50.part of the New Zealand squad that won the Rugby World Cup. Today she
:17:50. > :17:58.touched down in Belfast. John Afoa is Ulster's big-name signing. He
:17:58. > :18:04.will make his debut at Ravenhill in three days' time.
:18:04. > :18:09.He is not here for the weather Bert John Afoa, Ulster's priority
:18:09. > :18:15.signing. He arrived in Belfast this afternoon. He helped to New Zealand
:18:15. > :18:20.to win the World Cup last month. He now has a new chapter in his rugby
:18:20. > :18:25.career. I am nervous. It is something and a new challenge. It
:18:25. > :18:31.is not my normal routine so I am playing in a new competition with a
:18:31. > :18:35.new team mates. If for you are expected to play on Saturday.
:18:35. > :18:41.much are you looking forward to that? I have a couple of friends
:18:41. > :18:46.that play in that team so we will be good to catch up and play. I
:18:46. > :18:52.want to strap on the books and have a runaround. Overall expectations
:18:52. > :18:57.of your time in Ulster? What is your name? I have to find my feet
:18:57. > :19:01.and play some good 40. Hopefully the club can do better than last
:19:02. > :19:07.year. With one of the world's best leading the way, Ulster supporters
:19:07. > :19:13.will be hoping that he brings that little bit -- a little bit of All
:19:13. > :19:18.Black magic to Ravenhill. Ulster is live on BBC2 this
:19:18. > :19:23.Saturday. It a couple of years ago we believe
:19:23. > :19:31.the cyclist who won the toughest I've raised. He will compete in the
:19:31. > :19:39.US Virgin -- US Virgin -- US version. He will ride 3000 miles in
:19:39. > :19:44.just over a week. Jo Barr will have just one hour's sleep a day.
:19:44. > :19:48.Jo Barr is a unique athlete, a former Commonwealth cyclist and in
:19:48. > :19:58.his fifties, he can push his body to places you can go. In winning
:19:58. > :20:03.the race around Ireland, event -- he wrote with just two hours' sleep
:20:03. > :20:08.each day. His latest challenge is more than twice as long and a
:20:08. > :20:14.career defining test. The reason I want to win in America is I can
:20:14. > :20:19.close the curtains and be happy with my life. I know there will be
:20:19. > :20:26.a point where I will want to stop, regardless of how determined I am.
:20:26. > :20:31.It is at that time that they come in with the information and I can
:20:31. > :20:35.ride safely and get me to the finish. I am confident we have the
:20:35. > :20:44.right people to do that. One member of his team knows what it takes to
:20:44. > :20:48.do the roads -- race. It is the quit -- equivalent of winning and
:20:49. > :20:53.climbing Mount Everest. You go to some level in saying that to win
:20:53. > :21:01.this race, you have to go to a really dark place. For people have
:21:01. > :21:10.to understand that. If you can win this, you become part of the
:21:10. > :21:16.toughest of the tough. That is not what it is about for me. If Ireland
:21:16. > :21:21.can come back and win the race across America, it would be nice.
:21:21. > :21:25.If we could win something that big going into 2012, it will be good
:21:25. > :21:31.for the country. There will be no Olympic medal for him but a win
:21:31. > :21:36.will be just as precious. We wish him well and we will let
:21:36. > :21:40.you know how he gets on. Darren Clarke, grey McDowell and
:21:40. > :21:47.Moray Racal relay along with Michael Hoey tee off in the early
:21:47. > :21:50.hours of tomorrow morning. -- Graham McDowell and Rory McIlroy
:21:51. > :21:56.Roy. Not quite as comfortable with a dragon in his hand and with a
:21:56. > :22:06.driver. Still smiling after winning over �1 million in Shanghai last
:22:06. > :22:07.
:22:07. > :22:11.weekend. There is lots more on Good luck.
:22:11. > :22:16.Allotments are becoming popular but few manage to win national awards
:22:16. > :22:19.in the first year. When volunteers took over ways --
:22:19. > :22:23.waste ground in Ballysillan, winning anything was the last thing
:22:23. > :22:28.on their minds. For much, it was a way of coping
:22:28. > :22:32.with life as growing vegetables. This is a tale with a happy ending.
:22:32. > :22:38.It is hard to believe that this place ground was turned into this,
:22:38. > :22:42.a working allotment. Today it is sprouting vegetables rather than
:22:42. > :22:47.weeds and rubbish. It nearly didn't happen and it wasn't just the
:22:47. > :22:52.plants that the volunteers had to deal with. We started working with
:22:52. > :22:55.volunteers from homeless hostels. We have to get through a lot of the
:22:55. > :23:02.stigma attached to homelessness. People have perceptions of what
:23:02. > :23:07.people are like. We did a lot of groundwork and site visits. We got
:23:07. > :23:11.people to meet face to face and broke down those barriers so
:23:11. > :23:21.everybody was made to feel welcome. The volunteers efforts ended up
:23:21. > :23:28.with them winning a national award. Today, it was weeding duties as
:23:28. > :23:33.usual but for volunteers like Tony, it is changed -- it has changed his
:23:33. > :23:41.life. I was unemployed for two years and I lived in a hostel. They
:23:41. > :23:47.offered me a placement at this allotment. We cleared the whole
:23:47. > :23:52.place out and got it back to that as you see it. I got my
:23:52. > :23:58.qualifications through the gardening. I did another programme
:23:58. > :24:03.and I got a couple of jobs over the summer. Despite his new-found
:24:04. > :24:12.employment, he still works alongside other volunteers there is
:24:12. > :24:19.always a lot to be done. Working on an allotment is hard work. I could
:24:19. > :24:24.watch it for hours! It has been a tough month for
:24:24. > :24:28.allotment owners with that of rain. Now we have a look at the figures
:24:28. > :24:33.Now we have a look at the figures on that rainfall.
:24:33. > :24:39.It is very fresh in people's memories. Last week, there was
:24:39. > :24:44.flooding in Northern Ireland. They have had short of 200 mm of rain
:24:44. > :24:51.this October. It is the wettest on record. Not everybody had the same
:24:51. > :25:01.amount of rain this month. When you average it out, it works out as the
:25:01. > :25:03.
:25:03. > :25:09.second wettest October. Things are going to dry up late in the week
:25:09. > :25:15.but fortnight and a time tomorrow, you will need to keep the umbrella
:25:15. > :25:21.handy because there is widespread rain. Some heavy bursts are likely.
:25:21. > :25:25.There is a strong gust of the South east wind. The rain does he's away
:25:25. > :25:32.by the end of the night. Temperatures no lower than 12
:25:32. > :25:41.Celsius. Mild enough to turn the central heating off. There will be
:25:41. > :25:45.some heavy showers tomorrow. Some of these will be lengthy. There
:25:45. > :25:55.could be Fender in places. Not everywhere will get the heavy
:25:55. > :25:56.
:25:56. > :26:01.downpours. -- there could be thunder. There will be the risk of
:26:01. > :26:07.some further downpours arriving later tomorrow afternoon and Bath -
:26:07. > :26:11.- tomorrow evening. Temperatures around 15 Celsius. Eventually goes
:26:11. > :26:15.heavy showers will ease away tomorrow night. Things are starting
:26:15. > :26:22.to dry up as we move into Friday. We have cooler temperatures
:26:22. > :26:32.tomorrow night and we are looking at one or two showers. A lot of
:26:32. > :26:32.
:26:32. > :26:39.places are try. Another nice day to look forward to on Friday. As we
:26:39. > :26:44.head towards the weekend, temperatures fall. A lot of the
:26:44. > :26:54.time it is dry, some sunshine around and maybe some frost in
:26:54. > :26:56.
:26:56. > :27:00.The headlines: The chief executive of Northern Ireland Water has said
:27:00. > :27:04.he wants to quit after less than a year in the job.
:27:04. > :27:08.On the day the Government made a new offer to resolve the public
:27:08. > :27:12.sector pensions dispute, free health workers have told us where
:27:12. > :27:17.they feel ripped off by the Government.
:27:17. > :27:21.For and as G20 leaders gather in can macro, France and Germany have
:27:21. > :27:27.given crisis ridden Greece an ultimatum. Add the you are in the