:00:19. > :00:26.Welcome to BBC Newsline. Here are the stories making the headlines
:00:26. > :00:30.tonight. As protests greet the opening of Northern Ireland's first
:00:30. > :00:35.private abortion clinic, we talk to one woman who travelled to England
:00:35. > :00:39.for a termination P If I stopped and thought about the unfairness
:00:39. > :00:45.and enjustice of it, it really really hurt, I felt very unfairly
:00:45. > :00:51.treated. Stormont's chief legal adviser calls for an investigation
:00:51. > :00:55.into the clinic's operation. Plans to store gas under Larne Lough get
:00:55. > :00:59.the green light. A final plea to the Treasury, but a decision on
:00:59. > :01:03.cutting corporation tax now rests with this man. Have Northern
:01:03. > :01:07.Ireland stopped the trend of players defecting to the Republic?
:01:07. > :01:11.Today this Derry City star says he now wants to play for Michael
:01:11. > :01:21.O'Neill. A warning still in force for outbreaks of rain, but it looks
:01:21. > :01:22.
:01:22. > :01:25.as if it will improve for the weekend. Good evening. Stormont's
:01:25. > :01:29.chief legal adviser has called for an investigation into the operation
:01:29. > :01:33.of the first private abortion clinic in Northern Ireland. The
:01:33. > :01:37.Attorney General's request came as the Marie Stopes Clinic opened in
:01:37. > :01:42.Belfast. Accompanyed by a protest. Marie Stopes says lit only provide
:01:42. > :01:46.abortions within Northern Ireland's strict legal framework. -- it will
:01:46. > :01:51.only provide. Even before the clinic had officially opened its
:01:51. > :01:55.doors to the public, the protesters were outside, making their
:01:55. > :02:00.opposition known. It wasn't a huge crowd of people, but those who had
:02:00. > :02:05.come, were clear about what they wanted. And some were looking to a
:02:05. > :02:09.higher power for help. Step to has done one thing, united communities
:02:09. > :02:14.for too many years who have been apart. That is a positive note. I
:02:14. > :02:17.am sure you will see a bigger and more crowds coming here, drawn from
:02:17. > :02:25.both sec sthoufpbs community. That is positive. But the best thing is
:02:25. > :02:32.to shut this place down. That was a view held by many. Some travelling
:02:32. > :02:36.from as far away as Omar. File they have no need to be here. There is
:02:36. > :02:40.enough to protect women and babies, and I feel that Marie Stopes has no
:02:41. > :02:45.place here in Northern Ireland. Marie Stopes feels differently.
:02:45. > :02:50.Even though women can get boar shouns the NHS here, in very
:02:50. > :02:53.limited circumstances, the charity feels there is a need for a place
:02:53. > :02:58.that offers determinations privately, and insists it will
:02:58. > :03:02.still only be providing them within Northern Ireland's strict legal
:03:02. > :03:07.framework. We know that for thousands of woman who come over to
:03:07. > :03:10.the UK, and to other parts of the Europe, and not just to Marie
:03:10. > :03:13.Stopes Clinics but to many others in England, there are some of those
:03:13. > :03:17.women, who would have been entitled to have had that care within
:03:17. > :03:21.Northern Ireland, but they didn't know where to go to, they didn't
:03:21. > :03:24.know who to talk to. This is not about increasing the numbers of
:03:24. > :03:28.term niefgs pregnancy in Northern Ireland, it is about providing it
:03:28. > :03:33.for the small number of people that will be eligible for it, within
:03:33. > :03:37.their own country. And concerns about the clinic weren't confined
:03:37. > :03:42.to just those standing outside the building. This morning, there was
:03:42. > :03:45.an intervention from this man, John Larkin t Government's most senior
:03:45. > :03:49.lawyer. He told a Stormont committee if it wants to
:03:49. > :03:53.investigation what Marie Stopes is doing, he will help with the
:03:53. > :03:57.process. And even cross-examination witnesses on the committee's behalf.
:03:57. > :04:01.-- cross-examine. Those behind the clinic say they have nothing to
:04:01. > :04:05.hide. So despite the opposition, Northern Ireland's first private
:04:05. > :04:10.abortion clinic is now open for business. The protesters say they
:04:10. > :04:13.will be back, but the charity Marie Stopes has asked others not to hold
:04:13. > :04:22.a counter demonstration, but to show their support in different
:04:22. > :04:26.ways. Now according to the Health Minister up to 50,000 women have
:04:26. > :04:30.travelled from Northern Ireland, to Great Britain for abortion, in the
:04:30. > :04:34.last 40 years. We have been speaking to two women about their
:04:34. > :04:39.very different experiences. Both ask we do not identify them, their
:04:39. > :04:43.interviews have been voiced by actresses. Every year, round 1,000
:04:43. > :04:48.women from Northern Ireland travel to England Wales for abortions.
:04:48. > :04:52.Sarah is among those who have made the journey. I felt quite dirty. I
:04:52. > :04:56.felt very ashamed of myself, I felt very disappointed in myself too,
:04:56. > :05:01.for getting into this situation. I wasn't long back from a few years
:05:01. > :05:06.in London, when I was there, these things were normal, and in my head
:05:06. > :05:10.it was normal, but when I was back in Belfast and found myself in that
:05:10. > :05:14.situation, suddenly it wasn't normal any more. It is a very heavy
:05:14. > :05:18.burden on the carry. It really does play with your head, and especially
:05:18. > :05:25.knowing that in the rest of the UK, it is OK, and here it is not, and
:05:25. > :05:32.it is not OK to speak about it. That stigma still hangs. I felt
:05:32. > :05:35.very, very angry. The fiscal and mental effect it has on me has been
:05:35. > :05:43.quite long-term. If I stopped and thought about the unfairness and
:05:43. > :05:47.injustice of it, it really hurt, I felt very unfairly treated. That is
:05:47. > :05:53.one story out of a possibly 50,000. But there are no figures for the
:05:53. > :05:58.number of women from here who have bought or buying abortion pills on
:05:58. > :06:02.line. However, Wendy is one of them. I looked on the web, because I
:06:02. > :06:06.heard you could get the abortion pills on line. There were so many
:06:06. > :06:10.sites and a lot of them don't give instruction, so I heard about women
:06:10. > :06:13.on the we, and they know exactly what they are doing, so they ask
:06:13. > :06:16.you to do through a series of questions before they mitt to
:06:16. > :06:20.helping you at all. The parcel arrives and it is unmarked. It
:06:20. > :06:25.doesn't say where it is from. There are no instruction, so nothing
:06:25. > :06:30.could be traced, and there is no information. It it is all online,
:06:30. > :06:33.you decide when you take the first ones, then you take the next 24-
:06:33. > :06:37.hoursings so you have a crisis situation, and on top of that you
:06:37. > :06:40.have to consider you are breaking the law, you have to make shoe you
:06:40. > :06:43.-- sure you have your story straight. If anything happened when
:06:43. > :06:48.I took the pill, if there was a haemorrhage, anything like that, I
:06:48. > :06:52.would have had to lie in hospital and say well say it miss carriage,
:06:52. > :06:56.so I think on top of a horrible situation, you have all of these
:06:56. > :07:00.other feelings of guilt, and secrecy and feeling you were doing
:07:00. > :07:04.something wrong, on top of your choice about it, so I think it
:07:04. > :07:08.needs to be more accessible and open. Both women say if they had
:07:08. > :07:16.had the support of services like those offered at the Marie Stopes
:07:16. > :07:21.Clinic, they would have felt less isolated, and less like criminals.
:07:21. > :07:25.Gay and unmarried couples are to be allowed to apply to adopt children.
:07:25. > :07:29.After a High Court judge ruled the current ban sun lawful. Mr Justice
:07:29. > :07:32.Tracy said that the rules unfairly discriminated against those in
:07:32. > :07:36.civil partnerships. The ruling brings Northern Ireland law into
:07:36. > :07:43.line with the rest of the UK. The Health Minister Edwin Poots says he
:07:43. > :07:50.will appeal the judgment. The challenge to adoption laws was
:07:50. > :07:55.taken by the nierlt Human Rights Commission. -- Northern Ireland.
:07:55. > :08:04.Still to come on tonight's programme. A call to ban fiical
:08:05. > :08:09.contact with visitors for prisoners caught with drugs. -- physical. A
:08:09. > :08:13.storage facility that could hold half a billion cubic litres of
:08:13. > :08:20.natural gas a mile below Larne Lough has been given the go-ahead
:08:20. > :08:23.by the planning minister. I am on the edge of the Loch and behind me
:08:23. > :08:28.is Ballylumford power station. In the future it could be using
:08:28. > :08:31.natural gas that has been stored in a series of caverns under the water.
:08:31. > :08:36.Stormont ministers told us today that the gas could be bought when
:08:36. > :08:40.it is cheaper, stored in the kaverns, and sold to suppliers when
:08:40. > :08:45.the import price is high. Kevin McGee can tell us more about what
:08:45. > :08:49.was approved today. Gas is normally stored above ground, but this novel
:08:49. > :08:55.technology aims to keep it a mile under ground in a series of
:08:55. > :09:00.resevoirs, ex ka Kateed from salt deposit well below the surface of
:09:00. > :09:03.Larne Lough. If built the well head would be here beside Ballylumford
:09:03. > :09:07.power station. The environment minister says it will mean more
:09:07. > :09:14.security of supply, as well as potentially lower prices. We are at
:09:14. > :09:20.the end of a very long pipeline, and if we have storage on the "for
:09:20. > :09:26.gas which is a green fuel, the better we are, in terms of energy
:09:26. > :09:29.supply, energy cost, and support for the customer. The idea is to
:09:29. > :09:34.create seven huge underground caverns or caves where imported gas
:09:34. > :09:39.can be stored a mile deep inside the earth's crust. Creating an
:09:39. > :09:43.energy bank from where gas can be extracted to meet demand. The salt
:09:43. > :09:49.deposits were crated millions of years ago when a sea evaporate and
:09:49. > :09:57.the salt was trapped between layers of rock. And this is what it looks
:09:57. > :10:02.like. It tastes like salt. And when this is dissolved it leefts an
:10:02. > :10:06.empty space. Any remaining salt forms a sealed cavity. The waste
:10:06. > :10:10.salt water will be deposited into the sea north of Islandmagee which
:10:10. > :10:14.has led to objections from environmentalists. There is with
:10:14. > :10:22.all major probgs and projects a serious environmental impact. We do
:10:22. > :10:26.not feel that the issue has been satisfy -- satisfactorily address
:10:26. > :10:31.by the planning service because there is a key objective to bring
:10:31. > :10:36.in investment. The petrochemical giant BP has committed �8 million
:10:36. > :10:41.to the development of the project, which could cost �400 million to
:10:41. > :10:46.complete. Test drilling is expected next year. With me is Paddy Larkin
:10:46. > :10:51.from the company behind the storage facility. Pady environmentalists
:10:52. > :10:55.have been most concerned about the salt debris that will come out of
:10:55. > :11:00.the cavern, that it will concentrate the salt content in the
:11:00. > :11:04.water and will damage the habitats here. How do you defanned that?
:11:04. > :11:08.is just salt that has come from the sea originally, so there is no
:11:08. > :11:13.particular nastys or anything in there It is highly concentrated.
:11:13. > :11:19.Yes, the sea water becomes much more salty and it becomes brine,
:11:19. > :11:26.then we discharge that, out into the other side of Islandmagee into
:11:26. > :11:29.the Belfast Loch end where the larger body of water and the tides
:11:29. > :11:33.disperse and dilute the brine back to, you know, very low levels of
:11:33. > :11:36.concentration. I know you have consuled with residents in
:11:36. > :11:40.Islandmagee, they have been voicing their condition Serb, in particular,
:11:40. > :11:45.when this is all in the construction period, and the
:11:45. > :11:50.disruption it will cause to their daily life. We have had a lot of
:11:50. > :11:53.dealings with the council and environmental wholth have placed
:11:53. > :11:58.re-- restrictions on the noise level, but beyond that we are keen
:11:58. > :12:03.to work with the residents on an ongoing bay to minimise the
:12:03. > :12:08.disruption. A project of this scale and size is inevitable there will
:12:08. > :12:13.be some disruption, but we are there to minimise that.
:12:13. > :12:17.planning permission has been given as Paddy said, if all goesing a
:12:17. > :12:23.according to ta plan this mo reject will be up and running in five
:12:23. > :12:27.years' time, in 2017. -- goes according to plan. The police
:12:27. > :12:31.investigating the circumstances surrounding the sudden death of a
:12:31. > :12:34.newborn baby girl in East Belfast. It is understood the infant was
:12:34. > :12:39.found in the boot of a car last night. Police have forensically
:12:39. > :12:43.examined the scene and the car was taken away. The results of a
:12:43. > :12:47.postmortem examination are being assessed. Business leader says
:12:47. > :12:52.allowing Stormont to cut corporation tax is the key to
:12:52. > :12:56.revieving our economy. Now we know it is the Prime Minister's decision
:12:56. > :13:00.about whether local politicians will get that power. It follows a
:13:00. > :13:04.meeting in London, between the first and demty First Minister and
:13:04. > :13:09.the Treasury. Early I asked our economics editor about the
:13:09. > :13:14.significance of the meeting. Well, it was never going to be a case of
:13:14. > :13:18.Deal or No Deal today, but we always anticipated we would get an
:13:18. > :13:21.indication of where it was going. The indications now are more
:13:21. > :13:25.positive than many of us thought beforehand. However, this is now
:13:25. > :13:30.simply the end game. This is where the real negotiation takes place,
:13:30. > :13:34.what they have agreed is an options paper which means they haven't
:13:34. > :13:37.agreed everything, the Treasury, the Stormont ministers, the
:13:37. > :13:42.Northern Ireland office. They have agreed an option paper that will be
:13:42. > :13:44.put to the Prime Minister. The decision rested with him.
:13:44. > :13:48.Nevertheless Peter Robinson was welcoming the develops. They said
:13:48. > :13:52.it is decision time for the Government. We have shown I think
:13:52. > :13:56.through the work we have done it can be done. Now we have rooked
:13:56. > :14:00.what the the mechanisms are and what the cost will be. We have a
:14:00. > :14:05.paper which has been agreed to go to the Prime Minister, which has
:14:05. > :14:09.different options on it. It will require a meeting between Peter and
:14:09. > :14:13.myself. We always knew in the final analysis it would be a political
:14:13. > :14:16.decision. So the Prime Minister has the final say, what is going to
:14:16. > :14:20.persuade him one way or another? First of all, there are a few
:14:20. > :14:24.practical things that will happen. That options paper will be
:14:24. > :14:29.finalised. It will be pasted on to Downing Street and David Cameron
:14:29. > :14:32.has big things to consider. One of the things he will think about is a
:14:32. > :14:36.vote,? Scotland, for or against independence, which takes place in
:14:36. > :14:40.2014. He won't want to do anything in relation to Northern Ireland
:14:40. > :14:45.which strengthens the case for independence, that Alex Salmond
:14:45. > :14:48.will be arguing, it has long before thought this issue over devolving
:14:48. > :14:53.corporation tax in Northern Ireland has been delayed because the
:14:53. > :14:55.Government has fears about how it would play north of the border in
:14:55. > :15:00.Scotland. I asked the Northern Ireland Secretary what she felt
:15:00. > :15:03.would be the big issues waying on David Cameron's mind. I am sure
:15:03. > :15:07.when the Prime Minister takes his decision, he will look at the
:15:07. > :15:11.practical issues, and he will look at the wider constitutional
:15:11. > :15:15.implication for the UK as a whole. And that is code from the Secretary
:15:15. > :15:18.of State, to the fact that the Prime Minister will be keenly aware
:15:18. > :15:21.of that independence vote in Scotland, and the Northern Ireland
:15:21. > :15:25.politicians are now aware of that themselves, and they are trying to
:15:25. > :15:29.spin this in their favour what they are saying is give Northern Ireland
:15:29. > :15:33.the power over corporation tax, show people in Scotland the benefit
:15:33. > :15:37.of devolution. If you don't give it tos us Alex Salmond will have
:15:37. > :15:40.something to talk about. A what they have achieved is pushing it
:15:40. > :15:44.into the Downing Street intray, it's the end game for this I don't
:15:45. > :15:48.mean they have the power, but the political negotiation now happen
:15:48. > :15:55.for real and perhaps you could say it's a small win but not the final
:15:55. > :15:58.victory. Now, prisoners caught with illicit drugs should be banned from
:15:58. > :16:01.physical contact with family and friend during visits. The chairman
:16:01. > :16:06.of the justice committee at Stormont says the move is needed to
:16:06. > :16:12.reduce the risk of drugs being smuggled into jails. It has been
:16:12. > :16:15.revealed there were more than 1100 drugs found in prisons in the last
:16:15. > :16:19.three years. Our Home Affairs correspondent reports. Prisons are
:16:19. > :16:24.designed to keep criminals in, but fail to keep illegal drugs out.
:16:25. > :16:30.Cricket says it can be easier to get drugs behind bars than on the
:16:30. > :16:36.streets outside. -- critics. The extent of problem has been exposed
:16:36. > :16:46.in response to a the Justice Minister. During the past three
:16:46. > :16:51.years, there were 245 drug find at a prison. Just over 100 more at
:16:51. > :16:55.High Bank women's prison and young offenders association and 568 at
:16:55. > :17:02.Mag Gavry. Northern Ireland's high security prison near Lisburn. That
:17:02. > :17:08.is a total of more than 1100. The drugs found including cannabis.
:17:09. > :17:14.Steroid, heroin, and stockpiles of prescription tablets I is believed
:17:14. > :17:19.many are smuggled into Ron by advice to, the DUP's Paul given is
:17:19. > :17:23.chairman of the justice committee. He wants prisoners caught with
:17:23. > :17:30.illicit drugs to be denied physical contact. If a prisoner is found to
:17:30. > :17:35.have drugs in their po se, dealing in drugs they should be prevented
:17:35. > :17:38.from having that fis physical contact. That requires the support,
:17:38. > :17:42.to be given to staff and the management, to seriously say we are
:17:42. > :17:45.going to address this and we will have to take tough approaches to do
:17:46. > :17:52.that. He also says prisoners caught with drugs should be segregated
:17:52. > :17:55.from other inmates. The head of the prison service says there will be a
:17:55. > :18:00.zero tolerance approach to drugs that tackling the problem is a key
:18:00. > :18:08.priority. Yesterday we learned that the numbers joining the dole queues
:18:08. > :18:13.are still growing. The unemployment total is over 63,000. Francis
:18:13. > :18:17.Gorman reports on how joblessness is hitting one community. This
:18:17. > :18:23.butcher says not a week goes by when someone isn't leaving town in
:18:23. > :18:26.search of work. Here, unemployment can equal immigration. There are
:18:26. > :18:32.hundreds and hundreds of peopler who WHO have left our town, from
:18:32. > :18:36.all walks of life, all young, well educated and they are away to
:18:36. > :18:41.Australia, America, Canada but mostly Australia. Left behind is
:18:41. > :18:45.this 24-year-old. After leaving school at 16, she was in regular
:18:45. > :18:49.work, until two years ago. I don't know what to do with myself. It is
:18:49. > :18:53.boring, you have no money. You dofpbt have money to save to get
:18:53. > :18:57.out of the country, to go to the likes of Australia. You are stuck
:18:57. > :19:02.here to do nothing. Have you many friend or relatives in the same
:19:02. > :19:09.position? Loads. Lots of friend, lots of relatives aren't working.
:19:09. > :19:14.Here at the Jobcentre nearly 500 people are registered un employment
:19:14. > :19:19.uneeemployed. They are suffering from the same problem. The figures
:19:19. > :19:22.are higher than they were but steadying off somewhat. But the
:19:22. > :19:26.local development association the unemployment figures might only
:19:26. > :19:30.tell half the story. In terms of the official jobless figures, that
:19:30. > :19:34.only record people who have been made unemployed. There are a
:19:34. > :19:37.massive number of self-employed people that would have been in the
:19:37. > :19:40.construction sector and would be self-employed and registered or
:19:40. > :19:44.considered to be economically inactive, and they don't really
:19:44. > :19:50.appear in the figures. I would say they could be doubled.
:19:50. > :19:54.recession has hit the local GAA. James Cunningham is also chair of
:19:54. > :19:58.the Kingdom football club this is a picture of the Division One
:19:59. > :20:06.champions five years ago. Many have sense gone abroad in search of work.
:20:06. > :20:10.In 2007, the Kingdom football club, won Division One. We had three
:20:10. > :20:15.senior teams and a Under-21. Now, we are in Division Two, with just
:20:15. > :20:19.two senior teams and we haven't got a Under-21 team. We have lost so
:20:19. > :20:24.much through immigration. 35 players have gone from the squad
:20:25. > :20:30.that was here in 2007. Going overseas to get work can be an
:20:30. > :20:34.increasingly attractive option. Across Northern Ireland, there are
:20:35. > :20:43.63,000 people registered unemployed. On the official Government job site
:20:43. > :20:47.there are 1600 vacancies. Well, much has been made of Northern
:20:47. > :20:54.Ireland football manager Michael O'Neill superb tactic tons pitch
:20:54. > :20:57.against Portugal in that World Cup qualifier. Off the field of play it
:20:57. > :21:01.looks like Michael O'Neill's persuasive powers are working.
:21:01. > :21:07.There has Bansteady flow of players transferring to the Republic in
:21:07. > :21:10.recent time, but the trend seems to be turning. Two weeks' ago senior
:21:10. > :21:14.republic player Alex Bruce was called up by Neil. Now the Northern
:21:14. > :21:19.Ireland manager has convinced would be of the Republic's best young
:21:19. > :21:24.players to switch allegiance, he has achieved a family double. There
:21:24. > :21:28.are currently divided loyalties in this household but that is about to
:21:28. > :21:32.change. Centre half Shane played at under age level for the Republic
:21:32. > :21:35.but is a Northern Ireland Under-21 international. His 20-year-old
:21:35. > :21:40.brother pat reck, one of the outstanding young players in the
:21:40. > :21:44.league of Ireland is now about to switch allegiance too. Michael
:21:44. > :21:49.O'Neill spoke to both and his powers of persuasion obviously
:21:49. > :21:52.worked I am still only 20 still young, like. As I say, Michael told
:21:52. > :21:56.me about his plan, and that is what I have to do. I have to work hard
:21:56. > :22:00.to get there. Are you looking forward? I can't wait to get there.
:22:00. > :22:04.Shane says the decision to opt for Northern Ireland was the right one
:22:04. > :22:07.for him. For me personally u it is nothing do with politics, it is to
:22:08. > :22:14.play football. I made the switch because I want to play more
:22:14. > :22:20.football. It is good for your CV. I am happy to play for them as well.
:22:20. > :22:24.There have been some high profile defebg shuns. James MacLaine who is
:22:24. > :22:31.at Sunderland, left Northern Ireland to declare for the Republic.
:22:31. > :22:34.But with the heroics of Michael O'Neill's side in Portugal and his
:22:34. > :22:43.difloem si behind the scenes it could be that more players will be
:22:43. > :22:46.enlisted for Northern Ireland. To rugby and despite a marathon match
:22:46. > :22:49.performance against Castres last week Paul Marshall has been
:22:49. > :22:53.replaced by Ruan Pienaar in the starting 15 for tomorrow night's
:22:53. > :22:58.clash with Glasgow. The South Africa whon came off the bench to
:22:58. > :23:03.score a vital late bonus point try against Castres has returned from
:23:03. > :23:08.international action and is one of two changes in the side. Difficult
:23:08. > :23:13.one, you have two quality players and Paul had such an outstanding
:23:13. > :23:17.game made it harder. That is the way we have to look at it. We are
:23:17. > :23:22.fortunate to have two good players in that position. It is about using
:23:22. > :23:26.them both in 80 minutes and we think the way we want to use Paul
:23:26. > :23:30.this week will be off the bench. European action tomorrow night, at
:23:30. > :23:34.the Belfast Giants. They are off to Germany to represent British ice
:23:34. > :23:37.hockey in a competition between the best sides on the continent. Their
:23:37. > :23:46.domestic rivals have been exploiting the current strike by
:23:46. > :23:50.players in North America. Head coach Doug Christian seven leads
:23:50. > :23:56.the celebrations at the Belfast Giant win the Elite League title
:23:56. > :23:59.last sfpblt now the reward is to play in the continental cup. The
:23:59. > :24:02.European equivalent of the Champions League. It's a fantastic
:24:02. > :24:05.opportunity for to us play against the champions from different
:24:05. > :24:10.countries. It is something I wanted to be part of since I got the job
:24:10. > :24:12.here in Belfast. It is a exciting opportunity. A lot are North
:24:12. > :24:18.Americans who have never been to Germany. It's the first time the
:24:18. > :24:22.Giants have been in Europe for a decade. It is exciting. While the
:24:22. > :24:26.Giants are away on the Continent all their domestic rivals have been
:24:26. > :24:30.exploiting the current player strike, or lock out Stateside in
:24:30. > :24:36.the national hockey league, offering short-term contracts to
:24:36. > :24:40.striking player, like Antony Stewart of the Carolina Hurricanes,
:24:40. > :24:45.current bli the Nottingham pan sthers. I was one of the first guy,
:24:45. > :24:50.the first wave of guys to come to Europe. It is great that Nottingham,
:24:50. > :24:54.you know, give me an opportunity to come and play. I am having a great
:24:54. > :25:00.time. Belfast haven't followed suit. Yet. It It will make our job more
:25:00. > :25:04.difficult but it is still hockey. Maybe it two player, at the end of
:25:04. > :25:08.the ice they are not they are not on the ice for the whole game. I am
:25:08. > :25:13.happy with what we have. We have a great group. We have looked to see
:25:13. > :25:17.what they are going to cost what the actual realistic acquisitions
:25:17. > :25:23.would be, and at the minute we are happy with where we are and
:25:24. > :25:31.hopefully we can continue that. Giants leave Belfast for Germany
:25:31. > :25:35.top of the domestic league. Now to take on Europe's best. And finally
:25:35. > :25:39.tonight, boxer Katie Taylor who won gold at the Olympics has confirmed
:25:39. > :25:46.she intend to remain amateur and defend her title in Rio in four
:25:47. > :25:54.years time. She turned dound a six figure offer to turn professional.
:25:54. > :26:00.figure offer to turn professional. A gold medal guaranteed in braz.
:26:00. > :26:04.More to come with the weather? We have seen the worst. No gold far
:26:04. > :26:08.for the weather we had. But good weather on the way. As we go
:26:08. > :26:13.through the rest of this evening there is heavy rain to come. We do
:26:14. > :26:17.is a weather warning remaining in force. Especially for the north
:26:17. > :26:21.coast and down through Antrim and down. But good news through the
:26:21. > :26:25.night, most of that will clear away, leaving us a dry night. A lot of
:26:25. > :26:30.cloud round, it won't be especially chilly temperatures staying at
:26:30. > :26:35.seven or nine. Into tomorrow, then, we can all look forward to a better
:26:35. > :26:39.day. It will be brighter. There will be cloud round, a few spots of
:26:39. > :26:43.rain, along the Antrim coast that. Will clear away. For us all it will
:26:43. > :26:46.be a dry afternoon. Cloud will come and go through the day, but it will
:26:46. > :26:52.break up nicely allowing the sunshine to come out. Temperatures
:26:52. > :26:56.may be below average at 11 or 12, but in any sunshine, with the light
:26:56. > :27:00.wind it won't feel too bad. The good news is for the second part of
:27:00. > :27:05.the day, not very much is going to change. We will end up on a bright
:27:05. > :27:10.note. Some ending on sunshine, so a decent evening to come. With the
:27:10. > :27:17.clear skies it will be chillier. The temperatures will fall to two
:27:17. > :27:21.to five grie degrees in the towns and cities. So a touch of frost at
:27:21. > :27:26.the weekend possible. But after that, Saturday will be much like
:27:26. > :27:29.today. Plenty of dry weather round, bright as well. The best chance of
:27:29. > :27:32.seeing any light rain will be to the north-west. But for most it is
:27:32. > :27:37.going to be a dry start to the weekend. Looking ahead to Sunday,
:27:37. > :27:41.not very much is going to change. Right through the weekend, plenty
:27:41. > :27:45.of good weather for getting out and about outdoors. Do try to enjoy it
:27:45. > :27:50.because as we go to next week it is going to change. More low pressure