18/10/2012 BBC Newsline


18/10/2012

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Welcome to BBC Newsline. Here are the stories making the headlines

:00:19.:00:26.

tonight. As protests greet the opening of Northern Ireland's first

:00:26.:00:30.

private abortion clinic, we talk to one woman who travelled to England

:00:30.:00:35.

for a termination P If I stopped and thought about the unfairness

:00:35.:00:39.

and enjustice of it, it really really hurt, I felt very unfairly

:00:39.:00:45.

treated. Stormont's chief legal adviser calls for an investigation

:00:45.:00:51.

into the clinic's operation. Plans to store gas under Larne Lough get

:00:51.:00:55.

the green light. A final plea to the Treasury, but a decision on

:00:55.:00:59.

cutting corporation tax now rests with this man. Have Northern

:00:59.:01:03.

Ireland stopped the trend of players defecting to the Republic?

:01:03.:01:07.

Today this Derry City star says he now wants to play for Michael

:01:07.:01:11.

O'Neill. A warning still in force for outbreaks of rain, but it looks

:01:11.:01:21.
:01:21.:01:22.

as if it will improve for the weekend. Good evening. Stormont's

:01:22.:01:25.

chief legal adviser has called for an investigation into the operation

:01:25.:01:29.

of the first private abortion clinic in Northern Ireland. The

:01:29.:01:33.

Attorney General's request came as the Marie Stopes Clinic opened in

:01:33.:01:37.

Belfast. Accompanyed by a protest. Marie Stopes says lit only provide

:01:37.:01:42.

abortions within Northern Ireland's strict legal framework. -- it will

:01:42.:01:46.

only provide. Even before the clinic had officially opened its

:01:46.:01:51.

doors to the public, the protesters were outside, making their

:01:51.:01:55.

opposition known. It wasn't a huge crowd of people, but those who had

:01:55.:02:00.

come, were clear about what they wanted. And some were looking to a

:02:00.:02:05.

higher power for help. Step to has done one thing, united communities

:02:05.:02:09.

for too many years who have been apart. That is a positive note. I

:02:09.:02:14.

am sure you will see a bigger and more crowds coming here, drawn from

:02:14.:02:17.

both sec sthoufpbs community. That is positive. But the best thing is

:02:17.:02:25.

to shut this place down. That was a view held by many. Some travelling

:02:25.:02:32.

from as far away as Omar. File they have no need to be here. There is

:02:32.:02:36.

enough to protect women and babies, and I feel that Marie Stopes has no

:02:36.:02:40.

place here in Northern Ireland. Marie Stopes feels differently.

:02:41.:02:45.

Even though women can get boar shouns the NHS here, in very

:02:45.:02:50.

limited circumstances, the charity feels there is a need for a place

:02:50.:02:53.

that offers determinations privately, and insists it will

:02:53.:02:58.

still only be providing them within Northern Ireland's strict legal

:02:58.:03:02.

framework. We know that for thousands of woman who come over to

:03:02.:03:07.

the UK, and to other parts of the Europe, and not just to Marie

:03:07.:03:10.

Stopes Clinics but to many others in England, there are some of those

:03:10.:03:13.

women, who would have been entitled to have had that care within

:03:13.:03:17.

Northern Ireland, but they didn't know where to go to, they didn't

:03:17.:03:21.

know who to talk to. This is not about increasing the numbers of

:03:21.:03:24.

term niefgs pregnancy in Northern Ireland, it is about providing it

:03:24.:03:28.

for the small number of people that will be eligible for it, within

:03:28.:03:33.

their own country. And concerns about the clinic weren't confined

:03:33.:03:37.

to just those standing outside the building. This morning, there was

:03:37.:03:42.

an intervention from this man, John Larkin t Government's most senior

:03:42.:03:45.

lawyer. He told a Stormont committee if it wants to

:03:45.:03:49.

investigation what Marie Stopes is doing, he will help with the

:03:49.:03:53.

process. And even cross-examination witnesses on the committee's behalf.

:03:53.:03:57.

-- cross-examine. Those behind the clinic say they have nothing to

:03:57.:04:01.

hide. So despite the opposition, Northern Ireland's first private

:04:01.:04:05.

abortion clinic is now open for business. The protesters say they

:04:05.:04:10.

will be back, but the charity Marie Stopes has asked others not to hold

:04:10.:04:13.

a counter demonstration, but to show their support in different

:04:13.:04:22.

ways. Now according to the Health Minister up to 50,000 women have

:04:22.:04:26.

travelled from Northern Ireland, to Great Britain for abortion, in the

:04:26.:04:30.

last 40 years. We have been speaking to two women about their

:04:30.:04:34.

very different experiences. Both ask we do not identify them, their

:04:34.:04:39.

interviews have been voiced by actresses. Every year, round 1,000

:04:39.:04:43.

women from Northern Ireland travel to England Wales for abortions.

:04:43.:04:48.

Sarah is among those who have made the journey. I felt quite dirty. I

:04:48.:04:52.

felt very ashamed of myself, I felt very disappointed in myself too,

:04:52.:04:56.

for getting into this situation. I wasn't long back from a few years

:04:56.:05:01.

in London, when I was there, these things were normal, and in my head

:05:01.:05:06.

it was normal, but when I was back in Belfast and found myself in that

:05:06.:05:10.

situation, suddenly it wasn't normal any more. It is a very heavy

:05:10.:05:14.

burden on the carry. It really does play with your head, and especially

:05:14.:05:18.

knowing that in the rest of the UK, it is OK, and here it is not, and

:05:18.:05:25.

it is not OK to speak about it. That stigma still hangs. I felt

:05:25.:05:32.

very, very angry. The fiscal and mental effect it has on me has been

:05:32.:05:35.

quite long-term. If I stopped and thought about the unfairness and

:05:35.:05:43.

injustice of it, it really hurt, I felt very unfairly treated. That is

:05:43.:05:47.

one story out of a possibly 50,000. But there are no figures for the

:05:47.:05:53.

number of women from here who have bought or buying abortion pills on

:05:53.:05:58.

line. However, Wendy is one of them. I looked on the web, because I

:05:58.:06:02.

heard you could get the abortion pills on line. There were so many

:06:02.:06:06.

sites and a lot of them don't give instruction, so I heard about women

:06:06.:06:10.

on the we, and they know exactly what they are doing, so they ask

:06:10.:06:13.

you to do through a series of questions before they mitt to

:06:13.:06:16.

helping you at all. The parcel arrives and it is unmarked. It

:06:16.:06:20.

doesn't say where it is from. There are no instruction, so nothing

:06:20.:06:25.

could be traced, and there is no information. It it is all online,

:06:25.:06:30.

you decide when you take the first ones, then you take the next 24-

:06:30.:06:33.

hoursings so you have a crisis situation, and on top of that you

:06:33.:06:37.

have to consider you are breaking the law, you have to make shoe you

:06:37.:06:40.

-- sure you have your story straight. If anything happened when

:06:40.:06:43.

I took the pill, if there was a haemorrhage, anything like that, I

:06:43.:06:48.

would have had to lie in hospital and say well say it miss carriage,

:06:48.:06:52.

so I think on top of a horrible situation, you have all of these

:06:52.:06:56.

other feelings of guilt, and secrecy and feeling you were doing

:06:56.:07:00.

something wrong, on top of your choice about it, so I think it

:07:00.:07:04.

needs to be more accessible and open. Both women say if they had

:07:04.:07:08.

had the support of services like those offered at the Marie Stopes

:07:08.:07:16.

Clinic, they would have felt less isolated, and less like criminals.

:07:16.:07:21.

Gay and unmarried couples are to be allowed to apply to adopt children.

:07:21.:07:25.

After a High Court judge ruled the current ban sun lawful. Mr Justice

:07:25.:07:29.

Tracy said that the rules unfairly discriminated against those in

:07:29.:07:32.

civil partnerships. The ruling brings Northern Ireland law into

:07:32.:07:36.

line with the rest of the UK. The Health Minister Edwin Poots says he

:07:36.:07:43.

will appeal the judgment. The challenge to adoption laws was

:07:43.:07:50.

taken by the nierlt Human Rights Commission. -- Northern Ireland.

:07:50.:07:55.

Still to come on tonight's programme. A call to ban fiical

:07:55.:08:04.

contact with visitors for prisoners caught with drugs. -- physical. A

:08:05.:08:09.

storage facility that could hold half a billion cubic litres of

:08:09.:08:13.

natural gas a mile below Larne Lough has been given the go-ahead

:08:13.:08:20.

by the planning minister. I am on the edge of the Loch and behind me

:08:20.:08:23.

is Ballylumford power station. In the future it could be using

:08:23.:08:28.

natural gas that has been stored in a series of caverns under the water.

:08:28.:08:31.

Stormont ministers told us today that the gas could be bought when

:08:31.:08:36.

it is cheaper, stored in the kaverns, and sold to suppliers when

:08:36.:08:40.

the import price is high. Kevin McGee can tell us more about what

:08:40.:08:45.

was approved today. Gas is normally stored above ground, but this novel

:08:45.:08:49.

technology aims to keep it a mile under ground in a series of

:08:49.:08:55.

resevoirs, ex ka Kateed from salt deposit well below the surface of

:08:55.:09:00.

Larne Lough. If built the well head would be here beside Ballylumford

:09:00.:09:03.

power station. The environment minister says it will mean more

:09:03.:09:07.

security of supply, as well as potentially lower prices. We are at

:09:07.:09:14.

the end of a very long pipeline, and if we have storage on the "for

:09:14.:09:20.

gas which is a green fuel, the better we are, in terms of energy

:09:20.:09:26.

supply, energy cost, and support for the customer. The idea is to

:09:26.:09:29.

create seven huge underground caverns or caves where imported gas

:09:29.:09:34.

can be stored a mile deep inside the earth's crust. Creating an

:09:34.:09:39.

energy bank from where gas can be extracted to meet demand. The salt

:09:39.:09:43.

deposits were crated millions of years ago when a sea evaporate and

:09:43.:09:49.

the salt was trapped between layers of rock. And this is what it looks

:09:49.:09:57.

like. It tastes like salt. And when this is dissolved it leefts an

:09:57.:10:02.

empty space. Any remaining salt forms a sealed cavity. The waste

:10:02.:10:06.

salt water will be deposited into the sea north of Islandmagee which

:10:06.:10:10.

has led to objections from environmentalists. There is with

:10:10.:10:14.

all major probgs and projects a serious environmental impact. We do

:10:14.:10:22.

not feel that the issue has been satisfy -- satisfactorily address

:10:22.:10:26.

by the planning service because there is a key objective to bring

:10:26.:10:31.

in investment. The petrochemical giant BP has committed �8 million

:10:31.:10:36.

to the development of the project, which could cost �400 million to

:10:36.:10:41.

complete. Test drilling is expected next year. With me is Paddy Larkin

:10:41.:10:46.

from the company behind the storage facility. Pady environmentalists

:10:46.:10:51.

have been most concerned about the salt debris that will come out of

:10:52.:10:55.

the cavern, that it will concentrate the salt content in the

:10:55.:11:00.

water and will damage the habitats here. How do you defanned that?

:11:00.:11:04.

is just salt that has come from the sea originally, so there is no

:11:04.:11:08.

particular nastys or anything in there It is highly concentrated.

:11:08.:11:13.

Yes, the sea water becomes much more salty and it becomes brine,

:11:13.:11:19.

then we discharge that, out into the other side of Islandmagee into

:11:19.:11:26.

the Belfast Loch end where the larger body of water and the tides

:11:26.:11:29.

disperse and dilute the brine back to, you know, very low levels of

:11:29.:11:33.

concentration. I know you have consuled with residents in

:11:33.:11:36.

Islandmagee, they have been voicing their condition Serb, in particular,

:11:36.:11:40.

when this is all in the construction period, and the

:11:40.:11:45.

disruption it will cause to their daily life. We have had a lot of

:11:45.:11:50.

dealings with the council and environmental wholth have placed

:11:50.:11:53.

re-- restrictions on the noise level, but beyond that we are keen

:11:53.:11:58.

to work with the residents on an ongoing bay to minimise the

:11:58.:12:03.

disruption. A project of this scale and size is inevitable there will

:12:03.:12:08.

be some disruption, but we are there to minimise that.

:12:08.:12:13.

planning permission has been given as Paddy said, if all goesing a

:12:13.:12:17.

according to ta plan this mo reject will be up and running in five

:12:17.:12:23.

years' time, in 2017. -- goes according to plan. The police

:12:23.:12:27.

investigating the circumstances surrounding the sudden death of a

:12:27.:12:31.

newborn baby girl in East Belfast. It is understood the infant was

:12:31.:12:34.

found in the boot of a car last night. Police have forensically

:12:34.:12:39.

examined the scene and the car was taken away. The results of a

:12:39.:12:43.

postmortem examination are being assessed. Business leader says

:12:43.:12:47.

allowing Stormont to cut corporation tax is the key to

:12:47.:12:52.

revieving our economy. Now we know it is the Prime Minister's decision

:12:52.:12:56.

about whether local politicians will get that power. It follows a

:12:56.:13:00.

meeting in London, between the first and demty First Minister and

:13:00.:13:04.

the Treasury. Early I asked our economics editor about the

:13:04.:13:09.

significance of the meeting. Well, it was never going to be a case of

:13:09.:13:14.

Deal or No Deal today, but we always anticipated we would get an

:13:14.:13:18.

indication of where it was going. The indications now are more

:13:18.:13:21.

positive than many of us thought beforehand. However, this is now

:13:21.:13:25.

simply the end game. This is where the real negotiation takes place,

:13:25.:13:30.

what they have agreed is an options paper which means they haven't

:13:30.:13:34.

agreed everything, the Treasury, the Stormont ministers, the

:13:34.:13:37.

Northern Ireland office. They have agreed an option paper that will be

:13:37.:13:42.

put to the Prime Minister. The decision rested with him.

:13:42.:13:44.

Nevertheless Peter Robinson was welcoming the develops. They said

:13:44.:13:48.

it is decision time for the Government. We have shown I think

:13:48.:13:52.

through the work we have done it can be done. Now we have rooked

:13:52.:13:56.

what the the mechanisms are and what the cost will be. We have a

:13:56.:14:00.

paper which has been agreed to go to the Prime Minister, which has

:14:00.:14:05.

different options on it. It will require a meeting between Peter and

:14:05.:14:09.

myself. We always knew in the final analysis it would be a political

:14:09.:14:13.

decision. So the Prime Minister has the final say, what is going to

:14:13.:14:16.

persuade him one way or another? First of all, there are a few

:14:16.:14:20.

practical things that will happen. That options paper will be

:14:20.:14:24.

finalised. It will be pasted on to Downing Street and David Cameron

:14:24.:14:29.

has big things to consider. One of the things he will think about is a

:14:29.:14:32.

vote,? Scotland, for or against independence, which takes place in

:14:32.:14:36.

2014. He won't want to do anything in relation to Northern Ireland

:14:36.:14:40.

which strengthens the case for independence, that Alex Salmond

:14:40.:14:45.

will be arguing, it has long before thought this issue over devolving

:14:45.:14:48.

corporation tax in Northern Ireland has been delayed because the

:14:48.:14:53.

Government has fears about how it would play north of the border in

:14:53.:14:55.

Scotland. I asked the Northern Ireland Secretary what she felt

:14:55.:15:00.

would be the big issues waying on David Cameron's mind. I am sure

:15:00.:15:03.

when the Prime Minister takes his decision, he will look at the

:15:03.:15:07.

practical issues, and he will look at the wider constitutional

:15:07.:15:11.

implication for the UK as a whole. And that is code from the Secretary

:15:11.:15:15.

of State, to the fact that the Prime Minister will be keenly aware

:15:15.:15:18.

of that independence vote in Scotland, and the Northern Ireland

:15:18.:15:21.

politicians are now aware of that themselves, and they are trying to

:15:21.:15:25.

spin this in their favour what they are saying is give Northern Ireland

:15:25.:15:29.

the power over corporation tax, show people in Scotland the benefit

:15:29.:15:33.

of devolution. If you don't give it tos us Alex Salmond will have

:15:33.:15:37.

something to talk about. A what they have achieved is pushing it

:15:37.:15:40.

into the Downing Street intray, it's the end game for this I don't

:15:40.:15:44.

mean they have the power, but the political negotiation now happen

:15:45.:15:48.

for real and perhaps you could say it's a small win but not the final

:15:48.:15:55.

victory. Now, prisoners caught with illicit drugs should be banned from

:15:55.:15:58.

physical contact with family and friend during visits. The chairman

:15:58.:16:01.

of the justice committee at Stormont says the move is needed to

:16:01.:16:06.

reduce the risk of drugs being smuggled into jails. It has been

:16:06.:16:12.

revealed there were more than 1100 drugs found in prisons in the last

:16:12.:16:15.

three years. Our Home Affairs correspondent reports. Prisons are

:16:15.:16:19.

designed to keep criminals in, but fail to keep illegal drugs out.

:16:19.:16:24.

Cricket says it can be easier to get drugs behind bars than on the

:16:25.:16:30.

streets outside. -- critics. The extent of problem has been exposed

:16:30.:16:36.

in response to a the Justice Minister. During the past three

:16:36.:16:46.

years, there were 245 drug find at a prison. Just over 100 more at

:16:46.:16:51.

High Bank women's prison and young offenders association and 568 at

:16:51.:16:55.

Mag Gavry. Northern Ireland's high security prison near Lisburn. That

:16:55.:17:02.

is a total of more than 1100. The drugs found including cannabis.

:17:02.:17:08.

Steroid, heroin, and stockpiles of prescription tablets I is believed

:17:09.:17:14.

many are smuggled into Ron by advice to, the DUP's Paul given is

:17:14.:17:19.

chairman of the justice committee. He wants prisoners caught with

:17:19.:17:23.

illicit drugs to be denied physical contact. If a prisoner is found to

:17:23.:17:30.

have drugs in their po se, dealing in drugs they should be prevented

:17:30.:17:35.

from having that fis physical contact. That requires the support,

:17:35.:17:38.

to be given to staff and the management, to seriously say we are

:17:38.:17:42.

going to address this and we will have to take tough approaches to do

:17:42.:17:45.

that. He also says prisoners caught with drugs should be segregated

:17:46.:17:52.

from other inmates. The head of the prison service says there will be a

:17:52.:17:55.

zero tolerance approach to drugs that tackling the problem is a key

:17:55.:18:00.

priority. Yesterday we learned that the numbers joining the dole queues

:18:00.:18:08.

are still growing. The unemployment total is over 63,000. Francis

:18:08.:18:13.

Gorman reports on how joblessness is hitting one community. This

:18:13.:18:17.

butcher says not a week goes by when someone isn't leaving town in

:18:17.:18:23.

search of work. Here, unemployment can equal immigration. There are

:18:23.:18:26.

hundreds and hundreds of peopler who WHO have left our town, from

:18:26.:18:32.

all walks of life, all young, well educated and they are away to

:18:32.:18:36.

Australia, America, Canada but mostly Australia. Left behind is

:18:36.:18:41.

this 24-year-old. After leaving school at 16, she was in regular

:18:41.:18:45.

work, until two years ago. I don't know what to do with myself. It is

:18:45.:18:49.

boring, you have no money. You dofpbt have money to save to get

:18:49.:18:53.

out of the country, to go to the likes of Australia. You are stuck

:18:53.:18:57.

here to do nothing. Have you many friend or relatives in the same

:18:57.:19:02.

position? Loads. Lots of friend, lots of relatives aren't working.

:19:02.:19:09.

Here at the Jobcentre nearly 500 people are registered un employment

:19:09.:19:14.

uneeemployed. They are suffering from the same problem. The figures

:19:14.:19:19.

are higher than they were but steadying off somewhat. But the

:19:19.:19:22.

local development association the unemployment figures might only

:19:22.:19:26.

tell half the story. In terms of the official jobless figures, that

:19:26.:19:30.

only record people who have been made unemployed. There are a

:19:30.:19:34.

massive number of self-employed people that would have been in the

:19:34.:19:37.

construction sector and would be self-employed and registered or

:19:37.:19:40.

considered to be economically inactive, and they don't really

:19:40.:19:44.

appear in the figures. I would say they could be doubled.

:19:44.:19:50.

recession has hit the local GAA. James Cunningham is also chair of

:19:50.:19:54.

the Kingdom football club this is a picture of the Division One

:19:54.:19:58.

champions five years ago. Many have sense gone abroad in search of work.

:19:59.:20:06.

In 2007, the Kingdom football club, won Division One. We had three

:20:06.:20:10.

senior teams and a Under-21. Now, we are in Division Two, with just

:20:10.:20:15.

two senior teams and we haven't got a Under-21 team. We have lost so

:20:15.:20:19.

much through immigration. 35 players have gone from the squad

:20:19.:20:24.

that was here in 2007. Going overseas to get work can be an

:20:25.:20:30.

increasingly attractive option. Across Northern Ireland, there are

:20:30.:20:34.

63,000 people registered unemployed. On the official Government job site

:20:35.:20:43.

there are 1600 vacancies. Well, much has been made of Northern

:20:43.:20:47.

Ireland football manager Michael O'Neill superb tactic tons pitch

:20:47.:20:54.

against Portugal in that World Cup qualifier. Off the field of play it

:20:54.:20:57.

looks like Michael O'Neill's persuasive powers are working.

:20:57.:21:01.

There has Bansteady flow of players transferring to the Republic in

:21:01.:21:07.

recent time, but the trend seems to be turning. Two weeks' ago senior

:21:07.:21:10.

republic player Alex Bruce was called up by Neil. Now the Northern

:21:10.:21:14.

Ireland manager has convinced would be of the Republic's best young

:21:14.:21:19.

players to switch allegiance, he has achieved a family double. There

:21:19.:21:24.

are currently divided loyalties in this household but that is about to

:21:24.:21:28.

change. Centre half Shane played at under age level for the Republic

:21:28.:21:32.

but is a Northern Ireland Under-21 international. His 20-year-old

:21:32.:21:35.

brother pat reck, one of the outstanding young players in the

:21:35.:21:40.

league of Ireland is now about to switch allegiance too. Michael

:21:40.:21:44.

O'Neill spoke to both and his powers of persuasion obviously

:21:44.:21:49.

worked I am still only 20 still young, like. As I say, Michael told

:21:49.:21:52.

me about his plan, and that is what I have to do. I have to work hard

:21:52.:21:56.

to get there. Are you looking forward? I can't wait to get there.

:21:56.:22:00.

Shane says the decision to opt for Northern Ireland was the right one

:22:00.:22:04.

for him. For me personally u it is nothing do with politics, it is to

:22:04.:22:07.

play football. I made the switch because I want to play more

:22:08.:22:14.

football. It is good for your CV. I am happy to play for them as well.

:22:14.:22:20.

There have been some high profile defebg shuns. James MacLaine who is

:22:20.:22:24.

at Sunderland, left Northern Ireland to declare for the Republic.

:22:24.:22:31.

But with the heroics of Michael O'Neill's side in Portugal and his

:22:31.:22:34.

difloem si behind the scenes it could be that more players will be

:22:34.:22:43.

enlisted for Northern Ireland. To rugby and despite a marathon match

:22:43.:22:46.

performance against Castres last week Paul Marshall has been

:22:46.:22:49.

replaced by Ruan Pienaar in the starting 15 for tomorrow night's

:22:49.:22:53.

clash with Glasgow. The South Africa whon came off the bench to

:22:53.:22:58.

score a vital late bonus point try against Castres has returned from

:22:58.:23:03.

international action and is one of two changes in the side. Difficult

:23:03.:23:08.

one, you have two quality players and Paul had such an outstanding

:23:08.:23:13.

game made it harder. That is the way we have to look at it. We are

:23:13.:23:17.

fortunate to have two good players in that position. It is about using

:23:17.:23:22.

them both in 80 minutes and we think the way we want to use Paul

:23:22.:23:26.

this week will be off the bench. European action tomorrow night, at

:23:26.:23:30.

the Belfast Giants. They are off to Germany to represent British ice

:23:30.:23:34.

hockey in a competition between the best sides on the continent. Their

:23:34.:23:37.

domestic rivals have been exploiting the current strike by

:23:37.:23:46.

players in North America. Head coach Doug Christian seven leads

:23:46.:23:50.

the celebrations at the Belfast Giant win the Elite League title

:23:50.:23:56.

last sfpblt now the reward is to play in the continental cup. The

:23:56.:23:59.

European equivalent of the Champions League. It's a fantastic

:23:59.:24:02.

opportunity for to us play against the champions from different

:24:02.:24:05.

countries. It is something I wanted to be part of since I got the job

:24:05.:24:10.

here in Belfast. It is a exciting opportunity. A lot are North

:24:10.:24:12.

Americans who have never been to Germany. It's the first time the

:24:12.:24:18.

Giants have been in Europe for a decade. It is exciting. While the

:24:18.:24:22.

Giants are away on the Continent all their domestic rivals have been

:24:22.:24:26.

exploiting the current player strike, or lock out Stateside in

:24:26.:24:30.

the national hockey league, offering short-term contracts to

:24:30.:24:36.

striking player, like Antony Stewart of the Carolina Hurricanes,

:24:36.:24:40.

current bli the Nottingham pan sthers. I was one of the first guy,

:24:40.:24:45.

the first wave of guys to come to Europe. It is great that Nottingham,

:24:45.:24:50.

you know, give me an opportunity to come and play. I am having a great

:24:50.:24:54.

time. Belfast haven't followed suit. Yet. It It will make our job more

:24:54.:25:00.

difficult but it is still hockey. Maybe it two player, at the end of

:25:00.:25:04.

the ice they are not they are not on the ice for the whole game. I am

:25:04.:25:08.

happy with what we have. We have a great group. We have looked to see

:25:08.:25:13.

what they are going to cost what the actual realistic acquisitions

:25:13.:25:17.

would be, and at the minute we are happy with where we are and

:25:17.:25:23.

hopefully we can continue that. Giants leave Belfast for Germany

:25:24.:25:31.

top of the domestic league. Now to take on Europe's best. And finally

:25:31.:25:35.

tonight, boxer Katie Taylor who won gold at the Olympics has confirmed

:25:35.:25:39.

she intend to remain amateur and defend her title in Rio in four

:25:39.:25:46.

years time. She turned dound a six figure offer to turn professional.

:25:47.:25:54.

figure offer to turn professional. A gold medal guaranteed in braz.

:25:54.:26:00.

More to come with the weather? We have seen the worst. No gold far

:26:00.:26:04.

for the weather we had. But good weather on the way. As we go

:26:04.:26:08.

through the rest of this evening there is heavy rain to come. We do

:26:08.:26:13.

is a weather warning remaining in force. Especially for the north

:26:14.:26:17.

coast and down through Antrim and down. But good news through the

:26:17.:26:21.

night, most of that will clear away, leaving us a dry night. A lot of

:26:21.:26:25.

cloud round, it won't be especially chilly temperatures staying at

:26:25.:26:30.

seven or nine. Into tomorrow, then, we can all look forward to a better

:26:30.:26:35.

day. It will be brighter. There will be cloud round, a few spots of

:26:35.:26:39.

rain, along the Antrim coast that. Will clear away. For us all it will

:26:39.:26:43.

be a dry afternoon. Cloud will come and go through the day, but it will

:26:43.:26:46.

break up nicely allowing the sunshine to come out. Temperatures

:26:46.:26:52.

may be below average at 11 or 12, but in any sunshine, with the light

:26:52.:26:56.

wind it won't feel too bad. The good news is for the second part of

:26:56.:27:00.

the day, not very much is going to change. We will end up on a bright

:27:00.:27:05.

note. Some ending on sunshine, so a decent evening to come. With the

:27:05.:27:10.

clear skies it will be chillier. The temperatures will fall to two

:27:10.:27:17.

to five grie degrees in the towns and cities. So a touch of frost at

:27:17.:27:21.

the weekend possible. But after that, Saturday will be much like

:27:21.:27:26.

today. Plenty of dry weather round, bright as well. The best chance of

:27:26.:27:29.

seeing any light rain will be to the north-west. But for most it is

:27:29.:27:32.

going to be a dry start to the weekend. Looking ahead to Sunday,

:27:32.:27:37.

not very much is going to change. Right through the weekend, plenty

:27:37.:27:41.

of good weather for getting out and about outdoors. Do try to enjoy it

:27:41.:27:45.

because as we go to next week it is going to change. More low pressure

:27:45.:27:50.

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