01/02/2014 BBC Newsline

Thank you very much. That is it from us.

Hello. Thousands of children are receiving results of their entrance

tests for grammar school. Almost 40,000 pupils took the exams, and

this is the fifth year schools have used them. The tests are not

supported by the Department of Education. One teaching union says

they have a negative impact on children. These transfer tests are

unjust. Pupils are deemed a success or a failure at age ten. We are

having to build up their self-esteem and their confidence am a but they

lead us with the same A-level grades that they do from a grammar school,

and the teachers union in Ulster is calling for these tests to be

banned. Around a dozen families were evacuated from their homes after a

suspicious object was discovered. It was a very difficult night for the

families involved. They got a knock at the door from the police around

midnight, telling them that a suspicious object had been found in

the area, they needed to move and they needed to move quickly. Some of

these families have very young children, and they had to go at

around 12:30am. It was snowing. Police were here, as well as Army

bomb experts. The indications are at the moment that this has not been a

major incident, but as you can see, the police are still at the scene

and are not taking any chances. The security operation is in place in

Belfast for a nationalist civil rights march that is making its way

to the city centre. The event has been organised to highlight what has

been called a lack of leisure facilities. Two loyalist counterpart

tests will also be taking place. A former US diplomat says he believes

that the five executive parties will eventually agree to a compromise and

flags, parades and the past, the stuff his final proposal. And new

year's eve, he resented a proposal to the parties. These ideas provide

a new baseline. Whether it is next week, next month or next year, the

five parties are going to have to come back on these three issues, and

the range of calmer mice is not going to be fundamentally different

than what was in the -- the range of compromise is not going to become

demented lee different -- fundamentally different. The people

have been injured in a crash involving www. Were taking to the

shock wrote involving... They were taking to hospital. The Sheffield

Steelers are in a double-header this weekend. The Giants have tonight's

first game with a lead on the Steelers. For us, we cannot afford

to think so far ahead. We have to take it one game at a time. We have

to come and play hard. We have great team spirit that has been there all

year. Great bunch of guys and they work hard and they want to win. We

can see that every night. They do not quit. It is always an intense

game. On the Irish -- the Irish women's

rugby team has the Scottish team in their opening game of the six

Nations. The bad weather has taken its toll on a number of local

premiership fixtures. A number of games have been postponed. Let's

have a look at what the weather outlook is for the rest of the day.

Good afternoon. It is the first day of February and we have had all

sorts thrown at us and the last few hours. Increasing winds and his

bands of rain, sleet and snow working their way in from the west.

The wind is still an issue into the early hours of tomorrow morning, so

we still have a wind warning in place. There is a potential for

disruption, particularly on the coast. There could be some over

topping and some coastal routes. Showers running through, less sleet

and snow, but there could be some hail mixed in and the odd rumble of

thunder. Temperatures, six or seven degrees, but still feeling cold in

the wind and the rain. We have further spells of rain, high tides,

running through the afternoon. Sleet and snow over the hills of Scotland,

northern England, what across Wales, and the South West of England as

well, where they are having severe flooding. Those high tides, coastal

flooding is also a risk. The South East getaway likely -- lately in

comparison. Going back to Northern Ireland, for this evening and

tonight, we hold onto the guild force winds as they swing around on

the south into the West, and there will be plenty of showers rifling

through. The temperatures will drop tonight. A few icy patch it -- a few

icy patches. Tomorrow, a better day coming up. More in the way up right

spells. Still blustery, but it should gradually dry up after a

shower he start. It looks as though many places will see something

drier. Highs of around seven degrees but still feeling cold in the wind.

Into Monday, with more wet and windy weather on the way. That is it for

now. Our next local news is at 7:05pm. During that span. Bye-bye.