:00:00. > :00:00.need it. That is
:00:00. > :00:09.Good evening. The former American President Bill
:00:10. > :00:15.Clinton has encouraged political leaders here to resolve the dispute
:00:16. > :00:17.over flags, parades and the past. He said work remains in the peace
:00:18. > :00:23.process and called on Northern Ireland's politicians to "finish the
:00:24. > :00:26.job". His remarks came during a speech in Londonderry. He's also
:00:27. > :00:41.been speaking in Belfast tonight, as Mark Simpson reports. Who better to
:00:42. > :00:46.open the William J Clinton leadership Institute at Queens
:00:47. > :00:51.University than the man himself? The Vice Chancellor, Professor Patrick
:00:52. > :00:56.Johnson, was there to lend a hand. The former president, now 67, talks
:00:57. > :01:02.to guests about how the world had changed since he was a student. An
:01:03. > :01:06.eight-year-old kid can get on the internet and find out in 30 seconds
:01:07. > :01:12.things I had to go to university to learn. I don't know what you are
:01:13. > :01:17.doing here, sir. You have to dig up a lot of new staff for people to
:01:18. > :01:23.learn, otherwise before they are teenagers they can find out what I
:01:24. > :01:28.learned on the internet. This was his third time at Queens and his
:01:29. > :01:33.fifth visit to Northern Ireland. It was a busy day for former President
:01:34. > :01:38.Bill Clinton and his entourage. It began 70 miles away in Derry. There
:01:39. > :01:44.was a walk along the Peace Bridge with John and Pat Hume. Then he went
:01:45. > :01:50.back to Guildhall Square, where he first spoke 19 years ago in the
:01:51. > :01:53.early days of the peace process. You can resolve the parades, the flags,
:01:54. > :01:57.the history issues. We can resolve all these other issues. You have to
:01:58. > :02:00.finish this. You have to be free. These children have to have a
:02:01. > :02:06.future. And I don't really care, it's not for me to say what the
:02:07. > :02:17.details should be. You have inspired the world. You have to finish this.
:02:18. > :02:22.It wasn't all about politics. He took time to meet the people from
:02:23. > :02:26.home and abroad. We are visiting from Qatar. We happened to be here
:02:27. > :02:30.today and we thought, what a great chance to see the president. We got
:02:31. > :02:38.a salute from President Clinton. How did that feel? Great! He seemed to
:02:39. > :02:41.enjoy it as well and he said he would be back.
:02:42. > :02:44.The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at Westminster is to
:02:45. > :02:46.conduct an inquiry into the letters sent to republican fugitives. The
:02:47. > :02:50.committee chair, Laurence Robertson, says the terms of reference of the
:02:51. > :02:58.judge-led inquiry announced by the government last week are too narrow.
:02:59. > :03:00.The Chief Constable has also rejected claims that the letters
:03:01. > :03:03.amounted to an amnesty. Our home affairs correspondent Vincent
:03:04. > :03:07.Kearney reports. Matt Baggott arrived to face questions about a
:03:08. > :03:10.scheme set up by the government and republicans, but was greeted by
:03:11. > :03:13.loyalist protestors. The Progressive Unionist Party claims the scheme
:03:14. > :03:18.proves that republicans have been given preferential treatment. It
:03:19. > :03:21.says the police should now suspend investigations by the Historical
:03:22. > :03:27.Enquiries Team, many of which have focused on the activities of the
:03:28. > :03:30.UVF. Cameras were allowed to record his arrival at a specially convened
:03:31. > :03:36.private meeting of the Policing Board to discuss the issue. But
:03:37. > :03:40.there were no cameras present to witness what sources described as 90
:03:41. > :03:42.heated minutes of debate. Afterwards, the Chief Constable
:03:43. > :03:50.defended the PSNI's role in the process. Our legal advice is that we
:03:51. > :03:54.had a duty to clarify someone's status. That is under existing
:03:55. > :03:58.legislation and a responsibility the police have. This meeting was the
:03:59. > :04:01.result of a ruling by a judge at the Old Bailey last week that John
:04:02. > :04:04.Downey would not stand trial for the murders of four soldiers because
:04:05. > :04:07.he'd been sent a so-called "letter of assurance" by the Northern
:04:08. > :04:11.Ireland Office, saying he would not be prosecuted. It was revealed that
:04:12. > :04:15.more than 180 other on-the-runs had been sent similar letters. The court
:04:16. > :04:17.judgement revealed that the letters contained caveats, stating that they
:04:18. > :04:21.had been sent based on "evidence currently available" and that the
:04:22. > :04:28.issue may be reconsidered if fresh evidence became available. But the
:04:29. > :04:30.First Minister reacted angrily. There are people going around with
:04:31. > :04:35.letters stuffed in their pockets which say that even if somebody
:04:36. > :04:39.fingers you, you cannot go to jail. That is an outrage, I think, in any
:04:40. > :04:44.democratic state. Matt Baggott today made it clear he doesn't share that
:04:45. > :04:47.view. As far as we are concerned, and there is nothing in the
:04:48. > :04:50.judgement that contradicts us, there are no get-out-of-jail cards, no
:04:51. > :04:55.amnesties, and there are no letters of immunity. If new evidence emerges
:04:56. > :04:58.then it will be investigated and we will send reports to the Public
:04:59. > :05:08.Prosecution Service. I wanted to make that clear. The debate that
:05:09. > :05:12.took lace here behind closed doors is likely to be repeated when the
:05:13. > :05:16.board holds its next public meeting. Its members will not have long to
:05:17. > :05:21.wait. That meeting will take lace here tomorrow afternoon. -- it will
:05:22. > :05:24.take place here. A 19-year-old who shot his father is
:05:25. > :05:27.either a dangerous manipulative murderer, or a mentally disturbed
:05:28. > :05:29.teen on the possible verge of schizophrenia. The conflicting
:05:30. > :05:32.descriptions came from prosecuting and defence lawyers in their closing
:05:33. > :05:36.submissions to the jury. Julian Fowler was at Dungannon Crown Court.
:05:37. > :05:40.A gifted footballer, a good sportsman with a good life given to
:05:41. > :05:43.him by a good family, but the prosecution say Sean Hackett was a
:05:44. > :05:46.dangerous man. The prosecution lawyer said underneath Sean
:05:47. > :05:51.Hackett's smiling face was a wicked, manipulative killer. He said the
:05:52. > :05:54.meticulously planned and executed slaughter of his father was a
:05:55. > :06:01.brutally selfish act in order to get over whatever problems he had in his
:06:02. > :06:04.life. He said Sean Hackett was not suffering from depression and that
:06:05. > :06:11.feeling a bit down after a break-up with his girlfriend was not an
:06:12. > :06:14.excuse for murder. His defence claim he was little more than a child and
:06:15. > :06:18.to convict him of murder would create another injustice for the
:06:19. > :06:20.family. The defence lawyers said the central question was how an
:06:21. > :06:24.18-year-old of impeccable character with everything to live for went on
:06:25. > :06:32.to develop the bizarre notion that it would help him if he killed one
:06:33. > :06:35.of his parents. He asked the jury, do you really need be a psychiatrist
:06:36. > :06:42.to know that something inside this young man's head was badly wrong? He
:06:43. > :06:44.said a finding of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished
:06:45. > :06:51.responsibility would be the right verdict, a just verdict, and the
:06:52. > :06:58.proper verdict. The jury is expected to retire to consider its verdict
:06:59. > :07:00.tomorrow. Now, sport. There was disappointment
:07:01. > :07:05.for Northern Ireland's footballers tonight. They drew 0-0 with Cyprus
:07:06. > :07:09.in Nicosia. Martin Paterson forced a good save early on, but the home
:07:10. > :07:14.side had the better of the first half. Northern Ireland, who now
:07:15. > :07:19.haven't won a friendly international in 19 matches home or away, had to
:07:20. > :07:22.play the last 15 minutes of the game with ten men when defender Gareth
:07:23. > :07:36.McAuley was sent off for this tackle, to leave the manager
:07:37. > :07:42.deflated. Created a couple of half chances, we may be had done better,
:07:43. > :07:48.and then we have to play the game out with ten men. But the spirit and
:07:49. > :07:52.the workrate was good and we have to commend the players on that. The
:07:53. > :07:55.fact we got 17 players on the pitch and got game time was important, but
:07:56. > :08:01.the level of performance was disappointing. We have to learn from
:08:02. > :08:04.there. There's no mugs in international football.We've got
:08:05. > :08:07.some tough games in the group where we can't invite pressure playing the
:08:08. > :08:09.wrong places and give them that opportunity to get on the front
:08:10. > :08:12.foot. And in Dublin, Martin O'Neill's
:08:13. > :08:16.Republic of Ireland lost their friendly tie against Serbia by two
:08:17. > :08:19.goals to one. The Irish got off to a dream start with Shane Long scoring
:08:20. > :08:23.early in the first half, but their luck changed when James McCarthy put
:08:24. > :08:27.the ball in his own net to level the match. And things went from bad to
:08:28. > :08:29.worse for the home side when Djordjevic put the visitors ahead in
:08:30. > :08:33.the 60th minute. On BBC Newsline tomorrow evening at
:08:34. > :08:36.6:30pm we have another report in this week's series marking the
:08:37. > :08:39.centenary of the outbreak of the First World War. Tomorrow we'll be
:08:40. > :08:42.looking at how recruitment posters like these printed in Dublin were
:08:43. > :08:49.used to encourage soldiers to enlist for the front because conscription
:08:50. > :08:57.wasn't introduced in Ireland. Here's Geoff Maskill with the
:08:58. > :09:01.weather for the day ahead. It is a bit of a damp and drizzly night
:09:02. > :09:05.tonight. Certainly through the first part of the night, then the skies
:09:06. > :09:10.clear across the north and west, so by doing it could be a little
:09:11. > :09:14.chilly. We do not have the big change you might have been hearing
:09:15. > :09:19.about, tomorrow will be another wet day. It starts dry across the north
:09:20. > :09:25.and west but then that rain will move into all parts, quite a lot of
:09:26. > :09:29.rain. We have a yellow warning. There is a real split in the weather
:09:30. > :09:34.for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. That rain continues while
:09:35. > :09:39.across England, especially the south and east, it will be drier. There is
:09:40. > :09:46.a high pressure is in charge. Not so for us. We have the rain, not huge
:09:47. > :09:51.amounts, but in County Fermanagh where the warning is in place with
:09:52. > :09:55.those river levels high, that is why we have the warning. Still feeling
:09:56. > :10:02.mild, top temperatures of 11 degrees. Over the next few days we
:10:03. > :10:05.have a battle between high pressure here and low pressure systems coming
:10:06. > :10:11.in, and that will produce some different looking days. By Friday we
:10:12. > :10:16.have a bit of high pressure in the mix, meaning it is drier, clearer
:10:17. > :10:23.although a bit colder. Highs of eight degrees. Saturday, the rain
:10:24. > :10:28.returns and as we go through the weekend things look a little
:10:29. > :10:31.unsettled. That's it for now. Good night.