05/03/2014 BBC Newsline

need it. That is

Good evening. The former American President Bill

Clinton has encouraged political leaders here to resolve the dispute

over flags, parades and the past. He said work remains in the peace

process and called on Northern Ireland's politicians to "finish the

job". His remarks came during a speech in Londonderry. He's also

been speaking in Belfast tonight, as Mark Simpson reports. Who better to

open the William J Clinton leadership Institute at Queens

University than the man himself? The Vice Chancellor, Professor Patrick

Johnson, was there to lend a hand. The former president, now 67, talks

to guests about how the world had changed since he was a student. An

eight-year-old kid can get on the internet and find out in 30 seconds

things I had to go to university to learn. I don't know what you are

doing here, sir. You have to dig up a lot of new staff for people to

learn, otherwise before they are teenagers they can find out what I

learned on the internet. This was his third time at Queens and his

fifth visit to Northern Ireland. It was a busy day for former President

Bill Clinton and his entourage. It began 70 miles away in Derry. There

was a walk along the Peace Bridge with John and Pat Hume. Then he went

back to Guildhall Square, where he first spoke 19 years ago in the

early days of the peace process. You can resolve the parades, the flags,

the history issues. We can resolve all these other issues. You have to

finish this. You have to be free. These children have to have a

future. And I don't really care, it's not for me to say what the

details should be. You have inspired the world. You have to finish this.

It wasn't all about politics. He took time to meet the people from

home and abroad. We are visiting from Qatar. We happened to be here

today and we thought, what a great chance to see the president. We got

a salute from President Clinton. How did that feel? Great! He seemed to

enjoy it as well and he said he would be back.

The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at Westminster is to

conduct an inquiry into the letters sent to republican fugitives. The

committee chair, Laurence Robertson, says the terms of reference of the

judge-led inquiry announced by the government last week are too narrow.

The Chief Constable has also rejected claims that the letters

amounted to an amnesty. Our home affairs correspondent Vincent

Kearney reports. Matt Baggott arrived to face questions about a

scheme set up by the government and republicans, but was greeted by

loyalist protestors. The Progressive Unionist Party claims the scheme

proves that republicans have been given preferential treatment. It

says the police should now suspend investigations by the Historical

Enquiries Team, many of which have focused on the activities of the

UVF. Cameras were allowed to record his arrival at a specially convened

private meeting of the Policing Board to discuss the issue. But

there were no cameras present to witness what sources described as 90

heated minutes of debate. Afterwards, the Chief Constable

defended the PSNI's role in the process. Our legal advice is that we

had a duty to clarify someone's status. That is under existing

legislation and a responsibility the police have. This meeting was the

result of a ruling by a judge at the Old Bailey last week that John

Downey would not stand trial for the murders of four soldiers because

he'd been sent a so-called "letter of assurance" by the Northern

Ireland Office, saying he would not be prosecuted. It was revealed that

more than 180 other on-the-runs had been sent similar letters. The court

judgement revealed that the letters contained caveats, stating that they

had been sent based on "evidence currently available" and that the

issue may be reconsidered if fresh evidence became available. But the

First Minister reacted angrily. There are people going around with

letters stuffed in their pockets which say that even if somebody

fingers you, you cannot go to jail. That is an outrage, I think, in any

democratic state. Matt Baggott today made it clear he doesn't share that

view. As far as we are concerned, and there is nothing in the

judgement that contradicts us, there are no get-out-of-jail cards, no

amnesties, and there are no letters of immunity. If new evidence emerges

then it will be investigated and we will send reports to the Public

Prosecution Service. I wanted to make that clear. The debate that

took lace here behind closed doors is likely to be repeated when the

board holds its next public meeting. Its members will not have long to

wait. That meeting will take lace here tomorrow afternoon. -- it will

take place here. A 19-year-old who shot his father is

either a dangerous manipulative murderer, or a mentally disturbed

teen on the possible verge of schizophrenia. The conflicting

descriptions came from prosecuting and defence lawyers in their closing

submissions to the jury. Julian Fowler was at Dungannon Crown Court.

A gifted footballer, a good sportsman with a good life given to

him by a good family, but the prosecution say Sean Hackett was a

dangerous man. The prosecution lawyer said underneath Sean

Hackett's smiling face was a wicked, manipulative killer. He said the

meticulously planned and executed slaughter of his father was a

brutally selfish act in order to get over whatever problems he had in his

life. He said Sean Hackett was not suffering from depression and that

feeling a bit down after a break-up with his girlfriend was not an

excuse for murder. His defence claim he was little more than a child and

to convict him of murder would create another injustice for the

family. The defence lawyers said the central question was how an

18-year-old of impeccable character with everything to live for went on

to develop the bizarre notion that it would help him if he killed one

of his parents. He asked the jury, do you really need be a psychiatrist

to know that something inside this young man's head was badly wrong? He

said a finding of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished

responsibility would be the right verdict, a just verdict, and the

proper verdict. The jury is expected to retire to consider its verdict

tomorrow. Now, sport. There was disappointment

for Northern Ireland's footballers tonight. They drew 0-0 with Cyprus

in Nicosia. Martin Paterson forced a good save early on, but the home

side had the better of the first half. Northern Ireland, who now

haven't won a friendly international in 19 matches home or away, had to

play the last 15 minutes of the game with ten men when defender Gareth

McAuley was sent off for this tackle, to leave the manager

deflated. Created a couple of half chances, we may be had done better,

and then we have to play the game out with ten men. But the spirit and

the workrate was good and we have to commend the players on that. The

fact we got 17 players on the pitch and got game time was important, but

the level of performance was disappointing. We have to learn from

there. There's no mugs in international football.We've got

some tough games in the group where we can't invite pressure playing the

wrong places and give them that opportunity to get on the front

foot. And in Dublin, Martin O'Neill's

Republic of Ireland lost their friendly tie against Serbia by two

goals to one. The Irish got off to a dream start with Shane Long scoring

early in the first half, but their luck changed when James McCarthy put

the ball in his own net to level the match. And things went from bad to

worse for the home side when Djordjevic put the visitors ahead in

the 60th minute. On BBC Newsline tomorrow evening at

6:30pm we have another report in this week's series marking the

centenary of the outbreak of the First World War. Tomorrow we'll be

looking at how recruitment posters like these printed in Dublin were

used to encourage soldiers to enlist for the front because conscription

wasn't introduced in Ireland. Here's Geoff Maskill with the

weather for the day ahead. It is a bit of a damp and drizzly night

tonight. Certainly through the first part of the night, then the skies

clear across the north and west, so by doing it could be a little

chilly. We do not have the big change you might have been hearing

about, tomorrow will be another wet day. It starts dry across the north

and west but then that rain will move into all parts, quite a lot of

rain. We have a yellow warning. There is a real split in the weather

for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. That rain continues while

across England, especially the south and east, it will be drier. There is

a high pressure is in charge. Not so for us. We have the rain, not huge

amounts, but in County Fermanagh where the warning is in place with

those river levels high, that is why we have the warning. Still feeling

mild, top temperatures of 11 degrees. Over the next few days we

have a battle between high pressure here and low pressure systems coming

in, and that will produce some different looking days. By Friday we

have a bit of high pressure in the mix, meaning it is drier, clearer

although a bit colder. Highs of eight degrees. Saturday, the rain

returns and as we go through the weekend things look a little

unsettled. That's it for now. Good night.