:00:10. > :00:16.Good evening. The police are treating two attacks in Belfast as
:00:17. > :00:20.hate crimes. Last night shots were fired at the home of a traveller
:00:21. > :00:23.family in the west of the city. Seven people were inside at the
:00:24. > :00:27.time. Earlier this week a gang of 15 attacked two Polish men and a woman
:00:28. > :00:31.in south Belfast. Ita Dungan reports.
:00:32. > :00:34.They had moved in less than a week ago and last night shots came
:00:35. > :00:37.through the windows of their new home. A couple and their five
:00:38. > :00:42.daughters, all members of the travelling community, where inside.
:00:43. > :00:46.All seven escaped injury. On the other side of the city as the sun
:00:47. > :00:51.set on Easter Monday evening, a group of 15 people armed with golf
:00:52. > :00:56.clubs set upon two men and a woman here at Lower Mount Street. The 3Com
:00:57. > :01:02.all Polish, were left beaten, cut and bruised. One of the men lost two
:01:03. > :01:06.tease. Locals say the area was full of drunk youngsters following a
:01:07. > :01:12.parade, but nobody I saw -- but nobody I spoke to saw anything.
:01:13. > :01:16.Naomi Long believes some attacks like this strike fear into
:01:17. > :01:19.communities. If we have gangs running around attacking people in
:01:20. > :01:24.the street, it is a terrifying experience of people in the
:01:25. > :01:27.neighbourhood. People feel intimidated. That is why I am
:01:28. > :01:31.appealing to go to the police and assist them with enquiries. Someone
:01:32. > :01:35.must have seen something on Monday. Given the number of people
:01:36. > :01:38.involved. Work with the police and bring them to justice because these
:01:39. > :01:43.are dangerous people who need to be taken off the streets. The police
:01:44. > :01:46.say they are following several lines of enquiry, including asking if
:01:47. > :01:52.Loyalist paramilitaries were behind the attack. Earlier this month the
:01:53. > :01:56.assistant chief said the UVF in South and East Belfast had been
:01:57. > :02:02.orchestrating racist attacks. He said this had led to a 70% increase
:02:03. > :02:05.in hate crimes in Belfast. He also described the attacks as having a
:02:06. > :02:11.deeply unpleasant taste of a little bit of ethnic cleansing. Whether
:02:12. > :02:15.against travellers in the west of the city or Polish people in the
:02:16. > :02:17.east, the impact of hate crimes like these can have a devastating effect
:02:18. > :02:22.on those involved. There were more apologies today from
:02:23. > :02:26.the Ulster Bank, after yet more glitches in its IT system. This time
:02:27. > :02:30.some customers who used its cash machines to withdraw money had their
:02:31. > :02:34.accounts debited twice. The bank says it's working to put the money
:02:35. > :02:38.back into the accounts and customers won't be left out of pocket. It's
:02:39. > :02:43.understood all the money will be restored by 2:00am tomorrow morning.
:02:44. > :02:47.The streets of Larne came to a standstill for a short time this
:02:48. > :02:51.evening as a parade took place to mark the centenary of the night a
:02:52. > :02:54.huge shipment of arms arrived in the County Antrim town. As David Maxwell
:02:55. > :03:02.reports, the weapons were smuggled in by unionists who were opposed to
:03:03. > :03:08.Home Rule. Guns arrived in Lahm-macro -- guns
:03:09. > :03:13.arrived in Larne this evening. But these do not work. A century ago it
:03:14. > :03:17.was a different story. This ship arrived loaded with 200 tonnes of
:03:18. > :03:23.weaponry from Germany, brought here by Unionists prepared to resist Home
:03:24. > :03:26.Rule by force if necessary. They wanted to preserve their position in
:03:27. > :03:29.the United Kingdom. They were asking to remain part of the United
:03:30. > :03:33.Kingdom. They believed the government would force them out of
:03:34. > :03:38.that and they acted as many people would act in those circumstances.
:03:39. > :03:41.100 years on, members of the Orange Order celebrated the night the guns
:03:42. > :03:48.arrived at this harbour town, with music, marching and medals. Those
:03:49. > :03:53.taking part believe the extraordinary events of 1914 forced
:03:54. > :03:59.their forefathers to take extra ordinary action to stop I would not
:04:00. > :04:05.want weapons to be coming into Larne now, but 100 years ago there was no
:04:06. > :04:09.choice. The English government word trying to impede the Ulster people.
:04:10. > :04:13.Their views of Home Rule, it would never have worked. This parade is
:04:14. > :04:17.just one of the number of events being held in Larne this week to
:04:18. > :04:21.mark the centenary of the gun smuggling operation. It was an event
:04:22. > :04:28.in which many orange men were involved. Larne district members and
:04:29. > :04:33.bands made their way to the seafront, to the coal ship which
:04:34. > :04:40.brought over 20,000 rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition.
:04:41. > :04:43.The operation became known as the Larne gun-running. A century on, the
:04:44. > :04:49.running here is of a different sort. Up to ?10 million could be spent on
:04:50. > :04:52.building a cycling and pedestrian bridge over the River Lagan in
:04:53. > :04:55.Belfast. A consultation exercise on the plan was carried out in January
:04:56. > :04:59.and three design options have been short listed. The Department of
:05:00. > :05:02.Regional Development will now carry out an economic appraisal of the
:05:03. > :05:11.scheme before asking the Stormont Executive for funds. The project
:05:12. > :05:18.itself is very important for the locality. This is an area where we
:05:19. > :05:23.are now linking east and south Belfast very safely through the
:05:24. > :05:25.park, into the gasworks, into the city centre.
:05:26. > :05:28.Organisers of the opening ceremony of the Giro D'Italia cycle race have
:05:29. > :05:31.blamed "extremely high demand" for the long delays in getting tickets
:05:32. > :05:34.online. In Belfast city centre, people queued from 5:00am this
:05:35. > :05:43.morning for one of the 5,000 tickets. BBC Newsline's Mark Simpson
:05:44. > :05:49.went to speak to them. Who cares about the Giro D'Italia?
:05:50. > :05:54.Judging by the size of this queue for tickets for the opening
:05:55. > :05:58.ceremony, a lot of people. All different ages, from all different
:05:59. > :06:05.parts of Northern Ireland. And the first-tier was a cycling fan from
:06:06. > :06:15.South Armagh. -- the first one here. He arrived very early. For 40
:06:16. > :06:23.5am. Why? The Giro D'Italia, in Northern Ireland, yes. Almost 500
:06:24. > :06:27.people were worth -- waiting, but they said it was worth it.
:06:28. > :06:33.Fantastic, tickets. The doors have been no most open for an hour but
:06:34. > :06:38.there are still more than 100 people here. What does the size of risk you
:06:39. > :06:41.tell us about the race? It is pleasantly surprising. Everybody is
:06:42. > :06:44.amazed about the number of people here and it is a reflection of the
:06:45. > :06:49.interest we have, everybody seems to be phoning partners and the online
:06:50. > :06:53.system seems to be creaking as well. It certainly was. Some people had to
:06:54. > :06:57.wait more than one and a half hours and there were many complaints. The
:06:58. > :07:03.lucky ones who got tickets will get to see the Giro D'Italia opening
:07:04. > :07:09.Serie A money in two weeks' time and that includes Belfast City Council
:07:10. > :07:13.is, who have been allocated two each. -- the opening ceremony.
:07:14. > :07:17.Cycling here is gaining more and more fans.
:07:18. > :07:20.Thieves are being condemned for putting lives at risk by stealing a
:07:21. > :07:23.vital piece of equipment from an ambulance in Londonderry. The heart
:07:24. > :07:26.defibrillator was taken from the vehicle owned by the independent
:07:27. > :07:38.company, CPNI, which was parked in the grounds of Altnagelvin Hospital
:07:39. > :07:42.on Monday. They do routine transfers from hospital to hospital, or
:07:43. > :07:46.hospital to home. We do sporting events. We have a big event this
:07:47. > :07:49.weekend, which due to the breakdown we are down a defibrillator, which
:07:50. > :07:52.could be a vital piece of equipment that we might The railway line
:07:53. > :07:54.between Lisburn and Portadown has now reopened.
:07:55. > :07:57.Need. It was closed for several hours earlier this evening following
:07:58. > :08:00.an incident. Translink say services may be delayed because of the
:08:01. > :08:04.disruption. Nominations for the European
:08:05. > :08:08.elections have now closed. It's been confirmed ten candidates will be
:08:09. > :08:13.vying for the three seats. You can see the list on our news website.
:08:14. > :08:17.The poll will be held on May 22nd, the same day as the election to 11
:08:18. > :08:19.new councils. Finally onto the weather forecast.
:08:20. > :08:32.Here's Cecilia Daly. Hello, we have had a lovely day.
:08:33. > :08:35.More of the same tomorrow, but different this coming weekend. It
:08:36. > :08:40.will stay clear tonight. Temperatures will continue to fall.
:08:41. > :08:49.Quite chilly, especially in the countryside. 2-3d. There may be a
:08:50. > :08:52.touch of frost on the ground. That will not last long. The day is
:08:53. > :08:57.looking nice for most places most of the time. The second half of the
:08:58. > :09:01.morning will start to feel warmer in the early morning sunshine. Light
:09:02. > :09:05.winds for a good part of the day. Northern Ireland is one of the best
:09:06. > :09:08.places to be across Britain and Ireland tomorrow. There will be a
:09:09. > :09:12.few sharp showers over the Republic but also some sunshine. Otherwise
:09:13. > :09:16.lots of cloud for many parts of Scotland and England. West Wales and
:09:17. > :09:21.the south-west seeing a bit of sunshine. Quite cold near some of
:09:22. > :09:25.the North Sea coasts. This rain you see across central areas could be
:09:26. > :09:28.heavy and thundery. If you catch a shower tomorrow afternoon you will
:09:29. > :09:34.be very unlucky in Northern Ireland. The highest temperatures tend to be
:09:35. > :09:37.in the West. 15-16dC. A breeze towards the east coast, feeling
:09:38. > :09:43.cooler later in the day. An increasing research -- risk of
:09:44. > :09:47.showers, tomorrow night will end up wet in most places. A wet start of
:09:48. > :09:52.the weekend. It should improve gradually during the second half of
:09:53. > :09:55.Saturday. On Sunday, not too bad, maybe not as warm as the last couple
:09:56. > :09:59.of days especially towards the north coast. A couple of showers.
:10:00. > :10:01.That is it for now. Enjoy your