:00:00. > :00:12.Good evening. Two men have died in separate road
:00:13. > :00:15.accidents. One of them was the driver of a Mercedes which was in
:00:16. > :00:19.collision with another car on the Banbridge Road in Dromore. A man
:00:20. > :00:23.aged in his 40s died when he was hit by a car after getting out of a taxi
:00:24. > :00:26.on Gilford Road near Portadown. It happened at about 2am this morning.
:00:27. > :00:31.The police are appealing for witnesses to the accidents.
:00:32. > :00:34.Hundreds of people have taken part in a protest at Belfast City Hall
:00:35. > :00:38.about animal abuse. There were calls for councils and politicians here to
:00:39. > :00:44.put animal rights higher on the agenda. Eunan McConville reports.
:00:45. > :00:52.Plenty of protesters turned up for this demonstration. There have
:00:53. > :00:55.certainly been plenty of protests here at City Hall over the recent
:00:56. > :00:59.past, but this one is very different. Hundreds of people behind
:01:00. > :01:13.me want more to be done to safeguard animal rights.
:01:14. > :01:20.How could you abandon this animal? I have cats. These are her dogs. To
:01:21. > :01:24.think that someone could do that to my cats is unthinkable.
:01:25. > :01:28.Until they start taking these people to court and making a big thing of
:01:29. > :01:31.it, why are people going to be afraid to abuse animals?
:01:32. > :01:34.The crowd was told that Northern Ireland has good animal protection
:01:35. > :01:39.legislation but that more can be done to implement it. The Welfare of
:01:40. > :01:42.Animals in Northern Ireland Act was passed in 2011 and, according to the
:01:43. > :01:48.USPCA, early expectations have not been fulfilled.
:01:49. > :01:53.This legislation is the best kept secret you could ever come across.
:01:54. > :01:59.Out of 26 council websites, only one mentions this legislation. There is
:02:00. > :02:05.total confusion out there. People do not know when to ring, who to ring
:02:06. > :02:09.or what to do. Northern Ireland is broken up into
:02:10. > :02:12.five areas and it is up to councils to appoint animal welfare officers
:02:13. > :02:14.for those areas. The Department of Agriculture is responsible for farm
:02:15. > :02:16.animals. Whether these protesters will be listened to - only time will
:02:17. > :02:32.tell. The Taoiseach Enda Kenny has invited
:02:33. > :02:35.Pope Francis to visit Ireland. He made the request when he met the
:02:36. > :02:40.Pontiff in Rome at today's double canonisation of Pope John Paul II
:02:41. > :02:44.and John XXIII. Mr Kenny said that if the invitation was accepted, he
:02:45. > :03:06.hoped Pope Francis would also travel to Northern Ireland during his
:03:07. > :03:09.visit. While it is not an official
:03:10. > :03:12.responsibility of the government, if the Church authority extend an
:03:13. > :03:14.invitation - this government will do everything to make that visit a real
:03:15. > :03:17.success. In Gaelic Games there was
:03:18. > :03:20.disappointment for Derry when they were comprehensively beaten by
:03:21. > :03:23.Dublin in the National Football League final. The final score was
:03:24. > :03:25.3-19 to 1-10. In the Division Two decider Monaghan beat Donegal by six
:03:26. > :03:28.points. Now this week BBC Newsline will be
:03:29. > :03:31.reporting from Scotland ahead of September's vote on independence.
:03:32. > :03:33.Our reporter Kevin Magee is in Glasgow.
:03:34. > :03:36.We will be testing the appetite for Scottish independence, both here in
:03:37. > :03:39.Ibrox and across the city. At Celtic Park, both sets of supporters have
:03:40. > :03:41.traditional links with Northern Ireland. Will that influence how
:03:42. > :03:45.they vote? It is the right time for Scotland to
:03:46. > :03:47.be Independent and do everything for ourselves.
:03:48. > :04:02.We are voting no. I am British through and through.
:04:03. > :04:14.Coverage begins on Radio Ulster in the morning.
:04:15. > :04:16.Now with a look at the weather forecast.
:04:17. > :04:21.Good evening. It has been a pretty great day across many parts of
:04:22. > :04:25.Northern Ireland. This will probably be the last day that we see decent
:04:26. > :04:29.spells of sunshine. As the week goes on, we are looking at increasing
:04:30. > :04:34.amounts of cloud with rain and showers. It will also be turning
:04:35. > :04:37.noticeably colder. Today has been very nice with just one or two
:04:38. > :04:41.showers close to the south-west. They are fading away and many of us
:04:42. > :04:45.will experience a dry end to the day. Cloud will be bringing spells
:04:46. > :04:49.of light and patchy rain from the East. As a result, it is a fairly
:04:50. > :04:52.mild night, lower than six or seven degrees. Tomorrow will be a cloudy
:04:53. > :05:00.day with some rain around. Almost anywhere, it could be quite a damp
:05:01. > :05:03.and murky start. Brighter skies over the northern half of Scotland and
:05:04. > :05:06.for West Wales and the south-west, but these areas are still prone to a
:05:07. > :05:11.few showers. Generally cloudy elsewhere across the country. In the
:05:12. > :05:14.far south of England they are still prone to some heavy, thundery
:05:15. > :05:23.downpours. In Northern Ireland, not a great deal has changed. We still
:05:24. > :05:26.have cloudy skies with patches of rain and drizzle breaking out almost
:05:27. > :05:34.anywhere. Particularly for Northern areas. Not amounting to a great deal
:05:35. > :05:42.and temperatures are not bad at 13 or 14 degrees. Through the week,
:05:43. > :06:07.cloud and showers and after Wednesday the temperatures will
:06:08. > :06:12.fall. We still have a few showers across England and Wales but the
:06:13. > :06:15.focus transfers to the west. It looks like it will be a bit wetter
:06:16. > :06:20.across parts of Ireland and Scotland. As we go through the rest
:06:21. > :06:23.of the week, the temperatures will be coming down.
:06:24. > :06:30.Our next BBC Newsline bulletin is at 6.25am?. Until then you can keep up
:06:31. > :06:31.to date with local news on BBC Radio Ulster or on the local news