15/12/2015 BBC Newsline

I am very, very proud and humbled that our sun

Three teenagers have been in court charged with the murder

He was attacked by a gang in Twinbrook in what the police have

described as a vicious and sustained attack.

Last night in Twinbrook, they gathered to remember the life

His body was found on Saturday in an area known locally

The police said he had been the victim of a sustained

and vicious assault during which he was kicked and beaten.

In Lisburn this morning, three teenagers were brought

to the Magistrates' Court, charged with his murder.

Appearing in the dock were 18-year-old Stephen McCann,

of Bearnagh Glen, Dunmurry, 18-year-old Lee Smyth

of Colinbrook Gardens, Dunmurry, and a 16-year-old boy who

All three were remanded in custody to appear again by video link

During the hearing around 25 family members and friends

His mother cried out in grief several times and eventually left

before the proceedings were completed.

Others addressed comments to the accused and were asked

A detective sergeant told the court he believed he could connect

But solicitors for all three of them cross-examined him,

one saying it was astounding that there was no other evidence

than his client's own account of events given to detectives.

It was revealed that at least two of the accused had attended

Grosvenor Road Police Station voluntarily as witnesses.

During these exchanges a picture emerged, a confusing one

from the accounts of the night of the killing.

There were many groups and individuals, some fighting

and claims of a knife being produced.

The detective sergeant told the court the PSNI has

The first group of Syrian refugee families has arrived in Belfast.

11 of them are children aged under five.

BBC Newsline's Tara Mills met a family from Syria who've lived

here for the past two years to see what it's been like to settle

They didn't want their surnames used in case of reprisal

Touching down in a new country far from home.

After two years living as refugees, 51 Syrians arrived in Belfast

And this family living in Lisburn knows exactly what they're facing.

While normal life is something they enjoy now, the journey to come

to Northern Ireland has been far from straightforward.

I discovered that we must find a safe place.

I told my wife because she has a foreign passport to go there

and find anything to survive my children, anything.

I told them I was ready to pay everything I have,

just to survive our family because...

As she was growing up, little did Abir know

that the fact her mum was from Belfast would eventually

First I went to Wales, where are my brothers,

I tried England but I found it better to come and live with Mummy

here because she was settled one year before me.

And this is the city they left behind

and with it, Mahfouz's career as a dentist.

His qualifications don't transfer to the UK, so instead he's working

It's manual work for blinds, and I need manual work,

12-year-old Hamza told me what he thinks of living here.

It's really nice, really peaceful and quiet.

People here are really friendly and it's better than Syria.

Were you aware of that even though you were young?

Yeah, I remember the bombings and at night sometimes

Abir has already volunteered to help the newcomer families,

Thankfully this family haven't experienced any racism

in the two years they've lived here, despite a sharp increase in attacks.

Life in Northern Ireland is something

We find it like a gift from the sky, from the heaven.

Any different passport to put our children in a safe place.

It's hoped the families arriving here today will feel the same

And tomorrow Good Morning Ulster will hear from two of the charities

who are helping the Syrian refugees settle in.

The programme is on BBC Radio Ulster starting at 6:30pm.

An attempt to halt the trial of an evangelical preacher has failed.

Pastor James McConnell's legal team argued in court today

that there was not enough evidence to prosecute him over remarks

he made about Islam in a sermon last year.

But a judge ruled that the case should continue.

BBC Newsline's Mark Simpson was in the court.

Pastor McConnell arrived for day two of his trial,

His legal team argued that the evidence against him

was so weak, the case should be thrown out.

He accepts that he called Islam "Satanic" and "heathen"

and that he talked about not trusting Muslims.

But he denies the comments were grossly offensive

This afternoon the judge weighed up the evidence so far in the case

and said the trial should continue, but he made it clear he hadn't

made up his mind on whether the Pastor was guilty or not.

He put a question to the defence barrister, Mr Mateer QC,

saying if a Belfast Muslim called Christianity Satanic or heathen

and said he didn't trust Christians in Britain,

would that be deemed grossly offensive?

The defence barrister said the words may be upsetting and disturbing

but he didn't deem them grossly offensive and they should be

The prosecution say they don't doubt that Pastor McConnell has

a deeply-held faith, but they say there are limits

to what can be said within the law, and that

The case continues tomorrow, when the Pastor may be

Cliftonville will meet Ards in the JBE League Cup final.

The Reds scored in the first minute of extra time to beat Warrenpoint

The game finished goalless after 90 minutes.

The match between Ards and Coleraine was decided on penalties.

In the County Antrim Shield, Linfield are through to the final.

The Blues opened the scoring through Niall Quinn,

Linfield now meet Ballymena United in the final, which is due to

BBC Television will be showing two of the Northern Ireland team's

Group C matches in the Euro 2016 football finals -

their opening game against Poland and closing group game

The BBC will also be showing the Republic's first

After a wet afternoon in most places, let's get the weather

forecast for the next few days from Cecilia Daly.

It's mild but with mild weather we often have lots of clothes and it

will be damp and murky tonight, rain on and off, most of it not too heavy

but the cloud will sink onto the hills, temperatures holding up well.

Tonight's temperatures will be higher than the average daytime

temperature for December, so to begin it is great and damp but it

may improve as the morning goes on and a lot of the day will become dry

as the rain peters out. A little brightness through the afternoon,

for Scotland it looks like staying misty and great, light rain never

our way, likewise for Northern Paignton, further south more dry

weather but lots of cloud and there will be off across the south coast

of Ireland and south-west England but temperatures could get into the

mid-teens across Southern counties of England. We are looking at a

warmer day tomorrow, not as breezy as today. There will be some rain on

Wednesday night which will linger into Thursday morning, as that moves

away a lot of cloud but pockets of rain and drizzle and temperatures in

the low teens. It looks like it will be wet on Friday and Saturday but

temperatures could approach the mid-teens, especially on Saturday as

it starts to dry up. Have a good night.

Our next BBC Newsline is at 6:25am during Breakfast here on BBC One.

# Oh, the weather outside is frightful