0:00:06 > 0:00:07Good evening.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10A 45-year-old man's been charged with attempted murder
0:00:10 > 0:00:15following a bomb attack on a prison officer in East Belfast last week.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17He'll also face explosives charges when he appears
0:00:17 > 0:00:20at Laganside Magistrates' Court tomorrow.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23It comes as the police say they've prevented a number of attempted
0:00:23 > 0:00:25murders by dissident republicans since last week's attack.
0:00:25 > 0:00:31Our Home Affairs Correspondent Vincent Kearney has more.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34This day last week, a prison officer escaped an attempt to kill him
0:00:34 > 0:00:36when a bomb exploded under his van.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40In a statement to the BBC saying it carried out the attack,
0:00:40 > 0:00:43the dissident republican group calling itself the IRA said further
0:00:43 > 0:00:47attacks were planned.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51The police today they said they foiled other planned attacks
0:00:51 > 0:00:52during the past seven days.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56The police won't reveal precise detail but they say they prevented
0:00:56 > 0:00:58a number of attempted murders by dissident republicans
0:00:58 > 0:01:01since the attack in East Belfast last week.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04During the past year, dissident republicans have launched
0:01:04 > 0:01:06attacks using assault rifles, homemade mortars and under-car
0:01:06 > 0:01:09booby trap bombs.
0:01:09 > 0:01:13The PSNI officer who leads efforts to combat dissident activity today
0:01:13 > 0:01:15said he's deeply concerned about their increasing capabilities
0:01:15 > 0:01:20and the numbers of people involved.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23Several hundred people who are active dissident republicans
0:01:23 > 0:01:26who are involved in the various groupings, whatever they call
0:01:26 > 0:01:29themselves at the moment, there are significantly fewer people
0:01:29 > 0:01:33than that and most of them have terrorist experienced
0:01:33 > 0:01:35who are involved in directly running these organisations,
0:01:35 > 0:01:39but there are several hundred active DRs at the moment.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42The police and MI5 devote huge resources to undercover covert
0:01:42 > 0:01:45activities to monitor and gather intelligence about dissident groups.
0:01:45 > 0:01:50The PSNI says that work disrupts three or four planned attacks
0:01:50 > 0:01:54for every one that takes place.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57Last week the police issued a stark warning about the intentions
0:01:57 > 0:02:00of dissident republicans in the run up to the centenary
0:02:00 > 0:02:02of the Easter Rising.
0:02:02 > 0:02:08That warning was reinforced today.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11The police have appealed to members of the public to help
0:02:11 > 0:02:12them combat the threat.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14We know communities have more information about these groupings,
0:02:14 > 0:02:18who they are, what they do, what their plans are.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21The best way we can do this is for those communities to stop
0:02:21 > 0:02:24viewing the passing of information to police services as somehow a bad
0:02:24 > 0:02:26thing, a dirty word, informing or touting and seeing it
0:02:26 > 0:02:29as a civic duty.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32The police rarely talk about intelligence matters
0:02:32 > 0:02:35or discuss the capabilities of dissident republican groups.
0:02:35 > 0:02:41The fact that they've done so today, and that this is the second serious
0:02:41 > 0:02:42the level of concern they have about what might happen
0:02:42 > 0:02:55in the weeks ahead.
0:02:55 > 0:03:00Robert Howard.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03before telling detectives.
0:03:03 > 0:03:05But she did warn the Castlederg teenager Arlene Arkinson not
0:03:05 > 0:03:07to spend time in Howard's company.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09Will Leitch reports.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13It's now clear that when 15-year-old Arlene Arkinson went missing
0:03:13 > 0:03:16in 1994, the main suspect Robert Howard had already carried
0:03:16 > 0:03:20out many assaults on young women and children.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23Now the inquest into Arlene's death has heard of an assault
0:03:23 > 0:03:25of another teenage girl.
0:03:25 > 0:03:27The woman can't be named for legal reasons.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30She was just 14 years old around 1993.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33She didn't like Howard - he'd had a habit of staring at her,
0:03:33 > 0:03:35making her feel uncomfortable.
0:03:35 > 0:03:40The court heard she sometimes went to Howard's flat with friends.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42But on one occasion she went there with Donna Quinn.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46Many believed her mum was Howard's girlfriend.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48The flat was dark, the curtains drawn, and they began
0:03:48 > 0:03:50to play a game.
0:03:50 > 0:03:51The witness described what happened next -
0:03:51 > 0:03:55in chilling detail.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58Howard followed her to a room, assaulted her, and attempted
0:03:58 > 0:04:00to rape her.
0:04:00 > 0:04:02She told detectives in 2002...
0:04:02 > 0:04:04"I thought we were playing an innocent game of hide
0:04:04 > 0:04:06"and go seek."
0:04:06 > 0:04:07But then...
0:04:07 > 0:04:10"I knew that Bob Howard was going to have sex with me
0:04:10 > 0:04:14"against my will and I was so lucky to get away."
0:04:14 > 0:04:17A shout for help to Donna Quinn hadn't helped - but the teenager
0:04:17 > 0:04:19managed to strike Howard with her knee and escape
0:04:19 > 0:04:21into another room.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25She told the court she was surprised to find Donna there.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27She also explained how she immediately left the flat
0:04:27 > 0:04:30and did her best to avoid contact with Robert Howard
0:04:30 > 0:04:32or Donna Quinn thereafter.
0:04:32 > 0:04:37The next year she heard Arlene refer to meeting Howard and tried
0:04:37 > 0:04:41to warn her off him without saying why.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44The woman explained how for years she hadn't told anyone what had
0:04:44 > 0:04:46happened, until she spoke to detectives about it almost
0:04:46 > 0:04:48a decade later.
0:04:48 > 0:04:49She told a barrister...
0:04:49 > 0:04:51"That incident was a living nightmare.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55"When it came into my head, I had to shut it out."
0:04:55 > 0:04:58It was around a year after this incident that Arlene went missing
0:04:58 > 0:05:00after a night out with Howard and others.
0:05:00 > 0:05:08The inquest resumes next week.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12A man who describes himself as the close companion of the late
0:05:12 > 0:05:15Ulster Unionist Party leader Lord Molyneaux has spoken
0:05:15 > 0:05:17about their relationship.
0:05:17 > 0:05:18Lord Molyneaux died last year.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21On the anniversary of his death, Christopher Luke, who is openly gay,
0:05:21 > 0:05:23has told BBC Radio Ulster that the pair of them had
0:05:23 > 0:05:26a very loving relationship and that he loved the
0:05:26 > 0:05:29politician as a brother.
0:05:29 > 0:05:34Our political correspondent Chris Page reports.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38An MP for almost 30 years, the leader of unionism for a decade
0:05:38 > 0:05:41and a half - James Molyneaux was one of the most important politicians
0:05:41 > 0:05:44in Northern Ireland's recent history.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48Before going into politics he was in the RAF during World War II.
0:05:48 > 0:05:53He helped to liberate the Belsen concentration camp.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55Lord Molyneaux died last year aged 94.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58This week was the anniversary of his death.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01Christopher Luke says he was Lord Molyneaux's close companion.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03In a newspaper tribute, he paraphrased a Bible verse,
0:06:03 > 0:06:05writing...
0:06:05 > 0:06:07"You were very dear to me.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11"Your love for me was wonderful - more wonderful than that of women."
0:06:11 > 0:06:13This morning, the Irish News reproduced the memorial notice
0:06:13 > 0:06:16and published this photograph.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19Mr Luke has spoken to BBC Radio Ulster's Talkback programme.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21He believes Lord Molyneaux's legacy has been forgotten
0:06:21 > 0:06:25by unionism and loyalism.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27His Parliamentary achievement in terms of what he achieved
0:06:27 > 0:06:36for Northern Ireland, they have been airbrushed from history.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40In paying tribute to him this week, I just hope that his legacy will be
0:06:40 > 0:06:45once remembered and revered by everybody as much as me.
0:06:45 > 0:06:49He says they met in 1984 when Mr Luke was 16.
0:06:49 > 0:06:53He still finds the loss of Lord Molyneaux very difficult.
0:06:53 > 0:06:59I had a very loving relationship with Jim.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01I loved him as a brother.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05He will always have a place in my heart.
0:07:05 > 0:07:06Was it a romantic relationship?
0:07:06 > 0:07:09There was love between us, but there are different
0:07:09 > 0:07:14forms of love.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16I wish people would stop putting two and two together and coming
0:07:16 > 0:07:19up with five.
0:07:19 > 0:07:21James Molyneaux was the Ulster Unionist leader during some
0:07:21 > 0:07:23of Northern Ireland's most difficult years.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26What Christopher Luke has said helps to shine a light on a man who had
0:07:26 > 0:07:34a very public role, but was a very private person.
0:07:34 > 0:07:39Now, with Northern Ireland's Euro 2016 opener in France just 12 weeks
0:07:39 > 0:07:42away, here's Mark Simpson with a look ahead to some special
0:07:42 > 0:07:46reports on BBC Newsline next Monday and Tuesday.
0:07:46 > 0:07:49I've been taking a closer look at the cities where Northern Ireland
0:07:49 > 0:07:54are going to play during the Euro is this summer, not just Paris,
0:07:54 > 0:08:00but also Lille, right in the heart of France.
0:08:00 > 0:08:05And finally to Nice in the south of France, where Northern Ireland
0:08:05 > 0:08:09play their first match in just three months' time.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12What will it be like for the fans in France this summer?
0:08:12 > 0:08:14I have been road testing the Euros.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18That's coming up on BBC Newsline next week.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21Now finally onto the weekend weather forecast with Cecilia Daly.
0:08:21 > 0:08:22Hello, good evening.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24There will be some rain for a while tonight,
0:08:24 > 0:08:28but we are expecting things to dry up as the night goes on.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31It will continue to be mild.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33Increasing amounts of brightness as well through the weekend,
0:08:33 > 0:08:36but it's next week when we are likely to see some stunning sunny
0:08:36 > 0:08:38skies once again.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42Hopefully that will last until the Bank Holiday
0:08:42 > 0:08:43on St Patrick's Day.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45Tonight lots of cloud, breezy and mild.
0:08:45 > 0:08:46Some rain from time to time.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49Temperatures no lower than seven or eight Celsius.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52Initially on Saturday it will still be rather damp and murky
0:08:52 > 0:08:55but it will improve as the day goes on.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57For the early risers on Saturday morning,
0:08:57 > 0:09:00some rain, some drizzle to contend with.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03Mist and murk over the hills.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05That area of wet weather moves northwards into Scotland away
0:09:05 > 0:09:08from us as the day goes on.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11Parts of Scotland could see temperatures as high
0:09:11 > 0:09:12as the mid-teens on the eastern side.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15And for many parts of England and Wales away from the Northwest,
0:09:15 > 0:09:18it will also be dry with some sunshine towards the east.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20The Republic of Ireland is drying up as well.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24Plenty of cloud around, but temperatures in Dublin
0:09:24 > 0:09:26at the Aviva Stadium could well hit 13 Celsius.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28Up north we are looking at temperatures of around 12
0:09:28 > 0:09:29Celsius tomorrow.
0:09:29 > 0:09:30Possibly 13.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33Hints of brightness are likely in the East later in the day.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35It will end up quite nice on Saturday.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38Sunday looks like being the better of the two days this weekend.
0:09:38 > 0:09:39More chance of some sunshine.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42Temperatures could hit 14 Celsius somewhere before the day is out.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45Then as we move into the new week, high pressure builds,
0:09:45 > 0:09:47so lots of dry weather to come.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49Still quite mild during the day.
0:09:49 > 0:09:50More in the way of sunshine.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52A little bit cooler at night.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54Have a great weekend.
0:09:54 > 0:09:59That's it from us until 5:10pm tomorrow evening.
0:09:59 > 0:10:00In the meantime you can also keep updated with News Online.