12/04/2016 BBC Newsline

Good evening. This is BBC Newsline.

The police are investigating the motive for an attack on a family

Four people were inside when a fire was started

The family, who escaped with serious injury,

told our North-West reporter Keiron Tourish they don't know why

The police say this fire broke out at around three o'clock this

morning. They believe all furniture may have been set alight, blocking

the doorway. One of the four people in the house

says the actions of her brother saved all their lives.

The front door, all the house. Whoever did it, confess.

Why did they do at? Don't know. My brother saved our lives.

Another member of the family who wasn't in the house at the time says

the consequences could have been horrific. She says her mother and

sister and brother, and a family friend, could have lost their lives.

My mother's coming 63 years of age, and for somebody to do this, this

never happened to her in her life. I could have been lives lost last

night. They could have been a death. We don't know who did it.

Some scumbag. The Fire and Rescue Service say this fire was started

deliberately -- deliberately. Detectives said they are still

trying to establish a motive. They have appealed for witnesses or

anybody who knows anything about the incident to come forward.

A farmer has been given a suspended prison for causing unnecessary

When inspectors visited the farm in Glenavy in County Antrim,

they found dead and dying animals lying side by side.

The case involved 150 cattle - and it's the biggest herd

the authorities have had to remove from a local farm.

Our agriculture environment correspondent

This is one of the cattle whose condition caused such concern to

inspectors when they visited James steel's farm.

The 46-year-old had once had a successful cattle business worth

more than ?1 million, but it had spiralled out of control.

He pleaded guilty to six charges of causing unnecessary suffering to

animals last spring. Officials had found dead or dying

cattle amongst the living. Some of the sick ones had to be put down.

Enforcement officers took pictures and video as part of the

prosecution. They showed families in a very poor state. The dead and

dying layered side-by-side. Some had no access to food or water.

Departmental vets said conditions had been horrendous.

There were animals who had died out in the field is trying to give

birth. There were others lying dead in sheds, they had no access to

feed. There were other living animals in the sheds, stepping over

the top of the animals that were lying in the mud.

The court was told things had started to go wrong after Mr Steele

had got divorced. In January, what was left of his

herd, 153 cattle, were seized by vets.

The result of a previous cruelty case.

The judge said he had been genuinely shocked.

He gave James steel a five-month prison sentence, suspended for three

years, and banned him from keeping animals for five.

An army officer in charge of a unit which fired a rubber bullet

at 11-year-old boy has told an inquest that no women or children

Francis Rowntree was injured in the Divis area of Belfast

It's also emerged during the inquest that soldiers didn't give a warning

The inquest heard how the year in which Francis Rowntree died was

troubled. Rioting was commonplace. Giving evidence today was the

commanding officer on the 20th of April 19 72. The inquest heard a

statement he made in 1972. He said there were crowds of youths, some as

young as ten, involved and well organised rioting. 16 shots, he

said, had been fired at his men that day, and the military vehicle had

been pelted by missiles. He said soldier B, 107 in the

vehicle, informed him that he had fired in the crowd and had hit

someone. He was asked by counsel for the red

-- Rowntree family why a warning had not been given.

He said a warning was something they aspire to.

He said, we had no one to address. The situation was flawed.

Rioters were throwing stones, causing damage and injuring the

military. He said he had met 30 to 40 parents

to tell them their children were risking their lives.

That was my warning. The inquest was told that the Company Mr Veitch

commanded was a tough and bloodthirsty lot. Mr Veitch said

that was not the case. The inquest heard that the army were

to work on the principle of minimal force.

He said yes, it was based on the traditional way of crowd dispersal,

and not a way of dealing with the turmoil going on in the area in

1972. He said, we did the best we could do at the time, but we were

forever overtaken by events. He said no women or children were targeted,

but it must have happened because they were part of the crowd. The

inquest continues. A mixed martial arts

fighter has died after Joao Carvalho from Portugal had been

in a fight against Irish opponent Charlie Ward,

and fell ill shortly The 28-year-old was taken

to Beaumont Hospital, where he died. The sport is hugely popular on both

sides of the Atlantic and his death has raised concerns about the safety

of mixed martial arts. We've seen a number of fighters come

into us with significant injuries, injuries to the head, to the face,

so it seems to be a sport that any part of the body is fair game.

You may have noticed in recent weeks you're now getting fewer

The exchange rate has changed somewhat since last year.

And as our business correspondent Julian O'Neill now reports,

volatility in the currency markets has a lot to do with the referendum

For watchers of money markets, like these business students, today was

not actually a bad day for the pound, boosted by a rise in

inflation. But generally, fortunes have slept

since Christmas. In December one pound bought you around 1 euro 42.

Now it is down to 1 euro 25, a slide of 25% -- 12%.

Against the US dollar, the pound was worth $1 52 near the turn of the

year. Today, it was around $1 42.

Uncertainty over the outcome of the UK referendum on EU membership is

one factor in how sterling is currently faring. And analysts

predict the pound potentially faces an unsettled period.

This is likely to continue until we get the vote. In fact it could get

more volatile as we get closer to the vote.

Not necessarily all one way, but certainly sterling is seeing some

challenges. This time of year, many people are

beginning to think in holiday currency.

Sterling might not presently stretch as far, but exchange rates do not

appear to be influencing bookings. It doesn't come into play, no.

Why do you think that is? I just don't think they are that worried

about the conversion rate when they walk through the door. They want the

holiday, and if we provide them with the right information and the right

holiday, we have done our job. Some businesses are currently

getting a boost of starving's fall. Sales in the eurozone are suddenly

providing a better return than last year, helping export orders rise at

their fastest rate in 20 months. -- a boost from Stirling's fall.

On last night's programme, we reported the theft of two

World War I medals from a house in north Belfast.

Now the family who they belonged to have appealed to the thieves

The owner says while they may not be worth much,

These photographs are all this family have left of their relatives'

medals. When thieves broke into the home of the weekend, they stole

three medals, including the military medal for bravery in the

battlefield. This was the lower ranks' equivalent of the military

Cross. And this is the man who was awarded it. He was a supper in the

Royal Engineers and fought at the Battle of the Somme. This -- the

medals belong to his grandson. It means everything to me and my

family, a connection with the past, and with this being the 100th

anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, it is even more poignant.

They are irreplaceable items, medals won by John Mann and one of them did

not come back. -- won by a young men. My grandfather died.

The family say they are of great sentimental value to them, and they

would like them back. I'm not sure if there is any

monetary value, they are of great sentimental and emotional value to

our family, but please, returned them.

Medal collectors are being asked to keep a wary eye out, and police are

appealing for anybody with information about the robbery to

contact them. The Ryder Cup trophy arrived

in Northern Ireland today - at the start of a brief tour

which will see it on display The European Team captain

Darren Clarke received He also gave his reaction

to the decision not to stage next year's Irish Open at the Lough Erne

resort in County Fermanagh, Yes, it is disappointing. But the

European tour are working diligently with the people involved over here,

they made a statement yesterday and we have got the open coming here in

a few years' time, and hopefully we will have more tournaments here in

the future. Football, and Northern Ireland's

women have lost by three goals to one to Italy

in their European qualifier. It leaves Northern Ireland fourth

in Group Six, with three Now the weather forecast

for tomorrow and the next few days,

with Geoff Maskell. Good evening. We have had a lot of

rain over the last few days, and it has all been done to this area of

low pressure. It has been drawing the weather fronts in across our

land, and the one that brought rain through this morning is still with

us tonight, lingering overnight bringing rain particularly across

the north coast. We keep a blanket of Clyde just about everywhere else

as well, keeping the temperature is on the mild side. -- cloud. We

finally say goodbye to that whether from tomorrow, as it sinks away

south and fragments through the morning. It will turn increasingly

showery. Behind it we keep hold of those cloudy skies, but it is

getting a bit drier. We have two distinctive zones of weather, to the

north of the front cooler air and strong breezes, to the south we

could see highs of 17 across parts of London and the south-east. For us

I think the temperatures are more likely to be ten or 11 at best,

those showers are continuing to fizzle out as we go through the

afternoon. By the time we get into Thursday, things are improving. We

keep hold of some of those cloudy skies, but it is getting

increasingly drier as we go through the day, then we will start to see a

few holes being punched in the cloud, so as

we get into the afternoon it is an increasingly bright afternoon. Top

temperatures ten or 11, but after a week of grey, wet conditions, the

fact it is getting drier and brighter will be really welcomed.

Our next BBC Newsline is at 6:25 in the morning during Breakfast