01/09/2016 BBC Newsline

Kremlin. And is there no end in sight to privilege? How

There's been more bad news for the manufacturing sector

The American firm Caterpillar is planning to cut up to 250 jobs.

It's proposing the closure of its plant at Monkstown

The company also has operations in Larne and West Belfast.

This report from our business and economics editor, John Campbell.

Workers arriving for an all staff meeting knew they were facing bad

news, but many were shocked and angered at the decision to close

this plan. -- plant. Disgusted would be

an understatement. 22 years I'm in here. Best

attendance, test everything, just stringing us along. Liars.

Caterpillar is suffering from a global slump

It makes heavy construction equipment and power generators.

It counts the mining and oil industries among its main customers,

but a fall in the price of oil and other commodities means these

customers are not buying so much equipment.

That is costing thousands of jobs worldwide.

As the company ends production of this machine, known as a materials

handler. This has been a very difficult

decision for us to take. We have worked hard on it

and contemplated it for some time. I would say to the workers

across all of our plants that the decision we are taking

today is no way reflective of the contribution they have

given to the business. The manufacturing trade union

says it is more evidence of the need for a more

specific manufacturing strategy. The programme for government doesn't

have real reference to manufacturing in it.

It's a disgrace we've had the two major parties block a call

for a manufacturing strategy by the Ulster Unionist Party only

Nearby, local businesses in Monkstown are more concerned

about how this will ripple through the economy.

Probably will have an impact on the business.

Hopefully not, but the money has to come from somewhere.

There have been a series of major job losses in manufacturing

GTI and Michelin in Ballymena and it plans to close.

Our biggest manufacturing employer, Bombardier, has shed jobs

as a result of long-running issues with the development

However, figures released today suggested UK manufacturing performed

strongly last month, but that will be cold comfort

to the people who lose their jobs here.

Well, the Economy Minister, Simon Hamilton, has rejected union

claims that the Executive does not have a plan to support

He spoke to our business correspondent, Julian O'Neill.

It is not accurate to say the Executive is not interested in

manufacturing. If we were not interested

in manufacturing, why would we be putting over ?200 million over

the last five years into the sector? We have an economic strategy

for Northern Ireland, and I hear calls for a specific

manufacturing strategy for Northern Ireland,

but there is nothing that could do for a business like this who have

experienced a significant downturn in their business as a result

of the drop in oil prices. There is nothing a Northern Ireland

Executive manufacturing could to to deal with fluctuations in oil

prices. There's been a security alert

in North Belfast this evening. The police cordoned off an area

around Velsheda Way and Alliance Avenue in Ardoyne

after a suspicious object was found. A Sinn Fein councillor says he's

been told a device was thrown I've been informed by the PSNI that

they believe a device has been thrown at one of their vehicles in

and around the Ville she'd caught area. They informed me that families

have been evacuated, I cannot say exactly how many families have been

evacuated at the moment. A GP has described the out-of-hours

Service in the Southern Dr Frances O'Hagan told BBC Newsline

that too often only one doctor is available overnight

for a population of around 300,000. The trust says the service is under

pressure but that part of the problem is people

abusing the system. Here's our health correspondent,

Marie-Louise Connolly. Julia Cully became

ill at the weekend. She had a temperature

and was in pain. On Monday she rang

the out-of-hours service. I had to wait for eight

and a half hours. I needed an antibiotic,

but I had to wait While the Bank Holiday weekend

was busy, there was the added pressure of too few doctors

available to cover shifts. It has emerged that for six

consecutive nights at the end of August, only one doctor

was available to cover the overnight Unfortunately I think our

service is already broken. We are not providing the service

we want to provide to our patients To provide safe overnight

cover there should be a total of three doctors,

one based at Craigavon, one But more often there is only one,

to cover house calls. From killed keel to Pomeroy and up

to Moira. I started my shift at midnight

and I had a call to a patient who was very unwell,

who had a mental health problem Within an hour I had

three similar calls. I had to attend casualty

in Craigavon, to assess them to see whether they needed to be admitted

under the mental health order. Police were tied up with it, social

services tied up. Each of the cases took me

in excess of one hour, All the while I was doing this

important work and these people were very ill

and needed my attention, I had a build-up in the background

of children with temperatures, my palliative care patients,

nursing home patients. The trust admits the service

is under pressure. Last year they received over 94,000

calls from the public, but only 20% of these

contacts were urgent. A number of the contacts we have

would not be for urgent It would be for minor

things such as head lice, cold sores, hangovers,

and for that reason we would ask people to think carefully

about the alternative services Another problem is that it is no

longer compulsory for doctors Many say it is hard enough catering

for their normal rota A doctor has told an inquest

into a baby's death that the mother should have been kept in hospital

for observation when Three weeks later in June 2013,

Cara Rocks was stillborn at Barry and Michelle Rocks

at the court where the inquest is examining the death

of their baby daughter. The court heard evidence

from a doctor who had been responsible for some

of Mrs Rocks' care. A lawyer representing the couple

asked the medic why she had not been kept in for observation

after she presented to the hospital with the baby in a sideways position

in the 38th week of her pregnancy. The doctor admitted she had advised

a junior colleague not to admit Mrs Rocks to the hospital

without seeing her for herself. The doctor said in retrospect

she would have When asked whether a Caesarean

section would also have been offered if it had been requested,

the doctor replied that Under questioning from the coroner,

the doctor later told the court that she couldn't recall why she had

made the decision not to admit She said, I don't know

what information I was given at that time, and I honestly can't remember

the reasoning behind that decision. Dr O'Flaherty apologised

to the couple for the distress The Northern Health Trust has

already apologised, admitting a number of mistakes played

a part in Cara's death. The Fire Service says a blaze

at a recycling plant in West Belfast All roads in the area have reopened,

although firefighters are still at the scene,

as Catherine Morrison reports. 24 hours later, much of the

Wastebeater recycling facility is still smouldering. It is now a

dampening down operation. Special equipment is being brought in to dig

over the burning rubbish. At its height yesterday evening, more than

75 firefighters battled to prevent the flames from transferring to

other premises. Smoke could be seen across the city. No one was injured,

and the fire is believed to have been accidental. We have no

indications there was anything malicious. It was a well-developed

fire and we were concerned it might spread to a number of premises, we

also had concerns about specific risks on the way to beat your site

in relation to oil tanks and cylinders but we worked closely with

staff on the site to identify those risks and prevent the fire spreading

and escalating further. Wastebeater employs

around 50 people here. I spoke to some of them who are now

very concerned for their jobs. No-one from the company

was available for an interview but a spokesman said business

is continuing as normal at their Lisburn site and they said

they are trying to minimise disruption for local people

and businesses nearby. Firms are struggling to make

and receive deliveries. I nearby fruit and vegetable

wholesaler had to send stuff early this afternoon after their premises

began filling up with smoke. And it is expected to continue into

tomorrow. The Fire Service says the operation will take at least another

24 hours. The chief executive of Apple,

Tim Cook, says the European Commission ruling that the company

should pay billions of euro in back taxes to the Republic

is "maddening and political". Yesterday the European Commission

said Ireland had granted undue tax benefits of up to 13 billion

euro to Apple. Mr Cook told RTE his company had not

been given preferential tax breaks, and he was "very confident"

the ruling would be The weather prospects

now, with Cecilia Daly. After today's rather dull skies we

expect some September sunshine tomorrow. Not too bad a night,

mostly dry, one or two showers in the West and the breeze will drop,

and tomorrow will be a brighter, drier and warmer day in most places,

with some lovely weather in the morning, one to showers, mainly in

the North West, otherwise many places be dry. The bulk of showers

will fall across the West of Scotland, central and southern

counties of England, south Wales, rather cloudy and damp, the remnants

of the rain we had today which will move slowly south-east. Sunshine for

the Republic of Ireland and the North of England. There will be a

few showers across Northern Ireland tomorrow afternoon, mostly in the

West but the couple will get over to Belfast and the south-east later but

up until then it should stay dry. The weekend shower look back. This

area of low pressure will mostly be towards the south, wet weather

staying away from us, then this system on Monday night. There will

be some rain around on Saturday, but Sunday brings temperatures in the

high teens and in the new week we could see things settle down with

temperatures up to 20 degrees. Our next BBC Newsline is at 6:25am

during Breakfast here on BBC One. You can also keep updated with

News Online. Join me, Jeremy Vine,

and Tina Daheley