:00:00. > :00:09.of the German flag in tribute to those who lost their lives
:00:10. > :00:12.The public is being warned not to visit patients
:00:13. > :00:13.at Altnagelvin Hospital unless absolutely necessary
:00:14. > :00:18.because of a major outbreak of the winter vomiting bug norovirus.
:00:19. > :00:24.The virus has also forced a large hotel in County Cavan
:00:25. > :00:34.Our Health Correspondent, Marie-Louise Connolly, reports.
:00:35. > :00:42.It couldn't have come worse time for this popular hotel in County Cavan.
:00:43. > :00:48.During what must be their busiest time, the hotel said it has no
:00:49. > :00:53.option but to close it was. In a statement on behalf of the hotel,
:00:54. > :00:58.the health Executive in the Republic said the Hotel closed on the 19th of
:00:59. > :01:02.December two to an increased incidence of Noura virus infection
:01:03. > :01:06.amongst residents, staff and patrons of the hotel. It said public and
:01:07. > :01:10.environmental health staff met with hotel management and agreed
:01:11. > :01:15.additional measures, including a full deep clean of the hotel, would
:01:16. > :01:19.be required. The Health and Safety Executive and hotel management said
:01:20. > :01:21.they regret the inconvenience the closure would cause but considered
:01:22. > :01:28.the action necessary to safeguard public health. Noura virus, which
:01:29. > :01:33.causes diarrhoea and vomiting, is one of the most common stomach bugs
:01:34. > :01:36.in the UK and is unusually prevalent in Northern Ireland for this time of
:01:37. > :01:43.year. While it is extremely unpleasant, it is highly infectious.
:01:44. > :01:46.So much so that five wards have been temporarily closed at Altnagelvin
:01:47. > :01:51.Hospital. The spike in cases is worrying. This is the highest
:01:52. > :01:54.incidence of this disease we have experience for many years and it
:01:55. > :01:59.leads to problems with patient access to services and patient
:02:00. > :02:05.output. Patients are suffering within the hospital and staff are
:02:06. > :02:06.suffering. This means we have a downturn in staff levels, which
:02:07. > :02:12.means care for patients is increasingly difficult. Still
:02:13. > :02:20.sitting around doing nothing? I am sick. While there is nothing funny
:02:21. > :02:25.about this so-called Winter vomiting bug, this health video advises the
:02:26. > :02:29.public that if they are sick, not to visit patients. Some trusts have had
:02:30. > :02:33.to cancel operations and with the party season now in full swing, the
:02:34. > :02:39.current surge in cases could get worse before it gets any better. As
:02:40. > :02:45.there is no cure, the best advice is to let it run its course. According
:02:46. > :02:49.to the public health agency, to avoid dehydration, drink plenty of
:02:50. > :02:50.fluids, remember to wash your hands frequently and, most importantly,
:02:51. > :02:53.rest up. A 45-year-old man caught
:02:54. > :02:55.at a bomb-making factory on a County Fermanagh farm has been
:02:56. > :02:58.given an 11 years prison sentence. Barry Francis Petticrew will spend
:02:59. > :03:15.a further three years on licence. This is the forum where police found
:03:16. > :03:21.equipment with the potential to make one of the biggest bombs ever used
:03:22. > :03:26.in Northern Ireland. When officers searched these premises featuring an
:03:27. > :03:31.undercover operation in 2014, they discovered ammunition, pipes, timer
:03:32. > :03:38.units and large quantities of fertilisers. Barry Pettigrew was
:03:39. > :03:42.spotted leaving some of these items. The man, who is originally from
:03:43. > :03:47.Belfast, realised he was being watched, he tried to escape across
:03:48. > :03:51.the countryside. When court he told police I am not involved in
:03:52. > :03:55.terrorism, this house belongs to a friend of mine. He later admitted
:03:56. > :04:01.the three charges against him. Police say many of the components
:04:02. > :04:04.seized are used by terrorist groups, the pedigree denied being linked to
:04:05. > :04:12.any organisation. He said he was pressurised into his actions. George
:04:13. > :04:15.Gordon care QC said the find was linked to dissident republican
:04:16. > :04:19.activity and the farm was a bomb making factory. He described the
:04:20. > :04:22.suspect as a man who allowed himself to be associated with dissident
:04:23. > :04:28.republicans, some of whom may have intended to use the deadly arsenal.
:04:29. > :04:34.Sentenced to 11 years in jail and a further three on licence, he gave
:04:35. > :04:39.the thumbs up signal to supporters in the gallery. The judge asked for
:04:40. > :04:42.the items to be destroyed police say removing the terrorist Hall has
:04:43. > :04:45.prevented bloodshed, loss of life and consequent heartache.
:04:46. > :04:47.The Prime Minister says other EU member states are well aware
:04:48. > :04:50.of the sensitivities of arrangements on the border after the UK
:04:51. > :04:54.She was giving evidence to a Committee of MPs.
:04:55. > :04:57.Earlier this evening our Political Editor, Mark Devenport,
:04:58. > :05:09.Well, Theresa May, was answering questions from this Liaison
:05:10. > :05:13.Committee and the charity Northern Ireland affairs committee asked
:05:14. > :05:17.about Brexit and Northern Ireland. She repeated what has been a
:05:18. > :05:21.government mantra, the government doesn't want to see a return to the
:05:22. > :05:25.borders of the past and she said Naidu did Dublin. Mr Robinson said
:05:26. > :05:32.this isn't about London and Dublin, it is about the wider EU. Other
:05:33. > :05:36.member states are very well aware of the sensitivity of the issue in
:05:37. > :05:39.relation to the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of
:05:40. > :05:45.Ireland and want a solution that works for both sides. The continuing
:05:46. > :05:49.fallout from the chaotic scenes yesterday to do with the renewable
:05:50. > :05:56.heat incentive scheme. What has happened today? The Speaker of the
:05:57. > :05:59.Stormont Assembly road to MLAs last night explaining that he understood
:06:00. > :06:04.their frustration about those chaotic scenes but he explained his
:06:05. > :06:08.legal advice was that if there had been a joint request from the first
:06:09. > :06:12.and Deputy First Minister is for Arlene Foster to make her statement
:06:13. > :06:17.he couldn't stop unless he got a joint rescinding of that request. A
:06:18. > :06:24.degree of logic but that didn't stop the criticism. The former deputy
:06:25. > :06:28.speaker contrasted the speaker's performance with that of his
:06:29. > :06:33.predecessor. He said he failed to rise above the shambles and there
:06:34. > :06:40.was criticism from Eileen Bell, an alliance MLA, she was speaker of the
:06:41. > :06:46.transitional Assembly a decade ago. I was very disappointed, horrified
:06:47. > :06:50.at the whole process. The members, none of them were sure what was
:06:51. > :06:54.going to happen. The Speaker, when he came in and took the chair, it
:06:55. > :06:59.looked like he didn't know what would happen. The one thing I know,
:07:00. > :07:03.even though it was a transitional Assembly, the one thing I know is
:07:04. > :07:07.you have to to beat the speaker, the Speaker has to control everything.
:07:08. > :07:12.When it comes to the controversial scheme itself, the finance and
:07:13. > :07:17.economy ministers are trying to limit the costs of the skin. I
:07:18. > :07:22.assume that as a matter of urgency? You would assume so. We won't get
:07:23. > :07:27.the full details until January. Arlene Foster has said she hopes
:07:28. > :07:32.that at least half of this projected ?400 million loss over 20 years can
:07:33. > :07:37.be recouped. The finance minister, using Twitter, as he does, said he
:07:38. > :07:42.met today with the economy minister to ensure robust action is taken to
:07:43. > :07:49.minimise losses and a steward of the public finances he will ensure that
:07:50. > :07:55.any plan to close RHI stacks up and brings this sorry episode to a
:07:56. > :07:59.close. The scheme was closed down in February, this kind of plan to
:08:00. > :08:00.minimise losses should have been put in place long before now.
:08:01. > :08:02.Stormont spent more than ?10 million on agency workers in
:08:03. > :08:05.the Northern Ireland Civil Service at a time when it was
:08:06. > :08:09.More than 3,300 civil servants left under the voluntary exit scheme.
:08:10. > :08:11.But during that time hundreds of agency workers were hired,
:08:12. > :08:15.Details were released by the Department of Finance
:08:16. > :08:19.The department said it did not know if some people who took
:08:20. > :08:21.redundancy packages returned to the Civil Service
:08:22. > :08:31.as agency workers but said it 'is permissible under the rules'.
:08:32. > :08:34.The Police have recovered a gun from a house in south Belfast.
:08:35. > :08:36.Construction workers, who had been refurbishing
:08:37. > :08:39.the property on Annadale Crescent, discovered the firearm yesterday.
:08:40. > :08:44.Further police searches were carried out this afternoon.
:08:45. > :08:47.Northern Ireland Water has appealed to the public not to throw leftover
:08:48. > :08:49.food or cooking oil down the kitchen sink or toilet.
:08:50. > :08:52.?5 million has been spent in the past two years dealing
:08:53. > :08:56.with thousands of blockages in our sewers.
:08:57. > :09:06.Their main concern is fatbergs as Helen Jones reports.
:09:07. > :09:15.You don't have to poke around too long to find this. Lumps of
:09:16. > :09:19.congealed fat and waste which clog up our sewers. Northern Ireland
:09:20. > :09:25.water wants to keep a lid on it. Everyone is putting their dinner in
:09:26. > :09:29.the offing, getting ready for the festive activities and in houses
:09:30. > :09:35.they are cooking large meat joints and the like. There is a lot of
:09:36. > :09:40.waste of that, fat, oil and grease that occasionally people put into
:09:41. > :09:44.the sewer, not realising the danger, the consequences. A fatberg, when
:09:45. > :09:49.the grease enters at the sooner it is in a liquid form. When it
:09:50. > :09:54.solidifies and gathers inappropriate material down the sewer, it can
:09:55. > :09:58.cause a blockage. Over time that can get bigger and bigger and you can
:09:59. > :10:01.get them up to a couple of metres in diameter which comes like a large
:10:02. > :10:08.rock, a large obstruction which has to be cut out. Lived long enough you
:10:09. > :10:11.could be dealing with this. A 15 tonne fatberg the size of a
:10:12. > :10:16.double-decker bus in the sewers of London. If you are of a delicate
:10:17. > :10:21.disposition or you are having your dinner, you may want to look away
:10:22. > :10:30.momentarily. This is what happens when your dreams get clogged up. It
:10:31. > :10:36.is not nice. It is a prop. I wouldn't be this close if it wasn't.
:10:37. > :10:50.Here is a timely message song in the style of Mariah Carey. All we want
:10:51. > :10:51.for Christmas is clean sewers. We will try to make his Christmas wish
:10:52. > :10:52.come true. Ice hockey and the Belfast Giants
:10:53. > :10:55.are through to the Challenge Cup Semi Final after beating
:10:56. > :10:56.on the Manchester Storm The Giants won with a goal
:10:57. > :11:00.in overtime to win Looking ahead to the rest
:11:01. > :11:05.of the week on BBC Newsline and we have three children's
:11:06. > :11:07.choirs singing Christmas Now the weather forecast
:11:08. > :11:55.with Geoff Maskell and we're Good evening and welcome to a
:11:56. > :11:59.roller-coaster week of weather. We had at temperatures of -5 this
:12:00. > :12:02.morning, heavy rain this evening and overnight at the start of wintry
:12:03. > :12:07.showers that will set the tone for the next 48 hours. All of that
:12:08. > :12:11.before a weather warning for one of the busiest travel days of the
:12:12. > :12:15.holiday period. First, a little pause after the rain clears out of
:12:16. > :12:23.the East, before the start of the wintry showers that will set the
:12:24. > :12:25.tone for the next couple of days. It will picture with a very cold
:12:26. > :12:28.breeze. The shows are coming straight out of the Arctic. They are
:12:29. > :12:32.called. A mix of hail and thunder over high ground, sleet and snow as
:12:33. > :12:36.well. Some brightness between showers but it is cold comfort with
:12:37. > :12:43.temperatures between four and 5 degrees and the wind factor. We are
:12:44. > :12:46.in that shall re-sown with the gale force winds coming in and across the
:12:47. > :12:51.North. A camera picture across central England and Wales with
:12:52. > :12:56.warmer temperatures under the rain across the South. For us, no such
:12:57. > :13:02.warmth. Temperatures really know. An ice risk as we go overnight into
:13:03. > :13:05.Thursday and the wind never drops off as those wintry showers continue
:13:06. > :13:10.to be driven in through the day on Thursday. Not quite the intensity,
:13:11. > :13:15.but not feeling very nice. Then we get to the end of the weekend storm
:13:16. > :13:18.Barbara will work her way in and she will bring costs of up to 70 miles
:13:19. > :13:22.an hour as we go through the main part of the travel day on Friday.
:13:23. > :13:27.For that reason, the Met office has issued a severe weather warning. If
:13:28. > :13:29.you have any travel flexibility, you might want to travel on Thursday or
:13:30. > :13:32.Saturday, rather than Friday. Our next BBC Newsline is at six
:13:33. > :13:35.twenty five in the morning