12/04/2017 BBC Newsline

Good evening and welcome to BBC Newsline.

The DUP Leader Arlene Foster said she intends to engage with Irish

speakers in a move to better understand the language.

Her comments come as talks aimed at restoring devolution failed

The Secretary of State has paused the process and says

if there is no deal by early May, he will either call another election

Meanwhile Downing Street has confirmed that the Prime Minister

discussed the political situation here in separate phone

calls with Arlene Foster and Michelle O'Neill.

Here is our Political Correspondent, Stephen Walker.

Tonight in an East Belfast hotel Arlene Foster briefed her party

colleagues on the talks process. In the audience were DUP MPs, MLAs, in

Stormont it has been busy with tourists but Assembly members are

having to wait. Today at lunchtime that DeLay got longer when the

Secretary of State paused the talks. He said although further progress

has been made: That means either a second election

or a return to decision making from Westminster.

One of the stumbling blocks as Irish language. Today Arlene Foster made

this statement. For our part we do want to respect

and indeed better understand the language and culture

which we are not a part of. And to that end, over the next

short period of time, I do intend to listen,

to engage with those from the Gaelic Irish background,

those without party political baggage, or indeed demands,

but people who genuinely love the Irish language and

don't want to use it as Earlier it was obvious just how

important Sinn Fein see this issue. If you are a Scots Gaelic Speaker

you have a Scots Gaelic act, a Welsh Speaker, a Welsh act, if you lived

here, as a sign of you British list you do not have a language act.

Other parties have a sense of time standing still.

Sometimes when you are sitting around a table discussing issues

it is almost like Back to the Future.

Discussing matters today, the exact same issues three

Others see this lack of progress is not acceptable.

I don't know how I can look at the public when I meet them over

the next couple of days, when once again we have

If the parties cannot make a deal the focus will switch to London.

This week the Prime Minister reiterated support for devolution in

phone calls to Michelle O'Neill and Arlene Foster.

Another deadline has come and gone. James Brokenshire has made it clear

there will not be another Good Friday Agreement Mach two. Instead

he says, do a deal by early May or face another election, or direct

rule. In a statement a short time ago,

Janet Muller from the Irish language advocacy group,

Pobal, said it would gladly accept Arlene Foster's invitation to meet

with Irish speakers, and had written to her to arrange

a meeting. Police are treating an overnight

attack on the home of a Polish A brick was thrown into the house

and landed in a baby's cot. The child was in the parents'

bedroom and no one was injured. An attack that could have

left his baby seriously injured. This morning, smashed glass

was still lying throughout this Bricks were thrown to the front

and rear of the house Broken glass landed in the baby's

cot but she was sleeping The couple are originally

from Poland and police are treating Certainly at this stage

we are treating it as Behind every statistic

there is a person and a victim. In this case a very frightened

family. This attack happened

just before 2:30am. The young couple and the baby

girl were asleep inside. They've lived here for just over

a year and neighbours have described them as quiet,

kind and hard-working. People here are hard-working

and will give these Police are appealing

for information. A former investigator

with the Police Ombudsman's Office has been arrested as part

of an investigation into the alleged theft

of sensitive security documents. It is understood the documents

contained information which the police and the security

service MI5 believe could put The BBC understands

they were released to lawyers without authorisation

from the Ombudsman or the PSNI. A 69-year-old man was arrested

in Dartford in Kent on Sunday after the PSNI conducted a joint

search with local police. It is understand the man retired

from the ombudsman's office a number of years ago and the documents

do not refer to any case A statement said they were alerted

to the theft last week. A spokesman said that the material

came to light during legal proceedings not connected

to the office. The ombudsman asked the police

to begin a criminal investigation into how and when this happened,

and also informed the Meanwhile Steve Martin,

of PSNI confirmed that a man has been

arrested as part at the centre of this inquiry

as regarded as historic. While we do not know the precise

details of what is in them the PSNI has suspended the release of any

further sensitive materials with the Ombudsman's Office

until the review of security Questions are being asked about why

a company which owns a dam on the outskirts of Belfast drained

most of it last week. The company says it did it

on the advice of a Government agency which told it to reduce

the risk of flooding. Our Agriculture and

Environment correspondent The dam has been in private

ownership for years. But the public has

always had access. Last Friday a digger was used

to breach the retaining wall allowing most of the water to flow

into an adjoining river. You can see the level

where the water used to come up to, When that retaining wall

was breached thousands of gallons of water flowed out of here,

draining this lake overnight. Locals claim that impacted

waterfowl, including ducks The water would have went

right out to the edge, right far back to those reeds,

it would have come up there. Wild birds, their eggs

and nests are protected The PSNI said there

was an investigation This afternoon representatives

from several political parties turned up to see

the situation for themselves. I want to see if we can get

the sluice gate put back on. The local MP spoke to a property

developer that he believes He said there was concern this

reservoir was not safe, and there was a risk to people's houses.

New laws have thrown up unintended consequences,

including difficulty of getting planning permission for sites

downstream of dams and reservoirs that have not been surveyed

and do not have a safety certificate.

This held water that came at flood times and now it will not

The company that owns the dam said a survey has been carried out

and they had been told by the Rivers Agency

to take steps to reduce the risk of flooding.

The concern of locals now is to stem the flow of water in the short term.

Carl Frampton has told BBC Newsline he has several options for his next

fight as talks continue to tempt a high profile opponent to Belfast.

Among them, is the possibility of a non world title bout this summer.

Immediately after his defeat in Las Vegas Carl Frampton insisted

that his next fight would be in his home city.

He wanted a rematch with Leo Santa Cruz,

while Welshman Lee Selby was also viewed as an attractive option.

I am not optimistic on either one but there are other names

We will get something announced pretty soon.

The position I am in at the minute, I will not fight a mug.

Doesn't need to be a world title fight? It does not.

Sometimes it is difficult to fight for a world title straight off

the back of a loss but it needs to be a big fight and it will be.

Has it been difficult to try to tempt people here?

He told people he would come to Belfast but that was not to be.

That is the way things happen in this game.

I am a big draw, I sell a lot of tickets, that brings big

A Santa Cruz trilogy fight remains the long-term goal

but Carl Frampton might have to wait.

Now here's Angie Philips with the weather forecast.

Details in the forecast difficult to pin down. There will be areas of

cloud and eight a few showers. If you show us through the course of

tonight towards the north and parts of the West. In line it is dry with

some clear spells. Quite cool. The odd pockets of crass frost. Tomorrow

the cloud becomes an issue once again. A cool start but a bright one

with a view consists of sunshine. Through the morning we see cloud

rolling in from the West. Not just into Northern Ireland, into the

republic well. Morsel towards northern and Western Scotland, quite

breezy, more frequent showers, if you drifting down to wards the

north-west of England. Further south and East it is mainly dry. It is a

cloudy afternoon for Northern Ireland. That cloud will be thick

enough in places to produce patchy rain particularly towards the north

and parts of the West. Not amounting to a great deal. Still a fair amount

of dry weather around. As we head towards Good Friday and Saturday a

fair amount of cloud and some bright spells. If you showers as well.

Patchy rain for Easter Sunday perhaps.