A young girl is critically ill in hospital after a hit-and-run incident in west Belfast.
The girl was struck by a white vehicle - possibly a van - close to the Hunting Lodge bar on the Stewartstown Road at about 2030 BST.
The road has been closed at its junction with Hillhead and Stewartstown avenues.
Police are appealing for anyone who witnessed the incident or has any information about it to contact them.
Police came under petrol bomb attack
Police officers have come under attack from a crowd in west Belfast.
A police spokeswoman said that between 70 and 100 people have been involved in the disturbances in the Ballygomartin Road area.
Petrol bombs and stones have been thrown, but it is not known if there have been any injuries.
It is understood that at least one person has been arrested.
Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern is addressing conference
Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern has put pressure on Sinn Fein to endorse policing in Northern Ireland.
It came as he paid tribute to the vice-chairman of the Policing Board who was violently attacked last month.
Mr Ahern said Denis Bradley’s story was one of “courage and heroism” and he said it was “no time for any party to shirk its responsibility”.
He was speaking at a conference in Derry, organised by the SDLP, on north-south co-operation.
Mr Ahern later met Mr Bradley, who was beaten with a baseball bat in a Derry bar, later on Friday.
“I have forcefully condemned the attack on Denis. His story is one of courage and heroism,” he told the conference.
“He has paid a high price for his commitment to a fresh start in policing.
“The right thing now is for all sections of the community to follow Denis’ example and participate in the task of forging a new policing service.”
Mr Bradley, a former Catholic priest, was attacked as he watched a football match on television with his son. He was taken to hospital with a head injury.
The assault was blamed on dissident republicans who have threatened his life and attacked his home on previous occasions.
Mr Ahern also paid tribute to the SDLP, saying its support for policing had been brave.
“I have met with many of those involved, including District Policing Partnership members here in Derry and I applaud their contribution in opening up a new era for policing in Northern Ireland,” he said.
Sinn Fein has resisted giving the PSNI, the Policing Board and other institutions its support, insisting more legislation is needed before they can sign up.
Meanwhile, Mr Ahern has also reaffirmed the commitment of the Irish and British governments to the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and their desire to see the devolved institutions revived.
While he claimed the “completion” of IRA decommissioning had the potential to unlock the political stalemate, he also called on loyalist paramilitaries to follow suit.
The minister said cross-border co-operation had a vital role to play in the delivery of a competitive all-Ireland economy which could generate jobs, provide better public services and bring lasting prosperity.
The SDLP, for its part, argued that the suspension of the assembly should not be allowed to block progress in terms of north-south co-operation.
It pointed to the need for all-Ireland co-operation in assets recovery from criminals, a sex offenders register, and environmental protection.
The SDLP also argued that investment in infrastructure of about 100 billion euros over the next 10 years needs to be planned in a coherent way.
A leading republican has appeared in court charged with public order offences.
Bobby Storey, 49, of South Link, Andersonstown, is accused of assaulting and attempting to obstruct a police officer, and riotous assembly.
The offences relate to a disturbance at a west Belfast social club on the Andersonstown Road on 4 September.
He was remanded in custody, but an application for bail is due to be lodged in the High Court.
During the brief hearing at Belfast Magistrates Court on Friday, the defendant spoke only to confirm that he understood the charges.
A policeman said he believed he could connect Mr Storey to the charges.
It is understood a bail hearing will be heard on Saturday.
By Kathryn Torney
07 October 2005
Parents of pupils at a Belfast primary school have launched a hard-hitting campaign aimed at shaming education board bosses into reversing a decision to axe their school lollipop man.
Mums and dads took action after the principal of Brooklands Primary in Dundonald was told yesterday that the South Eastern Education and Library Board has decided not to replace crossing patrol man George McBride when he retires today.
The board said that the school does not meet criteria relating to the number of unaccompanied children crossing the road and the volume of traffic.
However, parents, who have accused the Board of making an easy cutback in a bid to save money, have started a petition and plan to hold peaceful protests outside the school in a bid to have the decision overturned. They also plan to man the crossing themselves from Monday.
Over 600 children attend the primary, nursery unit and library.
Principal David McCartney said: “What I can’t understand is why there was a need for a crossing patrol yesterday but no need now.
“The bottom line is that every child crossing the road into school from Monday will be in danger.
“It may take someone to have an accident for something to happen but by then it will be too late. I am very angry about this decision.”
Mum of two, Joanne Patton, said: “Who is going to answer to some parent when their child is lying lifeless on the road? It is just an accident waiting to happen.”
The board’s assistant senior education officer, Nicky McBride, said they have agreed to carry out another survey as a result of the school’s concerns.
“If the school does not meet the criteria, we have agreed to work with them to find an alternative solution, which could involve ‘walking buses’ or a safe drop-off point for cars.”
October 7, 2005 - 9:15PM
Detainees in the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are on hunger strike in what the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says is a serious situation.
But spokeswoman Antonella Notari declined to comment on a statement by a defence lawyer that the action involved 200 of 500 prisoners and that 21 were being force-fed.
The humanitarian agency, which last visited the base in late September, was in contact with US authorities about the situation, ICRC chief spokeswoman Antonella Notari said.
“There is a hunger strike, the situation is serious, and we are following it with concern,” Notari said.
“During our recent 10-day visit we were able to visit the infirmary, see the detainees and speak with them as well as the American authorities,” she added.
The ICRC backs a 1975 Tokyo declaration by the World Medical Association stating that doctors should not participate in force-feeding, but keep prisoners informed of the sometimes irreversible consequences of their hunger strike, she added.
Amnesty International and human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, a lawyer representing some 40 detainees, said on Thursday that US authorities were keeping 21 alive by forcing food into their stomachs through tubes pushed up their noses.
The prisoners are shackled to their beds 24 hours a day to stop them removing the tubes, he said.
“This is the 56th day of the hunger strike,” said Stafford Smith before making a comparison with the Irish republican campaign of 1981, when 10 prisoners starved themselves to death in protest at British policy in Northern Ireland.
US authorities opened the base as a prison camp in January 2002, following the September 11 attacks in the United States, to hold “enemy combatants” seized in Afghanistan.
Only four, including Australian Taliban fighter David Hicks, have been charged and many have been held more than three years. Some former prisoners claimed they were tortured.
Force-feeding is not banned under international law, but the World Medical Association declaration, endorsed by the American Medical Association, sets guidelines for doctors involved in hunger strikes and says they should not participate in force-feeding.
A County Louth farmer, widely thought to be the head of the IRA, is being unfairly linked to criminal activity, according to Sinn Fein.
Newry and Armagh MP Conor Murphy said there was no evidence to suggest 250 properties being probed in Manchester belonged to Thomas “Slab” Murphy.
The investigation is being led by the Assets Recovery Agency.
Mr Murphy said elements within the agency had given “selective briefings” in an attempt to “point the finger”.
He said: “I read the statement from the Assets Recovery Agency which was quite vague and bland and doesn’t refer even to any republican at all, much less Mr Murphy.
“What we have is the Assets Recovery Agency issuing a statement about what they are doing.
“But then elements or individuals within the Assets Recovery Agency, who have a Special Branch background, have been giving selective and private briefings to some journalists to try to point the finger at different people.”
Documents were seized in the Manchester searches, which took place 10 days after the IRA put its weapons beyond use and on the day Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams met Prime Minister Tony Blair in Downing Street.
Meanwhile, separate searches took place in the Republic of Ireland connected to the probe into illegally held IRA funds.
Seven offices in County Louth were searched by officers from the Criminal Assets Bureau.
A quantity of documents were seized during the raids but no arrests were made.
Border farm
In a statement, Irish police said that they were “familiar” with the operations currently being conducted in the United Kingdom by the Assets Recovery Agency.
It added: “An Garda Siochana, through the Criminal Assets Bureau, have been working with the ARA for a number of months in respect of this and other investigations.”
The gardai said that the operation in the Republic of Ireland, which began on Thursday, is continuing.
Murphy lost a libel case against The Sunday Times in 1998, after the newspaper described him as a prominent IRA member.
The authorities on both sides of the border have been investigating him for years.
Murphy describes himself as a County Louth farmer. The family property is in an area straddling the border with the Irish Republic at Hackballscross.
07 October 2005 11:17
Two women being questioned about the murder of the former UDA east Belfast commander, Jim Gray, were released without charge last night.
Four men arrested in connection with the investigation are still being detained.
Gray, who was 47, was shot dead on Tuesday night outside his father’s house on the Clarawood estate.
Police say the involvement of the UDA in the killing is a major line of inquiry.
Gray was expelled from the loyalist paramilitary group last March.
07/10/2005 - 07:37:01
Irish prisoners will reportedly be voting in future elections following a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.
Reports this morning said the court ruled yesterday that a British prisoner convicted of killing a woman with an axe had his rights breached when he was banned from voting.
In its judgement, the court said voting was a right, not a privilege.
Although Irish prisoners are not formally banned from voting, there is currently no procedure to allow them to do so.
Yesterday’s ruling means Ireland and 14 other EU countries will have to introduce changes to facilitate prisoners who want to vote.
Orange halls are going to be among the community buildings in Northern Ireland exempt from paying rates, the government has announced.
The plans to change the way rates are calculated will come into effect in April 2007.
The halls will be eligible for the exemption as long as they are not bases for registered clubs and do not have a liquor license.
NIO Minister Jeff Rooker said it is for places without a regular income.
“It isn’t just Orange halls, it’s community halls, which includes Orange halls,” Lord Rooker said.
“It is conditional on them being available for use by the wider community, that they don’t have a liquor license and are not being occupied by a registered club.
“If they are doing any of these things they will have a regular stream of income and can afford to pay their rates.”
The plans were announced as part of a 12-week consultation period on the review of the rating system in Northern Ireland which was launched on Friday
Lord Rooker said plans to make the system fairer “by basing rate bills on the capital value of your home from April 2007″ are well under way.
“It is essential ratepayers have as much information as early as possible, given the fundamental changes we are making,” he said.
Capital values of all Northern Ireland homes will be published in April 2006.
‘Fairer system’
“The draft order represents a key milestone on the path to making the rating system fairer, a process started by the former Northern Ireland Executive in 2000,” he said.
The reforms include the new rate relief scheme for those on low incomes, transitional arrangements over a three-year period and a new independent valuation tribunal.
“They will be given effect through a second order in council, to be brought forward next year.”
Stressing the need for change, he said: “Reform is vital to bring the domestic rating system into the 21st century. We need to make it fairer and easier for ratepayers to understand.
“The new capital values will achieve this. It is almost 30 years since domestic property in Northern Ireland was last re-valued. Delay is therefore not an option.”
On Thursday, DUP leader Ian Paisley said he received assurances about the plans to exempt Orange halls from rates during his talks in Downing Street.
Sinn Fein assembly member John O’Dowd has said any moves on the introduction of rate exemptions for non-profit making organisations should be applied across the board.
'So venceremos, beidh bua againn eigin lá eigin. Sealadaigh abú.'
--Bobby Sands
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