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BBC
5 August 2008

A 21-year-old Ballymena man has appeared in court charged with assaulting two Sinn Fein party members.

Ciaran McGill, from Dunclug Park, faced a total of four charges relating to trouble in Ballymena’s Dunclug estate last Thursday.

These including two of assaulting assembly member Daithi McKay MLA and Councillor Padraig McShane.

Mr McGill was remanded in custody at Antrim Magistrates Court, sitting in Ballymena.

He is to appear in court again on 14 August. The others charges were disorderly behaviour and affray.

North Antrim MLA Daithi McKay and Councillor McShane were set upon in the Dunclug estate outside the home of a community worker. Both men sustained minor injuries.

The dispute started over the removal of a bonfire to commemorate internment.

A BBC Northern Ireland camera crew who were in the estate caught the incident on film.

By Una Culkin
Coleraine Times
06 August 2008

TEN years ago, on August 15, 1998, the town of Omagh was torn apart by a massive car bomb. Now a decade later, an exhibition will mark the public outpouring of support for the town after the horrific event - and it is the brainchild of a Portrush artist.

The acclaimed Petals of Hope Exhibition will be hosted in Omagh for two weeks during August in recognition of the tenth anniversary of the bomb.

Please also see omagh.gov.uk

Portrush artist Carole Kane explained: “When the bomb happened there was a huge response from the public who came to leave flowers.

“I had been doing hand-made paper workshops at Flowerfield in Portstewart at the time and had the idea of perhaps doing a workshop with the locals in the town with a view to maybe putting a piece of artwork in a doctor’s waiting room or a public space.

“I approached Omagh District Council and asked them about it. After Clinton’s visit, I was approached by the Council and asked to over see the project.”

The idea was developed to organise a series of workshops involving local people to make pieces of handmade paper incorporating the flowers.

The outcome of this process resulted in over 30 individual framed pieces of handmade art which were exhibited in Omagh, Buncrana, Dublin and Belfast.

Each bereaved family was then presented with a piece of art work symbolising, through the flowers, the thoughts, prayers, love and friendship which emerged worldwide as a result of the atrocity.

“After the touring exhibition, I was approached by the then Chief Executive of the Council, John McKinney, who asked me to write my story which was incorporated into a catalogue of photographs of the work called Petals of Hope.

“Now larger versions of those photographs are going on display to mark the tenth anniversary of the bomb.”

Carole studied a Foundation Course in Art and Design at Newcastle College, Newcastle-upon Tyne and graduated with an Honours Degree in Constructed Textiles from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, at University of Dundee.

She then completed a Postgraduate Certificate from the University of Ulster.

She has been involved in lecturing at various levels in Further and Higher Education, together with developing a range of Community Art based projects.

She is presently working as a Development Officer within the Creative Learning Team of the WEA (Workers’ Educational Association).

“On reflection, as an artist, Petals of Hope was an unbelievable experience when I look back at it. Not at all easy but unbelievable,” she said.

“It was an opportunity for us to do something creative out of such an atrocity.

“It gave us a clear identity of who we are and I’m not sure that we have had a chance to do that on a large scale and that is something now for creative people and for the MLAs to take on.

“I had that opportunity and be involved in something that was community-lead and community-delivered and helped people.”

RTÉ
5 August 2008

A new report from the Rwandan government says France played an active role in the 1994 genocide.

France’s foreign ministry has refused to comment the report, saying it is waiting to see the document.

The report alleges that France was aware of preparations for the genocide, contributed to planning the massacres and actively took part in the killing.

It named former French prime minister Edouard Balladur, former foreign minister Alain Juppe and late former president Francois Mitterrand among 13 French politicians accused of playing a role in the massacres.

The report also names 20 military officials.

The 1994 genocide in the central African nation left around 800,000 people, mainly minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus dead, according to the United Nations.

Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama presented the report to the press in Kigali, more than two years after a special commission began probing France’s role in the genocide.

France has acknowledged making “mistakes” in Rwanda but denies any responsibility for the killing spree.

By Ciarán Barnes
Andersonstown News Monday
Belfast Media

The public is being urged to get behind a campaign to nominate prominent Belfast nationalists for the freedom of the city of Belfast.

Of the 68 people and nine groups awarded the honour in the last 110-years just one, the artist Sir John Lavery, comes from a nationalist background.

The other 76 represent a roll-call of Hooray Henrys, toffs, unionist politicians and British army generals — with the exception of the emergency services honoured in more recent years.

Amazingly Belfast greats like Van Morrison, Victoria Cross winner James Magennis, philanthropist Vere Foster, and World Cup football hero Gerry Armstrong have never been given the freedom of the city.

However English born aristocrats, many of whom hardly set foot in Belfast, have been honoured.

Field Marhsal John Denton Pinkstone, Hariot the Dowager Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, Field Marhsal Sir Harold Rupert Leofric George Alexander, and Sir Cuthbert Ackroyd Baronet, are on the list.

Sinn Féin councillor Paul Maskey believes people are embarrassed by this, and is calling on the public to nominate true working-class heroes for the freedom of the city award.

He said: “There is virtually no recognition of anyone from a working-class, republican or nationalist background on this list, it’s embarrassing to be quite honest.

“If the council is really serious about making Belfast a city for everyone then we need to get real people’s names onto this list, regardless of their backgrounds.”

Some of the names suggested by Mr Maskey for posthumous awards include hunger striker Pat McGeown, who dedicated his life to cross-community work after being freed from prison, and anti-plastic bullet campaigner Emma Groves.

Nominating someone for the freedom of the city is simple, it’s just a matter of sending a letter to the Chief Executive of Belfast City Council.

The nominee will be considered at a special meeting of the council and then a vote taken on whether to honour them with the freedom award.

Mr Maskey yesterday called on the West Belfast public to come up with a nominee.

He added: “For too long councillors have put forward names, it’s time the public had its say.”

Historian Dr Eamon Phoneix agrees that past freedom of the city recipients fail to reflect the make-up of Belfast.

“For years the City Hall had a policy of nominating military commanders, Ulster unionists and captains of industry,” he said.

“There is certainly a strong balance towards these professions. One way of addressing this would be to award posthumous freedom of the city honours to people like Vere Foster, James Magennis, Paddy Devlin and the 1932 outdoor relief workers.”

Ultimately it is Belfast City Council’s 51 councillors who have the final say on who gets the freedom of the city award. For a nomination to be successful every councillor needs to be in agreement.

According to former Lord Mayor Jim Rodgers the biggest obstacle standing in the way of new nominees is the cost of the event.

“The ceremony costs a tremendous amount of money – that’s why there hasn’t been an individual nominated in a long time,” he said.

“But if you look at other councils in Northern Ireland you will see them awarding freedomships to at least one person every year. Another problem we face in Belfast is finding a nominee that the entire council can agree on.”

Unlike other awards the freedom of the city of Belfast does not confer upon the holder any rights.

The most they can look forward to is a City Hall ceremony, or perhaps a parade through the city centre.

Two similar and detailed e-fits of suspects in the Madeleine McCann case composed three days after the disappearance have been made public for the first time – 15 months after she vanished.

By Caroline Gammell in Portimao
Telegraph
05 Aug 2008

The image of a young, white man with dark and deep set eyes was put together from sightings by British holidaymaker Derek Flack and British expat Lance Purser.

Portuguese police resisted releasing the efits because of secrecy laws and the fear of prejudicing any further investigation (Photo: PA)

Mr Flack saw a man acting suspiciously around Kate and Gerry McCann’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz just before their three-year-old daughter went missing.

Mr Purser said he had seen a similar man in the weeks running up to Madeleine’s disappearance.

(more…)

Breaking News.ie
05/08/2008

The North’s Police Ombudsman has accused the police of failing to properly investigate the disappearance of 15-year-old Arlene Arkinson in 1994.

The teenager, from Castlederg in Co Tyrone, disappeared while on the way home from a disco in Bundoran and is believed to have been murdered, but her remains have never been found.

Robert Howard, a serial sex offender who gave her a lift on the night she went missing, was acquitted of her murder in June 2005.

In a report today, Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson says the police failed to properly respond to Arlene’s disappearance and failed to realise that they were dealing with a potential murder inquiry.

He says it took 46 days for the police to arrest Mr Howard, preventing the seizure of vital evidence that could have helped in the case.

BBC
5 August 2008

A man has been arrested in connection with the murder of County Armagh man Paul Quinn.

It is the 11th arrest to be made in the case in just over a week. All those previously arrested have been released.

The latest arrest was made this morning following a search of two premises in south Armagh by the PSNI at the request of the Garda.

Mr Quinn, who was 21, was beaten to death by a gang in a cattle shed in County Monaghan in October last year.

Rachel Williams
The Guardian
August 5 2008

A group of activists including Tony Blair’s sister-in-law Lauren Booth plans to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip by sailing into the Palestinian territory.

Some 46 campaigners, among them several Britons, a Holocaust survivor and an 81-year-old retired Catholic nun from the US, will make the 241-mile crossing from Cyprus in two wooden vessels at the end of the week, carrying medical supplies. The journey takes about 20 hours.

Campaigners could face resistance off Gaza from the Israeli navy, which previously imposed a similar sea blockade off the Lebanese coast. (Photograph: AFP/Getty Images)

The California-based Free Gaza movement wants to open unrestricted international access to Gaza while delivering a “symbolic” shipment of 200 hearing aids and batteries for a society for deaf children and other supplies such as painkillers. Organisers say they will not pass through Israeli waters and have therefore not notified Israeli authorities of their plans.

(more…)

BBC
4 August 2008

A 21-year-old man has been arrested in connection with an assault on two Sinn Fein members in Ballymena.

North Antrim MLA Daithi McKay and Cllr Padraig McShane were set upon in the Dunclug estate outside the home of a community worker.

Both men sustained minor injuries. The dispute started over the removal of a bonfire to commemorate internment.

A BBC Northern Ireland camera crew who were in the estate caught the incident on film.

BBC

Belfast Lord Mayor Tom Hartley will unveil an Irish tricolour in his official office later.

The flag will be kept in the lord mayor’s parlour

It will be kept in the lord mayor’s parlour, which is at Clarendon Dock while city hall is being renovated.

Mr Hartley said the move would give parity of esteem to both nationalists and unionists.

The first republican lord mayor of Belfast, Alec Maskey, was the first to place an Irish flag beside the Union Jack in 2002.

“I inherited an office with a union flag in it, so rather than remove the union flag I decided to locate an Irish tricolour in the office,” Mr Hartley said.

“I’m hoping to show that it’s possible for the mayor of Belfast to act in an inclusive way and to engage with all the citizens of Belfast - principally the unionist and nationalist communities.”