Other News In Brief

Rory McIlroy Gears Up For The Open

Rory McIlroy is preparing for this year's Open Championship at Royal St George's Golf Club.

The Holywood man will be hoping to put his recent poor form behind him to claim his second Open title, following his first success in 2014 at Royal Liverpool.

McIlroy will tee off at 3.21pm on Thursday alongside American Patrick Reed and Australian Cameron Smith.

Fellow countryman and former Open winner Darren Clarke will be joined by Bernd Wiesberger and x-j Long with a 8.25am tee time.

Irishman Shane Lowry is also out to defend the title after his success at Royal Portrush in 2019. He will tee off at 09.58am with Jon Rahm and Louis Oosthuizen.

Appeal Issued Over Attempted Robbery In Moira

Police have issued an appeal for information after a man wielding a suspected meat cleaver attempted a robbery in Moira.

The man entered a shop in the Main Street area shortly before 10.45pm on Monday 12 July and approached the off licence section. He then threatened a male member of staff, striking a perplex screen during the incident. The member of staff was not injured, as the male made off empty handed towards the Main Street area.

He was described as being of slim build, 5"7 in height, aged in his mid-20s, with dark hair and of an unshaven complexion. He was wearing a black coloured hooded top and a black jacket over it, black trainers and a dark coloured face mask.

Enquiries are continuing and police are calling on anyone with any information regarding the incident, to contact detectives on 101 quoting reference number 600 13/07/21. You can submit a report online using the non-emergency reporting form via www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/. You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org/.

'Burning Of Flags More Akin To Hate'

An Alliance representative has spoke out after the depiction of an Orange man hanging and the burning of flags on Eleventh night bonfires.

Fermanagh and South Tyrone councillor Matt Beaumont condemned the actions and called for those celebrating to be respectful.

"Everyone has the right to celebrate their culture and there is absolutely no justification for what happened locally last night," he said.

"It was simply horrific to wake up to and I condemn this and acts like this in the strongest possible terms. I'm glad to see it was swiftly removed.

"It is extremely disappointing across the board to see such disrespect shown, with the burning of flags and this latest stunt more akin to hate than respect."