Other NI News In Brief

Drive-By Shooting

No one was injured when masked gunmen opened fire on a car in County Armagh this morning, the police have said. Two shots were fired at the Land Rover Discovery, as it headed towards Dungannon on the Artasooly Road, at about 6.30am on Friday. They said the driver was passing a champagne-coloured saloon, possibly a Ford Mondeo, when a masked man stepped from behind it and fired a pistol. Meanwhile, there has been a gun attack on a house in Strabane. It happened on Thursday night at an address on Carlton Drive. A single shot was fired at the door of the property.

Mum And Daughter Laid To Rest

The funerals have taken place of the teenage mother from Londonderry who died alongside her newborn daughter in Co Donegal in an horrific road collision in the Irish Republic. Teen mum, 16-year-old Kerry-Anne Mehan and three-month-old baby Niesha were killed near Letterkenny on Monday night. The child's 18-year-old father remains in a serious condition in hospital.

Orange Order Steps Out

The first of the 'marching season's' big parades steps out in north Belfast tonight - but there are positive signs that it will be a peaceful 'Tour of the North' after an agreement was reached last week between the North and West Belfast Parades Forum and the Ardoyne Parades Dialogue Group. Under the deal, this year's parade will not pass the Ardoyne shops on the Upper Crumlin Road on the return leg and there will be no feeder parade for the Orange Order's Whiterock march which was due to pass Ardoyne at the end of the month.

Winners

The NI Workplace and Employment Awards have been announced by the NI Minister for Employment and Learning Sir Reg Empey. Speaking at the Irish News-backed initiative last night at the Ramada Hotel, the Minister welcomed the awards which aim to promote and reward our key resource - people. He said: "Whether you run a small, medium or large organisation, in the public, private or voluntary sector, people are at the heart of what we do." Sir Reg said that the aims of the awards went arm in arm with the work currently being done through the Department’s Skills Strategy for Northern Ireland, 'Success through Skills', as both place an emphasis on individuals and their positive contribution to the workplace. The strategy, which is the Department for Employment and Learning's contribution to achieving the vision set out in the Programme for Government, aims to ensure that individuals have the skills relevant to future employment opportunities.

Fish Dead

In the latest of several such incidents, thousands of fish have died in a pollution incident in a Co Antrim river, the Environment and Heritage Service has said. The EHS said about 2,300 game fish and thousands of coarse fish died in the Sixemilewater River near Dunadry. They are examining the possibility of links to an earlier pollution incident on Wednesday on the Ballymartin River. Meanwhile, in another incident, the EHS said about 60 fish died in the River Torrent at Carland Bridge near Dungannon.

(BMcC)