Other NI News In Brief

Holiday Grief As Tragedy Strikes

There has been a tragic holiday accident in a Portuguese holiday resort. A six-year-old boy from Claudy, Nathan Sharkey, has drowned while on holiday with his parents on the Algarve. He died on Thursday. The Foreign Office are providing assistance to his parents. Meanwhile, in neighbouring Spain, a 16-year-old west Belfast teenager has been killed after falling from a balcony. Padraig Burns, from Tullymore Gardens, was on holiday with a group of friends last week in Benidorm when the accident happened on 19 July.

Assaulted Rugby Fan 'On The Mend'

The Connaught rugby fan attacked and viciously assaulted in Belfast's Bradbury Place in April is recovering. While still being treated at a rehabilitation centre, Paul Newton, from Sligo - who had travelled to the city to watch Connaught play Ulster at Ravenhill - and suffered serious head injuries in the incident, is said to be making remarkable progress and is now allowed home at weekends.

Belfast Man Shot In Leg

Injuries, which are not life threatening - followed an overnight attack by a gang of three masked men who shot a man in the leg in north Belfast. The men burst into a house at Jamaica Court at about 11.30pm on Thursday and one of them shot the victim in the lower leg.

Executive In Crisis?

Sinn Féin and the DUP remain at loggerheads over a failure to convene NI Executive meetings. SF President, Gerry Adams has now accused the DUP of failing to engage properly with his party in a bid to avoid a political crisis at Stormont. The Sinn Féin leader also said the issues causing the current impasse went beyond the transfer of policing and justice and Irish Language issues. He said they concerned a "fully functioning and cohesive Government". However, DUP Junior Minister Jeffrey Donaldson said his party was not the one actively blocking executive meetings: "The only party preventing the Executive from meeting is Sinn Fein. Every other party wants a meeting, including the DUP," he said.

(BMcC)