Other NI News In Brief

Royal Visitors For Derry

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have arrived in Co Londonderry marking the start of a visit to Northern Ireland. The first engagement in the North West was to the recently opened Lisneal College. The engagement included a visit to some of the novel features of the college including a fully functioning dental surgery and to also see the Business Studies Department. Her Majesty also visited the History Department where Head of History, Susan Keown and around 24 students discussed their recent expeditions to World War One battlefields in Belgium and Second World War Concentration Camps at Auschwitz. On the second engagement of the day the couple then visited Altnagelvin Area Hospital in Londonderry to mark the official opening of the new South Wing.

Suspect Bailed After Car Incident

A man has been questioned and later released in connection with the attempted murder of a police officer in Twinbrook on the outskirts of Belfast. The man, who is in his 20s, was arrested in the Armagh area on Tuesday and was released on police bail on Wednesday morning. Police fired a shot after the female officer was struck by a car during the incident.

SF Press For Visteon Probe

There has been a call for a full investigation into the controversial closure of the Visteon car parts plant in west Belfast, Sinn Féin has demanded. The manufacturing company, a spin-off from car giant Ford, ended a bitter dispute with its workers on Sunday when staff voted to accept improved redundancy terms following a sit-in. Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams told the Stormont Assembly yesterday that the workers in Northern Ireland and Britain who pressed for a better deal deserved credit for the outcome, but he said "questions remained over the whole episode".

Scenic Trek To Boost Charity

The local charity, NI Chest, Heart and Stroke, is organising a fund-rasing event, the Causeway Trek - a hike through some of the most beautiful countryside in Northern Ireland. It takes place on May 30. The event is being officially launched tomorrow at the Causeway Visitors' Centre.

Graffiti Concerns Aired In Derry

There are problems in Londonderry's Bogside area this wek about the amount of graffiti being scrawled on walls in the area. Locals say that many tourists are pouring into the city to see the popular murals which depict scenes from the Troubles. Recently though, a different sort of message has been appearing. The Stormont Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, who lives in the Bogside, has accused the graffiti writers of trying to make the area look "like a slum".

NIHE Slammed By Auditors

There has been criticism of the NI Housing Executive for writing off more than £10m in owed rents over five years so it could meet corporate targets. The Audit Office has slammed the write-offs which were made so the NIHE could show that it had not allowed its annual rent arrears to exceed those of the previous year. The biggest single debt owed was more than £21,000, while 2,500 people in arrears owed more than £1,000 each.

(BMcC/JM)