Northern Ireland News for November 2002

Northern Ireland News, Nov 29, 2002
Attempted murder accused appears in court
An alleged ram raider who was arrested after six police officers were injured in Newry, Co Down, has appeared in court today charged with attempted murder. Thomas Patrick McDonagh, of Ardcarne Park, ...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 29, 2002
Police appeal for bomb witness couple
Detectives have made an appeal in connection with the attempted fire bombing in Belfast City Centre last week. Police in Musgrave Street would like to hear from two people who were in the Upper Quee...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 29, 2002
NI first in Europe to post statute laws on net
Northern Ireland scored a European first today when it put 82 years of Statute Law on the worldwide web. The 'Updated Statutes of Northern Ireland 1921-2001', launched by the Right Honourable Sir Ro...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 29, 2002
Arson attack damages borough council depot
A Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council depot has been severely damaged in an arson attack. Striking firefighters crossed picket lines to help tackle the blaze which severely damaged a substanti...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 29, 2002
Shoppers urged to be wary of counterfeiters this Christmas
Security Minister, and Chair of the Organised Crime Task Force, Jane Kennedy, has warned people of the dangers of counterfeit goods and called for the public’s support in fighting organised crime. Sp...
Business News, Nov 29, 2002
Advice booklet offers disability rights guidance for employers
A new guidance booklet has been launched that aims to advise employers on how to address the inequalities that some employees with disabilities experience in relation to health and safety in the workp...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 29, 2002
DSD unveils £3m community fund scheme
A £3 million initiative to enable public bodies to work more effectively with disadvantaged groups and with communities living in disadvantaged areas was announced today by the Department for Social D...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 29, 2002
Minister meets ICI and Irish government over IFI pensions
Economy Minister Ian Pearson has met the Chief Executive and senior management of ICI and officials from the Republic of Ireland’s Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to discuss the situati...
Business News, Nov 29, 2002
Irish President addresses business leaders in Belfast
Irish President Mary McAleese has addressed an audience of over 300 business people in Belfast today. Speaking as guest of honour at the Ulster Society of Chartered Accountants Business Lunch at the ...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 29, 2002
Pensioners robbed in separate incidents
A pensioner has been attacked and robbed in his home in north Belfast yesterday evening. The 65-year-old man was in the living room of his Carntall Road home, in Newtownabbey, when three men burst in...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 29, 2002
Dog killed and two injured in petrol bomb attack
A petrol-bomb attack on a house in Co Antrim has killed a family's pet dog and injured two members of the family. The attack on the house in Glenmanus Park in Portrush occurred at 11pm on Thursday ev...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 29, 2002
Businesses urged to 'maintain vigilance' over Christmas
Police have advised businesses to be aware of the risk of incendiary devices being placed in shops and offices in the run up to Christmas. As many retailers prepare for their busiest season, Chief In...
Business News, Nov 29, 2002
Gold medal success at Skillbuild Finals
Students and staff at the East Down Institute Ballynahinch campus are celebrating their achievement in the UK Skillbuild Finals recently held in Manchester. Jobskills trainee Campbell Kelly scooped a...
Business News, Nov 29, 2002
Republic's unemployment rate rises to 4.6%
Unemployment in Ireland has risen to 4.6%, according to the latest statistics published in the Quarterly National Household Survey. The survey, from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), showed that t...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 28, 2002
Four deny arms smuggling charges
Four people have appeared in Belfast Magistrates' Court today charged with helping the IRA to import guns and ammunition into the UK. The two men and two women are alleged to have been involved in th...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 28, 2002
Minister agrees to set up Hospice review panel
The Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Des Browne, has announced that there will be a review into the operation of the Northern Ireland Hospice. While not commenting directly on t...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 28, 2002
Kennedy balks at calls for NI fuel tax cuts
NIO Minister Jane Kennedy has said that she is not convinced that reducing fuel taxation in the Province would reduce organised crime. This is despite a report published yesterday by a House of Commo...
Business News, Nov 28, 2002
Microsoft donates software to Queen's University
Microsoft Ireland has donated £180,000 worth of software to Queen's University Belfast. The donation is a continuation of Microsoft’s longstanding relationship with the university, which has seen its...
Business News, Nov 28, 2002
Engineering skills can drive the economic forward reveals survey
The future growth of the mechanical engineering sector depends on a highly skilled and adaptable workforce, Bill McGinnis, OBE, Chairman of the Northern Ireland Skills Task Force said yesterday. Spe...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 28, 2002
Hill to monitor Colombia Three trial
A west Belfast man, wrongly convicted of the Guildford pub bombing in 1974, is travelling to Colombia to monitor the trial of three IRA suspects accused of training guerrillas. Paul Hill, who was rel...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 28, 2002
Pre-Budget Report broadly welcomed in NI
There was a largely positive response in Northern Ireland today to Chancellor Gordon Brown's Pre-Budget Report (PBR) in Parliament yesterday. Mr Brown's assessment that spending plans remain affordab...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 28, 2002
Teenager dies after boat capsizes
A Maghera teenager has died following a boating accident in Lough Neagh yesterday. Paddy Kelly, who was 17, was with his friend and uncle when their open boat capsized in six-foot swells during storm...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 28, 2002
Court Service opens information centre
The criminal justice agency's first-ever Northern Ireland Court Service Information Centre has been officially opened today. The information centre, which is located in Bedford Street, Belfast, is th...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 28, 2002
Commons committee examines progress of NIHRC
The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) will be the subject of a "short inquiry" by a House of Commons select committee beginning today. The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 28, 2002
Patients warned after blood donor's CJD diagnosis
There are concerns that a small number of haemophiliacs in Northern Ireland and Scotland may have received blood products from a donor who later was diagnosed with variant Creutzfeld-Jacob disease (vC...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 28, 2002
Anti-drink drive campaign launched
Today marks the launch of the annual winter anti-drink driving campaign by the police and the Department of the Environment, and the message again this year is 'Never, ever, drink and drive'. Figures...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 27, 2002
Sinn Fein's Derry motion dropped by council
Sinn Fein has seen its bid to have Londonderry renamed as Derry rejected at a meeting of the city council on Tuesday evening. The party's motion was dropped in favour of an SDLP amendment which gave ...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 27, 2002
Cross-border peace forum is 'waste of time' says Nesbitt
The Forum for Peace and Reconciliation, which convenes at Dublin Castle today, has been slammed as "waste of time" by the UUP's former Environment minister Dermot Nesbitt. He further accused the SDLP...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 27, 2002
Figures shows rise in HIV population
It has been reported that the number of people in Northern Ireland who have been infected with HIV has risen to 342. The Department of Health figures also showed that over a third of those infected h...
Northern Ireland News, Nov 27, 2002
NI passenger numbers soar for easyJet
Northern Ireland gave out-going easyJet chairman Stelios Haji-Ioannou a farewell to remember with news that the airline's passenger numbers were up by over 100% on last year. Over the year to Septemb...