Tesco Kids Keep Fit

Tesco Northern Ireland has teamed up with the Aer Lingus Belfast Giants to launch this year's Tesco 'Get Fit' Programme, which will see the Giants visit around 40 primary schools across the province in a bid to encourage children to get fit by exercising more. The initiative, now in its second year, aims to show children the fun side of exercise and fitness through fun, interactive games and challenges, which are led by players from the Belfast Giants. Tesco NI Marketing Manager Caoimhe Mannion is pictured with Aer Lingus Belfast Giant Josh Prudden and St Matthew's Primary School Belfast pupil, Aoife Doherty.

Derry Shooting - Again

There has been a second paramiliraty-style shooting with a 48-year-old man wounded twice in each leg in an attack in Londonderry. Four masked men in dark clothing went into a house in Carnhill at about 9.40pm on Tuesday evening before firing a number of shots. The incident came after another one on Sunday night, where another man in Londonderry was shot in the legs.

Dougal Buried

Jim Dougal, the 65-year-old broadcaster who was well-known for his work with UTV, the BBC and RTÉ in a distinguished career spanning 40 years has been buried this week after he died at Belfast City Hospital on Friday morning, following a long battle with cancer. Jim Dougal also became the head of the European Commission in the UK, but in recent years he returned to UTV. He chaired the first ever NI leaders debate in April, presented a programme about the state of the Catholic church in Ireland before the Pope's visit in September, and he regularly appeared on UTV Live Tonight as a political commentator until just weeks before his death.

PSNI Complaints Concern

Members of the NI Policing Board's Human Rights and Professional Standards Committee have met with representatives of the Police Ombudsman's Office to consider the persistent levels of complaints of incivility against police officers. They also discussed this with Deputy Chief Constable Judith Gillespie to hear her plans to reduce the number of complaints against the PSNI. Committee Chair Basil McCrea MLA said: "We have said before that incivility from police officers is completely unacceptable as good relations with the public are the most basic way of ensuring the community's confidence in their local police service. Statistics from the Police Ombudsman show persistent levels of incivility allegations against police officers which has raised major concerns," noting. that incivility accounted for 13% of all the allegation types in 2009/2010. However, he continued: "In response to our concerns, we welcome the strategy which has now been introduced to reduce the number of complaints and the Committee will monitor its impact on addressing the problem of incivility over time."

QUB Rails Against Fees

Many students at Queen's University have this week been holding a rally to oppose calls for the cap on tuition fees to be lifted. The UK Browne report, published last Tuesday, recommended lifting the current £3,290 cap, with the prospect that English institutions could charge as much as £12,000 a year for some courses. The protest against the reforms being introduced in Northern Ireland included an invitation to all MLAs in Northern Ireland to attend the demonstration or sign a petition. Queen's Students' Union President Gareth McGreevy told UTV: "This is the first protest of its kind in over a decade at Queen's which demonstrates the seriousness of the Browne Review and the opposition against it."

Adams Sounds Suicide Alert

The Sinn Fein MP for West Belfast Gerry Adams has called for urgent action to be taken following the death of another young person through taking their own life on Monday in west Belfast. "North and west Belfast have some of the highest rates of suicide on the island of Ireland. In recent months the west of the city has seen a high rise in these rates. Within the last two days, two young men have taken their own lives, bringing the total number of deaths in recent months to ten," he said. "It is clear that whatever mechanisms or measures which are in place to address suicide are not proving sufficient. This situation is now at crisis level and urgent attention must be directed towards those areas affected. We need to see an immediate transfer of resources to address this problem in order concentrate on the fact that young people are left feeling hopeless or in despair, bringing them to this point. Whether this be in health, youth or community provision, or within any other sector that can help, this redirecting of resources must happen now."

OU HQ Opens In Belfast

Servicing Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, an expanded new Open University headquarters has now opened in Belfast. It is designed to accommodate 58 university staff who in turn support 350 part-time associate lecturers and more than 7,500 students throughout Ireland. The development on Victoria Street, of the six-storey Old Bank building, was carried out by Craigavon based interior fit out company Ardmac.

NI Water Pays For Pollution

The official utility, Northern Ireland Water Ltd (NIW) has been fined a total of £700 plus £25 court costs at Newry Magistrates' Court this week for making a polluting discharge to a waterway. On 3 March 2009, a Water Quality Inspector, acting on behalf of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (formerly the Environment and Heritage Service) inspected the Berry Stream, Kilkeel, and observed that the waterway was contaminated with untreated sewage and heavily contaminated with sewage related debris. The officer returned to the same location on 21 August 2009 and observed that the waterway was clearly polluted with untreated sewage and grossly contaminated with sewage related debris.

(BMcC/GK)