pressure increasing on the first minister, arlene foster.e will be back to stormont for more reaction and we will speak to our correspondent there as well to find out what happens now, but this special assembly hearing has been suspended. rabbi lionel blue has died at the age of 86. he was a regular contributor to thought for the day. he had a reputation for deep humanity and empathy. he has died at the age of 86. in a moment a summary of the business news this hour but first the headlines on bbc news: thousand staff at crown post offices walk out overjob security and pension changes but a spokesperson says 250 of the 300 branches targeted have been kept open. the evacuation of syrians from the besieged city of aleppo has resumed but tens of thousands are still waiting to leave mps call for the nhs to "embrace innovative approaches" to reduce suicides in england. more than a,500 people took their own lives in 2015. the hungarian born actress and socialite, zsa zsa gabor, has died. her age was a closely guarded secret, but she was thought to

before christmas arlene foster faced a vote of no confidence, which she survived, but there has beenmas eve a newspaper reported that arlene foster, when she was enterprise minister three years ago, the department of enterprise was running this scheme, today the department of the economy has released the correspondence. this is a letter from arlene foster to bank chiefs in 2013 in which she said that she wanted to encourage banks to look favourably on approaches from businesses who are seeking finance to install renewables. she said government support was reliable, long—term and offered a good return on investment. the leader of the biggest opposition party, mike nesbitt of the ulster unionists, said this shows that arlene foster was across every detail of the scheme and he has repeated his call for her to resign. the sdlp have said she should stand aside pending a public enquiry. throughout this a fair —— this affair she has made clear she is going nowhere. stormont have released a statement saying that you have to see this letter in context, at the time she wrote the letter to the

opposition parties at the northern ireland assembly or renewing the call for arlene foster to resignntives for energy—efficient heating and it is now expected to go at £490 million over budget in the next 20 years, our correspondent gave us over budget in the next 20 years, our correspondent gave us the latest, arlene foster was in the firing line because she was the stormont enterprise minister at the time and is now widely discredited energy scheme time and is now widely discredited energy scheme was time and is now widely discredited energy scheme was set up, back in 2012, it was called the renewable heat incentive, the idea was to encourage people to switch to environmentally friendly fuels, but paid out more in subsidies than the cost of fuel, for every £1 of fuel somebody burned they got £1 60 back from the public purse, initially there was no upper limit on the amount which could be claimed, all that amounted to a huge overspend now estimated to run to £490 million. over the next tw enty before christmas arlene foster faced a vote of no—confidence in the northern ireland assem

arlene foster has led to —— said she excepts full response ability.he is under? why should you take responsibility? she is no doubt under a considerable amount of pressure, being as she was the minister earned the department of enterprise setting up the renewable heating scheme back in 2012. other parts of the uk had a similar scheme with cost control measures built into them so they did not overrun their budget but that got lost in translating when they were introduced here, and whilst when she was in place there wasn't any kind of massive overspend, indeed there was an underspend, the fact the safeguards were put in place eventually really cost the northern ireland budget day because under her successor the scheme ran out control. so, she is saying in her defence it wasn'tjust don't do her, this was a scheme that was scrutinised by ace —— assembly members, no one in the industry nor them picked up on it. what happens, common outcome in terms of where things go, because she does not have the support of her deputy first minister, there is going to be

, 39 members voted for the no—confidence motion and 36 against, but arlene foster stays in posting arrangements. there has to be a majority of unionists and nationalists in favour of any no—confidence motion for any to pass. given that her party the dup are the majority unionist party and they of course voted in her favour, the majority of unionists voted against the no—confidence motion therefore it fails. however a rift has opened up today between the dup and sinn fein, their partners in government. the day started with a walk—out, martin mcguinness the deputy first minister of sinn fein said he did not authorise arlene foster to give a statement here in her capacity as first minister. the deputy first minister and the first minister legally have equal powers and are not supposed to act in isolation of one another. that means the first minister‘s statement is not valid and walked out. martin mcguinness gave an interview in which he appeared to indicate he was still committed to the power—sharing relationship, he said arlene foster should step aside for a number of weeks whilst

northern ireland's first minister arlene foster went to the storm arlene foster went to the stormontal mess. but proceedings began with chaotic scenes. opposition parties walked out and the first minister was left alone with her party, the dup, while outside their partners in power—sharing, sinn fein, put pressure for a full independent enquiry into a badly flawed green energy scheme. we need to establish all the facts and we need to know who benefited from this failed scheme. the first minister should stand aside to allow the investigation to take place. the controversial renewable heat incentive scheme originally worked like this: for every £1 of fuel a company uses, they are paid around £1.60, to encourage them to buy environmentally friendly boilers. but because initially there were no caps or limits, in the scheme's 20—year life it is expected to go £400 million over budget, money which stormont is responsible for. the special advisers of the dup interfered in my decision—making. last week the former dup enterprise minister jonathan bell accused officials from within his own par

arlene foster faced a vote of no—confidence in the northern ireland assembly, which she survived.ays. a newspaper reported that arlene foster as enterprise minister, the department of enterprise and running the scheme, she wrote to banks about the scheme. today the department of the economy has released the correspondence. a letter from arlene foster to bank chiefs back in 2013, in which she says she wanted to encourage banks to look favourably on companies looking to install environmentally friendly technologies. it was viable, and offered good long—term returns on investment. opposition parties say this shows that mrs foster was across all facets of this policy. they have called on her to resign. the sdlp have said she should stand down pending in enquiry. mrs foster has said she has no intention of going anywhere. stallman have released a statement saying you have to see this letter in context. at the time she wrote this letter to the banks, the uptake on the scheme was very slow, trying to encourage people to take it up. the flaws in the scheme were not obvious at all. another

a vote of no confidence in northern ireland‘s first minister, arlene foster.look at the main stories and particularly the one about apple which is challenging the decision by the european commission which awarded £11 billion to the irish government because they said that apple owed it in back taxes. how determined do you think the european commission is to get its machine and how determined do you think apple is not to pay it? well, i think both are being pretty hard—nosed i think both are being pretty ha rd—nosed about it i think both are being pretty hard—nosed about it and you have got the irish government caught in between. there is a battle going on for the tax dollars of multinationals like apple particularly when you have a headquarters which they have in ireland which isn‘t particularly connected with where a lot of their economic activity happens. caught in the middle is the irish government and they are on apple‘s sides, one of the rare cases where you have got a government saying we don‘t want billions worth of tax coming in. but it is 13 billion eu

northern ireland's first minister arlene foster went to stormont today to try to grasp control of a financialad, there were chaotic scenes with opposition parties walking out and the dup's partner in government, sinn fein, notable by their absence. technically, an official statement does need the support of the deputy first minister, martin mcguinness. but sinn fein‘s politicians were outside the chamber, deliberately distancing themselves from a botched energy scheme that is likely to cost stormont hundreds of millions of pounds. we need to establish all the fa cts pounds. we need to establish all the facts and know who benefited from this field scheme. the first minister should stand aside to allow the investigation to take place. the controversial renewable heat incentive scheme worked like this. for every £1 of fuel the company uses they are paid £1 60. that was to encourage them to buy environmentally friendly boilers. because initially there were limits it is expected to be £a00 million over budget over the next 20 years. the bbc has seen a confidential report which says the mistakes in

the first minister, arlene foster, had been about to make a statement over a controversial green energy never allowed to operate without the support of her deputy, sinn fein's martin mcguinness. and that created turmoil this morning at stormont, from where our ireland correspondent chris buckler now reports. members, having been given notice by both the... northern ireland's first minister arlene foster went to the storm on the assembly yesterday in an attempt to take control of what has become a financial mess. but proceedings began with chaotic scenes. 0pposition parties walked out and the first minister was left alone with her party, the dup, while outside their partners in power—sharing, sinn fein, could pressure for a full independent enquiry into a badly thought green energy scheme. we need to establish all the facts are many to know who benefited from this failed scheme. the first minister should stand aside to allow the investigation to ta ke aside to allow the investigation to take place. the controversial renewable heat incentive scheme originally worked like this. for every £

arlene foster was a popular choice.ome dup leader and northern ireland's first minister almost exactly a year ago. but she is now under pressure and facing damaging accusations, some of which come from within her own party. this is foster was enterprise minister when a badly flawed green energy scheme was set up. it's left 2000 businesses in a position where the more they burned, the more they earn “— the more they burned, the more they earn —— mrs foster. the scheme works like this. for every £1 of you company uses they are paid around £1 60, that was to encourage them to buy environmentally friendly boilers. but because initially there we re boilers. but because initially there were no caps or limits its projected to have gone £400 million over budget. last week a dup politician accused officials from within his own party of delaying crucial changes to the scheme despite warnings. the special advisers of the dup interfered in my decision—making. the dup interfered in my decision-making. i have this too close to a less

arlene foster was a popular choice when she was selected to become dup leader and northern ireland'ssure and facing damaging accusations, some of which come from within her own party. mrs foster was enterprise minister when a badly flawed green energy scheme was set up. it's left 2,000 businesses in a position where the more they burn, the more they earn. the renewable heat incentive scheme works like this — for every £1 of you company uses they are paid around £1.60, that was to encourage them to buy environmentally friendly boilers. but because initially there were no caps or limits its projected to have gone £400 million over budget. last week, a dup politician accused officials from within his own party of delaying crucial changes to the scheme despite warnings. the special advisers of the dup interfered in my decision—making. i had this to close to a less lucrative rate. mr bell's claims have been denied by the dup and he has been suspended from the party. but they've stirred up old divisions at stormont with the dup rejecting calls from their partner in government, sinn fein, f

from most of the main political parties walked out of the chamberjust before the first minister arlene fostert in a botched heating scheme that's expected to go hundreds of millions of pounds over budget. 0ur ireland correspondent chris buckler has this report. i am taking no points of order at this stage in the proceedings. northern ireland's first minister arlene foster went to stormont today to try to grasp control of a financial mess. but instead, there were chaotic scenes with opposition parties walking out and the dup‘s partner in government, sinn fein, notable by their absence. technically, an official statement by the first minister does need the support of the deputy first minister, martin mcguinness. but sinn fein's politicians were outside the chamber, deliberately distancing themselves from a botched green energy scheme that is likely to cost stormont hundreds of millions of pounds. we need to establish all the facts and know who benefited from this field scheme. —— this failed scheme. the first minister should stand aside to allow the investigation to take place. the controversia

arlene foster went to the stormont assembly today in an attempt to take control of what has become as began with chaotic scenes. 0pposition parties walked out and the first minister was left alone with her party, the dup, while outside their partners in power—sharing, sinn fein, put pressure for a full independent enquiry into a badly flawed green energy scheme. we need to establish the facts and though he benefited from this field scheme. the first minister should stand aside to allow the investigation to take place. the controversial renewal heating incentive scheme worked like this. for every £1 of the company uses they are paid around £160. for every £1 of the company uses they are paid around £1 60. that was to encourage them to buy environmentally friendly boilers. because there were no caps were limits, in the 20 year life of the scheme, it is expected to go £400 million over budget. money is responsible for. the special advisers of the dup interfered in my decision—making. advisers of the dup interfered in my decision-making. last week, the former enterprise minister, jonatha

northern ireland's first minister, arlene foster, has survived a vote of no confidence in the stormont controversial renewable energy scheme which overspent by hundreds of millions of pounds. sinn fein has called for mrs foster to step down while an investigation takes place. a man aged 101 has beenjailed for 13 years for historical sex offences against children. ralph clark — from erdington in birmingham — is believed to be the oldest person in british legal history to be convicted of a crime. he'd admitted nine charges, and was found guilty of 21 others. the football association dub england, scotland, northern ireland and wales have all been fined for displaying poppies during world cup qualifying games last month. fifa regards the poppy as a political symbol, something which is banned. the fa has said it will appeal. the shortage of affordable housing is one of the biggest issues facing britain, and modular housing — where homes are pre—fabricated, then quickly installed on site —has been touted as one solution. today, plans were announced to build six factories in england that coul

arlene foster is the man with that.l palace manager this evening, alan pardew was sacked after almost see is in charge, the club have moved very quickly to secure the services of allardyce, he was let go by england after just services of allardyce, he was let go by england afterjust one match with them, but as club manager, he has never been relegated and that is what palace need at the moment, the assistant coach keith millen was put in front of the media today and he was asked about sam allardyce's imminent arrivals stop you there he is an experienced premier league manager, isn't he? he has been successful and he knows the game and he did a greatjob sunderland keeping them up. you are getting the experienced manager coming in. sam is one of those ones who has been there and done it, he will certainly be able to talk to the players. joey barton has been charged by the football association for breaching their rules on betting. it's alleged that he placed 1,260 bets over a 10 year period up to may this year. barton was