More news from the North in brief.
Brown backs Flanagan over policing work
British prime minister Gordon Brown has publicly backed former RUC chief constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan.
Praising Sir Ronnie in his role as head of British policing watchdog Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, Mr Brown said he was doing an "excellent job".
The judge in the trial of Omagh bombing suspect Seán Hoey was heavily critical of the police investigation, part of which was conducted when Sir Ronnie headed the former RUC.
Following the acquittal of Mr Hoey last month on 56 counts relating to the bombing of Omagh and other paramilitary offences, Omagh relatives also criticised Sir Ronnie.
However, Mr Brown used his monthly press conference at Downing Street yesterday to insist he still had confidence in Sir Ronnie. "I worked with Sir Ronnie Flanagan on many occasions, he is conducting a review of policing in this country," he said.
Referring to Sir Ronnie's work on police reform, he added: "He is doing an excellent job. He published an interim report which is very helpful to the process of police reform and I have got no reason to change my judgment and I'm not going to change my judgment on that."
Sir Hugh Orde has defended the performance of police since the creation of the PSNI in 2001. But he claimed his detectives have done their best despite having "second hand goods" from the first RUC investigation which began in the aftermath of the 1998 bombing.
Postmortem on schoolboy (6)
An initial postmortem examination yesterday failed to establish why a six-year-old boy died in Co Armagh.
Jamie McGee collapsed during a lesson in his classroom at St Patrick's Primary School in Armagh on Monday morning.
Teachers gave him first aid and paramedics attended to him at the school for almost 20 minutes but he later died in Craigavon Area hospital.
Requiem Mass will be held at 11.30am on Thursday at St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh.
- (PA)