Category: news

Hundreds of mourners are expected later at the funeral of Michaela McAreavey, who was murdered on her honeymoon.

Mrs McAreavey, 27, daughter of Tyrone Gaelic football boss Mickey Harte, was found strangled in her hotel room in Mauritius a week ago.

The funeral will be held at St Malachy’s in Ballymacilroy, County Tyrone, the church in which she married John McAreavey on 30 December.

Irish president Mary McAleese and other dignitaries are to attend.

A marquee for 300 people has been erected in the church grounds to cope with some of the overspill from the 400-capacity chapel. Many more people are expected to watch from surrounding areas.

Three men, all staff at the hotel, have been charged in connection with the killing, thought to have happened as Mrs McAreavey disturbed a burglary in her room.

Room attendant Avinash Treebhoowoon, 29, and floor supervisor Sandip Moneea, 41, have been charged with murder, and room attendant Raj Theekoy, 33, with conspiracy to murder.

Mourners at the funeral are expected to include senior Gaelic Athletic Association officials, including president Christy Cooney and Ulster secretary Danny Murphy, president of the Ulster rugby branch Nigel Hamilton and Irish Football Association president Jim Shaw.

Players from Mr Harte’s Tyrone team and his home club Errigal Ciaran will form a guard of honour as Mrs McAreavey’s coffin is taken from her parents’ home.

Pupils from the late Irish teacher’s form class in St Patrick’s Academy, Dungannon, and players from Mr McAreavey’s Tullylish GAA club in County Down are to accompany the coffin into the church.

The service will be led by Mr McAreavey’s uncle, Bishop John McAreavey, who married the couple.

Primate of the Catholic Church in Ireland Sean Brady will also take part in the service.

Over the weekend, hundreds of mourners paid their respects at the Harte family home in the village of Ballygawley, County Tyrone.

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A former Swiss banker hands over data to Wikileaks that he says contains offshore account details of 2,000 prominent people.

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Plans to leave a “golden” economic legacy from Glasgow’s 2014 Commonwealth Games are “under real threat” because of funding cuts, it is claimed.

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Agencies involved with a 15-month-old who was murdered by his mother’s boyfriend failed to spot the potential for harm, a report says.

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A new loyalty card scheme has been unveiled by farm shops and providers of local produce in an attempt to attract more customers.

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Police have reopened roads in Londonderry city centre that were closed following an explosion earlier on Monday.

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Britain’s Elena Baltacha and Anne Keothavong reach the second round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.

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Nine suspected members of an anarchist group go on trial in Greece for a series of bomb attacks in Athens.

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A telescope in the back of a modified 747 jet has snapped images of the Orion Nebula at a colour of light no other observatory in the world can see.

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The Crown Office is considering information on a solicitor’s death in 1985 amid calls for the case to be reopened.

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A 20-year-old man from Bradford is sent to a secure hospital for stabbing his nine-year-old brother to death.

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The impact of the King James Bible, which was published 400 years ago, is still being felt on the way we speak and write, says Stephen Tompkins.

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Low-cost computers are to be offered as part of a government scheme to encourage millions of people in the UK to get online for the first time.

Prices will start at £98 for a refurbished PC, with subsidised net connections available for £9 a month.

The 12-month trial is part of the Race Online 2012 scheme, which aims to reach out to the 9.2 million adults in the UK who are currently offline.

Distributor Remploy hopes to sell 8,000 machines in the next 12 months.

“Motivation and inspiration are still two of the biggest barriers [to using the internet], but clearly perception of price is another big deal for people,” Martha Lane Fox, the UK’s digital champion, told the Financial Times. “A good price point is certainly part of what helps people get online.”

Race Online 2012, which aims to “make the UK the first nation in the world where everyone can use the web”, estimates that of the more than nine million adults in the UK who are currently not online, four million are socially and economically disadvantaged.

The cheap computers will run open-source software, such as Linux, and will include a flat-screen monitor, keyboard, mouse, warranty, dedicated telephone helpline and delivery.

The packages will be sold through 60 UK online centres which offer IT training and Remploy, an organisation that specialises in helping disabled and disadvantaged people find work and which runs the computer recycling scheme e-cycle.

Race Online 2012 has also negotiated cheap internet packages using a mobile dongle, costing £9 a month or £18 for three months, to help people access the web.

Its research suggests that going online can save people around £560 a year and that thousands of jobs are offered exclusively online.

But the cost of owning and running a computer and net connection is often seen as a barrier for many people.

As a result, there have been several previous government-sponsored initiatives that offered cheap PCs.

The £300m Home Access Scheme began to distribute free laptops to pupils from poor backgrounds in January 2010. It was scrapped by the coalition government eight months later.

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Northern Ireland’s most senior judge rejects a legal attempt to ban police from using taser stun guns.

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