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image captionDr Christian Jessen has presented TV programmes such as Embarrassing Bodies on Channel Four
Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster has been awarded £125,000 in damages after a defamatory tweet by TV presenter Dr Christian Jessen.
Dr Jessen tweeted an unfounded allegation that Mrs Foster had been having an extra-marital affair on 23 December 2019.
The post remained online until Dr Jessen deleted it on 7 January 2020.
A judge at the High Court in Belfast said it was an outrageous libel which was grossly defamatory .
Mr Justice McAlinden said the tweet had attacked Mrs Foster s integrity at a most fundamental level and involved the trashing in a very public fashion the relationship which was most important in her life.
The party’s 28 MLAs and eight MPs will decide whether Sir Jeffrey or leadership rival Mr Poots succeeds the deposed Ms Foster in a vote, by secret ballot, on Friday.
Sinn Fein MEP Martina Anderson. Picture by Margaret McLaughlin
Sinn Féin vice president Michelle O’Neill has said Foyle MLA Martina Anderson is a “first-class republican activist”.
Ms Anderson’s family had criticised Sinn Féin after the long-term republican agreed to not seek re-election to the Stormont Assembly as part of a party review of its performance in the Foyle constituency.
While she admitted it had been a “body blow”, Ms Anderson accepted the decision.
Speaking during a joint visit with First Minister Arlene Foster to Clandeboye Golf Club in Bangor, Ms O’Neill said Sinn Féin “needed to do something to fix” how it performs in Foyle after some disappointing results in recent elections.
Denis Lynn TRIBUTES have been paid to Northern Ireland agri businessman Denis Lynn, who died following a quad bike accident on Sunday night. Mr Lynn, 63, was the founder of Finnebrogue in Downpatrick, which championed his locally produced food including venison and a range of bacon and sausages. Mr Lynn started his career selling pies from a van and quickly expanded into selling pre-cooked chips and then into farming. Based at the Finnebrogue Estate in County Down, he developed the popular Naked Bacon range, which was free from nitrites, and then a range of sausages. More lately he was leading an expansion into plant based foods and already had completed a new factory to produce that new range. The company employs around 1000 people across four sites in County Down and supplies several major UK supermarkets.