One man was reportedly involved in the incident

Authorities responded to a fire at Royal Victoria Hospital earlier this evening after a blaze broke out inside a bathroom.

Emergency services arrived on the scene shortly before 6.45pm to tackle the fire in the accident and emergency (A&E) unit of the hospital.

A spokesperson for the NI Fire and Rescue Service said four pumping appliances and around 20 personnel were deployed to the scene. One man was allegedly involved in the inciden and treated for injuries.

The main waiting area and reception were closed and patients attending the ED were directed via a side entrance with some ambulances diverted to other city hospitals for a short time.

A NIFRS statement said: “One male was injured and we had four pumping appliances there, the area was smoke logged.”

It was reported that crews left the scene at around 9.10pm.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

Democrats on Wednesday celebrated an election win in Virginia that could put them slightly ahead in the national redistricting competition that President Donald Trump triggered in an attempt to preserve his party’s House majority in this year’s midterms, but it will not be the final round.

Now that it’s been approved by voters, the new Virginia map will have to clear additional legal hurdles. On Wednesday, the state attorney general’s office said it would immediately appeal a ruling earlier in the day from a judge in rural southern Virginia who ordered that the results of Tuesday’s vote not be certified.

Ultimately, the Virginia Supreme Court will decide whether Democratic lawmakers violated procedural rules when they referred a constitutional amendment to the ballot authorizing the new U.S. House districts that could help Democrats win as many as four additional seats in the state. If so, that could invalidate the map voters narrowly approved Tuesday.

What happens next in Florida also will matter.

The state’s Republican-controlled Legislature is to meet in a special session next week that GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis called in part to draw a new map to expand the party’s congressional majority there. The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to issue an opinion by the end of June in a Louisiana case that could overturn a key provision of the Voting Rights Act and lead to redrawn political maps across the South, though almost all of those could not happen until 2028.

Trump on Wednesday tried to undermine the Virginia result by leveling groundless accusations of fraud similar to ones he made after losing the 2020 presidential election. He called the Virginia vote “RIGGED” and “Crooked” in a post on his social media site and added, “Let’s see if the Courts will fix this travesty of ‘Justice.’”

Redistricting spread from Texas to other states

Redistricting is typically done every 10 years after each census, unless ordered by a court. But last summer, Trump pushed a redrawing in Texas, prodding the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature to add up to five winnable House seats for his party. Trump then began pressuring other Republican-run states to follow. Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio have since created more GOP-leaning seats in addition to Texas.

Democrats began to fight back, even though they were more constrained because several Democratic-controlled states had maps drawn by independent commissions rather than lawmakers and governors.

To counter Texas, California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, pushed the Democratic-controlled Legislature to place a redistricting initiative on last fall’s ballot. After voters overwhelmingly approved it, the measure will replace a commission-approved map with one that could gain Democrats five seats.

Democrats reclaimed the Legislature and governor’s office in November in Virginia and swiftly moved to replicate California’s move with an even more aggressive redistricting plan. It replaces a congressional map imposed by a court after the last census that had resulted in a 6-5 edge for Democrats with one that could allow Democrats to win as many as 10 seats.

“We are not going to let anyone tilt the system without a response,” state Senate President L. Louise Lucas said at a news conference Wednesday.

Courts could still have a say on redistricting

In Washington, U.S. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York warned Florida Republicans, who have been openly nervous about redrawing their district boundaries and potentially spreading their core voters too thin before an election that appears to be trending against them.

“Our message to Florida Republicans right now is, ‘F around and find out,’” Jeffries said.

House Majority Forward, the nonprofit arm of the super political action committee aligned with House Democrats, has spent nearly $60 million to push back against Republicans’ redistricting efforts. Some $40 million of that was on the Virginia campaign.

Another obstacle in Florida is an anti-gerrymandering constitutional amendment that was approved by state voters in 2010. It is likely that any new Florida map would trigger significant litigation, although six of the state Supreme Court’s seven justices were appointed by Republicans.

Nicholas Stephanopolous, a Harvard law professor, said a challenge for DeSantis is that the Florida amendment forbids drawing lines for purely partisan purposes, so he has to find some other excuse for revising the map. “Even with that sort of acquiescent state supreme court, I don’t think it’s a done deal,” Stephanopolous said.

The Virginia move comes with its own legal issues. Republicans have challenged the process that Democrats used to place the measure on the ballot and the state Supreme Court opted to wait for the vote before even scheduling arguments in the case. It is unclear when a ruling could come.

Wednesday’s ruling stopping certification came from a separate case that Republicans filed with the same lower court judge, whose initial ruling against the initiative was put on hold by the state supreme court.

“The ballot box was never the final word here,” Terry Kilgore, the Virginia House Republican leader, said in a statement after Tuesday’s vote. “Serious legal questions remain about both the wording of this referendum and the process used to put it before voters.”

The biggest legal wild card is held by the U.S. Supreme Court. Its conservative majority could throw out a requirement under the Voting Rights Act that in areas with a large minority population, mapmakers draw districts that are more favorable to the election of minority candidates.

That provision has led to the creation of several majority-minority congressional seats, especially in the South. Without it, Republicans in conservative states could shrink the number of U.S. House seats winnable by Democrats even further.

But it’s unlikely that any state other than Louisiana, which brought the lawsuit the high court will rule on, would be able to adjust its congressional lines in time for November even if the court eliminates that provision, known as Section Two. That’s because the November election is already officially underway in most states and candidate filing deadlines — and, in some cases, primary elections — have already passed.

___

AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro and Associated Press writer Leah Askarinam in Washington contributed to this report.

Brooke Wiggins, 12, died while playing on a rope swing in Banstead, Surrey, which an inquest has heard should have been removed by Surrey County Council

The devastated father of a 12-year-old girl who died while playing on a rope swing – which an inquest heard should have been removed by the council – has said his daughter would still be alive if “people had done their job properly”.

Brooke Wiggins died on November 9, 2024, in Banstead, Surrey, just days before her 13th birthday. She suffered fatal injuries when a tree branch snapped and struck her as she played on a rope swing with friends, South London Coroner’s Court heard.

The inquest was told the tree, maintained by Surrey County Council, had been inspected in May 2022 and that a re-inspection had been due in May 2024, but did not take place as scheduled.

Acting on behalf of Mr Wiggins, Christian Weaver argued that, had the checks been carried out, the swing would have been removed by the council, “as per policy”. Gordon Carson of the Health and Safety Executive told the hearing the council’s policy is to remove rope swings from trees within seven days.

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In a statement read by Assistant Coroner Ivor Collett, Brooke’s dad Lee Wiggins said: “Only 12 years old, and now she’s gone forever. When I think of her, I ask myself, ‘why my darling Brooke?’”

“If only people had done their job properly… the one thing they are paid to do, and did it properly, Brooke would still be here,” he said.

Mr Wiggins described Brooke as an “amazing young woman” who was “bright” and “very funny”, adding: “I am devastated that my baby girl has been taken from me. She packed so much into her short life.”

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Representatives for Surrey County Council said expert evidence showed an inspection of the tree may not have achieved a “materially different outcome”.

In a statement read by Mr Collett, Brooke’s mum Claire Etherington described her as a “beautiful, fun, caring and loving girl” who had “the most incredible way of lighting up every room”.

“She was a smart girl with so much potential”, who loved dancing, art, singing, taking photographs and expressing herself, she said. “We will always wonder what she would have gone on to achieve in her life.” The inquest continues.

Additionally, the shop must maintain a written log of annual staff training on these compliance checks Finally, all alcohol must be sourced exclusively from legitimate, registered UK suppliers, with detailed invoices and delivery notes kept on-site for immediate inspection upon request.

Defenders of the BlueCo regime will say the hierarchy gave Rosenior the benefit of the doubt and could have sacked him sooner. Internationals left for the March break on the back of four consecutive defeats to PSG (twice), Newcastle and Everton. Even now, a month on, though, this is a very early termination, indeed, and a humiliation for all parties.

Netflix’s Unchosen series finale left viewers with burning questions

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*Warning: Contains major spoilers for the end of Unchosen*

The programme Unchosen has just landed on Netflix and is already climbing the streaming platform’s most-watched television rankings. The sinister thriller, boasting an impressive ensemble cast, has proved enormously popular with audiences who’ve been enthralled by its numerous plot twists.

The drama charts the story of Rosie (portrayed by Molly Windsor) and her husband Adam (Asa Butterfield) as they exist within a repressive Christian cult. Rosie becomes caught between two worlds when she encounters escaped prisoner Sam (Fra Fee), who offers her the prospect of a better existence.

Here’s everything you need to understand about the gripping conclusion to the miniseries.

READ MORE: Unchosen filming locations as director aims for ‘psychological claustrophobia’READ MORE: Netflix’s Unchosen explained: What is the Rapture?

The programme suggested Adam’s sexuality near the series’ conclusion after he seemed to harbour feelings for Sam, which Sam eventually exploited to his benefit.

Aware that Adam’s brother Isaac (Aston McAuley) was on the verge of exposing the truth about his sinister history, Sam needed to eliminate him and orchestrated Isaac’s van crash, killing him.

As Rosie began piecing together Sam’s true malevolence, he confessed that aged 16 he had murdered his first girlfriend following her announcement that she was leaving him. He’d also killed his girlfriend’s cousin, who’d been imprisoned alongside him, leaving Rosie petrified. Sam had attempted to frame cult leader Mr Phillips (Christopher Eccleston) for Isaac’s death, staging the crash scene to implicate Mr Phillips in drink-driving.

However, Mr Phillips deduced that it was Sam who had killed Isaac, prompting Sam to make a desperate bid to silence the cult leader by throttling him. The entire incident was witnessed by Rosie’s daughter, Grace (Olivia Pickering), who subsequently revealed Sam’s true character to Rosie.

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In the concluding episode, Sam bound Mr Phillips and released Grace unharmed, though she was visibly shaken by what she had seen.

The following day, Mr Phillips managed to break free and fled back to the church, where he kept a gun in his office. When Adam caught up with him, Mr Phillips disclosed that Sam had murdered his brother Isaac, though Adam refused to believe him.

Meanwhile, Sam attempted to convince Adam to abandon the fellowship, while also confessing to Rosie that he couldn’t bear to live without her.

Watch Unchosen on Sky for free

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Sky is giving away a free Netflix subscription with its new Sky Stream TV bundles, including the £15 Essential TV plan.

This lets members watch live and on-demand TV content without a satellite dish or aerial and includes hit shows.

This includes the brand new UK drama Unchosen, starring Asa Butterfield and Christopher Eccleston.

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Rosie came clean to Adam, admitting she had slept with Sam without any knowledge of his disturbed past. Having a change of heart, Adam proved surprisingly forgiving, urging his wife and daughter to leave and seek safety elsewhere.

Rosie then told Adam that she and Grace were departing the fellowship entirely, following his unwanted advances which had left her deeply unsettled.

Adam acknowledged that she deserved a far better husband and was consumed by guilt, and the pair ultimately parted on amicable terms as he drove her and Grace to the station. In an unexpected twist, Sam caught up with the pair as they attempted to flee. Adam was forced to fight Sam, ordering Rosie and Grace to take refuge in the woods.

As Rosie dashed to Adam’s office to alert the police, Sam intercepted her and suffered a dramatic breakdown. In a frenzied state, he vented his rage by attempting to submerge her in a water trough.

Rosie fell motionless, but Sam was suddenly reminded of the lessons Rosie had taught him about repentance, prompting him to rescue her. She told him that if he truly loved her, he would allow them to leave, and Sam watched on with a heavy heart as she and Grace fled.

Adam eventually caught up with Sam and threatened him with a gun, but Sam knew he held power over Adam indefinitely. He possessed video footage of Adam performing a sexual act on him, which he could use to disgrace Adam should he ever attempt to expose Sam.

While Mr Phillips remained in confinement, Rosie and Grace went to stay with Mrs Phillips, who had been reunited with her estranged son.

Following a year-long time jump, Sam had assumed leadership of the fellowship, with no indication of Adam’s whereabouts.

The unsettling question lingers – had Adam managed to break free from the cult, or had Sam been holding him captive all along, forcing him to repent?

Unchosen is on Netflix

The current day-by-day forecasts sure look promising

Northern Ireland looks set to bask in straight sunshine for the remainder of this month and into next month, according to forecasters.

This all looks very promising as we leave April and enter into May, especially with the early May Bank Holiday weekend coming up.

Current long range BBC weather forecasts suggest rain will return on Sunday, May 3 just in time for the Belfast City Marathon.

READ MORE: Yellow warning for wildfires issued as drier and sunnier weather forecastREAD MORE: UK weather maps show 26C heat but Northern Ireland stuck below 20C

The Met Office’s day-by-day forecast doesn’t stretch as far as the BBC’s, but its long range forecast also looks promising.

Meanwhile with drier and sunnier weather forecast over the coming days, a yellow warning for wildfires is in place in Northern Ireland.

The dry weather along with rising temperatures and stronger winds, means conditions are ideal for fires to start and spread quickly. In the Republic of Ireland an orange warning for wildfires has been issued.

The Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service (NIFRS) is reminding the public to act responsibly when enjoying the outdoors to help protect our countryside from wildfires.

Last year, NIFRS attended 95 wildfire incidents in Northern Ireland, 83% of which were due to deliberate ignition, a stark reminder that most wildfires are human-caused and preventable.

The fire service says the majority of these incidents, 93 in total, occurred between March and May, highlighting the increased risk during the spring period when vegetation is dry and weather conditions are favourable for fire spread.

Here’s what to expect on the weather front for the coming days in Northern Ireland:

Thursday:

All parts will have a dry day with plenty of sunshine although some high cloud around. Feeling warm in the sunshine although cooler along the east coast. Maximum temperature 17°C.

Outlook for Friday to Sunday:

Remaining dry and settled into the weekend with some warm sunshine. Perhaps turning cloudier on Sunday.

UK long range weather forecast: Monday 27 April – Wednesday 6 May

High pressure is likely to remain centred close to or over the UK through the remainder of April and into early May. This means a continuation of the predominantly dry conditions, likely with a mixture of some cloudier spells and sunnier days.

For the most part, rain-bearing weather systems should be kept at bay, though the far west and northwest may see a little rain at times. Winds will be mostly light, but may be fresher around the coasts at times.

For most, temperatures will continue above normal, though it will feel cooler along windward coasts in particular. Towards the end of the period, conditions may become more unsettled as low pressure becomes rather more dominant.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.