Puppy rescue and NI's first Commonwealth gold: Thursday's NI news headlines

PUPPY RESCUE

Fifty-seven puppies have been seized at Belfast Harbour by police investigating organised crime. Three adult dogs and one cat were also recovered. Police believe the dogs were brought from the Republic of Ireland for sale in Great Britain. A 44-year-old man has been arrested.

CANCER RESEARCH

Researchers are adapting to lessons learned from Covid-19 vaccines to inform new treatments for an aggressive form of breast cancer. Scientists from Queen's University secured over £200,000 in funding from Breast Cancer Now. The grant will go towards developing an mRNA vaccine to help the immune system to destroy cancer cells.

CONSTRUCTION

Construction professionals in Northern Ireland are expecting a difficult 12 months after workloads fell flat in the second quarter of this year. That's according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. It says that Northern Ireland is being left behind the rest of the UK due to the lack of an executive meaning there are no big construction projects.

COMMONWEALTH

Northern Ireland clinched their first gold medal at the Commonwealth Games on Wednesday evening. Swimmer Bethany Firth secured a dominant win in the women's S14 200m freestyle final. Daniel Wiffen took silver in the men's 1500m freestyle while in athletics Kate O'Connor grabbed silver in the heptathlon.

FOOTBALL

Linfield are in Europa League action tonight. They face Zurich in the first leg of their third round qualifying tie. The winner of the tie will face Scottish club Hearts in the next round.

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