NI weekly papers: Boxer Michael Conlan announces Belfast fight

Could Londonderry lead a world agricultural revolution?

Sir Tim Smit, founder of the Eden Project visitor attraction in Cornwall, thinks so, all while bringing in hundreds of millions of pounds to the county, according to the Derry Journal.

He is proposing a £60m Foyle River Gardens, a huge eco-development that would stretch from the Foyle Bridge to Culmore Point.

The project is being pursued by Queens' University Belfast, Ulster University and the Northside Development Trust.

The proposal is to re-develop both Boom Hall and Brook Hall for state-of-the-art new educational and research facilities, a lido on the Foyle, river taxis, greenhouse labs, water sports, restaurants and an amphitheatre, among other attractions.

The Journal also carries some good news for Londonderry in its inside pages.

Last week, it was announced that the Derry and Strabane district area city deal is to receive £50m to support innovation and grow the area's digital sector.

A further £55m has been allocated to an Inclusive Future Fund for the region, the first of its kind in the UK.

It aims to fund job creation and projects designed to tackle deprivation and develop young people's skills.

A "dream homecoming" for Belfast featherweight boxer Michael Conlan, 27, is celebrated on the front of the Andersonstown News.

The story follows confirmation that will make his second professional appearance in his home city in August in an outdoor fight at Feile an Phobail in west Belfast.

It predicts a crowd of around 12,000 fans will attend the event at Falls Park.

"I'm a kid from west Belfast so this is just like fighting in my back garden," he said.

"The whole of Belfast, Ireland and the world is going to see a massive event."

The Andersonstown News also reports about a family's devastation after the drug-related deaths of two sisters within three weeks.

The family claims that mother-of-five Geraldine McKay, 28, and her sister Bridget McKay, 30, had struggled with prescription drug addiction before their deaths.

Their sister said Geraldine's addiction had started when she was prescribed medication for post-natal depression.

"Prescription drugs cause more than what hard, heavy drugs in the street are doing," she said.

A standing ovation for a County Down man who sang in tribute to his severely disabled brother on Britain's Got Talent features in the Down Recorder this week.

Mark McMullan, 23, qualified for the next round of the TV talent show after singing the Les Miserables hit Bring Him Home, watched by his parents and brother Declan, who is paralysed with locked-in syndrome.

Declan, 26, was left with the debilitating condition six years ago after suffering a cardiac arrest.

Simon Cowell predicted that Mark, an architect now living in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, will be in demand from the West End as a result of his performance.

Mark told the Down Recorder: "Declan's story is one I've told a few times.

"Most of the times I can deal with it but sitting in the house watching myself on TV telling the story was quite strange and emotional."

The Down Recorder led with the story of the death of 26-year-old Siobhan McCann from cancer.

Siobhan, who was from Clonvaraghan near Castlewellan in County Down, played Gaelic football for St John's GAC, Drumnaquoile and Loughinisland GAC.

Gaelic clubs had backed a campaign by her friends to help her secure groundbreaking medication.

Siobhan had recently played for Dulwich Harps GAA in England.

A club spokesperson said: "Siobhan has left a lasting impression on us with her time here in London.

"We are honoured to call her a clubmate, teammate and a closed friend".

The Fermanagh Herald reports on the evacuation of elderly residents of an Enniskillen care home after a fire broke out.

The paper reports that a 999 call was made in the early hours of Tuesday after the report of the fire in a bedroom.

A priest told the paper that residents were "safe and well".

The paper also reports on the recovery of a 14-year-old boy who was left in a critical condition after being struck by a car after getting off a school bus.

Mr Mark Henry, principal of St Michael's College in Enniskillen, where the boy is a student, said the school was "relieved" he was doing well.

He said: "The lads get off the bus at the same place every day and there was nothing new about it - it is just one of those things."

The Lurgan Mail leads with news that the Lurgan campus of Craigavon Senior High School is to close.

It reveals plans to send children by bus to a single site in Portadown.

It says it follows a "heated campaign to find a Lurgan solution" for the future of the campus.

Ulster Unionist MLA Doug Beattie told the paper the consultation process about the school's future was not subject to a judicial review.

He said: "I am saddened that the wishes of those whose children will be affected the most have been discarded without a thought."

The paper also highlights plans for a football game and fun day in memory of 25-year-old Niall O'Hanlon, who died after being struck by a car.

The event will be hosted by his former club Magheralin Village.

In County Tyrone, the Ulster Herald reveals plans for a £500,000 overhaul one of the oldest National School buildings in Ireland.

The paper's front page shows a little group of pupils, dressed as builders, celebrating confirmation from the Department of Education that St Malachy's Primary School in Glencull, built in 1833, will be refurbished.

It says the move is necessary due to burgeoning enrolment at the school, where numbers have tripled in the past decade and which has remained relatively unchanged since 1954.

It also carries the story of world record-breaker Judith McKelvey, from Omagh, who played the highest game of rugby in history - on Mount Everest.

Judith was part of an expedition team, including former international rugby players Shane Williams, Lee Mears, Ollie Phillips and Tamara Taylor, which played the match at 6,331m (20,771ft) on the east Rongbuk glacier near Everest advanced base camp.