The North is to have four victims commissioners after the Rev Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness dramatically ditched a plan to appoint just one.

Churches in Ireland can no longer rely on simple strength of numbers to put forward their point of view, according the primate of the Church of Ireland, Archbishop Alan Harper.

The British government was tonight facing demands from nationalist politicians in Northern Ireland for further explanation about its appointment practices for members of the Parades Commission.

The physical security measures surrounding the annual Orange Order parade at Drumcree are to be scaled down further this year, the PSNI announced today.

The Orange Order in Portadown is believed to have met with officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs to discuss this year’s Drumcree parade on July 4.

The Parades Commission in the North is believed to have organised a conference aimed at resolving the years-old dispute over the annual Drumcree march in Portadown, Co Armagh.

The Protestant Orange Order was today urged to meet Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and reassess its attitude to parades through nationalist areas.

Hard-line Protestants may try to wreck the Orange Order’s plans to avoid any trouble at the annual Drumcree marching dispute, it was claimed today.

The North's Police Ombudsman has defended the use of plastic bullets against loyalists involved in last year's Drumcree protest in Portadown, Co Armagh.

Three men have appeared in court in the North in connection with an attack on police lines at the controversial Orange Order parade in Portadown, Co Armagh, yesterday.

Police have fired water cannon in an effort to quell the crowds of loyalist protestors who remain at the scene of the Drumcree parade in Portadown.

As security forces continue to ready themselves in the area around Drumcree for the controversial march today, a leading member of the forces has described the peaceful marches to date as a great success.

Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid was expected to meet senior loyalists in Belfast today to discuss growing sectarian tensions in the city.

Security could be scaled down at Northern Ireland’s most bitterly disputed loyalist parade in a bid to defuse tensions which have erupted into major violence.

More than 200 people have completed a college course in stewarding loyalist band parades, it emerged today.

The Orange Order in Portadown, Co Armagh, has withdrawn from mediation talks with South African lawyer Brian Currin, blaming the intransigence of the Garvaghy Rd residents for the move.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern were today preparing for a fresh push to prevent the collapse of the Good Friday Agreement.

The passing of the Drumcree parade without major incident is being welcomed

The Parades Commission in North has ruled that the twelfth Orange March in Derry will not be allowed pas the river Foyle and into the centre of the city.

There are renewed fears of loyalist violence at this year's Drumcree parade after hundreds of loyalists marched to police lines near the Co Armagh church last night.

Two leading Ulster Unionist Stormont ministers are putting what the Orange Order calls 'an interesting proposal' to the Parades Commission.

The Northern Ireland Parades Commission was due to announce today if it will overturn a ban on an Orange Order march through a nationalist area of Portadown.

The Northern Ireland Parades Commission today put on hold a decision whether or not to overturn a ban on this Sunday’s Drumcree Orange march.

A key Portadown Orangeman is today due to have talks with the Parades Commission, which has again banned the Drumcree parade from the nationalist Garvaghy Road.

A haul of loyalist guns was seized tonight in Northern Ireland amid claims that new efforts to end the tense Orange Order stand off at Drumcree would fail.

Plastic bullets fired at nationalist rioters following a loyalist parade in Northern Ireland were justified, a senior RUC officer insisted today.

The British Government was accused by Orangemen today of tolerating a system of "cultural apartheid" in the North.

Portadown Orangemen today marched through London to bring their Drumcree protest to Prime Minister Tony Blair’s doorstep.

Portadown Orangemen were today taking their Drumcree protest to the British Prime Minister’s doorstep.

The UUP leader David Trimble is calling for the removal of powers from the Parades Commission.