THE Christy Roche-trained Clarkey got off the mark at the 13th time of asking when taking the Holy Cross Maiden Hurdle at Thurles yesterday.

The Protestant protest outside the Holy Cross Girls school in Ardoyne has been called-off.

Protestant residents tonight offered to end the Holy Cross protests in north Belfast if Catholic children and parents went to school by bus.

US President George W Bush’s special envoy to the North will today ask Sinn Fein to reveal all it knows about the three Irishmen charged with training rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).