Fresh inquests into the victims of the Birmingham pub bombings are to get under way amid a war of words between lawyers and the British Government about legal funding.

Police investigative bias led to the IRA being wrongly blamed for a Belfast pub bombing in which 15 people died, the Police Ombudsman said today.

Gardaí have arrested a second man in connection with an incident in Cork city pub last month, which saw a man shot by gardaí.

LOYALIST mass murderer and suspected police agent Torrens Knight was paid £50,000 (€73,186) a year after being released from jail, it was claimed yesterday.