Sinn Féin's Ard Fheis begins in Belfast this evening, the first time the party has taken the event north of the border.

ANY lingering doubts about the gravity of the North’s latest impasse were dispelled when British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s cut short his Miami holiday in an attempt to salvage what remains of the St Andrews agreement.

Gerry Adam’s has responded to British prime minister Tony Blair’s suggestions that he could scrap plans to restore devolution in the North by demanding some ‘clarity’ from the DUP.

Sinn Féin will begin a process today which could lead republicans to a once unthinkable position – supporting the North’s police service.

THE direct intervention yesterday by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern urging Sinn Féin to hold its special Árd Fheis as soon as possible was important — not dismissing how problematic the issue of policing is for that party.

SINN FÉIN’S historic Árd Fheis, the first since the IRA took the bomb and the bullet out of Irish politics, effectively set the scene for the party’s bid to increase its Dáil representation in next year’s general election.

Sinn Fein chairman Mitchel McLaughlin has revealed that political representatives of the Basque separatist group ETA will address delegates at this year’s Ard Fheis in Dublin.