TWO men have appeared in court charged with dispatching explosive substances and hoax bombs after suspect packages were sent to Celtic manager Neil Lennon and high-profile supporters of the club.

CELTIC chief executive Peter Lawwell has called for Scottish society to address the “fundamental issues” which he feels are behind “vile, sustained and relentless attacks” against his club and manager Neil Lennon.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon focused on his team’s success after he was attacked by a fan in the 3-0 win over Hearts at Tynecastle.

A suspect package sent to a republican organisation is similar to those sent to Celtic manager Neil Lennon and two other high-profile supporters of the club, police said today.

IT wasn’t the man he had travelled across the Atlantic to see. But when Taoiseach Enda Kenny yesterday found himself in the same Washington Hotel lobby as Duke Special he would have been forgiven for asking the Belfast songwriter for a rendition of his hit I Never Thought This Day Would Come.

Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin will hold high-level meetings on the undocumented Irish in Washington DC today.

A delegation of US congressmen will hold talks with the President, Taoiseach and Tánaiste today as part of a week-long Irish visit.

The Government today announced €1m in grants for Irish immigration organisations in the US.

The Government today allocated €34,000 in funding towards the fight for immigration reform for Irish illegals in the US.

Some 20,000 Irish school leavers will able to live and work in the US for a year under a new visa deal expected to be signed today.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen today described his four-day visit to the United States, to promote Ireland as a business hub with a vibrant economy, as a success.

The next president of the United States will maintain his or her country’s strong links with Stormont, Martin McGuinness predicted today.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is to be invited to address both Houses of the United States Congress, it emerged tonight.

Rowdy exchanges marred business in the Dáil today as Tánaiste Michael McDowell and Opposition leaders traded political insults.

A delegation of US Congressmen jet in to Ireland today to get an insight into Irish politics.

Irish-American politicians tonight called on Sinn Féin to endorse policing in Northern Ireland after it turned down policing board seats in the North.

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has said that the Bush administration is hampering the Northern Ireland peace process by restricting his party’s ability to raise funds in the US even after the IRA agreed to scrap its weapons.

THE Government is making a major effort to have around 50,000 Irish immigrants in the US legalised.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern is to hold talks on the North with influential US congressmen near the border today.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern will tomorrow hold a meeting with influential US congressmen to discuss the prospect of power-sharing in the North during 2006.

A senior US politician warned today that excluding Sinn Féin from the Good Friday Agreement review was not the way forward.

Parents of Catholic children caught up in the Holy Cross dispute in north Belfast have appealed for help at Westminster to end the long-running hostilities.

Unionist moves to oust Sinn Fein from government in Northern Ireland will not receive the nationalist SDLP’s crucial backing, the Labour Party conference heard tonight.

The British and Irish Governments must match republican efforts to enhance the Good Friday Agreement by delivering more on police reform, demilitarisation, justice and equality issues, Sinn Fein claimed tonight.