Significant weaknesses in a £1.7m (€2.18m) government project to teach the Ulster-Scots language in Northern Ireland undermined its chances of long-term success, an official review found today.

MORE than €6m was given out in grants by the North/South Language Body without formal approval from the governments in the republic and Northern Ireland, it has emerged.

A US appeal court has ruled that a former Northern Ireland official caught in an underage sex sting should have received a longer sentence.

United States prosecutors are to appeal against a 21-month jail sentence given to a former top Northern Ireland civil servant who tried to arrange sex with a 14-year-old girl, it emerged today.