The head of the Northern Ireland Prison Service (Nips) is leaving after just more than a year in the role to take charge of Scotland's jails.

Police faced fresh attacks tonight after trouble ignited in the North.

The number of people going bankrupt in the North has more than trebled over the past decade.

A hardline revolt in the Orange Order was tonight blamed for its dramatic decision to reject a new system for overseeing controversial parades in the North.

A bomb exploded today in the North, but there was no damage or injuries, police said.

A tax increase in the North will be necessary to maintain frontline public services, an economist claimed today.

A former junior minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly has died during a diving holiday in Costa Rica, it was revealed today.

Four policemen in the North killed in an horrific road crash died trying to make their community a safer place, mourners at three of their funerals heard today.

Around 900 workers in a technology factory facing closure later this year could receive job training as they continue to put in shifts, it emerged today.

The North's rank-and-file police today lambasted Metropolitan Police Chief Sir Ian Blair over claims he referred to RUC members in the North as members of a paramilitary force.

Furious anti-vice campaigners today hit out at the British government for considering legalising brothels in the North.

Three generations of a family were killed in a fire in a house in Belfast today.

An elderly woman suffered burns when her night-dress was set alight by a firework deliberately thrown at her, it was revealed today.

Rival gangs in Belfast confronted each other in a row which led to a memorial garden to six IRA victims being damaged by vandals.

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain has agreed to meet the father of a loyalist murder victim whose death is at the centre of a major collusion inquiry, it was revealed tonight.

The Ulster Unionists were today accused of being out of touch with the needs of working class Protestants after it called on the British government to boost loyalist confidence by ending concessions to republicans.

A PSNI recruit who wore an old IRA medal at a passing out ceremony is under pressure to explain himself.

A Catholic priest who witnessed the completion of IRA disarmament was tonight embroiled in a fresh political storm after he refused to accept that the Provisionals were involved in the £26m (€37m) Northern Bank robbery.

The British government was today urged to scrap means-tested benefits for senior citizens in the North and instead offer them £110 (€160.20) a week under a simpler universal citizen’s pension.

TOP loyalist Jim Gray was shot dead in Belfast last night.

THE father of a Belfast teenager who was stabbed to death last night urged members of the public to reclaim the streets from violent thugs.

The father of a teenager in north Belfast who was stabbed to death while buying sweets, tonight urged members of the public to reclaim the streets from violent thugs.

President Mary McAleese was tonight accused by unionists of failing to apologise properly for comments comparing Nazi prejudice towards Jews to the hatred of Catholics in Northern Ireland.

Another 500 troops have been withdrawn from Northern Ireland duties as part of new moves to scale down security, it emerged today.

The father of one of the two young boys who drowned in a private swimming pool tried frantically to save their lives, it emerged today.

Two young boys drowned in a private swimming pool in Northern Ireland it emerged today.

THE Ulster Unionist Party must put its own house in order or face political extinction, a party strategist warned last night.

SECURITY chiefs have made a blunder by approving the closure of a British army base in Northern Ireland, they were warned yesterday.

Security chiefs have made a blunder by approving the closure of a British army base in Northern Ireland, they were warned today.

Sinn Féin was accused of hypocrisy today over its opposition to this weekend’s visit by US President George Bush to Ireland.

Unionist activists are voting with their feet and abandoning David Trimble’s Ulster Unionists, the rival Democratic Unionists claimed tonight.

Plans to reduce the number of District Command Units in Northern Ireland‘s police service may fail to deliver improved policing on the ground, it was claimed today.

The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and DUP leader Ian Paisley are today preparing for an historic face-to-face meeting in London.

IAN PAISLEY will quit the European Parliament in June, he announced yesterday.

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble today faced fresh demands to resign following the defection of one of his MPs to another party earlier this week.

A Northern Ireland MP who switched parties came under more pressure today to resign his Westminster seat and seek a new mandate from voters.

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble today challenged a former colleague to resign his Westminster seat and face the electorate following his defection to a rival party.

The Rev Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists today confirmed that they would embark on a recruitment drive across Northern Ireland following the defection of three former Ulster Unionist Assembly Members.

Former Ulster Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson today confirmed his defection to the Rev Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists.

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble should quit while the going is good, his main rival the Rev Ian Paisley claimed today.

A loyalist political party was today unveiling five basic principles as part of its manifesto for this month’s Northern Ireland Assembly Election.

THE Ulster Unionist Party unlawfully suspended three dissident MPs from the party for rebelling against the leadership, the High Court in Belfast ruled yesterday.

The invasion of Iraq by US and UK-led forces could have the same consequences as the British occupation of Ireland, a leading Sinn Fein figure said today.