The IRA has decided to decommission weapons in two of its secret arms dumps which have been examined by government appointed inspectors, it was claimed tonight.

Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid was today considering another suspension of Northern Ireland's political institutions in the hope that it would enable the IRA to move within the next six weeks on disarmament.

A UUP assemblyman has called on his party to join the North's new police board.

Unionist concerns about the failure to implement some elements of the Good Friday Agreement are being overlooked by those who accuse them of being fixated on paramilitary weapons, an UUP Assembly member claimed today.