It’s not everyone that has the President of Ireland attend their funeral, but Dr Maurice Hayes, who passed away at the age of 90 a couple of days before Christmas, lived enough for several men.

DUP leader Arlene Foster has returned to London with hopes of concluding a deal with Britain's Conservative Party in the coming days.

It’s impossible to overstate the importance of the Irish public to An Garda Síochána. It’s not all CSI and DNA-profiling. A significant number of crimes are solved thanks to the information given by the person on the street, writes Clodagh Finn

A review has absolved senior BBC executives of trying to bury an explosive story about one of its best-known children’s television stars, saying management errors were to blame for the fact that a planned exposé on paedophilia claims against the late Jimmy Savile was cancelled.

One of the BBC's top news executives resigned today in the wake of a damning report into the BBC's decision to drop a Newsnight investigation into Jimmy Savile's sex abuse.

The BBC Trust chairman insisted he had to give former director general George Entwistle a huge payoff when he quit in the wake of paedophilia scandals engulfing the corporation — and hinted that Entwistle wanted even more money.

Britain’s BBC must undergo a radical overhaul in the wake of “shoddy” journalism which led to the resignation of its chief or its future will be in doubt, the head of the state-funded broadcaster’s governing body said yesterday.

An inquiry into the BBC’s “culture and practices” during the era of star presenter Jimmy Savile’s campaign of sexual abuse is to begin today.

Jimmy Savile's headstone will be broken up and sent to landfill after it was removed late last night.

President Mary McAleese today launched a blistering attack on dissident republicans as she took the stand at a passing out parade for new police officers in Belfast.

Charles Emmerson

The 50:50 recruitment scheme for Catholics and Protestants entering the PSNI must continue if a balanced service is to be delivered, nationalists claimed today.

Hugh Orde’s tenure as the North's Chief Constable ends today after seven years in charge of policing the region.

“TODAY is only the beginning,” an emotional Tony Blair declared after the forging of the Good Friday Agreement.

HONG KONG yesterday marked 10 years under Chinese rule with pomp and ceremony, but tens of thousands of pro-democracy campaigners also gathered to call for sweeping political reform.

Police applicants in the North shunned under the controversial 50/50 recruitment practice could apply to Europe for compensation, an MLA said today.

A film starring a British actress took the top prize at Bollywood’s answers to the Oscars last night.

Fewer high ranking Catholics serve in the Police Service of Northern Ireland than during the old RUC regime’s last days, a report revealed today.

Departing Oversight Commissioner Al Hutchinson today revealed his dismay at the continued delay in building Northern Ireland's new police training college.

I AGREE fully with the sentiments of the former EU Commissioner for External Relations, Chris Patten, when he contends that the EU has not done enough to help people in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Senior police in the North are today facing a shortfall of 107 detectives.

Irish Americans are still focused on the demand that the IRA ends all its involvement in criminality and recognises the rule of law, a nationalist member of Northern Ireland’s Policing Board said today.

The British and Irish Governments were today urged to insist that Sinn Féin backs policing in Northern Ireland regardless what the next IRA statement says.

The University of Ulster was fiercely criticised today for its decision to confer an honorary degree on Chris Patten, one of the architects of police reform in Northern Ireland.

A ground-breaking agreement clearing the way for police officers from the Republic of Ireland to serve in Northern Ireland is to be signed tomorrow, it was revealed today.

FIANNA FÁIL TD Sean Haughey drew criticism from Islamic and refugee groups last night for suggesting the go-ahead for the accession of Turkey to the EU could lead to the “Islamisation of Europe”.

The EU yesterday warned Russian president Vladimir Putin that he must not use the fight against terrorism to increase his powers in the Federation.

FORMER Taoiseach John Bruton has been chosen to represent the EU in Washington, where it is hoped he will help rebuild the often difficult relationship between the two main western power blocs.

FOR centuries, Mostar’s stone bridge was an icon of ethnic diversity. Then, when shelling destroyed it in 1993, the ancient span came to symbolize the senseless brutality of Bosnia’s war.

RUC reformers Chris Patten and Maurice Hayes should be recruited to review An Garda Síochána and devise an alternative to the proposed Garda Ombudsman, the Labour party said yesterday.

Incoming European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has reportedly expressed his support for the appointment of former Taoiseach John Bruton as EU Ambassador to Washington.

Britain’s contributions to the European Union would virtually double under spending plans unveiled today.

British Euro-MP Robert Kilroy-Silk today urged Tony Blair to use his veto to stop “our money from being spent in eastern Europe“.

OUTGOING President of the European Parliament Pat Cox has received no offers of other work and still does not know what he will do next.

IN what has been hailed as a hat-trick of successes, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern yesterday brokered an agreement on the candidate to fill the pivotal role of president of the European Commission.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said today he was confident that he had found the right candidate to become the next president of the European Commission.

Europe’s leaders will meet in Brussels for dinner next week on the way back from the NATO summit in Istanbul – but only if there is a consensus by then on who should be the next president of the European Commission.

EU Commissioner Chris Patten today hit out at Prime Minister Tony Blair for calling a referendum in Britain on the planned European constitution.

EUROPE'S leaders buried their differences just long enough to agree a constitution last night, but failed to agree on the important post of commission president.

A fresh war of words has broken out between Britain and France and Germany as EU leaders plunged into marathon talks to chose a new Commission president and thrash out a constitutional treaty.

Efforts to agree a new commission president were adjourned after more than five hours early today, with no consensus in sight.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern was on the brink of his finest political hour last night as the first European constitution was close to being agreed.

Britain and France were locked in a bruising battle at the EU summit tonight as President Jacques Chirac bitterly blamed Tony Blair for watering down the new constitution.