A state inquiry into institutional and clerical child abuse in the North is almost inevitable, government sources said tonight.

A man arrested after he allegedly pointed a hand-gun with a silencer at gardaí in Dublin on Wednesday last appeared in court today on firearms charges.

Charges against a Lithuanian man on trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court accused of dangerous driving causing the death of an elderly man have been dramatically dropped by the State.

Police in the North have questioned a man today after his former partner was found hanging at her home.

Hundreds of mourners today gathered at the funeral of a woman whose body was found last week after she had been missing for four months.