A boy from Northern Ireland whose battle against cancer captured the hearts of thousands and united a community has died.

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has angrily accused the UK's the former Conservative chairman Norman Tebbit of publicly encouraging the assassination of Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.

The North's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has said the Pope could visit Ireland by 2012.

Foreign Minister Micheál Martin and the Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward are due to meet tonight as the Irish and British governments prepare to step up the pressure to end the political crisis in Belfast in the aftermath of the Iris Robinson scandal.

New Taoiseach Brian Cowen will today hold official talks with British prime minister Gordon Brown in Belfast.