Pope Francis is, or rather was, well known as a football man and, in particular, as a committed supporter of the San Lorenzo club in his native Argentina, so it rather came as a shock when he recently confessed that he had never seen his fellow countryman Lionel Messi in action.

An “alternative” G8 summit is to be organised by protesters in Ireland against global austerity measures.

Concert promoters MCD Productions returned to profit last year after recording an 8% increase in the number of concert tickets sold to 1.54m.

VOTERS in the North go to the polls today in an election that will likely see the DUP’s Peter Robinson remain First Minister.

The Commercial Court has begun hearing a multi-million euro legal battle between concert promoters Denis Desmond and Eamonn McCann.

The murder of a man shot dead in the North bore the brutal hallmarks of a paramilitary-style killing, politicians said today.

LIKE most people from one of the minority faiths, I intended to maintain a discrete silence on the revelations about child rape and the surrounding cover-up documented in Judge Yvonne Murphy’s report last week, except to relate one anecdote.

The Saville Inquiry report into the Bloody Sunday killings in Derry is expected in December.

AN Irish Press reporter was watching a police water cannon vehicle moving into position. He had never seen one in action before.

Anti-war demonstrators in Derry stormed a software development centre today in protest at Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon.

Evocative images of the last 60 years in Ireland will go on display next week at a major exhibition by the Magnum group of international photographers.

Employers must be prevented from dividing their staff with a two-tier workforce which discriminates against immigrants, the Socialist Environmental Alliance manifesto in the North said today.

Journalist and civil rights campaigner Eamonn McCann is to run for Westminster, it emerged today.

THE killers of Belfast father-of-two Robert McCartney should do the patriotic and honourable thing by handing themselves in, his family told a rally yesterday.

SINN FÉIN was yesterday told the party would get back into government in Northern Ireland if the Republican movement gave up ‘arms and crime’.

The killers of Belfast father-of-two Robert McCartney should do the patriotic and honourable thing by handing themselves in, his family told a rally today.

An untraced boyfriend could reveal how a migrant worker whose legs were amputated ended up destitute on the streets of Northern Ireland, it emerged tonight.

THERE was some disquiet during the week over the disclosure that G2 (military intelligence) were keeping files on civilians like Anthony Coughlan, as well as the usual suspects who had previously had connections with subversive organisations.

Sinn Féin was today preparing to capture its first-ever European Parliament seat in Northern Ireland.

The counting of votes cast in the European election in Northern Ireland gets underway this morning with the Irish and British government anxiously awaiting the results to assess the impact on efforts to revive devolution.

The British government was today anxiously awaiting the results of Northern Ireland’s European election poll, which will be declared tomorrow, to assess the impact on efforts to revive devolution.

Northern Ireland’s politicians were tonight preparing for a nail-biting European Parliament election count with the Ulster Unionists and the nationalist SDLP expected to fight it out for the final seat.

THE North’s politicians yesterday embarked on a frantic effort to get people out to vote, as polling stations opened for the European Parliament elections.

Northern Ireland’s politicians today embarked on a frantic effort to get people out to vote as polling stations opened for the European Parliament elections.

Voters in Northern Ireland need to think what message it would send out to the rest of the European Union if the North elected Democratic Unionist and Sinn Féin MEPs, John Hume said today.

There is an outside chance that Northern Ireland could return two non unionist MEPs, Sinn Féin claimed tonight.

The Government has failed to make the most of its presidency of the European Union, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams claimed today.

The competition between Northern Ireland’s four biggest political parties in the European Parliament elections has nothing to do with EU issues, a candidate claimed today.

The European election campaign got into full swing in the North today.

A Northern Ireland farmers’ leader was tonight being tipped as a possible agreed candidate in June’s European Parliament election.

The organisers of an anti-racism rally in Belfast today were hoping that thousands of workers would take to the streets to demonstrate their abhorrence of recent attacks on racial minorities in the City.

Thousands of workers across Northern Ireland were urged today to take to the streets against racism as they have against sectarianism in the past.

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

SINN FÉIN is accused of trying to rewrite history with the recreation of a famous Catholic civil rights march in the North.

Around 2,000 anti-war protestors gathered in Co Down, last night to express their anger at US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair's war summit in Hillsborough Castle.

Ireland's top writers have come together to voice their opposition to the war through the power of the pen.

Those responsible for soldiers who killed civilians in Derry on Bloody Sunday must not be allowed by the Saville Inquiry to cover up their role in events, a senior member of the SDLP claimed today.

Antrim 1-10 Westmeath 0-14

The Bloody Sunday Inquiry resumes today at the Guildhall in Derry.