The devolution of responsibility for policing and justice in the North looked little closer tonight after talks between British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the North's First and Deputy First Ministers.

Arsenal defender William Gallas remains unwilling to talk about his row with former club Chelsea after helping France to a well-deserved 3-1 victory over world champions Italy in Paris.

THE White House did not hype intelligence on the threat from Iraq's suspected banned weapons to justify the war to oust Saddam Hussein, Bush administration officials said yesterday.