A quarter of all diesel sold from Northern Ireland forecourts is smuggled, Ian Paisley Jr has claimed today.

The death of ex-Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi paves the way for the settlement of legal claims by IRA victims in the North, the DUP's Jeffrey Donaldson has said.

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams was under further pressure today after fresh claims he covered up sex abuse allegations against fellow republicans – one of them an elected member of his party.

Under pressure Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams today insisted he did not know his suspected child abuser brother worked for his party in the heart of his own constituency.

The suspected child abusing brother of Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams worked for the party in Belfast after being forced out of a branch in the Republic over the allegations, Sinn Féin admitted today.

A Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive was under pressure tonight to apologise for allegedly saying he was repulsed by gays and lesbians.

The first ever public handshake between the Democratic Unionist leader the Reverend Ian Paisley and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern took place before talks between the two leaders in Dublin today.

Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan faced an open revolt from staff opposed to her decision to become involved in the Robert McCartney murder inquiry, it was revealed today.

Thousands of pounds were spent on accommodation and travel to allow a police ombudsman’s investigator to keep a pet dog at his side.

Police in the North were under pressure today to seek the extradition of a convicted paedophile living in the Republic.

A senior police officer who probed criminal allegations against staff at the North's Police Ombudsman’s Office was himself under investigation by Nuala O’Loan’s team, it was disclosed today.

UK police recruitment policies are to be revised in a bid to strengthen failed Northern Ireland applicants chances of joining another force, it was claimed today.

Two girls were arrested today over alleged death threats made against a young friend of murdered schoolboy Michael McIlveen.

Ulster Unionists today stayed away from the first meeting of Northern Ireland’s new Policing Board in protest at its membership.

Staff at a high school in the North that saw one of its pupils stabbed with a penknife during a schoolyard fight tonight expressed their sadness at the incident.

DENIS DONALDSON thought he had escaped his past when he set up home in an isolated cottage in rural Donegal.

The SDLP has slammed Ian Paisley Jr's call for an end to the ongoing police investigation into the murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane.

Nearly €13m has been spent on the latest police inquiry into Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane’s murder, it was revealed tonight.

Two and a half thousand defendants failed to turn up for court appearances in the North last year, it was revealed today.

Public trust in the British government has been weakened by Northern Ireland Security Minister Shaun Woodward distancing the IRA from organised crime, it was claimed today.

More than 20 police officers are still on sick leave after the ferocious rioting in Belfast earlier this year, it was revealed tonight.

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese expressed her fervent desire to see children from her home city of Belfast grow up in a climate of peace.

Young people must be shielded from the sectarian violence plaguing parts of the North, the children’s commissioner said tonight.

THE IRA must provide photographic evidence that it has destroyed its arsenal of weapons, unionist leaders insisted last night.

Unionists in Ballymena have condemned republican plans to stage a march to commemorate the 34th anniversary of internment in the Co Antrim town.

A senior member of the Democratic Unionists today denounced the appointment of former Assembly member Monica McWilliams as the chief human rights commissioner in Northern Ireland as crass.

An independent member who is quitting the North's Policing Board today warned it could become more polarised than ever.

A racial row is set to be reignited inside the Northern Ireland Policing Board, it emerged tonight.

Youths stoned buses carrying Protestant football supporters through Derry last night.

“I WAS only ever wrong once,” goes the favourite joke of a friend of mine. “It happened once when I thought I was wrong, but I was actually right!”

I FEEL Ian Paisley Jr and Michael McGimpsey were right to take the president to task over her controversial remarks, which id nothing to build bridges between the two communities in the North.

ACCORDING to Ian Paisley Jr, it is up to the IRA to prove they were not involved in last month’s bank robbery.

President Mary McAleese was at the centre of a sectarian row tonight after claiming Protestant children in the North were taught to hate Catholics in the same way Nazis despised Jews.

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble has urged British Prime Minister Tony Blair to ban Sinn Féin from any future Stormont Assembly.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will not apologise to DUP leader Rev Ian Paisley in the Dáil tomorrow, it emerged tonight.

A Northern Ireland policing chief provoked uproar today after warning that hard-won Catholic support for the force may end unless the political deadlock is broken.

A man was stabbed and five people were arrested after mobs went on the rampage in a second night of trouble in a Northern Ireland town.

Major staff cuts have weakened service levels provided by police in Northern Ireland, a new report claimed tonight.

The family of DUP leader Ian Paisley today moved to allay concerns about his health after he was admitted to hospital.

The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland today demanded IRA disbandment - but immediately faced pressure to go even further.

Members of the IRA can escape criminal charges against them because it is not a specified paramilitary organisation, it was claimed today.

The leaders of Northern Ireland’s nationalist parties tonight called on the British government to restore the power-sharing institutions as soon as possible.

The British government today held out the prospect of former IRA commander Martin McGuinness deciding the future appointment of top judges in Northern Ireland.