A three-year-jail term with half of it suspended was imposed yesterday on a man who sexually assaulted his own four-year-old daughter when she sought comfort after a nightmare.

A Corkman who had previously received a three-year suspended jail term, for mugging an 81-year-old woman, risked having to serve the sentence after burgling the home of a garda.

A 25-year-old man appeared at Cork District Court charged with murdering his mother at the family home in Montenotte on Monday.

A PEACE conference between the Israelis and Palestinians, organised by Glencree, was postponed yesterday after the Israelis refused to let one of the Palestinian delegation travel to Ireland.

The new leader of the SDLP, Mark Durkan, became the first leading member of his party to speak to a unionist meeting last night.

Ian Paisley’s DUP hopes to be in court later today, challenging the Northern Secretary’s decision not to call elections earlier than the due date of May 2003.