It is tragic that so many people in the North, from both communities, seem so ready, so determined to mark events or celebrate loyalties in ways that almost inevitably provoke another round of the danse macabre that ensures that age-old divisions — if not hatreds — are perpetuated.

The North's deputy first Minister Martin McGuiness says he's been told of a real and active threat against him.

OPPOSITION is not new for Fianna Fáil but electoral decimation and reputational destruction are.

IN the early days of the presidential race, Pat Kenny held an illuminating interview on the value of social media in an election campaign.

Police are preparing to mount a major security operation for tomorrow’s big Twelfth of July parades in the North amid fears of new trouble on the streets in the aftermath of weekend disturbances in loyalist areas of east Antrim.

Former Northern Ireland First Minister Ian Paisley will not seek re-election in the forthcoming general election, it was revealed today.

A police officer in the North is now undergoing emergency surgery after a bomb went off under his car.

The Taoiseach Brian Cowen is to meet Sinn Féin's Martin McGuiness today to discuss issues in the North.

The President of the European Parliament begins a two-day visit to the North today.

Loyalist killer Michael Stone has claimed at a Belfast court that his incursion at Stormont two years ago saved the peace process.

A crunch meeting of the North’s Cabinet was cancelled today, but parties met for talks in the absence of Sinn Féin ministers.

Politicians in the North have more work to do if they are to deliver full devolution to their constituents, Northern Secretary Shaun Woodward claimed today.

Former Maze Prison escapee Gerry Kelly will join Conor Murphy, Michelle Gildernew and Caitriona Ruane as Sinn Féin's choice of ministers in the next Stormont government, the party confirmed today.

DR HAZLETT LYNCH (Irish Examiner letters, January 15) is firmly against the DUP sharing power with Sinn Féin whom he regards as fascist terrorists.

A report into Special Branch officers' involvement with a loyalist paramilitary gang by the North's Police Ombudsman will make uncomfortable reading, Northern Secretary Peter Hain admitted today.

Sinn Féin’s chief negotiator Martin McGuinness said today that he will not be deterred by the attempt on his life at Stormont yesterday.

Sinn Féin’s Chief Negotiator Martin McGuiness said he believed Ireland is a country on the move.

DUP leader Rev Ian Paisley said today it will take a miracle for all parties to meet the November 24 deadline for the restoration of the Northern Assembly.

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams today arrived at Downing Street for talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair as the Irish and British governments finalised plans to restore the suspended Northern Ireland Assembly.

THE Reverend Ian Paisley was challenged by Sinn Féin yesterday to prove whether he was a man of his word.

Sinn Féin's Martin McGuiness claimed today that relations between the US and his party will not be affected by the refusal to grant a visa waiver to Rita O'Hare.

A political settlement in Northern Ireland will not help the campaign to bring Robert McCartney’s killers to justice, his family claimed tonight.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell said Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams along with colleagues Martin McGuinness and Martin Ferris were members of the IRA Army Council.

An ex-IRA man who claimed Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuiness handed out nail bombs on the morning of Bloody Sunday was branded a liar today by his former father-in-law.

The Sinn Féin President, Gerry Adams, and Ulster Unionist Party leader, David Trimble, are holding further discussions by phone this afternoon.

Sinn Fein have said that they believe that the power sharing executive in the North will not last until next year.