Social Development Minister Nelson McCausland has been summoned to appear before his Stormont scrutiny committee following allegations of political interference in the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.

The lakeland town of Enniskillen in the North close to the G8 summit is to receive a makeover worth more than a quarter of a million euro.

Some of the worst-off social housing tenants will have to pay shortfalls of up to quarter of their rent if fresh welfare proposals are introduced, the Federation of Northern Ireland Housing Associations warned.

Nationalists and unionists exchanged allegations of sectarianism across the Stormont chamber as a bid to unseat Minister Nelson McCausland over a parades dispute was voted down.

Fixed-price drinks promotions are to be banned in the North, it was announced today.

Children in border communities may soon be able to opt to go to school in either the North or Republic.

First-time house buyers will be boosted by a decision by the government in the North to put an extra £10m towards the co-ownership scheme, Finance Minister Sammy Wilson announced today.

AT the world atheist convention in Dublin last weekend, Labour Party Senator Ivana Bacik warned of “a creeping fundamentalism in Irish life”.

The Noth's political parties appointed their new power-sharing government today – with Sinn Féin replacing its entire ministerial team.

SINN Féin will take the education portfolio in the next Northern Ireland Executive.

ULSTER GAA scored a windfall victory yesterday with news they will receive £61.4million (€71,458,841) in public funding toward the reconstruction of Casement Park.

AN image of pure happiness — a honeymoon photo of murdered Michaela Harte with her husband John has been shared by the heartbroken groom ahead of her funeral.

An image of pure happiness - a honeymoon photo of murdered Michaela McAreavey with her husband John has been shared by the heartbroken groom ahead of her funeral.

Hundreds more mourners are set to pay their respects to murdered honeymooner Michaela McAreavey as a public wake in the tragic teacher's family home enters a second day.

The North's first and deputy First Ministers joined hundreds of fellow mourners at the wake of murdered honeymooner Michaela McAreavey today.

An Northern Ireland Assembly bid to protect the Irish language failed tonight.

There has been a second night of rioting in the Loyalist Rathcoole estate outside Belfast.

St Laurence O’Toole Pipe Band from Dublin have won the overall champions prize at the world championships in Scotland, it was revealed today.

The Gaelic Athletic Association today pledged to co-operate with a review of the North's government funding to clubs named after dead paramilitaries.

Funding at GAA clubs in the North could be withdrawn if they adopt the names of dead paramilitaries, it emerged today.

Government officials in the North are to compile an urgent report on the death of a pensioner who was hit by a motorbike at the Armoy road races in Co Antrim, it emerged today.

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams today condemned last night's rioting in Belfast's Ardoyne area and said the Orange Order and republican politicians should hold talks on the small number of parades which are still linked to tension in the North.

The SDLP has accused the North's new Culture Minister of failing to show respect for people from the Catholic and nationalist communities.

The Democratic Unionist Party’s (DUP) deputy leader Nigel Dodds is to lose his job in the North's government today as part of a major ministerial reshuffle.

Teaching unions in the North today made an impassioned plea for politicians to broker a deal to end the confusion over the future of education.

The body responsible for combating discrimination in the North was today accused of sustaining a religious imbalance in its own workforce.

The North's public was tonight urged to help end dissident republican violence after a so-called coffee-jar bomb was found at a police station.

A member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) was ejected from the North's Assembly chamber today for alleging Sinn Féin’s Gerry Adams had played a leading role in the IRA.

The rift at the heart of the North's Government appeared to deepen today when the DUP accused Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams of withholding information on the whereabouts of the "Disappeared" victims of the Troubles.

Only 24 hours after his side was crowned All Ireland football champions, Tyrone boss Mickey Harte was tonight setting his sights on repeating the feat next year.

Plans to dismantle Belfast’s network of so-called peace walls dividing loyalist and nationalist neighbourhoods must be driven by both communities, Stormont First Minister Ian Paisley said today.

Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists today backed calls for an investigation into the murder of an ex-RAF man in the North.

The Democratic Unionist Party was tonight urged by Gerry Adams to calm down after a Northern Ireland Assembly committee failed to reach agreement on a date for the transfer of policing and justice powers to Stormont.

The actions of dissident republicans must not be allowed to block the transfer of policing and justice powers from Westminster to Stormont, Northern Ireland Assembly members were told today.

Unionists are fed up with having the Irish language thrown in their faces at the Assembly, Stormont heard today.

A north Belfast couple were tonight preparing to flee their home after a sectarian petrol bomb attack which they say could easily have killed their 18-day-old son.

A police vehicle was damaged during a sectarian attack on two Protestant homes in north Belfast, it emerged today.

The GAA wants to reach out to unionists, an official said today.

A new body reviewing parades in the North will today begin its work under the chairmanship of former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown.

The British government was today urged to come up with an education strategy for all ages in loyalist areas of Belfast.

Belfast City Council has passed a resolution condemning Fr Alec Reid's controversial remarks about unionists and Nazis.

A British government verdict on the ceasefire status of loyalist paramilitary organisations who plotted ferocious rioting on the streets of the North will be given within days, Secretary of State Peter Hain revealed today.

Security minister Shaun Woodward today pledged a major crackdown on the sectarian thugs attacking pensioners and childrens’ homes in north Belfast.

A LONG-TERM strategy needs to be developed to end tit-for-tat violence in sectarian flashpoint areas of North Belfast, community leaders heard yesterday.