British Prime Minister Tony Blair has already accepted an appointment to become the new peacemaking envoy to the Middle East, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said today.

The Irish Government is to spend almost €7.5m to fund a Chair of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool in honour of outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

British Home Secretary John Reid has put on hold the planned deportation from the North of an African mother and baby daughter, it was announced today.

The G8 leaders pledged today to lift Africa out of poverty and proposed a $60bn plan to fight Aids, tuberculosis and malaria.

The Group of Eight world leaders start their first day of joint talks in Germany today with tough issues like climate change and possible independence for Serbia’s Kosovo province in front of them.

WORLD leaders have less than three weeks to restart farm trade talks with a view to finalising negotiations by the end of the year, according to British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Prosecutors in the UK investigating the case of poisoned Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko will make an announcement today, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

Iraqi president Jalal Talabani is expected to undergo a medical check-up during a three-week visit to the US.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair today insisted there were “real signs of change and progress” in Iraq – despite the deadly violence scarring daily life in the capital.

US President George Bush today seemed resigned to the possibility that World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz could lose his job over conflict-of-interest charges involving his girlfriend.

Fianna Fáil tonight moved to defend its use of world political leaders in a television advertisement for Bertie Ahern.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will address a joint session of the House of Commons and the House of Lords at Westminster today.

The US State Department today hailed departing British Prime Minister Tony Blair as a good friend of the American people and “a terrific leader” for his country.

The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has been leading Irish tributes to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who announced today that he would stepping down from the post on June 27.

A BRITISH civil servant and an MP’s aide were convicted yesterday of leaking a classified memo about a meeting between Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W Bush.

A tape purportedly from the kidnappers of journalist Alan Johnston is being looked at by the BBC.

HISTORY was made in the North yesterday when democracy returned to one of Europe’s most troubled regions as once sworn enemies, Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness, set the fledgling devolved government back on course.

Three police officers were injured as violence broke out ahead of the restoration of power-sharing in the North.

The return of power-sharing between unionists and nationalists in the North has lessons for other conflicts around the world, British Prime Minister Tony Blair insisted today.

DUP leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Féin chief negotiator Martin McGuinness will today be sworn in as respective first and deputy first ministers of the new powersharing administration in Northern Ireland.

The Ulster Volunteer Force is expected to make a major announcement on its future today.

Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton decided to part during tearful heart-to-heart talks in the Alps, it was reported today.

The release of the 15 captured British personnel will come as a "profound relief" to their families, Prime Minister Tony Blair said today.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's office said it "welcomed" today's announcement that the Iranian government would release the 15 detained British sailors and marines.

Iran today rolled back on a pledge to soon free a British woman sailor, delaying her release because of Britain’s threat to freeze relations and refer the issue to the UN Security Council.

Iran’s foreign minister said Britain must admit that its 15 sailors and marines entered Iranian waters in order to resolve a standoff over their capture.

INTENSIVE last minute negotiations between the DUP and Sinn Féin (SF) led to the North’s monumental power-sharing deal yesterday.

An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said today's agreement between Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams "has the potential to transform the future of this island".

Iraq’s foreign minister has demanded that Iran release 15 British sailors and marines, saying they had been detained in Iraqi waters and were operating with government consent.

Power will be devolved in the North on May 8 under a deal struck during historic talks by the Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams, the Democratic Unionist Party leader has revealed today.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman said the British government would not stand in the way of a new consensus on the way forward in the North.

The Democratic Unionist Party has called on the British Prime Minister Tony Blair to pass emergency legislation to delay power-sharing in the North by six weeks.

DUP leader Ian Paisley is due to hold unscheduled talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair today as uncertainty continues to surround the planned restoration of devolution in the North.

British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown will reveal today his final offer of a financial package to politicians in the North to bolster the return of devolved government.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is due to meet the leaders of the DUP and Sinn Féin today to discuss the planned restoration of power-sharing in the North in 12 days' time.

There was a positive air today as the North’s newly elected Assembly members met for the first time since the polls that gave Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party an even greater mandate.

Former Northern Secretary Peter Mandelson has denied criticising British Prime Minister Tony Blair's handing of the peace process.

Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness tonight challenged the Democratic Unionists to use their stunning electoral triumph to form a new Northern Ireland power-sharing government in two weeks’ time.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is to meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday morning to discuss the early results of the Northern Ireland Assembly elections, it emerged tonight.

Iran said today it is considering whether to participate in a Baghdad-organised conference of Iraq's neighbours, which the United States plans to attend.

Democratic US presidential candidate Barack Obama ridiculed Vice President Dick Cheney for saying Britain’s decision to pull troops from Iraq is a good sign that fits with the strategy for stabilising the country.

Republican US presidential hopeful John McCain said British Prime Minister Tony Blair has sacrificed his career to support the Iraq war, and the Arizona senator acknowledged that he could face the same fate.

BRITAIN will withdraw around 1,600 troops from Iraq in the “coming months”, aiming to cut its force to below 5,000 by late summer if Iraqi forces can secure the southern part of the country, Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today said that despite Britain’s decision to pull some troops from Iraq, “the coalition remains intact”.