All four members of the North's ceasefire watchdog, the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC), were today urged to quit after one of them stood down from a political party.

It is too early to say if the IRA will be given a clean bill of health by January, the Independent Monitoring Commission said today.

The IRA is making encouraging progress in its transformation from a paramilitary group to a purely political movement, it was claimed today.

Down will field an unchanged side for Sunday's All-Ireland minor football final against Mayo at Croke Park.

Police in Belfast were today investigating the possibility that an overnight murder attempt at a house in the city may have been part of a bitter loyalist paramilitary feud.

THE Government said the latest report from the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) presented a “disturbing picture” of ongoing criminality by both republican and loyalist groups.

The IRA remains heavily involved in criminality and is still training new members in how to use guns and handle bombs, according to an independent report released today.

The British government will today release the second report by a commission appointed to monitor republican and loyalist paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland.

BRITISH troop levels in the North are three times higher than the peacetime target, a watchdog body confirmed yesterday.

British government moves to fine Sinn Féin over continued paramilitary activity by the IRA are to be challenged in the courts, the party said today.

Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness ended a two-and-a-half-day visit to South Africa by paying tribute to the role of the African National Congress government in encouraging parties in Northern Ireland.

The British government will reveal today if it would impose financial punishments on Sinn Féin for alleged IRA ceasefire breaches.

A FOUR-MEMBER independent commission set up to monitor paramilitary activity said yesterday it is considering issuing a report specifically on the attempted abduction of dissident republican Bobby Tohill in Belfast.

A four-member commission set up to monitor paramilitary ceasefires in Northern Ireland was meeting in Dublin today amid allegations of Provisional IRA activity.

Sinn Féin is meeting today with a new commission set up to monitor the IRA’s ceasefire.

Sinn Féin is likely to snub an invitation to meet a new commission which is monitoring paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland, a senior party figure revealed tonight.

The British and Irish governments were today expected to bring formally into effect a commission which monitors paramilitary activity and the Good Friday Agreement.

Ulster Unionists were today preparing to commit themselves to the winding down of all paramilitaries in Northern Ireland with a 10-point charter for their Assembly candidates.

Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy tonight insisted that a new monitoring body for the Good Friday Agreement and paramilitary ceasefires should provide enough confidence to revive the peace process.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern met his British counterpart Tony Blair tonight as government efforts to restore the Northern Ireland Assembly were stepped up.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is preparing to meet Taoiseach Bertie Ahern today, amid frantic diplomatic efforts to restore Northern Ireland’s Assembly.

A four-member commission to monitor paramilitary ceasefires is a “sticking plaster solution” to keep the Good Friday Agreement intact, an MP said tonight.

A supporter of Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble claimed today the independent body for the Good Friday Agreement was “fatally flawed”.

The British Government has announced details of the powers and duties of the proposed Independent Monitoring Commission.