Gas users in the North were today hit with another substantial price hike, as Phoenix Natural Gas announced that it was putting up prices by 14.5% from Sunday.

A US-owned technology company is to create another 400 jobs in the North as part of a £23m (€34.3m) expansion, it was announced today.

The North’s politicians will betray their voters if they fail to form a power sharing government by November 24, a senior SDLP official warned today.

DUP leader Ian Paisley was today accused of harming the prospects of political progress at Stormont after he said Sinn Féin would be in government over loyalists’ dead bodies.

The Democratic Unionists and Sinn Féin were tonight accused of being on a countdown to the collapse of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The Democratic Unionists and Sinn Féin must end the process of insult and accusation if they are serious about achieving power-sharing in the North, both parties were told tonight.

ROAD accidents have claimed four more lives so far this bank holiday weekend.

GINA McIlveen collapsed onto the coffin carrying the body of her murdered son Michael. “My baby, my baby,” she sobbed, engulfed by the enormity of her loss.

Loyalists attacked mourners on their way to the funeral of murdered Catholic schoolboy Michael McIlveen, it was claimed tonight.

Northern Ireland Assembly members will stage their first debate today since Stormont was recalled for business after three and a half years.

The SDLP and DUP have clashed over the legacy and role of Ian Paisley, less than sixty hours before they meet across the chamber in the recalled Stormont assembly.

A SENIOR nationalist politician expressed concern yesterday about accusations on a youth website about the murder of a 15-year-old Catholic schoolboy.

The Democratic Unionists were tonight challenged to publish around 100 side deals secured from the British government during talks in 2004 to revive the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Scottish Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson has been lined up as a guest speaker at an SDLP conference next week on sectarianism and racism, it was confirmed today.

DEMOCRATIC Unionist leader Ian Paisley yesterday claimed the Irish Government had given itself a role in running Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain today faced demands from all the North’s major parties and businessmen to change plans to force companies to pay rates on their properties.

The Northern organisers of the 'Love Ulster' rally in Dublin on Saturday, headed by south Armagh man Willie Frazer, said this afternoon that they may apply for a re-run.

Mobile phone giant O2 was tonight facing demands from the British and Irish governments to axe roaming charges for Northern Ireland customers.

The SDLP's economy spokesman, Sean Farren, has said that it will be up to the politicians to ensure next year that power-sharing is seen to work.

The SDLP has said closer co-operation between north and south on the economy is needed in the year ahead.

More than 100 jobs at an engineering works in Northern Ireland were under threat tonight – latest victims of low cost Asian competition..

Ian Paisley’s hardline Democratic Unionist Party today dismissed as “fantasy” any idea of it taking part in early negotiations with Sinn Fein over the resumption of power sharing even if the IRA disarms.

The Irish Government today pledged support to the SDLP on sporting and tourism proposals like an Olympics-standard athletics arena in Derry and a 400th anniversary commemoration of the Flight of the Earls next year.

Tourism infrastructure must be developed on an all-Ireland basis to ensure the entire country reaps the economic benefits, it was claimed today.

Young people must be shielded from the sectarian violence plaguing parts of the North, the children’s commissioner said tonight.

The North's most senior policeman was today urged to adopt a get-tough attitude to loyalist paramilitary leaders following a recent wave of sectarian attacks.

Loyalist paramilitaries behind a double pipe bomb attack in a Northern Ireland village planned to kill, police said today.

THE SDLP has called for a speedy resumption of talks on implementing the Good Friday Agreement and restoring devolution.

LOYALISTS were accused yesterday of raising sectarian tensions after being blamed for a series of attacks on Catholic bars and churches in Co Antrim.

MORE THAN 20 families claiming to be the victims of State negligence or corruption will gather today at the nightclub owned by the McBrearty family in Donegal.

Families involved in the Morris Tribunal will be among those at tonight’s meeting, writes John Breslin.

The SDLP has accused loyalists of forcing a Catholic woman to flee her home of 50 years in the mainly Protestant village of Ahoghill in Co Antrim.

Plans to take the UK to the European courts over the Dublin Monaghan bombings will not strain Anglo-Irish relations, Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern insisted today.

Police have come under petrol bomb attack in north Belfast, it was revealed today.

A WOMAN who was beaten with baseball bats in a brutal paramilitary attack was warned she had 24 hours to leave her home.

A woman who was beaten with baseball bats in a brutal paramilitary attack was warned she had 24 hours to leave her home, it emerged today.

IAN PAISLEY warned the British and Irish governments to listen to the voice of his people yesterday as he increased his massive North Antrim vote by 5%.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern has been urged to recall a forum of political parties on both sides of the Border to resolve the crisis over the future of the IRA.

Bertie Ahern was today urged to recall a forum of political parties on both sides of the border to resolve the crisis over the future of the IRA.

Northern Ireland’s economic growth will continue to be stunted because of the ongoing political stalemate, according to senior SDLP negotiator Sean Farren.

Gerry Adams has put forward only “vague proposals” about what the Irish and British governments should do if a deal to restore devolution at Stormont fails, a member of the SDLP claimed today.

The Northern Ireland Assembly will not survive another year’s suspension, leading Ulster Unionist Michael McGimpsey warned today.

THE DUP was yesterday urged to stop insisting that the Good Friday Agreement can be rewritten.

The Democratic Unionists were today urged to stop insisting the Good Friday Agreement can be rewritten.