A NUMBER of Irish-trained medical personnel unlawfully detained in Bahrain are not among 143 prisoners granted a royal pardon, despite pressure from Irish human rights activists.

The time has come for all paramilitarism in the North to end, Stormont minister Margaret Ritchie insisted today.

The organisation handling a controversial fund for regenerating loyalist neighbourhoods in the North has been told it will be terminated, it emerged today.

The Ulster Defence Association was today given 60 days to disarm and protect £1.2m (€1.77m) earmarked for the redevelopment of their neighbourhoods.