A COUPLE of weeks ago in this column I warned of the dangers of an invasion of harlequin ladybirds and speculated it was probably only a matter of time before it happened.

DINNY CAHILL isn’t taking too kindly to our line of questioning ahead of tomorrow’s oh-so-familiar Ulster senior hurling final with Down.

IN theory, as Antrim would be hotly favoured to beat Derry, Down should win this Ulster SHC semi-final, but Jim McKernan, the former Saffrons player and manager, now in charge of the Mourne-men, preaches caution.

Heavy rains have caused more major flooding in the North today just days after Stormont ministers approved a £5m (€7.4m) fund for those affected by the rains earlier this week.

A MISSED opportunity. That is how Cork’s All-Star full-back Diarmuid O’Sullivan sees this weekend’s NHL game against Down. Not just this game either, all League games where the Mournemen have to travel.

Text messages are to be sent out to 800 phones in a bid to locate murdered shop assistant Lisa Dorrian’s body, police revealed today.

GRAFFITI identifying one of the main suspects in the murder of missing shop assistant Lisa Dorrian has been daubed on walls in the North.

YOU want contrast? Down’s Ballygalget meet Newtownshandrum of Cork on Sunday in the All-Ireland club senior hurling semi-final.

ULSTER’S representatives in Sunday’s AIB All-Ireland SHC club semi-final, Ballygalget, have one thing in common with their illustrious opponents Newtownshandrum.

Members of the public are being enlisted in the fight against the destruction of one of the North's best-loved beauty spots.

DETECTIVES were yesterday questioning a man about the murder of Lisa Dorrian, the young woman who disappeared in the North more than four months ago.

Lisa Dorrian, a fun-loving 25-year-old, vanished after a party earlier this year. Detectives believe she was another victim of loyalist gang warfare and drug dealing, writes John Breslin

A murdered shop assistant's anguished family today offered a £10,000 ( €14,794) reward to help find her body.

Loyalist paramilitaries have been accused of involvement in the murder of missing shop assistant Lisa Dorrian.

Two men questioned about the murder of a woman who vanished from a caravan park party were released without charge today.

An all-night party house has been searched by police hunting for the body of a woman who vanished from a seaside caravan park, it emerged tonight.

Police in the North today confirmed that their investigation into the disappearance of a 25-year-old woman had become a murder inquiry.

The distraught father of a woman who went missing after a caravan site party nearly a week ago has pleaded for her to come home.

The family of a County Down woman who has been missing for five days have joined in with the search operation.

A man had a narrow escape today after a lightning bolt surged through his body as he watched television in bed.

Three men were being questioned today about a loyalist paramilitary murder in Northern Ireland.

A fire which killed a pensioner in her flat in the Ards Peninsula in Co Down may have been caused by a lit candle or a cigarette, it emerged today.

A major search for a yacht which was believed to have sunk off the Irish coast was called off today after rescue teams failed to find any evidence of an accident.

With the last three weeks dominated by saturation coverage of the race for Westminster, people could be forgiven for forgetting that another election is taking place.