Negotiations continue in the North today, before a crucial decision on power-sharing.

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 organisers of the Special Olympics in Ireland yesterday appealed to businesses and ordinary people to help them stage the biggest sporting event in Belfast this year.

Hard-line Ulster Unionists today withdrew a motion calling for the party to quit the power sharing executive on March 1 if total IRA disarmament hadn’t been achieved.