Councils in Belfast and Derry have launched a joint bid for the European Capital of Culture title in 2023.

A Donegal woman was left speechless after her boyfriend pulled off an unusual marriage proposal.

A candidate in the European elections has been arrested after making a speech quoting from a book by Winston Churchill about Islam.

Having rocked them in the Dáil, as the Sawdoctors had it, Michael D certainly rocked them in the Guildhall, and beyond, when he announced during his visit to London that he would be supporting England at this summer’s World Cup in Brazil.

It was a state visit that changed the state of relations between Ireland and Britain for good. Here are some things we noticed along the way.

For their historic state visit to London, President Michael D Higgins and wife Sabina have both shown considerable sartorial flair.

As you know, President Michael D Higgins has been in England for the last couple of days to promote ties between Ireland and the UK, and he's been doing a pretty good job of it.

AFTER ALL the attention lavished on him by the Queen it was a bit of a royal comedown for President Higgins to get just a drive-by handshake from the crown prince of British politics, Boris Johnson.

Irish people will be paying for the mistakes of the financial crash for generations to come, President Michael D Higgins has warned in a speech to London’s business elite.

President Michael D Higgins has said it would be wrong to wipe the slate clean over historic conflict which affected relations between Britain and Ireland.

As President Michael D Higgins prepares for his first state visit to Britain, Conor Power takes a look at Windsor Castle, the preferred home of Queen Elizabeth, and finds there’s a lot more to see in the town.

President Michael D Higgins’s historic state visit to Britain will take relations between the two nations to a new level, the foreign office has said.

Michael D Higgins will address the British Houses of Parliament next month on the first state visit by an Irish president to Britain.

THERE was good news for the Government this month as it seems their take on wine duty was significantly up over Christmas, despite the criminal increases introduced in November’s budget.

Former US president Bill Clinton has begun a day long visit to the North by crossing a symbolic peace bridge.

Acclaimed tenor Ronald Samm describes Orpheus, in which he plays the lead role, as “a loving and stately opera”.

The funeral mass for Seamus Heaney will take place on Monday at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Donnybrook, south Dublin followed by burial in his birthplace of Bellaghy, Co Derry.

Nobel poet laureate Seamus Heaney has been remembered as one of Ireland’s finest literary minds following his death after a short illness.

President Michael D Higgins has paid tribute to Seamus Heaney on the news of his death saying the poet's contribution “to the republics of letters, conscience, and humanity was immense”.

As he readies a tour of Brian Friel’s classic play, Adrian Dunbar is adamant it doesn’t need any heavy-handed directorial interventions, writes Pádraic Killeen.

THE seventh Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition for young operatic talent finished triumphantly on Thursday night.

Hilary Mantel said she was left “weak at the knees” after becoming the first British writer to win the Man Booker Prize for Fiction twice after her novel Bring up the Bodies was named the best book of the year.

Britain’s sporting heroes will be saluted today as a huge precession snakes its way through the streets of London.

The Olympic torch had to be rerouted 100 yards yesterday because of protests in the North.

Julian Barnes finally picked up the Man Booker Prize at the fourth attempt for his novel 'The Sense of an Ending'.

JULIAN BARNES won the Man Booker Prize at the fourth attempt last night for his novel The Sense of an Ending.

Frankie Dettori admitted his pride after being made an Honorary Doctor of Science by Anglia Ruskin University.

WRITERS may loathe cliches, but renowned Irish author Sebastian Barry will no doubt be hoping third time really does prove lucky after he was named on the long-list for this year’s Man Booker prize.

PSNI officers were left red-faced after they ruined a wedding in the false belief that it was a sham.

Michel Platini today apologised for the high cost of Champions League final tickets at Wembley and said UEFA would now consider introducing a cheaper category for families for future finals.

Howard Jacobson tonight won this year’s Man Booker Prize for his comic novel 'The Finkler Question'.

A WOMAN who fell from a bridge on Sunday — just three days after her dream wedding — has died.

THE families of some of the victims of Bloody Sunday have met with the Taoiseach to urge him to help bring those responsible for the deaths through the courts.

Protestant church leaders were warmly applauded into Derry’s nationalist Bogside today in a historic gesture they hope will help bridge the city’s traditional divide.

Former footballer Paul Gascoigne is expected to remain in hospital for several more days following a serious car crash, a hospital spokeswoman said today.

Protestant church leaders will today make a symbolic visit into the nationalist Bogside to meet with the families of the Bloody Sunday victims.

A SIMPLE thumbs-up from one of the relatives of a Bloody Sunday victim locked inside the imposing Guildhall in Derry heralded what would be an unprecedented, frank and historic apology from the British Prime Minister, David Cameron.

BRITAIN held its hands up yesterday to the killing of 14 civilians shot by soldiers from the Parachute Regiment on Bloody Sunday.

EARLY yesterday morning relatives and supporters of the 14 civil rights protestors murdered in Derry on Bloody Sunday marched from Rossville Street, the British army paratroopers’ 1972 killing ground, to the city’s Guildhall, symbolically ending the banned march that was so savagely suppressed nearly four decades ago.

The victims of Bloody Sunday were innocent and their names have been cleared, a relative said today.

Families of the Bloody Sunday dead today entered Londonderry's Guildhall to read the Saville report they hope will exonerate their loved ones.

Former England international Paul Gascoigne was in a "comfortable condition" in hospital today after he was injured in a car crash.