A man has been arrested in connection with a security alert in west Belfast which police described as a hoax.

Loyalist gunmen opened fire on police and soldiers for a second night running amid ferocious new rioting on the streets of the North.

An 18-year-old man is recovering this morning after being shot in the leg in a 'paramilitary-style punishment attack' in the North last night.

A 42-year-old man was today charged in connection with the death of an 11-year-old boy in west Belfast.