US PRESIDENT Barack Obama has promised continued cooperation with Ireland to encourage private sector investment as an economic stimulus.

The body that rules on disputed parades in the North Ireland today stood by its decision to allow a republican protest near the route of an army homecoming event.

A suicide awareness group is to hold a poignant sunrise ceremony at Stormont this week.

A European Commissioner leading a Brussels taskforce on the North Ireland will today meet a senior minister in the Stormont power sharing government.

Ulster Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson has warned today that the mushroom industry in the North Ireland is going to disappear unless urgent action is taken to secure a long-term future for the once flourishing industry.

The restoration of devolution to the North is not a done deal, Peter Hain warned today.

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern was articulate in calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Lebanon.

The British government was warned today it faced widespread industrial action by public servants in Northern Ireland in resistence to reform initiatives.

THE anticipated breakthrough in the peace process, involving the disbandment of the IRA, could happen within weeks, the Northern Ireland secretary said yesterday.

A fireman died in a hotel blaze which may have been started maliciously, it emerged today.

Two men are being questioned by the RUC about a gun attack on a polling station in which two officers and a woman were injured.