Agents operating within paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland were tonight urged to think carefully about how they operate if it is proven republicans were behind the break-in at a high security police station two weeks ago.

A group of men who claim they were secret agents for anti-terrorist missions in Northern Ireland are to meet Irish government officials, it has been revealed.

US President George W Bush’s special adviser on Northern Ireland tonight condemned David Trimble’s description of the Irish Republic as a ‘‘pathetic sectarian state’’.

Northern Secretary John Reid was today accused of reinforcing sectarian divisions by opting to grant city status to both Lisburn and Newry.

Omagh is to get 150 new high-tech jobs over the next three years as one of the world’s top CD-R producers prepares to move in with the single largest inward investment in the town since the August l998 bomb atrocity.

Fifteen people were today appearing in court following the biggest police crackdown on the heroin trade in Northern Ireland.

Drug squad officers today mounted a major operation against heroin dealers in Northern Ireland.

The British government today announced proposals to transfer responsibility for policing and the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland to locally-elected politicians in the North after assembly elections in May 2003.

The Women’s Coalition today attacked the British government and main political parties for the lack of female representation on the new Northern Ireland Policing Board.

Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid was today poised to announce a series of measures to bolster the peace process after the IRA put its weapons beyond use in a historic move.

The creation of a Police Board of Unionists and Nationalists in Northern Ireland is a momentous step forward for the peace process, Northern Ireland Secretary Dr John Reid said today.

David Trimble’s Ulster Unionists ushered in a new era for policing in Northern Ireland yesterday by agreeing to nominate members to a board handling police reforms.

The Irish Government and judicial system conducted a ‘‘hideous cover-up’’ after a young girl was subjected to years of sexual abuse, it was claimed today.

Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid today hit out at the IRA after they withdrew a plan to put their weapons beyond use.

Relatives of the victims of the Omagh bombing today bitterly attacked Northern Ireland politicians for ‘‘taking the money’’ on a promise of peace but failing to deliver.

The Orange Order service at Drumcree church has ended. The march will now continue to the barrier at the end of Garvaghy Road.

Britain is to seek the extradition of three alleged Irish Republican dissidents arrested in Slovakia.

On a hot sunny morning the next MP for North Down was meeting supporters among the shoppers in Bangor’s weekly market.

The brakes should be applied on the Government’s police reforms in the light of criticism of them by a senior RUC officer, an anti-Good Friday Agreement unionist claimed today.

Northern Ireland football may have reached the turning point in the battle to eradicate sectarian abuse from the game, Sports Minister Michael McGimpsey said today.

American President George W Bush said today he was ready to help the Northern Ireland peace process in any way he could.

Northern Ireland will have a new police service by September regardless of what happens in the peace process, Ulster Secretary John Reid vowed today.

Chairman of the Stormont Agriculture Committee Ian Paisley today called for those responsible for bringing diseased sheep into the province to be ‘‘named and shamed’’.