A HISTORIC ceremony was held for new Irish citizens as Justice Minister Alan Shatter pledged to speed up the citizenship process for emigrants.

Streets were deserted and shops closed across the northern Indian state of Punjab today after Sikh leaders called for a general strike in the wake of more than a week of clashes with a quasi-religious sect.

Feast day of St Guinoch, St Martin I, pope, Saints Carpus, Papylus, and Agathonice, St Hermenegild, and St Martius.