The DUP has retained its position as the largest party in the North, but the UUP is arguably celebrating harder after landing two surprise wins in the General Election.

The Democratic Unionists are this morning wondering if the post-election shakedown will hand them added influence at Westminster after a Northern Ireland poll that produced a couple of surprises.

A first home draw in a decade has UCC’s men hoping they can finally make waves in the Irish Junior Cup.

Met Éireann's snow-and-ice weather warning remains in place as more snow is forecast in some parts today.

Met Eireann is forecasting up to ten centimetres of snow in some parts of the country tonight.

Gardaí have issued a stark warning to criminals on the fringes of the gang that murdered Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe: Come forward or face a 40-year jail term along with the killers.

Nationalism is in crisis as more Catholics define themselves as Northern Irish, Peter Robinson claimed.

John Jermyn handed Irish coach Paul Revington a boost ahead of March’s Olympic qualifiers as he made an emphatic return to action, notching five goals as Cork Church of Ireland scored a 6-1 win away to Bandon.

First Minister Peter Robinson's DUP has today accused the North's Boundary Commission of gerrymandering in a fierce attack on its proposals to reduce the number of Westminster seats to 16.

CORK Church of Ireland’s youngsters stepped up to the mark in style as they guided the Munster champions to a 4-1 win over Bandon yesterday.

Jail chiefs braced themselves today for a major report of a £30m (€367m) UK government investigation into the 1997 murder inside the Maze Prison of loyalist Billy Wright, one of the North's most feared assassins.

A boy found a pipe bomb lying in his primary school playground in the North today.

ULSTER Unionist Ken Maginnis accused the Saville Inquiry and the British government of being “one-eyed” in its emphasis on just 13 of the 180 violent deaths in the North in the preceding year.

Calls for Peter Robinson to stand down are a desperate attempt to deflect attention from Ulster Unionist splits, Democratic Unionist Sammy Wilson MLA said today.

Reg Empey today confirmed he will step down as Ulster Unionist leader in the autumn after a disappointing election campaign.

Reg Empey is expected to stay on as Ulster Unionist leader following a meeting of senior members tomorrow.

TWO minutes after the BBC’s exit poll was announced last Thursday night, Iain Dale, the Conservative commentator, blogged: “Don’t panic chaps and chapesses.

Peter Robinson received unanimous backing from Democratic Unionist members of the Northern Ireland Assembly today following the loss of his East Belfast Westminster seat.

THE leaders of Northern Ireland’s two main unionist parties were last night fighting for their political lives after the DUP’s Peter Robinson and the Ulster Unionists’ Reg Empey suffered humiliating defeats.

WHILE Westminster minds are focused on the formation of a new UK government, politicians in the North are today wondering if the election results could destabilise their own coalition administration.

The future of Democratic Unionist Party leader Peter Robinson was in doubt today after the sensational General Election defeat of the First Minister of the powersharing executive at Stormont.

The North’s First Minister Peter Robinson sensationally lost his Westminster seat for east Belfast today.

The leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) brushed off accusations of performing a U-turn today after announcing he would run in the UK's General Election.

The Taoiseach Brian Cowen and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown have joined the North's First and Deputy First Ministers in the past hour to address the media after a deal was struck on the devolution of policing and justice powers.

A police officer was seriously injured when a bomb exploded under his car in the North today.

Two former members of the British Army's Ulster Defence Regiment have been warned about a threat to their lives from the Real IRA, according to a local DUP Assembly member.

Northern Ireland MP William McCrea has been warned of a death threat from the Real IRA, it was revealed today.

Police hunting the killers of a 60-year-old financial adviser were today examining a partially burnt-out car abandoned a few miles from his home.

The SDLP is asking the British Attorney General to review what it says were overly lenient sentences passed on two loyalists who used the police database to gather information on people in Tyrone and south Antrim.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) will not be blackmailed into accepting the swift transfer of policing powers to Stormont, it warned today.

The panel set up to deal with the North’s troubled past is hopelessly divided, the DUP claimed today.

The North's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said today he would have killed every single British soldier in Derry in the aftermath of Bloody Sunday if he had been able to.

SINN FÉIN president Gerry Adams and deputy first minister of Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness carried the coffin of a veteran republican at his funeral in the North yesterday.

One of the North’s best known republicans, Martin Meehan, died today.

The SDLP could see its majorities in three Westminster constituencies cut under Boundary Commission recommendations proposed today.

Bonfires were lit in loyalist areas across the the North last night as a traditional prelude to the annual July 12 Orange parades.

The North’s First Minister Ian Paisley today refused to give the Assembly an assurance his son will have no role in bringing forward legislation in relation to gays and lesbians.

Counting for the North's Westminster seats at the next General Election will take place overnight, it was announced today.

Another leading member of the DUP has come out against the party's decision to enter government with Sinn Féin in May.

“THINGS fall apart, the centre cannot hold, mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,” — well the fallout from the Belfast Assembly poll is not quite as bad as WB Yeats’s words suggest, but he was spot-on about the middle ground parties going south.

The Ulster Unionist Party has paid the price for its arrogant treatment of former members in the North’s Assembly Election, it was claimed tonight.

Democratic Unionist MP Nigel Dodds, and Sinn Féin's policing spokesperson Gerry Kelly became the third and fourth Assembly members to be elected in the North's Assembly elections today, both capturing seats in North Belfast.

The North’s Assembly Election candidates will learn what the electorate has in store for them today as counting gets under way in 18 constituencies.

A prominent Unionist member of the Northern Ireland Assembly has revealed he is in the early stages of preparing a takeover bid for Rangers.