A dissident republican plot to target judges and police officers in Northern Ireland has been exposed by a covert MI5 operation, a court has heard.

Two people have been arrested by police probing a shooting on the outskirts of west Belfast.

Police in the North are investigating an incident last night in which two masked men fired shots at a house in west Belfast.

A petrol bomb attack on a house in the North could have resulted in a Christmas tragedy, it was claimed today.

Two teenagers were injured in separate paramilitary-style attacks in the North, police said today.