President abandons Loyalist area visit

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese yesterday scrapped plans to visit a tense and troubled loyalist area of Belfast today.

As rival politicians clashed over her planned meeting with Northern Ireland chief constable Sir Hugh Orde, her office revealed a late change to her itinerary because of a new outbreak of violence in the Shankill Road area.

She had been due to meet staff and children at a primary school, but will now see them in another part of the city.