Reid announces suspension of Stormont assembly

The Northern Secretary, Dr John Reid, has announced that he is to suspend the Stormont Assembly for a short period.

Starting from midnight, the political institutions will be devolved for a short period of time- possibly for just 24 hours- giving the political parties a further six weeks to resolve the problems surrounding decommissioning.

Dr Reid said that it was the only option left open to him and he hoped that it would help to bring about the decommissioning of the arms of dissident groups.

Mr Reid was speaking after the IRA revealed earlier this evening that they are now willing to decommission two of the arms dumps that have already been inspected by officers from the decommissioning body.

It is still unclear if the dumps will simply be sealed off or the weapons will be removed from them but a statement from the IRA said that after the recent violence in the US, the situation has moved into a different dimension.