Hain to meet Dermot Ahern today

The new Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain is due to hold his first meeting with the Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern in Dublin today.

The two men are expected to discuss the ongoing deadlock in the peace process and the prospects for new talks to restore the North's devolved institutions.

Meanwhile, US President George W Bush's special envoy to the North, Mitchell Reiss, is due to meet Sinn Féin and SDLP representatives to discuss the current state of the political process.

The prospects for progress do not look good, however, with the Democratic Unionist Party telling Mr Reiss yesterday that it would not be changing its policy of refusing to share power with Sinn Féin.