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Draconian rules imposed by the Chinese authorities mean that flags of any non-competing nation are likely to be confiscated from fans, who could be barred from venues if they refuse to comply. Athletes could even be disqualified from competing if they break the rules. Because Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland are not individually represented at the games, only the Union Flag of Great Britain will be allowed inside the stadiums. The regulation is widely believed to be aimed at preventing supporters of an independent Tibet from making political statements by waving its flag, but it will be enforced...

It has become fashionable to look to the lessons of the peace process in Northern Ireland as holding insights for other areas of conflict in the world. However, this has been done in an uncritical way, often more focused on contemporary agendas than on the core realities unique to the region, which do not necessarily translate elsewhere.

The President and First Lady continued their visit to United Kingdom today spending part of the day in London and then travelling to Northern Ireland before departing for Washington. There were some serious meetings where the Presdent was assure that Britain would continue their support and in fact would increase troops in Afganistan. The relationship between Gordon Brown and the President seemed more relaxed than at any of their previous meeting. On a lighter level the President and First Lady visited an integrated primary school in Belfast and the First Lady also visited the British Museum earlier in the day...

A complaint has been made to police about comments made by a Northern Ireland DUP MP about gay people. Iris Robinson, the chair of the Stormont health committee, called homosexuality an "abomination" and urged gay people to seek counseling. John O'Doherty, a member of the South Belfast District Policing Partnership, said he has complained to police. "People like Mrs. Robinson need to learn that their comments have consequences," he said. This is the second complaint in relation to the Strangford MP's remarks. Mrs Robinson made her comments on BBC Radio Ulster's Nolan Show on Friday. She said she would defend...

'Gay counselling' call rejected Iris Robinson said gay people should seek counselling A gay rights campaigner has rejected a Northern Ireland assembly member's call for homosexuals to seek psychiatric counselling.David McCartney from the Rainbow Project was responding to comments from Iris Robinson, who is the chair of the Stormont health committee. Mrs Robinson said with help, gay people could be "turned around". Mr McCartney said there was "no body of evidence" to support this and asked to meet the MP. Mrs Robinson made her comments on BBC Radio Ulster's Nolan Show on Friday. She said she would defend her...

Key players in the negotiations which led to the Good Friday agreement have been reunited in Belfast today, to mark 10 years since the deal was signed. The Irish taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, will join other politicians such as Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams and former US senator George Mitchell for a conference celebrating the agreement. But other major players in the negotiations will be absent from today's celebrations. Bill Clinton, the former US president, has pulled out, while Tony Blair has other commitments. Martin McGuinness, Northern Ireland's deputy first minister, is on an official visit to the US and Ian...

Obama's camp: Hillary's Ireland claims are blarney WOOING IRISH | He says she exaggerates her role in peace process March 16, 2008 BY ABDON M. PALLASCH Political Reporter/apallasch@suntimes.com Marching in Scranton and Pittsburgh, Pa.'s, St. Patrick's Day parade Saturday seemed a perfect time for White House hopeful Hillary Clinton to release her Northern Ireland position paper. Irish Catholics will be a sizable part of the electorate in Pennsyvania's April 22 Democratic presidential primary. As a regular part of her stump speech, Clinton cites what she says is her role in helping to bring peace to Northern Ireland as evidence of...

Finally some examination and some information about this vast experience Hillary Clinton claims - like helping to bring peace to Northern Ireland: Hillary Clinton had no direct role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland and is a "wee bit silly" for exaggerating the part she played, according to Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former First Minister of the province. But to hear Hillary Clinton, she was right in the middle of it: "I helped to bring peace to Northern Ireland," she told CNN on Wednesday. However, the real players disagree: But negotiators from the parties...

Hillary Clinton had no direct role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland and is a "wee bit silly" for exaggerating the part she played, according to Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former First Minister of the province.

Lord Trimble says she was not involved in peace process. Hillary Clinton had no direct role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland and is a "wee bit silly" for exaggerating the part she played, according to Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former First Minister of the province. Hillary Clinton with the Rev Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness after their meeting in Washington last year "I don’t know there was much she did apart from accompanying Bill [Clinton] going around," he said. Her recent statements about being deeply involved were merely "the sort of thing people...

Hillary Clinton had no direct role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland and is a "wee bit silly" for exaggerating the part she played, according to Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former First Minister of the province. Hillary Clinton with the Rev Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness after their meeting in Washington last year "I don’t know there was much she did apart from accompanying Bill [Clinton] going around," he said. Her recent statements about being deeply involved were merely "the sort of thing people put in their canvassing leaflets" during elections. "She visited when...

Hillary Clinton had no direct role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland and is a "wee bit silly" for exaggerating the part she played, according to Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former First Minister of the province. [snip] Mrs Clinton has made Northern Ireland key to her claims of having extensive foreign policy experience, which helped her defeat Barack Obama in Ohio and Texas on Tuesday after she presented herself as being ready to tackle foreign policy crises at 3am. "I helped to bring peace to Northern Ireland," she told CNN on Wednesday. But negotiators...

Hillary Clinton has claimed a significant role in the Northern Ireland peace process as part of her “experience” argument against Barack Obama. She wants to show that she can answer that ringing phone at 3 AM because she has had to conduct tough international negotiations during her husband’s administration. Now Lord Trrimble, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on the process, says the best she can do when she answers that phone is to conduct a cheerleading chant into the receiver: “I don’t know there was much she did apart from accompanying Bill [Clinton] going around,” he...

Hillary Clinton had no direct role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland and is a "wee bit silly" for exaggerating the part she played, according to Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former First Minister of the province. Full coverage of the US Elections 2008 David Trimble: Hillary Clinton mere "cheerleader" in Ireland Hillary Clinton with the Rev Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness after their meeting in Washington last year "I don’t know there was much she did apart from accompanying Bill [Clinton] going around," he said. Her recent statements about being deeply involved were merely...

Northern Ireland First Minister Ian Paisley is to stand down from the post in May, he has announced. He also said he would be resigning as leader of the DUP, a party he has led for almost 40 years. He will continue as MP and MLA for North Antrim. Mr Paisley became first minister in May 2007 following the suspension of direct rule after a period of five years. "Unionists are no longer protesting against a London/Dublin deal with which we have no truck," he said. "We are inside the building administering British rule over Northern Ireland." Mr Paisley, who...

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has paid tribute to Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who is retiring on health grounds after 49 years in power. Mr. Adams met President Castro during a controversial visit to Cuba in 2001. The West Belfast MP said Tuesday's announcement marked "the end of an era in Cuban and Latin American politics." "He leaves behind him a country with world class health and education systems and I wish him well in his retirement," he said. Mr. Adams' 2001 trip to Cuba was criticised at the time by some US politicians, including Republican Congressman Peter King, a...

Recently, as only Hillary can do, she claimed that she was “deeply involved in the Irish peace process.” Bill has also picked up the theme, citing her “independent” role in resolving the century-old conflict as “experience” with which to justify a White House run. How odd that Hillary forgot to mention her pivotal role in Ireland just four years ago, when she wrote her $8 million memoir, Living History. There, she told a very different story. Her first mention of Ireland was in a discussion of Bill’s October 2004 trip: “The trip highlighted Bill’s milestones in foreign affairs. In addition...

Excerpt - A republican has been cleared of murdering 29 people in the Omagh bombing after a judge's damning attack on the police probe into Northern Ireland's worst terrorist atrocity. Sean Hoey, 38, from South Armagh waved as relatives applauded his acquittal at Belfast Crown Court. Victor Barker, whose son James died in the blast, told Sky News: "It is my view, and the view of my family, that Sean Hoey is one of the conspirators of the Omagh bomb... we cannot prove it." ~ snip ~

BELFAST (Reuters) - British police had information that renegade republicans were planning to attack the Northern Irish town of Omagh 11 days before a bomb in 1998 killed 29 people in the province's worst guerrilla atrocity, the BBC has reported. An investigation by the Police Ombudsman found that days before the August 15 bombing, police had been warned by an informant that an attack by republican dissidents was imminent, while another warning had mentioned Omagh and the planned date, the BBC said. A police detective was said to have spoken to an anonymous caller on August 4 for more than ...

Christians will not be Prosecuted for Voicing Opposition to Homosexuality Northern Irish Judge Rules By Hilary White BELFAST, September 11, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The homosexual political movement in Britain was dealt a rare setback this week as a Northern Irish court ruled to curb some parts of notorious regulations. The Sexual Orientation Regulations of the Equality Act, that came into effect in January, would have allowed gay activists in Northern Ireland to prosecute people expressing religious oppositions to the homosexual lifestyle. The judge struck down the harassment provisions appearing in the legislation for Northern Ireland but supported the Regulations in...

THE Conservatives will propose banning plasma screens and other energy-guzzling electrical goods in a report to be unveiled next week. The proposals target white goods like fridges and freezers, as well as TVs, personal computers and DVD players that use too much energy or operate on stand-by. The ideas come from a Conservative group set up by David Cameron to develop policies to protect the environment and although the measures to make household electrical appliances more energy efficient are not binding on Mr Cameron, they are thought likely to be warmly received by the Tory leader. The group will also...

N Ireland SAS hero looks back  The Falls Road then ... In the summer of 1969, a young soldier warily patrols the troubled area of Belfast - the start of the Army's 38-year operation     August 01, 2007       SAS hero Andy McNab learnt his Army trade on the streets of Northern Ireland. During the 1970s it was one of the most dangerous places in the world.Today British troops officially pull out of Northern Ireland after 38 years.Operation Banner was the longest-running continuous campaign in Army history, with 300,000 soldiers serving and 763 killed by paramilitary terrorists.Here, as...

The army's operation in Northern Ireland comes to an end Wednesday after nearly four decades, another symbolic milestone on the path to peace in the long-troubled province. The military landmark, from midnight (2300 GMT) Tuesday, comes two months after self-rule was restored in Belfast following a historic power-sharing deal between former Protestant and Catholic foes. Operation Banner, at 38 years the army's longest-ever continuous campaign, saw more than 300,000 personnel serving, over 6,000 injured and 763 killed by paramilitaries during the bleak years of terrorism and sectarian bloodshed. All that will remain will be a 5,000-strong regular garrison, with troops...

        Abortion Methods     PoliticsInternationalWhat Can I Do? Educational InformationNews PartnersCulture Features Crisis Pregnancy Support Free DailyE-News Subscribe Friends New on LifeSite Donate About Us Contact Site Map Wednesday July 25, 2007 Printer friendly version Email to a friend   Westminster Will not Meddle with Northern Ireland Abortion Laws says Secretary of State Pro-Lifers give the news a "cautious welcome" By Elizabeth O'BrienLONDON, England, July 25, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Northern Ireland Secretary of State Paul Goggins has claimed that Westminster has no plans to extend British abortion law to Northern Ireland and that the N....

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (CNN) -- Northern Ireland's major Protestant and Catholic parties join together Tuesday to form a power-sharing government, marking a "new era of politics" and an end to three decades of sectarian conflict in the British province. Long the guiding hands over the peace process, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern will attend the swearing-in ceremony at Stormont, the Northern Ireland assembly, near Belfast. (Watch the long path Northern Ireland took to get to this point ) The breakthrough came in late March during the first face-to-face talks between the Protestants of Ian...

Related Stories and Video at - http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/0404/northpolitics_av.html Paisley, Ahern in first public handshake Ian Paisley and Bertie Ahern have shared a public handshake ahead of talks which the Taoiseach described as very businesslike and friendly. Mr Paisley spoke of good and civilised relationships on the island and said it was important to engage with Northern Ireland's closest neighbour. As he arrived, Mr Paisley acknowledged the significance of what he was about to do. 'I have to shake this man's hand,' he said. 'I'll give him a grip.' The handshake was vigorous and strong, with a slap on the back. Advertisement...

BELFAST, Northern Ireland - The leaders of Northern Ireland's major Protestant and Catholic parties, sitting side by side for the first time in history, announced a breakthrough deal Monday to forge a power-sharing administration May 8. The agreement followed 4 1/2 years of deadlock and unprecedented face-to-face negotiations between the British Protestants of Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party and the Irish Catholics of Gerry Adams' Sinn Fein. The two foes — who for years negotiated only via third parties at Paisley's insistence — sat beside each other at a table in the main dining room in Stormont Parliamentary Building in...

The 250,000 families with a spy in the binsBy STEVE DOUGHTY - More by this author » Last updated at 22:33pm on 16th March 2007 Comments (36) Wheelie bins: £140,000 trial Also see... • Residents revolt against wheelie-bin spies   The Government has paid for the chips to be installed in three areas of Northern Ireland, now regularly used as a testing ground for Labour's plans for the rest of the country. Tories warned that the chips will be used for the first tests of a tax on bins. The chips are used to weigh bins so that householders can...

Hain not sorry for his slavery apology  The Northern Ireland Office has said Peter Hain will not be apologising for clouding the issue over Ulster's role in the slave trade. The Secretary of State said his reason for attending an event in New York on Wednesday to mark the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery was to apologise for "the role Wales and Northern Ireland played in the slave trade". "We acknowledge that. We take responsibility for it and we now are going to try and at least say that that historical legacy must be recognised and we...

The subject of community cohesion, for understandable reasons, has become prominent in our national conversation over the past few years. But it is a challenge we have faced before: the question of how we live together is as old as humanity itself. Throughout history, there have been periods when Britain has not been entirely comfortable with itself or individual communities within it. Who would now question the contribution made by Jewish people to British society - or even talk about there being a conflict between being British and Jewish? And yet, only 50 years ago, this was exactly the debate...

Police colluded with loyalists behind several murders in north Belfast, a report by the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland is to confirm. Nuala O'Loan's report will say UVF members in the area committed murders and other serious crimes while working as informers for Special Branch. The report will also say some Special Branch officers protected the killers and ensured they were not caught. NI Secretary Peter Hain said it "shone a torch into a very dark corner". The report, to be published on Monday, will call for a number of murder investigations to be re-opened. But it is unlikely that...

Politicians not welcome at massacre memorial service [Published: Saturday 6, January 2007 - 09:21]By Claire McNeilly Ulster politicians were yesterday absent from an annual memorial service after victims' group FAIR asked them to stay away. More than 30 relatives of the victims gathered at the site of the IRA Kingsmill massacre in order to commemorate those who perished 31 years ago. The short 15-minute service took place at 11am at the site of the 10 killings, half-a-mile from the village of Whitecross, Co Armagh. FAIR spokesman Willie Frazer said that both the prospect of Sinn Fein in government and...

Tensions between Britain and Russia burst into the open today when a leading Cabinet minister voiced criticism of President Putin's "huge attacks" on liberty and democracy.Peter Hain, the outspoken Northern Ireland Secretary, indicated that relations with Moscow had hit a low as he exhorted the Russian leader to return to democratic processes. Outspoken: Peter Hain, Northern Ireland Secretary His comments come as the Government has been treading carefully with Russia amid claims that the Kremlin ordered the poisoning of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London. The Foreign Office asked Moscow on Friday to hand over any material which might...

Omagh bombing trial gets started DNA evidence links man to 1998 massacre, court is told By Jonathan McCambridge 25 September 2006 The trial of the man accused of murdering 29 people in the 1998 Omagh bomb massacre finally got under way today. Belfast Crown Court was told that DNA and fibre evidence could connect 37-year-old Sean Hoey to the no-warning Real IRA explosion and a number of other dissident republican attacks. Hoey, from Molly Rd, Jonesborough, who denies a total of 58 terrorist offences, sat in the dock in Court 12, guarded by two court officials, as the Diplock trial...

Sinn Fein accuse McDowell of 'posing' as tough on crime Sinn Féin spokesperson Aengus O Snodaigh TD today accused Minister for Justice Michael McDowell of "headline grabbing" and posing by adopting a tough stance on crime. In his statement Mr O Snodaigh supported suggestions that overcrowding at Mountjoy contributed to the death of Gary Douch in July adding: "More prisons and bigger prisons is not the answer." The Dublin south-central TD said: “After the tragic death of Gary Douch in Mountjoy Prison at the end of July, the Irish Prison Service rejected suggestions that Mountjoy was overcrowded, or that overcrowding...

The dissident republican Real IRA has claimed responsibility for the firebomb attacks on stores in Newry this week. Firebombs destroyed JJB Sports and CarpetRight stores in the town whilst a TK Maxx store and MFI outlet were among those badly damaged on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the cross-border railway line between Newry and Dundalk has been closed while police carry out a search. It follows the Real IRA's warning in its statement that there may be unexploded devices on the line. The firebomb attacks earlier this week are estimated to have caused damage worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. Newry's SDLP mayor...

IRA 'has ceased its criminality' The IRA is no longer involved in any centrally organised criminality, the British and Irish governments believe. Speaking after meeting Irish ministers, NI Secretary Peter Hain said cross-border intelligence indicated the IRA was living up to its commitments. Mr Hain said individual IRA members may still be involved in criminal activities, but that should not prevent political progress from being made. However, the DUP's Nigel Dodds said Mr Hain was "living in fantasy land". "This latest assessment from the secretary of state lacks credibility and will be treated by the vast majority of people in...

IRA murdered mother 'not an informer' 07/07/2006 - 12:34:40 A mother of 10 who was abducted and shot dead by the IRA nearly 34 years ago was officially cleared today of allegations that she was an informer. Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan said her investigators had found no evidence Jean McConville passed information to the security services. The IRA claimed Mrs McConville, who was seized as she went to the aid of a fatally wounded British soldier outside her front door in December 1972, worked for the intelligence’s agencies. Public pressure forced them into making an apology for the...

Man jailed for five years for IRA membership 28/06/2006 - 13:50:34 A Dublin man who a top garda said had been a member of the IRA since he was 15 years old, has been jailed for five years at the Special Criminal Court. Vincent Kelly, who was arrested wearing an Oglaigh na hEireann t-shirt, was found guilty by the three-judge court earlier this month of being a member of the IRA on June 7 last year. Kelly, who is now 21, of Empress Place, Ballybough, Dublin was arrested when gardaí found a handgun hidden inside a van on the Malahide...

IRA were behind 48pc of Troubles murders A UNIVERSITY of Ulster academic yesterday blamed the IRA for the overwhelming majority of murders during the Troubles. Henry Patterson, Professor of History at Jordanstown, challenged the view that the Northern Ireland conflict was a simple "war of liberation" by republicans against colonial interests and said there were key differences between the Troubles in Northern Ireland and struggles in Africa and Latin America. He told the sixth International Conference of The Spanish Association for Irish Studies at the University of Valladolid in Spain that the Provisional IRA was responsible for 48 per cent...

Sinn Féin MP Martin McGuinness has rubbished claims by a number of tabloid newspapers that he is a high-level British spy. The claims were made on Sunday, but Mr McGuinness said today that he was certain no evidence would ever be produced to support the allegations. He also accused the Democratic Unionist Party of being in league with the British spy-handler who was allegedly the source of the allegation. "This is a dirty trick manufactured and constructed by people within the DUP who are now hooked up to others hostile to the [peace] process," he said

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams tonight claimed he had been snubbed by a prestigious British museum. The 57-year-old, who has been welcomed in the White House, No 10 Downing Street and the home of Nelson Mandela, said the Victoria and Albert Museum in London had refused to invite him to its Che Guevara exhibition. He hit out at the museum for claiming that his presence would be neither relevant or appropriate on the launch night. “I think its stance is especially absurd given that this particular exhibition is about an iconic revolutionary figure, with family connections to Ireland, who fought...

Wednesday, May 10, 2006 It’s time to stop the sinister Shinners By: John Cooney THE week-end news story which jumped out of the pages was the revelation that Sinn Fein is linked to a major abuse of the voting register. The Sunday Tribune’s front-page report was based on allegations by Fianna Fail back-bencher Sean Ardagh, one of my local T.D.’s in the Dublin South Central constituency. Sean, who is chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Justice committee, has done a civic service to voters by brining to the Government’s notice the first concrete evidence of electoral fraud that is imputed to...

Provisionals linked to expulsion of family at centre of row after killing The Provisional IRA has been linked to the forcing out of a family at the centre of a dispute in west Belfast following the murder of Gerard Devlin. However, the latest assessment by the IMC said the organisation had not sanctioned the use of violence in relation to the expulsion. Mr Devlin (39), a father-of-six, was stabbed to death on February 3 in Ballymurphy. His killing sparked a wave of attacks. The IMC said that after the murder the IRA "sought to defuse tensions and that despite popular...

Judge throws out Omagh bomb suspect's legal challenge 28/04/2006 - 15:04:46 The trial of the man charged with the Omagh bomb atrocity should go ahead in September, a judge ruled today. Confirmation that Sean Hoey, aged 36, should stand trial came when a judge threw out an application by lawyers acting for the electrician that the charges should be dropped. In a ruling at Belfast Crown Court Mr Justice Weir said he had carefully considered submissions made by both the defence and the Crown during a No Bills Application and had decided there was a case to answer and the...

26 April 2006 IMC report finds IRA committed to 'political and peaceful path' The Independent Monitoring Commission today published its tenth report, revealing that the body set up to monitor paramilitary activity had found the IRA leadership to be committed to "following a political and peaceful path." In the report, the IMC stated that it had also reason to believe that the IRA had reduced its criminal activity and intelligence gathering. They still had reason to believe that some of its senior members were still involved in criminal activity, however. The report also claimed that not all of the organisation's...

Imminent Ulster car bomb attack foiled by police (Filed: 19/04/2006) Police in Northern Ireland have seized 250lb of home-made explosives, foiling a potentially devastating car bomb attack. Local youths threw petrol bombs at police after the raid A senior policeman said those behind the plot - likely to be dissident republicans - planned to explode the device "as soon as possible". Four men were arrested during the raid on a breaker's yard in Lurgan, Co Armagh. A car was also taken away for forensic examination. Superintendent Alan Todd, Lurgan's police commander, said the police had no knowledge of a specific...

The UVF leadership, in the first interview of its kind in almost 30 years, reveals today its internal thinking on winding down the organisation, decommissioning, its attitude to the latest political process and a host of other issues. The secretive organisation has revealed it will not make a statement on the future of its organisation until after the November 24 deadline for a political deal here. In the interview, the UVF signals its preference for an internal political settlement, but also flags up potential hostility to the two governments' alternative 'Plan B'. That new position was outlined by the paramilitary...

IRA suspect convicted of 1989 attack on British base A former member of the IRA was convicted today for his role in a 1989 attack on a British military base in Germany and sentenced to six years in jail. A German state court in Celle found Leonard Joseph Hardy, aged 45, from Antrim, guilty on several counts of attempted murder and of deliberately causing an explosion. Hardy, who was arrested in August in a hotel in the Spanish resort city of Torremolinos and did not fight extradition to Germany in January, has admitted being a member of an IRA “Active...

He is not a criminal, says Adams Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams yesterday stood by alleged former IRA chief Thomas "Slab" Murphy. The businessman, whose farm is at the centre of a police probe into a multi-million pound smuggling operation, has been wrongly demonised, he claimed. Mr Adams said: "Tom Murphy is not a criminal. He is a good republican." Murphy's sprawling estate, straddling the Irish border, was among 15 properties searched yesterday during police raids planned in Belfast and Dublin. Around £200,000 in cash, 30,000 cigarettes, 8,000 litres of fuel and weapons were all seized in the offensive against...