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Kristyn and Keith Getty specialize in writing modern hymns for churches Most songwriters in Nashville want to get their songs on the radio. Keith and Kristyn Getty hope their songs end up in dusty old hymn books. The Gettys, originally from Belfast, Ireland, hope to revive the art of hymn writing at a time when the most popular new church songs are written for rock bands rather than choirs. They’ve had surprising success.

Being born and raised in Belfast, I’m used to hearing about terrorists, bombs and shootings on the local news, but I can honestly say that despite all that, I considered my hometown a pretty safe place to grow up. I moved to London a year ago, and while Northern Ireland is by no means front-page news here, I couldn’t help but notice that for the past month rioting in Belfast has been featured in almost every news bulletin. The rioting began when Belfast City Council voted to end the continuous flying of the Union Flag from City Hall and hasn’t...

There have been further clashes between police and Loyalist protesters in east Belfast, with reports of shots being fired and a 38-year-old man being arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. The violence, which flared for the third night in a row, is linked to last month's decision by councillors to limit the number of days the union flag is flown over Belfast City Hall.

Orange Order in Belfast celebrates the July 12 marches in front of a Catholic Church. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJo9mk4aQwg

We are commemorating one of the most famous ships in the world in the lead up to the 100th anniversary of the demise of the Titanic said Orla Saul. To bring this special and unique story to life we are delighted to have Susie Miller over from Ireland. Miller runs Titanic Tours in Belfast and is here today to tell us the most intriguing, poignant and personal story about Titanic. The 100th anniversary coincides with the opening of the Titanic visitor centre on 31st March in Belfast. Some people don’t know that the Titanic was built in Belfast said Ms....

Six police officers were injured and seven people were arrested during overnight clashes in east Belfast, the Police Service of Northern Ireland said. Rioting broke out following the Protestant “mini Twelfth” parade on Friday, a force spokeswoman said. Police vehicles were damaged and missiles were thrown at officers trying to quell the “significant disorder” in the Castlereagh Street and Albertbridge Road areas of the city. Officers used rubber bullets and a water cannon to try to disperse the crowds, finally bringing calm to the area in the early hours of Saturday. Six officers were hurt when youths threw by blocks...

Violence has flared for a second night at a sectarian interface near a Catholic enclave in east Belfast. Petrol bombs, missiles and fireworks have been thrown at police lines in the lower Newtownards Road-Short Strand area of east Belfast on Tuesday. Two water canon vehicles have been brought to the area but have not been used yet. The trouble has been reported as the most serious in the area for a decade.

Her dance double for Black Swan has claimed that she did hardly any of the full body shots seen in the film. And now it is claimed that Natalie Portman used yet another body double for her latest film Your Highness. In fact, the actress is said to have avoided diving into an icy lake in Belfast and a local Irish girl was paid just £250 to take the plunge instead.

The next leader of the Presbyterian Church has said he has “no problem” with worshipping alongside Catholics. Reverend Ivan Patterson from Newcastle — who won yesterday's election by a convincing margin — will take over from the Right Rev Dr Norman Hamilton on June 6

Since it came to light that council money handed out to disabled people has paid for visits to lap-dancing clubs, prostitutes and sign-ups to internet dating sites, newspapers and radio phone-ins have been jam-packed with indignant voices. Some object to a ‘mis-use of public funds’, some have expressed concern about the immorality of promoting ‘loveless’ sex as a social service, and some have even suggested that the state putting money into the hands of a sex-worker is ‘evil’ and/or ‘sick’. It never ceases to amaze me how energetic people can get disapproving of acts of compassion being visited upon those...

Police investigating the attempted murder of three PSNI officers during 12 July riots have seized guns in north Belfast.

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — Northern Ireland leaders condemned Irish nationalist rioters Tuesday who wounded 82 police officers during two nights of street clashes sparked by the province's annual parades by the British Protestant majority.

Officers were responding to reports of rioting at Lecky Road on the Bogside shortly after 0100 BST on Tuesday when the shots were fired.

BELFAST, Northern Ireland – Police battled Irish nationalists for control of a Belfast road Monday as a day dominated by peaceful Protestant parades across Northern Ireland turned violent when night fell.

Tensions remained high in Northern Ireland after a wave of sectarian violence and republican protests during the Ulster loyalist marching season. Sinn Féin and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) blamed republican dissidents for orchestrating trouble in north and west Belfast in which three police officers were shot and 24 others also injured. In west Belfast, two armed and masked men also hijacked a bus this afternoon and forced its driver to drive to the local PSNI station in Woodburn. The men said they had left an explosive device on the bus, which the driver was forced to abandon...

(CNN) -- Northern Ireland police said Saturday they were investigating a car bomb that exploded overnight in the city of Derry, about 70 miles northwest of Belfast.

Police say a car bomb has exploded outside a British Army barracks in Northern Ireland. The blast was behind Palace Barracks in Holywood, Belfast, at 12.24am and is described as "ongoing". Reporting from the scene, Sky's Ireland correspondent Vicky Hawthorne said: "Police are not confirming this but there are unconfirmed reports of some injuries on the ground.

Murphy acquitted over Omagh bombing COLM MURPHY walked free from the Special Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday after he was cleared at a retrial of a conspiracy charge in relation to the 1998 Omagh bombing which killed 29 people and injured more than 300. Mr Murphy said after being acquitted of the charge: “I am glad to see it’s all over. Find out who was behind it – MI5 agents setting people up.” The three-judge non-jury court ruled that there was no evidence upon which the court could have convicted Mr Murphy after it ruled that all the evidence of...

After having exhausted Edinburgh, I announced I was headed on to Belfast, Northern Ireland. I disremember exactly all that was going on at the time--there hadn't been any explosions or murders (there however were to be shortly after I left, dozens and scores murdered, but I was already in Wales by then), but the American embassy strongly advised Americans to not go there, and the British government was trying to discourage all non-residents of Northern Ireland from going there. I have no idea how they knew, but they knew. I was reminded of this, and it was suggested that there...

FBI FIELD INTELLIGENCE GROUPS Page 11 9 December 2008 Discovery of Radiological Dispersal Device Components, Literature, and Radioactive Material at the Maine Residence of an Identified Deceased US Person On 9 December 2008, radiological dispersal device components and literature, and radioactive materials, were discovered at the Maine residence of an identified deceased USPER James Cummings. Cummings had possible ties to white supremacist groups. On 9 December 2008, four one-gallon containers of 35 percent hydrogen peroxide, lithium metal, thermite, aluminum powder, beryllium, boron, black iron oxide, and magnesium ribbon were discovered at the Cummings’ residence. (FBI comments: Literature on constructing ‘dirty...