IRA dissidents shoot Northern Ireland man in legs; supporters hit policeman in head with stone

October 5th, 2009 British premier Brown confronts Belfast deadlockBELFAST, Northern Ireland — British Prime Minister Gordon Brown pressed rival Catholic and Protestant leaders Monday to end the deadlock threatening their power-sharing government, the central pillar of Northern Ireland peacemaking. Brown spent the day at Stormont, the government center in east Belfast, trying to persuade leaders of the British Protestant majority to stop blocking his plans to transfer responsibility for Northern Ireland's justice system to local hands.

October 1st, 2009 Suspected IRA dissident detained over cop killingBELFAST, Northern Ireland — Northern Ireland police have detained a 22-year-old man suspected in the dissident Irish Republican Army killing of a policeman seven months ago. Police said Thursday they were holding the suspect at their main interrogation center west of Belfast.

September 22nd, 2009 NIreland security high on police chief's first dayDUBLIN — Police in the British territory of Northern Ireland mounted increased checkpoints and patrols Tuesday as their new commander began his first day's work under the shadow of Irish Republican Army dissidents. "The threat is real," said Chief Constable Matt Baggott, who previously commanded a smaller police force in the English county of Leicestershire.

September 8th, 2009 N. Ireland paramilitaries to decommission weaponsLONDON — The British government said Tuesday the last remaining armed paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland had pledged to decommission all their weapons within six months. Northern Ireland police said separately that the army had defused a massive bomb, containing around 600 pounds (272 kilograms) of homemade explosives in the village of Forkhill, close to the South Armagh border with Ireland.

July 23rd, 2009 2nd N.Ireland man charged with killing soldiersDUBLIN — The Northern Ireland police say they have charged a second suspected IRA dissident with the killing of two off-duty British soldiers in March. The 44-year-old man will be identified at his arraignment later Thursday at a court northwest of Belfast.

July 13th, 2009 Catholics hurl petrol bombs at Belfast policeBELFAST, Northern Ireland — Militant Catholics are hurling firebombs, fireworks and other makeshift weapons at Northern Ireland police in opposition to a Protestant parade passing through the bitterly divided north side of Belfast. An Associated Press reporter has witnessed the crowd in the hard-line Catholic district of Ardoyne throw about a half-dozen Molotov cocktails at riot police.

June 21st, 2009 NIreland police charge 2 over attacks on RomaniansBELFAST, Northern Ireland — Police in Northern Ireland have charged two teenagers over a series of attacks on Romanian families that drove 100 people from their homes. The Police Service of Northern Ireland says the boys — aged 15 and 16 — were charged with provocative conduct late Saturday.

June 19th, 2009 Northern Ireland police search houses in BelfastBELFAST, Northern Ireland — Police investigating a series of attacks on Romanian families in Northern Ireland searched houses in Belfast and arrested two teenagers Friday. The Police Service of Northern Ireland said officers searched houses in Donegall Avenue, in a working-class district known as The Village near where the attacks took place.

June 18th, 2009 N. Ireland reporter wins confidentiality claimBELFAST, Northern Ireland — A reporter on Thursday won the right to withhold information from police about her contacts with the Irish Republican Army dissidents who killed two British soldiers in March. A High Court judge ruled that Suzanne Breen, northern editor for the Dublin-based Sunday Tribune newspaper, was entitled to refuse to cooperate with police because that would have put her at risk of death.

June 8th, 2009 4 found liable for Omagh bombingBELFAST, Northern Ireland — Four IRA dissidents were found liable Monday for Northern Ireland's worst terrorist attack in a civil case brought by the victims' families. Belfast High Court Justice Declan Morgan found Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt liable for the 1998 bombing in the market town of Omagh in which 29 people died.

May 6th, 2009 Catholic cardinal: IRA dissidents shame IrelandDUBLIN — IRA splinter groups still plotting gun and bomb attacks in Northern Ireland are shaming the people of Ireland and betraying the memory of its patriot dead, the leader of the island's 4 million Catholics declared Wednesday. Cardinal Sean Brady denounced Irish Republican Army dissidents during a state memorial service in honor of the approximately 450 people killed during Dublin's 1916 Easter rebellion, a watershed event in Ireland's fight for independence from Britain.

April 5th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Researchers at the Derry and Donegal Archaeological Society have found an 8000 year-old axe head on Inch Island in Ireland. According to a report in the Derry Journal, the discovery was made in the Baylet area of Inch Island and is believed to date from the Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age, which in Ireland commenced about 7000 BC and continued until 4000 BC.

March 10th, 2009 LONDON - Two days after the fatal shooting of two British soldiers outside a barracks, a police officer was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Northern Ireland late Monday, authorities said. There was no immediate indication of terrorism in Monday's shooting at a high school in Craigavon in County Armagh.

March 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US Sunday condemned the attack on an army base in Northern Ireland that killed two British soldiers. 'The United States condemns the attack in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, last night that resulted in two deaths and injuries two others,' said a statement released by acting US State Department spokesman Robert Wood.

March 9th, 2009 LONDON - The Real IRA, a dissident splinter group of the Irish Republican Army, has claimed responsibility for an attack on an army barracks in Northern Ireland that killed two British soldiers, media reports said Sunday. According to the Irish Times, Suzanne Breen, a reporter for Dublin-based Sunday Tribune, was contacted by a man providing 'a recognised code word' and claimed responsibility for Saturday night's shooting on behalf of the South Antrim brigade of the Real IRA.