A round-up of today's other stories in brief
SF member and Adams associate dies
A senior Sinn Féin member and close associate of Gerry Adams has died.
Siobhán O'Hanlon had been battling against cancer for some years. She was a member of the party's negotiating team in the early days of the peace process
The Sinn Féin president once admitted he wept at a public meeting during which she detailed her fight against the disease.
Ms O'Hanlon was a niece of Joe Cahill and a friend of Maireád Farrell, who was shot dead by the British army in Gibraltar in 1988. She had been convicted of firearms and explosives charges in the mid-1980s.
Mr Adams, who cancelled a press conference scheduled for yesterday morning on hearing of her death, said she was a committed republican.
"Her stamina, forthright- ness and determination in pursuing issues is legendary," he said. "For the last 15 years, she was the linchpin around which my office functioned.
"For much of that time she was also the point of contact between us and the British and Irish governments. She also headed up Sinn Féin's South African desk."
Further remand on Skibbereen fire
A man has been further remanded in custody after he was charged in connection with an arson attack which destroyed a restaurant and caused an estimated €3 million worth of damage.
Vladimir Raspopov (33), Mary Street, Cork, was charged on Tuesday with causing criminal damage to the Church Restaurant, Bridge Street, Skibbereen.
Yesterday at a special sitting of Bandon District Court, Judge James McNulty remanded Mr Raspopov in continuing custody to appear again at Skibbereen District Court on April 25th.
Two in court on NI bank charges
Two men accused of the £26.5 million Northern Bank robbery appeared at Belfast Magistrate's Court yesterday.
Christopher Ward (24), Poleglass, Belfast, who was employed with the bank at the time, and builder Dominic McEvoy (22), Kilcoo, Co Down, are accused of armed robbery at the Northern Bank's headquarters in Belfast on December 20th, 2004.
Mr McEvoy is also accused of falsely imprisoning bank official Kevin McMullan and his wife Karen at their home in Loughinisland, Co Down.
Both men deny the charges against them.
Martin McAliskey (39), a salesman, Coalisland, Co Tyrone, denies a charge relating to the purchase, possession and sale of a white Ford Transit van which police believe was involved in the robbery.
All three were remanded on continuing bail to appear again on June 7th.
3 injured on hotel site 'comfortable'
Three men who were injured when scaffolding in Buckinghamshire collapsed on Tuesday are in a comfortable condition in hospital, British police said yesterday. The men were trapped under scaffolding on the site of the half- constructed Jurys Inn Hotel in Milton Keynes.
About 200 other workers were said to have had a "miraculous" escape as the scaffolding fell "like a pack of cards" in a busy commercial area at about 12.30pm.
Although the 200-metre exclusion zone was last night scaled down to 100 metres, a number of roads and businesses remained closed yesterday, causing traffic chaos. - (PA)