More news in brief
Police have made arrests in connection with the murder of Mark Christie in Bangor, Co Down, on Tuesday.
The PSNI confirmed two arrests early yesterday but provided no other details about those brought in for questioning. A third suspect was arrested later.
Mr Christie (36) was "hacked to death in the street", according to senior investigating officer Det Chief Insp Alan Crockett. He was chased from a house in the loyalist Kilcooley estate in Bangor by at least six men with weapons.
They caught him at Owen Roe Drive where a serious assault took place shortly after 11pm on Tuesday. He died at the scene.
'Independent' pensions threat
Journalists at Independent Newspapers have voted by a large majority to take industrial action if the company makes changes to their pension scheme without agreement.
The vote by the National Union of Journalists will form part of an aggregate ballot of print unions at the company, which is certain to be in favour of industrial action given the numerical strength of the NUJ.
Discussions on proposed changes to the scheme at the Labour Relations Commission ended recently without agreement.
Charges over pensioner's death
A man will appear before Dublin District Court this morning where he will be charged in relation to the death of Vincent Plunkett (80) earlier this month.
Mr Plunkett was found dead in his sheltered housing accommodation at Robinson's Court in Dublin on August 14th.
Gardaí from Kevin Street arrested a 22-year-old man yesterday under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
Limerick man escapes gun attack
A man with close links to one of the main feuding factions in Limerick was the intended target of a botched assassination bid in the city.
Gardaí said the man in his 30s was fortunate to escape death or serious injury after he was targeted in a hail of automatic gunfire late on Wednesday night.
The gun attack happened in the Kilteeragh estate in Dooradoyle at about 11.30pm as the victim was walking from his car to his home.
Two men were lying in wait and opened fire with what gardaí believe was at least one automatic weapon.
Gardaí at Roxboro Road confirmed that more than a dozen shots were fired at the man, who is originally from Island Field in Limerick.
All of the shots missed as he dived for cover.
Norwegian royals to make state visit
Norway's king and queen, Harald V and Sonja are to make a state visit to Ireland on September 18th-20th.
They will meet President Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Dublin and Queen Sonja will give a lecture about Norway. They will also visit Cork where the queen will open The Rhythm of Light, an exhibition of Norwegian silver jewellery.