Sinn Féin officially launched its candidates for the forthcoming European Union elections this week. The party is confident of making major gains in June in both the European and local elections. The candidates, announcved at a press conference in Dublin on Wednesday, 21 April, are Seán Crowe in Dublin, Mitchel McLaughlin in the Six Counties, Martin Ferris in Munster, Seán MacManus in Connacht/Ulster and Arthur Morgan in Leinster. Free article

The latest and probably most serious predicament in the tortured history of the peace process remained unresolved on Monday as the British and Irish governments continued to back David Trimble's insistence on the surrender of IRA weapons before the setting up of the new executive. Free article

The launch of the Rosemary Nelson Campaign on Monday, 19 April, has given fresh impetus to the efforts of the assassinated solicitor's family and friends to force the British government to order an independent, international judicial inquiry into her death. Free article

A decision by Omagh District Council to provide the town's leisure centre for a promotional concert involving the British army Gurkha Band has caused outrage among nationalists. The Gurkha battalions are among the most notorious in the history of the British army's imperialist wars around the world and have left a legacy of mercenary murder in various countries, particularly India. Free article

The Garda News, magazine of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, gives an alarming insight into the thinking of many in that force. The October/November 1998 issue referred to gardai ``working like blacks''. This was compounded by an `apology' in the following issue of the magazine which referred to the ``pompous politically correct person in Trinity College'' who made the complaint. Free article

Nationalists along the Antrim coast are irate over the acquittal at Belfast crown court of a man who lost his right hand after a pipe bomb went off prematurely. Free article