A bomb made of C4 military explosives and planted at the rear of a row of shops on Belfast's Falls Road has been defused by an IRA Volunteer. Free article

The rifles used by British paratroopers on Bloody Sunday may have been modified as part of a pre-arranged plan to kill street protesters, suggests new evidence. This latest revelation may explain the Ministry of Defence's recent unauthorised destruction of two more rifles used on Bloody Sunday and which were due to be re-examined by the Saville Inquiry. Of the original 29 rifles, only 3 now remain available. The recent destruction of evidence by the MoD was carried out despite reassurances to the inquiry that the few remaining rifles were secure and access to them restricted. Free article

The peace process is in deep crisis, with the political vacuum in the Six Counties steadily growing since the unilateral suspension by the British government a month ago of the Good Friday institutions. Free article

Trade union members across the 26 Counties are being balloted this week on acceptance or rejection of the fifth partnership agreement between employers, unions, the farming organisations, voluntary and community groups and the Dublin government. Free article

``State violence, State cover-up'' is an appropriate theme for a demonstration in Lurgan at 2pm this Sunday, 19 March, at the end of a week that marks the anniversaries of Sam Marshall and Rosemary Nelson. Free article

A first anniversary commemoration for IRA Volunteer Mick Murray took place in Kilallon on the Meath/Westmeath border on Sunday, 12 March. A crowd of over 200, including Mick's family and friends, republicans from Meath, Dublin and further afield and local people paraded to the small graveyard to pay their respects to a highly respected republican activist and former political prisoner and to unveil a new headstone to his memory. The parade was led by a nine-strong republican colour party and the Volunteers Smith/Harford/Doherty republican flute band from Dublin. Free article