The International Court of Justice ruling that Ariel Sharon's barrier across the West Bank breaches international law is both alarm-call and opportunity to the world community, says EÓIN MURRAY in Gaza. Free article

The democratic and progressive politics of the struggle for an independent republic were very much to the fore as Féile fever descended on the people of West Belfast. Gerry Adams MP for the area set the scene for a society not in waiting but in the here and now when he welcomed onto the stage at the Féile opening on Sunday in the Falls Park representatives of the Filipino community living in Belfast. Free article

5 August 2004 Free article

BY EOIN MURRAY IN GAZA, PALESTINE I spent the weekend with Christians in the West Bank. I state this fact not by way of indicating that I have undergone a road to Ramallah style conversion, been blinded by the light or have been "born again". Free article

The creative energy that has marked Féile an Phobáil since its inception all those years ago was evident on the Falls Road this past Sunday 1 August as thousands of people turned out for the 'Carnival'. Free article

The West Against Racism Network (WARN) in Belfast staged a mock immigration checkpoint staffed by members of black and minority ethnic communities outside the Falls Road offices of Fáilte Feirste Thiar on Tuesday 3 August 3 to highlight racism in the North. Free article

Serious rioting broke out in the loyalist Village area of South Belfast on Friday night 30 July after the PSNI arrested two men in connection with racist attacks orchestrated by unionist paramilitaries. Free article

Electricity bills are just one of those things. They come through the letter box every second month, you open them, mutter about how expensive they are, and then go and pay them. We pay whatever it costs because we can't do without it. But lately, we've been paying a good deal more than we should. And that's because the company that provides us with electricity keeps putting its prices up. Free article

The UDA's sectarian campaign against the nationalist community of Ligoniel in North Belfast was stepped up on Tuesday 3 August when the unionist paramilitary group left a bomb at the home of a young family. And Derry Sinn Féin Councillor Gerry Mac Lochlainn has slammed the lack of response from unionist politicians to the latest sectarian attacks emanating from the Fountain Estate. Free article

Sinn Féin says the PSNI is using Derry City as a weapons training ground after the force again used the controversial CS spray in the city on Saturday 31 July. Free article