Sinn Féin Chief Negotiator and Six-County Minister for Education, Martin McGuinness is urging the political parties and the British and Dublin governments to remain focused on breaking the stalemate in the peace process Free article

Due to fears of a fresh resurgence in the Foot and Mouth disease crisis, many republican commemorations in rural areas of the North were cancelled or curtailed. However, at those that did take place, a buoyant, defiant spirit and increased attendance marked Easter 2001, marking the 85th anniversary of the 1916 Rising. Free article

Almost four years after 25-year-old Robert Hamill was kicked to death by a loyalist mob in Portadown, a long hoped-for breakthrough looked uncertain last Wednesday, as the five men and two women who had been arrested in connection with the killing were released, without charge, on police bail. Free article

Two new confirmed outbreaks of Foot and Mouth disease, one in Tyrone and the other in Antrim, finally persuaded the Ballynafeigh Apprentice boys not to force their march, assisted by the RUC and British Army, down the Lower Ormeau Road on Easter Monday. Free article

Sinn Féin representative for Slieve Gullion, Colman Burns, has accused the British Army of ``complete disregard for the safety of people in South Armagh'' following an incident at Carron Hill outside Crossmaglen last Friday night when a piece of tape-covered hardboard fell from a British Army helicopter. Free article

Two new reports have been launched in Belfast on the work of ex-prisoner groups and the experiences of former prisoners and their families. Both focus on North Belfast. The first report provides evidence that the former prisoners' groups are filling an important vacuum left by the state, which ignores the needs of ex-POWs, while the second report examines the issues affecting prisoners and their families that the support groups are tackling. Free article