The British Home Secretary's announcement that RUC/PSNI Chief Constable Ronnie Flanagan has been given a policing job in England is welcome news indeed. Free article

Sinn Féin spokesperson on the abortion referendum, Mary Lou McDonald, has accused the Fianna Fáil/PD government of once again abjectly failing the electorate by rushing through a referendum without adequate debate. Speaking at a press conference in Dublin on Wednesday, where Sinn Féin launched its campaign for a No vote, McDonald said: "Sinn Féin is opposed to the 25th Amendment to the Constitution because we believe that the government's proposals do not adequately address or resolve the complex issues which are involved." Free article

The Director of Public Prosecution has finally decided that a former RUC officer who was involved in a brutal assault against Sinn Féin's Martin Meehan in 1994 will stand trial. Paul Thompson has been charged with occasional and actual bodily harm and was due to appear in court this week. Free article

The father of a 17-year-old youth stabbed by loyalists in Glengormley earlier this month has voiced his anger at the attitude of the RUC/PSNI to what he says was the attempted murder of his son. Free article

In the High Court, Belfast, on Tuesday, Justice Kerr ruled on the Judicial Review taken last week by Madden & Finucane Solicitors of the decision of the Bloody Sunday Tribunal to allow 20 former and serving RUC/PSNI officers to give their evidence to the Inquiry from behind a screen. Free article

Eleven Derry postal workers have been threatened by loyalists. A letter sent to Communications Workers' Union (CWU) spokesperson Charlie Kelly, himself a postal worker, and signed by the 'Young Waterside Loyalists', warned six Catholics and five Protestants that they would be targeted if they came into the Waterside area of Derry. Two of those threatened are Royal Mail managers. Free article