The plaque on the front of Belfast's Linenhall Library says: 'The Belfast Library and Society for Promoting Knowledge, founded 1788'. It is one of the oldest libraries in Ireland, has one of the finest collections of Irish history books and has played a not insignificant part in the literary history of Belfast and Ireland as a whole. Free article

On Sunday 20 October a highly successful fund-raising night was held in Ravensdale House for the Colombia Three, Niall Connolly, Martin McCauley and James Monaghan. Free article

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD has slammed what he calls a "blueprint for the cutting of hospital services" outlined by a senior planner in the North Eastern Health Board in last week's Irish Medical Times. Free article

Sinn Féin Dáil group leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin described a series of bilateral meetings hosted by the party's five TDs, at which Sinn Féin Six-County Assembly members met with Senators and TDs from all parties in Leinster House last Thursday to discuss the current crisis and the issue of northern representation in the Oireacthas, as "useful and constructive". Free article

Last weekend, Ardoyne republican Martin Meehan travelled to France to visit the grave of his late grandfather, who was killed in the First World War. Free article

Two British soldiers convicted of murdering 18 year old Peter McBride in Upper Meadow street in the New Lodge Road area of North Belfast in 1992 are due to be moved from their present posting at Oxford Barracks in Muenster in Germany in a few weeks. Free article

The RUC Special Branch, it has been revealed, was warned four times in the days before the Omagh bombing that an attack was imminent. Significantly, one warning identified Omagh as the intended target. Free article

On Wednesday 23 October, for the first time in its history, the British government published its guidelines on the use of plastic bullets by the British Army. Free article

Members of the family of Kathleen Thompson, the Derry mother-of-six shot dead in the back garden of her home by a British soldier in November 1971, went to Strand Road PSNI barracks in Derry on Friday last to view the RUC investigation file into her death. Free article

History came full circle when Roger Toussaint, the new President of the 36,000-strong New York City branch of the Transport Workers' Union of America, Local 100, came to visit the birthplace of the union's founder, the legendary Michael Quill, in Kilgarvan, County Kerry, earlier this month. Free article