The government tabled what is known as a remedial order to remove the immunity clause after court challenges said it was incompatible with the European convention on human rights. Keir Starmer told the House of Commons the change would fulfil legal obligations while protecting veterans from vexatious prosecutions. Under the last government, they passed legislation which was struck down, leaving our veterans utterly exposed. We're putting in place proper measures to protect them, the prime minister said.
Endometriosis occurs when tissue like the lining of the womb grows in other places, such as ovaries, fallopian tubes and other organs. "The pain is excruciating, at its worst it's like barbed wire inside me and clinging to my organs. I am so ill I can often spend days in bed," Maguire said. She said she is furious that she is having to go through an early medicated menopause as she awaits surgery - a wait which she has been told could take several years.
The company's overall rate of profit on these contracts is capped at around 6%, but Mears' operations across the UK exceeded that limit to the tune of 13.8m. Mears recorded its highest rate of profit in Northern Ireland, peaking at 17%. That was partly due to the fact asylum seekers in Northern Ireland don't have to be dispersed among different local authorities like they do in the UK, reducing transport and administrative costs.
The Met Office has said that for Autumn, the UK recorded 20% more rainfall than the long-term meteorological average, but of the four nations, it was Northern Ireland and Wales that saw the most rainfall, with 39% and 37% above average respectively. Only 2000 and 2011 have seen wetter autumns in Northern Ireland since 1836. England saw a clear north/south divide, with northern England recording 45% above average (its fifth wettest Autumn since 1836) and southern England 17% more than average.
It's a midweek morning in the ­early 1990s and I'm on Pat Kenny's show on RTÉ. I've been invited on along with a fellow female Northerner to talk about what it's like living in the south: she as a Catholic and me as a Protestant. It's an illuminating, deep-dive kind of a chat, covering many ­dimensions of our lives and seeking to shine a light on how our advance conceptions - and our lived realities - might differ.
It's difficult to win away in international football and that is something this team still has to develop, but I take a lot of encouragement from the performances in Cologne and Slovakia where we were challenged and were missing key players in those games. We still gave a really good account of ourselves and were in the game in Germany for 70, 75 minutes.
Northern Ireland have recorded just one victory over Italy in the 11 previous meetings between the two nations. Michael O'Neill's side face a trip to Italy in March for the semi-finals of the European play-offs for a place in the 2026 World Cup. A win for Northern Ireland in that match would set up a final meeting away to the winner of the other Path A semi-final between Wales and Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the winner of that final qualifying for the World Cup.
Tomas Bobcek's 91st-minute winner condemned Northern Ireland to defeat and set Slovakia up for a winner-takes-all decider with Germany in 2026 World Cup qualifying on a night when the visitors secured a play-off place courtesy of other results. Croatia's victory at home to the Faroe Islands means Michael O'Neill's side will contest a two-legged decider to reach next year's tournament in the US, Canada and Mexico because they will be one of the highest-placing Nations League group winners in European qualifying.
We don't celebrate defeat, but the performance was exceptional. We have to celebrate that. I think the way in which the players executed the gameplan, we haven't conceded from open play. The first one [goal] is frustrating because I think it's really preventable from our point of view, but we'll learn from that. It's 2-0, we're still in the tie. There are improvements to be made, but, overall, I'm really proud of the group.
Mansergh, who has died aged 78 of a heart attack during a trip to Western Sahara with other retired Irish parliamentarians, was educated at a British boarding school and Oxford University yet helped shape the Irish republican dimensions of the agreement. In 1988, he was political adviser to the then taoiseach, Charles Haughey, who tasked him with opening up a secret channel of communication.
It was amazing, surreal, extraordinary and very, very special for us as a small family-run business that they wanted to come here to our farm to meet us as a family, to be interested in us as a family, and to be concerned about us as a family - particularly after Storm Amy and how it affected the farm
I didn't mean any disrespect. I said it may not be beautiful to watch but the more important topic, the key topic I mentioned is they do it really well. They play long balls with an idea. They have a special mood in the team and I also mentioned it's very difficult to beat this team, they don't concede many goals and they create a lot of chances by set-pieces.
As he looks to become the first Northern Ireland manager to take the country to a World Cup since Billy Bingham at Mexico 86, Michael O'Neill will emulate the man who gave him his international debut in a different way on Monday night. In the 2026 World Cup qualifier against Germany at Windsor Park, O'Neill will become only the second man to take charge of the national side 100 times.
Until he was 19 years old, Maik Taylor had never played a game in goal. Until he was 24, he had not been a professional footballer, but a lance corporal in the British Army. Until he was 27, when he appeared for their under-21 side as an overage player, he had never even set foot in Northern Ireland. Yet, when all was said and done, with assistance from the likes of Ray Clemence, Graeme Souness
