Top stories of the week

Northern Ireland’s courts must hand out deterrent sentences to anyone connected to terrorist activity an MP has said, after a man convicted of possessing blast bomb components was given a suspended sentence.

The atmosphere at Queen’s University Belfast will be “a few degrees colder” for Protestants after the institution severed links with all four partnering theological colleges of the same outlook this week, an MLA has claimed.

On Monday of this week, Mary Lou McDonald argued that the Republic of Ireland’s membership of the EU now makes Irish unity more attractive for many people who were hitherto indifferent to ending partition.

Theresa May will remain Prime Minister until she has taken the UK out of the European Union, chancellor Philip Hammond has insisted.

Fire-fighters are currently at the scene of a major house fire in Newtonabbey.

There was another example of political cowardice this week.

Arlene Foster said on Thursday that the United Kingdom was heading inexorably towards a ‘no deal’ Brexit if concerns on the backstop were not heeded by the European Union.

A County Armagh church was ransacked during a reported burglary overnight.