A round up of today's other stories in brief...
Stardust group to meet over new evidence
Families of the victims of the Stardust fire disaster will meet their solicitor next week to discuss new evidence which they say contradicts evidence given at the original tribunal of inquiry.
They say the evidence shows the original inquiry was flawed and that the State was culpable. Among the options they will discuss with their solicitor, Greg O'Neill, is suing the State.
Antoinette Keegan, the families' spokeswoman, said yesterday a researcher working for the families had examined documents handed to their solicitor by Paul Coffey SC, chairman of the State's examination into whether the original inquiry into the disaster should be reopened.
Mr Coffey was appointed by the Government last month after it emerged that the previous chairman of the examination, John Gallagher SC, had represented some of the gardaí in the original inquests following the 1981 inferno.
Forty-eight young people were killed and more than 200 were injured in the fire, which engulfed the nightclub in Artane, Dublin, on February 14th, 1981.
Afghan victim a researcher at UU
An aid worker killed in an ambush in Afghanistan was a senior research fellow at the University of Ulster, it has emerged. Dr Jacqueline Kirk (40) was one of three female workers with the IRC, the International Rescue Committee, shot while on a humanitarian mission.
They were travelling from Gardez in the southeast of the country to Kabul when they were ambushed. Dr Kirk had joint UK-Canadian citizenship while the other two women were Trinidadian-American and Canadian.
It is common for the Taliban to target aid groups working in Afghanistan, and a spokesperson for the group claimed the women were "foreign spies". The IRC has since ended its 20-year presence in the country.
Dr Kirk was based until recently at the university's Unesco centre in Coleraine, Co Derry. She had just taken up a new post as adjunct professor in the faculty of education at McGill University, Montreal.
Prof Alan Smith, chairman of the Unesco centre, said: "She had an incredible commitment to humanitarian issues and was a wonderfully sensitive and dedicated person."
Today FM apology to Gazette
Today FM has apologised to the Gazette group of newspapers in respect of a number of news reports broadcast by it on June 25th.
In an apology read with news bulletins yesterday, Today FM said it had mentioned Gazette in reports relating to claims in the Dáil about a Garda investigation involving the State agency, Fás.
It said: "We would like to clarify that the Gazette group of newspapers is not in any way involved in any Garda investigation. We apologise for the error and have made a payment to charity on behalf of the Gazette group of newspapers."
The Irish TimesLtd has a controlling interest in the Gazette group which has eight titles serving Dublin.
Another raid on shed shebeen
GARDAÍ IN Limerick have again raided a shebeen operating in a council estate in the city, resulting in the seizure of scores of cans of beer and bottles of spirits. A gaming machine, cigarettes and glasses were also seized from the shebeen in a shed at the back of a house in Lilac Court, Southill.
Known locally as Ma Kelly's, the premises were opened five months ago by Southill brothers Francie and Anthony Kelly at the back of their mother's home.
The brothers insist they are not selling drink but simply providing drinks for friends on a non-profit basis. It has been raided a number of times and large amounts of alcohol have been seized; however, it has continued to be restocked.
The latest raid took place on while six people were drinking at the premises.