The number of people who claim they have been victims of racial discrimination in the workplace has doubled, according to statistics released today by the Equality Tribunal.

Belfast City Hospital has said it hopes to reopen its intensive care unit on Thursday. The unit was closed to new admissions on Wednesday after two patients were found to have a bacterial infection.

A community worker in Northern Ireland has received glowing praise from the Prime Minister in a newly published book. Gordon Brown said Community Foundation director Avila Kilmurray had been a constant innovator and serial campaigner during work stretching back 30 years.

Sex offenders and violent criminals could be caged indefinitely under radical new Government plans. Northern Ireland minister Paul Goggins will publish draft proposals overhauling the law in the province to protect the public from the most dangerous criminals.

The Intensive Care Unit at Belfast City Hospital has been closed to new admissions after two patients were found to have a bacterial infection. They are now being treated in isolation. The hospital said the patients had a multi-resistant acinetobacter infection.

Social welfare officials could face fines of up to €100,000 if found guilty of leaking information to private investigators working for insurance companies.

Police and social workers have visited young people whose names appeared on a list alongside suicide victims. The unusual step was taken in the Armagh area amid concerns for their welfare and following the deaths by suicide of three teenagers from the area.

Police and social workers investigating teenage suicides have visited homes in County Armagh after material was published on the internet.

The parents of a woman who died by suicide have successfully sued a man who sexually abused her as a child.

A charity campaigning to provide Ulster’s first air ambulance is launching a public consultation to highlight its anger over being refused lottery funding.