A major overhaul of services for children in care in Northern Ireland has been unveiled. The proposals include reducing those in care by 20% and doubling those in education, employment or training.

The number of people forced out of their homes in Northern Ireland by domestic violence is on the rise, the government has confirmed. Women are suffering broken bones and miscarriages after being attacked while pregnant, and aid organisations said up to six women were murdered every year.

The Minister for Health has welcomed the move from the eighteen existing Health and Social Services Trusts to five integrated Trusts. The five new Trusts will become fully operational on 1 April 2007. The Ambulance Service Trust remains unchanged.

A convicted rapist who must inform police of his whereabouts is living rough in a tent close to hundreds of unsuspecting Newry families, the Democrat can reveal.

Figures obtained by the Irish Examiner show the State is facing almost 400 compensation claims from current and former prisoners who are claiming damages for the distress of cleaning out their cells and a lack of access to flushing toilets.

A Dublin teenager, who became the first person in the State to be charged with a newly designated offence for smuggling drugs into a prison, has been remanded in custody pending sentence.

The family of an Ulster man left brain damaged after being attacked with a hammer while he lay in his bed said yesterday they were “disgusted and upset” that his attacker has gone missing after being let out of jail on compassionate leave.

Young prisoners are getting a second chance at education at Hydebank Young Offenders Centre in Belfast. Almost 40% of the inmates at the centre have dyslexia (four times the national average), many have been expelled from school and 70% have poor reading and writing skills.

Lives are being put at risk after mindless thieves callously stole an essential piece of communication equipment from an ambulance. Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) crew members were attending a patient at a house on the Bushmills Road, Coleraine, at about 8pm on Saturday when their vehicle was targeted.

The Labour Court recommendation comes just five days before the scheduled opening of the €75 million Cork University Maternity Hospital, CUMH. Midwives, had threatened to boycott the opening unless staffing levels recommended to ensure patient safety were in place.