People who didn’t receive their full disability allowance because they were living in residential care are to have the balance restored, according to the minister for social affairs. It is part of the Government package of reforms announced in the last budget.

An extra 25 psychologists have been appointed to schools after the Irish Examiner revealed more than 1,000 child appraisals had to be paid for by the St Vincent de Paul charity last year.

A DVD is due to be launched to encourage teenagers to make healthy living a way of life. The DVD, by the Northern Ireland charity Action Cancer, concentrates on eating well, exercise, the dangers of smoking and alcohol, and sun exposure.

The Government has come in for some strong local criticism over the new Fair Deal nursing home care scheme. Under the new scheme, the Government proposes to take a percentage of the value of the family home to help finance the costs of care for elderly people in the latter years of their life.

Businesses in Northern Ireland are being urged to introduce the forthcoming smoking ban ahead of its official launch. The smoking ban will come into effect in all workplaces and enclosed public spaces, including bars, from April.

A couple have been found guilty of inflicting years of cruelty and humiliation on seven children. It ended with the suspected suicide of one of their victims. The man and woman cannot be named to protect the identity of the children.

A couple have been found guilty of inflicting years of cruelty and humiliation on seven children. It ended with the suspected suicide of one of their victims. The man and woman cannot be named to protect the identity of the children.

New gay rights laws for Ulster – which aim to criminalise discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation – are set to be challenged today in the High Court.

An investigation is under way into the sudden deaths of four babies at the neonatal unit of Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry. The babies died in the space of a few months, the last in September when the matter was referred to the coroner.

A leading SDLP assembly member is to quit politics in order to take a job as champion of children’s causes in NI. Lagan Valley MLA Patricia Lewsley is to become Children’s Commissioner. She replaces Nigel Williams, who died earlier this year following an illness.