As history creaks on its bloody hinge, And the unspeakable is done again

“Mammy…Where's Mammy?” A little girl screamed it through the flames and smoke and the tumbling debris of slates, planks, bits of cars and arms and legs in Market Street, Omagh, moments after the bomb exploded. Mothers, daughters, grandmothers, sons, husbands, fathers and friends lay dead in the rubble. Twenty one people died at the scene. Others were horribly injured. Seven have since died and eight more are, as we go to press, still critically ill. Many people have lost limbs.

Sonia O'Sullivan is not just back to form. She is having the best year of her entire career.

At the end of the tunnel in Budapest's Nepstadion, what seemed like an endless sequence of interviews began to fray the nerve endings of the small corps of Irish media, waiting for Sonia O'Sullivan to jog towards them.

They were ready to ask questions about how shocked she appeared when she crossed the line in the 5000 metres final and about how good it felt to be the only athlete to win two individual gold medals at the Championships. And, of course, they wanted to know what it was like to be back.

The ‘painted ladies' of the sea show that a race is about more than just speed and reward.

It appears to have had it all. Cutters, Brigs, Schooners, Ketchs, Sloops and full rigged ships. We oohed at their jibs, gasped at their staysails and ducked heads as their spanker booms swooshed across the deck. It was all long wooden masts and fluttering material. Painted ladies of the ocean drawing in great breaths of wind on the Dublin Bay catwalk.

How could it have come to this? President Clinton's in as tough a spot as he has ever been, teetering on the abyss since Monday August 17, when he became the first sitting US president to testify to a grand jury in a criminal proceeding in which he was the target.

That was the day he told the jury of his sexual dealings with Monica Lewinsky. (The imprecision of “ sexual dealings” is apt, since the consequences of Mr Clinton's admission might well hinge on semantics about the mechanics of sex.) The day after the president's testimony his principal attorney, David Kendall said, “ I don't know if the country is happier or if I'm happier that yesterday is over.”

Ever since Neanderthal No.8 first stubbed his toe on a rock, grunted and kicked it at the head of his nearest enemy, football has been one of the most popular pastimes of homo sapiens—team rivalry, competition and success being the ingredients which have been successfully passed down through our DNA over the centuries.

Anti-racist and refugee groups in Dublin have begun monitoring race attacks in the city, in order to establish if they are the work of an organised, or a nascent racist grouping.

The sixteenth World Cup kicks off at the Stade de France outside Paris on June 10. Thirty-two teams will take part and 550 million people will tune in worldwide until one is left in triumph on July 12. Over the next seven pages Magill previews the teams and some of the top players and looks back at the history of an often controversial contest. But first, down to the business of football. Ronan O'Neill looks at the increasing commercialisation of the game and asks will this be the last time we'll all watch it for free

Magill has obtained exclusive details of RUC  and Garda estimates of the weapons being  held by terrorists in Ireland. The details form  part of a document which was presented  to the Mitchell Commission  on Decommissioning and are as follows:

Known members of the INLA were recruited to carry out a forced eviction of tenants in a Dublin house.

Remand centres are being used to deal with children who have behavioural problems because there is nowhere else to put them

Magill submitted a list of questions on May 25 last to Mr Kevin McGoran, chief executive of Fitzwilton plc in connection with the £30,000 transfer by way of a cheque made payable to cash to Mr Ray Burke on June 7, 1989. Matheson Ormsby Prentice, solicitors to Fitzwilton plc replied on May 26 last. The reply in full states:

We refer to your fax yesterday addressed to Fitzwilton. We are instructed to reply on his behalf and on behalf of Fitzwilton. By way of preliminary comment on your letter, we would make the following points:

(a) Fitzwilton has consistently supported the democratic process in Ireland through contributions to the main political parties. In 1989 the group made a £30,000 donation to the Fianna Fáil party in relation to its election expenses. This contribution was acknowledged by Fianna Fáil. No political favours were sought or offered in return for this contribution.

(b)Fitzwilton plc did not make a £30,000 payment to Ray Burke. (Two representatives of Fitzwilton subsidiaries), made a contribution to Fianna Fail on behalf of Fitzwilton and its subsidiaries.

Fitzwilton plc, which is controlled by Tony O'Reilly, paid £30,000 to Ray Burke—then Minister for Industry and Commerce—on June 7, 1989. The payment was made by way of a cheque made payable to “cash”, drawn on a subsidiary company of Fitzwilton plc.

In Portadown, they are already calling it Drumcree Four. Here in northern Ireland's sectarian flashpoint, the battle lines in the unionist camp are clearly drawn.

A Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael merger is the only way to allow a new, truly social democratic force to emerge. But the grassroots will be slow to embrace change

We return once more to the murder of John Corcoran in Kerry 13 years ago. The cover up of that murder and the obvious complicity of the Gardai in that murder remain by far the greatest scandal of our public life. And yet, apart from a brief intervention by Dick Spring and a broken promise by the now Justice Minister, John O'Donoghue, not a single public representative has sought as yet to make an issue of this.

The futurists were not so wrong about the wealth-creating potential of technology. Where the futurists went badly wrong was in their benign judgement of human nature. The naïve assumption was that the benefits would be equally shared.

With Assembly elections, decommissioning and Drumcree still to come, the Northern Agreement has crucial tests to face. By Fionnuala O Connor

The 108-seat Assembly election is the icing on the settlement cake. Following on the huge referendum yes vote, the UUP will trounce the DUP, and the SDLP is exceedingly likely to handsomely defeat SF in the battle for nationalist hearts and minds. For the first time ever, the unionist majority will be small. The unionist bloc will win about 57 seats, with roughly 41 seats for the nationalist bloc and 10 or so for the Alliance Party.

With an EU court threat hanging over its head, Ireland has one month to decide how much its wild birds are worth

Ireland has received a severe reprimand from the EU Commission for its lacklustre approach to caring for important species of birds that are protected under the EU Wild Birds Directive. The move could result in Ireland's being taken to court by the EU for its failure to respect EU law.

When the Good Friday settlement was concluded there was a national exhalation of relief, as hope replaced foreboding, if not occasional despair. The announcement did much to restore the primacy of politics and to renovate the standing of politicians. However, in the boardrooms of the banks there was a rejoicing that had little enough to do with the birth of hope and a great deal to do with the media focus being elsewhere.