Why is Northern Ireland in the news?
The region appears to be heading towards another Stormont assembly election just seven months after the previous one. In May, Sinn Féin emerged as the biggest party, a landmark result that made its vice-president, Michelle O’Neill, the putative first minister. But the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) boycotted the power-sharing executive and the assembly, so Stormont has been mothballed. If it is not revived by just after midnight on Thursday – a legal deadline – a new election must be called.
