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Prince William and Kate Middleton have invited around 1,900 people to their wedding Only a handful of people from Northern Ireland have been lucky enough to secure an invitation to the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey in London on Friday.
The Speaker of the Assembly, William Hay is among those attending, along with his wife Doris.
"I had to think for a while, was it April Fool when I first got the initial letter, but yes, I have to say I was surprised," he said.
"It is something I wasn't expecting at all because I know from speaking to other people that there have only been a very small handful of people in NI that have got official invitations to the wedding on Friday."
He said he would be there "very much representing the assembly".
"We're very much looking forward to it, it is very much a world international event," he said.
"It is also an historical event because you're really at the wedding of a future king."
Mr Hay met the Royal couple at a garden party at Buckingham Palace two years ago.
"They were very relaxed, very easy people to get on with, very ordinary people," he said.
"They're a lovely couple and I think all of us here in NI wish them well."
Mr Hay said he had not been involved in helping his wife, Doris, choose her outfit for the wedding.
"I have to say it's a department I've stayed out of. It's a department I normally don't head up," he said.
"She has taken some time in deciding what she would wear.
"I think she now has all of what she is going to wear, but I wouldn't be surprised if there is a last minute bit of shopping to be done."
First Minister Peter Robinson and his wife, Iris, also received an invite. He will be attending alone due to his wife's illness.
"Iris would have loved to have gone. I really wish that she could have," he said.
"She's making steady progress but she's not yet ready to take on that kind of event."
Two senior figures from the Catholic and Protestant churches are also going to be in Westminster Abbey on Friday.
Archbishop Sean Brady said he was "pleasantly surprised" to have received an invite.
"I always regard it as an honour and a privilege to be invited to a wedding, it's a special moment in people's lives. I'm invited to many weddings but I don't get the opportunity to attend them all," he said.
Archbishop Sean Brady said he was "pleasantly surprised" to have received an invite "I think we're at a different stage in the history of relations between Ireland and England.
"It's also an indication, I think of the good relations between the Catholic Church in Ireland and the Church of Ireland and we are also in the context of the visit next month of Queen Elizabeth to Ireland, so it's a new situation."
The Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh, Alan Harper also received an invitation.
The eight Lord Lieutenants in Northern Ireland have also received invitations and are all expected to attend the wedding.
It is not known how many invites have been issued to people south of the border.
The actress Amy Huberman, wife of Irish rugby player, Brian O'Driscoll has confirmed she is attending the wedding, despite having never met the Royal couple.
Her husband, who has met the Prince several times, had to pull out of the event as he is preparing for the Heineken Cup semi-final between Leinster and Toulouse on Saturday.
Her spokeswoman, Joanne Byrne said she was proud to be one of the few Irish people invited to the wedding.
"She's very happy to be representing her husband, and although not officially representing Ireland, she is very proud to be there," Ms Byrne said.
"Amy doesn't know any of the guests but it's something to tell future generations of the O'Driscolls."
The number of guests attending the wedding is completely over-shadowed by the total number of people worldwide who are expected to tune in on Friday to watch the ceremony on television.
It has been predicted that around two billion of us will do so.
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There are many reports Libyan forces have shelled the rebel-held city of Misrata indiscriminately A UN team is due to arrive in Tripoli to investigate allegations of human rights violations in Libya since the start of the conflict in February.
The team was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council following the Libyan government's crackdown on protesters.
The government has said it will co-operate with the inquiry.
The three investigators say they will look at all alleged abuses, including those the government says have been committed by rebels or Nato forces.
The original mandate - to examine human rights violations allegedly committed by the forces of Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi - remains the priority, says the BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva, where the UN Human Rights Council is based.
There have been reliable reports of enforced disappearances, torture and even killing of protesters, says our correspondent.
The UN human rights commissioner, Navi Pillay, said in late February that what was happening in Libya "may amount to crimes against humanity".
More recently, there have been reports that Col Gaddafi's forces trying to retake Misrata from rebels are indiscriminately shelling the city.
On Tuesday, three people were reportedly killed as missiles slammed into the city's port, a lifeline for those seeking to escape to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
Misrata has been besieged by government forces for two months, leaving parts of the city with neither electricity nor water.
Continued sniper fire, street clashes and shelling have prevented people from venturing outside their homes to get food and medicine.
Human rights groups say more than 1,000 people have been killed in the fighting and many more have been wounded. Ships have been ferrying the injured to hospitals in Benghazi and bringing in humanitarian aid.
Libya's government denies it has been indiscriminately shelling civilian areas.
Misrata is the last major rebel-held city in western Libya and the fighting for it has been fierce.
The UN investigators are to present their findings to the Human Rights Council in June. But their work could be overtaken by other moves, says our Geneva correspondent.
The UN Security Council has asked the International Criminal Court to investigate Libya on possible charges of war crimes.
Nato is enforcing a UN resolution to protect civilians in Libya amid a two-month revolt inspired by other uprisings in the Arab world.
A recent Nato strike on Col Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli sparked angry criticism from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who said the Western coalition had no mandate to kill the Libyan leader.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates defended the strike, calling it a legitimate attack on a military command and control centre.
He spoke after a meeting in Washington with British Defence Secretary Liam Fox, who said Libya's rebels had gained "momentum" on the battlefield and that Col Gaddafi's forces were on the "back foot".
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Nato's 1,500 strike sorties over Libya had "seriously degraded Gaddafi's military assets and prevented widespread massacres planned by Gaddafi's forces".
"They remain unable to enter Benghazi and it is highly likely that without these efforts Misrata would have fallen, with terrible consequences for that city's brave inhabitants."
On Tuesday, the US eased oil sanctions against Libya.
The move allows rebels to sell oil within their control and US firms to engage in transactions involving oil and oil products, and natural gas, as long as the exports benefit the opposition Transitional National Council.
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Many Tunisian migrants arriving in Italy are heading to France where they have relatives French President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to meet Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to discuss tensions over migrants from North Africa.
Italy has angered France by granting visas to thousands of migrants, allowing them to travel across Europe's border-free Schengen zone.
About 25,000 migrants have arrived in southern Italy so far this year. Rome has called for EU help with their care.
Many of the migrants are Tunisian and want to join relatives in France.
Earlier this month the two countries agreed to joint sea and air patrols to try to stop African migrants reaching Europe.
The unrest in North Africa has triggered a huge movement of migrants to Europe. Many head first to the Italian island of Lampedusa, which lies about 120km (75 miles) off the Tunisian coast.
France promised to honour the temporary visas Italy has granted the migrants but has said it will turn away those who cannot support themselves financially.
Last week, French gendarmes sent back Tunisian migrants trying to cross the border from Italy.
There are reports that officials from both countries have reached agreement on amending the Schengen treaty so that national border checks can be reintroduced.
The 1995 Schengen treaty allows legal residents of most EU countries, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland to travel across the zone without visas.
Mr Sarkozy and Mr Berlusconi are also due to discuss French takeovers of Italian firms and the two countries' response to the unrest in Libya.
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The Nomadic is currently being restored in Belfast The Titanic's tender ship, the SS Nomadic has celebrated its centenary.
The ship, which is undergoing restoration at the Hamilton Dock in Titanic quarter in Belfast was used to transport first and second class passengers to Titanic at the French port of Cherbourg.
The Nomadic, like the Titanic was built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast.
The Department of Social Development bought the Nomadic at a Paris auction in 2006 and brought it back to Belfast as a potential tourist attraction.
A commemorative plaque was unveiled on board the vessel on Monday to mark the centenary of the launch.
Denis Rooney chairman of the Nomadic Charitable Trust said: "This is a very special day as Nomadic is celebrating her centenary birthday.
"The Nomadic has played a very important role in the Titanic history and it is nice to honour her as she is the last remaining White Star Line vessel to have survived in the world today."
Work on the first phase of the restoration project is continuing.
The Special EU Programmes Body, the NI Tourist Board, Ulster Garden Villages along with the Department of Social Development have provided funding to help with its restoration.
Both the Nomadic and the Titanic were launched from Harland and Wolff shipyards in 1911.
Less than a year after the White Star Line-owned vessels left the city, the Nomadic was employed to transport first and second class passengers from the French port of Cherbourg to the Titanic ahead of its ill-fated maiden Atlantic voyage.
On that trip it sank after striking an iceberg with the loss of more than 1,500 lives.
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A Royal Welsh tour in Afghanistan begins and ends with a coach trip Gareth Jones, who has been on the frontline with Welsh soldiers in recent years, reports for a Radio Wales series, While the Boys Are Away, on how their families cope when their loved ones go away to fight.
At Tidworth's Lucknow Barracks, home to Second Battalion the Royal Welsh, the early arrivals slump amid the tell-tale signs of soldiers on their way to war: piles of Bergen rucksacks, desert boots and helmets.
Men of B Company are snatching some shut-eye or watching music videos and cartoons on a big screen.
Odd things for tough, grown men to be watching, maybe, but this sort of slightly depressing international telly is always on in the background, I've noticed, in the various transit points that mark a soldier's progress into a theatre of war.
At about 2am things liven up with the arrival of the irrepressible Capt "Mo" Moynihan, the Pontypridd-born welfare officer who'll be looking after the families when they are away.
Rebecca Allen Wife of Pte Mike Allen“The baby knew something was wrong so she was upset and Mike was just sobbing”
Tonight, he's anxious to get a picture of each soldier before they leave and also for them to record video messages for loved ones.
They aren't as keen, but as a former Regimental Sergeant Major he isn't taking no for an answer. "C'mon boys, this is for your mams and dads. It's the last thing they'll get from you for a couple of weeks."
He tells me he has terrible trouble getting young men to talk to their parents or partners before a tour of duty.
"The boys aren't big on communication. Certain things need to be spoken about, I tell them, like what happens if the worst happens."
Capt 'Mo' Moynihan says it can be hard to get younger soldiers to leave video messages for their family Some of them, though, have had a torrid, emotional time before arriving here. One young private from Glynneath, Martin Burton, tells me his parents "cried like the rain" as he said goodbye, "but they know how much I love the army."
The married men leave it to the last minute to arrive. Families cope with the night of departure in different ways, adopting various strategies.
L/Cpl Bob Busby, from Wrexham, and his wife Claire, who live in an Army house nearby, tried not to say goodbye at all.
Claire told me later: "I said to him 'I can't say goodbye at the door properly, with a big thing about Afghanistan', so I went to bed, leaving him downstairs.
"But Bob came back up and gave me a kiss. That was the hardest thing - when he was walking out the bedroom waving to the baby."
Pte Mike Allen has turned up looking forlorn.
He and his wife Rebecca had parted a few hours before at their home in Newbridge. Rebecca told me later: "The day he left here, obviously you have got to treat it like it's the last time you're going to see him.
Sgt Richard Pask Royal Welsh“Can't wait to get out there, mate”
"So I was upset. The baby knew something was wrong so she was upset and Mike was just sobbing. My mother had to take two days off work to look after the baby - because I just cried."
There was none of that with Sgt Richard Pask who's just been dropped off by his wife Heather, a nurse.
Sgt Pask, from Cwmbran, was awarded the Military Cross for his courage on an earlier tour in Iraq. "Can't wait to get out there, mate," he tells me. He's one of those calm, strong types.
"He doesn't like being fussed over," Heather told me afterwards. "It was fine, no tears. We just went our separate ways. I am not scared at all. I know 100% he'll come back."
She sounded like she was trying to convince herself rather than me. "No more Military Crosses. I'm hoping he realises he has a family, so no more bravery things, although I'm proud of what he did."
The Royal Welsh are part of international forces providing security in Afghanistan At 3.30am there's a roll call for the 110 men of B Company. Then, there's the sound of men singing. Not from the Welsh, who are famous for this sort of thing, but from a circle of 12 Fijian members of the company.
A haunting South Sea island hymn, asking for God's protection during the coming tour, fills the night air. The Fijians stick together for support because their families are usually half a world away in the Pacific.
We all pile onto the buses. The padre and the Commanding Officer, Lt Col Mark Wheeler, from Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, board briefly to wish the troops luck.
As we make our way to Brize Norton for the flight to Kandahar, the bus is quiet, except for the sound of Sgt Pask, who's singing along to his iPod.
Many of the others - the younger men especially - look lost in thought, gazing out at the countryside which is now turning pink-grey in the dawn light.
I am struck, as I always am on this journey, by the Cotswold scenery and the fact that so many of the UK's military bases happen to be concentrated in achingly beautiful parts of the country.
It's another one of those cruel juxtapositions of war that our soldiers pass through this calm, rural idyll, accompanied by the sound of early morning birdsong, before embarking for a bloody and unpredictable conflict in a foreign land.
While the Boys are Away is on BBC Radio Wales at 1902 BST on Monday 25 April.
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Prison authorities are dealing with the incident Police have been called after two prisoners gained access to the roof of Bristol Prison.
An Avon and Somerset Police spokesman said the prison service called the force to the jail, in the Horfield area of the city, at 1125 BST on Sunday.
The force helicopter has been monitoring the incident.
The spokesman said one prisoner had come down while the other remained on the roof. Prison authorities are dealing with the incident, he added.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: "There is an ongoing incident at height at HMP Bristol. Two prisoners gained access to the roof at 11.30am this morning.
"Specialist staff are at the scene working to bring the situation to a safe conclusion."
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Fighting in Misrata has claimed hundreds of lives with no sign of a breakthrough for either side Tribes loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have said that if the army cannot drive rebels from the besieged port city of Misrata, they will, a senior official says.
Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said the army had tried to keep civilian casualties low but the tribes would not show the same restraint.
Col Gaddafi's forces have been pounding Misrata for weeks.
Meanwhile, Nato forces carried out more air strikes on the capital, Tripoli.
Correspondents reported hearing loud explosions early on Saturday in the area of Col Gaddafi's compound.
A Libyan government spokesman in Tripoli told the BBC that a car park close to the Bab al-Aziziyah compound had been hit.
Aid organisations say Misrata - the main rebel-held area in western Libya - faces a humanitarian crisis after weeks of fighting. Human rights groups say more than 1,000 people there have died.
The BBC's Jeremy Bowen in Tripoli says the government has previously used the prospect of tribal civil war in Libya as a threat against rebel leaders and Nato intervention.
He says the regime is feeling increasingly isolated and is hoping for some kind of a diplomatic solution.
The ultimatum came in a meeting between tribal leaders and the military in the area of Misrata still controlled by the government, Mr Kaim said.
He said the tribes were angry that people's lives had been disrupted by weeks of fighting that had cut the main coastal road and stopped trade in the city.
Tribal leaders say the seaport is for all Libyans and not just the rebels, Mr Kaim said.
In normal times Misrata is a major commercial centre and its port is second only to Tripoli.
"Now there is an ultimatum before the Libyan army. If they can't resolve the problem in Misrata then the people from the region... will move in," he told reporters.
He said the tribes would first try to persuade the rebels to lay down their arms, but if that failed they would move in. The army would stay where it was, he added.
"The tactic of the army is to have a surgical solution but with the (Nato) air strikes it doesn't work," Mr Kaim said.
A fourth evacuation ship chartered by the International Organisation for Migration is on its way to rescue stranded migrant workers and wounded civilians from the besieged city.
Earlier, the most senior US soldier, Adm Mike Mullen, said the war in Libya was "moving towards stalemate", even though US and Nato air strikes have destroyed 30-40% of Libya's ground forces.
The US has authorised the use of armed, unmanned Predator drones over Libya to give "precision capabilities".
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The Arabian Nights introduced readers the world over to a bewitching world of magic, genies, evil spirits and iconic heroes. Actor Richard E Grant investigates their origins and examines their enduring appeal.
The Arabian Nights story that most transfixed me as a boy was Ali Baba and The 40 Thieves.
It appealed because there were caves near the house where I grew up in Swaziland, so a story that featured a cave full of hidden treasure, that could be "opened and closed" with the magic words "Open Sesame" seemed more immediate than other fairy stories I had read.
Its horror content, specifically Aladdin's brother Cassim who forgot the magic words to get out of the cave - resulting in him being murdered by the returning thieves and his body being cut up into pieces - was monstrously pleasing and terrifying to me at that age.
It was also a good bogey-man image to conjure up when my father warned me about what would happen if I stole anything.
The story of the old tailor Baba Mustafa secretly sewing Cassim's body back together again for his funeral has haunted me ever since.
As has the servant girl Morgiana outwitting the villains by pouring hot oil over their heads while hidden in oil jars.
It was surprising to discover during the making of a documentary for the BBC, that the veracity of Ali Baba has been questioned.
When Antoine Galland, the much-feted French Orientalist translator of the Arabian Nights, charmed Parisian society in the 18th Century with his translation, Ali Baba was one of the most popular tales.
Antoine Galland claimed that he had heard the tale from a Middle Eastern storyteller from Aleppo, Syria.
Other academics have claimed that Galland invented the story, although the celebrated explorer and Orientalist Sir Richard Burton also confirmed that the story was part of the original Arabic manuscript (see box).
Galland's original manuscript is a small black book, kept under lock and key at the National Library in Paris.
Watch: Richard Grant explores how the Arabian Nights burst onto the scene
The proprietorial curator wore surgical gloves to handle the book.
Unlike 18th Century English, it was easily readable in French, which does not seem to have changed much in the past three centuries.
She explained that there was academic controversy about the provenance of Ali Baba, but that whether it was an invention of Galland or not, it fitted within the canon of the tales.
Trying to pin down the origin of stories that have passed down orally is akin to juggling with water.
The tradition of oral storytelling and embellishment down the centuries makes perfect sense when you consider that tribes of nomadic people travelled across North Africa to the Middle East and beyond to India, putting storytelling centre stage around camp fires in the evenings.
Conservatives in Egypt tried to have the tales banned for being anti-Islamic Anyone who has ever played that game where one person whispers the beginning of a story into someone else's ear and they then have to repeat and add to it, will know how a story evolves and expands very quickly.
Likewise, the oral tradition of repeating the stories that make up The Arabian Nights, told by different people over a period of 10 centuries, will be hugely variable.
Many stories involve poor people defying tyrants, genies, evil spirits and adverse physical conditions to win the hearts of their true love or monetary riches.
Spending any time in the Sahara desert makes it clear how the elements can conjure up sand or wind storms in an instant, and it does not take rocket science to work out how these acts of nature could be re-configured or interpreted as the actions of Djinns (genies).
Richard E Grant“The elements can conjure up sand or wind storms in an instant... these acts of nature could be... interpreted as the actions of Djinns (genies)”
Two years ago, religious conservatives in Egypt attempted to ban The Arabian Nights on the grounds that they were too sexually permissive and anti-Islamic.
Prompting public outcry and fierce opposition, especially from academics, the ban was overruled.
The Egyptian Attorney General ruled it was one of humanity's greatest treasures.
The more violent and sexual aspects of the stories were watered down in Galland's translation, and the panto versions we are so familiar with from childhood are testimony to this self-censorship.
However, the mixture of exotic locations, paupers and tyrants, magic and malarkey has proved to be a potent combination and accounts for the Nights' continuing popularity.
Secrets of The Arabian Nights is on BBC Four 21 April 2100 BST.
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