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[Adventurer]

Northern Ireland parties announce deal By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer
51 minutes ago



BELFAST, Northern Ireland - The leaders of Northern Ireland's major Protestant and Catholic parties, sitting side by side for the first time in history, announced a breakthrough deal Monday to forge a power-sharing administration May 8.

The agreement followed 4 1/2 years of deadlock and unprecedented face-to-face negotiations between the British Protestants of Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party and the Irish Catholics of Gerry Adams' Sinn Fein.

The two foes � who for years negotiated only via third parties at Paisley's insistence � sat beside each other at a table in the main dining room in Stormont Parliamentary Building in Belfast, largely avoiding eye contact. Officials on both sides said they did not shake hands.

"After a long and difficult time in our province, I believe that enormous opportunities lie ahead," said Paisley, 80, whose party previously boycotted contact with Sinn Fein because of its links to the outlawed Irish Republican Army.

"We must not allow our justified loathing of the horrors and tragedies of the past to become a barrier to creating a better and more stable future for our children," Paisley said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070326/ap_on_re_eu/northern_ireland

[tfunk]

I disagree with that.