Some Goods News

Spiegel Online:

The Troubles in Northern Ireland led to the deaths of 3,700 people and injured thousands of others. Now the bitter enemies of the past have come together to form a power-sharing government.

First Minister Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness are all smiles after being sworn in on Tuesday.
The new ministers in Northern Ireland's government wasted no time in getting behind their desks on Wednesday morning. As of midnight Tuesday, direct rule from London ended and the politicians were eager to get to work. What has been described as a "new dawn" was made possible by the pledging of the two sides in the bitter conflict to abandon the tactics of violence for good and to join together in the political process.

On Tuesday Ian Paisley, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), took office as Northern Ireland's first minister, forming an administration with his former foe, Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein, who now takes over as deputy leader. They will head a new 12-member administration which will take back control of government departments that had been run from London for the past five years. Allegations of intelligence gathering within Belfast's government buildings led to the collapse of the first attempt at devolved government back in 2002. Power-sharing had been the central goal of the Good Friday agreement of 1998, which had been brokered by the United States, Britain and the Republic of Ireland.