Ian Paisley

(Newser) - Northern Ireland’s influential first minister, Ian Paisley, will step down in May, Reuters reports. The Protestant evangelist, 81, helped soothe religious strife in the province when he agreed to share power with Catholics last year after decades of fueling the conflict, the AP reports. "I've achieved my aims,...

(Newser) - Protestant and Catholic leaders pledged to cooperate as Northern Ireland inaugurated a power-sharing government today, ending a deadly decades-long conflict. Protestant leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness will serve as first minister and deputy first minister, respectively. Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams hailed "a new era of...

(Newser) - "Watching this stooped white-haired man reverse a lifetime's course made one feel that change might be possible in other intractable situations," writes Trudy Rubin of Ian Paisley's meeting with Gerry Adams to agree on power sharing in Northern Ireland. The "other situation" Rubin has in mind is ...

(Newser) - Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams sat down together yesterday and agreed  to a power sharing deal for Northern Ireland that would include their rival parties. A British deadline to disband the national assembly if a pact wasn't forthcoming jump-started the negotiations, after four years of stalled talks.  The coalition...