Ian Paisley

Pope John Paul II on Tuesday sketched a dream of continental greatness, urging the democratic nations of Western Europe to reach out in unity to their Marxist neighbors and to the poor of the Third World. "I think the integrated Europe of tomorrow, opened toward the East of the Continent, generous toward the other hemisphere, should resume her role as a beacon in the civilization of the world," the Pope told the European Parliament.

Northern Ireland's Protestant war horse, the 83-year-old Rev. Ian Paisley, has announced he is ready to relinquish the County Antrim seat he has held in Britain's House of Commons for 40 years and which he used as a platform to defend the cause of militant Unionism. For many in the province, Paisley is still "Dr. No," the rabidly anti-Catholic minister who incited sectarian hatred and obstructed peacemaking for decades. "Never, never, never," he famously said in response to a 1985 Anglo-Irish agreement that laid the groundwork for self-determination and a devolved provincial government.

FOR THOSE Americans who despair of peace between Israelis and Palestinians or between Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq, there is proof in Northern Ireland that such ancient hatreds can be overcome: Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness, once mortal enemies, are on a historic path to become, respectively, leader and deputy leader of a power-sharing government in that long-divided land.

Northern Ireland's Protestants have given the Rev. Ian Paisley and his hard-line Democratic Unionist Party the majority of their votes in elections for the province's Assembly, partial returns showed Thursday, signaling that they were prepared to risk the collapse of the Good Friday peace accord rather than make more concessions to keep it alive.

Peter Robinson took over as Northern Ireland's first minister, succeeding the Rev. Ian Paisley and shoring up last year's agreement to share power with political foes in a regional government. Martin McGuinness, member of the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party, was reappointed as deputy first minister despite tensions with Robinson's pro-British Democratic Unionist Party.

Hard-liners on both sides won Northern Ireland's election, final results confirmed. Protestants of Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party finished first with 36 seats in the 108-member Northern Ireland Assembly, ahead of the major Catholic-backed party, Sinn Fein, which won 28. Trailing were moderate Protestants and Catholics, who led a power-sharing administration that collapsed 4 1/2 years ago.

Hard-liners were ahead in an election for control of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Protestants of the Democratic Unionists and the Catholics of Sinn Fein appeared on course to strengthen their hold over each side of the Assembly. Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and Democratic Unionist leader Ian Paisley and his deputy, Peter Robinson, were among the first to win easy reelection.

About 1,500 Protestants bitterly opposed to the Anglo-Irish agreement on Northern Ireland attacked police with bricks and bottles, injuring 37 officers, as Cabinet ministers from Britain and Ireland held their first meeting under the agreement at Stormont Castle near Belfast. The Protestant crowd, shut out by tight security from demonstrating at Stormont Castle, tried to storm the Maryfield House, which will house a joint delegation set up under the agreement.