Deal saves Northern Ireland peacemaking coalition

DUBLIN: The British and Irish leaders traveled to Northern Ireland on Friday to unveil a breakthrough agreement that saves the province's peacemaking coalition of Catholics and Protestants.

Both sides' negotiators were summoned to Hillsborough Castle near Belfast to meet UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the current Taoiseach of Ireland Brian Cowen, who last month launched a personal mission to prevent the collapse of power-sharing, the central achievement of Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord.

The breakthrough came after 10 days of round-the-clock talks, when the key Protestant party, the Democratic Unionists, announced their lawmakers' unanimous backing for the still-confidential deal. The major Irish Catholic party, Sinn Fein, had declared its support earlier.