Parties Agree on Transfer of Powers

Feuding Protestant and Roman Catholic factions said they had reached agreement on the transfer of a range of home-rule powers from London to a new assembly in the British-ruled province in the new year. The agreement broke a damaging stalemate in the Northern Ireland peace process centered on the landmark Good Friday accord reached in April. “This, we think, is the major step forward in the implementation of this agreement,” David Trimble, the province’s pro-British Protestant leader, said before shaking hands with Catholic leader Eddie McGrady after 18 hours of talks at parliament buildings in Belfast.