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      Northern Ireland Has a Sinn Fein Leader. It’s a Landmark Moment.

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      The idea of a first minister who supports closer ties to the Republic of Ireland — let alone one from Sinn Fein, a party with historic ties to the Irish Republican Army — was once unthinkable. On Saturday, it became reality.As Michelle O’Neill walked down the marble staircase in Northern Ireland’s Parliament building on the outskirts of Belfast on Saturday, she appeared confident and calm. She smiled as applause erupted from supporters in the balcony. Yet her determined walk and otherwise serious gaze conveyed the gravity of the moment.The political party she represents, Sinn Fein, was shaped by the decades-long, bloody struggle of Irish nationalists in the territory who dreamed of reuniting with the Republic of Ireland and undoing the 1921 partition that has kept Northern Ireland under British rule.Now, for the first time, a Sinn Fein politician holds Northern Ireland’s top political office, a landmark moment for the party and for the broader region as a power-sharing government is restored. The first minister role had previously always been held by a unionist politician committed to remaining part of the United Kingdom.“As first minister, I am wholeheartedly committed to continuing the work of reconciliation between all our people,” Ms. O’Neill said, noting that her parents and grandparents would never have imagined that such a day would come. “I would never ask anyone to move on, but what I can ask is for us to move forward.”The idea of a nationalist first minister in Northern Ireland, let alone one from Sinn Fein, a party with historic ties to the Irish Republican Army, was indeed once unthinkable.But the story of Sinn Fein’s transformation — from a fringe party that was once the I.R.A.’s political wing, to a political force that won the most seats in Northern Ireland’s 2022 elections — is also the story of a changing political landscape and the results of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ended the decades-long sectarian conflict known as the Troubles.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      D.U.P. in Northern Ireland Breaks Political Deadlock After Nearly 2 Years

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      The Democratic Unionist Party walked out of government in 2022 over post-Brexit trade rules. But on Tuesday, the party said it would return to power-sharing after negotiating with the British government.The Democratic Unionist Party, the main Protestant party in Northern Ireland and one of its biggest political forces, said on Tuesday that it was ready to return to power sharing after a boycott of almost two years had paralyzed decision-making in the region.After an internal meeting that stretched into the early morning, Jeffrey Donaldson, leader of the party, known as the D.U.P., said at a news conference that he had been mandated to support a new deal, negotiated with the British government, under which his party would return to Northern Ireland’s governing assembly.“Over the coming period we will work alongside others to build a thriving Northern Ireland firmly within the union for this and succeeding generations,” Mr. Donaldson said. He added, however, that the return to power sharing was conditional on the British government’s legislating to enshrine a new set of measures that had not yet been made public.The decision by the D.U.P., which represents those who want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom, will be welcomed by many voters frustrated by the political stalemate, as well as by the British and Irish governments, which have both put pressure on the party to end the deadlock.But it could also herald a seismic shift in the territory’s history, opening the door for Sinn Fein, the Irish nationalist party, to hold for the first time the most senior political role of “first minister” rather than “deputy first minister.”Sinn Fein is committed to the idea of a united Ireland, in which Northern Ireland would join the Republic of Ireland, rather than remain part of the United Kingdom.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More

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      ‘I’ve never been more optimistic’: Biden’s farewell speech in County Mayo – video highlights

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      Joe Biden concluded his visit to Ireland with a passionate riverside address to tens of thousands of people in his ancestral town in County Mayo. The US president turned his farewell speech in Ballina into a celebration of Irish and American values, saying: ‘My friends, people of Mayo, this is a moment to recommit our hearts, minds and souls to the march of progress.’ Biden landed in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and met the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, before embarking on a four-day tour More

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      Joe Biden’s Ireland trip reinforces narrative of the American dream

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      John F Kennedy set the template for US presidential forays to Ireland with a rapturous visit in 1963 that he called the best four days of his life.Joe Biden’s visit this week did not quite match that fervour but at times it came close, alchemising politics, diplomacy and the personal into a feelgood glow for visitor and hosts.Standing in Ireland’s legislature Biden raised his arms to heaven, saying: “Well, mom, you said it would happen. I’m at home. I’m home. I wish I could stay longer.”It was corny but also true. This is the most Irish of presidents since Kennedy, a man steeped in Irish ancestry who cannot make a speech without citing Irish poets, proverbs, myths. He had visited Ireland before but to come as president was to consecrate the relationship between the US and Ireland.He was late for engagements and he rambled. There were gaffes. He confused the All Blacks with the Black and Tans. He recast the foreign minister, Micheál Martin, a Corkman, as a proud son of Louth.But the trip was a success. Biden navigated the Northern Ireland leg – a meeting with Rishi Sunak, a speech at Ulster University in Belfast to mark the Good Friday agreement’s 25th anniversary – deftly. Instead of hectoring the Democratic Unionist party over the collapse of power sharing, he said he was there to “listen” and dangled a $6bn (£5bn) carrot of US investment if Stormont was restored.The party’s former leader, Arlene Foster, still accused him of hating Britain, a line echoed by some colleagues and UK commentators, but the DUP leader, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, and other unionist leaders were respectful, even warm.Once Biden crossed the border on Wednesday his smile broadened and his schedule loosened as he dallied with well-wishers in Dublin and lingered in the Cooley peninsula in County Louth, where his great-grandfather James Finnegan was born. A reporter asked amid driving wind and rain what he thought of the weather. “It’s fine. It’s Ireland,” Biden beamed.The entourage included his son Hunter, his sister Valerie, the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and other senior officials that reflected US diplomatic and corporate interests in Ireland.There is evidence the trip has already boosted US tourist numbers. “Biden’s trip is like a golden worldwide tourism windfall,” said Paul Allen, a public relations consultant who launched an Irish for Biden campaign in 2020.The love-in continued in Dublin, where a day of ostensible politics – meetings with President Michael D Higgins and the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, the address to a joint sitting of parliament – felt more like a family reunion. “President Biden, today you are among friends because you are one of us,” said Seán Ó Fearghaíl, the speaker of the Dáil.There was an element of paddywhackery and performative Irishness for a returned son of Erin. Donald Trump mocked Biden for making such a tip while the world was “exploding”.Few doubt the sincerity of Biden’s Irish affinities. But the pilgrimage had some electoral logic. Other US presidents – Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama – visited Ireland the year before re-election contests. Biden is expected to seek another term.The trip is unlikely to sway Irish Americans, as many of the 30 million-plus Americans who profess Irish roots vote Republican. And those who vote Democrat will back Biden, if at all, for reasons unrelated to his visit to a pub in Dundalk or a Catholic shrine in County Mayo.The trip, rather, reinforces an Ellis Island narrative about the US being built by immigrants from all over the world, not just Ireland, about a land of opportunity where working-class families can forge communities, send their children to college and achieve the American dream.Biden’s last stop on Friday was Ballina, a County Mayo town where he has relatives from another side of the family. It is twinned with his native Scranton in Pennsylvania. The hosts prepared a dramatic light show for his farewell speech outside St Muredach’s cathedral. It promised to be part homecoming, part campaign rally. More

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      Arlene Foster ‘wrong’ to say Joe Biden hates UK, says Irish deputy PM

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      Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Micheál Martin, has criticised remarks by the former Democratic Unionist party leader, Arlene Foster, who said Joe Biden “hates” the UK.Martin said Foster was “wrong”, saying her remarks about the US president were “misplaced” as Biden did not hate anyone. “I’m very surprised by that comment,” Martin told RTÉ’s This Morning on Friday.“The one word that you do not associate with Joe Biden is the word ‘hate’. He’s the antithesis of that. He’s the opposite of that. He always speaks about the dignity of every human person. He’s more love than hate by a country mile.”Biden has spoken about the importance of treating everyone with dignity in each of the three speeches he has given on his four-day trip to the island of Ireland.Martin said: “I think it’s a wrong comment by Arlene. In fact, he often references his British heritage as well in terms of his uncle had been involved in the British navy and I think he gave a personal anecdote about that. So I think that was misplaced. He’s not that type of person.”Foster doubled down on her remarks earlier this week, saying on Thursday that the president had “disdain” for the UK.Martin, asked if Foster should withdraw her remarks, said: “Look, people make comments. I just have to say that I would refute it. I don’t have any sense, having met with Joe Biden on quite a number of occasions now, that he hates anybody.”Foster claimed she was reflecting on Biden’s past affinity with the nationalist position in Northern Ireland but others, including the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, said the US president was proud of his Irish heritage but also of the special relationship with the UK.On Thursday, Biden risked irritating Foster and other critics further when he urged the UK to “work closer with Ireland” on strengthening efforts to sustain peace in Northern Ireland.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe row over Foster’s remarks has marred the three-day love-in Biden is enjoying in the Republic of Ireland.He completes his visit on Friday with another heavy schedule in the west of Ireland, before leaving on Air Force One at about midnight.Before that, he will visit Knock at about lunchtime and pray at the nearby basilica and Marian shrine, an important Catholic pilgrimage site said to mark the apparition by Mary, the mother of Jesus, in 1879.He will then honour his son Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015, during a private visit to the Mayo Roscommon hospice. The hospice has previously paid tribute to Beau Biden, a former Delaware attorney general. In 2017, Joe Biden travelled to the Mayo town to turn the first sod on the site for the new hospice complex, and he again paid tribute to the €6.3m palliative care centre when it opened two years ago.The US president will then visit a genealogy and heritage centre established to help descendants of Irish people who emigrated to the US, including his ancestors on his father’s side, before a final keynote speech outside a cathedral in Ballina. More

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      Your Tuesday Briefing: China’s Display of Force Around Taiwan

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      Also, President Biden prepares to visit Northern Ireland and Ireland.A Chinese Navy ship near Taiwan yesterday.Lam Yik Fei for The New York TimesChina’s military show around TaiwanChina sent record numbers of military aircraft, naval ships and an aircraft carrier near Taiwan yesterday on the final day of military exercises. The spectacle capped three days of drills designed to put pressure on the self-governed island.On Monday alone, Taiwan said that 91 Chinese military aircraft had flown into its Air Defense Identification Zone, a buffer that’s broader than Taiwan’s sovereign airspace. That number marked the highest daily total of such Chinese sorties since 2020, when Taiwan began regularly releasing the data. The previous high was 71, set in December and again on Saturday.A first with fighter jets: During the exercises, Chinese J-15 jets took off from the Shandong aircraft carrier deployed near Taiwan’s east coast. The flights appeared to mark the first time that these fighter jets have been tracked entering Taiwan’s zone, an analyst said.China deployed the Shandong to reinforce the country’s claim that it could “surround and encircle” Taiwan, a Taiwan-based researcher said: “That is to say that it can do it on our east coast as well as our west coast.”Context: The drills were in retaliation for a visit to the U.S. by Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen. Still, experts said that the drills were smaller and less menacing than those held after Nancy Pelosi, then the U.S. speaker, visited Taiwan in August.Separately, two of China’s most prominent human rights lawyers, Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi, were sentenced to 14 and 12 years, some of the lengthiest punishments in years and an indication of how the country’s leader, Xi Jinping, has crushed the last vestiges of dissent.Orangemen, who do not support Irish unification, marked St. Patrick’s Day last month. Andrew Testa for The New York TimesAn Irish welcome for BidenPresident Biden will begin a five-day visit to Northern Ireland and Ireland today. The president, whose family has Irish roots, is known to approach Irish issues from a sentimental rather than a diplomatic perspective. “Being Irish has shaped my entire life,” Biden once said.In Belfast, Biden will celebrate the Good Friday Agreement, which was signed 25 years ago and ended decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.In the U.S., the peace accord is a cherished diplomatic achievement: Bill Clinton mediated between nationalists, who are mostly Catholic and seek a united Ireland, and unionists, who are mostly Protestant and want to stay with the U.K. In 1998, Biden supported the peace process, but his Irish pride has sometimes led him to take sides, critics say.“I think it’s fair to say that Biden is the most Irish of U.S. presidents, except maybe for Kennedy,” an author of a book about Ireland and the White House said.Family ties: Biden’s itinerary in Ireland includes potential visits to not one but two ancestral homes. Locals are preparing to celebrate Biden with all of the fanfare their towns can muster.An eye on 2024: On the eve of his departure, Biden said that he planned to run again for the presidency, though he did not formally announce a campaign.Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, said he had decided to put aside his differences with his defense minister.Ohad Zwigenberg/Associated PressNetanyahu reverses firing of ministerBenjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, announced yesterday that he had reinstated his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, who had criticized the contentious plan to overhaul Israel’s justice system. Gallant’s ouster set off protests, prompting the government to suspend its judicial plan until the summer.The reversal came amid a wider effort within Israel to project a sense of unity at a time of deep social division and upheaval — and amid fears that Israel’s enemies had been emboldened by the instability created by the judicial plan.Gallant’s reinstatement was greeted with relief in much of Israel. There have been growing calls for a show of strength after a rise in attacks from Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, as well as violence in the occupied West Bank. Many Israelis were particularly alarmed by a rare barrage of rockets from Lebanon last week.Context: Gallant was fired after he said the plan to limit the influence of the Supreme Court had provoked disquiet within the military he oversees, and that it was endangering Israel’s national security.THE LATEST NEWSAsia PacificThe Dalai Lama’s office said the actions had been lighthearted.Ashwini Bhatia/Associated PressThe Dalai Lama apologized after a video surfaced online showing him kissing a boy on the lips and then saying to the child, “Suck my tongue.”A group of opposition lawmakers in South Korea denounced the U.S. for spying after leaked documents revealed sensitive information about supplying Ukraine with artillery shells.From Opinion: Se-Woong Koo, a South Korean-born writer, argues that Koreans should forgive Japan for historical wrongs and turn their focus on China.The War in UkraineRussian police officers watched military aircraft fly over the Kremlin in 2020.Sergey Ponomarev for The New York TimesUkraine’s air defenses need a big influx of munitions to keep Russia from changing the course of the war, leaked Pentagon documents suggest.In this video, see how Ukrainian military psychologists are training soldiers to confront trauma.The Morning newsletter is about Evan Gershkovich, an American reporter detained in Russia.Around The WorldItaly sent rescue teams to help about 1,200 migrants aboard two overcrowded boats in the Mediterranean, fueling concern about the volume of people attempting the dangerous crossing from Africa to Europe.A man shot and killed four fellow employees at a bank in Kentucky before he was killed by police.Eight people are missing after a building collapsed in an explosion in Marseille, France.Other Big StoriesSyrian truffles are a prized delicacy.Louai Beshara/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesTruffle hunting, an economic lifeline in Syria during desperate times, has become a dangerous pursuit: At least 84 people have been killed this season, two groups said, either by land mines, gunmen or after being kidnapped.Bitcoin mines can cause pollution and raise electricity bills for people who live around them.An Asian elephant at a Berlin zoo taught herself to peel bananas.A Morning ReadPreparing har gow, a traditional dumpling, at Shun Lee West.Justin J Wee for The New York TimesWhen a new outpost of Shun Lee, a storied Chinese restaurant in New York City, opened last year, it took only a few bites before fans realized that something was off. Soon, tips flooded the local press. My colleague Katie Rosman dug into the very New York drama, which is at the heart of the history of Chinese food on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.ARTS AND IDEASA check-in line for a flight from New York to Shanghai last week.Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesChina: Open, but hard to get toDespite China’s loosened visa rules and relaxed pandemic restrictions, would-be visitors are struggling to book plane tickets: Prices are high, and there are fewer direct flights.That’s partly because airlines have been slow to ramp up their flights. They’re hesitant to add flights when there are practical hurdles: Many visitors need a negative P.C.R. test before departure, consulates are scrambling to handle visa paperwork and about 20 percent of Chinese passports expired during the pandemic.Tensions between the U.S. and China also play a role. During the pandemic, the countries, the world’s two largest economies, suspended each other’s flights in a political tit-for-tat. Airlines need the approval of both countries’ aviation authorities to increase routes.The war in Ukraine is another factor. Russia has banned U.S. and European carriers from its airspace, meaning flights to China now require longer routes with more fuel and flight crew.As a result, families suffer. Jessie Huang, who lives in New Jersey, hopes to visit China this summer but has struggled to find tickets under $2,000. She has not seen her 86-year-old father, who lives on an island off the coast of Shanghai, in seven years. “I’m just missing my family,” she said.PLAY, WATCH, EATWhat to CookDavid Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.A reader submitted her French mother’s recipe for tarragon-Cognac roast chicken.What to ReadIn “Calling Ukraine,” an office satire, a lost American expat takes up a job at a call center.What to Watch“Showing Up” is a gently funny portrait of a creative rivalry between two artists.TravelClimate change is making turbulence more common. Fasten your seatbelt.Now Time to PlayPlay the Mini Crossword, and a clue: Deficiency (four letters).Here are the Wordle and the Spelling Bee.You can find all our puzzles here.Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow. — AmeliaP.S. The Times is inviting illustrators to share their work with our art directors for a portfolio review. Apply here.“The Daily” is on Tennessee’s Republican-controlled House, which has expelled two young Black Democrats.Was this newsletter useful? Send us your feedback at briefing@nytimes.com. More

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      ‘A son of Ireland’: how Biden’s Irish roots shape his political identity

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      It was a line guaranteed to raise a smile. “As we know, every American president is a little bit Irish on St Patrick’s Day,” Leo Varadkar, the Irish taoiseach, observed during last month’s celebration at the White House. “But some are more Irish than others.”Joe Biden is as Irish as it gets. On Tuesday he travels to Belfast, Northern Ireland, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the peace accord that helped end decades of deadly sectarian violence, then on to the Republic of Ireland for stops including Dublin, County Louth and County Mayo for what will feel almost like a homecoming.The visit will underscore Biden’s status as “unmistakably a son of Ireland”, as Varadkar described at last month’s celebration in Washington. America’s oldest president is sure speak of his Irish heritage, quote Irish poetry and embrace Ireland as a fundamental part of his personal and political identity.Biden’s spiritual attachment to Ireland has been a constant all his life. He introduces himself as the great-great-grandson of the Blewitts of County Mayo and the Finnegans of County Louth, “who boarded coffin ships to cross the Atlantic more than 165 years ago”. He expresses deep pride in his Irish ancestry, recently commenting: “As long as I can remember, it’s been sort of part of my soul.”Sometimes, however, it comes out wrong. The gaffe-prone president said last year: “I may be Irish but I’m not stupid.”Biden can also trace his family tree to Britain, specifically Westbourne in West Sussex and Portsmouth in Hampshire. Yet in his public persona, Britain has become a convenient foil. When, after his election victory in November 2020, a BBC journalist asked if he had “a quick word” for the British public broadcaster, Biden shot back: “The BBC? I’m Irish!”Less flippantly, Biden tends to cite the example of British rule in Ireland as a template to express empathy with persecuted minorities. Speaking in Jerusalem, Israel, last year, he said: “My background and the background of my family is Irish American, and we have a long history of – not fundamentally unlike the Palestinian people with Great Britain and their attitude toward Irish-Catholics over the years, for 400 years.”In contrast to the high emotion of the Ireland visit, the White House has announced that Biden will not attend the coronation of King Charles III next month, although First Lady Jill Biden will represent the US.Ireland, by contrast, appears to resonate with Biden through his strong sense of loyalty to both family and the Catholic church. It was also written into his childhood in Scranton, Pennsylvania.Daniel Mulhall, a former Irish ambassador to the US, said: “I’ve been there and it’s probably the most Irish place in America. I remember meeting all the Irish organisations over breakfast one morning and there were so many of them I couldn’t count them.“It’s a very traditional Irish-American community, proud of its roots connected with Ireland, proud of heritage, the kind of place where anybody growing up would definitely encounter that affinity with Ireland, that affection for Ireland that Joe Biden developed as a child.Mulhall added: “He often talks about his grandfather Finnegan, who was the son of two Irish immigrants who I suppose passed on stories about the old country to the grandson. Things you hear at your grandfather’s knee tend to live with you.“He’s very good example of that Irish-American identity, which is still strong in America despite the fact that most of the people who are Irish-American now are descended from people who came to America in the 19th century. But nonetheless, the heritage lives on.”Biden has spoken and written often about his Irish roots. In his book, Promise Me, Dad, he states: “We Irish are the only people in the world who are actually nostalgic about the future.”In another passage, he observes: “One of my colleagues in the Senate, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, once made this simple but profound observation about us Irish: ‘To fail to understand that life is going to knock you down is to fail to understand the Irishness of life.’”Evan Osnos, author of a 2020 biography of Biden, said: “To Joe Biden, in effect, being of Irish descent is all about the relationship between suffering and hope. The Irishness of life has become a kind of grand metaphor for Biden over the course of his own life, beginning when he was a kid.“The process of getting over a stutter became this fulcrum in his own self narrative and in practical terms the way that he actually got over the stutter was by memorising quotes from Yeats and [American Ralph Waldo] Emerson. That’s one of the reasons why he has this quick instinct to deploy Irish poetry.”The president frequently deploys W B Yeats’s Easter, 1916 and has quoted Seamus Heaney’s lines – “History says, don’t hope / On this side of the grave. / But then, once in a lifetime / The longed-for tidal wave / Of justice can rise up, / And hope and history rhyme,” – in at least half a dozen speeches since becoming president. He likes to quip: “They think I do it because I’m Irish. I do it because they’re the best poets.”This soft power will be on full display next week. The White House has said Biden will visit Belfast from 11 to 12 April to mark progress since the Good Friday agreement was signed a quarter of a century ago and to show US readiness to support Northern Ireland’s economic potential.In the 1980s Biden was among a group of senators who pushed for greater US diplomatic involvement to end the conflict in Northern Ireland. He recently praised the Windsor framework as an important step in maintaining the peace accord, remarking: “It’s a vital, vital step and that’s going to help ensure all the people in Northern Ireland have an opportunity to realise their full potential.”Biden will then spend 12 to 14 April in the Republic of Ireland, addressing the Irish parliament and attending a festival in County Mayo. He is guaranteed an effusive welcome, although comparisons with John F Kennedy’s famous visit to Ireland in 1963, which the young president described to aides as the best four days of his life, are perhaps less interesting than the contrasts.Brendan Boyle, a Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania and leading member of the Friends of Ireland group, who has been invited to join Biden on the trip, said: “Sixty years separate JFK’s trip in 1963 and Joe Biden’s trip next week. I don’t think any country on the planet has experienced more change in those six decades than Ireland.“My father was 13 years old when President Kennedy came to Ireland. He was growing up in a very rural part of the country, a country that was socially conservative, that at that point was only a few decades removed from winning its independence, was still experiencing unemployment north of 20%. In terms of the media landscape, it was like 600 years ago.“Now, Ireland today is one of the wealthiest countries on earth, a very forward looking, socially tolerant place, a country unlike most of the western world in which it’s a rather young population. This trip in many ways will celebrate President Biden’s connection with Ireland but also just how far Ireland has come in a relatively short period of time.” More