IT WAS the most unlikely of tea parties: a former senior IRA man sharing a cuppa with a unionist firebrand, both of whom have been jailed for fanning the flames of sectarianism.

Fresh from being sworn in as the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, the Rev Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness marked their new partnership with tea, sharing it with men who would have once been deemed their respective oppressors, Bertie Ahern, the Irish Taoiseach, and Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister.

From implacable foes to Cabinet colleagues, they cast aside their decades-long feud at the swearing-in ceremony that marked the historic resumption of Northern Ireland’s parliament yesterday.

Mr McGuinness had said he believed the event was one of making “history, not hype”.

In scenes that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, the men appeared relaxed, as Mr Paisley joked: “I wonder why people hate me, as I’m such a nice man.”

Turning to Mr Blair, he said: “When you’re going out as a young man, I’m coming in as an old grandad.”

Mr Blair replied: “I should have learned a lesson from you and kept going until I was 80.”

The genteel atmosphere on the sofa, in the First Minister’s wood-panelled office at the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont, was far removed from six years ago, after the election of David Trimble, the then Ulster Unionist leader and Mark Durkan of the SDLP, when fists flew in the Great Hall, leading to the occasion being dubbed the Brawl in the Hall.

The power-sharing deal means that figures on opposite sides of the political and religious divide will now share a Cabinet, a government and an electorate.

Mr Paisley, who was jailed for leading anti-Catholic marches, summed up his feelings about sharing government with Mr McGuiness, a former senior figure in the IRA. In sentiments shared by many at the opening ceremony, he said: “If anyone had told me that I would be standing here today to take this office, I would have been totally unbelieving.”

The move also gives a peg on which the outgoing Tony Blair can hang his legacy.

He is expected to announce his retirement this week, probably tomorrow after a meeting of the Cabinet.

Addressing the assembly for what is expected to be his last visit to Northern Ireland as Prime Minister, Mr Blair said: “Look back and we see centuries pockmarked by conflict, hardship, even hatred among the people of these islands.

“Look forward and we can see the chance at last to escape the heavy chains of that history to make history anew, not as a struggle between warring traditions but as a search for a future shared, held in common by peace.”

Mr McGuinness had earlier quipped that Northern Ireland was now more stable than the Labour Party.

Ahead of the ceremony, protesters scuffled with police outside Stormont, only slightly marring the euphoric mood inside.

But it was not born out of loyalist or republican grudges - the protest was organised against the Iraq war and was targeted at Mr Blair, highlighting both his perceived greatest achievement and his most controversial decision.

DURING his formal speech later, the new First Minister took a swipe at those wanting to take credit for the peace process.

In remarks clearly levelled at Mr Blair and Mr Ahern, his Irish counterpart, Mr Paisley said:

“If those same people had only allowed the Ulster people to settle the matter without their interference and insistence upon their way and their way alone, we would all have come to this day a lot earlier.”

Mr Paisley and Mr McGuinness were appointed without applause after a request by the new Speaker for a mark of respect for the late George Dawson, who was the Democratic Unionist Party’s MLA for East Antrim and died yesterday.

The Democratic Unionists will head four of the ministries while Sinn Fein will control three.

Watching from the public gallery was Edward Kennedy, the veteran US senator, and John Reid, the former Northern Ireland secretary.

Peter Hain, his successor in the post, hailed the “chemistry” between the new First Minister and his deputy.

The rainbow coalition means there is now no opposition party in Northern Ireland. And regardless of the best wishes of the coalition, the biggest rows will be within the government - arguably the mark of any mature democracy. Paisley’s speech

HOW true are the words of Holy Scripture, ‘We know not what a day may bring forth’. If anyone had told me that I would be standing here today to take this office, I would have been totally unbelieving.

I am here by the vote of the majority of the electorate of our beloved province.

Today, at long last, we are starting upon the road - I emphasise starting - which I believe will take us to lasting peace in our province.

I have not changed my unionism, the union of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom, which I believe is today stronger than ever.

We are making this declaration: we are all aiming to build a Northern Ireland in which all can live together in peace, being equal under the law and equally subject to the law.

I welcome the pledge we have all taken to that effect today. That is the rock foundation upon which we must build.

Today, we salute Ulster’s honoured and unageing dead - the innocent victims, that gallant band, members of both religions, Protestant and Roman Catholic, strong in their allegiance to their differing political beliefs, unionist and nationalist, male and female, children and adults, all innocent victims of the terrible conflict. In the shadows of the evenings and in the sunrise of the mornings, we hail their gallantry and heroism. It cannot and will not be erased from our memories.

Nor can we forget those who continue to bear the scars of suffering and whose bodies have been robbed of sight, robbed of hearing, robbed of limbs. Yes, and we must all shed the silent and bitter tear for those whose loved ones’ bodies have not yet been returned.

In politics, as in life, it is a truism that no-one can ever have 100 per cent of what they desire. They must make a verdict when they believe they have achieved enough to move things forward. Unlike at any other time, I believe we are now able to make progress.

I believe that Northern Ireland has come to a time of peace, a time when hate will no longer rule. How good it will be to be part of a wonderful healing in our province. Today, we have begun to plant and we await the harvest. McGuinness’s speech

I AM proud to stand here today as an Irish Republican who believes absolutely in a united Ireland. I too wish to welcome the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and all our friends from around the world.

Many people in this hall today played an important part in our peace process. Many others could not be with us today. I want to send our warmest thanks to them.

We will continue to rely on that support as we strive towards a society moving from division and disharmony to one which celebrates our diversity and is determined to provide a better future for all our people. One which cherishes the elderly, the vulnerable, the young, all of our children equally…

As joint heads of the Executive, the First Minister and I pledge to do all in our power to ensure it makes a real difference to the lives of all our people by harnessing their skills through a first-rate education system, caring for our sick in the best health service we can provide and building our economy through encouraging investment.

We know that this will not be easy and the road we are embarking on will have many twists and turns. It is, however, a road which we have chosen and which is supported by the vast majority of our people…

As for Ian Paisley, I want to wish you all the best as we step forward towards the greatest, yet most exciting challenge of our lives.

Ireland’s greatest living poet, a fellow Derryman, Seamus Heaney, once told a gathering that I attended at Magee University that for too long and too often we speak of the others or the other side, and that what we need to do is to get to a place of ‘through otherness’.

The office of the First and Deputy First Ministers is a good place to start. This will only work if we collectively accept the wisdom and importance of Seamus Heaney’s words.

Since 26 March, much work has been done which has confounded critics and astounded the sceptics … We must overcome the difficulties we face in order to achieve our goals and seize the opportunities. Future generations expect and deserve no less from us.

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DETROIT - A Super Bowl ad showing a quality-obsessed General Motors Corp. robot jumping off a bridge in a dream sequence after screwing up on the job is drawing criticism from a suicide prevention group.

But the world’s largest automaker is defending the ad and says it has no plans to change the spot, which is making the rounds online and is featured on GM’s Web site after making its broadcast debut during Sunday’s big game.

The ad, called “Robot,” opens with the machine in question dropping a screw while working on a GM assembly line. It’s kicked out of the plant and finds work waving a “Condos for Sale” sign and holding up a speaker at a fast-food joint, all the while appearing saddened by watching shiny, new GM vehicles drive by.

As the Eric Carmen song “All By Myself” plays in the background, the despondent robot leaps off a bridge into the water below, only to wake up inside the darkened factory waking up from its dream.

The New York-based American Foundation for Suicide Prevention says it started getting complaints the day after the ad aired and as of Thursday had fielded more than 250 e-mails or calls. It wants GM to pull the ad from its Web site, try to get it off video-sharing Web sites such as YouTube and apologize.

“It was inappropriate to use depression and suicide as a way to sell cars,” said Robert Gebbia, the foundation’s executive director.

The ad is the latest from the Super Bowl to come under fire. Earlier this week, a commercial for Snickers candy bars was benched after complaints that it was homophobic. And aspiring rapper Kevin Federline apologized after a restaurant trade group said it was insulted by an ad that stared him as a fast-food worker.

GM says the robot ad was designed to show the company’s obsession with quality, highlighting its enhanced powertrain warranty of five years or 100,000 miles on all new light-duty vehicles starting with 2007 models. Part of the ad was filmed at GM’s Lansing Grand River assembly plant, which builds Cadillacs.

“It conveys how GM employees, together with our unions, are building the best cars, trucks, SUVs and crossovers in our history. … It is not intended to offend anyone,” GM said in a statement.

The ad only aired once, but the online buzz has continued. The company didn’t have details on how many times the ad had been watched on its Web site, but on YouTube alone it has drawn more than 350,000 views. And GM says it knows that all won’t agree with its ad.

“Advertising during the Super Bowl brings instant critiques, both positive and negative,” GM said.

But Lisamarie Miller, 39, of Palatine, Ill., said she’ll never buy a GM vehicle after seeing the ad online. The member of a the Chicago-area chapter of AFSP found out about it from the foundation and has been sharing her disgust online as well as with friends, family and co-workers.

“I was completely outraged,” said Miller, whose 21-year-old brother battled depression before killing himself in 1993. “GM is not being a responsible citizen by airing something that so closely imitates life.” 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

GERMAN courts are starting to deal with a new crime - stealing the wind. As Europe’s greenest country builds ever more electricity-producing wind farms, so the rights to nature are now being fought over by lawyers.

A court in Leipzig is hearing a case involving a dispute between the operators of two wind turbine facilities. At issue: who owns the wind?

“It is becoming an issue that will keep lawyers in work for many years to come as the complexity of the law combined with planning regulations provides scope for many battles in the future,” said Juergen Linden, a legal expert.

The Leipzig legal battle centres on a wind farm in Deliztsch, in the eastern state of Saxony, and a businessman who wants to set up a bigger wind farm in the area.

The current operator claims that to build another new turbine nearby will create a slipstream, decreasing the speed of the airflow and, therefore, hitting the productivity - and, of course, the profits - of his windmill. “This wind theft naturally affects profits,” said Martin Maslaton, a Leipzig lawyer.

He said that his client believes he could lose more than 15 per cent in income over the lifespan of the wind farm, amounting to several hundred thousand euros.

With single wind turbines now routinely capable of three megawatts of output - enough to power 3,000 homes per turbine - wind power has become too cheap and too practical to ignore.

No country on earth is more determined to realise the potential of wind energy than Germany. With virtually no energy resources other than fossil-fuel coal, and a government commitment to phase out nuclear power stations over the next two decades, the country is likely to extend its lead in wind power - and in legal squabbling.

At lawyers’ offices around the country - from Catholic Bavaria in the south to the Protestant, Prussian north, the legal letters and lawsuits are piling up thick and fast.

Currently, wind is classified under the German constitution as a “free good”. But when it hits the 90m-high rotors of a wind farm, it morphs into something entirely different. Then the owner of that wind farm has the right to claim that which cannot be seen, tasted or smelled - unless it is blowing from the direction of the local sewage farm.

Recently, the leading news magazine Der Spiegel reported: “Neighbouring villages are bickering with each other because they are building wind farms along common borders. It means that the owners of farms are suing one another for alleged inaccurate land surveying and illegal construction.”

A court in Mnster recently ruled that a neighbouring turbine can cause damage that isn’t even measured in kilowatts.

The plaintiff claimed that a new wind farm upstream had been passing on the wind in “irregular quantities”.

The air turbulence, he claimed, caused his own rotors to vibrate - and his turbines to totter dangerously. He won substantial damages.

The battle-lines are not only being drawn over the wind but also the land which must be utilised for the pylons and cables that carry the electricity once it has been produced.

As major international companies such as General Electric are manufacturers of electricity with deep pockets to throw at legal challenges, Mr Linden added: “Germany may be the biggest producer of wind-power electricity, but the hot air in courtrooms could power a few turbines too.”

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