Copies of the Northern Ireland Agreement were sent to every home in Ireland

England have

The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has welcomed the resounding "yes" vote in the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement on Northern Ireland, calling it "a day for joy".

The referendum, held yesterday on both sides of the border, returned a resounding "yes" vote with 71% of voters from Northern Ireland and 94% of those in the Irish Republic showing their support for the Good Friday peace agreement.

"This is the result we have worked for and wanted," said Mr Blair. "It's another giant stride along the path to peace, hope and the future."

Three to one have supported the referendum. That is aresoundingvictory for all the people of Northern Ireland.

Mo Mowlam, Northern Ireland Secretary

The agreement signed last Easter seeks to resolve relationships within Northern Ireland - between Northern Ireland and the Republic and between both parts of Ireland and England, Scotland and Wales - and pave the way for devolution from Westminster with a new all-inclusive Assembly.

It was signed on 10 April - Good Friday - by all interested parties except Rev Dr Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party and Bob McCartney's United Kingdom Unionist Party. They objected to the presence of the IRA's political wing Sinn Fein in the multi-party talks leading up to the agreement.

The Northern Ireland Secretary, Mo Mowlam, told reporters she was delighted with the two nations' endorsement of the agreement.

"An important step forward"

Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble said: "It is quite clear that a majority of unionists - not as big a majority of unionists as I would have liked - but a clear majority - have endorsed this agreement. We have taken an important step forward."

John Hume, leader of the nationalist SDLP, said that for the first time the people of both sides of the Irish border were speaking as one.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said he was prepared to sit down with David Trimble in a new Northern Ireland assembly "now".

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern said the overwhelming result was the true "voice of the people".

The British Government will press ahead next month with elections for a Northern Ireland Assembly.

The former general wept with relief when he realised he would not be executed

Former general Raoul Salan wept, smiled and then laughed with relief.

It was widely expected he would receive the death penalty for leading an organisation violently opposed to Algerian independence that has carried out acts of terrorism in France in the last few yeas.

The panel of nine judges at the Palais de Justice had found him guilty of five capital charges, including planning the failed coup in Algiers in April last year.

But to everyone's amazement, thepresiding judgeannounced there were "extenuating circumstances" surrounding the case.

Salan's lawyers hugged him and members of the public in the crowded courtroom sang the Marseillaise or shouted "Algerie Francaise!".

There was no attempt to restore order in the courtroom. The judges withdrew without actually reading out the sentence, which, it later emerged, is life imprisonment.

Plan to kill French president

The "extenuating circumstances" that saved Salan's life have not been made public. But the court must have taken on board the pleas made by Salan's lawyer, M Tixier-Vignacour.

He had painted a picture of a French patriot and respected general fighting for French interests in Algeria.

Since its creation in 1961, the OAS has embarked on a campaign of terrorism in Algeria and France including the attempted assassination in September 1961 of the French President, Charles de Gaulle.

Only three days ago French police said they had foiled another attempt on General de Gaulle's life when they arrested 16 members of the OAS.

Nevertheless, the organisation's activities failed to stop President de Gaulle agreeing a ceasefire with nationalists represented by the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN) in March.

This follows a bitter war between the FLN and the French Army that resulted in the collapse of the French government in 1958 and the return of de Gaulle as head of state.

resounding:clear and loud; very great（宏亮的；極大的）

presiding judge:首席法官