Briefly

N. Ireland announces power-sharing deal

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- The leaders of Northern Ireland's major Protestant and Catholic parties, sitting side by side for the first time in history, announced a stunning deal Monday to forge a coalition of archenemies within six weeks. "We all saw something today that people never, ever thought would happen," said British Secretary of State Peter Hain, who expects to hand power May 8 to a coalition led by the polar opposites of provincial politics: Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists and Gerry Adams' Sinn Fein. Paisley, a Protestant evangelist who for decades has sought to thwart compromise with Roman Catholics, sat at a table beside Adams, a reputed Irish Republican Army veteran whom Paisley long denounced as a "man of blood." Throughout the tortuous 14-year course of Northern Ireland's peace process, Paisley had never before agreed to negotiate directly with Adams. Their agreement, after barely an hour of discussions in the lawmakers' dining hall in Stormont Parliamentary Building in Belfast, called for Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionists to work directly together on a detailed program for government. Britain, in turn, promised to pass emergency legislation Tuesday that would extend its deadline for a working power-sharing government from Monday to May 8.

Audit finds problems in choosing DREAM cities

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A state panel did not have a rational basis for bypassing certain cities in favor of others in a program to help rebuild downtown communities, a state audit released Monday said. Gov. Matt Blunt last summer touted a new approach to make it easier and faster for cities to redevelop their downtown areas. The plan is nicknamed DREAM, for Downtown Revitalization Economic Assistance for Missouri. The state Department of Economic Development, the Missouri Development Finance Board and the Missouri Housing Development Commission are to work together to help simplify the process of rebuilding a downtown area by making various programs and services available in one place. Blunt announced the first batch of cities to participate in September. They were Cape Girardeau, Excelsior Springs, Hannibal, Hermann, Kennett, Neosho, Sedalia, St. Joseph, Washington and West Plains. The state audit found that after the applicants were reviewed, two cities that were unanimously recommended by the department, the finance board and the housing commission -- Chillicothe and Maryville -- were replaced with two others that earned two of three votes -- Excelsior Springs and Hermann. Seven other cities also were recommended by two of the three groups but were not ultimately selected. The audit said the agencies had no objective criteria for evaluating the 89 applicants and did not document why they turned away two of the 10 unanimous recommendations. Cape Girardeau was selected unanimously by the panel.

Large study finds most angioplasties not needed

NEW ORLEANS -- More than half a million people a year with chest pain are getting an unnecessary or premature procedure to unclog their arteries because drugs are just as effective, suggests a landmark study that challenges one of the most common practices in heart care. The stunning results found that angioplasty did not save lives or prevent heart attacks in non-emergency heart patients. An even bigger surprise: Angioplasty gave only slight and temporary relief from chest pain, the main reason it is done. "By five years, there was really no significant difference" in symptoms, said Dr. William Boden of Buffalo General Hospital in New York. "Few would have expected such results." He led the study and gave results Monday at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology. They also were published online by the New England Journal of Medicine and will be in the April 12 issue. Angioplasty remains the top treatment for people having a heart attack or hospitalized with worsening symptoms.

Accidental overdose killed Anna Nicole Smith

DANIA BEACH, Fla. -- Anna Nicole Smith accidentally overdosed on at least nine prescription drugs -- including a powerful sleep syrup she was known to swig right out of the bottle -- after a miserable last few days in which she endured stomach flu, a 105-degree fever, pungent sweating and a pus-filled infection on her buttocks from repeated injections. In a detailed autopsy report released Monday, a medical examiner noted the former Playboy playmate refused to go to a hospital three days before her Feb. 8 death and chose to ride out her illness in a hotel suite littered with pill bottles, soda cans, SlimFast, nicotine gum and an open box of Tamiflu tablets. Broward County Medical Examiner Dr. Joshua Perper found that in the days leading up to her death, the 39-year-old Smith had been taking large amounts of the seldom-prescribed sedative chloral hydrate.

-- From wire reports