Northern Ireland marks 25 years since accord

The Good Friday Agreement on Northern Ireland ended three decades of conflict. [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [View in your browser]( [Top of The World]( --------------------------------------------------------------- What The World is following Northern Ireland marks 25 years since Good Friday accord [A mural on the peace gates at Lanark Way celebrates the Good Friday Agreement, in west Belfast, April 5, 2023.] Credit: Peter Morrison/AP Northern Ireland It's Good Friday and Chirstians worldwide are heading into the Easter holiday celebration. And this year marks the 25th anniversary of the [Good Friday Agreement]( on Northern Ireland, which ended three decades of conflict between Britain and Ireland, known as the Troubles. Tensions had run mainly along Catholic and Protestant sectarian lines, and gave rise to the Irish Republican Army (IRA), a paramilitary group wanting an end to British rule over their land. Britain’s King Charles III, along with other world leaders, will be in Belfast to [commemorate the signing of the accord](. US President Joe Biden will also attend, before continuing his trip to the Republic of Ireland. Israel Israel launched [airstrikes on Lebanon]( — the biggest in 17 years — as well as on the Gaza Strip. Dozens of rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, following the al-Aqsa mosque raid on Wednesday by Israeli police. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), a 10,000-strong peacekeeping force from 48 countries, warned of a “serious escalation.” Two Israeli women were also killed in a [shooting in the West Bank]( on Friday. The latest unrest comes as three sacred commemorations coincide this year — Passover for Jews, Easter for Christians and Ramadan for Muslims. United Kingdom Britain’s King Charles III expressed support, for the first time, for research into the [British monarchy’s historical links]( with the Transatlantic Slave Trade. It comes after the UK’s Guardian newspaper published a document showing evidence of a stake in a slave-trading company belonging to King William III. The University of Manchester with Historic Royal Palaces are conducting the research and Buckingham Palace is granting them [full access]( to its Royal Archives and the Royal Collection. --------------------------------------------------------------- From The World ['The pandemic is still with us': The bumpy road to the end of COVID]( [A woman walks outside of a COVID-19 testing center at the Incheon International Airport In Incheon, South Korea, on Feb. 10, 2023.]( Credit: Lee Jin-man/AP/File Pinpointing the “end” of the COVID-19 pandemic [depends on the vantage point](. The World's host Marco Werman spoke with Dr. Michael Mina, a leading epidemiologist and the chief science officer at EMET, a digital health care company, along with Zeynep Tufekci, a sociologist and professor at Columbia University, to learn more about the "bumpy, difficult off-ramp" from the pandemic. [In Colombia’s capital, the ‘purple patrol’ fights sexual harassment on crowded buses]( [Bogotá, Colombia, has trained more than 500 police officers to respond to cases of gender-based violence. They are known as the purple patrol.]( Credit: Manuel Rueda/The World Bogotá is trying to curb sexual harassment against women on public transportation systems. It’s trained more than [500 police officers as part of the purple patrol]( to respond to cases of gender-based violence. Female police officers also hand out leaflets with information about hotlines that women can call for assistance. --------------------------------------------------------------- Bright spot Dozens of people who are homeless die every year in Spain, often on the streets — and usually alone. But one small hospice program is trying to make a difference by connecting with homeless people and spending time with them, even at the very end of life. 💞 [Listen to the story]( by The World's Gerry Hadden. 🎧 [Vicky sits in a park in Madrid. She’s smiling because her hospice caretakers have arranged for her to fly home to the Dominican Republic to visit her mom and family one last time.] Credit: Gerry Hadden/The World In case you missed it on The World --------------------------------------------------------------- Don't forget to subscribe to The World's Latest Edition podcast using your favorite podcast player: [RadioPublic](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Stitcher](, [Soundcloud](, [RSS]( [The World logo]( [The World on Facebook]( [The World's Twitter account]( [Donate]( | [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [Edit your subscription]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [View in your browser]( Top of the World is written weekday mornings by the team at [The World](. [The World]( is produced by [PRX]( and [GBH](.