Northern Irish parties fail to solve spat in time
Northern Ireland's squabbling parties have abandoned talks to form a power-sharing government before Monday's deadline to resolve their bitter political differences.
The main two parties in the British province said no deal would be reached by the 4:00pm (1500 GMT) cut-off, following a snap election triggered by the bad blood between them.
James Brokenshire, Britain's Northern Ireland minister, must decide what to do next, with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein unable to work together.
He has three options: set a new talks deadline, call a fresh election, or suspend devolution and return administration of the province fully to the UK government.
"The talks have failed," said DUP leader Arlene Foster, who was first minister in the outgoing government.
"We were willing to form an executive today but Sinn Fein have walked away.
"There wasn't a spirit of compromise to get back into the executive."
Northern Ireland Assembly speaker Robin Newton confirmed no deal was reached and matters were now in Brokenshire's hands.
"The deadline required by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 for the appointment of ministers will not be met. The implications of that are now for others to consider," he said in a statement.
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