Daily Benefactor News – Belgian Government Collapses After Party Quits – More Articles
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Belgian Government Collapses After Party Quits – New York Times
Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme’s five-month-old government collapsed on Thursday after the Flemish liberal party pulled out of his coalition.
Leterme, 49, called an emergency meeting of his cabinet early on Thursday afternoon to inform ministers that his second term in office was at an end, and left for the royal palace to tender his government’s resignation to King Albert.
“Yves Leterme had no other choice than to inform us that he would go to the king immediately to tender the government’s resignation,” Health Minister Laurette Onkelinx told reporters.
Without the backing of the centre-right Open VLD, the remaining four parties in government still have 76 of the 150 seats in the lower house of parliament but it would be hard to govern with such a slim majority.
Open VLD said it had lost confidence in the government because of its failure to resolve a dispute between French- and Dutch-speaking parties over electoral boundaries around the capital, Brussels.
“We have not agreed on a negotiated solution and therefore Open VLD no longer has confidence in the government,” said Alexander De Croo, the party’s chairman.
Economists have expressed concern that political paralysis would harm the prospects of reducing Belgium’s budget deficit, which the government has forecast will be 4.8 percent of gross domestic product in 2010.
Belgian debt is expected to exceed 100 percent of GDP this year.
The premium investors demanded for holding Belgian debt increased on Thursday. The spread between 10-year Belgian bonds and German bunds had widened to 49 basis points from 43 at Wednesday’s close, although this was in line with a widening trend for other euro zone sovereign bonds.
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Treasury Unveils New High-Tech $100 Bills With ’3-D Security Ribbon’ – New York Daily News
New $100 bills unveiled Wednesday flank the familiar face of Ben Franklin with an assortment of anti-counterfeiting technology, including a touch of “Avatar” via a new blue security strip.
The 3-D strip features tiny Liberty Bells that morph into the number 100 when the bill is tilted, one of several changes that Treasury officials hope will frustrate global counterfeiters.
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U.S. Military Clears SEAL In Iraq Abuse Case – Fox News
A U.S. military jury cleared a Navy SEAL Thursday of failing to prevent the beating of an Iraqi prisoner suspected of masterminding a 2004 attack that killed four American security contractors.
The contractors’ burned bodies were dragged through the streets and two were hanged from a bridge over the Euphrates river in the former insurgent hotbed of Fallujah, in what became a turning point in the Iraq war.
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Iran Begins War Games In Gulf – Jerusalem Post
Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard on Thursday started large-scale war games in the Persian Gulf and the strategic Strait of Hormuz, state television reported.
Iran has been holding military maneuvers in the gulf and the Strait of Hormuz annually since 2006 to show off its military capabilities.
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Furor Over Ontario Sex Education – Cnews
Dr. Charles McVety, president of Canada Christian College, said Ontario’s revamped sex education curriculum will teach 11-year-olds about oral and anal sex and eight-year-olds about sexual orientation and identity.
“Little eight-year-olds, they’re going to be taught they look one way on the outside but they may be the opposite on the inside,” McVety said.
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Mexico Gunmen Kidnap At Least Six In Hotel Raids – BBC News
Armed men have stormed two hotels in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, abducting four guests and as many as three hotel employees, officials say.
Nuevo Leon’s state attorney general said up to 30 gunmen had raided the Holiday Inn and Hotel Mision. The gunmen abducted three businessmen, a female guest and two receptionists.
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Bisexual Men Sue Gay Group, Claim Bias – Seattle Times
Three bisexual men are suing a national gay-athletic organization, saying they were discriminated against during the Gay Softball World Series held in the Seattle area two years ago.
The three Bay Area men say the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance in essence deemed them not gay enough to participate in the series.
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Masked Gunman, 83, Jailed – News24
A stiff glove probably foiled an 83-year-old masked gunman as he tried to massacre a roomful of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Germany, a court said on Tuesday as it sentenced him to 11 years in prison.
The accused had a 40-year grudge against the religious group, which believes the end of the world is close. In 1968 his daughter had joined the Witnesses, and he believed the group had urged her to end contact with him.
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Migraine Gives Woman Chinese Accent – TVNZ
A UK woman has begun speaking with a Chinese accent after suffering severe migraines. Sarah Colwill, 35, says the change is down to an extremely rare medical condition known as Foreign Accent Syndrome.
“I knew I sounded different but I didn’t know how much…. Then I had another attack and when the ambulance crew arrived they said I definitely sounded Chinese,” Colwill said.
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Utah Woman Sentenced In ‘Surprise’ Hammer Beating – Associated Press
A Utah woman has been sentenced to 30 days at home with an ankle monitor for blindfolding her husband and promising him a surprise before hitting him in the head with a hammer three years ago.
Amy Teresa Ricks also was sentenced to probation and community service Monday in 3rd District Court. The 37-year-old pleaded guilty to second-degree felony aggravated assault in February.
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Fake Doctors Provided Breast Implants – Reuters
Venezuelan police have arrested a man and woman accused of impersonating plastic surgeons and providing women with silicone breast and buttock implants from an illegal clinic in an apartment.
Cosmetic surgery, especially breast enlargement, is widespread in image-conscious Venezuela, which is known for beauty queens who have won many international pageant titles.
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Man Returns Stolen Jaffa Cakes After 50 Years – Orange News
A pensioner has returned a packet of Jaffa Cakes he stole as a 15-year-old schoolboy half a century ago. John Bibby took the biscuits while working at a coffee bar on a holiday camp in Skipsea, East Yorkshire.
But the guilt has stayed with him ever since so he finally decided to confess all to his former boss Leslie Simpson, reports the Daily Mail.
Posted on April 22, 2010, in Crime and Punishment, Douchebags, International Scene, Moral Retardation, News You Can Use, Politics, SEX!!!, Stuck on Stoopit!, That is just freaking weird!, War on Terror. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments.
Gatordoug
darcprynce
Dave C
This is HOT, guys. I linked you today. Will do more often.
GOOD JOB!
Hey thanks!