Belgium Forms Coalition Government, Ending Standoff

By STEPHEN CASTLE
Published: March 21, 2008

BRUSSELS — Belgium finally got a new government on Thursday, after a nine-month political crisis that prompted speculation that the country might split, but many voters say that the new five-party coalition may be too weak to last.

Yves Leterme, leader of the Flemish Christian Democrats and the winner of elections last June, was sworn in as prime minister by King Albert II.

After the elections, warring Flemish and French-speaking parties were not able to agree on a coalition government. The dispute was so acrimonious that it prompted fears that Belgium, formed in 1830, might divide along linguistic lines.

Although those concerns have subsided for the time being, polls indicated that confidence in the new coalition was extremely low even before it took office.

One recent opinion poll of a representative sample of 1,027 people commissioned by the broadcasters RTL and VTM found that almost two out of three of those surveyed thought the government would fall within the next three years.

After the elections, Mr. Leterme, 47, tried to form a government but failed after the collapse of complex negotiations. In desperation, the king turned in December to the departing Flemish prime minister, Guy Verhofstadt, to lead a caretaker administration....(Click here for remainder of article)

Belgium to Pay Holocaust Survivors

By RAF CASERT
Associated Press Writer

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - David Susskind survived the Holocaust by fleeing to Switzerland, eventually joining the French Resistance. When he returned to Belgium after the war, he had nothing.

His mother, a widow, died in the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. Strangers were living in his family home in Antwerp. The local grocer greeted him with shock, saying, ``You're still alive?''

"We lost everything. There was nothing,'' said Susskind, now 82.

On Tuesday, Belgium's banks and government sought to make material amends, announcing $170 million in restitution for the Jewish community and families of Holocaust survivors whose property and goods were looted by Nazi occupiers.

Overall, $54 million will be paid to individual claimants, with the rest going to a Jewish trust that will help the poor and keep the memory of the horrors of World War II alive.

``In a certain way, justice has been done. Unfortunately, there are people who never came back'' from the Nazi death camps, said Eli Ringer, the co-chair of the committee on the restitution of Jewish assets.

Some 50,000 Jews lived in Belgium in the 1930s and about half died in the Holocaust....(Click here for remainder of article)

Belgium: huge transit port for drugs

Published: Monday 03 March 2008 12:40 UTC
Last updated: Monday 03 March 2008 14:44 UTC

Washington - A US government report says that a quarter of all drugs intended for Europe are imported through Belgium, making the country one of the biggest drug transit ports on the continent. The report says that every year 60 tons of cocaine and 30 tons of heroin arrive in the country.

Belgium is an ideal entry point for drugs because of its extensive network of highways and the presence of the port of Antwerp, which also lies close to the Dutch port of Rotterdam.

The report says that some of Antwerp's dockworkers are actively involved in the smuggling, mainly of drugs from South America. It also notes that Brussels' Zaventem airport is popular with couriers bringing in drugs from Africa.

[(c) Radio Netherlands Worldwide]

Ivan the Terrible

We have a new addition our little family. His name is Ivan and he's a 9 week old Jack Russell Terrier.