Word: belgians
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...CONVICTED. MARC DUTROUX, 47, Belgian pedophile; of abduction, rape and murder, after an eight-year investigation that sparked public outrage and prompted sweeping law-enforcement reforms, by a 12-member jury; in Arlon, Belgium. Paroled after serving time for rape in the '80s, Dutroux was found guilty of imprisoning six young girls in an underground chamber, murdering two of them and killing an accomplice. Dutroux, who faces life in prison, claimed to be the scapegoat for a pedophile ring with ties to the rich and powerful but failed to convince the jury...
...show. In fact, this summit proved how far from unity the E.U. remains. Leaders couldn't agree on a new European Commission President to replace Romano Prodi, whose term ends in October. Blair and the heads of at least six other countries shot down the candidacy of their Belgian counterpart, Guy Verhofstadt, an outspoken opponent of the war in Iraq and an ardent European federalist. They may still break this logjam in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, there is something in this constitution for both camps. The federalists got clearer rules and roles for the Brussels institutions, but there...
...Muslim authorities are as adamantly opposed to it, and in France the Protestant Church has expressed reservations. Still, last year, predominantly (though only nominally) Catholic Belgium went almost as far as its northern neighbor, passing a law that gives all rights but adoption to homosexual couples. This summer the Belgian federal Parliament is expected to vote on a proposal to allow same-sex couples to adopt and, according to Socialist M.P. Karine Lalieux, it is likely to pass. "In Belgium we've been able to have a very serene discussion about this," she says. "There's been no need...
...country can be. In December 2002, the fugitive Algerian politician stepped off a plane from Malaysia, asked for asylum - and was hustled, under heavy police guard, into a maximum-security jail. Zaoui, a member of his country's banned Islamic Salvation Front party, had been convicted by Algerian, Belgian and French courts of assisting or associating with terrorists. Declaring those rulings "unsafe," New Zealand's Refugee Status Appeals Authority granted Zaoui asylum last August. But the government insisted that his "continued presence in New Zealand constitutes a threat to national security." He is now in his 17th month in jail...
...India. Small wonder that many Indian merchants believe it's only a matter of time before they take over from Belgium's Hasidim as kingpins of the diamond business. Venus Jewel's S.P. Shah, diverting his eyes for a moment from his four closed-circuit TVs, acknowledges that his Belgian and Israeli rivals are among the world's best businessmen, but he adds: "We Indians are even better...