Word: french
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...French aid workers accused in October of trying to smuggle 103 children out of Chad, the question was never whether they'd be found guilty, but when. Now that a Chadian court has handed down their conviction, the transfer of the six back to France to serve their sentences appears to be just a matter of days or weeks. Mending the damaged relations between France and Chad, however, could take far longer...
Perhaps it was the advent of Christmas that focused the minds of Belgium's squabbling factions, who finally joined together Friday to form an emergency coalition government. Because there have been precious few gestures of goodwill between Belgium's Flemish and French speakers during six months of political deadlock that seemed to tear the country apart...
...Tensions have always existed between the Flemish, who account for around 60% of Belgium's 10.5 million citizens, and the French speakers. But the stalemate since the June 10 elections appear to have frayed ties even more, with the Flemish in particular questioning why they should be subsidizing the French speakers, based mainly in the poorer, southern region of Wallonia. The bad blood even extended to the Miss Belgium contest in Antwerp last weekend: the eventual winner, Alizée Poulicek, is of Czech origin, but despite speaking French and English, her failure to master Dutch earned her boos from...
...full parliamentary vote of confidence on Monday. They will be led by outgoing Flemish Liberal Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt. In principle, it will remain in office until March 23 next year. The government consists of five political parties: Liberals and Christian Democrats from both language communities, along with the French-speaking Socialists. Although the coalition is disproportional in terms of parties, its ministerial split is an even seven each for the Flemish and French-speaking parties...
...biggest winner of the June elections, Flemish Christian Democrat Yves Leterme. Leterme, whose party has been out of office for eight years, has been unable to stitch together his own government coalition. At various times over the past six months, both he and his prospective coalition partners from the French-speaking parties have appeared baffled at one another's demands. An emergency coalition is thought to be one way of helping them understand each other better...