Wednesday, July 16, 2008

BELGIUM

Belgium's prime minister said Tuesday he had offered to resign after realizing it would be impossible to resolve deep divisions over increased autonomy for French- and Dutch-speaking Belgians.

King Albert II did not immediately accept the early morning resignation. But he began consultations with political leaders to resolve the crisis stemming from the failure of Prime Minister Yves Leterme's cabinet to reach agreement on constitutional reforms designed to grant more self-rule to Belgium's rival linguistic camps.

Francophone parties accuse Dutch-speakers of trying to separate themselves from French-speaking Wallonia, where the 15 percent unemployment rate is triple that of Dutch-speaking Flanders.

Zimbabwe's opposition said Tuesday that 14 of its members had been freed after being cleared of charges of perpetrating political violence.

The Movement for Democratic Change said the activists were acquitted Monday after the state did not produce its key witness, a police officer who had died early that day. More than 1,000 activists and officials are in police custody on "trumped-up" charges of political violence, the party said.

South Korea's coast guard said it had stepped up patrols near islands at the center of a territorial dispute with Japan, a day after Seoul recalled its ambassador in anger at new Japanese claims to the rocky outcrops. The fight over the islands, known as Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese, has been a persistent irritant in relations between the neighbors.

President Elias Antonio Saca of El Salvador blamed drug gangs for the killing of a Guatemalan state prosecutor who was investigating the murder of three Salvadoran deputies to the Central American Parliament. Juan Carlos Martinez was shot Monday while driving near his home southeast of Guatemala City.

From News Services