Dutch Prime Minister Fights for Political Life in Tough Debate
Voice of America
THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS - Caretaker Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte fought for his political life Thursday in a bitter parliamentary debate about the country's derailed process of forming a new ruling coalition following an election last month.
Rutte's conservative party, known by its Dutch acronym VVD, won the most seats in parliament in the vote, putting him in line to form his fourth governing coalition and possibly become the country's longest-serving prime minister. That looked a long way off Thursday as lawmakers accused him of trying to sideline a popular lawmaker, a charge that Rutte denies. Negotiations halted a week ago after one of the two officials leading the coalition talks tested positive for COVID-19 and was photographed carrying notes laying out details of the talks.
FILE - A truck is packed with crushed granite at a mining plant in Zamfara, Nigeria, April 21, 2016.
FILE - Tourists visit Roman ruins in Palmyra, Syria, on May 11, 2023. Syrian state-run media reported on Nov. 20, 2024, that a strike on the historic town killed 36 people. Syrian leaders blamed Israel.
Bannu, Pakistan
FILE - Migrants disembark at the port in Valverde at the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, on Aug. 26, 2024, after they arrived by boat from a 13-day voyage from the coast of Senegal.
A child reacts to an Unitree Go2 intelligent side-follow robot during a performance at a popular shopping district in Beijing, Nov. 17, 2024.
FILE - A convoy of army vehicles patrol the streets in Mandalay, Myanmar, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021.
Major General Kenneth Chigbu, deputy theatre commander of Operation Hadin Kai is shown with poses for a group photograph with Alice Loksha, left, and Fayina Ali at Army Barrack Maimalari Cantonment in Maiduguri, Nigeria, on November 15, 2024.
FILE - A Pakistani waits to open an internet page on a desktop in Lahore, Pakistan, Aug. 19, 2024. Pakistan's top cleric has declared that virtual private networks, or VPNs, are unlawful.
A Finnish soldier of the Karelia Brigade, one of the three Finnish Army readiness brigades, operates the K9 artillery, a 155 mm self-propelled howitzer during the NATO Exercise Dynamic Front, on November 17, 2024 near Rovaniemi, Finland.
This photo taken on November 18, 2024 shows Myanmar farmer Hla Han, 52, who lost his leg after stepping on a mine, peeling garlic outside his house in Demoso township, eastern Kayah state.
FILE - A student looks at Iran's domestically built centrifuges in an exhibition of the country's nuclear achievements, in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 8, 2023. Iran has increased its supply of uranium that has been enriched to 60% purity, according to IAEA reports seen by news agencies.