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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 20 september 2017
In ceremonial budget speech, Dutch king sees strong economy

By MIKE CORDER 2014 killing all 298 people
Associated Press - many of them Dutch - on
THE HAGUE, Netherlands board.
(AP) — The Dutch econo- On a day of pageantry and
my is forecast to grow by a tight security, Willem-Alex-
robust 3.3 percent this year ander and Queen Maxima
and 2.5 percent in 2018, the rode in a horse-drawn car-
Dutch king said Tuesday in riage from the Noordeinde
a speech - written by the Palace to Parliament and
government - to open the back again. Thousands of
parliamentary year. people lined the route to
“After a number of difficult catch a glimpse of the roy-
years we are again seeing al couple.
a flourishing economy and Police installed temporary
healthy public finances,” barriers to block roads near
King Willem-Alexander told the route and officers pa-
a joint sitting of both hous- trolled the city as crowds,
es of the Dutch Parliament. many wearing orange hats
“But not everyone is feeling and scarves, cheered the
the impact of this econom- royals.
ic growth sufficiently in their Hague Mayor Pauline Krik-
daily lives. It is important ke told Dutch broadcaster
that more people profit NOS that her city was “tak- Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima wave to well-wishers from the balcony of royal
from this prosperity.” ing appropriate measures, palace Noordeinde in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017, after a ceremony mark-
The speech contained no both visible and invisible” ing the opening of the parliamentary year with a speech by the King outlining the caretaker gov-
ernment’s budget plans for the year ahead.
major policy announce- to boost security. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
ments as the two-party Willem-Alexander also used
government has been the speech to offer support
in caretaker mode since to the Caribbean territories
elections in March and of St. Maarten, Saba and
Prime Minister Mark Rutte is St. Eustatius after they were
still in negotiations to form a devastated this month by
new coalition. Hurricane Irma. The terri-
However, the king said the tories were braced Tues-
government would invest day for another Category
more in intelligence agen- 5 storm, Hurricane Maria,
cies, counterterrorism and to pass.“The government
cybersecurity. It will also will do all in its power to al-
set aside money to fund leviate the islands’ acute
the possible prosecution in distress,” Willem-Alexander
Dutch courts of suspects in said. “The Caribbean part
the downing of Malaysia of the kingdom will not
Airlines Flight 17, which was stand alone as it faces the
shot down over Ukraine in task of reconstruction.”

Police: Third arrest made

in London subway bomb

By GREGORY KATZ released details from the
Associated Press investigation.
LONDON (AP) — British po- Commander Dean Hay-
lice have arrested a third don, head of the Metro-
suspect in connection with politan Police Counter-
the bomb that partially ex- Terrorism Command, said
ploded on a London sub- searches were underway
way last week. at four different locations,
Police said they arrested a including three that were
25-year-old man in Wales in progress before Tuesday.
on Tuesday evening un- The searches may take
der the Terrorism Act. They “some days to complete”
say a property in Newport, as detectives seek to de-
Wales 140 miles (225 kilo- termine the “full facts” be-
meters) west of London, hind the attack, Haydon
was being searched. said.He asked the public to
Two other men arrested “look out for anything that
over the weekend — an seems out of place, unusu-
18-year-old refugee from al, or just doesn’t seem to
Iraq and a 21-year-old from fit in with day-to-day life”
Syria — remain in custody. and to notify police imme-
Neither has been charged. diately if something seems
London police have not amiss.q