After 541 days, Belgium to get govt

BRUSSELS - Belgium's soon-to-be prime minister set up a slimmed-down coalition on Monday, in one of the final steps before his team formally ends the record 541 days the country has gone without a government.

The swearing-in on Tuesday was a long-awaited relief to the entire nation of 6.5 million Dutch speakers and 4.5 million French speakers who long ago grew frustrated with the deadlock between politicians over linguistic differences.

One radio presenter finally shaved off the beard he has grown for almost a year to protest the drawn-out coalition negotiations, an unofficial world record.