Gates of Vienna News Feed 6/30/2011

Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez has been incommunicado for three weeks and is now in Cuba for medical treatment. Today he made an appearance on Venezuelan television (reportedly recorded in Cuba) and confirmed the rumors: he has cancer. It’s not clear what kind, but prostate cancer was rumored. Fausta has the video and a translation.

In other news, the EU released its new (bloated) budget, prompting Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden to complain about the excessive spending. Meanwhile, Brussels has proposed an EU-wide VAT to help pay for all its nifty programs.

Also, the case against former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn may be falling apart. The NYC police reportedly think that the main witness against Mr. Strauss-Kahn lacks credibility, after repeatedly lying to investigators.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to AC, C. Cantoni, Erick Stakelbeck, Fausta, Fjordman, JD, Van Grungy, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.