Prime Minister of Iceland – level 3
11-04-2016 07:00
The Icelandic Prime Minister has stepped down, becoming the first major casualty of the Panama Papers leak. The files showed his wife owned an offshore firm with big claims on the country’s collapsed banks. The Prime Minister had asked the president of Iceland to dissolve parliament, which would likely lead to a new election as it looked like there would be a vote of no confidence, but the President declined.
“The Prime Minister couldn’t assure me of the position of the Independence Party in regards to this request. In light of that I told the Prime Minister I wasn’t ready at this time without speaking to the leader of the Independence Party or even leaders of other parties to give him the sanction to dissolve parliament.”
Just the day before, an estimated 10,000 people protested outside parliament calling for the leader of the centre-right coalition to step down.
According to the Prime Minister, who’s been in power since 2013, all his wife’s overseas assets were taxed in Iceland and he had put public interests before his own. His opponents say it was a conflict of interest.
Difficult words: leak (the situation when secret information becomes public), claim on (a right to something), dissolve (to end), sanction (a permission).
Source: www.ondemandnews.com
What do you think about this news?
LEARN 3000 WORDS with NEWS IN LEVELS
News in Levels is designed to teach you 3000 words in English. Please follow the instructions
below.
How to improve your English with News in Levels:
![](https://www.newsinlevels.com/wp-content/uploads/images/Test.jpg)
Test
- Do the test at Test Languages.
- Go to your level. Go to Level 1 if you know 1-1000 words. Go to Level 2 if you know 1000-2000 words. Go to Level 3 if you know 2000-3000 words.
![](https://www.newsinlevels.com/wp-content/uploads/images/Reading.png)
Reading
- Read two news articles every day.
- Read the news articles from the day before and check if you remember all new words.
![](https://www.newsinlevels.com/wp-content/uploads/images/Listening.png)
Listening
- Listen to the news from today and read the text at the same time.
- Listen to the news from today without reading the text.
![](https://www.newsinlevels.com/wp-content/uploads/images/Writing.png)
Writing
- Answer the question under today’s news and write the answer in the comments.
![](https://www.newsinlevels.com/wp-content/uploads/images/Speaking.png)
Speaking
- Choose one person from the Skype section.
- Talk with this person. You can answer questions from Speak in Levels.
Stock images by Depositphotos