Saturday, June 30, 2007

Bridge almost collapses after crash in Wemmel

On Saturday morning, a lorry crashed into the pillar of a bridge on the Brussels orbital road. The lorry driver was killed in the accident. As the bridge might collapse, the Brussels ring road was closed in both directions for several hours, which caused major tailbacks.
The accident happened around 8:30 a.m. at the very busy junction in Wemmel, west of Brussels. The driver allegedly hesitated whether he would take the exit or not, and crashed into the pillar of a bridge.
As the danger of the bridge collapsing is imminent, the body of the man could not be removed from the wreckage immediately.The orbital road was re-opened for south-bound traffic at 10:45 a.m., but the inner ring road remained closed for the rest of the day. This could remain so until late on Sunday.
FLANDERS NEWS

NFL pulls the plug on Europe

National Football League officials bet in the early 1990s that the world — or at least North America and Europe — would embrace a brand of football that was of lesser quality than the one the league’s 32 teams play in the United States.
But N.F.L. Europa, born 16 years ago as the World League of American Football, lost money, ran through television partners, narrowed its trans-Atlantic focus largely to Germany and finally was shuttered yesterday. The N.F.L.’s strategy will shift to playing some of its own regular-season games overseas.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Bachelor Party Central

Latvian girls urged to say 'no' to sex tourists
Latvian girls are being urged to steer clear of one-night stands with tourists as part of a campaign to prevent the capital, Riga, turning into the "Bangkok of the Baltic".
The move comes following a huge increase in visitor numbers to the country, which has become popular with British stag parties looking for cheap alcohol - and sex.
Latvian girls will be asked to consider very carefully whether they should agree to have sex with a visitor in return for a drink. READ ON

Hasselt, the City With the Highest Standard of Living

Hasselt has been named by Testaankoop, the Belgian consumer magazine and a member of Euroconsumers, as the city with the highest standard of living.
With 70,568 inhabitants, Hasselt is a medium-sized city about 80 km east of Brussels. Over the last ten years, it had made a name for itself by offering free public transport to inhabitants and visitors.
Hasselt likes to promote itself as the Capital of Good Taste. This refers to the large amount of excellent shops and restaurants in the city centre and the large range of outstanding events and activities which take place throughout the year.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Belgian buyers of the Brilliance BS6 will get their money back




After the car received just one star in European crash tests, Belgian buyers of the Brilliance BS6 will get their money back from the importer which, local newspapers reported, has now taken the car off the market.
The BS6 sedan, made by Chinese car maker Brilliance, won only one out of a possible five stars in the crash test, carried out in accordance with Euro NCAP regulations, at ADAC's crash test laboratories, the organisation said.
The test consisted of a frontal and side crash at 64 kilometres (40 miles) per hour, and the front crash showed that the safety cell of the Brilliance BS6 was too soft and not stable enough, ADAC said.
Most European-made cars win four or five stars in the crash test, so the result is not encouraging for the BS6, which was launched at the last Geneva Motor Show.
Brilliance BS6 Crash Test Pictures