Train crash kills at least 20 during morning rush hour

Two packed commuter trains crashed head-on outside of Brussels in the morning rush hour, killing at least 25 people, according to Belgian media reports. The local trains collided near Halle, some 15 kilometres southwest of Brussels at 8:30 a.m.

National broadcaster VRT said 25 people were killed, but officials from the train line operator were unable to immediately confirm that figure. Train services, including the high-speed line between Brussels and Paris, were blocked. The operator Thalys says three trains are involved and advises passengers to change their travel plans.

A spokesman for Eurostar, the high-speed passenger rail service connecting London with Brussels warned that "it is possible that services will remain suspended all day." Two carriages have been completely destroyed in the crash according to early reports. Infrabel, the train operator, has confirmed that there are tens of people seriously injured.

The accident occurred during the rush hour as people were travelling to work. One train was travelling from the direction of Louvain and was on its way to Braine-le-Comte the other was coming from Quiévrain and was going to Liège.

The overhead cables have been severely damaged by the accident and train travel on the lines between Brussels and Doornik and Brussels and Bergen has ground to a halt.

A crisis centre has been set up and the emergency services have arrived en masse at the scene. The cause of the accident is not known.

Scores of reactions are pouring in to Belgian websites reporting the crash. People are reacting with a mixture of disbelief and anger that this has happened.

"How is it that two trains can collide head-on, this means that one was on the wrong track. Are there no safety systems that prevent this type of blunder from happening?” said one reaction to the online edition of newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws.

“Lucky it is a holiday today, otherwise they would have been even more people on the trains,” said another reaction to the site.

Lingerie shows right on the street in Paris

How about some sex-laced advertising from the French Aubade lingerie campaign which has a woman pimping the lingerie from an apartment above a busy street where passersby can watch her silhouette behind a window curtain.

When she's done prancing around in the room, she unveils herself and then closes the blinds revealing the brand name.

More Global Warming in Paris and Brussels

Early winter snows forced French authorities to close the Eiffel Tower on Thursday and disrupted transport as northwest Europe shuddered under a pre-Christmas cold snap. Much of the north of the country awoke to find a seven-centimetre (three inch) blanket of snow, which delayed flights from Charles de Gaulle airport by up to two hours.

The Eiffel Tower was closed to visitors, and train and bus services were delayed in many areas, as daytime temperatures dropped below zero for the first time in the year and black ice coated northern roads.

Snow also fell in Britain, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and weather experts forecast worse to come, with disruption especially in Scotland and northern England.

The northern Netherlands experienced the worst falls in four years, with snow up to 25 centimetres deep in places, the national weather service said, while all bus services in the region were cancelled.

In Belgium black ice turned roads into skating rinks, particularly the Brussels ring road and the motorway from the capital to Lille in northern France.
Numerous flights were cancelled and delayed at Brussels airport. Traffic Centre had registered 500 kilometres of traffic standing idle on the roads, with train, tram and bus delays making the chaos complete.

Paris in your backyard

WACKY Gerard Brion shows off his in-Seine creation – a model of Paris built out of rubbish in his flower beds.

Amazing miniature city in Frenchman's back yard. Click the slide show, it's pretty cool.

Paris is not Burning

There has been a tremendous amount of coverage over the whole Olympic torch fiasco that occurred yesterday in Paris. I'm not in the position to go over the whole thing again, apathy and a lack of concern about the subject prohibit me from indulging this. However, I have come up with a few key points that I have observed that I would like to share with you, things the media haven't noticed.

This is the hardest the French have ever fought to keep anyone out of Paris.
Not one Frenchman surrendered to the torch (although it is believed many collaborated with it)
Policemen that wear rollerblades do not instill fear.
Considering how hard it has been for the French coppers to stop French youth from lighting fires over the past three years, it's bizarre that now they are trying to keep a torch lit so desperately.
The only North American city that the torch will be brought to will be San Francisco. A city that has never had an Olympics, and has a history of violent protests. Although, on the other side, they do have their share of giant flamers.

London is dirtiest and most expensive, Brussels is the most boring

London is the dirtiest and most expensive city in Europe, while Brussels is the most boring, according to a survey published on Wednesday. Despite the Brussels attractions of beer, chocolate, mussels and chips, it was voted the most boring European city, followed by Zurich, Oslo, Warsaw and Zagreb.

Respondents said Paris was the most unfriendly, followed by London and Moscow, but the French capital is still working its old magic as it was voted the most romantic destination in Europe and the best for shopping and dining. Here is the a rundown of the top three in various categories

BON VOYAGE RON AND KAT

Ron and Kat are moving to Paris for her transfer by UPS. We had a going away party at Stofilia last week, and a good time was had by all. Ron did a great job as president of STUDS the last few years, His efforts will be missed. Good luck on your future endeavors, and remember Brussels is not that far away.

(CLICK PICTURES TO ENLARGE)

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Really....The French...you're kidding me!

France's hotel and restaurant staff are some of the surliest in the world and a quarter of hotels are in disrepair, the industry's watchdog has admitted.

The report said that poor wages and only basic training available to staff explained complaints of the "chronic incompetence of staff, or of a disagreeable or impersonal welcome".
As well as concerns about an indifferent welcome - which often amounts to no more than the raising of an eyebrow or puckering of the lips by a haughty maître d, regular complaints refer to long waits for service.

READ THE TELEGRAPH

I don't get it, she's not that hot.

The rumors have been flying about an official separation and a possible divorce between Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Cecilia. This abridged article is from Yahoo, but it appears that the news was originally published in a local paper from Lorraine: L'Est Républicain:

Sarkozy's wife in 'exile' as divorce rumours grow, from the Telegraph

White Night season opens and spreads

WHEN Paris held its first Nuit Blanche -- a frenetic all-night, multivenue cultural bash -- in 2002, few could have imagined that five years later White Night fever would be sweeping Europe's capitals, and spreading to other cities.
From Rome, which will hold its fifth White Night on Sept. 8, to Madrid (Sept. 22), Toronto (Sept. 29), Brussels (also Sept. 29), Paris and La Valletta, Malta (Oct. 6) and dozens of other cities, collective insomnia is in, at least for one night a year.

'We all try to respect the rules, but each country does it in its own way,'' said Esther Beck, the main coordinator of the Nuit Blanche in Brussels. ''In Rome and Paris, the budgets are bigger so they tend to have more spectacular events.''

As the festivals have multiplied, in many cases so have the offerings in each city. In Rome, the first White Night festival in 2003 presented 100 events. This year, there are 400.
In Brussels, on the other hand, organizers have taken the opposite tack, halving the events sponsored last year to a neat 100.

American Country Music Festival Axed in Paris

An American country music festival in Paris has been postponed after the organisers received several anti-American threats.
The festival, called Three Days in America, was supposed to take place next weekend in the Parc St Cloud, in a suburb to the west of Paris. An international event, which last year drew more than 15,000 people, the festival celebrates the American lifestyle with a mixture of live gospel and country music, line-dancing, tributes to Elvis Presley, exhibitions of American cars and spectacular fireworks.
Chantal Tenot, a spokeswoman for the event, said: "We don't know who is behind it, and we can't be sure of a motive but it could just as much be an expression against [President Nicolas] Sarkozy as against America. Some people think that if you like America you must also like Sarkozy.
"Our chief concern is to not let security issues ruin this great event. The letter contained threats to the families of the organisers, we couldn't ignore it."
The threats came as a surprise to many Americans living in France, such as Clare Pickett. She said: "I'm really surprised and saddened by this. When I studied here in 2004 I found there was a really palpable anti-American feeling. Of course, the war in Iraq really stirred people up, but I thought it had died down."

Cool Belgium

Cool Belgica: Tour Brussels

Brussels struggles to be cool, and only occasionally succeeds. The city -- which, as the home of the European Union institutions, fancies itself the "capital of Europe" -- doesn't overwhelm you with the unrelenting beauty of Paris, the all-business bustle of London or the black-turtlenecked, horn-rimmed self-confidence of Berlin. Rather, Brussels unveils its charms to you slowly. For some -- business travelers or relatives visiting for the weekend, say -- far too slowly.

Sprinkled here and there in the city, however, are hot spots of trendiness, certain street corners or squares with a unique sense of style that seems to defy the city's bureaucratic and insular character. READ THE WALL STREET JOURNAL'S TOUR OF THE CAPITAL

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