Category: Belgium

“White anger” in Brussels

The social care sector is staging a major demonstration in Brussels today, to protest against increased work pressure as a result of continuing austerity measures.The demonstration is joined by people from the cultural sector and may cause disruption to public services and traffic congestion.he non-profit sector demonstration started at the Brussels North Station around 10am and was winding its way down to the centre of Brussels to come to an end in the area of the Central Station.Almost 20,000 people (police say 17,000, unions claim 20,000) travelled to Brussels on a dry and sunny autumn day in the capital – trains to the capital were packed with demonstrators this morning. Protesters from the so-called “white sector” (social care workers) target the increasing work pressure, demanding more staff and better pay. […]

More on This: “White anger” in Brussels | News | Expatica Belgium

Camille O’Sullivan’s Jacques Brel is sexy, wild and dangerous

Before his concerts, the legendary Belgian singer-songwriter Jaques Brel would be physically sick with stage fright.

Camille O’Sullivan’s renditions of his music capture that sense of knife-edge tension. One of Britain’s leading chanteuses, O’Sullivan made an abrupt career change from architect to torch singer in 1999, after a near-fatal car crash inspired her to start anew.
Her cabaret shows have since become an institution at the Edinburgh Fringe, re-imagining songs by David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits and Nick Cave. Those songwriters have a shared ancestor in Brel: in the Fifties, his lyrical chansons inspired a new generation of Anglophone singer-poets […]

Read Full Story: Camille O’Sullivan’s Jacques Brel is sexy, wild and dangerous – review

In Belgian lab, scientists search for ‘perfect’ beer yeast

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LEUVEN, Belgium (Reuters) – Belgium famously produces hundreds of different beers, but that is nothing compared to the varieties of yeast used to make it – around 30,000 are kept on ice at just one laboratory by scientists seeking the perfect ingredient for the perfect brew.A team from the University of Leuven and life sciences research institute VIB are examining and cross-breeding yeast strains, adding modern genetics to a search for brewing perfection that dates back centuries.“We’re … using robots to cross different yeast like farmers have been doing with cattle and livestock for centuries,” genetics professor Kevin Verstrepen told Reuters.“We’re now doing the same with yeast on a massive scale, making millions of new strains or variants of yeast and testing which are the better ones.” […]

Full Text: In Belgian lab, scientists search for ‘perfect’ beer yeast | Mo4ch News

“Europe can no longer rely on the U.S. for its security”

The Belgian PM Charles Michel advocates a stronger European Union in the area of defence.

 

“It is no longer possible to rely just on the United States for our own security”, he told the VRT’s Sunday morning news show ‘De Zevende Dag’. Michel also called Donald Trump a “strange candidate”.

The upcoming American defence policies are triggering concerns among other NATO members. Will they have to contribute more? Trump repeatedly said that other members should do more than they are doing now. Michel understands the criticism. “In Europe, we haven’t seen enough investements in defence over the past decades. And it’s not just Belgium, in this respect. But the will is there to do more.”

 

Source: “Europe can no longer rely on the U.S. for its security” | News | Expatica Belgium