Today's Top Stories - August 2, 2012

Belgium begins withdrawal from Afghanistan

Belgium has completed the first phase of its retreat from Afghanistan, where its army has been guarding Kabul airport since 2003. The first of five platoons of 24 Belgian and 10 Luxembourger soldiers flew out of Kabul aboard a military Airbus last Friday, returning to Melsbroek military air base via Tajikistan. A military spokesman confirmed their return to Belgium was definitive. Before leaving, they officially handed over command to a Portuguese platoon. A second Belgian unit will return next month. On September 30, the army’s mission to guard Kabul airport ends. After this, more than 100 soldiers should also be repatriated, along with Belgian military equipment. The cost of the operation is estimated at €4 to €9 million, depending on the possibility of using routes via Pakistan. Six F-16 fighter planes as well as instructors will remain in Kunduz and Kandahar until the end of 2014.

Spanish nurses coming to Belgium

Following Portugal’s lead, Spain is sending nurses to come and work in Belgium. In June, the European branch of Flemish employment and training agency VDAB organised an employment fair in Spain, where unemployed local nurses met representatives from Flemish healthcare agencies. Retirement home Veilige Have in Aalter (East Flanders) showed sufficient interest to take on eight nurses as an experiment. There is a shortage of nursing staff in Belgium, where the population is getting older, and it is hoped that recruiting qualified nurses abroad will help address the problem. It will not solve it completely, however – there are currently 1,679 vacancies in Flanders alone. Since the 2008 economic crisis, 70 Portuguese nurses have come to Belgium, mostly to work in Brussels hospitals, and another 10 are expected next month. 

Tourist figures down at Belgian coast

Bad weather and inaccurate forecasts are being blamed for the drop in visitors to the Belgian coast last month. The Belgian national holiday weekend of July 21 saw hotel occupation dip to between 50 and 70 percent, 20 percent lower than normal for the period. But hotels reported an immediate rise when the weather picked up during the last week of the month as tourists made late bookings. At the beginning of the month, popular upmarket resort Knokke was considering lodging a complaint against the website meteobelgique.be, believing its negative weather forecasts were keeping tourists away. On the positive side, the festival of sand sculpture at Blankenberge and the Beaufort04 contemporary art show have drawn thousands of visitors.

UK-based Belgian chef dazzles the Guardian

The South Deep Café in Poole, run by Belgian chef Stéphane Rondoz, has been nominated by the Guardian as one of the best fish and seafood restaurants in Dorset. “It is a tiny decked wooden chalet in the heart of yacht-owning, deck-shoe-wearing, chino-sporting Poole, and it is an oasis of charm,” writes the appropriately named fishing and seafood expert Nick Fisher. “I’ve eaten cuttlefish and chorizo stew here that was better than any I’ve had in Spain. Belgian chef Stéphane makes a great crispy haddock fishcake, a smoked, peppery mackerel niçoise salad and a casserole of Scottish mussels cooked Belgian style. It won’t break the bank and the position deep in the posh yachty marina is fascinating for anyone with even the slightest interest in boats.”

Read the full article on the Guardian website.

Disneyland Paris discovers Belgian twin

On August 15, the city of Dinant in Namur province will sign a twinning agreement with Disneyland Paris. For the occasion, Mickey Mouse will be made an honorary citizen of the Walloon city and will attend the annual bathtub regatta on the River Meuse. He will also receive a saxophone – Dinant is the birthplace of Adolphe Sax. The twinning is a coup for the city and its mayor, Richard Fournaux, who noticed that Disneyland Paris wasn’t twinned with anywhere and contacted the Walt Disney Company. “There is only one precedent,” the mayor said, “that of Disneyworld Orlando being twinned with an English city.” (He was referring to Swindon, which is not a city but a town.)