Word: belgium
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...news flash came right after the evening news on Belgian state television Wednesday: the Flemish Parliament had voted for Flanders' secession from the Kingdom of Belgium. Over the next hour and a half, the trusted TV anchors fielded a spectacular special report: They cut to live footage from the Royal Palace, where an emotional crowd had gathered to protest for the survival of their country. A reporter in Kinshasa, capital of the Congo, commented on rumors that King Albert II had fled to the former Belgian colony. A crowd waved Flemish flags behind the live reporter at the Flemish Parliament...
...Flanders has long pressed for a larger share of federal powers; education, agriculture, and commerce are among the dossiers that are now no longer in national control. A total separation like the so-called "velvet divorce" of the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1992 is impossible because of Brussels: Belgium's capital is in Flanders, but 85% of its residents speak French. That hasn't stopped radical nationalist groups like the xenophobic Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) from pushing for total separation, which may have contributed to the idea being shunned by other parties...
...never discussed in parliament or in French-speaking circles. As a journalist, I think the television show was unethical, but it gave our cause a major marketing boost. Now people in the heart of the Belgian system have to face up to the long-standing problem of Belgium...
Many analysts believe that to achieve the right balance between such core knowledge and what educators call "portable skills"--critical thinking, making connections between ideas and knowing how to keep on learning--the U.S. curriculum needs to become more like that of Singapore, Belgium and Sweden, whose students outperform American students on math and science tests. Classes in these countries dwell on key concepts that are taught in depth and in careful sequence, as opposed to a succession of forgettable details so often served in U.S. classrooms. Textbooks and tests support this approach. "Countries from Germany to Singapore have extremely...
Next up for Lo's company, which launched in June 2004, is creating networks that will enable video streaming in places like coffee shops, airports and train stations. Eventually, the company hopes to expand its U.S. presence, having already landed partners in Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Estonia and Slovenia. Networking products become commoditized so quickly that nobody bothers with innovation, says Lo. "It takes a bunch of fools like us to say these products have got to be better. Innovation is worth something even for a commodity...