Word: belgium
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...unrequited puppy love is the dominant theme. During Saturday's competition, 12-year-old Ekaterina Ryabova from Russia stomped on a desk and pined for her absent prince: "I've got questions in my head. They are like wasps. What a mess!" And 10-year-old Laura Omloop from Belgium waxed poetic about her schoolyard crush - wearing lederhosen and yodeling, "I gaze deep into his eyes, and a thousand rainbows fill the skies, and I feel so yodel-e yodel-e yodel...
...songs may be juvenile, but those yodels translate into big business. In Belgium, where nearly 1,000 children competed for the national title this year, the broadcaster VRT selected 12 finalists and aired the competition in primetime over four weeks. (Think American Idol for the pre-pubescent set.) The September finale earned a 30% audience share for the night in Belgium, and the CD compilation of the finalists' performances - along with karaoke versions - went platinum. (See Eurovision's most memorable moments...
...bloc countries, the children take Junior Eurovision seriously. Very seriously. Eastern European nations have won four out of the past five competitions, which isn't particularly hard when the vast majority of the performers come from that part of the world. Steve De Coninck-De Boeck, the founder of Belgium's Junior Eurovision program, believes the show is a barometer of the east's promise. "A lot of people don't see the evolution in Eastern Europe," he says. "When you're within Junior Eurovision, you see it every year. Their self-confidence is growing. They're becoming richer...
Until Herman Van Rompuy became Belgium's Prime Minister 11 months ago, he was barely known even in his home country. But on Thursday night, the self-effacing former economist, whose hobbies include caravanning and writing haiku, was named the European Union's first permanent President...
Indeed, his shunning of the limelight is probably what landed him the job. Although he is recognized in Belgium for defusing tensions between the country's Flemish and French speakers - a quality that could come in handy with the 27-member E.U. - his low profile appears to have endeared him to his initial sponsors, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The two leaders are thought to have balked at a big name like former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as E.U. President, because they feared he could become a strong rival for the spotlight. Van Rompuy...