2006-12-15

RTBF Spoof - Flemish Independency

Pour votre information, la chaîne nationale francophone RTBF a joué un coup à la façon "Orson Welles" dans 'The War of the Worlds"...

Une émission factice et de fiction sur l'annonce de mercredi soir (2006-12613) de l'indépendance de la Flandre et l'éclatement de la Belgique: roi en fuite, ministres dans les bunkers, contrôle de passeport à la sortie de Bruxelles, l'OTAN en crise... tout y était.... Pendant une demie-heure à 21h ce mercredi, la moîtié du pays fut en paralyse... d'autant plus que la RTBF n'avait rien annoncé, et intterompu sa programmation régulière... et n'a posté un message (ceci est une fiction) qu'àprès intervention de la ministre de tutelle

Coup de maître, coup de théâtre,.... les avis sont partagés.... En tout cas, le débat sur l'avenir du pays est relancé...
En Flandre, les réactions sont unanumiment négatives vis-à-vis cette "propagande des francophones bruxellois" ....Il y a eu d'innombrables coups de téléphone à une céllule de crise d'affaires intérieures....

ci-joint quelques réactions internationales

Il faut toutefois noter que:

- la RTBF est une chaîne publique: il risque donc d'y avoir des répercussions graves
- la Belgique existe toujours (ça reste quand même le pays des surréalistes)

Quote from the Flemish Minister-President Yves Leterme:
Selon le ministre-président flamand, Yves Leterme (CD²V), l'émission-fiction dans laquelle la RTBF a mis en scène, mercredi, l'indépendance de la Flandre, constitue "une caricature d'un certain nombre d'exigences flamandes".


The China Post:

State television in Belgium's French-speaking region outraged political leaders when it interrupted programming with a half-hour hoax newscast reporting that the Dutch-speaking part of the country had declared itself independent.

The broadcaster RTBF said the Wednesday program showed the importance of debate on the future of Belgium. There have been 20 years of relative linguistic calm in Belgium since far-reaching autonomy was granted in the 1980s to the Flemish Dutch-speakers and the francophones from Wallonia and Brussels.


"A bad joke that shows bad taste," said Didier Seeuws, spokesman for Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, after the prime-time broadcast.


He said it was "task of public broadcasters to inform the public correctly, not to create confusion."


The RTBF's phony newscast reported that the "Flemish parliament has unilaterally declared the independence of Flanders" and that King Albert and Queen Paola had fled the country on an air force plane.


It showed fuzzy pictures of people walking to a plane in the dark of night on a military airfield near Brussels and a small crowd of pro-monarchy demonstrators outside the royal palace waving the Belgian flag.




BBC Coverage de l'évènement:
Viewers fooled by 'Belgium split'

RTBF reporters kept up the spoof for nearly two hours
Belgians reacted with widespread alarm to news that their country had been split in two - before finding out they had been spoofed.
The Belgian public television station RTBF ran a bogus report saying the Dutch-speaking half of the nation had declared independence.

Later it said Wednesday night's programme was meant to stir up debate.

It appears to have succeeded. Thousands of people made panicked calls to the station and politicians complained.

2006-12-13

Prince Charles to Use Commercial Flights

ENN: Environmental News Network [[Today's News Full Story ]]: "Prince Charles to Use Commercial Flights

December 08, 2006 — By Sue Leeman, Associated Press
LONDON -- Putting his money where his environmentalist mouth is, Prince Charles is swapping gas-guzzling private planes and helicopters for commercial flights, train journeys and biodiesel cars.

A longtime champion of green causes, the heir to the throne says action is needed now to avoid leaving a ruined planet to the next generation.

'From February, we are going to look at the diary and see what we can do to reduce our carbon footprint,' a spokeswoman for the prince's London residence, Clarence House, said Thursday on condition of anonymity in line with royal rules. 'Wherever possible, we will be making less use of helicopters and chartered planes and rely more on car journeys, scheduled flights and trains.'

The prince is also having his Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles converted to run on 100 percent biodiesel and is converting to the use of electricity from sustainable sources at his London and country homes, the spokeswoman said.

Energy-efficient boilers that burn wood chips are being installed at his country homes at Highgrove in southern England _ where he farms organically _ and at Birkhall in Scotland.

For the first time, the prince's annual accounts published next summer will include details of his household's carbon emissions and set targets to reduce this.

The royals have traditionally used private transport. But pressure to be more cost-effective has seen the scrapping of the royal yacht Britannia and cuts in the use of the royal train.

Charles' mother, Queen Elizabeth II, recently took a scheduled train for the first time, to Norfolk in eastern England, but has not announced any plans "

Daan does Kayer Soze


Daan does Kayer Soze
Originally uploaded by wacondah.

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2006-12-01

Human Development Report 2006: Beyond Scarcity - Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis

Throughout history water has confronted humanity with some of its greatest challenges. Water is a source of life and a natural resource that sustains our environments and supports livelihoods – but it is also a source of risk and vulnerability. In the early 21st Century, prospects for human development are threatened by a deepening global water crisis. Debunking the myth that the crisis is the result of scarcity, this report argues poverty, power and inequality are at the heart of the problem.In a world of unprecedented wealth, almost 2 million children die each year for want of a glass of clean water and adequate sanitation. Millions of women and young girls are forced to spend hours collecting and carrying water, restricting their opportunities and their choices. And water-borne infectious diseases are holding back poverty reduction and economic growth in some of the world’s poorest countries.
Beyond the household, competition for water as a productive resource is intensifying. Symptoms of that competition include the collapse of water-based ecological systems, declining river flows and large-scale groundwater depletion. Conflicts over water are intensifying within countries, with the rural poor losing out. The potential for tensions between countries is also growing, though there are large potential human development gains from increased cooperation.

The Human Development Report continues to frame debates on some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity. Human Development Report 2006:
• Investigates the underlying causes and consequences of a crisis that leaves 1.2 billion people without access to safe water and 2.6 billion without access to sanitation
• Argues for a concerted drive to achieve water and sanitation for all through national strategies and a global plan of action
• Examines the social and economic forces that are driving water shortages and marginalizing the poor in agriculture
• Looks at the scope for international cooperation to resolve cross-border tensions in water management
• Includes special contributions from Gordon Brown and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, President Lula, President Carter, and the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.
The report is available here: http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/