Belgian news in brief, 20 September 2005

Belgian rail scraps 19 trains each day

Belgian rail NMBS-SNCB scraps a large number of passenger trains each year without compensating commuters for the missed services. There were almost 7,000 annulled departures last year, averaging 19 per day. The rail operator blamed the cancellations on the poor state of rail equipment, such as doors on carriages that can no longer open, commercial broadcaster VTM reported.

New right-wing Flemish political movement

Senator Hugo Coveliers has launched a new political movement as an alternative to the Liberal VLD. The aim is for the party to contest the council elections in Antwerp, but with the possibility of expanding to other cities. He denied claims he had succumbed to the right-wing Flemish Interest. It was previously known that Coveliers was toying with the idea of setting up a liberal, right-wing and Flemish political movement, but he was also flirting with the New Flemish Alliance (NV-A) recently.

Belgian researchers: AIDS virus weakening

The HIV virus is weakening, new research published by Antwerp’s Tropical Institute indicates. The institute said the human body is adapting to cope with the HIV virus, as it has done with other viruses in the past. However, researcher Guido van Ham said this doesn’t mean that it will take the virus longer to develop into full-blown AIDS, broadcaster VRT reported. The Tropical Institute will now study the length of time it takes for someone who is HIV positive to develop AIDS.

Subject: Belgian news