Belgium

RTC

Fischer's Lovebirds perch in their cage at Pairi Daiza, a zoo and botanical garden, in Brugelette, Belgium.

State Sen. James C. Rosapepe has returned to Maryland with two bone fractures in his right leg after being struck by a car during a business trip in Europe over the Christmas holiday, he said yesterday. Rosapepe, 56, said he will be in Annapolis when the General Assembly convenes next week. "I'm doing fine," said Rosapepe, a Democrat who represents northern Prince George's and western Anne Arundel counties. The College Park resident said he will be in the state capital when the legislature's 90-day session begins Wednesday, but he told constituents in an e-mail that he "won't be knocking on any doors for several months."

MONDAY'S TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS M. bask. Marist@Niagara (T) MASN9 a.m. American@Lehigh (T) CBSCS10 a.m. Michigan@Penn State (T) BIGTEN3 Dayton@La Salle (T) CBSCS4:30 Pittsburgh@West Virginia ESPN7 Miss. Valley State@Alabama State ESPNU7 Manhattan@Iona MASN7:30 Missouri@Kansas ESPN9 Norfolk State@Delaware State ESPNU9 Drexel@Delaware (T)

Paris.--I met the late King Baudouin of Belgium one evening in the spring of 1955, in stifling heat, on a riverboat off Stanleyville, in what then was the Belgian Congo. He was slight, shy, inarticulate, midway through a personal trial that was to prove decisive for his reign as well as for the monarchy and possibly for Belgium itself.His trip to the Congo was his first major undertaking as king. It was looked upon as a test of his capacity to deal with the crucial pomposities of royal visits, with their demand for tactful reassurance to the unregenerate colonialists, liberal reformists and demanders of immediate decolonization among the Belgian community and Congolese elite.

When we told friends we were going to spend 10 days in Belgium, we got one of two responses: "Can you bring me some Belgian chocolate?" or "Why?"It might be a mistake to skip Belgium, since there's so much more there than just chocolate. Belgium is a small country with well-preserved medieval towns, bustling cities, art museums, huge portions of French food, more than 300 brands of domestic beer, and perhaps most importantly, street vendors selling warm wafels and frites (french fries).And it is easy to see a great deal of the country in a short time, because three of its tourist centers, Brugge, Brussels and Antwerp, are all about an hour from each other by train.

Before I married and started bringing up my stepchildren, I collected beaded evening bags. Now that both kids are working I've taken up the search again.I've been looking everywhere, from thrift shops to flea markets, and have decided I want to concentrate on bags from the '30s. My question is, what qualities should I look for? I want to buy the best.For an answer I consulted New York designer Judith Leiber, who has made luxurious beaded bags for more than 25 years.She says the high-quality bags were made in three countries -- two in Europe and one in Asia -- in the '30s.

BELGIUM WAS exhausting - a night and a day in airplanes sandwiching three days of world-class competition mostly for neophytes in a sport not widely known in America. Belgium was an eye-opener - motivation to hit the gym back in Columbia on Tuesday with new stuff to try and new resolve, as well as proving for school administrators that this, indeed, had been a legit absence. Well, school folks, 18 athletes from a Columbia gym traveled March 28 to Puurs, Belgium, about 45 minutes from Brussels.

CIVIL WAR in Congo - seemingly hopeless, inextricably tied to ethnic strife in Rwanda and Burundi, made worse by invasion from five African neighbors - took a turn for the slightly better. A fuel barge under United Nations auspices journeyed 600 miles up the Congo River from government-held Mbandaka to rebel-held Kisangani, for the first time in three years. If security prevails, civil traffic on this immense river lifeline will resume. On the 41st anniversary of Congo's independence from Belgium, Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt visited Kinshasa.

It only took two songs to move the ordinarily stoic Belgians out of their seats for Maryland musicians Lea Gilmore and Eric Byrd's final gospel concert in Meerbeke, Belgium. The Baltimore gospel and blues singer and the Westminster jazz pianist ended a four-day concert series Sunday with five standing ovations and as many encores. The pair performed with Mozaeik, a Belgian youth choir. "Ordinarily, I don't go to church, but if churches were like this all the time, I'd be there every day of the week," said Ingrid Simon of Ninove, Belgium.

The Girlfriend Experience ** ( 2 STARS) The "back story" to the production of The Girlfriend Experience is more fascinating than the film itself. When they were working together on Ocean's Thirteen, director Steven Soderbergh told screenwriters David Levien and Brian Koppelman he didn't notice any hookers in their Las Vegas hotel bar. Levien said they were hard to peg because top-of-the-line prostitutes now offer the girlfriend experience. "It's the new thing," he explained. "[Y]ou're supposed to believe that they're there not just for the money, but because they want to be there."

CLINT BALLARD JR., 77 Wrote hit songs including 'You're No Good' Clint Ballard Jr., whose "You're No Good" was taken to the top of the charts by Linda Ronstadt in 1975, died in his sleep Dec. 23 in Texas. In 1958, Mr. Ballard's "Hey, Little Baby," was the theme of the World's Fair in Belgium. In 1965, his "Game of Love" made it to No. 1.

India says Pakistan is dodging blame in attack NEW DELHI: Pakistan is shifting blame and responsibility for last month's deadly attacks in Mumbai, India's foreign minister charged yesterday, adding that Delhi would take action against the perpetrators if Islamabad failed to. India also gave Pakistan a letter written by Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the only gunman captured after the rampage. Kasab wrote that he and the nine other gunmen involved in the Nov. 26 attack all came from Pakistan, India's Foreign Ministry said.

Sterling J. Robertson, a B-26 Martin Marauder pilot who survived 67 combat missions over Holland, Belgium and France during World War II, died Tuesday of complications from dementia at a nursing home in Shepherdstown, W.Va. The former longtime Westminster resident was 91. Mr. Robertson was born and raised on his family's farm near Jasontown in Carroll County. After graduating from Westminster High School in 1933, he farmed for several years, then worked in a Westminster grocery store and as a dump truck driver for the John Hyde Quarries.

About 30 miles from Brussels, Belgium, there is a little church called St. Peter's Church of Meerbeke. Tomorrow, St. Peter's worship and funeral services will be absorbed by neighboring churches while an army of volunteers converts its sanctuary into a concert hall. They will move the altar, build stages, wire a sound and recording system, and then Thursday night open the doors of this 17th-century church for four gospel concerts by Maryland musicians Lea Gilmore and Eric Byrd. The concerts will continue through Saturday night.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - U.S. investigators say that the Belgian authorities have denied them access to suspects and evidence in their inquiry into the European network linked to Osama bin Laden and a thwarted plot to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Paris. A senior U.S. law enforcement official said Washington has pleaded with the Belgians to hand over phone numbers and names found on two men who were arrested two days after the Sept. 11 attacks. "The Belgian reaction is an anomaly compared with what is going on in the rest of Western Europe," the official said.