Brussels

Sometimes it takes a thief to catch a thief. Sometimes it takes a victim to catch an assailant. So the stylish thriller Gender Bias, a French-Belgian coproduction, suggests. As a serial killer maims and murders transsexual prostitutes in Brussels, Bo (Robinson St?venin) - a fetching trannie in vintage Chanel - hunts down the perp. It's a tough job, thanks to the police lieutenant (Richard Bohringer) who fingers Bo herself as the self-hating killer. It's made tougher since apparently every man in Brussels thinks he's entitled to rough up transsexuals because of "false advertising.

In July 2010, my boyfriend Eric and I were five days into our first trip together. After two days in Marseille, France, we planned to take a train to Nice. From there, we'd fly to Rome. When we got to the train station, Eric asked a conductor (in French!) which train went to Nice. We boarded, settled into comfortable seats, and pulled out our books for the trip. As we pulled away from the platform, the conductor began announcing the stops. After a minute, I realized the cities were going the wrong direction.

The symptom of a good concert at Amsterdam's venerable Concertgebouw, which has been one of the world's greatest halls since it opened in 1888, is not a standing ovation. "They do that for everybody," explained one veteran Dutch concertgoer as the audience rose at the end of the Philadelphia Orchestra's performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 1 on Sunday. One theory claims the concert hall's seats were so uncomfortable until recently that standing ovations were prompted by the audience's simple desire to stand.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The biggest drawback in traveling with a pack of beer fanatics on a pilgrimage to Belgium is that they take the term liquid bread too seriously. True, this is the land where the phrase was coined by brewing monks who drank their yeasty treasures as sustenance while fasting. But this Philly Beer Week crew is following that holy example to an unexpectedly impressive degree, as visits from one fantastic brewery to the next blend with one must-see, back-alley, Renaissance-era tavern after the other with nary a mention of lunch.

Last week's Inquirer Food section offered suggestions on wines for Thanksgiving and recipes for citrus roasted turkey, stuffed turkey breast, glazed brussels sprouts and pan gravy. Plus, read Craig LaBan's recipe for "The Incredible Barbecued Bird. " Go to and click on the Restaurants & Food link.

Friday's PhillyClout column appeared to attribute to Adam Taxin a quote, on a local website, accusing City Council candidate Malcolm Lazin of being a "Republican in name only. " Taxin's actual quote was this: "Also, I can't necessarily prove this, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Lazin is about as much a Republican as I am a Brussels sprout. "

American arms shipments to Iran far exceeded the amount acknowledged by President Reagan, whose administration was also holding secret contacts with Libya at the very time it was vehemently denouncing the regime of Moammar Gadhafi for its support of terrorism, according to reports published in two European newspapers yesterday. At least 12 planeloads of U.S. weapons to Iran were secretly loaded in Belgium, the Brussels newspaper Le Soir reported, contradicting President Reagan's assertion that the total American arms deliveries to Iran did not exceed one plane's capacity.

Like folks all over Europe, the people of Britain have long been unsure precisely what the coming of the single, 12-nation European market at the end of next year may mean to them. Now they know. No more "prawn cocktail"-flavored potato chips. This most unnatural of food items, the third-most-popular snack in Britain, is targeted for elimination throughout the European market in a directive issued from Brussels by the European Community's department for industry. The directive in question, designed to limit the use of artificial sweeteners, prohibits their use after January 1993 except in a list of specified foods.

Six Philadelphia defense lawyers, a federal prosecutor and two Drug Enforcement Administration agents will be spending at least a week in Belgium next month, all courtesy of Uncle Sam. The entourage is going to the U.S. Embassy in Brussels to take depositions from 10 European witnesses. Federal prosecutors say they need the depositions to make an important part of the case against reputed mob boss Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo and 27 others charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and conspiring to possess and distribute phenyl-2-propanone, or P2P, which is used to manufacture meth.

With a nod, a wink, and a flying foot jab, Jean-Claude Van Damme appears as Jean-Claude Van Damme in this meta-action pic, a smoothed-down satire in which the Muscles from Brussels finds himself back in his hometown - and in a hostage situation when he stumbles on a robbery in progress at a neighborhood post office. Van Damme's career in ruins (Steven Seagal, who has cut off his ponytail, is getting Van Damme's parts), and broke from fighting an ugly custody battle back in L.A., the moody Belgian is mistaken for the perpetrator of the heist.

In July 2010, my boyfriend Eric and I were five days into our first trip together. After two days in Marseille, France, we planned to take a train to Nice. From there, we'd fly to Rome. When we got to the train station, Eric asked a conductor (in French!) which train went to Nice. We boarded, settled into comfortable seats, and pulled out our books for the trip. As we pulled away from the platform, the conductor began announcing the stops. After a minute, I realized the cities were going the wrong direction.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - In a world where China is rising, and Islamist movements are thriving, the alliance between America and European democracies takes on new importance. So it was sobering last week to attend the Brussels Forum, an annual high-level meeting of North American and European leaders who discuss the pressing challenges facing both sides of the Atlantic. The Europeans showed a lack of self-confidence - and the Americans a lack of strategic clarity - that was unsettling. And when it came to the future of NATO (whose leaders will be convening in Chicago in May)

The University City Science Center is designed to serve as a business incubator, sometimes serving as a landing spot for small foreign firms starting in America. But the incubation can work the other way, as it did Thursday, when officials from the Wallonia region of Belgium explained to a small gathering of executives the basics of how they might one day expand their health-care businesses to that slice of Europe. "When you enter the European Union market, it is very important to know where to start," Franck Toussaint, a partner with Biologistics Consulting, told the group.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - The biggest drawback in traveling with a pack of beer fanatics on a pilgrimage to Belgium is that they take the term liquid bread too seriously. True, this is the land where the phrase was coined by brewing monks who drank their yeasty treasures as sustenance while fasting. But this Philly Beer Week crew is following that holy example to an unexpectedly impressive degree, as visits from one fantastic brewery to the next blend with one must-see, back-alley, Renaissance-era tavern after the other with nary a mention of lunch.

YOU KNOW those Belgian lambics that are all the rage these days? Beer fans rhapsodize about their complex character, their funky aroma, their tart flavor produced through the vagaries of spontaneous fermentation. The brewers who make them are worshipped as artisans, and bottles valued at $30 or more are collected and traded. It's worth noting, though, that lambic wasn't always so beloved. As recently as 25 years ago, Belgian lambic was largely regarded as beer gone bad. The French, in particular, often raised their Gallic noses in disdain at the barrels from the north, complaining about their unusual flavor.

Question: I've been haggling with Travelocity for almost three months about a flight, and I need your help. I recently booked flights from Newark, N.J., to Madrid via Continental Airlines and on to my final destination of Barcelona, Spain, via Iberia. The outbound trip was completed without issue, although I had to claim my baggage in Madrid, go through customs, and go back through the ticketing counter to get my second boarding pass. Unfortunately, the return trip through Brussels was less successful.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - New U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta warned NATO allies Wednesday that they should not rest on any laurels from the success of the ongoing military campaign in Libya and that a cash-strapped America cannot always foot the bill when the alliance falls short. The Libya operation that began in March revealed embarrassing gaps in European military abilities that were mostly filled by the United States, and shortfalls in such basic supplies as ammunition. "There are legitimate questions about whether, if present trends continue, NATO will again be able to sustain the kind of operations that we have seen in Libya and Afghanistan without the United States taking on even more of the burden," Panetta told the Brussels-based organization Carnegie Europe.

Friday's PhillyClout column appeared to attribute to Adam Taxin a quote, on a local website, accusing City Council candidate Malcolm Lazin of being a "Republican in name only. " Taxin's actual quote was this: "Also, I can't necessarily prove this, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Lazin is about as much a Republican as I am a Brussels sprout. "

A Vienna court backs American VIENNA - An Austrian judge sent a case involving allegations of police brutality by a black American to a higher court, saying the matter was too serious to be handled by her district court. After a day of testimony from both sides and an expert witness, Judge Margaretha Richter said the case needed to go to a provincial court. She said that based on the testimony, the undercover officer acted improperly in tackling 36-year-old Mike Brennan to the ground in a Vienna subway station on Feb. 11, 2009, severely injuring him. Police said they mistook Brennan for a drug dealer they were looking for. Brennan, a teacher at the Vienna International School, welcomed the judge's decision and remarks, saying they sent a message.

Last week's Inquirer Food section offered suggestions on wines for Thanksgiving and recipes for citrus roasted turkey, stuffed turkey breast, glazed brussels sprouts and pan gravy. Plus, read Craig LaBan's recipe for "The Incredible Barbecued Bird. " Go to and click on the Restaurants & Food link.