Hair-brained protest idea

Belgium may be about to get a bit hairier.

One of Belgium's most popular actors has called on his countrymen to stop shaving and grow beards to protest a political stalemate that has left the country without a full government for seven months.

Benoit Poelvoorde, who has appeared in movies including "Coco Before Chanel" and "It Happened Close To You," made the appeal on Wednesday on RTL television.

"Let your beard grow to show solidarity," he said.

Poelvoorde already has a scruffy beard, but if the crisis drags on, he might end up looking like Leopold II, the late Belgian king who was famous for his long beard.

Since the June elections, there has been a deadlock over enacting more self-rule for Dutch-speaking Flanders and Francophone Wallonia.