Category Archives: Belgium

‘The streets are more alive’: Ghent readers on a car-free city centre

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We asked locals in the Belgian city to tell us how things have changed since the shake-up

The city has become a pedestrians and cyclists’ joy, especially for people like me who live in the city centre and have no car. As I type, they are busy turning our street into a low-traffic, communal woonerf or ‘living street’. It has become easier and safer to navigate the town on foot or by bike. Having recently returned from the Middle East the changes are even more striking, especially when it comes to my son. We were not ready for him to cycle before but teaching him to cycle on the roads here has been a fun and relatively stress-free experience. The changes have made an enormous difference to people’s quality of life. Khaled Diab, journalist and writer

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How a Belgian port city inspired Birmingham’s car-free ambitions

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Ghent’s transformation produced shorter journeys, cleaner air and a cycling explosion


Birmingham – once, proudly, the UK’s “motorway city” – has announced plans to entice people out of cars and on to bikes and buses. If officials get their way, the city will be split into zones, and, rather than driving direct, motorists will have to use the ring road for all zone-to-zone journeys.

Those travelling by foot and bicycle in the new Brum won’t be inconvenienced: their journeys will be simple and – with fewer cars – safer. With cars out of the way, bus journeys will become swifter and more reliable.

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Belgian doctors go on trial for murder for helping woman end life

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Medics accused of poisoning Tine Nys, 38, in country’s first euthanasia criminal case

Three Belgian doctors go on trial for murder on Tuesday for helping a woman end her life in the country’s first criminal case concerning euthanasia.

The doctors, whose names have not been made public, are accused of unlawfully poisoning 38-year-old Tine Nys on 27 April 2010. Prosecutors say Nys did not fulfil the conditions under Belgian law to be euthanised.

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EU headquarters built by undocumented migrants, workers claim

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‘Space Egg’ in Brussels under fire after investigation into subcontractors’ practices

The EU is facing embarrassment over claims that its new Europa headquarters, also known as the Space Egg building, was built with the help of undocumented migrant workers who at times went without pay.

The European council building in Brussels, which contains an ovoid glass structure, was opened in 2016 at a cost of £300m.

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EU looks at extending Brexit transition period beyond 2020

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Move is being considered by EU officials in face of Johnson not seeking extension beyond 11 months

EU leaders would take the initiative and request an extension to the transition period, keeping the UK under Brussels regulations beyond 2020, under a plan mooted for getting around Boris Johnson’s stated refusal to seek a delay.

The move is being considered by EU officials as a way out of the problem posed by the short time available to negotiate a new relationship and the prime minister’s insistence that he will not seek an extension beyond 11 months.

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Unesco removes ‘racist’ Belgian carnival from heritage list

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Carnival of Aalst included parade float caricaturing Orthodox Jews

Unesco has removed an annual carnival in the Belgian city of Aalst from its heritage list over persistent charges of antisemitism.

In an unprecedented move, Unesco’s intergovernmental committee for the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage said it was withdrawing the carnival “over recurring repetition of racist and antisemitic representations” at the event.

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EU leaders meet to try to agree on carbon neutrality by 2050

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Greenpeace activists unfurl climate emergency banner on Brussels venue before event

European leaders meeting at a summit in Brussels will make a new attempt to set the European Union on course for carbon neutrality by 2050, in a test of the bloc’s credibility on the climate emergency.

Hours before EU leaders were due to arrive on Thursday, Greenpeace activists unfurled a banner on the side of the summit venue warning of the climate emergency.

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EU risks splits over Brexit trade talks, says new council chief

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Charles Michel, who replaces Donald Tusk, says bloc has to work hard to keep unity

The EU is ready for the next phase of Brexit but risks greater internal divisions over trade talks with the UK, one of its incoming leaders has said.

In one of his first interviews since being nominated president of the European council, Charles Michel said Brexit may have played an important role in bringing the EU together.

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Quarter of world’s pig population ‘to die of African swine fever’

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World Organisation for Animal Health warns spread of disease has inflamed worldwide crisis

About a quarter of the global pig population is expected to die as a result of the African swine fever (ASF) epidemic, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

Global pork prices are rising spurred by growing demand from China, where as many as 100 million pigs have died since ASF broke out there last year. In recent months, China has been granting export approval to foreign meat plants and signing deals around the world at a dizzying rate. US pork sales to China have doubled, while European pork prices have now reached a six-year high.

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Belgian police find 12 people ‘safe and well’ in refrigerated lorry

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Migrants were found a week after UK police launched murder investigation into death of 39 people in Essex

Belgian police say they have found 12 people “safe and well” in a refrigerated lorry, one week after 39 people lost their lives in a similar vehicle that had travelled to Essex via continental Europe.

The migrants were discovered in the back of a fruit and vegetable lorry on the motorway, near the Flemish town of Oud-Turnhout, in the early hours of Wednesday. Police said they found 12 adult men: 11 Syrians and one Sudanese citizen.

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Belgium to evacuate Isis suspects from Syria detention camps

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Other European states also preparing to repatriate citizens accused of Isis links via safe zone

Belgium and other European states are preparing to evacuate citizens accused of having links to Islamic State from detention camps in north-eastern Syria through a newly declared safe zone being carved out by Turkish forces along the border.

Belgian officials informed family members of detainees held in two camps on Friday that they would attempt to take advantage of a five-day ceasefire to retrieve nationals allegedly tied to the terror group. The Guardian has learned that other European states, including France and Germany, are also looking at ways to take advantage of the window declared by US vice-president Mike Pence on Thursday to repatriate women and children.

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Environment groups offer €30k reward to identify wolf’s killer

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Naya, the first wolf sighted in Belgium for a century, believed to have been killed by hunters

Environmental groups are offering a €30,000 (£27,000) reward for information that helps identify who killed Naya, the first wolf sighted in Belgium for a century when she entered the country last year.

The wolf’s arrival completed the return of the predator to every mainland country in Europe, turning back decades of persecution.

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Belgium’s first sighted wolf in a century feared killed by hunters

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There has been no sign of Naya or the pups she was carrying since May

The first wolf to have been sighted in Belgium for more than 100 years has not been seen since May, and environmentalists believe she is likely to have been killed.

The wolf, given the name Naya, was first sighted in Belgium in the north-east province of Limbourg in January 2018. She was fitted with a collar containing a transponder to track her movements.

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Fighter pilot rescued from high-voltage power line after crash in France

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F-16 pilot’s parachute got caught in electricity line after he ejected from jet in Brittany

A Belgian F-16 fighter pilot has been rescued from a high-voltage electricity line after his jet crashed in Brittany, France.

The plane came down over the town of Pluvigner at about 10.30am local time on Thursday, narrowly missing a house. The two pilots were able to eject, with one safely picked up on the ground.

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Remove hook-nose sign language gesture, Jewish group demands

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Calls for ‘racist and humiliating’ gesture to be removed from online guide to Flemish signing

An organisation representing Jewish communities in Europe are demanding the removal of a “racist and humiliating” depiction of Jews as having large hooked noses from an online dictionary of Flemish sign language.

The portrayal is one of more than 10,000 signs on a visual online guide recognised by the Flemish government as a “knowledge and coordination centre” for sign language in the Flanders region of Belgium.

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Air pollution particles found on foetal side of placentas – study

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Research finds black carbon breathed by mothers can cross into unborn children

Air pollution particles have been found on the foetal side of placentas, indicating that unborn babies are directly exposed to the black carbon produced by motor traffic and fuel burning.

The research is the first study to show the placental barrier can be penetrated by particles breathed in by the mother. It found thousands of the tiny particles per cubic millimetre of tissue in every placenta analysed.

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Belgian anti-racism activist forced to flee town in blackface row

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Folkloric festival urged to ditch practice of parading a chained white man in black makeup

An anti-racism activist has said he was forced to leave the Belgian town of Ath on Sunday after a row with local authorities about a folkloric festival.

A carnival float featuring a white man in blackface called “the savage” featured on Sunday as part of Ath’s annual festival, despite calls to abandon the practice, which campaigners say is an act of “symbolic violence” towards black people in Belgium.

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Unesco urged to remove Belgian festival from heritage list over ‘savage’ in blackface

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Anti-racism activists across Europe call four-day carnival in Ath an ‘act of symbolic violence towards black communities’

Anti-racism campaigners have called on Unesco to remove a Belgian folklore festival from its cultural heritage list unless organisers stop parading characters in blackface.

The four-day carnival in the Belgian town of Ath, which gets under way on Friday, will feature “the savage”, a white man in blackface, who wears a chain around his neck and a ring through his nose. According to the official festival website, “the ‘savage’, chained and agitated, testifies to the taste for the exotic of the 19th century”.

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Woman survives six days trapped in car after Belgian crash

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Corine Bastide drank rainwater from chewing gum container to keep hydrated in heatwave

A Belgian woman survived six days trapped in her overturned car without food during one of the country’s hottest periods on record.

Corine Bastide came off the road and crashed into woods last week near the south-eastern city of Liège. Family friends who were putting up missing posters days later spotted her vehicle and alerted authorities.

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All-time temperature records tumble again as heatwave sears Europe

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Highs in Germany, Netherlands and Belgium exceeded for second time in 24 hours

Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium have recorded all-time national temperature highs for the second day running and Paris has had its hottest day ever as the second dangerous heatwave of the summer sears western Europe.

The extreme temperatures follow a similar heatwave last month that made it the hottest June on record. Scientists say the climate crisis is making summer heatwaves five times more likely and significantly more intense.

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