Category Archives: Belgium

European far right follows Trump in calling for antifa to be declared terrorists

Posted on by

Netherlands and Hungary move towards designation as draft resolution reportedly backed by 79 MEPs in 20 countries

Where Donald Trump leads, Europe’s nationalists and far right follow. After a Truth Social post last month, when Trump announced the US would designate antifa, the decentralised anti-fascist movement, “a major terrorist organisation”, his international allies swung into action.

That same day, the Dutch parliament, where the largest party is Geert Wilders’ far-right PVV, passed a resolution, noting the US decision and calling on the government to declare antifa a terrorist organisation in the Netherlands.

Continue reading...

Belgian PM reported to be among targets of ‘jihad-inspired’ drone plot

Posted on by

Officers in Antwerp arrest three suspects and recover an improvised explosive device

Police in Belgium have arrested three young adults suspected of plotting a jihadist-inspired attack using drone-mounted explosives, with the Belgian prime minister reported to be among the politicians targeted.

The arrests were made in the northern city of Antwerp as part of an investigation into “attempted terrorist murder and participation in the activities of a terrorist group”, the federal prosecutor Ann Fransen told a news conference.

Continue reading...

Belgian PM reported to be among targets of ‘jihad-inspired’ drone plot

Posted on by

Officers in Antwerp arrest three suspects and recover an improvised explosive device

Police in Belgium have arrested three young adults suspected of plotting a jihadist-inspired attack using drone-mounted explosives, with the Belgian prime minister reported to be among the politicians targeted.

The arrests were made in the northern city of Antwerp as part of an investigation into “attempted terrorist murder and participation in the activities of a terrorist group”, the federal prosecutor Ann Fransen told a news conference.

Continue reading...

René Magritte’s ‘superstar of surrealism’ to go on sale in Paris

Posted on by

La Magie Noire, bought by family of wartime resistance heroine 90 years ago, expected to fetch more than €7m

A painting by the surrealist artist René Magritte that has been held in a private collection for more than 90 years will go on sale later this month.

La Magie Noire was bought by the family of the second world war resistance heroine Suzanne Spaak, who were Magritte’s benefactors at a time when he was struggling financially and had failed to sell a single work for two years.

Continue reading...

Disruption continues at Heathrow, Brussels and Berlin airports after cyber-attack

Posted on by

Zaventem asks airlines to cancel half of Monday departures, while most of Heathrow flights expected to operate

Hundreds of thousands of passengers at Heathrow and Berlin airports faced flight delays on Sunday after a cyber-attack hit check-in desk software, while cancellations at Brussels airport suggested that disruption of Europe’s air travel would continue into Monday.

Airlines were forced to revert to slower manual check-ins from Friday night after the attack hit Collins Aerospace, which provides check-in desk technology to various airlines.

Continue reading...

UN votes to allow Palestinian president to address annual gathering via video link

Posted on by

Trump had refused to grant visas for Palestinian delegation due to attend conference and UN general assembly

The United Nations general assembly has voted to allow the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to address next week’s annual gathering of world leaders next week in New York via video link after Donald Trump said he would not give him a US visa.

The resolution received 145 votes in favour and five votes against, while six countries abstained.

Continue reading...

Belgium prime minister attends concert of Israeli conductor axed by festival

Posted on by

Bart De Wever travelled to Essen, Germany to hear performance conducted by Lahav Shani, the music director of the Israel Philharmonic

Belgium’s prime minister, Bart De Wever, has said he attended a concert by a German orchestra that was uninvited from a Belgian festival to show support for its Israeli conductor.

The cancellation of a planned performance at the Flanders festival Ghent by the Munich Philharmonic over concerns about its Israeli future chief conductor, Lahav Shani, has triggered a storm of criticism and accusations of antisemitism.

Continue reading...

Festival axes German orchestra over concerns about Israeli conductor

Posted on by

Belgian organisers are accused of ‘naked antisemitism’ after cancelling performance by Lahav Shani

A Belgian classical music festival has axed a leading German orchestra from its programme over concerns about its Israeli conductor, drawing accusations of antisemitism from Berlin.

Flanders Festival Ghent announced it had cancelled a concert by the Munich Philharmonic scheduled for 18 September, citing insufficient clarity over Lahav Shani’s attitude to the Israeli government.

Continue reading...

Manneken Pis gets new uniform to honour soldiers who liberated Brussels

Posted on by

Gift comes 8o years after Welsh guards first left replica uniform for Belgian statue to commemorate end of Nazi occupation

When British forces commemorated the liberation of Brussels for the first time in 1945, they left a unique gift – a replica Welsh guards uniform for the Belgian city’s emblematic “peeing boy” statue, the Manneken Pis.

Now 81 years after the Welsh guards freed Brussels from Nazi occupation, the gift has been renewed: the Manneken Pis has a new regimental uniform, including scarlet jacket embroidered with gold lace, gleaming white belt and authentic bearskin hat.

Continue reading...

Belgium to recognise Palestinian state at UN and sanction Israel – as it happened

Posted on by

Foreign minister says move is not aimed at Israeli people but ‘ensuring their government respects international and humanitarian law’. This live blog is closed

At least 63,633 Palestinian people have been killed and 160,914 others injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

At least 76 Palestinian people, including 12 aid seekers, were killed in the last 24 hours alone, the ministry said.

Continue reading...

Belgian police question two Israelis over war crimes accusations

Posted on by

Authorities interviewed Israeli pair after they were seen at Tomorrowland music festival near Antwerp

Belgian authorities have said they briefly held and questioned two Israeli citizens who attended an electronic music festival last week, after pro-Palestinian groups accused them of war crimes.

Prosecutors said they had received legal complaints alleging that two Israeli soldiers responsible for “serious violations of international humanitarian law” in Gaza were spotted at the Tomorrowland festival near the northern city of Antwerp.

Continue reading...

Fire destroys main stage at Belgium’s Tomorrowland festival on eve of opening

Posted on by

Blaze came a day before thousands of electronic dance music fans were set to descend on the Belgian event

The main stage of the Tomorrowland music festival near Antwerp was totally destroyed by fire on Wednesday, a day before thousands of electronic dance music lovers were due to arrive at the Belgian event.

There were no injuries, organisers said, insisting they would still go ahead with the festival over the next two weekends.

Continue reading...

France to use UK drama Adolescence to teach teenagers about toxic masculinity

Posted on by

French education ministry follows Britain and Netherlands in incorporating Netflix hit into school curriculums

France has followed the UK and the Netherlands in allowing the Netflix drama Adolescence to be used in secondary schools as part of efforts to teach teenagers about toxic masculinity and online harms.

The French education ministry will offer schools five classes based on excerpts from the critically acclaimed mini-series, which has provoked a global debate about the impact on young boys of misogynistic content online and on social media.

Continue reading...

Weather tracker: Storms make way for summer heat in Europe

Posted on by

Florence in Italy could hit 39C as hot weather sweeps continent, while parts of South Africa brace for snow

The severe thunderstorms that have been lashing parts of Europe over recent days are expected to give way to high temperatures this week. Several regions could climb to 10C (50F) above seasonal norms, with Italy braced for the full force of the heat. Florence in Tuscany is forecast to soar to a sweltering 39C on Thursday and across the weekend.

Germany, France and Belgium will also face hot weather from Wednesday, with widespread highs at least 9C above the June average. Many other parts of Europe are forecast to experience temperatures 5-7C above normal. This is the result of a high-pressure system creating a heat dome over the region, whereby sinking air compresses and warms as it descends, trapping heat near the surface.

Continue reading...

Brussels celebrates art deco’s mass-produced objects for the middle class

Posted on by

An exhibition in the Belgian capital shows the artistic style was first to seek to appeal to a wider group of consumers

The glazed porcelain vases with bold colours and geometric shapes of the 1920s and 30s are immediately recognisable to many people, says the art historian Cécile Dubois. Often given as a wedding present, these vases were usually passed down as family heirlooms, revealing the accessibility of art deco works, she says, gesturing to the glass cabinet beside her. “If you were a collector, you could find works that cost a fortune, but these pieces were destined for people of more modest means for very reasonable prices.”

Art deco was the first artistic movement that sought to appeal to a wider public beyond the elites, say the organisers of a new exhibition dedicated to the artistic movement of the interwar years, co-curated by Dubois, the president of the Brussels Art Deco Society.

Continue reading...

French police investigate spate of cryptocurrency millionaire kidnappings

Posted on by

Victims have had fingers chopped off by attackers in crimewave targeting entrepreneurs and their families

French police are investigating a series of kidnappings of investors linked to cryptocurrency after a 60-year-old man had a finger chopped off by attackers who demanded his crypto-millionaire son pay a ransom.

In the latest of several kidnappings of cryptocurrency figures in France and western Europe, the man, who owned a cryptocurrency marketing company with his son, was freed from a house south of Paris on Saturday night. He had been held for more than two days.

Continue reading...

Fan hands himself in after bottle thrown at Van der Poel during Paris-Roubaix

Posted on by
  • Dutchman struck on his way to victory in famous race
  • Alpecin-Deceuninck and UCI join with condemnation

French justice officials have launched an investigation after Mathieu van der Poel had a plastic bottle hurled at his face during his triumphant ride to a third consecutive Paris-Roubaix victory on Sunday.

“An investigation was opened into the charge of violence with a weapon in order to identify and arrest the perpetrator,” said the Lille prosecutor Carole Etienne on X. The Dutch Alpecin-Deceuninck rider was struck while powering solo over a cobbled section with 33km remaining in the prestigious one-day classic, often called “The Hell of the North”.

Continue reading...

Belgian prince loses legal battle to receive social security benefits on top of royal allowance

Posted on by

Prince Laurent had argued that his work entitled him to the same benefits as independent entrepreneurs but a court in Brussels disagreed

A Belgian prince has lost a legal battle to claim social security benefits on top of his royal allowance, with a court ruling his claim – the first of its kind in the country’s nearly 200-year history – “unfounded”.

Prince Laurent, the youngest of three children of the former king and queen, had argued that his work entitled him to the coverage granted to independent entrepreneurs – and that he was acting out of “principle” rather than for money.

Continue reading...

US ‘testing’ if Russia is serious about peace in Ukraine, says Marco Rubio

Posted on by

Secretary of state says Putin ‘will have to make a decision’ as US officials appear to be growing impatient

The US will know within weeks whether Russia is serious about pursuing peace with Ukraine, the secretary of state has said, warning that Donald Trump was not “going to fall into the trap of endless negotiations” with Moscow.

“We’re testing to see if the Russians are interested in peace,” Marco Rubio told journalists in Brussels after talks with Nato allies. “Their actions – not their words, their actions – will determine whether they’re serious or not, and we intend to find that out sooner rather than later.”

Continue reading...

Politicians criticise US efforts to make EU firms reverse diversity initiatives

Posted on by

Officials in France and Belgium hit out at ‘American interference’ amid growing transatlantic tensions

Officials in France and Belgium have hit back at American efforts to impose Donald Trump’s rollback of diversity measures on Europe, which in the US has seen Disney put under investigation.

Several companies across the EU have in recent days reportedly received letters informing them that the Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives also applies to firms around the world looking to do business with the US government.

Continue reading...