Message came after northern city of Ghent posted tips for recycling the conifer as a dish
At a time when most people have probably polished off their holiday leftovers, Belgium’s food agency has issued a surprising seasonal health warning: don’t eat your Christmas tree.
The message on Tuesday came after the city of Ghent, an environmentalist stronghold in the country’s northern Flanders region, raised eyebrows by posting tips for recycling the conifers on the dinner table.
Continue reading...Products banned on health and environmental grounds, while Milan outlaws outdoor smoking
Belgium has become the EU first country to ban the sale of disposable vapes in an effort to stop young people from becoming addicted to nicotine and to protect the environment.
The sale of disposable electronic cigarettes is banned in Belgium on health and environmental grounds from 1 January. A ban on outdoor smoking in Milan came into force on the same day, as EU countries discuss tighter controls on tobacco.
Continue reading...Court said five women were victims of ‘systematic kidnapping’ by state over forced removal from mothers as small children
The Belgian state has been found guilty of crimes against humanity for the forced removal of five mixed-race children from their mothers in colonial Congo.
In a long-awaited ruling issued on Monday, Belgium’s court of appeal said that five women, born in the Belgian Congo and now in their 70s, had been victims of “systematic kidnapping” by the state when they were removed from their mothers as small children and sent to Catholic institutions because of their mixed-race origins.
Continue reading...Move by lawmakers hailed as ‘huge step forward’, ending legal discrimination against sex workers
Belgian sex workers have gained the right to sick days, maternity pay and pension rights under the first law of its kind in the world.
Lawmakers voted in May to give sex workers the same employment protections as any other employee, in an attempt to clamp down on abuse and exploitation.
Continue reading...Italy’s highest court rejects musician’s appeal after she was arrested in Rome in June over child custody dispute
Malian musician Rokia Traoré, who was arrested in Rome last June over an international child custody dispute, will be handed over to Belgium in the coming days after Italy’s highest court rejected her appeal, her lawyer said on Wednesday.
Traoré, 50, a former goodwill ambassador for the United Nations’ refugee agency UNHCR, was arrested on 20 June at Rome’s Fiumicino airport under a European arrest warrant.
Continue reading...Publisher ‘profoundly sorry’ for hurt caused by Spirou and the Blue Gorgon as it recalls 30,000 copies from shops
A comic book has been withdrawn from sale by its Belgian publisher after an outcry over racist depictions of black people and “hyper-sexualised” images of women.
The publisher Dupuis announced that its graphic novel, Spirou and the Blue Gorgon, would be removed from shops after the book caused a storm on social media.
Continue reading...Police forces in France, Italy and Spain join cold-case initiative after launch last year of Operation Identify Me
Police have expanded a cold-case campaign aimed at identifying dozens of women who were murdered or who died in suspicious circumstances across Europe, taking in three new countries and more than doubling the number of cases.
The international policing organisation Interpol said on Tuesday that forces from France, Italy and Spain had joined those in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, which last year launched Operation Identify Me to help name 22 female victims.
Continue reading...Excavators in Belgium find 15 limbs and seven equine skeletons at site of decisive 1815 battle against Napoleon
The carnage and horror of the battle of Waterloo have been laid bare in an excavation by military veterans and archaeologists that has uncovered amputated limbs and the remains of horses which were shot to be put out of their misery.
At least 20,000 men – and possibly many more – were killed in the epic 1815 battle when the British military officer the Duke of Wellington and a European alliance defeated Napoleon’s French forces in a decisive and bloody encounter that determined the power balance in Europe for nearly a century.
Continue reading...Police searched houses across country on eve of Olympic opening ceremony in neighbouring France
Three suspected members of Islamic State’s Afghan branch, Islamic State Khorasan, have been charged in Belgium with planning a terrorist attack.
Police released four other people who had also been detained during searches of houses across the country on Thursday, three of them after being questioned by an investigative judge, the state prosecutor’s office said.
Continue reading...Investigation that lasted decades ends with no convictions for 1982-85 rampage that took lives of 28 people
It is a murder mystery that gripped Belgium for decades and now, with the closure of the file on Friday, it may remain a cold case forever.
A gang went on a murderous rampage between 1982 and 1985, killing 28 people including children in a series of supermarket robberies, becoming known as the “Crazy Killers of Brabant”.
Continue reading...After delays in delivery and training pilots and ground staff, Netherlands says Ukraine should get first planes in summer
At a military base in the rural south of the Netherlands, Gen Arnoud Stallmann, a Dutch air force commander, said he expected that at some point this summer, F-16 fighter jets would finally take to the skies over Ukraine.
“Around this summertime, it is all lining up,” he said, speaking in front of two disused F-16s inside a hangar at the base, where a recent programme to train Ukrainian air force instructors in maintenance for the jets had just come to a close.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Guardian investigation shows white powder trail linking hundreds of vulnerable African minors with ruthless gangs
Hundreds of unaccompanied child migrants across Europe are being forced to work as soldiers for increasingly powerful drug cartels to meet the continent’s soaring appetite for cocaine, a Guardian investigation has found.
EU police forces have warned of industrial-scale exploitation of African children by cocaine networks operating in western Europe in cities including Paris and Brussels as they seek to expand Europe’s £10bn cocaine market.
Continue reading...Alexander De Croo notified King Philippe on Monday morning, but will lead until a new coalition is formed
The Belgian prime minister has formally tendered his resignation following a visit to the King, after his Flemish Liberals and Democrats party (Open VLD) suffered heavy defeats in Sunday’s general election.
Alexander De Croo will remain caretaker prime minister until a new coalition, involving seven parties, is formed, a process that could take months.
Continue reading...EU officials anticipate ‘narratives questioning the legitimacy of the elections’ for weeks afterwards
Debunking, prebunking and factchecking; correcting lies, fake news and race hate – battling disinformation before this week’s European elections has become a high-stakes, full-time job for hundreds of staff across the continent.
EU leaders are so concerned over foreign interference in the polls, due to take place from Thursday to Sunday, that they have put rapid alert teams on notice to swing into action in the event of a serious incident. Officials say the quantity of disinformation has reached “tsunami levels” – but political leaders have been the slowest to catch on.
Continue reading...Parliamentary staffer may have played ‘significant role’ in alleged payments to MEPs to promote propaganda on Voice of Europe website
Belgian police have searched the European parliament office and Brussels home of a parliamentary staffer who is believed to have played “a significant role” in a Russian interference operation, the national prosecutor has said.
French authorities also carried out a search of the employee’s European parliament office in Strasbourg at the request of the Belgian examining magistrate overseeing the inquiry into corruption and Russian interference.
Continue reading...Police arrested dozens of people in Amsterdam, with university occupations continuing in Netherlands, Belgium and Spain
Thirty-two people were arrested as Dutch police broke up a Gaza war protest at the University of Amsterdam, in a second day of unrest over the conflict. Police said the offences included public violence, vandalism and assault.
Video captured by Reuters appeared to show officers in riot gear striking protesters and police knocking down makeshift barricades of desks, bricks and wooden pallets that seemingly had been used to set off fire extinguishers in hopes of pushing them back. The footage appeared to also show police dragging several students away as hundreds shouted: “Shame on you!”
Continue reading...10% of the windfall profits will fund non-lethal aid to assuage EU member states that do not wish to fund arms
The EU has reached a deal to seize profits from Russia’s frozen assets to fund weapons and aid for Ukraine within months.
EU senior diplomats meeting on Wednesday agreed a compromise on using the estimated €4.4bn windfall profits to aid Ukraine, smoothing over a dispute about taxation and management costs in Belgium, the country where most of the frozen assets are held.
Continue reading...Students set up encampments at universities across continent as they call for ceasefire in Israel-Gaza war
Student protests demanding that universities sever ties with Israel over the Gaza war have spread across Europe, sparking clashes and arrests as new demonstrations broke out in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Switzerland and Austria.
Students at various European universities, inspired by ongoing demonstrations at US campuses, have been occupying halls and facilities, demanding an end to partnerships with Israeli institutions because of Israel’s assault on Gaza.
Continue reading...More than 200 expected to join protest calling for climate action and to cut ties with Israeli institutions
More than 100 students have occupied Ghent University in the first European protest to fuse demands about Gaza and the climate crisis.
Ghent’s centrepiece UFO building was peacefully taken over by students calling for concrete action to meet the university’s 2030 climate plans, and asking the university to cut ties with institutions connected to the Israeli military.
Continue reading...Papy Booom runs outings for older people, and late-night dancing is proving a successful way of socialising and staying active
A Belgian initiative with the motto “happiness overcomes old age” has found a novel way to counter feelings of loneliness among nursing home residents: unleashing them on to the dancefloor of Brussels’ largest nightclub.
As part of a series of unconventional activities designed to keep retired people active, a nonprofit association, Papy Booom, recently arranged for 11 pensioners to visit Lift Brussels, a 1,360 sq metre (14,500 sq ft) venue specialising in R&B, reggaeton and Latin dance.
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