Category Archives: Belgium

Swedish and Belgian PMs lay wreaths for Brussels terror victims

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Questions raised about how attacker slipped through net to kill two football fans heading to Euro 2024 qualifier

The Swedish and Belgian prime ministers have paid tribute to two Swedish men shot dead by a gunman in Brussels on Monday night, as authorities scrambled to work out how the attacker had slipped through the net.

In Brussels on Wednesday, the Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, and his Belgian counterpart, Alexander De Croo, took part in a brief ceremony for the victims, laying wreaths and a Swedish football scarf and jersey among bouquets of flowers.

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Killing of two Swedish football fans in Brussels ‘probably lone wolf’ attack

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Sweden and Italy called for tighter security at Europe’s borders after shooting by man identified in reports as Abdesalem Lassoued

A Tunisian man who killed two Swedish citizens in a terrorist attack in Brussels was “probably a lone wolf”, the Belgian prime minister has said, as Sweden and Italy called for security at Europe’s borders to be tightened.

Sweden’s prime minister said the country was suffering “unfathomable sadness” after the fatal shooting of two Swedish football fans, one in his 60s and one in his 70s, and the wounding of a taxi driver.

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Attacks across Europe put Islamist extremism back in spotlight

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Even before the war in Gaza, authorities have been warning of rise in Islamist terrorism on the continent

For months now, authorities charged with keeping Europe safe from Islamist extremist violence have been sounding the alarm. In May, Dutch security services warned that the terrorist threat from Islamic State to Europe had increased. The same month, the French interior minister said the risk of Islamist terrorism was rising again and that his own country was being targeted, as well as its neighbours.

In recent days, these pessimistic forecasts appear to have been vindicated. France is deploying 7,000 extra troops on to its streets after a teacher was fatally stabbed on Friday in an attack that Emmanuel Macron condemned as “barbaric Islamic terrorism”. The suspected attacker swore an oath of allegiance to IS in an audio recording on his phone shortly before the killing, prosecutors have said.

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Brussels on high alert as two Swedes killed in shooting and suspect remains at large

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Residents told to stay at home after attack that prosecutors said was inspired by Islamic State

Brussels is on its highest level of security alert after two Swedes were shot dead in the centre of the city by a gunman who federal prosecutors said claimed to be inspired by Islamic State.

The Swedish national football team were in the middle of a match against Belgium at King Baudouin Stadium, about 5km away, but the match was abandoned at half-time and the crowd was instructed to stay inside the stadium.

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EU appears to backpedal on freezing of Palestinian aid payments

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Earlier announcement by Olivér Várhelyi had prompted surprise from member states including Ireland and Spain

The EU has been plunged into a diplomatic row after an announcement that it was to suspend “all payments” to Palestinians as a result of Hamas’s attacks on Israel led to clashes with several member states including Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands.

After six hours scrambling for an explanation, the European Commission appeared to backpedal on an announcement made by the commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi, saying: “There will be no suspension of payments.” But it muddied the waters by saying there were “no payments foreseen”.

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Autumn heat continues in Europe after record-breaking September

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Countries including France, Germany and Poland all had their hottest Septembers on record

Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Poland and Switzerland have all experienced their hottest Septembers on record, with unseasonably high temperatures set to continue into October, in a year likely to be the warmest in human history.

As 31C (88F) was forecast in south-west France on Sunday and 28C in Paris, the French weather authority, Météo-France, said September’s average temperature was 21.5C, between 3.5C and 3.6C above the norm for the 1991-2020 reference period.

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Eight men sentenced over 2016 Brussels bombings, ending Belgium’s largest-ever criminal trial

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Terms ranged up to life in prison and included high-profile culprits Salah Abdeslam and Mohamed Abrini

A Belgian court has handed out sentences of up to life in jail to eight men for the 2016 jihadist bombing attacks in Brussels, bringing to an end the country’s largest-ever criminal trial.

The suicide bombings on 22 March 2016 at Brussels’ main airport and on the metro system killed 32 people and were claimed by the Islamic State group.

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Blistering barnacles! Tintin mystery in Brussels after bust of Hergé vanishes

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The disappearance of a statue of the comic book artist in his Belgian birthplace was thought to be an act of decolonisation

It would have been a suitable assignment for Tintin, the intrepid Belgian boy reporter and his multi-talented, intuitive dog, Snowy.

Across Brussels, where Hergé, the creator of the eponymous comic books, was born, there are constant reminders of one of its most famous exports. A giant image of the character clinging to the back of a steam train from the book Tintin in America adorns one of the exits from the city’s Eurostar station, while a mural of Tintin, his seafaring friend Captain Haddock and Snowy covers the gable end of a house just over a mile away, surviving graffiti and vandalism.

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Germany arranges supply of 30 Leopard 1 tanks for Ukraine

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Arms firm Rheinmetall to refurbish vehicles following military aid package announced at Nato summit

Thirty secondhand Leopard I battle tanks are to be refurbished by the arms manufacturer Rheinmetall at the orders of the German government and exported to Ukraine, a spokesperson for the company has confirmed.

The tanks are part of a fleet of 49 vehicles that the Düsseldorf-based company purchased from the Belgian private defence company OIP Land Systems. Some of the vehicles are reportedly in such poor condition they will serve only for the supply of spare parts.

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EU country buys 49 secondhand Leopard tanks for Ukraine, arms dealer says

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Freddy Versluys says he has sold the former Belgium main battle tanks, which could be in combat in six months

Dozens of secondhand Leopard 1 tanks that once belonged to Belgium have been bought by a major European country for the Ukrainian army fighting Russia, according to the arms trader who sold them.

Freddy Versluys, CEO of the private defence company OIP Land Systems, told the Guardian that he sold 49 tanks to another European government, which he could not name due to a confidentiality clause. He said he also could not disclose the price. Versluys added it could be up to six months before they were on the battlefield in Ukraine.

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Hidden meaning of Magritte uncovered as new image is found under painting

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Secret portrait of woman likely to be wife of Belgian surrealist found during examination of artist’s work

A painting by René Magritte has been discovered beneath another painting by the Belgian surrealist master – to the excitement of experts.

A portrait of a woman had been hidden under La Cinquième Saison (The Fifth Season), from 1943, now held in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (RMFAB) in Brussels. She was discovered using infrared reflectography.

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Six men guilty of murder over Brussels terrorist attacks in 2016

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Islamic State bombers killed 32 and injured more than 300 in attacks at subway station and airport

Six men have been found guilty of murder and attempted murder for their part in the 2016 Brussels terrorist attacks that killed 32 people and injured more than 300.

They include Salah Abdeslam, who is already serving a life sentence in France for his role in the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks which targeted the Bataclan theatre and France’s national stadium, killing 130 people and injuring 350. He was arrested four days before the Brussels attack.

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Celine Cremer: waterfall and river to be searched for missing Belgian tourist in Tasmania

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Police say swift water will be examined on Tuesday ‘before we begin to scale back the search’

Police will search waterways as they continue looking for the Belgian tourist Celine Cremer, who has been missing for two weeks in remote Tasmanian wilderness.

Officers say they will examine the Philosopher Falls area more closely on Tuesday before scaling back the search.

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Hiker assisting police as search continues for Belgian Celine Cremer in Tasmania wilderness

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Investigators say hiker ‘not in any trouble’ but could help determine tourist’s movements prior to her disappearance

Police are continuing to search for missing Belgian tourist Celine Cremer in north-western Tasmania, a day after a hiker came forward who police hope could provide crucial clues about her disappearance.

Celine Cremer was reported missing on Monday but was last seen on 17 June in Waratah near Cradle Mountain.

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Belgian man charged with fatally shooting British girl, 11, in France

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Suspect Dirk Raats has been officially put under investigation for murder of Solaine Thornton

A man has appeared in court in France charged with shooting dead an 11-year-old British girl who was playing in the garden of her family home.

The suspect, Dirk Raats, 70, originally from Antwerp in Belgium, has been officially put under investigation for the murder of Solaine Thornton and the attempted murder of her parents, Adrian and Rachel Thornton.

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Ex-fraternity members in Belgium found guilty over death of student

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Sanda Dia died in hospital in December 2018 after enduring a degrading two-day initiation ritual

Eighteen former members of an elite university fraternity have been found guilty for their role in the death of a student during a brutal and degrading initiation ritual in 2018.

Sanda Dia was 20 when he died in hospital in December 2018 after he and two other first-year students endured two days of vicious hazing to enter the student fraternity, Reuzegom.

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Belgium aid worker freed in prisoner swap with Iranian diplomat jailed for bomb plot

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Deal to release Olivier Vandecasteele in exchange for Assadollah Assadi raises concerns Tehran’s hostage diplomacy has been rewarded

A Belgian aid worker jailed in Tehran has been released in a prisoner swap with an Iranian diplomat who had been sentenced to 20 years in jail for his role in a plan to bomb an Iranian opposition rally in Paris in 2018.

Assadollah Assadi had served just over two years of his 20-year sentence, and his release will raise questions about whether Iranian hostage diplomacy – the practice of seizing dual nationals as bargaining chips – has been rewarded by the Belgian authorities. The final stages of the deal were negotiated by Oman, but Belgium had been negotiating with Iran over the fate of the diplomat for much longer.

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Fears looted Nazi art still hanging in Belgian and British galleries

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Leading art museums are reassessing their works after a Belgian journalist traced how a fascist sympathiser acquired a Jewish dealer’s collection

In August 1940, Samuel Hartveld and his wife, Clara Meiboom, boarded the SS Exeter ocean liner in Lisbon, bound for New York. Aged 62, Hartveld, a successful Jewish art dealer, left a world behind. The couple had fled their home city of Antwerp not long before the Nazi invasion of Belgium in May 1940, parting with their 23-year-old son, Adelin, who had decided to join the resistance.

Hartveld also said goodbye to a flourishing gallery in a fine art deco building in the Flemish capital, a rich library and more than 60 paintings. The couple survived the war, but Adelin was killed in January 1942. Hartveld was never reunited with his paintings, which were snapped up at a bargain-basement price by a Nazi sympathiser and today are scattered throughout galleries in north-western Europe, including Tate Britain.

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Renovation of Brussels park ignites debate on decolonisation

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Triumphal arch in Cinquantenaire park ‘linked to exploitation of Congo’, says cultural group in Belgian capital

For many Belgians, the Cinquantenaire park in Brussels evokes memories of childhood visits to see the stuffed horses of the military history museum, or vintage cars at Autoworld, two institutions on the edge of the park.

The much-loved green space’s cheerful flowers and whimsical follies contrast with the steel canyons and beeping traffic of the adjacent EU quarter, but above all it is an expression of national pride, with a giant Belgian tricolour often suspended underneath a massive triumphal arch. Built in 1880 to mark 50 years of the Belgian state, Belgium’s federal government last month launched a redevelopment plan for the 200th anniversary in 2030.

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