The 59-year-old suffered cardiac arrest just three hundred metres from the finishing line.

After his round of talks with the chairs of the political parties N-VA, CD&V, S.PA and CDH yesterday, King Albert will meet with the chairs of the environmental parties Ecolo and Groen! and with Elio Di Rupo in his role as chairman of the Parti Socialiste today. Tomorrow Di Rupo will continue his talks with the party chairpersons in his capacity as preformateur. The talks held at the palace yesterday and today focus on the reorientation of the the future flow of funds to the country's different regions. The N-VA had an internal consultation yesterday after the deadlock of the past few days and the unwillingness of the French-speakers to commit to an amendment of the financing act. The N-VA feels an amendment is unavoidable and believes the federal states, which stand to take over budget responsibility of 16 billion euros from the federal government, should be encouraged to increase efficiency. They also feel the adjustment is indispensible to keep the federal government afloat. As the federated entities are set to become the key political decision center in Belgium, they should be made more responsible for their policy. If they fail to become more responsible, the federal government will suffer financial difficulties which will in turn lead to an increase in taxes, especially in view of the total savings target of 25 billion euros, the N-VA maintains. The party agrees with Di Rupo that initially none of the federated entities should end up poorer than before, but it also feels that in the long term this may be unavoidable, as some measures should be in place to encourage efficiency. The party is further willing to maintain solidarity mechanisms, but believe these should be realistic. One of the proposals made by the Flemish Nationalist party to limit major income discrepancies between the federated entities, is to link only a small percentage of their budgets with recorded results. They also believe that a well managed budget should be rewarded and vice versa. Discussions will focus on the setting of parameters (population, employed population, GDP or income tax yield) to determine the distribution of funds between the regions Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels. Based on these parameters, Flanders will receive between 57.8 and 63.4% of the available budget; almost 1.1% more than the region currently receives. The budget for the Brussels Region will vary between 8.4 and 18.9% depending on the chosen criteria with revenue from personal income tax and GDP as the extremities. This major discrepancy is caused by the generation of GDP in Brussels by commuters who pay income tax in their region of residence.

Six buyers have been lining up in the Antwerp harbour to make an offer on the Opel Antwerp factory owned by General Motors. Among them are two Chinese carmakers, a European supplier to the car industry and three European companies from other sectors. So far no names have yet been divulged. This news was shared with staff returning from their 4-week break this week. In June, half the Opel Antwerp staff of about 2,600 took their severance packages and left the company. According to Flemish Prime Minister Kris Peeters (CD&V), three of the contenders are serious candidates. The Flemish government, in collaboration with the unions and some industry leaders, has set up a work group to come forward with an industrial alternative for the site by 30 September. The ideal scenario would be a takeover from another carmaker, but if there is no interest in this respect, the factory could be redeveloped as a manufacturer of car parts. A third option will see the factory specializing in industrial activities outside the car industry. General Motors, set on returning to the stock market as soon as possible, would like to speed up the process and wrap up all pending Opel activities. In an attempt to tighten the pressure on Opel Antwerp talks, the auto group has assigned real estate consultant CB Richard Ellis to market the site without its industrial activities. Peeters however sees this move as a deviation from all prior agreements, believing the action could impact negatively on the three serious investment contenders. Socialist party trade unionist Rudi Kennes feels equally bitter, announcing that he would insist on an explanation at the works council in Antwerp and its European counterpart in Germany. If the matter should end up as a purely real estate purchase, the Antwerp Municipal Ports Company could be a serious contender, as it holds a pre-emptive right stipulated during the sale of the site to GM in 1965. The company is however reluctant to sink talks with possible industrial investors. The remaining Opel staff is entitled to the same severance package paid by GM to those workers retrenched earlier, thanks to the unions setting the ball rolling earlier this year. An amount of 400 million euros has already been set aside by GM for this purpose, which would result in an average payment of 153,250 eruos per employer.

Each year the Flemish Minister for Heritage awards the Monument Prize to a private or public initiative that makes a special contribution in the field of archaeology, monuments or landscape conservation, with both protected and unprotected heritage sites up for consideration. On 6 September the overall winner will be announced. "I would like to use this award to put our heritage under the spotlight," says Flemish Minister for Heritage Geert Bourgeois (N-VA), who hopes to use this award to highlight careful attempts to open some of the country's unmovable heritage to the public. To this end the Flemish Monument Prize attaches great importance to public relations in an attempt to nurture an interest among the population and to create local support. The five laureates are always from a different province. In Antwerp, the restored façade decoration group of the former Bread Chapel has been nominated, a sculpture of Our Lady on the corner of the Keizerstraat and Prinsesstaat. Limburg's nomination is the ruins of the twelfth-century moated castle Pietersheim with its castle, ruins, park and forest. The area is currently used as entry to the Hoge Kempen national park. In East Flanders the ancient Jesuit college in the Ghent Volderstraat has been nominated for its restoration and integration in the faculty of law at the University of Ghent. In Flemish Brabant the honour has been bestowed on the Hertogen mill in Aarschot for its restoration and conversion to a hall for festivities and a brasserie in an attempt to save the derelict site from further decline. In the province of West Flanders the castle and clay pigeon shooting range on the Wellington horseracecourse in Ostend has been nominated for the conversion of the entire race track. The courtyard became a golf course and the former pigeon shooting range was converted to a club house with restaurant on the first floor.

Belgium’s King Albert has started a series of meetings with party leaders after the Francophone socialist leader, Elio Di Rupo, on Wednesday agreed to pursue his efforts to reach a seven-party deal on state reforms.

The Belgian women's 4x100 metre medley team came in 7th in their final.

The Jazz Middleheim festival would simply not be the same with out 88-year-old Toots Thielemans.

Click here for this and all the rest of Saturday’s evening’s First Division action.

Kim Clijsters needed just 12 minutes on Saturday to set up a final match at the Cincinnati Open.

Cet après-midi, le pré-formateur Elio Di Rupo se rendra pour la troisième fois en un peu plus d'un mois chez le Roi, pour solliciter une nouvelle prolongation de sa mission. En l'état, il n'y a toujours pas d'accord global entre Flamands et Francophones, ces derniers refusant une révision de la loi de financement, qui règle les flux financiers entre le gouvernement fédéral et les entités fédérées. Le Roi devrait donc accorder à Di Rupo une toute dernière chance de parvenir à un accord, d'autant plus qu'il n'existe pas de plan B. Alors qu'un accord était en vue, le président du PS, Elio Di Rupo, s'est vu contraint d'interrompre les négociations plénières avec les sept partis et de passer à des entretiens bilatéraux. Motif: un vif différend survenu lundi soir avec Bart De Wever, président de la N-VA. Irrité par la réticence des Francophones à accepter le principe de responsabilisation financière, celui-ci a surpris ses interlocuteurs en déposant sur la table la loi de financement. Après un entretien avec le président de la N-VA, le pré-formateur s'est hâté de rejoindre la réunion des partis francophones, pour leur rendre compte des discussions, mais aussi apaiser les esprits de certains, fâchés de l'initiative prise unilatéralement par Joëlle Milquet, présidente du CDH, de discuter de la révision de la loi de financement avec son parti frère néerlandophone, le CD&V. Hier soir, il n'était pas encore question d'un accord global - et moins encore d'une réconciliation entre De Wever et Di Rupo. Parmi les avancées peu ou prou entérinées, citons les accords de principe en matière de transfert de certains pans des soins de santé, de la politique du marché de l'emploi, des allocations familiales ou de la fiscalité. Aucune trace par contre d'un engagement des Francophones quant à la responsabilisation en matière de financement. La concrétisation de cette responsabilisation est surtout mise en avant par la N-VA et le CD&V, qui jugent qu'elle doit offrir aux entités fédérées une meilleure capacité financière de mener leurs propres politiques. Une telle évolution exige la révision de la loi de financement. Or, les Francophones craignent qu'une telle révision n'entraîne l'appauvrissement de la Wallonie. PS et Ecolo entendent donc limiter les changements à ce qui est nécessaire pour régler le transfert de nouvelles compétences. De même, la question du fameux arrondissement électoral Bruxelles-Halle-Vilvorde ne semble plus constituer un écueil insurmontable. En échange de la scission de l'arrondissement, les Francophones se verraient accorder des compensations dans les communes à facilités et une solution dans le dossier de la nomination des bourgmestres de ces communes. En l'état toutefois, nul ne se risque à prédire que Di Rupo pourra rapidement entamer sa mission de formation proprement dite.

Depuis pas mal de temps, la loi de financement, qui règle les transferts financiers vers les Communautés et Régions, fait l'objet de critiques, en raison de son effroyable complexité et de ses effets pervers indésirables. Les économistes jugent que le texte récompense les régions qui connaissent davantage de pauvreté et de chômage, au détriment de celles qui mènent une politique apte, par exemple, à remettre les chômeurs au travail. Un constat qui amène depuis longtemps déjà économistes francophones et néerlandophones à plaider pour une nouvelle loi de financement, qui « responsabilise » davantage les entités fédérées, récompense celles d'entre elles qui mènent une politique efficace et pénalise les autres. Une proposition concrète existe déjà : à l'ULB, Daan Struyven et le professeur Dewatripont ont élaboré un système de bonus-malus pour la politique du marché du travail. Plus globalement, les économistes estiment qu¿il serait plus adapté de coupler les recettes des entités fédérées à l'impôt sur le revenu, qui reflète l'évolution de la prospérité de la population. Une première tentative en ce sens avait été entreprise par Eric Kirsch, avant même de devenir le chef de cabinet du Premier ministre sortant Yves Leterme (CD&V). À Leuven, un groupe de professeurs réunis autour de Dirk Heremans et Theo Peeters a lui aussi conçu un modèle fondé sur l'impôt des personnes physiques. Leurs homologues namurois, dont Robert Deschamps, travaillent quant à eux non sur la recette de cet impôt, mais sur sa base de calcul - une solution plus avantageuse pour la Wallonie et Bruxelles. Les différentes propositions universitaires ont été récemment débattues au sein de Rethinking Belgium (www.rethinkingbelgium.be).

En 2009, la puissance cumulée des turbines éoliennes installées en Flandre a augmenté de près de 56 mW pour s'établir à 240 mW, soit une augmentation de trente pour cent. On compte aujourd'hui 147 turbines opérationnelles et la tendance à la hausse devrait se poursuivre, si l'on considère que le nombre de demandes d'avis adressées au Groupe de travail interdépartemental éolien a été multiplié par quatre depuis 2008. En termes de superficie, on compte en Flandre une puissance éolienne de 18 kW par kilomètre carré, contre 8 kW en France, 72 kW en Allemagne et 55 kW aux Pays-Bas. Fin 2009, la Wallonie comptait quant à elle 145 turbines, pour une puissance totale de 272 mW : 16 kW par kilomètre carré. À l'heure actuelle, l'énergie éolienne assure 14 % environ de l'électricité verte produite en Flandre.

L'année dernière, Gand s'est vu décerner par l'Unesco le titre de Creative City of Music. Un titre qui sera solennellement présenté au public le 18 septembre durant OdeGand, ouverture officielle du Festival de Flandre, et que la ville partage désormais avec Séville, Glasgow et Bologne. OdeGand permet au public d'assister en bateau à divers concerts donnés aux quatre coins de la ville. Cette année, Serge Platel, directeur général du festival, compte sur 10 000 visiteurs. Le cocktail de jazz, musique du monde et musique classique, saupoudré d'animations de rue et d'un grand show de clôture avec feu d'artifice, est pour la ville une véritable attraction touristique. Pour l'horeca, OdeGand est même l'événement majeur de l'année : les hôtels affichent complets, tandis que cafés et restaurants ne désemplissent pas. Jelle Dierickx, coordinateur artistique de la manifestation, a concocté un programme qui propose au public pas moins de 50 concerts et dont les temps forts seront le concert de Claire Huangci, pianiste virtuose américaine de 19 ans, et celui du jazzman Uri Caine, qui proposera une relecture (controversée) d'oeuvres de Gustav Mahler. Le titre de Creative City of Music décerné par l'Unesco est surtout une bonne affaire pour l'image de la ville d'art flamande. Des Gantois célèbres sur la scène musicale internationale - Gérard Mortier, directeur de l'opéra du Teatro Real madrilène (et ancien directeur des Salzburger Festspiele), le chef d'orchestre Philippe Herreweghe (Collegium Vocale, Chapelle Royale, Orchestre des Champs-Élysées) et le chorégraphe Alain Platel (Compagnie C de la B) - ont d'ailleurs soutenu la candidature. Jan Briers Jr., administrateur délégué du Festival de Flandre, juge que ce titre renforce la visibilité de Gand sur la carte du monde et s'explique aussi par le nombre de représentations musicales données dans la ville. Entre juillet et octobre de l'année prochaine, Gand accueillera chaque jour un festival: depuis les Gentse Feesten jusqu'au Jazz Gent, en passant par OdeGand et le festival du film, placé sous le signe des musiques de film. Cette idée est à la base du projet « Gent Festivalstad » (Gand, ville des Festivals). Briers annonce en outre une collaboration avec les trois autres villes (Séville, Glasgow, Bologne) honorées par l'Unesco.

Belgium’s King Albert has started a series of meetings with party leaders after the Francophone socialist leader, Elio Di Rupo, on Wednesday agreed to pursue his efforts to reach a seven-party deal on state reforms.

He has been questioned and is now in police custody.

A six-year-old boy died in hospital after getting into trouble in the sea off Bredene.

15/08 - The Mayor of Keerbergen in Antwerp Province has taken measures to tackle the menace of speeding cyclists.

The annual 100 km hike though the Flemish countryside provides an ultimate test for walkers.

At the end of 2009 there were 870 immigrants working for the Flemish authorities, two percent of the total staff, according to figures recently released by the department of Emancipation Affairs, which falls under Minister Geert Bourgeois (N-VA). In reality that figure is even somewhat higher, as some people do not wish to register their immigrant origin. Despite the financial crisis, the Flemish authorities consequently succeeded last year in recruiting another 80 immigrants. Yet some caution is required with respect to 2010 and 2011 as this is when the cutbacks will become truly palpable in the staff of the civil service. 'It will then be a question of keeping minority employees on board,' says the official in charge of emancipation, Ingrid Pelssers. 'When it comes to contract workers of foreign origin, it is often last-in-first-out.' Pelssers points out that they have breached the halfway mark with respect to the target figure. The Flemish authorities hope to have four percent of their staff recruited from among people with a foreign origin by 2015. There are large differences between the departments. Some are not even employing a single immigrant worker while agencies such as Kind en Gezin(Child and Family), which focuses on healthcare for children, employ five percent of people with a foreign origin. They are primarily young women who are child carers. The largest group of people with immigrant roots (240) work for the VDAB employment service. They have the typical profile of immigrant workers : young, contract workers (not statutory civil servants) and female. In the VDAB eight out of ten immigrant workers are females. 'A positive aspect is that immigrant employees adopt a long-term perspective,' Pelssers says. 'This means that newcomers increasingly have a higher education degree.' At the uppermost levels there are two percent more immigrants with a higher education certificate than there were in 2008, although only 11 percent of the employees with an immigrant origin have a job at level A, while 30 percent are working at the lowest, unskilled level. The number of immigrants appointed as statutory civil servants has risen by three percent since 2008. 'That is not insignificant, as it means they are better protected than contract workers,' Pelssers says.

As of 17 September the traffic jams on the E313/E34 in the Antwerp district of Deurne and on the Antwerp ring road are going to be a little longer, as the Roads and Traffic Agency will be installing noise barriers along the motorway to Hasselt. So as to avoid unnecessary noise pollution, the work will be mainly executed in the daytime. As the threshold limit of 80 dB(A) was exceeded when noise measurements were taken, the design and installation of the noise barriers will be financed in full by the Roads and Traffic Agency. It is intended to reduce noise levels by approximately 10 dB(A), which sounds as if the noise is halved to human ears. Noise protection screens are increasingly common alongside highways, as the Flemish authorities are investing in decreasing noise pollution for inhabitants. The need however still exceeds the available resources. This year some 20 million Euros will be spent on noise protection installations, 15.3 million Euros of which will be for the construction of noise barriers. Over the last five years an additional 20 kilometres in noise barriers has been added, which adds up to one sixth of the 122 kilometre total in Flanders. The works in Deurne will result in serious traffic problems, and motoring organisations like Touring and the VAB are critical about the planning, although they acknowledge the noise pollution problem. 'The heavy traffic in Flanders is damaging to the environment and the population', says Maarten Matienko of the VAB. 'Just as with particulate matter, it is logical that steps are taken to combat noise pollution.' But he is concerned about the timing of the work. 'Mid-September is a bad period to perform such work. Given that an important traffic link is involved, the July-August period would have been better."