17/05/10 - The elephant that was born in Antwerp Zoo a year ago celebrated her birthday with a veggie birthday cake.

Belgium's Chief Public Prosecutor's have sent out a circular letter advising the police services to record the first interviews with murder and manslaughter suspects on video.

16/05/10 - The Flemish singer Bobbejaan Schoepen has died at the age of 85. His most famous song is a tribute to the lights of the River Schelde that a sailor sees as he returns to the Port of Antwerp.

Racing Genk will play in the Europa League next season. On Sunday night Genk beat Sint-Truiden 3 - 2 away in the second leg of their fixture.

The Flemish government is planning to issue a bond loan of between 500 million and a billion Euros, with preparations already well underway. On Wednesday evening the government hosted a road show for potential investors in Paris, while next week top officials will head to Munich, Cologne and Düsseldorf. The intention is that the government is able to estimate the appetite for a Flemish public loan and to see what conditions can be best implemented. This is no superfluous luxury after the jitters on the bond market as a result of the debt crisis in Greece and the danger of other southern Europeans states becoming infected. At the height of the financial crisis, the Flemish authorities have been loaning from the markets too in order to prepare a rescue package together with the other governments for the bail-out of the rescue of Belgian banks. The money that Flanders wants to borrow will primarily serve to pay off the 2010 budgetary deficit of 500 million Euros. In addition, it also wants to borrow money to invest in a Flemish energy company, one of the election promises of the governing coalition party the N-VA. The company will be a public holding company that holds participation interests in private energy companies. The former Flemish Budget minister, Dirk Van Mechelen (Open VLD), managed to pay for the Flemish debt entirely, but the rescue operation for the banks and the budget deficits for both this year and last year have caused the Flemish public debt to rise again to a level not seen since the late nineties.

The Regional Investment Company for Flanders (GIMV) is the biggest private equity and venture capital provider in Belgium, with a managed portfolio of 1.7 billion Euros and operates on an international scale. GIMV invests in high-tech companies, both in Belgium and further afield, provides support for buyouts and growth financing for companies and sets up funds and joint ventures together with partners. In the 2009-2010 split financial year, GIMV recorded profits of 117.5 million Euros, compared to a loss of 322 million Euros in the 2008-2009 financial crisis year. The company's cash position earlier this week was 290 million Euros, from which a dividend of 2.40 Euros for the 23 million GIMV shares is soon to be deducted. On the basis of yesterday's share price, this means a gross dividend yield of 6.7 percent. That is very high for an investment fund aiming at value growth. The GIMV also recently reinforced its financial clout when the XL fund, an initiative that is supported by the Flemish venture capital company Vlaamse Participatiemaatschappij (VPM), which is the public shareholder of GIMV, closed at 609 million Euros. 'The fund not only led to extra resources, but it also enabled us to compose an additional team,' said chairman Herman Daems. 'Through our funds we create a multiplicator effect:apart from our resources, those of third parties are also used.' One of the best-known investments of the XL fund was the 75 million Euro participation in the Vandemoortele food group. CEO Koen Dejonckheere said yesterday that the GIMV had sold more stakes in the last year than expected. The buyers were not so much financial ones but rather major leading technology companies with an interest in breakthrough technology. Just yesterday the GIMV announced that the US networking company Cisco is to buy the German company CoreOptics, in which GIMV holds a participating interest. Recently the NASDAQ listed Synposys bought the American CoWare, which is one of the GIMVs older stakes.

Flemish minister-president, Kris Peeters (CD&V), who is also responsible for Flemish foreign policy, intends to deliver a stern message to the ambassador of the South-East African country of Malawi concerning the sentencing of a gay couple there. Malawi is a privileged partner of Flanders' development cooperation department. The homosexual couple, Tiwonge Chimbalanga (20) and Steven Monjeza (26), recently held a symbolic gay wedding. Yesterday they were found guilty of committing `unnatural acts' and sentenced to a maximum prison term of 14 years with hard labour. Homosexuality is outlawed in Malawi and the heavy penalty serves to set an example, the court said. Human rights organisations across the world reacted with indignation to the judgement. Peeters has already expressed his concern in recent months to the Malawian ambassador, referring to the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. He will once again summon the ambassador 'in the short term' for talks. 'I will consult with counterparts in other donor countries to examine how this situation can be further dealt with,' he said. The Flemish authorities earmarked seven million Euros in development aid last December for Malawi, with two million Euros reserved for healthcare, three million Euros for agricultural support and two million Euros in support of UNICEF Belgium managing a water project in the country. This aid is not under threat, the government explained.

After 13 months of negotiations, the EU yesterday finally approved the public support that insurance company Ethias received at the end of 2008. The decision closes the door on the last Belgian financial case that the European Commission had to deal with in the wake of the financial crisis. The European body already reached a verdict on the measures for compensation with respect to the support given to KBC and Dexia as well as on the splitting up of Fortis into BNP Paribas Fortis bank and the Fortis insurance company, now renamed Ageas. De Tijd newspaper has drawn up a balance of the sector after the reshuffling. It primarily notes that the Belgian market has not been comprehensively shaken up, with KBC and Dexia allowed to retain their bank insurer model, as opposed to their Dutch counterpart ING, which is obliged to shed its insurance activities. The European Commission did however oblige KBC and Dexia to cut down dramatically abroad, although the impact is limited in Belgium. The principal point for KBC is that it has to sell its second banking network, Centea, as well as its second insurance network, Fidea, both of which may only be sold to small Belgian players or foreign parties that do not have a presence on Belgian soil. Ethias, on the other hand, was imposed heavy restrictions, one of which is that it can no longer sell its own First (now Top First) life insurance products to private persons. Precisely these popular products generated success in the pre-crisis years, but also almost led to the downfall of the insurer. But Ethias is allowed to continue issuing life insurance policies from sector partners. The company must also shed its Nateus and Ethias Bank subsidiaries, which provides an immediate opportunity for an existing or new player to obtain a (additional) distribution channel in Belgium. ING also has a not insignificant Belgian insurance company, and although the group seems to prefer listing its insurance division, a sale is not out of the question. The Belgian financial market is thus ready to be reshuffled. It will be limited should circumstances ensure that the pieces are snapped up by different players every time, but a major one if a unifying party manages to glue those pieces together. The country might even witness the rise of a fifth player that is so strong that it challenges the big four of BNPP Fortis, KBC, Dexia and ING.