Flemish public transport authority De Lijn will integrate routes, stops and timetables into Google Maps in 2011, mobility minister Hilde Crevits said. Brussels transport authority MIVB is already on Google Maps. Stations and stops will, when clicked, provide information about the next two buses or trams due, with a link back to the MIVB for more details. The feature also allows users to plan their routes. The network of De Lijn's routes is much more extensive and includes not only urban areas but also rural Flanders.

A family doctor in East Flanders was sentenced last week to eight months suspended and fined €2,750 for allowing a patient to drive under the influence of drugs, leading to a fatal accident. The driver had called the doctor in panic after taking an overdose of pills in a suicide attempt. The doctor advised him to go to the hospital and have his stomach pumped. The man got in his car and on the way lost consciousness, killing a 24-year- old driver of a moped. In the trial in Dendermonde, the doctor, who was not named, claimed the patient had shown no signs of drowsiness and that he, in any case, had not told him to drive himself to the hospital. The driver in the case received the same sentence, together with a one-year ban on driving.

Police unions have rejected demands by federal mobility secretary Etienne Schouppe to increase the number of saliva tests carried out on road users because, they say, there is a shortage of officers trained in the procedure. The controversial tests are designed to detect the use of drugs such as amphetamines and cannabis. Schouppe wants the number of checks to go up to 1,000 a month by the end of the year. In cases where the tests have been carried out since their introduction last month, one in three samples has turned out positive.

The dolphin shows at the Boudewijn Seapark in Bruges were stopped last week after concerns for the health of 12-year-old dolphin Yotta. She recently experienced a miscarriage that left her on the brink of death and is not yet fit enough to take part in the park's shows. The closure means a loss of €3,000 to €4,000 a day.

The newspaper in its current form will become extinct in Belgium in 2026, the same year as in South Korea and metropolitan Russia, according to predictions on a new website by trend-spotter and futurist Ross Dawson. Newspapers in Belgium will survive longer than in the UK (2019), Spain (2024) and Switzerland (2025), but will vanish before those in the Netherlands (2027), France (2029) and Germany (2030). Their place will be taken by digital news media, tablet computers and mobile applications.
www.rossdawsonblog.com

Anglers are being encouraged to report instances of fish poaching with a new website set up to tackle the problem. "Anglers are subject to strict rules about what fish they may catch and how large they have to be," explained Mark Hoedemakers, chairman of the Union of Belgian Carp Fishermen. His association, he said, encouraged its members to catch and release, but the poachers "couldn't care less about that".
www.meldpuntvisstroperij.be