A proposal to establish a weekly "Veggie-day" in Leuven was defeated in a meeting of the city council last week. The proposal, from Groen!, follows the lead of Ghent, which last month brought in Veggie-day on Thursdays, to encourage people to explore the vegetarian option. They also pledged to serve only vegetarian meals on that day in the city's schools, which was not on the Leuven menu. The council there only has two city schools to run. In addition, councillors were lobbied by angry farmers who opposed the plan and handed out leaflets featuring tasty meat recipes. "It used to be it was our mothers, now it seems it's the politicians who tell us what we can and can't eat," said a farmers' representative.

As reported in last week's Flanders Today, Flemish astronaut Frank De Winne took off last week from the European Space Agency's space-port in Kazakhstan for a six-month stay in space. De Winne will help to man the International Space Station, before taking over command in October, the first European ever to do so. The launch took place in the presence of Prince Filip as well as Buzz Aldrin, the second man to set foot on the Moon. "Everything's going fine, everything's perfect," De Winne called out to the crowds on the way to the launch pad.

Life is getting cheaper, according to the consumer price index published last week, which showed negative growth in May for the first time in 50 years. In comparison with the month of April, natural gas was down by 5.4%, electricity down 2.3% and fresh vegetables down by a massive 12%. Gas and electricity prices have been falling for four months now, but May was the first time the basket of goods and services used to calculate the index was down as a whole - minus 0.37%. Not since 1960 has the index gone into negative figures.

A market stall holder who was fined for leaving fruit and vegetables behind on the marketplace does not have to pay the €200 fine imposed, a judge decided last week, because the policeman who wrote the ticket did not speak Dutch. The incident took place in Sint-Jans Molenbeek in Brussels. The police auxiliary, a French-speaker, had the ticket translated, but that is against the language laws. Last week a judge ruled the original document (in French) was falsified by the translation, and overturned the fine.

The national rail authority NMBS is to introduce a system from September warning travellers of late or cancelled trains by SMS. Customers with season tickets who sign up for the free service MyTrainInfo on the NMBS website can fill in their travel details and be warned in time of any delays, with alternatives also being suggested. It will also be possible, for a cost of 30c a message, to check on times for trains on one-off journeys or for non-season ticket holders. This week tests were due to begin on the system with thousands of volunteers.

Flemish artists figure prominently among the works on show at the Venice Biennale, which begins this weekend (7 June). Belgium is represented by a Flemish choice, the photographer and installation artist Jef Geys. He is joined by Jan Fabre, with five tableaux from an installation shown last year in Austria; by Wim Delvoye, who has constructed a Gothic structure from stainless steel on the terrace of the Guggenheim Museum; and by Koen Vanmechelen with three separate works on view.

Commercial TV station VT4 has been fined €12,500 by the Flemish media regulator for product placement in a cookery programme. During two weeks in January this year, the programme Lekker Oosters made regular mention of the brands Uncle Ben's and Suzy Wan, as well as showing their products repeatedly. A VT4 spokesman complained they were being judged under the old version of the law governing the media, which changed after the programmes were broadcast.

Top chefs Peter Goossens (Hof van Cleve, Kruishoutem), Roger Van Damme (Het Gebaar, Antwerp) and cross-border colleague Sergio Hermans (Oud Sluis, Sluis) last week launched Mnu:Box, a three-course meal for two conceived and prepared in the kitchens of their new culinary think-tank Mnu. The launch box consisted of a salmon, crab and shiso starter by Hermans, a beef-cheek and quince main course by Goossens and a cassis mousse with chocolate by Van Damme. Total price: €170. Requires some self-assembly.

Mobile phone operator Mobistar is to offer free access to social network sites Netlog and Facebook to its Tempo Music clients, according to a plan launched last week. Clients who recharge their Tempo Music account for a minimum of €15 will receive 300 free logins to either of the two sites. According to Mobistar, most modern phones with WAP and a colour screen are sufficiently equipped to handle the operation.

Pop singer Milow was the most downloaded Belgian artist in 2008, according to figures from the Belgian Entertainment Association. Milow's second CD, released last year, reached the top of the Ultratop charts but only with the single "Ayo Technology" did he penetrate beyond Flanders' borders. "Thanks to the Internet I have new fans, even in the US," the singer commented.

Sociologist John Vincke, who did pioneering work in the field of gay studies, died last week at the age of 53. He had been suffering from cancer, and elected to die by euthanasia. Vincke was the first in this country to carry out large-scale studies into the gay and lesbian community and its welfare, before turning his attention to HIV and Aids in the 1990s. "Through his research, Vincke made homosexual men visible for the first time," said long-time collaborator Alexis Dewaele.