The Flemish government is investing €2.2 million to merge three heritage organisations, based on the example of the National Trust in Britain, heritage minister Geert Bourgeois announced. The new organisation, which will be based in Antwerp, will group together Heritage Flanders, the Forum for Heritage Associations and Open Monument Day Flanders.

Sihame El Kaouakibi, who founded and runs the Let’s Go Urban dance school for young people, has been voted Antwerpenaar of the Year by the Gazet van Antwerpen and listeners of Radio 2 and ATV. The school featured prominently in last year’s Antwerp European Youth Capital events. El Kaouakibi came ahead of other well-known Antwerp residents like actor Matthias Schoenaerts and singer Bart Peeters.

The Belgian football union is considering introducing a mandatory medical check-up for its 400,000 youth players, following the collapse of a 16-year-old caused by heart problems during a match last week. An estimated five players in 100,000 could be at risk of similar problems, the union said. Belgium’s cycling union introduced mandatory testing some years ago.

A court in Dendermonde last week postponed a decision on whether to send Kim De Gelder for trial or have him committed to a psychiatric institution. De Gelder, 23, is accused of the knife attack on the Fabeltjesland nursery in Dendermonde in January of 2009, in which a care worker and two babies died, as well as the murder of a 73-year-old woman in Beveren one week earlier. The court asked for more psychiatric reports. The relatives of the victims expressed disappointment at the delay.

Brussels City mayor Freddy Thielemans has called on the Brussels Region to provide three new sites for the caravans of travellers, to ease the pressure on the city and to avoid tensions between different traveller groups forced to camp together. Brussels opened its first permanent camp in Haren last October, where travellers can stay a maximum of three weeks and are provided water, electricity connections and sanitary facilities. But the site has a capacity of only 25 places.

The Flemish public TV channel Ketnet is looking for young singing talent to represent Belgium at the Junior Eurosong Festival in the Netherlands later this year. Kids aged between 10 and 16 can apply via the channel’s website before 17 February. www.ketnet.be/node/294232

Antwerp Zoo last week bade a warm welcome to Nuru, an aardvark born to mother Curly. Curly has given birth three times before, but the babies all died within their first month. The aardvark being nocturnal, Nuru has yet to be seen out of doors, but he or she – the sex has not yet been determined – can be seen live on security cameras at the nesting box in the zoo. http://flande.rs/91

Flemish housing minister Freya Van den Bossche is introducing a proposal to make smoke detectors obligatory in all rented accommodation, she told the Flemish parliament last week. Since 2009, all new constructions and renovations are required to include smoke detectors, and the measure would extend that to existing premises offered for rent. In practice most insurance companies already insist on detectors when writing policies.

The city of Antwerp will this week inaugurate its first six electric cars as part of its municipal fleet. The cars will be used by the city’s administrative services and will be followed later this year by three for the use of subscribers to the Cambio car-share system. At the same time, the city will unveil the first public recharging post on the Steenplein close to the Flandria boat dock.

The Sunday market in the Brussels commune of Molenbeek said farewell last week to the man known as Bompa Flamand, who had a vegetable stall there for 40 years. Louis Van Mulders from Asse, Flemish Brabant, will now devote his time to looking after his sick wife. Van Mulders was something of a pioneer in restoring interest in “forgotten” vegetables such as parsnips and white carrots. “It’s a shame,” he told brusselnieuws.be, “but now I have other responsibilities”.