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A group of amateur detectives last week lifted the roof from one of the 14 roadside chapels along the Calvarieberg in Overmere-Donk, East Flanders, convinced they would find the long-missing Righteous Judges panel from the brothers Van Eyck masterpiece “The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb”. The chapels were being built in 1934 when the panel went missing, and the suspected thief was at that time a sacristan in Overmere and a friend of the chapels’ builder. The panel was not found.

Internet search giant Google last week launched a GPS version of its Google Maps service for Belgium. Google Maps Navigation is free but requires an internet connection and is intended to turn a smartphone into a navigation system. However it only works on phones using the Android operating system – owned by Google.

Christie Hefner, former CEO of Playboy Enterprises, will be the keynote speaker at the Flanders DC Creativity Forum to be held in October in Antwerp. The list of speakers at the Forum is women-only and includes writer Susan Blackmore, trendwatcher Jane McGonigal, scientist Susan Greenfield, marketing guru Carole Lamarque and gynaecologist and Belgian senator Marleen Temmerman.

The Flemish government has earmarked €120,000 to help support the Belgian Homeless Cup, which provides weekly football training and match competition for homeless people as a means of helping them integrate into society. The money was agreed last week by sports minister Philippe Muyters and welfare minister Jo Vandeurzen. The winner of the championship will represent Belgium at the Homeless World Cup in Brazil in September.

The man accused in the shooting death of a justice of the peace and her court clerk two weeks ago in Brussels has been ordered to undergo examination by a panel of three psychiatrists. The 47-yearold man was later arrested after letting off shots in the Warandepark and pointing his gun at police. He is currently being detained in the psychiatric wing of Vorst prison. Last week it was revealed that the bullet from one of the shots had penetrated a window of the parliament’s library overlooking the park.

The Belgian defence ministry and the German government last week joined forces to deny rumours that Nato was considering moving its headquarters from Brussels to Bonn. According to the rumour, the German government was exerting pressure for the move, following the departure of the federal capital from Bonn to Berlin. Nato is scheduled to move its HQ in the next few years to new premises directly across the road from the current building, near Brussels Airport.

The University of Maastricht in the Netherlands has opened a campus in Etterbeek in Brussels. The new university will offer post-graduate courses in European affairs aimed mainly at professionals working in and around the EU institutions.
www.maastrichtuniversity.nl

(June 16, 2024)