Antwerp Zoo last week took delivery of two Komodo dragons, the world’s largest species of lizard, as part of a worldwide breeding programme. Female Keli from Colchester Zoo measures 2.2 metres and weighs 21 kilos. Her intended, Jaka, is 70 cm shorter and weighs only 11 kg. The two will be kept apart until mating time, after which, it is hoped, Keli will lay as many as 30 eggs. The Komodo dragon comes from an island in Indonesia where there are only about 6,000 individuals remaining. There are 43 examples in European zoos.

Kris Dierckx has taken over as director of Flanders House, the Flemish government’s representation in New York City. Dierckx has been serving as acting director since October last year, following the departure of Philip Fontaine after allegations of mismanagement. Dierckx graduated in law and international relations from Antwerp University, and has previously represented Flanders at the United Nations in Geneva.

The Special Tax Inspection unit of the finance ministry is not working as well as it should, and may even be using illegal methods, according to a report from the government’s own Court of Auditors, reported in De Tijd newspaper. The unit has a shortage of inspectors, especially VAT specialists, the report says, and there are no clear criteria as to which tax areas it should be investigating. In some cases, fraudsters are excused prosecution if they cooperate sufficiently, while others are taken to court, leading to inequality and “random” policy application.

Police in the coast zone have warned tourists to keep an eye on their belongings while on the beach, and to lock their apartments when leaving for the day, following an increase in the number of gangs of organised thieves in the area. There have been 18 break- ins at apartments in Blankenberge alone in the past month, with peak times around 16.00-17.00, when holidaymakers are at the beach. Similarly, daytime burglars struck 12 times at one bungalow park in De Haan. “Coastal crime is an annually recurring phenomenon,” said a spokesman for the Bruges prosecutor.

A Flemish astronomer working in Canada has discovered the largest molecules ever found in the universe. Jan Cami, a graduate of the Catholic University of Leuven and the Free University of Brussels, led a team of researchers at the University of Western Ontario, which used NASA’s Spitzer infra-red telescope to confirm the existence of “buckyballs” – a rare carbon molecule which has been assumed to exist in space but never before witnessed – in the remains of a star 6,500 light years from Earth. The results of Professor Cami’s research are published in the latest issue of Science.