The week in brief: 12 December

The municipality of Elsene has opened Brussels’ first co-working hair and beauty salon. Les Coiffeuses de Bruxelles (pictured) has eight spaces available for self-employed stylists to rent a space per hour or per month. Operator Camille Van Gestel opened a social hairdresser four years ago for people living on low incomes but had to close for lack of funding.

Lode Aerts, the new bishop of Bruges appointed to take over from newly promoted cardinal Jozef De Kesel, has pledged to continue an investigation into two priests accused of sexual abuse whose cases have now passed the legal statute of limitations. The case concerns allegations of abuse at the Sacred Heart College in Waregem.

The gold, eight-pointed “North Star”, sporting the rail system’s “B” logo, made a reappearance last week on the concourse of North Station in Brussels. The star, which has hung in North Station since the 1950s, was removed in 2014 for renovations. It was meant to move to the new Train World museum in Schaarbeek, but was restored to its traditional place after an effective social media campaign. As renovations are still ongoing, it will be February before it is visible to the public.

TV actor Francesca Vanthielen (Aspe, LouisLouise) has taken the post of communications manager for Unia, formerly the government’s Centre for Equal Rights and the Fight against Racism. Vanthielen emerged as the best candidate from a selection process comprising written and oral tests organised by an external executive search bureau.

For the first time in almost 40 years, the nativity scene in Grote Markt in Brussels does not feature live sheep, which have been replaced by artificial images. The decision was taken in agreement with the Lennik shepherd who has supplied the animals over the years. “I never made a penny,” he said. “On the contrary, I also had to supply the hay and the beets.”

According to YouTube, the three most-watched videos in Belgium this year are Adele on James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke segment, the dancing Stormtrooper audition on Britain’s Got Talent and a display of freestyle football by Red Devil Kevin De Bruyne.

Klaus Van Isacker has been confirmed as the new editor-in-chief of Brussels media organisation Bruzz. Van Isacker has been acting editor since the group – which includes the former TV-Brussel, FM Brussel, Brussel Deze Week, Agenda and brusselnieuws.be – was reorganised under the name Bruzz earlier this year.

People who own a second residence at the Flemish coast contribute 41% of the area’s tourism income, according to tourism agency Westtour. Owners of second houses and apartments, used both for visits by the owners and rental properties, generate €1.1 billion in income from 94,200 residences, used for 21 million overnight stays. The largest number of units – about 20,000 – are located in Knokke-Heist.

Belgians are paying too much in restaurants and bars and for telecoms services Proximus and Telenet, compared to their counterparts in neighbouring countries. The comparative survey was carried out on the orders of federal consumer affairs minister Kris Peeters. Prices for goods and services in general in Belgium went up by an average of 1.5% from 2008 to 2016, compared to 1.1% in neighbouring countries, largely because of the sectors mentioned, where prices went up by about 25%.

The calendar for the collection of rubbish in the Brussels-Capital Region will change on 2 January, Net Brussel has announced. After a test period of two years, the collection of paper and PMD will revert to weekly. White bags will continue to be picked up twice in a week. Despite two years of negotiations, unions remain opposed to an earlier start – 5.30 instead of 6.30 – for some crews. Unions warned of possible industrial action before the new schedule is in place.

Beersel-based butcher chain Renmans, with hundreds of outlets across Belgium and Luxembourg, has filed a libel complaint against animal rights organisation Gaia, which accused the chain of supporting Argentina’s shocking practices in the slaughter of horses. As part of the campaign, video shows the horse slaughter being shown to Renmans customers. “We are still wondering what the precise link is between us and those images,” CEO Rik Renmans said.

Armand Ell, the man who grew grapes in Brussels’ Josaphatpark to make wine he gave away for free, has died at the age of 88. Ell grew his vines on Schaarbeek municipal property and also gave guided tours, but he had to stop in 2010 when the municipality decided to install an organic kitchen garden.