The week in brief: 16 March

Supermarket chain Delhaize has suspended the extra security measures introduced following the acid attack on a cleaning person in one of its Antwerp stores, after a man suspected of being the attacker was arrested in France. The suspect, revealed last week to be Jelle F, a 42-year-old lawyer from Amsterdam, is expected to be extradited shortly.

Flanders’ local observatories have reported a rush on the special sunglasses used to observe a solar eclipse, an event due to happen on Friday, 20 March. Looking at the sun without protection could lead to severe damage to the eyes or even blindness, warn optometrists.

Four people on the island of Gran Canaria have been detained for questioning by local police investigating the death of West Flanders businessman Philippe Vandendorpe at the end of February. Vandendorpe died after consuming a drink spiked with a sedative. The drinks were served to Vandendorpe and a friend by two prostitutes, apparently with a view to knocking them out and robbing them. Instead both men became seriously ill and were rushed to hospital where Vandendorpe died. Police have arrested both women and two men: the bar owner and a local civil servant.

Municipal libraries are not about to close down en masse following the removal of the obligation for all town councils to provide library facilities, according to Luc Martens, chair of the Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities. The government of Flanders passed a measure last week allowing local councils the freedom to set budget priorities for culture. Councils have, however, set out their policy plans for the rest of their term to 2018, Martens said. They also realise the importance of culture and libraries, with one-fifth of the populations using libraries. “You don’t just throw something like that on the scrap-heap,” he said.

The new Marks & Spencer store in Brussels will open in the new Guldenvlies complex (pictured above) on 7 May, the company announced. Marks & Spencer disappeared from the Brussels landscape 14 years ago when it closed its Nieuwstraat store after disappointing sales. The company also confirmed that the store will include a food section.

The Flemish dredging group Jan De Nul has won a contract to lay 148 kilometres of cable under the North Sea to join up the offshore wind turbine park Race Bank, two offshore substations and coastal installations in the UK. The power produced will be enough to supply 400,000 homes. Jan De Nul’s cable installation ship Isaac Newton, with a capacity of 10,500 tonnes, will carry out the operation.

Belgium’s rail network is one of the safest in Europe, according to Luc Lallemand, CEO of the rail infrastructure company Infrabel, speaking last week to the federal parliament’s infrastructure committee. Lallemand was reporting on the implementation of recommendations made by the special commission on rail safety set up after the Buizingen crash of 2010. Work on the automated braking system TBL1+ will be complete by the end of the year, he said, while the installation of the EU’s improved ETCS system is being carried out and will be complete by 2022.

A coach full of skiers from Flanders rode 680 kilometres out of its way last week after the driver keyed in the Spanish town of La Plagne into the GPS instead of the ski resort of the same name in the French Alps. Passengers said they thought the driver was trying to avoid French motorway tolls when he deviated from the normal Dijon-Lyon route. The bus company said the passengers didn’t mind losing a day of skiing. “The atmosphere on the bus was good, and there was more than enough to drink,” a spokesperson said.

A police magistrate in Vilvoorde last week refused to pass sentence on a man in a wheelchair appearing before him because the man had no access to the court building without being carried in by others. Magistrate Luc Brewaeys said that not being able to attend one’s own trial unaided was a breach of the European treaty on human rights.

Kom op tegen kanker, the annual anti-cancer campaign run by public broadcaster VRT, has changed its name this year to Iedereen tegen kanker (Everyone Against Cancer) and has invited everyone to get involved in fundraising. Since everyone can get cancer, explained meteorologist and patron of the action Frank Deboosere, everyone should be involved in fighting it. The action, which runs from 30 March to 26 April, will aim to raise more than last year’s €20.6 million. About 41,000 people are diagnosed with cancer every year in Flanders. 

Photo courtesy UN Studio