The week in brief: 20 October

Manfred Sellink (pictured) has been named the new director and head conservator of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Dutch-born Sellink is an expert on Pieter Bruegel the Elder and is currently director of Bruges’ consortium of museums. Sellink “knows the Flemish museum scene like the back of his hand,” commented culture minister Sven Gatz, announcing the appointment. “He enjoys a great deal of credibility and legitimacy at home and abroad and has an impressive network.” 

The government of Flanders will pay out premiums to farmers to help the sector cope with liquidity problems arising out of the Russian import boycott, agriculture minister Joke Schauvliege announced. Half of each farm’s allowance will be paid out on 30 October, while those in line for a suckling calf premium will receive 80% by the end of November. “We’re doing our best on every front to help make the situation more tolerable for farmers and growers,” Schauvliege said.

A fire that completely destroyed the church of St John the Baptist in Anzegem, West Flanders, was caused by a malfunctioning heating installation, the Kortrijk prosecutor’s office said. No-one was injured in the fire, but homes in the area had to be evacuated. The 12th-century church was burnt to the ground because of its open medieval construction and large amounts of wood and lime in the roof.

Flanders cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 8% between 2008 and 2012, allowing it to meet its 5.2% target under the Kyoto Protocol by a wide margin, environment minister Joke Schauvliege said. During the period, Flanders had a maximum allowance of 82.5 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions a year but only used an average of 80 million, and only 76 million tonnes in 2012. “The prognoses for 2013 indicate a further reduction,” Schauvliege said.

A court in Brussels has acquitted a man who accidentally left his six-month old daughter in the back of his car when he went to work on a hot day in 2012. The child died, and the man was charged with involuntary homicide. The army lieutenant worked at the Belgian military quarter in Brussels and had forgotten to drop the infant off at the crèche before going to the office. The incident was caused by forgetfulness, the judge ruled, while forgetting is “essentially involuntary” and “escapes conscious control”.

Following on the heels of a collapse of exports as a result of the Russian import ban, fruit growers in Limburg are now facing an infestation of the spotted-wing drosophila (Drosophila suzukii), which is particularly attracted to the area’s black wine grapes. The tiny fly is capable of great destruction: one grower has lost more than 10% of his crop since discovering the fly four weeks ago. The flies, originally from southeast Asia, are thought to have benefited from last year’s mild winter to survive in greater numbers.

Ann Van Driessche is leaving her post as director-general of Muntpunt, the Flemish public library and information centre in Brussels, to take up a job as director of marketing, communications and events at the Free University of Brussels (VUB). Van Driessche steered the organisation through its transformation from a library to the multi-use Muntpunt, which opened just over a year ago. She takes up her new post in March, after having overseen the appointment of her successor.

A radicalised Islamist who worked at the nuclear power plant at Doel in East Flanders before going off to Syria to fight with jihadi forces has been killed, reports said. Ilyass Boughalab, 26, worked for three years until 2012 for subcontractor Vinçotte, which allowed him access to the most sensitive areas of the installation. He was apparently killed in Syria last spring.

Customs officers in the port of Antwerp have been equipped with a new mobile scanner to allow them to inspect containers for smuggled drugs, cigarettes and other contraband, including human traffic. The scanner is fitted inside a simple van and cost just over €1 million, customs said. Last year customs at Antwerp discovered 4.1 tonnes of cocaine and 173 million smuggled cigarettes, three-quarters of them counterfeit.

Actor Matthias Schoenaerts and his mother, Dominique Wiche, have begun legal action for an interim judgement on the book Schoenaerts by crime writer Stan Lauryssens, which tells the story of Schoenaerts’ father, Julien, and his struggle with bipolar disorder. The action is calling for copies of the book to have a sticker on the cover making it clear that it is not an authorised biography. Lawyer Jos Vander Velpen called the book “a sensationalist fantasy” that damages the name of its subject and his family. A ruling is expected on 23 October.