The week in brief: 25 July

A campaign that aims to make people more aware of littering has been launched in Kontich by its organisers, who include environment minister Joke Schauvliege, waste management agency OVAM, the association of Flemish municipalities VVSG and the food and retail industry federations. Every year 17,500 tonnes of litter and fly-tipping costs Flanders €61 million.

National Day on 21 July was the occasion of the announcement of the annual royal honours, when titles are bestowed on prominent citizens. Among those raised to the level of baron or baroness are First World War historian Sophie De Schaepdrijver and Eddy Bruyninckx, retiring CEO of the Port Authority of Antwerp. The title Commander of the Order of Leopold goes to astronomer Conny Aerts of the University of Leuven, while Munt director Peter De Caluwe becomes Commander of the Order of the Crown, as do theatre director Ivo Van Hove and former Knack editor Hubert Van Humbeeck.

A bronze sculpture by Ludwig Vandevelde has been stolen from the Vrieselhof provincial park in Antwerp province, despite weighing several hundred kilograms. The sculpture, “Boeket I”, depicting a bouquet of flowers, had been temporarily moved from its place on the lawn between the castle and the De Remise tavern, to allow a festival to take place. Authorities are asking for tips from anyone who was in the area between 8 and 15 July and may have seen something.

The four main banks and three main telecommunications companies in Belgium have pledged the launch this year of Belgian Mobile ID, an app that will do away with the need for safety codes and card-readers when logging in to websites. It also allows a legally valid digital signature to be attached to documents.

The collective Pool is Cool has carried out a guerrilla swimming action in the basin on the fish market in Brussels, in protest at the lack of open-air swimming facilities in the capital. The group issued an invitation by social media to swim in the basin of the fountain at the Varkensmarkt end of the square. They submitted the idea of allowing swimming on the Vismarkt in the recent Make.Brussels competition, but it was not approved by the jury despite receiving the most votes.

The prosecutor’s office in West Flanders is to appeal against the sentence in a case of a Turkish man convicted of human trafficking in the port of Nieuwpoort. The 43-year-old was sentenced to five years suspended, though the prosecution had asked for eight years in prison. The man was found transporting 12 Syrian refugees, including a five-year-old, from a camp in the north of France, with the intention of taking them to the UK.

Polar explorer Alain Hubert and his Brussels-based International Polar Foundation are making plans to return to the South Pole in November, when spring is beginning in the southern hemisphere. Hubert learned this month that an appeal against a banning order against him had been successful. He is trying to raise funds for a new expedition to the Princess Elisabeth station.

The Brussels regional government has agreed to extend the suspension of the city tax imposed on hotel guests in the 19 municipalities until the end of the year, in an effort to help businesses recover from the slump since the terrorist attacks of 22 March. The suspension of the tax was originally for six months. Food and drinks businesses, meanwhile, will benefit from a suspension of the municipal tax on terraces.

Fewer than one in five Belgians feels unsafe in current conditions, according to a survey by pollsters GfK of the perception of safety in 21 countries. In Belgium, 18% of men and 17% of women feel unsafe, compared to an overall average of 32%, placing Belgium in fourth place for feelings of security behind Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands.

The Belvue museum attached to the palace in Brussels has unveiled a new permanent exhibition on Belgium and its history. The exhibition covers democracy, welfare, solidarity, pluralism, migration, language and Europe. It also includes 200 artefacts making up the country’s “material memory”, including a painting by Magritte, a saxophone and an old waffle iron.

Flemish riders have celebrated a series of victories during the Tour de France, which ended yesterday. Thomas De Gendt was second in the polka-dot jersey ranking for the king of the mountains and won on Mount Ventoux on Bastille Day. He and Greg Van Avermaet came seventh and eighth respectively in the green jersey classification for points won on intermediate sprints. Van Avermaet also claimed the yellow jersey for three days, and won the Limoges-to-Le Lioran stage. Serge Pauwels came sixth in the mountain ranking and 13th in the points.

Photo courtesy Indevuilbak