The week in brief: 7 November

Federal justice minister Koen Geens has launched Belgium’s Most Wanted, a website featuring mugshots and details of a selection of criminals currently being sought by the federal police’s Fugitive Active Service Team. The aim is to gather tips from members of the public. The list includes convicted terrorists as well as common criminals.

The co-operative SamenSterker Antwerpen has launched the country’s first group purchase of electric cars. Interested parties can buy a Renault Zoe, with a list price €24,550, for only €17,095, thanks to a group discount and the Flemish government’s €5,000 premium. Installation of a charging post at home costs €1,500. The group will be organising information evenings in the Antwerp area over the coming weeks.

This year’s Hercule Poirot Prize for crime fiction has been won by Jan Van Der Cruysse, former spokesperson for Brussels Airport, for his debut novel Bling Bling. The novel tells of a diamond courier robbed of his consignment in India. The €5,000 prize was handed over by Herbert Flack, who plays the most famous detective in Flanders, Inspector Pieter Van In, in the TV series Aspe.

Last week a bailiff came calling at the office of federal asylum minister Theo Francken to collect a penalty sum of €28,000 ordered by a court in the case of a Syrian refugee family refused a visa to reunite with relatives here. Francken, who is appealing the payment order, refused to open the door. By law, the bailiff could seize Francken’s belongings and the contents of his office to sell to raise the cash.

Brussels public transport authority MIVB plans to install safety bollards at the entrance to metro stations over the course of next year to prevent a repeat of an incident last New Year’s Eve when vandals pushed a car down the escalators of Clemenceau station in Anderlecht. Some stations already have bollards, while others have entrances too small for such incidents to take place, a spokesperson said.

2018 has been declared Hugo Claus Year in Antwerp, outgoing councillor for culture Philippe Heylen announced last week at the opening of this year’s Boekenbeurs. Claus, considered one of the most important literary talents Flanders has ever produced, was living in the city when he died in 2008. Among the events planned is an exhibition, including original manuscripts and correspondence with contemporaries, and literary walks in the city.

American airline Delta has announced that it will resume its direct flight from Brussels Airport to Atlanta next March, after cancelling the route several months ago. The date marks the 25th anniversary of Delta’s presence at the airport. Meanwhile, the Chinese carrier Hainan Airlines has signed a letter of intent with Brussels Airport for a new direct flight to Shanghai from the second half of 2017. This year marks the 10th anniversary of Hainan’s Brussels-Beijing route.

A number of Flemish municipalities, including Antwerp, Gent, Vilvoorde and Maaseik, will receive government funding to employ the so-called Radix tool, which measures the extent to which young people have become radicalised, Flemish home affairs minister Liesbeth Homans said. The decision follows the success of a pilot project in Antwerp. The tool gathers data from various sources, like police and social aid agencies, to place young people on a scale of one to four: not vulnerable to very vulnerable. Young people measuring in categories three or four can then be referred to experts.

The Land of the Enlightened by Flemish filmmaker Pieter-Jan De Pue has been nominated for a European Film Award in the documentary category. The film, made over seven years, mixes fiction with documentary to paint a portrait of Afghan boys surviving in a landscape long tormented by war. The awards are announced on 10 December.

A plan by federal consumer affairs minister Kris Peeters to abolish the waiting period leading up to the January and July sales would be “a death blow” for small retailers, according to NSZ, the independent union for the self-employed. Publicity for price cuts for clothing, leather goods and shoes are forbidden during the four weeks preceding the start of the biannual sales in order to allow customers to evaluate the price differences. According to Peeters, the waiting period is in breach of EU rules, and in any case is widely ignored. According to NSZ, the rule protects small retailers against the major chains, which offer discounts year round.

TV personality Tanja Dexters has been issued with a municipal fine and could face legal action for desecration of a graveyard, after she posted videos on Instagram making fun of the names on gravestones in Lebbeek, East Flanders. She also opened up a tomb. The family of the deceased complained to the municipality, which imposed a fine for disorderly conduct and retained a lawyer to look into a possible charge of desecration.

Photo courtesy Battle Droids/Facebook