News in brief: 38/13
Unions representing hospital and rest home staff under the federal health care regime have announced the intention to strike, after talks on pay and conditions broke down, and film editor wins Flemish Culture Prize
News in brief
Film editor Nico Leunen was awarded the Flemish Culture Prize for film last weekend during the Ensors ceremony in Ostend. The lecturer at Ghent’s Fine Arts Academy is a greatly in-demand editor and has worked on more than 50 films, including The Broken Circle Breakdown, The Invader, Turquaze and Khadak. The first in that list was the big winner at the Ensors, the Flemish film awards, taking home eight statuettes, including Best Editing for Leunen, Best Film, Best Director (Felix van Groeningen) and Best Actress (Veerle Baetens). Wim Willaert won the Ensor for Best Actor for his role in Offline.
The Belgian government signed a secret agreement in 2010 with the US government to renew the nuclear weapons stockpiled at the Kleine-Brogel military base in Limburg, according to Hans Kristensen, director of the US Nuclear Information Project. The new weapons, he said, are to replace the B-61 bombs stored at Kleine-Brogel. N-VA and S.PA MPs have called for the government to allow a debate on the issue.
After an absence of a decade, horse-drawn carriages will once more ply their trade on half-hour tours of the centre of Brussels for a fare of €39, according to Marion Lemesre, the city’s alderwoman for trade. The operator has two new Victoria coaches, which stick to pedestrian streets. Tours start and end on the Grote Markt.
The eminent kidney specialist Yves Vanrenterghem has died suddenly, the Leuven University Hospital announced. He was 65. Professor Vanrenterghem specialised throughout his career in treatments to prevent the rejection of transplanted kidneys, while, as chief of staff, he turned the kidney transplant service into the country’s largest. He held a number of international posts and published more than 340 papers.
Flemish heritage minister Geert Bourgeois has approved €140,000 in financing for the conservancy organisation Natuurpunt to create an inventory of the heritage property under its control. Natuurpunt will also catalogue the requirements for managing the properties and look for partnerships and sponsors. It will also begin a pilot management project for the Walem Fort in Mechelen and Fort 7 in Wilrijk, part of a 19th-century ring of fortifications around Antwerp.
At least 30 schools in Flanders are using fingerprint scans to register the presence of pupils, according to one of the companies that supplies the technology. Schools prefer the scans to the old-fashioned register because it is more effective at keeping track of pupils for the purposes of accounting for pre- and after-school supervision. But the practice has been criticised by parents and privacy advocates, and a pilot project in Ghent was abandoned last week.
A man who carried out a Base jump from the tower of Antwerp cathedral in August could be charged over the incident, the city’s prosecutor’s office said. Base jumping – with a parachute from a fixed installation like a building, antenna, bridge or cliff – is not illegal in Belgium, but it is an offence to climb the cathedral tower without permission. The jumper, Johan Vervoort from Herentals, reached the top in a lift used by construction workers.
The Brussels-Capital Region has extended a pilot project that allows cyclists to turn right at red lights. The junctions concerned, which will increase from eight to 75, are all equipped with cycle lanes or bus lanes and will be equipped with special road signs in red, white and yellow, the road safety institute said.
Police in Zeebrugge are investigating a mass theft last week that saw 374 Mercedes in the port area robbed of keys and airbags. The thieves gained access to the cars by drilling holes in the bodywork, leading to damage worth €1,000 per car. Police sources said the number of thefts of car parts was on the increase, while thefts of cars fell last year for the fourth year in a row.
The city council of Destelbergen, East Flanders, has admitted selling personal information supplied by residents applying for a building permit to private companies in return for payment. The city promised to change its policy after the practice was condemned by the Privacy Council.
A tram operator who derailed the coast tram at Nieuwpoort in 2011 has been fined €1,200. The accident led to 31 people being treated for injuries. The court heard that the driver had approached a tight bend at at least 30 km/h where the limit was 20 km/h.
