The deal went almost up to the wire: competing bidders had fallen away, and the Canadian- Russian concern was the only horse left in the race. The future didn’t look good for Opel Antwerp, which seemed certain to face closure, leaving Flemish minister-president Kris Peeters with no other option than to turn to the EU in the hope that they might refuse to allow the state aid package promised by the German government to protect Opel production there. Then all of a sudden last week, the bride changed her mind, and the wedding was off. Opel would no longer be sold.

On the evening of Thursday, 29 October, a prisoner at Leuven Central ran amok with a pair of scissors, stabbing a prison officer 12 times and wounding another member of staff and three prisoners. The man, Iran-born Hussein Mamiani, was joined by another prisoner who started attacking others with a stick. The two then shut themselves up in a cell while holding a fellow prisoner hostage. Mamiani was later shot dead by the special intervention unit of the federal police, and 22-year-old Jimmy Hemeleers was taken into custody.