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Running for Retrak: Week 11

So, the first big test is under my belt and out of the way: on Sunday, along with more than 20,000 others, I ran the Antwerp 10 Miles (that’s 16km, metric fans). By some way the furthest I’ve ever run, and I have the aching joints to prove it. It’s also the first event of that size I’ve taken part...

Brussels chief inspector jailed for racist offences

A Brussels police officer was yesterday sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment, with four years suspended, and to pay court costs, for racially motivated violence and using racist language. In 2009, Nordine Saidi (pictured) , who was arrested after taking part in a demonstration calling for the...

New amnesty terms offered to Antwerp diamond traders

Five hundred Antwerp diamond traders whose secret Swiss HSBC bank accounts were discovered have received a final proposal to regularise the situation, reports De Tijd. If they accept the proposal, it may represent a windfall of more than €300 million for the Treasury. Thierry Afschrift, counsel for...

Nationwide motorway safety checks catch 5% offending

A total of 4,477 motorists were caught traveling at excessive speeds during a nationwide police operation on Sunday in which the speed of 85,610 vehicles was checked. The worst offender was a motorcyclist caught travelling at 214kph on the A17. In total, 420 vehicles were stopped and 19 licences...

BSB alumni awarded Cambridge Blues

Two alumni of the British School of Brussels (BSB) studying at Cambridge University have been awarded Blues, the prestigious university sporting award for competing at the highest level. Paul Mallaband, 22, studying engineering at Emmanuel College, featured for the rugby team against Oxford...

UK border agents seize Belgium-bound cocaine

A Belgium-bound cocaine shipment with an estimated street value of €20 million has been seized by UK Border Force officers at the Port of Tilbury in Essex, the Home Office reports. The drugs, which had been shipped from Senegal, had been hidden in two canvas-topped containers carrying a legitimate...

The neverending commute: Brussels' Central Station

The practical necessities of travel usually allow us only rushed and distracted impressions of train stations, airports and bus depots. The true character of these transit hubs often remains obscured regardless of the frequency with which we pass through them. Some of them manage nevertheless to...

Unlicensed driving schools in line of fire

Secretary of state for mobility Melchior Wathelet wants to reform the driving school system. This will include limiting the validity of provisional licences and taking strict action against ‘pseudo’ driving schools, he told De Morgen today. These schools are not illegal at present in Belgium, which...

Rush to repair WWI headstones as centenary approaches

A century of wind and weather has worn the surfaces of the 12,000 headstones of Tyne Cot cemetery in Zonnebeke, rendering the names hard to read, writes Associated Press’s Don Melvin . Some gravestones are chipped or cracked and the stones are no longer perfectly aligned. Workers are using diamond...

High time to invest in cyber security

Secretary of state for public service Hendrik Bogaert has warned against a wave of cyber-attacks in today’s De Standaard. “Now is the time to invest in the security of our networks and systems,” he said. “We must prepare for a wave of cyber-attacks by allocating an appropriate budget. To me, €20...

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