All posts tagged: Belgium

Belgium travel chaos as all flights to and from European country to be halted today | World | News

Belgium travel chaos as all flights to and from European country to be halted today | World | News

This means that all departures and arrivals at Belgium’s airports will effectively be impossible. According to unions at Skeyes, the strike is expected to last until 9pm this evening. Crisis talks at Brussels airport are now underway, however, the airport says all flights to and from the airport between 2pm and 9pm will be cancelled. Passengers are being urged to not turn up to the airport. A spokesperson for the airport said: “Due to a wildcat strike at air traffic controller skeyes there is no air traffic possible in Belgium between 2 pm and 9 pm on Tuesday 2 June. The airlines will have to cancel all scheduled flights. “All flights to and from Brussels Airport between 2 pm and 9 pm will unfortunately have to be cancelled by the airlines. “Please do not come to the airport if your flight is scheduled between 2 pm and 9 pm.” Brussels Airlines, the nations flag carrier, says the impact “will inevitably be significant”. Spokesperson Nico Cardone added: “That is why we are indeed asking departing travelers …

Right-wing mogul ignites culture war in French cinema – POLITICO

Right-wing mogul ignites culture war in French cinema – POLITICO

“After literature, the censor Bolloré now wants to control filmmaking. It is unacceptable to allow a billionaire to threaten artists in this way,” said hard-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, threatening to dismantle Bolloré’s empire. Socialist leader Olivier Faure slammed the move by Canal+ as a sign that “the far right has never liked freedom, creativity, or public service.” More diplomatically, Culture Minister Catherine Pégard regretted Canal+’s “disproportionate, to say the least” reaction to “the very real concerns that were raised.” The conservative mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, slammed the artists as masochists for “biting the hand that feeds them.” Canal+ declined POLITICO’s request for comment, but Bolloré’s son, Cyrille, president of the Bolloré group, brushed off fears on Wednesday that Canal+ would choose projects based on political orientation. “No, there is no political project,” he said. France’s Citizen Kane The uproar has illustrated how deeply connected French cinema is to Canal+, which financed seven of the nine movies that won awards at Cannes this year, including the prestigious Palme d’Or. Source link

Spain distances itself from call for EU to get tougher on China  – POLITICO

Spain distances itself from call for EU to get tougher on China  – POLITICO

Last Friday, Spain was among the large economies who signed onto a French position paper sent to the European Commission that called for the bloc to bolster its trade defenses, make greater use of its investigative capacities and potentially create a new tool to address market distortions.  But as first reported by POLITICO, within a few days Madrid appeared to get cold feet and began insisting the document, which was additionally co-signed by Italy, the Netherlands and Lithuania, had only been discussed at the technical level. Spain is often seen as one of the most China-friendly EU members. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has visited Beijing four times in as many years, and the country is among the most receptive to Chinese investment, particularly in the solar panel and automotive sectors. The new line from Madrid comes on the eve of a highly anticipated debate among European commissioners that seeks to kick off a rethink of the EU’s ties with China and to suggest measures to protect the bloc’s industries, which are being squeezed by a …

Princess Elisabeth, the Future Queen of Belgium, Graduated With Her Master’s From Harvard

Princess Elisabeth, the Future Queen of Belgium, Graduated With Her Master’s From Harvard

Crown Princess Elisabeth of Belgium was born with a weighty title. After today, she’s adding a second: Master of Public Policy. On Wednesday, Belgium’s future queen got her diploma following two years of study at Harvard’s Kennedy School. Her parents, King Phillippe and Queen Mathilde, are in the Boston area to celebrate the milestone. The Royal Household shared a video of Elisabeth and her parents meeting with the school’s dean, Jeremy Weinstein, before the school’s awards ceremony for the class of 2026 Wednesday. Under her cap and gown, Elisabeth wore a cream dress with red flowers from Maje. A group of photographers accompanied the princess on a tour of the Ivy League university’s campus in Cambridge, stopping to take photos in a library and by the doors of the school’s headquarters on John F. Kennedy Street. In the Harvard Book Store, they captured her posing in front of a Belgian flag. The account also shared photos of King Phillippe when he graduated from Stanford with a master’s in political science back in 1985. According to …

Norway joins France’s nuclear deterrence club – POLITICO

Norway joins France’s nuclear deterrence club – POLITICO

“Russia’s largest nuclear arsenal is located in the High North, just a few kilometers from Norway,” he said, adding that Norway would continue to primarily rely on NATO for its security. On March 2, the French president announced that Germany, Poland, Greece, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Sweden had agreed to discuss nuclear cooperation with Paris. That could include joint nuclear drills, information sharing and, ultimately, the potential temporary deployment of French nuclear-capable Rafale fighter jets in allied countries — a concept the French called “forward nuclear deterrence.” Since then, highly classified talks about exactly what the cooperation will entail have already begun with some nations, two officials told POLITICO. On Wednesday, Paris and Oslo also signed a wide-ranging bilateral defense and security deal — dubbed the Narvik agreement — that includes a mutual assistance clause, more dialogue between their armed forces and cooperation on air defense, space and Arctic security, Macron said. In the past few years, the French president has sought to increase his country’s defense ties with Nordic countries, including Denmark, Finland …

Europe beefs up Ebola detection as Congo epidemic surges – POLITICO

Europe beefs up Ebola detection as Congo epidemic surges – POLITICO

Earlier this week Italy reported two suspected cases among passengers who had arrived from Uganda, but they later tested negative for Ebola, the disease prevention agency said. Meanwhile, Belgium has direct daily flights to and from Congo. Brussels Airlines said Wednesday it is making changes to its crew schedules given that the United States has banned entry to the country from the region, but added: “These changes are being implemented without affecting the current flight schedule.” “In times like these, flights are more vital than ever to keep the region connected and to allow vital medication and medically trained personnel to reach the affected areas,” the airline said in a statement. The airline, which is part of the Lufthansa Group, added that it remains “committed to maintaining its flight schedule whenever possible.” This deadly outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, for which there are no treatments or vaccines. The World Health Organization said talks were ongoing with developers of two experimental vaccines, while German diagnostic firm Altona said it aimed to provide a test …

Four dead after train and school bus collide in Belgium

Four dead after train and school bus collide in Belgium

A train hit a school minibus in the Belgian town of Buggenhout on the morning of May 26, with at least four people killed, including two children. The cause of the crash is not immediately clear, neither is the reason why the bus was on the tracks. Belgium’s rail agency says footage from the scene shows barriers at the crossing had been closed and a red light was showing when the incident happened. FRANCE 24’s Dave Keating has more from the ground. Keywords for this article Source link

Four dead after train and school bus collide in Belgium

Train and school minibus collide in Belgium, killing four

A train hit a school minibus killing four people, including two children, in a “horrific accident” in northern Belgium, authorities said on Tuesday. Another five schoolchildren were injured in the crash at a railway crossing in Buggenhout, a Dutch-speaking municipality about 25 kilometres (15 miles) northwest of Brussels. “A tragic collision between a train and a school bus took place in Buggenhout this morning. Four people have been killed, including two children,” Belgium’s deputy prime minister Maxime Prevot wrote on X. To display this content from X (Twitter), you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. Accept Manage my choices Images from the scene in the Flanders region showed a badly damaged minibus lying on its side on a road next to a railway line, with tents set up by emergency workers around. The commuter train remained halted on the tracks as forensic teams examined the site. Prime Minister Bart De Wever posted on social media that he was “deeply moved by the horrific accident… My thoughts go out to the affected families”. The cause …