Recent Local News - Who Wants an Elephant?

FRANCE

French Beer Tax

France has announced that it will raise the tax on beer

by 160 percent. If France chooses to do so, it is likely to

threaten hundreds of jobs in the Belgian beer sector, says

Sven Gatz, the Chairman of the Belgian Brewers. France

is the biggest market for Belgian beer (20 percent of the

Belgian beer production). Gatz expects the measure to

cause the sales in France to drop by 15 to 20 percent.

The brewers are especially upset that the tax increase

only applies to beer and not wine and liquor. The brewers

believe it is a case of discrimination and protectionism.

Prime Minister Di Rupo has already raised the issue with

French President Hollande while the latter made a remark

on the Belgian fiscal legislation that is attracting French

millionaires who want to evade the French tax on wealth.

BELGIUM

New Holocaust Museum in Belgium

The grand opening of the new Holocaust museum in Mechelen

was held last week in presence of Belgian King Albert

II. The building is built with a total of 25,852 bricks, i.e.

exactly the number of Jewish people and Gypsies who

were deported from the Dossin barracks in Mechelen

between 1942 and 1944. Of those deported, only five

percent came back from the concentration camps.

Belgians discover three new species of bees

A team of scientists from the Royal Belgian Institute for

Natural Sciences, has discovered three new South-African

bee species. The bees involved are primitive bees with

a length of only 6 or 7 millimeters. They have South Africa's

Cape Province as their natural habitat and have

only been spotted there.The bees have been assigned to

the new family Capalictus. The Belgian scientists worked

with America's Cornell University and London's Natural History

 Museum for their research.

Synthetic diamonds in Antwerpen

The Antwerp judicial authorities are looking into a fraud

case involving synthetic diamonds. Synthetic diamonds

can hardly be distinguished from real ones, only laboratory

research can provide real guarantees. The scam was

discovered in Antwerp's Gemological Institute. Apparently,

also counterfeit diamonds are being traded in the

city of Antwerp. This was discovered almost by accident,

when a trader had some checks done on 1,000 smaller

stones. 600 turned out to be synthetic or man-made.

The diamonds involved came from abroad (an American

supplier). People tried to sell them in Antwerp presenting

them as real, natural diamonds. They had been mixed

with other real diamonds to fool buyers, but a laboratory

in Antwerp discovered the scam. Synthetic diamonds are

cheaper than real diamonds, but not so much, because

it is very expensive to make them.

Remembering WWI

Belgium is getting ready to commemorate the hundredth

anniversary of the first conflict in which the whole world

was involved. The production company Studio 100, that

mainly focuses on children’s television and state show,

is in the final stages of negotiation to hire the Nekkerhal

in Mechelen for almost a year in order to stage a show

about the First World War. Among other shows, the public

broadcaster VRT will air an eight part show titled ‘Ten

Oorlog’ (To War). Heads of State will be invited to attend

a national memorial ceremony on October 15, 2014.

NETHERLANDS



Zoo gives away four elephants

A power struggle within a group of elephants at Emmen

zoo in the Netherlands has grown so out of control that

the zoo has decided to give away four of the herd free of

charge. The power struggle erupted following the death

of the herd's matriarch Htoo Khin Aye in June, when she

collapsed and died, squashing her three-week old calf

in the process. Since then, two rival strands of the family

have been fighting it out for control. The two leading

females - Htoo Khin Aye's oldest daughter and another

elephant who is the oldest female in the group - are now

continually bullying each other, helped by their sisters

and children. The dispute has become so serious the two

groups cannot exercise at the same time and have to be

kept separated. The zoo authorities have now decided

one female, her two sons and a daughter are to be found

a new home and given away free of charge to another zoo.

Plans to sell barbed wire dropped

The foundation in charge of a former Nazi concentration

camp in the Netherlands has scrapped plans to sell pieces

of barbed wire dug up at the site following protests from

Jewish groups. The Kamp Amersfoort foundation said the

sale of 50 pieces of wire for €10 each would not go ahead.

The sale had been planned to raise money to finance an

exhibition of artifacts found on site. 'It seems we have

hurt people and that was not our intention,' said the site

director. Jewish groups had described the planned sale

as 'completely tasteless and lacking in respect'. Up to

40,000 people passed through the camp during World War

II, of whom at least half were deported to death camps.

[Some grim news this week.]

Accident in the North Sea

(AP)  Rescuers called off search efforts for six missing crewmen

Thursday from a cargo ship that sank in the North Sea

 after a collision with another vessel. The presumed death toll

is 11 -- taking into account the missing and five bodies found so far.

A day after the Baltic Ace capsized in international waters off

Netherlands' southern coast, search helicopters, planes and coast guard ships

were called back to their bases amid icy conditions.

"Given the water temperature and the amount of time that's passed,

we don't have any hope for more survivors," Peter Westenberg

 of the Dutch coast guard said. Westenberg said passing ships were still

being notified by radio to remain alert for possible human remains.

The 485-foot Baltic Ace sank Wednesday evening after colliding

with the 440-foot container ship Corvus J near busy shipping lanes.

The cause of the collision wasn't known.

Dutch teens charged in linesman's death

(CNN) -- The Netherlands is reeling from the death of a volunteer

soccer official at an amateur football match over the weekend

which has led to three Dutch teenagers being charged with manslaughter.

Two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old -- all Amsterdam club Nieuw Sloten players --

were arrested and charged by Dutch police after the death

of a 41-year-old linesman Richard Nieuwenhuizen,

who was beaten by players following a match against his club Buitenboys

 in the city of Almere. Nieuwenhuizen's son was playing in the

match when the incident occurred. "Two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old from

Amsterdam, under suspicion of seriously assaulting a 41-year-old linesman

of the Buitenboys from Almere, will on Thursday appear before

a judge at the Almere court," the prosecutor's office said.

"The suspects will appear on charges of manslaughter, assault and public violence."

The judge will now decide whether to keep the three youths in detention in Amsterdam.

Nieuwenhuizen is the second man to die during an amateur football game following the

death of a 77-year-old, who was the victim of a karate kick by a 32-year-

old footballer during a game on December 3 2011.