Chinatown in Antwerp, Belgium, gets its own pagode gateway

On the corner of Van Wesenbekestraat with the Gemeentestraat, soon a Chinese pagoda gateway will arise.

The access to the Van Wesenbekestraat, with have the same analogy with ‘China towns’ in cities such as London and New York. The long-awaited Chinese pagoda gateway to Van Wesenbekestraat is placed by request of the Chinese community.

The gate will contribute to the living character of the station surroundings. With the pagoda gateway an attractive passage way is created from the Koningin Astridplein to the Coninckplein.

The municipal board already gave their okay in May 2006, for the construction of a pagoda gateway in the Van Wesenbekestraat. But the managers of two adjacent shops feared that the monument would cause hindrance, and therefore started a lawsuit against the city.

The court of appeal ordered, three years ago, that the gate could not be placed without a proper urban construction license. When the Flemish government supplied a construction license, the town governing board also made an agreement with the Chinese co-ordinating committee. The construction of the pagoda gateway will become a technical phenomenon, because the overhead tram lines and the premetrotunnel must be taken into account.

The cost of the activities is estimated on 220, 000 euro, funded by the city and the Chinese community. The gateway is set to open in Spring of 2010.

bron: apen.be [18-12-2009]

A 150.000 Euro offer for a pigeon

Marc de Cock, a man from Belgium, has turned down a 150.000 euro for his pigeon Eagle Eye.

A man from China offered him that amount after De Cock bought the competition-pigeon for 132.000 euro. “He can make about 50 younglings. And those I can sell for about a 1000 Euro each, and that is a much better deal”, according to De Cock.

bron: www.nos.nl [9-12-2009]

Brussels seeks extended tariffs on Chinese and Vietnamese shoes

The European Union should extend its anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese and Vietnamese leather shoes to give European producers more time to adjust to international competition, the bloc’s executive said Wednesday.

“In spite of duties imposed, Chinese- and Vietnamese-made leather shoes continue to be dumped in the European market,” the European Commission said in a statement. The EU first imposed the tariffs, of 16.5 per cent of import price on Chinese shoes and 10 per cent on Vietnamese ones, in 2006, arguing that they were sold at unfair prices.

While the EU’s shoe makers have since managed to make their own production more efficient, the problem still exists, the commission said. “The removal of measures at this stage would lead to increased dumping and injury, and potentially halt the adjustment process of an industry which employs over 260,000 workers in the EU,” the statement explained.

However, since European business is now close to being able to compete in the globalized market, the commission decided to propose a 15-month extension rather than the five years allowed by EU rules. “The investigation has shown that the industry’s adjustment process is well on track. A 15-month period therefore appears reasonable to allow the industry to adjust, while minimising any effects on other stakeholders,” the statement said.

It is now up to EU member states to agree on action.

bron: www.earthtimes.org [2-12-2009]

Chinese ship collides with Belgian cargo vessel

A Belgian cargo vessel leaked oil into waters off northern China after a Chinese ship crashed into it at a refueling dock, a state news agency said Sunday.The Belgian ship, “Lowlands Prosperity,” was docked late Saturday at the Caofeidian port, a steelmaking and energy base in northeastern Hebei province, near Beijing, when a Chinese oil supplying ship hit the vessel’s stern, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The 290-meter-long (950-foot) Belgian vessel had planned to unload and refuel when the Chinese fuel supplier, “Jinyou No. 1,” crashed into it and damaged its hull, causing an oil leak.

The extent of the oil leak was not immediately clear, but Xinhua cited workers as saying it was temporarily under control. The provincial maritime department dispatched workers and ships to the site but a thick fog hindered cleanup operations Sunday, Xinhua said.

bron: www.etaiwannews.com

Vice President Xi Jinping to visit Belgium, Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania and attend Europalia Chinese Art Festival and China’s Guest-of-Honor Activities in Frankfurt Book Fair

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ma Zhaoxu announces:

At the invitation of Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, leader of the Federal Republic of Germany, Bulgarian Vice President Angel Marin, Hungarian President László Sólyom and Romanian President Traian Băsescu, Vice President Xi Jinping will pay official visits to the above five countries from October 7 to 21. Vice President Xi will attend the Europalia Chinese Art Festival at the invitation of King of the Belgians Albert II during his visit to Belgium and attend China’s Guest-of-Honor activities in Frankfurt Book Fair during his visit to Germany.

bron: www.fmprc.gov.cn

Masked rapist with strap-on dildo active in Belgium

Masked rapist with strap-on dildo active in Belgium

Last Tuesday night a man, with a scary mask and a strap-on dildo, tried to sexually assault a 16 year old girl in a park of the Belgian town Schilde, according to a press release by ‘Gazet van Antwerpen’ today. The mayor of Schilde advises the teenagers not to travel alone throught the parks and other forest areas at night.

After a concert in the park of Schilde the girl biked her way towards home, but was dragged from her bike into a dark alley by a masked man with a strap-on dildo. He threatened her with a big knife, but ran off when two other girls biked by and saw what happened. The notified the police.

A lot of parents are concerned and want to keep their daughter at home, but according to mayor Yolande Avontroodt there is no reason for panic. But the “strap-on dildo rapist” has already made two victims this sommer, once in Malle and another time in Schilde. Each time after a festival where a lot of young girls were present.

The man would be between 20 and 30 years old, about 1.70 meter in hight, with an oddly pointed nose and dark blond hair. According to his victims he raped them using his massive strap-on dildo.

bron: www.gva.be

A mayor resignes as a gift for his wife

The mayor of the east-Flemish town Wetteren, in Belgium, has resigned as a gift for his wife.

This was a big surprise for the town council, because they were notified just 15 minutes before the meeting.

The 66 year old mayor resigned because his wife asked him to do so a couple of years ago. Marc Gybels was a mayor for 18 years. “The time has come to obey my wife“, according to Gybels in Het Laatste Nieuws today.

bron: www.dag.nl

Chinese tourists brutally robbed in Antwerp by using pepperspray

Chinese tourists brutally robbed in Antwerp by using pepperspray.

Tuesday night, in Antwerp (Belgium), two Chinese tourists were brutally robbed by three Serbians, as stated by the police of Antwerp today. Two robbers at the Wesenbeekstraat attacked a 30 year old man and a 26 year old woman from Hong Kong with pepperspray, and fled with the woman’s handbag.

The woman was dragged to a fall, and injured her hips and was braught hospital for treatment. The man also received medical attention at the Stuivenberghospital.

One of the robbers jumped in a standby standing Volkswagen Golf, which was driven by a third culprit. The car was quickly intercepted by a patrol car at the Turnhoutsebaan.

Both men in the car were Serbs, one was a 24 year old from Hemiksem and the other a 28 year old from Merksplas, were arrested. The thirs assailant is still at large.

bron: www.standaard.be

Fears that Chinese mafia bumping off Belgian homing pigeons

Fears that Chinese mafia bumping off Belgian homing pigeons.

The world of Belgian homing pigeons is in a flap over fears that Chinese criminal gangs are bumping off their prized racers, after a gruesome discovery in the northern town of Antwerp.

Last week a passerby spotted two men of Asian appearance dumping rubbish bags in a wood in Mol, near the Dutch border.

The two men were driving a car with French plates, according to the witness, who took some photos at the scene thinking they were tipping refuse at a natural beauty spot, Belgian media reported.

However the sacks were found to contain the bodies of 14 racing pigeons.

All the birds had one foot cut off and therefore lost their identification tags.

The birds were believed to have gone missing the same day from a well-known local pigeon breeder.

The impressive reputation of competition pigeons raised in Belgium has long spread beyond the kingdom’s borders.

The top-performing birds can change hands for hundreds of euros and sometimes much more.

The pigeons have even drawn the attentions of Chinese criminal gangs, according to the Royal Belgian Federation of Pigeon Fanciers, which has already recorded ten robberies this year.

Rather than attempting to smuggle their prey abroad, the birdnappers merely kill their victims and cut off the identifying rings.

“That’s much more simple. All they have to is fit the stolen identification rings in China onto a bird worth a fraction of the value, which they then pass off as an ace racer,” fanciers’ association president Pierre De Rijst told the Het Laatste Nieuws daily.

The two men photographed in Mol, who turned out to be Chinese nationals, presented themselves to Belgian police on Saturday.

They explained that they were in Belgium on business “in the world of pigeon fanciers”.

According to the prosecutors office, they supplied proof of purchase of pigeons in Belgium and were therefore allowed to leave freely.

The Belgian federation now recommends that its 33,000 members take out insurance against theft and place surveillance cameras in their coops.

bron: AFP [25-8-2009]

Arms thieves steal fake guns

Arms thieves steal fake guns.

Arms thieves have broken in and stolen arms in an arms store in the Belgian place Brasschaat. But unfortunately, the 7 guns they stole were all fake guns.

They entered the store by hurling a concrete block at the store window. Once inside they stole 7 guns from the display shelves and fled in a dark tinted BMW. What the thieves didn’t know was that the guns on the display shelves were all plastic fake guns.

bron: www.deredactie.be