The availability of critical medicines is under pressure within the European Union (EU) and globally. In recent years, shortages have become increasingly visible, partly because of geopolitical tensions and a heavy dependence on Asian countries for raw materials. To address this challenge, the Critical Medicines Alliance was established in April 2024 under the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council. This Alliance consists of stakeholders from healthcare, industry and civil society and works with representatives from European Member States to formulate sustainable solutions. The primary goal of the Alliance is to identify bottlenecks in the supply of medicines and formulate recommendations.

The result is impressive: the past year of intensive discussions with all stakeholders has led to the development of an ambitious strategic report. The report provides concrete recommendations to the European Commission, EU Member States and other stakeholders on how to strengthen the production of critical medicines within the EU and ensure strategic partnerships with non-EU countries.

news.belgium.be

Researchers at Leuven University (KU Leuven) have discovered the existence of millions of poorly secured so-called ‘tunnelling hosts’. Tunnelling hosts are servers or computers that act as intermediaries to connect computer networks. A total of more than four million vulnerable tunnelling hosts were found.

vrt.be

Ghent (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Ghent’s Orsi Academy (Merelbeke-Melle) and Nvidia developed an AI tool for surgical training, analyzing real-time images and aiding surgeons. A Belgian first remote surgery from Ghent to Shanghai (9,000 km). Pieter De Backer was involved.

The Ghent’s Orsi Academy, located in Belgium, has teamed up with Nvidia to create a cutting-edge AI tool for surgical training. This technology first appeared at a major international conference and allows surgeons and medical professionals to interact with an AI-powered chatbot during live operations. Officials mentioned that this intelligent system can analyze real-time surgical images and provide tailored explanations to users of all expertise levels.

brusselsmorning.com

The Atomium on the Heizel Plateau in Brussels has welcomed its 11,000,000th since it reopened in 2006. The icon structure that was built for the 1958 World’s Fair continues to pull in the crowds. The 11,000,000th visitor receive a festive welcome from the Atomium’s staff earlier on Wednesday.

vrt.be

Belgium’s defence minister Theo Francken is considering a voluntary military service programme aimed at increasing the amount of young people working in defence.

Belgium abolished its compulsory military service in 1995 and has no intention of reinstating a mandatory initiative, RTBF reports, but Francken sees a voluntary programme as a means of recruitment and plans to launch it "as soon as possible".

“All young men and women aged 18 will receive a letter from me inviting them to join the defence for one year,” said Francken.

thebulletin.be

Since the introduction of the NIS2 legislation in October last year, 1224 organisations from critical sectors have already registered with the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB). During this period, the number of reports of cyber incidents increased by 50%.

Cybercrime is set to explode in the coming years. The new European Network and Information Security Directive (NIS2) aims to improve the cyber security and resilience of essential and key services in well-defined sectors in the EU.

Pioneering role Belgium was the first European member state to fully implement the new NIS2 directive. Meanwhile, half of the EU member states still need to transpose it into national law

news.belgium.be

Earlier this week a painting by the artist Jacob Jordaens that was stolen by the Nazis from a flat in Mechelen (Antwerp Province) 85 years ago was returned to the descendants of its rightful owners. The painting was handed back at the Dossin Barracks Holocaust Memorial and Information Centre in Mechelen.

vrt.be

The winners of this year’s Oscars, the Academy Awards that recognise technical and artistic merit in the film industry, are being announced on 2 March. With 13 Oscar nominations, a record for a movie in the category ‘Best International Feature Film’, Belgian coproduction 'Emilia Pérez' is one of the favourites. But several other nominated films have Belgian input.

vrt.be

These three prepaid GSM providers will not allow you service unless you have a bank account which you must use for the initial payment before activation:

• Mobile Vikings
• JIM Mobile (same ownership as Mobile Vikings)
• Scarlet
• (edit) Ello? They might have the same issue as the above three

At the same time, some banks will not allow you to open an account unless you provide to them a mobile phone number registered in your name with proof of that registration.

You open a “basic” bank account at a bank that offers those kind of accounts just for the one-time purpose of getting a sim chip from one of the 3 MVNOs, but Belgium has a separate rule that blocks basic accounts from receiving cash, even a small amount like €10.

So you must obtain a sim from a mobile carrier other than the three to get a normal bank account open which accepts cash. Then use that bank account to buy the Jim or Scarlet sim card. Then credit is trapped on the 1st sim card. You can do a phone number transfer to get it credited back, after they siphon off €5 for the porting effort.

In 2024, observant citizens forwarded more than 9 million messages to suspicious@safeonweb.be . In record year 2023, there were 10 million. On average in 2024, we received 25,900 messages per day. We would like to sincerely thank all internet users who continue to do so! Together we are making the internet a safer place.

With this information, we were able to detect and redirect exactly 1,644,732 suspicious links. Indeed, less attentive internet users who do click on such a link are redirected by us to a warning page and thus not scammed.

news.belgium.be

Surgeons at Leuven University Hospital have transplanted four organs into a 2-year-old toddler during one single operation. It is the first time that all the abdominal organs of a toddler have been transplanted during a single operation in Belgium. The stomach, liver, pancreas and small intestine were all transplanted in the young patient in a single operation.

The two-year-old toddler had a genetic disorder that caused a nerve problem in the intestines. As a result, the child could not absorb food in the usual way but had to do so through a catheter. The prolonged use of the catheter in turn caused infections. On top of this, the baby had liver problems. All this meant that all abdominal organs had to be replaced. The operation was a success.

vrt.be

Scientists from the Centre for Brain and Disease Research at Leuven University and at VIB.AI have succeeded in creating synthetic DNA using artificial intelligence. The AI model was able to design 'enhancers', or 'switches', that can be used to activate specific genes. "Groundbreaking," the team says. The results of the research have been published in the renowned scientific journal Nature.

vrt.be

The Flemish Peace Institute on Thursday launched a new online knowledge portal on gun violence in the European Union. Gunviolence.eu features an incident monitor that provides a global picture of firearm incidents in all member states.

The platform's incident monitor lists up-to-date information based on media reports from more than 350 local news sources. The tool will also generate a monthly trend report.

"Thanks to the sophisticated algorithm and self-learning nature of the AI technology used, this monitor will become a crucial tool for a more robust and effective approach to firearm violence by law enforcement," said director Nils Duquet.

belganewsagency.eu

Note: minority report anyone?

In the Antwerp town of Willebroek the decision has been taken to continue a project to reduce street lighting for the sake of nocturnal animals. Grid operator Fluvius and the Flemish Nature and Forestry Agency have joined forces to deploy "smart street lighting". It means the municipality can save up to 40 per cent on its energy bill but "on top of that, we expect several bat species to benefit too" says René Meeuwis of the Nature and Forestry Agency.

vrt.be

An observatory in Zirkstraat in the centre of Antwerp is being completely renovated and officially reopened at the weekend. It has been in existence for a century but has not been used for the last 20 years. People’s Observatory Urania now wants to change that. The renovation will ensure that from 2024 onwards the general public will be able to look at the stars and planets here.

From next spring anyone in the centre of Antwerp wanting to look at the stars, moon and some of the planets will be able to do so in the renovated observatory in Zirkstraat. "It is more than a hundred years old, but has not been used for about 20 years," says the director of People’s Observatory Urania Marc Van den Broeck.

"We are now renovating the entire observatory, a renovation which includes two new classic telescopes. They are old models, but the quality of the images is fantastic."

vrt.be

The European Parliament has adopted its position on new rules around packaging as it aims to combat the increase in waste and encourage recycling.

Packaging waste grew by more than 20 per cent between 2010 and 2020 in the EU, with almost 190 kg of packaging thrown away per person every year.

belganewsagency.eu

Belgium’s Centre for Cybersecurity, the CCB has already received more than 8,100,000 suspicious emails this year. The emails are forwarded to the CCB by worried members of the public. The figure is over 2,000,000 higher than last year. According to the CCB, that remarkably high figure is due to a combination of things: criminals becoming increasingly active and the greater awareness of the CCB’s address: verdacht@safeonweb.be.

vrt.be

While Belgium is not traditionally seen as a country of cheese makers, the fact that it is sandwiched between the two leading 'cheese nations' (the Netherlands and France) means it is hardly surprising that producers here have tried their hand at the craft.

brusselstimes.com

The Belgian Red Devils beat Azerbaijan 5-0 on Sunday evening at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels on the final day of the Group F European Championship qualifiers.

Azerbaijan played with ten players for over an hour after midfielder Eddy Israfilov was sent off. Before half-time, Belgium's all-time top scorer, Romelu Lukaku, scored four goals in just 20 minutes. In the closing stages, Leandro Trossard scored a fifth goal for the Belgians.

belganewsageny.eu

The famous De Hoorn brewery, the birthplace of Stella Artois beer, celebrates its centenary this month, marking 100 years since it was rebuilt after the original site was destroyed during World War I.

Two years after the new brewery was built, De Hoorn launched a beer that would become world famous and would – until this day – be the world’s most consumed Belgian beer.

brusselstimes.com

The price of petrol will fall again from midnight tonight (Friday 17 November). From then those filling up their tanks with petrol 95 (E10) will pay no more than 1.715 euro/litre. This is the lowest maximum price E10 petrol since the end of December 2022 and is a fall of 4.5 cent on the current maximum price.

vrt.be

For the fourth year in a row, Belgian DJ Charlotte De Witte (31) has been voted the 'best techno DJ' in the world by the British trade magazine DJ Mag.

Every year, the British magazine DJ Mag awards prizes to the best DJs of the moment, in various categories. For the fourth time in as many years, the public has voted Charlotte de Witte the winner in the "best techno DJ" category.

brusselstimes.com

The new beer museum in the old Brussels stock exchange building is a tremendous success. In only a couple of months, the beer experience centre has already attracted 20,000 visitors. “This is many more than we had expected” explains Belgian Brewers’ director Krishan Maudgal during the presentation of a new promotional campaign for Belgian beer.

Public transport users in and around Brussels will now also be able to buy their Brupass and Brupass XL tickets – which give access to the networks of SNCB, STIB, De Lijn and TEC – digitally across all four of the companies' apps.

As passengers can buy a Brupass (XL) ticket for one or ten trips directly in the app of the public transport operator of their choice, they no longer need a MOBIB card for these tickets, just an account in the SNCB, STIB, De Lijn or TEC app. People must first download the latest version of the app and then create an account.

The ICC Cricket World Cup in India is reaching its climax. Unfortunately the Belgian national team didn’t qualify this time round, but if Hassan Shah, the president of Cricket Flanders, is to be believed the team stands a good chance of qualifying for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, when cricket returns to this event. Belgium finished second, behind England, in the European Champions League. If we win in Los Angeles cricket will truly be coming home as the sport was, of course, invented in West Flanders in Belgium.

It was during the Middle Ages that cricket was first invented in West Flanders. Hassan Shah likes to describe the sport played at this time as “primitive cricket” and it is indeed Pieter Breughel, one of the great Flemish primitive artists, who provides conclusive proof of the sport’s Flemish roots in the background of his painting “The Harvesters”.

vrt.be