Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
Social Issues Oct 2, 2013
Belgian elects to be euthanized after failed sex-change surgery
A 44-year-old Belgian in distress after a failed sex change was euthanized this week after doctors agreed to the mercy-killing on psychological grounds, national media said Tuesday. Nathan Verhelst died Monday in a Brussels hospital surrounded by friends after requesting assistance to die in ...
World Sep 21, 2013
British hacked Belgian telecom firm: Der Spiegel
Britain’s intelligence services were behind a cyberattack on state-owned Belgian telecom giant Belgacom, a German newsweekly reported Friday. Der Spiegel magazine said documents it had seen from fugitive U.S. leaker Edward Snowden’s “archive” indicated that the goal of the project, code-named Operation Socialist, was ...
World Sep 14, 2013
Panda feud exacerbates Belgium's linguistic rift
Rival Dutch- and French-speaking communities in Belgium are at each others’ throats again — this time over the loan of two giant pandas by China to the linguistically divided nation. “The pandas of discord,” screamed the daily Le Soir on Wednesday. “Pandas, a question ...
World Aug 25, 2013
Belgium makes Depardieu an honorary citizen
Authorities in the Belgian municipality of Estaimpuis made their most famous resident, Gerard Depardieu, an honorary citizen on Saturday ahead of a housewarming barbecue the French actor hosted. “We are pleased that you have made Nechin your home,” municipal official Daniel Senesael said, referring ...
Social Issues Aug 25, 2013
European experiments with sex drive-ins, 'love parks'
The Swiss city of Zurich is to open a sex drive-in on Monday. Similar initiatives exist in Germany and Italy, while Belgium and the Netherlands have come up with a different approach. Here are some examples. Germany: The cathedral city of Cologne established a ...
World Apr 4, 2013
MI6 played key role in Lumumba plot: ex-spy
A former U.K. intelligence officer told a friend that Britain played a role in the assassination of Congolese independence hero Patrice Lumumba, British media has reported. Before she died three years ago, Daphne Park — who was sent as an MI6 officer to the ...