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Europe
Belgian government collapses
2010-04-23
Belgian premier Yves Leterme's government collapsed today after negotiations to resolve a long-simmering dispute between Dutch- and French-speaking politicians over a bilingual voting district broke down.

Dutch-speaking Liberals, one of Leterme's five coalition parties, quit the Cabinet, accusing their Francophone counterparts of blocking a deal to break up the Brussels-area district the constitutional court ruled illegal in 2003.
That sounds like the Walloons, the bloody aristos. No really, they're the ones with the 14th century manor houses who hang out with the king at his court in Tervuren. The Flems are what used to be called peasants, and generally are the ones trying to get things done. I don't remember whether it was a Flem or a Walloon who headed the interior department when it was running the child pornography ring.
Leterme offered King Albert the resignation of his government. The Belgian monarch has not immediately accepted it, but began consultations with key politicians on the way forward. That may take several days, parliament president Patrick Dewael told reporters.

In a statement, the royal palace called a political crisis "inopportune". It said it could harm "Belgium's role in Europe and at an international level" -- a reference to fear that the political deadlock could drag into the second half of 2010 when Belgium holds the EU's rotating presidency.

That is not an unreasonable fear. Leterme's government took office on 20 March 2008 after a political impasse over a similar and related linguistic spat that lasted a record 194 days.
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Europe
The ‘black sheep’ in anti-terror war
2008-02-09
The Anvers Court of Appeals on Thursday acquitted seven members of the leftist Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), including the group's leader, and sentenced three others to suspended sentences for unauthorized possession of firearms and false identity papers. All three, including a suspect wanted in Turkey in connection with a 1996 assassination of a prominent Turkish industrialist, were then released, considering the time they had already spent in jail.

Their arrests in Belgium followed the discovery of an arms cache on the Belgian coast in 1999. The judge ruled, however, that the group had no intention of committing terrorist acts in Belgium and added it was not up to the court to assess how the suspects felt about terrorism in general. While acquitting the DHKP/C members of terrorism charges, the court also declined to take into consideration their terrorist activities in other countries.

"If the court acts on the basis of the presumption that the DHKP/C's terrorist activities in Turkey, Germany or the Netherlands do not affect the trial in Belgium, it is certain that such an attitude is in violation of the basic principles of the international fight against terrorism, including the relevant UN Security Council decisions," read a statement from the Turkish Foreign Ministry yesterday.

It said the ruling will contradict EU laws and EU Council decisions designating the DHKP/C a terrorist group. "It is certain that such rulings will encourage terrorist groups," said the statement. It also implied that Turkey might take the ruling to the European Court of Human Rights, saying Ankara will look into ways to appeal.

The DHKP/C, responsible for many terrorist attacks in Turkey, has been on the EU's terror list since May 2002. EU Council officials, contacted by Today's Zaman, declined to comment on the ruling, saying they were still expecting further information on its content. An official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made clear that the decision on what measures to be taken toward a particular group designated as a terrorist organization by the EU was up to individual member states. But if a member state opposes the designation of a group as a terrorist organization, it is expected to bring forward its objections to the council, said the official, adding, however, that there has been no such request from Belgian authorities.

The decision was met with criticism in the Belgian media as well. Newspapers presented a hypothetical situation for Belgium in which al-Qaeda terrorists, after committing many acts of violence elsewhere in the world -- but none in Belgian territory -- come to the country and ask for asylum.

Thursday’s decision is the latest shocking development in the course of the lengthy trial process of the DHKP/C members. It came at the end of a retrial, after Belgium’s highest court had ordered a retrial in April of last year, saying that one of the judges handling the first trial in 2006 appeared not to have been impartial.

Fehriye Erdal, one of the three DHKP/C terrorists sentenced to suspended imprisonment in the case, is wanted in Turkey for involvement in the 1996 murder of industrialist Özdemir Sabancý. In the 2006 ruling, she was sentenced to four years in prison, but, in a development that outraged Turkey, she escaped before her conviction despite being under surveillance by Belgian security forces and is still on the run. The DHKP/C was also considered a terrorist group in the 2006 decision.

“I am terrified,” said Köksal Toptan, speaker of the Turkish Parliament, of Thursday’s decision. “It is absolutely terrifying that a group designated as a terrorist organization all across the world is not seen as a terrorist organization.”

Toptan continued: “Terrorism needs to be combated across the globe. Otherwise the entire world will lose the fight against it. Such a decision coming from a court in Belgium, a central EU state, means encouragement of terrorism.”

According to Toptan, a mentality that lets people walk free of the court because they have not committed any crime in Belgium cannot be part of any global effort to counter terrorism. “No one would feel they have to help others in the fight against terrorism.”

The decision appears to be a blow to the Belgian government, which has been pressing for a tougher stance against terrorism. Interior Minister Patrick Dewael, who earlier lashed out at the DHKP/C as a terrorist group, was silent after Thursday’s ruling, saying he would respect the judiciary’s decisions.

Reports said Belgian intelligence and security organizations, eager to pursue a tougher fight against terrorist groups, were disappointed because they are concerned this would make Belgium look like a “backyard” of terrorist organizations.

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Europe
Belgium Plan to combat problem of mother, child beggars
2006-03-15
Federal Social Integration Minister Christian Dupont has announced plans to combat the problem of mothers and children begging on Belgian city streets.

The announcement was welcomed by Socialist SP.A MP Dalila Douifi, who has raised concerns about the issue.

Distressing scenes of mothers seen begging with babies in their arms — particularly during the past few days of freezing cold — have sparked renewed concerns. Research indicates that these babies face enormous health risks and they are often given too much cough syrup. International law bans exposing children to extreme circumstances, such as cold weather.
Now THAT's policymaking as it ought to be done. Overuse of cough syrup is clearly a key issue here. It's a good thing there's an international law we can reference, too. Otherwise we'd have to use common sense and compassion.
After raising the matter with Interior Minister Patrick Dewael and Justice Minister Laurette Onkelinx, Douifi has since shared her concerns with Minister Dupont.

Dupont subsequently announced on Tuesday that he will deploy 12 intercultural mediators to approach the beggars.

"The intercultural aspect is not unimportant. For example, the Roma do not always want to be helped. That is part of their culture," Douifi said.
One wonders if the Gypsies are the main source of begging in Belgium, or if they are merely one of the groups Belgians feel comfortable looking down on publicly. As opposed to more ... vigorous ... immigrants.

The mediators will be deployed in Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent, Liège and Charleroi.

Douifi also said there have been positive developments in Antwerp, where city authorities demand that school age children actually attend school. When the children start attending school, their parents are then granted social security.

"The problem is very complex: often it is a combination of repressive, preventative and remedial approach that is necessary. The measures from Minister Dupont are the start of a solution," Douifi said.

The Socialist SP.A minister also stressed that using children for the purposes of begging is a criminally prosecutable offence.
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Europe
Economic migration 'to combat aging population'
2006-03-15
Interior Minister Patrick Dewael came out in support again of economic migration at an international conference on immigration in Brussels Wednesday.

The Liberal VLD minister said the aging population will lead to a shortage of workers in Europe, a problem which could be solved by controlled migration.

Dewael said decisions must be made on which country needs which workers and economic migrants would have to undergo specific training and education prior to immigrating.

He said a controlled system of migration would have benefits for both Europe and developing nations over a given timeframe, news service VRT reported on Wednesday.

"I think that if you do it in an organised manner, you will also see people return to those lands. You are seeing that at the moment, for example, with India," Dewael said. "Secondly, there is a transfer of resources from those people to their countries of origin, which also benefits the economy."

Dewael was speaking at a two-day international conference on immigration in Brussels.

The conference is jointly sponsored by Belgium, the World Bank, the European Commission and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). It seeks to "create synergies between migration and development".

It will also discuss the contribution of migrants to the development of their home countries, investments, trade opportunities and the transfer of competencies and knowledge.
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Europe
Belgian finger pointing over Erdal escape
2006-03-05
The Interior Ministry denied on Friday that escaped Turkish militant Fehriye Erdal could not have been arrested prior to her conviction earlier this week. The ministry said she could neither be arrested based on police criminal law or immigration law, news agency Belga reported.

The denial comes after the opposition Christian Democrat CD&V claimed that Erdal could have been arrested during her trial. It said the arrest could have been based on immigration law.

Meanwhile, questions have also been raised about claims from Interior Minister Patrick Dewael on Thursday that the security service VS-SE did not anticipate that Erdal would flee. Flemish broadcaster VRT claims it has since obtained documents indicating that the possibility that Erdal would flee was discussed at a crisis government meeting. A decision was then taken to place Erdal under surveillance for 24-hours a day in the lead up to Tuesday's ruling, a ruling in which she was sentenced to four years jail for links to the Turkish militant group DHKP-C. However, Erdal had already disappeared on Monday night despite the Belgian security service's surveillance
also

Amid the controversy around the disappearance of Fehriye Erdal, it has been alleged that the federal security service VS-SE and police could not agree on the best manner to keep the Turkish militant under surveillance.
Jugging her would have worked.
An anonymous source from the VS-SE said Erdal had done everything possible in recent years to mislead government authorities, such as even using look-alikes. "When we [VS-SE] alerted police about this, they refused to intervene. No, this so-called escape is completely orchestrated. In the meantime, we are getting the blame," the source told newspaper 'Het Nieuwsblad'.

Erdal disappeared on Monday night prior to her conviction for links to a criminal group. She and six other members of the Turkish militant group DHKP-C were jailed for four to six years for possession of weapons and forged documents. The government's anti-terrorist unit has since been placed on alert for possible attacks by the DHKP-C.

The alert was sparked by a communiqué from the DHKP-C information bureau in Brussels which referred to Brugge Court president Freddy Troch as an inquisitor. The communiqué also said the court case was "a carnival of bad taste presided over by a one-sided, partisan and warlike judge".

Belgium was also sharply criticised and the anti-terror group said the language used in the communiqué was very aggressive against the judge. Consequently, the DHKP-C will be placed under intense surveillance over the next few days.
wow - a few DAYS??? Those Belgians sure are tough ...
However, Troch has not been placed under police protection.
too much hassle, overtime is bitch, union rules yada yada
Meanwhile, intelligence experts in Turkey have questioned whether the Turkish security service was possibly involved in the disappearance of Erdal, who is also accused of killing a businessman in the mainly Islamic country.

In light of the fact that Turkey's repeated requests for Erdal's extradition has in the past been refused, the security experts claim an abduction carried out by the Turkish security service MIT is possible. They also stress that an abduction was unlikely.
If the Turks did it she'll never be found.
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Europe
Belgium left red faced after Turkish militant disappears
2006-03-03
lots of lapses by the Belgians lately, including refusing to act on CIA info about nuclear equipment sent to Iran despite being embargoed.
Belgium has been left red faced by the disappearance of convicted Turkish militant Fehriye Erdal, who vanished while under surveillance of the intelligence service VS and the Interior Ministry. Erdal had been under intensified surveillance in the past two weeks leading up to her conviction in Brugge Court on Tuesday for links to the Turkish militant group DHKP-C.
"And how intense was the surveillance, M. le Inspecteur?"
"I cogitated intensely to infer her whereabouts!"
She was sentenced in absentia to four years jail and the court ordered her immediate apprehension. However, it was later revealed that Erdal had been missing for 24 hours. An international arrest warrant has now been issued.
"Legume! I have cogitated that the wench has absconded! Issue an international arrest warrant immediately!"
And the news of Erdal's disappearance dominated front page headlines in Belgian newspapers on Thursday.
"Extry! Extry! Read all about it! Intelligence Belgique hoses it again!"
"Here, boy! Lemme see that!"
Turkish editorials and news broadcasts also paid heavy attention to the issue.
Yes, I imagine they might, considering what DHKP-C has been linked to.
The DHKP-C militant had been staying in a Belgian government safehouse since the end of March 2000 after her arrest in September 1999 in Duinbergen on suspicion of illegal weapon possession and using a fake passport.
safehouse? SAFEHOUSE??? Pardon me, but Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?????
Erdal was placed under the supervision of the Interior Ministry after she applied for political asylum in July 2000. If she needed to leave her safehouse — for example to visit a doctor — Erdal needed to ask ministerial permission.
ah, of course - she's just a poor misunderstood political refugee
"Legume! Did you, perhaps, issue a permission slip for her to go to Outer Mongolia?"
"Certainly not, M. le Inspecteur! It was to go to Australia."
This occurred on various occasions in the past six years without any problem, but when security service officers went to arrest her on Monday night, Erdal had disappeared.
"Where is she?"
"I dunno. Said she was goin' to see the docteur!"
House raids in Brussels at known DHKP-C addresses yielded nothing.
wotta surpise!
I feel faint, I'd best go lie down.
"Fehriye Erdal? Nope. Nobody by that name here!"
"Hokay. Ummm... What's your name?"
"Ummm... Fehriye Smith."
The Justice Ministry, Interior Ministry and federal public prosecution department were left pointing at each other for an official comment on Wednesday as Belgium was increasingly left red faced by the disappearance.
"Wudn't me."
"Wudn't me."
"Wudn't me. It wuz them!"
Eventually, Interior Minister Patrick Dewael and Justice Minister Laurette Onkelinx confirmed in a joint statement on Wednesday night that Erdal had been under intensified supervision of the security service VS since 19 February. However, the VS lost sight of Erdal on Monday night.
"Yeah. It wuz them."
Adding to the diplomatic pressure on Belgium, Turkey requested the extradition of Erdal on Monday.
"Sorry. Can't do it. She's gone to the docteur."
It is the third such request.
"Again? She's at the docteur again?"
"She's been feeling poorly."
Erdal's lawyer has said the latest request could be due to the fact Turkey has abolished the death penalty. However, Erdal's extradition is not considered likely because
... she's beat it for parts unknown?
she was arrested in relation to a "political offence". The DKHP-C aims to overthrow the Turkish government and has already claimed responsibility for several violent attacks in Turkey.
and in Belgian eyes that makes her a political refugee? The place is f*cked up even more than I thought.
Remember how much the Euros dislike the Turks, and it begins to make sense. Not a lot of sense, but sense. In a Euro sort of way.
Belgian opposition parties are now demanding answers from ministers Dewael and Onkelinx, stressing that both of them have made mistakes in handling the issue. "This incident is damaging for the reputation of our country," Christian Democrat CD&V MP Tony Van Parys said.
No - you think??

More on the investigation here, including some biting words from Turkish officials.
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Europe
Preventative approach has 'spared' Belgium of riots - arson continues
2005-11-12
The Belgian government's preventative approach has ensured that the riots in France have not blown across to Belgium, Interior Minister Patrick Dewael said on Thursday.

"At the moment, there are isolated incidents and no city guerrillas or organised uprisings," the Liberal VLD minister told MPs.
Ahhh ... someone willing to call it what it is, so long as it occurs in another country

During a mini-debate in the Belgian Parliament in Brussels, Dewael said the situation in Belgium — which has witnessed four successive nights of unrest and arson attacks — cannot be compared with France.

However, Dewael said it is not impossible for French-style rioting to occur in Belgium, but that the Belgian focus on prevention — via a close-knit network of street and neighbourhood workers — was bearing fruit. He said the careful approach of police — dubbed community policing — was also giving good results, newspaper 'De Standaard' reported.

Dewael said he was open to discussions with all levels of government to create more chances for youths, but stressed at the same time that politicians cannot do everything. He said parents also needed to take responsibility.
that's un... um, un- ... well I was going to say un-democratic and un-socialist, but words fail ...

The minister's comments come after dozens of cars and trucks have been torched in Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent in recent days. It sparked fears that French violence would jump the border.

Despite the tension though, the national crisis centre has said no large gatherings of youths have been witnessed and the situation was in general calmer on Wednesday evening than on previous nights.

Meanwhile, you can read the details of the 4th night of arsons here.
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Europe
Minister's careless talk 'hindered terror inquiries' in Belgium
2005-11-03
Careless talk from Belgian Interior Minister Patrick Dewael hindered criminal investigations into the terrorist group GICM, the judiciary has claimed.

Dewael revealed in March 2004 that members of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM) were being shadowed in Belgium. The minister made his comment despite an explicit request from the judiciary to keep quiet. The minister's comments forced the premature ending of surveillance operations, which were cut short a month ahead of planning, newspaper 'De Tijd' reported on Thursday.

The trial of 13 suspected members of the GICM terror network will start in Brussels later on Thursday. The network is held responsible for bomb attacks in the Moroccan capital of Casablanca and the Saudi capital of Riyadh in May 2003 and in Madrid on 11 March last year. Some 271 people were killed in the attacks.

Pre-trial investigations started in November 2002 when the Belgian security service VS started shadowing suspected GICM member K. Bouloudo, 30, of Maaseik, in Limburg. He was arrested in the Netherlands on 27 January last year after a routine traffic inspection. However, the Belgian judiciary decided to shadow the companions of Bouloudo for "another month of two".

"These companions were the key figures in the dossier, not Bouloudo. By shadowing them unnoticed we could identify still more terrorists," the judiciary said.

"In the interests of the investigation the federal public prosecution office asked Dewael not to disclose the operation."

However, on 17 March last year, Dewael spoke carelessly in the Parliament Commission for Interior Affairs. Upon questioning by Flemish Interest MP Francis van den Eynde, Dewael said that those involved in the investigation of Bouloudo were under surveillance.

The revelations reached the broad public via the media and the companions of Bouloudo became suspicious. The judiciary claims there was a danger the suspects would flee the country and the surveillance had to be ended prematurely. Some 20 house raids were then quickly carried out on 19 March last year in Maaseik, Brussels and Antwerp.

"Politicians don't understand how much damage such a disclosure can bring to an investigation which our people have worked on in difficult situations for years," the judiciary said.

Neither Dewael nor his staff were available for comment this week.



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Europe
Guantanamo Belgians face charges, but free for now
2005-04-28
The two Belgians who were this week freed from US custody in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have been charged in their home country with criminal activity, it emerged on Wednesday.
I'm so happy that Jean-Pierre and Guy can stretch their legs a bit. It must have been dreadful!
The two - Mesut Sen, a Belgian with Turkish roots from Brussels, and Moussa Zemmouri, a Moroccan who was granted Belgian nationality in 1996 - have been charged with belonging to a criminal organisation. "The investigation is continuing and they will be questioned again," Lieve Pellens, a spokeswoman for the Brussels prosecutors office told the AFP news agency. The prosecutor decided to bring the charges after questioning the two men on Tuesday. However the pair have been released while awaiting further questioning. Sen and Zemmouri were flown back to Belgium this week after spending more than three years at the controversial US detention camp in Cuba. Belgian Justice and Interior Ministers Laurette Onkelinx and Patrick Dewael negotiated their release with the American government. The repatriation came shortly after the US promised to release 38 detainees. Sen was originally arrested in Pakistan in December 2001 and Zemmouri was arrested in Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.
Must've taken a wrong turn at Bastogne.
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Europe
Belgians Compare Bush to a Chimp, Forgetting This Has Already Been Done 50 Million Times...
2005-03-31
I guess they don't realize the chimp=Bush thing is so 2004...
Belgium's interior minister was left red-faced after it emerged that photos comparing US President George W. Bush to a chimpanzee had been used in a police training manual. "I hadn't seen these photos and I think they are in bad taste," the minister, Patrick Dewael, told the Flemish-language daily Het Laatste Nieuws, which first reported the story.
"They're much less classy than the urinal stickers....
The pictures in question -- reprinted by the newspaper -- showed a series of the US leader's facial expressions next to shots of a chimpanzee making apparently similar faces. They were intended to show off their mad Photoshop skillz help trainee police officers in the western city of Bruges to recognize the importance of body language in dealing with the public. Bush is shown in poses ranging from pensive to finger-waving debating mode. The pictures are all the more embarrassing for Dewael since their mad skillz really suck he had signed a letter calling on Belgian municipal authorities and other police chiefs to use the manual. But he was at pains to insist he did not know about the pictures. "This collage was not an initiative of the interior ministry," he said, adding that he intended to ask Bruges authorities to withdraw the controversial pages from the manual.
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Europe
Arab European League battles for planned ’militant meeting’
2004-05-13
Again, blame Expatica for the dreadful pun in the headline.
The Dutch-Belgian Arab European League (AEL) is finding it increasingly difficult to arrange a controversial meeting at which Muslim militant Qazi Hussain Ahmed is scheduled to speak.
Fred, I don’t remember; is Qazi the big fat turban or the really big fat turban?
I think Fazl's fatter than Qazi, but only by a hundred pounds or so...
The AEL initially planned to hold the meeting at the Haagse Hogeschool in The Hague (try saying that three times fast), but the college pulled out in protest against the invitation extended to the Pakistani militant.
"Sure, you can use our lecture hall...er...you’re inviting who whom?"
Organisers then booked a hall in the Nederlands Congress Centrum in The Hague, but like the Haagse Hogeschool, the congress centre claims it has been misled by AEL leader Abou Jahjah and co-organiser Al Beit al-Arabi.
Ethel, bring Fred’s pills at once. Those nice young men were being deceptive!
The congress centre claims the AEL was not fully open about the nature of the meeting, planned for 21 May, newspaper De Telegraaf reported on Tuesday. It has refused to host the public meeting. The AEL refused to comment on Monday about the controversy that has erupted around Hussain Ahmed, the president of the Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami, which has been accused of carrying out bloody attacks on Indian targets in the disputed Kashmir region.
JI doesn't carry out attacks in Kashmir. They just provide the cannon fodder. JI shelters, aids and abets the Taliban and Hizb-e-Islami. And al-Qaeda...
The Hague-based Centre for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI) has warned the visit will endanger national security and public order. It has urged the Dutch government to refuse entry to Hussain Ahmed. Also, the Dutch Hindu community plans to demonstrate against Hussain Ahmed if he gains entry to the Netherlands. “This man is a disruptive factor for peace in Europe; he sets population groups against each other,” a chief Hindu representative said.
Oh, he just wants to be caliph...
Belgian Interior Minister Patrick Dewael has told the Belgian Parliament that Hussain Ahmed is to be received by the AEL in Belgium on 22 May and both the Dutch and Belgian governments are currently discussing the possibility of refusing entry to the Islamic leader. Hussain Ahmed sparked controversy last weekend when he addressed a “hate congress” in the Lebanese capital Beirut. Hamas spiritual leader Mohammed Nazaal and the “spiritual father of the Palestinian suicide bombers”, Sheik Yousef al-Qardawi, also spoke at the congress. It is also known that Hussain Ahmed has in the past supported the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. He expressed sympathy for Osama bin Laden, the leader of terror network Al Qaeda.
When Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was picked up, it was at a JI member's house...
Dutch politicians have voiced concerns about the AEL, which was founded in 2001 in Antwerp, Belgium. The AEL — which later set up a branch in the Netherlands — claims to support integration, but not assimilation of Muslim and Arab immigrants into European society. In April this year, the AEL’s website "saluted" the armed resistance to the US-led coalition being mounted by "the Iraqi population" in Fallujah.
The US currently has plenty of oceanfront conference space available in Diego Garcia, I understand...
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Europe
Al-Qaeda targeting Belgium over the holidays
2004-01-14
Osama Bin-Laden’s terrorist network Al-Qaeda was plotting an attack in Belgium at some time over the new year holiday period according to US press reports. Citing unnamed US intelligence experts, the Monday edition of USA Today newspaper said two "foreign sources who had been reliable in the past" had provided Washington with information about possible terror attacks in Belgium, Saudi Arabia, and a number of sites in the USA itself. It is thought that the targets in all of the locations cited would have been oil refineries, oil pipelines or nuclear power stations. But the Belgian Interior Ministry reacted coolly to the news that Al Qaeda appears to have specifically targeted Belgium for the first time. "Obviously we are always vigilant but we have taken no extra measures to deal with this apparent threat," a spokeswoman for Patrick Dewael, who is both Belgium’s Interior Minister and the country’s deputy Prime Minister, told Expatica. "We were not unduly alarmed by the news," she added.

According to USA Today the intelligence on the possible attacks in Belgium and elsewhere was one of the reasons why the US government decided on December 21 to raise its level of national security alert from ’Code yellow’ - an ’elevated risk’ - to high risk ’Code Orange’. That move led to the cancellation of a number of trans-Atlantic flights over the recent holiday period, most notably services scheduled to fly to the USA from London and Paris. Washington has since lowered the alert to yellow again. The reasons behind Al-Qaeda’s apparent decision to target Belgium are not known. But some analysts say the decision could be linked to the recent high profile trial in the country of 23 suspected militants from the terror network, which saw 18 of the defendants receive jail sentences.
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