A male plumber from Lochristi (East Flanders) has been sentenced to 40 months in prison after he spied on customers and was found in possession of images of child sexual abuse The plumber also stole USB sticks and hard drives to obtain intimate images of a female customer The East Flemish public prosecutor's office tracked down the plumber in May last year following statements by his wife the woman found two suspicious videos on the defendant's computer a naked woman taking a shower,’ the court heard ‘The defendant admitted to her that while working as a plumber he had installed a camera in a customer's bathroom without anybody noticing The defendant then deleted the videos and removed the camera.’ the woman again found a digital folder containing pictures She also found a USB stick and an SD card in the defendant's work trousers her husband secretly installed a camera in their bedroom He also secretly filmed her through the bathroom door keyhole when she was taking a shower.’ A search of the plumber's home led to the seizure of 2 SD cards numerous images of sexual abuse of minors were found,’ prosecutors say Although the defendant confessed to most of the facts the judge felt he did not show sufficient awareness his behaviour was problematic The plumber has yet to make any financial compensation to his victims The judge ordered the plumber to pay compensation worth 23,000 euros in addition to his prison sentence The man also loses his political rights for a period of 10 years Before the end of 2015 at least 80 new wind turbines will rise up, increasing capacity by a third, reports De Standaard Wind turbines are under construction everywhere In the coming months they will be unmissable along Flemish roads as an unprecedented building boom breaks out a survey by De Standaard and green power companies reveals The result of the boom has been a sharp increase in wind power capacity in Flanders Late last year the counter stood at 604 megawatts Already during the second half of this year the smallest nuclear reactors in our country – Doel 1 and 2 – each have a capacity of 433 megawatts Read moreThe involvement of the railway is a big part of Electrabel’s largest wind-power project Seven new turbines will be builtalong the E40 motorway between Louvain and Liège near Gingelom by the end of 2015 providing electricity for the Louvain-Liège railway line Electrabel already sees 2015 as a pivotal year for its wind-energy activities. According to Bart Bode from the Sustainable Energy Organisation (ODE) there is even talk of a turning point for the entire Flemish wind sector. But the wind turbine construction boom will not stop at the end of this year. “2016 will be a strong year too,” he predicts. In particular there is much to be done in the port of Antwerp where there will be heavy investments in wind, with plans for another 18 turbines on the right bank of the river Scheldt. According to Bode, one explanation for the building boom can be found in the reform of the green electricity subsidy system more than two years ago, . “Until then, the green power companies were only watching. Once there was clarity about the rules the light turned green.” Wind energy projects regularly encounter resistance from local residents “But a part of the plans can now be realised because the legal battle is resolved,” says Bode He is worried about the coming years because of rumours about problems of loan support for wind energy The danger is that doubt could creep into the minds of investors If Flanders wants to fulfill its ambition of producing more than 20% of green electricity by 2020 there are a lot more turbines to be installed the Electrabel manager responsible for renewable energy projects The conclusion is that the construction boom still has a few years to run Hans Van de Voorde holds a small pot in his hands and raises it reverentially It contains one of the smallest cactus plants you are ever likely to see developed a love of horticulture at the age of 12 he stands among line after line of tables covered with more than 20,000 specimens he runs a specialist cactus nursery that supplies Wyevale the biggest garden-centre chain in Britain If you have one of the prickly plants — they’re bang on trend — there’s a chance it spent time in the court of this cactus king Sales spike: Hans Van de Voorde handles about 2m cacti a yearHere in the nursery Het kabinet heeft haar nieuwe Klimaatnota gepresenteerd en die brengt volgens de RAI Vereniging enkele hoopgevende signalen voor de toekomst van duurzame mobiliteit De Verenigde Staten hebben vanochtend een universeel invoertarief van tien procent ingevoerd op goederen die het land binnenkomen vanuit het buitenland Op 1 april is het opletten geblazen bij alles wat er in de media verschijnt De elektrische bedrijfsbus heeft het dieselbusje definitief ingehaald als voordeligste keuze voor ondernemers Uit berichtgeving van Het Parool blijkt dat elektrische bestelwagens nu tussen de.. Onder Europese wegpiraten heerst binnenkort geen straffeloze vrijheid meer zodra ze over de grens verdwijnen Tot nu toe konden bestuurders die zich misdroegen in een.. rijst voor veel gezinnen opnieuw de vraag hoe ze hun reis naar Zuid-Frankrijk of Spanje het best kunnen aanpakken Het kabinet overweegt om mensen met een laag inkomen gratis te laten reizen met bus Op 1 juli 2025 wordt een belangrijke stap gezet in de regulering van het Nederlandse verkeer: vanaf die datum zijn bijzondere bromfietsen zet een opmerkelijke stap door vanaf 5 mei voor het eerst samen te werken met traditionele taxi’s Alle rechten voorbehoudenPitane Blue Media © Copyright 2025 Pitane Blue Media. Alle rechten voorbehouden door Pitane BV - Eindhoven According to figures from the latest Notary Barometer the price of real estate in Flanders continues to rise the general economic climate and a rise in mortgage interest rates has meant that during the past year far fewer houses and flats were sold in our region Notary Bart Van Opstal says that “the rush on real estate that began post-corona has reached its end.” At 16.9% the fall in the number of real estate transactions was most pronounced in Flanders in Brussels and Wallonia the number of real estate transactions was down 12% Last year the number of houses and flats sold in West Flanders fell by 18.4% The fall in the number of real estate transactions was 17.5% in East Flanders 16.6% in Antwerp Province and 16.8% in Limburg Flemish Brabant saw the smallest fall in the number of houses and flats sold There the number of real estate transactions in 2023 was down 14.6% on the figures for 2022 House prices up in all 5 Flemish provinces The average price of a house rose in all 5 Flemish provinces in 2023 Leuven is the most expensive provincial capital for those wishing to buy a house Flemish Brabant (of which Leuven is the capital) is also the most expensive province Last year the average price of a house in Flemish Brabant was 420,129 euro The cheapest houses are to be found in the east of the province The highest average house prices are to be found in Overijse In 2023 Hasselt was the provincial capital with the lowest average house price average house prices in Limburg as a whole rose by 3.9% In 2023 a house in Limburg province cost an average of 307.935 euro Heers en Dilsen-Stokkem are the Limburg municipalities with the lowest average house prices The most espensive houses are to be found in Diepenbeek Last year the average price of a house in East Flanders was 342,717 euro The cheapest houses are to be found in  Ronse Eeklo and Lierde The most expnsive East Flemish municipalities when it comes to houses are Nazareth House prices in West Flanders rose by an average of 2.2% in 2023 On average a house in west Flanders costs 322,070 euro Izegem and Staden are the cheapest municipalities when it comes to house prices Koksijde and Knokke-Heist are the most expensive In Antwerp Province the average price of a house rose by 1.8% in 2023 A house in Antwerp Province costs an average of 384,921 euro Niel Turnhout and Mol are the cheapest places in the province when it comes to house prices Hove and Schilde are the most expensive places in the province for those wishing to buy a house Flat prices up everywhere except Flemish Brabant Ghent is the most expensive provincial capital for those wishing to buy a flat In Ghent a flat costs an average of 310,624 euro This is more or less (-0.1%) the same as it was a year ago In East Flanders as a whole the average price of a flat rose by 3.8% to 278,218 euro last year At 4.9% Limburg is the province that has seen the sharpest rise in average flat prices In 2023 buyers paid an average of 245,922 euro for a flat in Limburg province Hasselt is the cheapest provincial capital for flat buyers In West Flanders a flat costs an average of 296,989 euro The cheapest flats are to be found in Kuurne Oostkamp and Knokke-Heist are the municipalities with the highest average prices for a flat In Antwerp Province average flat prices rose by 3% last year to 265.596 euro Retie and Borsbeek are the municipalities with the lowest average prices Brecht and Hove are the places where the average price of a flat is highest The only province in Flanders where average flat prices fell in 2023 is Flemish Brabant The average price of a flat in the province fell by 1% to 284,885 Striking is the 6.8% fall in the average price of a flat in the provincial capital Leuven 32-year-old Bart Hesters from Lochristi in East Flanders has been voted Mister Gay Belgium 2018 The patient care assistant beat off stiff competition from the eleven other candidates that took part in the final of the competition at Antwerp’s Elckerlyc Theatre on Saturday evening Bart Hesters succeeds Jaimie Deblieck as Mister Gay Belgium The winner was announced by the Federal Secretary of State responsible for Equal Opportunities Zuhal Demir (Flemish nationalist) Bart Hesters can now represent Belgium at the Mister Gay Europe 2018 and Mister Gay World 2018 competitions The first runner up was 21-year-old Nick Van Vooren from Eeklo (East Flanders) 24-year-old Josip Gallet from Oosterzele (East Flanders) was third Mr Gay Belgium acts as an ambassador for the LGBT+ community Saturday evening’s gala event was the 6th Mister Gay Belgium awards ceremony