http://uk.oneworld.net/article/country/56/ en_GB_uk Belgium http://us.oneworld.net/link/gotolink/addhit/69732 Two weeks before Christmas, a local Belgian newspaper set the goal of finding a home in each of the 44 communes of Limbuirg province willing to invite an asylum seeker to Christmas dinner. They found over 100. http://uk.oneworld.net/link/gotolink/addhit/69367 Actor Colin Firth handed over a petition of more than 10 million signatures to the EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, ahead of the WTO Ministerial meeting in Hong Kong. http://uk.oneworld.net/link/gotolink/addhit/68308 A Belgian judge has issued an international arrest warrant charging Chad’s former dictator Hissène Habré - now living in Senegal - with atrocities during his 1982-90 rule. http://uk.oneworld.net/link/gotolink/addhit/55022 Belgium’s historic, multicultural port city of Antwerp is the site of a bitter political contest involving the Flemish nationalist Vlaams Blok and the militant Arab European League supported by young people of Moroccan descent – with the city’s ancient Jewish community targeted by both. As European elections approach, Nick Ryan reports on openDemocracy. http://uk.oneworld.net/link/gotolink/addhit/54722 50 Greenpeace activists, including 15 from the UK, entered the Economic and Social Committee building in Brussels to protest against the use of rainforest plywood from Indonesia. http://uk.oneworld.net/link/gotolink/addhit/52893 A UK delegation including members of WWF and the National Federation of Women's Institutes have travelled to the European Parliament in Brussels to demand safer chemicals in everyday products and an end to the contamination of people and wildlife. http://uk.oneworld.net/link/gotolink/addhit/51182 Two leading environmental groups today welcomed the decision of the Belgian government to reject an application to grow genetically modified (GM) oilseed rape. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotolink/addhit/46719 A conference on Globalisation, Regionalism and Information Society will be organised on the 9-10 October 2003 in Belgium.Different regions in the world are struggling to transform and adapt their societies to the new realities of globalization, regionalization and informationalization raise new societal and scientific questions. By bringing together European and South-African scholars this conference tries to come to grips with the new challenges ahead of us. http://southasia.oneworld.net/link/gotolink/addhit/44254 A group of Afghan refugees have gone on a hunger strike in a Brussels church protesting against refusal by Belgium to grant them asylum. There are more than 250 refugees in the church who want to remain in Belgium. http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotolink/addhit/44620 A Belgian NGO, doing research on community radio in West Africa, has come up with a guide for CSOs and funding agencies. The guide will help organisations understand and analyse the communication potential of development projects taken up by community radio stations. http://www.oneworld.net/link/gotolink/addhit/37489 As violent clashes continue between US troops and Iraqi citizens in Fallujah and other towns, a Belgian lawyer is suing US General Tommy Franks for what he claims are war crimes in the recent conflict in Iraq. http://www.oneworld.net/link/gotolink/addhit/37392 Ghana's Food and Drugs Board issued a warning to poultry importers, retailers and consumers against the selling and consumption of chicken from Portugal after reports that poultry products containing traces of the banned toxic chemical nitrofuran had entered the country. http://southasia.oneworld.net/link/gotolink/addhit/33778 A Nepalese human rights website has reported that the Belgian police tortured Nepalese asylum seeker Pramananda Sapkota in January this year as he tried to resist deportation to Nepal. The police allegedly tied him up in chains and beat him up resulting in injuries on his face, hands and legs. http://www.oneworld.net/link/gotolink/addhit/32864 A Belgian Supreme Court decision opening the way for an inquiry into the 1982 massacre of civilians in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilla is a landmark step for international law, said human rights advocates yesterday. http://www.oneworld.net/link/gotolink/addhit/29162 Belgian politicians say they are being pressured by the United States to limit the powers of a controversial human rights law that has led to suits against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and several other foreign public figures.