'Get lost, you rich idiot!' French howl as tycoon eyes Belgium

As France plans to hike taxes on its richest citizens, the wealthiest man in Europe is making plans of his own -- to become Belgian.

Bernard Arnault, the French tycoon behind the luxury brands of Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Moet Hennessy, told the Agence France-Presse on Sunday that though he was seeking dual citizenship in Brussels, he wasn’t trying to dodge French taxes and would pay as usual.

The news nonetheless inflamed the debate in France as its new Socialist government prepares to levy a 75% tax on personal earnings over 1 million euros -- roughly $1.28 million -- a year.

Many were flatly unconvinced that becoming Belgian wasn’t a tax gambit. The French newspaper Liberation declared, “Get lost, you rich idiot!” on its front page, calling Arnault a symbol of selfishness. (Arnault announced Monday that he was suing Liberation for “public insult,” French media reported.) A communist newspaper declared Arnault could love France or leave it.

But the outrage over his words also spilled over political lines, as right-wing politician Marine Le Pen denounced Arnault for his “scandalous behavior,” France 24 reported.

Furor over film capturing harassment on hidden camera in Belgium

As Sofie Peeters walked down the streets of Brussels, men catcalled her, followed her, called her rude names and asked how much she cost. She wondered: Was she doing something wrong?

Peeters, a film student, took a hidden camera to chronicle the harassment she underwent regularly on the streets. When she confronted the men who called out to her, they told her to shut up and keep walking.

“You should be thanking us, 'Thank you for making me feel like a woman!' ” one man argued to Peeters, saying that the only way to avoid it was to have a man walk alongside her.

Other women shared their strategies for coping with harassment: One told Peeters that if she was wearing a skirt she would change before going out for a walk.  Another said she constantly wore headphones to dull the annoyance, seeing but not hearing the catcalls.

The broadcast of the documentary "Femme de la Rue" ignited a firestorm last week in Belgium and France over the unwanted attention that many women report getting in the streets.

The furor appears to be fueling real action: The Belgium interior minister said more must be done to squelch the phenomenon and plans to introduce legislation against harassment, according to Belgian media. Brussels will impose fines of up to $300 for sexual intimidation this fall.

French feminists have seized on the film as an example of why its new, tougher sexual harassment law was needed, passed not long after the French housing minister was catcalled inside the French National Assembly while wearing a modest summer dress.

After a journalist tweeted that he had never heard of the same problems in France, the film also spawned a Twitter hashtag, #harcelementderue, as European women told of  the insults they had weathered on the streets.

“A turtleneck or a bikini –- it makes no difference,” one French-speaking user wrote in frustration.

Peeters has also come under fire: Most of the men in the film appear to be North African immigrants, spurring accusations of racism. Anti-immigrant bloggers have argued that the film should be seen as an example of the ills of Muslim and North African culture.

The film student told a Flemish television station that she had feared the film might be seen as racist because so many of the catcallers were immigrants, but she insisted that was not her intent and that she had simply chosen to record what she experienced in her own neighborhood.

Belgium website asks tipsters to report illegal immigrants

A far-right Belgian political party has unveiled a deeply controversial new website where tipsters can report illegal immigrants working on the black market or abusing the social security system.

The Flemish Interest Party set up its “Hotline Illegality” website this week, encouraging people to send in information about illegal work, crime and other problems caused by immigrants.

The party argues that the website is needed because Belgium is doing too little to curb illegal immigration. Flemish Interest politician Filip Dewinter said "tens of thousands of illegal immigrants" plague Belgium and complained that the government wanted to sweep problems under the rug.

Jozef De Witte, director of the Center for Equality and Struggle Against Racism, reportedly told a Belgium radio station that the website was akin to tactics used by Nazis or the East German secret police.

"This is completely illegal. Mr. Dewinter knows this very well. He wants to shock and provoke," the activist was quoted by Agence France-Presse as telling the Radio 1 station.

The new website echoes a similar effort in the Netherlands, created by the Dutch Freedom Party to track complaints about immigrants, that was met with an international outcry over perceived racism and ultimately condemned by the Dutch and European parliaments. 

"These websites are not in line with the European values that we defend," European Union spokesman Olivier Bailly told Europe Online.

Immigrants make up roughly 9% of the population in Belgium, according to the most recent statistics gathered by the International Organization for Migration. Morocco and Turkey are the most common countries that immigrants come from, according to the Migrant Integration Policy Index.

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Bodies of young bus crash victims return home to Belgium

This post has been updated. See the note below for details.

REPORTING FROM LONDON -- Belgian and Dutch victims of a fatal bus crash in Switzerland that killed 22 schoolchildren and six adults returned home Friday in coffins borne by military aircraft.

Belgium largely came to a halt for a minute's silence at 11 a.m. in remembrance of the victims, young students and teachers from schools in Haverlee, near Brussels, and Lommel, close to the Dutch border. Flowers, messages and soft toys covered the walls and gates of St. Lambertus School in Haverlee and Stekske School in Lommel, where people continued to arrive and leave tokens of sympathy.

In official mourning, flags flew at half-staff in Belgium and the Netherlands, home to six of the children who died Tuesday night in the Valais region of Switzerland. Planes carrying the bodies of victims landed Friday morning at an airport in Melsbroek, Belgium.

On Thursday night, a convoy of buses brought eight of 24 injured children home to Belgium. Others remain in a hospital in Switzerland.

Since the crash, condolences for the victims have arrived from people all over the world, including messages from President Obama and Pope Benedict XVI.

Swiss police are still seeking to determine the cause of the crash. According to official reconstructions of the accident, the bus had entered a tunnel on Swiss Highway A9 near the Italian border when it clipped a curbstone. The vehicle catapulted across the two-lane highway and slammed into a concrete wall of an emergency parking bay. The front of the vehicle was completely demolished; the driver died in the crash.

No other vehicles were involved in the accident, which reportedly traumatized several of the first responders who arrived to find children still trapped inside the wreckage.

[Updated, 9:17 a.m. March 16 : During a news conference Friday by the investigative and medical teams in the case, Swiss prosecutor Olivier Elsig confirmed that the bus was not speeding at the moment of the accident and that interviews with surviving children and adults did not support a theory mentioned in news reports that the driver might have been distracted by operating a DVD player.

While awaiting final autopsy results on the driver, initial examinations showed no signs of alcohol use or a heart attack, officials said, but analyses were still ongoing. The remaining hypotheses include the possibilities of a technical fault, human error or some kind of illness. officials said.]

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Photo: A girl, flanked by two adults, looks at flowers, drawings and candles on Friday at a primary school in Lommel, Belgium, displayed for the victims of Tuesday's bus crash in Switzerland. Credit: Yorick Jansens / AFP/Getty Images

Belgium mourns 28 dead in school bus crash

REPORTING FROM LONDON -- Belgium observed a day of mourning Wednesday as investigators sought to determine the cause of a bush crash in a Swiss highway tunnel in which 28 people, most of them 12-year-old Belgian schoolchildren, were killed Tuesday night while returning home from a ski holiday.

Despite some news reports that the victims had not been wearing their seat belts, Chief Attorney Olivier Elsig told reporters that the children were wearing them “but the shock was too strong.”  Swiss police confirmed that the bus hit the wall of an emergency parking bay after entering the tunnel on the A9 highway in southern Switzerland.

 Elsig also confirmed that no other vehicle was involved and the road was in good condition.  He said possible causes being examined were a technical problem, sudden illness and human error.

Of the 28 who died, 22 were children; teachers and the two drivers also died. Emergency rescue teams transported 24 injured passengers, most of them children, to hospitals around the country. At least three children were critically injured, a medical official said.

Body of woman found at home of gunman in Belgian grenade attack

REPORTING FROM LONDON -- The body of a cleaning woman was found in a shed at the home of the gunman who threw grenades and opened fire on shoppers in a busy square in eastern Belgium, authorities said Wednesday.

The woman was found shot in the head during a police search of the property of Nordine Amrani, the 33-year-old who launched an extraordinary attack in the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday.

Two teenage boys and a toddler were killed in the assault, which took place in the shadow of Liege's imposing cathedral. A 75-year-old woman who authorities said had died in the attack was removed from the list of fatalities Wednesday.

Photos: Belgian grenade attack

More than 100 people were injured, local media reports said.

Amrani, who was armed with an assault rifle, a revolver and grenades, also died in the incident, apparently from a bullet to the head, local prosecutor Daniele Reynders said Wednesday. It remains unclear whether the self-inflicted shot was deliberate or accidental.

Amrani had a history of drug and weapon convictions and was already known to police, who had summoned him for questioning on an unspecified matter Tuesday morning, officials said.

Authorities have not pinpointed a motive for the attack, but have ruled out ideological terrorism.

Amrani flung at least three grenades that exploded at a busy stop in the square, then sprayed the crowd with bullets. Video footage showed panicked bystanders screaming and fleeing for safety.

Such major gun violence in Belgium is rare. The country's king and queen and newly installed prime minister visited the site after the assault to pay their respects.

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Photo: A woman lays flowers Wednesday at a makeshift memorial to victims of a gun-and-grenade attack in the Belgian city of Liege. Credit: Philippe Huguen / AFP/Getty Images

Gunman shoots, hurls grenades into crowd in Belgium, kills 3

REPORTING FROM LONDON –- A gunman with a history of drugs and arms offenses hurled grenades and sprayed bullets into a crowded square of Christmas shoppers in eastern Belgium on Tuesday, killing at least three people and injuring scores of others, authorities said.

The attacker died at the scene in the town of Liege, although the circumstances remained murky. Local media reports cited witnesses as saying he shot himself, though whether deliberately or accidentally was unclear.

Authorities said they did not know what motivated the gunman, identified as Norodine Amrani, whose rampage sent bystanders fleeing in panic. Amrani, 33, had no history of involvement with terrorism.
He had, however, been summoned for questioning by police Tuesday, prosecutor Danielle Reynders told reporters, without elaborating on the reason.

PHOTO GALLERY: Belgian grenade attack

Among the dead were two boys, 17 and 15, Reynders said. The teenagers had just finished taking their school exams, the mayor of Liege, Willy Demeyer, was quoted as saying the in local media.

Also killed was a 75-year-old woman, Reynders said. At least 75 people were injured, some seriously.
There were reports Tuesday evening that two more victims had died in the hospital, a young man and a baby girl who was about 2 years old.

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Photo: Police stand next to evidence markers after an attack in Liege, Belgium, on Tuesday. Credit: Timur Emek / Associated Press

Italy pledges reforms as Europe seeks to end debt crisis

In an effort to convince European leaders that his country is capable of meeting its budget goals, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi reportedly vowed Wednesday to raise the equivalent of $8 billion annually from asset sales, increase Italy’s retirement age and relax labor laws.

“We are aware of the need to present a comprehensive plan of reforms,” Berlusconi said in the letter that he presented to European Union leaders meeting at a debt crisis summit in Brussels, according to Bloomberg News. “We are aware that our debt is too high and our growth too limited.”

He said the asset-sales plan would be completed by Nov. 30, according to Bloomberg. But the letter provided few new proposals and failed to present the thorough plan European leaders are seeking to help end the debt crisis that has embroiled the continent for almost two years, the news agency said.

Berlusconi vowed to hike the retirement age to 67 by 2026, from about 65 currently for men, and overhaul labor market laws making layoffs easier, the news agency reported.

Merkel gets lawmakers' backing to leverage Europe's bailout fund

REPORTING FROM LONDON -- Members of the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, have given Chancellor Angela Merkel a strong mandate to increase the firepower of Europe's bailout fund at today's crucial summit in Brussels.

Lawmakers voted 503-89, with four abstentions, in favor of leveraging the fund to make it worth more than its current $600 billion.

With zero hour approaching for a "grand plan" to save the euro, Merkel had warned fellow lawmakers that the world was looking to their country to step up to the responsibility of helping guarantee Europe's continued stability and prosperity.

It was hoped that Wednesday's summit would provide a platform to devise a solid plan to solve the continent's debt crisis, which threatens the global economy.

German leader rallies support for euro rescue

REPORTING FROM LONDON -- With zero hour approaching for a "grand plan" to save the euro, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany told fellow lawmakers Wednesday that the world was looking to their country to step up to the responsibility of helping guarantee Europe's continued stability and prosperity.

Merkel called on the Bundestag to send her to Brussels for a crucial summit Wednesday evening with their clear backing for a solution to the debt crisis that threatens the global economy.

She said that despite the risks involved, Europe's $600-billion bailout fund would have to be leveraged to a size capable of dealing with big, debt-ridden economies such as Italy and Spain.

"We have to take the risk," Merkel said. "There's no better alternative."

Yet even as she spoke, there continued to be speculation that Wednesday's summit in Brussels would fail to reach an agreement on the measures necessary to contain the debt crisis: a ramped-up bailout fund, a plan to recapitalize banks and a reduction in Greece's staggering debt burden.