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LifestyleGhent University guide

What should international students and staff know about the Nathan Cofnas row at UGent?

The practical takeaway: if you study, teach or work at Ghent University, the reported dispute over the aanstelling rassenwetenschapper Nathan Cofnas is mainly an internal university-governance and academic-freedom issue, not a change to your enrolment, residence status or degree rules. Follow official UGent channels, use the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy and central student services for course questions, and contact the university ombudsperson, Trustpunt or Unia if you believe you are personally affected by discrimination or harassment. The case matters for international readers because it shows how Flemish universities handle contested appointments in English-facing research environments while operating inside Dutch-language institutional procedures.

LifestylePractical Guide

Renting a youth-movement clubhouse in Flanders? Check the fire-safety rules first

The practical takeaway: if a Chiro, Scouts, KSA, KLJ or other youth-movement clubhouse is used for overnight stays, parents and group leaders should treat it like regulated accommodation, not just a cheap hall with mattresses. In Flanders, premises offered for paid overnight stays can fall under the Flemish Logiesdecreet, meaning the organiser should check registration with Toerisme Vlaanderen, a valid fire-safety certificate, insurance and the house rules before booking. The Dutch debate has been framed sharply as lokalen moeten dezelfde brandveiligheid voldoen als hotels, and while that shorthand is imperfect, the risk is real: cheaper weekend venues may become scarcer or more expensive if clubs must invest in alarms, emergency lighting, evacuation routes and fire-door works.

Lifestyle

Daveigh Chase dies at 35 after roles in The Ring and Lilo & Stitch

Daveigh Chase, the US actor whose childhood performances shaped two sharply different 2002 screen memories, has died at 35. Roy Hernandez, who identified himself as her boyfriend, said Chase died on 16 June after meningitis and blood infections led to sepsis; no coroner confirmation was available in the sources consulted. Chase became internationally recognisable as Lilo in Disney's Lilo & Stitch and as Samara Morgan in the US horror film The Ring, roles that made her both a family-animation voice and a modern horror image in the same year. Her later credits included the English-language voice of Chihiro in Spirited Away, Donnie Darko and HBO's Big Love. For Belgian audiences, the story is mainly cultural: it marks the death of a performer tied to films that travelled widely through cinemas, television, streaming and family viewing across Europe.

Lifestyle

David Hockney dies after reshaping postwar British art

David Hockney has died at 88, his publicist said, ending a seven-decade career that moved from Bradford and the Royal College of Art to Los Angeles pools, Yorkshire landscapes, Normandy iPad drawings and major museum retrospectives. His work made bright colour, domestic intimacy and open queer representation part of the postwar British canon. Hockney's own exhibition chronology lists two Brussels shows at Bozar in 2021-2022, linking his late digital landscapes directly to Belgian audiences. His market status also reflected his public reach: Christie's auction records cited in contemporary reports show that Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) sold for $90.3 million in 2018, then a record for a living artist. The death is not mainly a Belgian story, but it matters here because Belgian museums, students, collectors and visitors encountered Hockney as a European cultural figure, not only as a British one.

LifestyleSafety and justice guide

What should expats in Flanders take from a rare murder-for-hire case?

A Flemish true-crime report about an alleged contract killing in Assenede is a useful reminder of how Belgium’s criminal justice system works when a serious violent crime reaches public attention. The practical takeaway is straightforward: in an emergency call 112 or 101, report threats to the local police zone, and if you are a victim or relative of a victim, ask early about slachtofferonthaal, CAW slachtofferhulp and whether you can become a burgerlijke partij, or civil party, in the criminal case. For expats, the language question matters: in Flanders, police, gemeente services and court documents will usually operate in Dutch, while Brussels and Wallonia follow different language rules.