OchtendKrant: news for Wednesday 28 October 2026
i-Police inquiry reaches Verlinden's office as opposition presses for a parliamentary probe
A spokesperson for the justice minister and a spokesperson for the Brussels prosecutor's office have been charged with breaching professional secrecy; Verlinden denies any wrongdoing.
Israel count: Netanyahu camp largest, but neither bloc reaches 61 seats
7 sources · VRT NWS, RTBF, La Libre Belgique +Factories running at their slowest since Covid as Vynova switches off its plants
7 sources · De Tijd, HLN, VRT NWS +M6 chip lands in the iMac and base MacBook Pro, with a touchscreen Mac expected today
4 sources · MacRumors, Ars Technica, 9to5MacBrussels wants every member state working from the same three-degree outlook
4 sources · VRT NWS, Eunews, EUbusiness +Belgium
All of BelgiumInner cabinet meets again on Wednesday evening, but a budget deal is not expected before next week
After a week of technical scrutiny, De Wever and his deputy prime ministers resume talks, while federal science institutions and Defence also surface in the savings plans.
3 sources · VRT NWS, Het Laatste Nieuws, RTBFNo vignette-free strip on the French border, and Westhoek mayors consider going to court
Flemish minister Ben Weyts sees no merit in buffer zones for the road vignette, to the dismay of border municipalities worried about their French customers.
3 sources · VRT NWS, Het Laatste NieuwsPoll commissioned by abortion centres: 54 percent favour a limit beyond twelve weeks
Sixteen organisations seize on the LUNA survey to call for eighteen weeks in an open letter.
4 sources · Het Nieuwsblad, Het Laatste Nieuws, Newsmonkey +Commuter fund comes to the rescue of Antwerp's zoos, and the source of the money draws criticism
ZOO Antwerpen and Planckendael will have to save 2 million euros a year less, using money left over in the Mobility budget.
2 sources · VRT NWS, De StandaardWorld
All of WorldDefeated Flávio Bolsonaro leaves Brazil as Washington grants his family visas
The right-wing candidate who narrowly lost to Lula on Sunday left despite a Supreme Court ban, and his exact whereabouts remain unclear.
7 sources · De Tijd, HLN, De Standaard +Oleshky truce grows to cover all of Kherson as Finland and Norway phone Putin
The local ceasefire is holding and widening, while a rare call between two Nordic leaders and the Kremlin divides Europe.
6 sources · BBC, VRT NWS, La Libre Belgique +Brussels wants Frontex able to deploy within a day and to steer returns
The European Commission proposes a doubled budget, a 30,000-strong border reserve and return operations between countries outside the EU.
4 sources · La Libre Belgique, De Standaard, HLN +Economy
All of EconomyFilling up with diesel has never cost more in Belgium: cap rises to 2.51 euros
Diesel and heating oil go up today while petrol dips just below two euros, in an oil market that remains tense because of the Middle East.
6 sources · RTBF, Business AM, HLN +New payroll withholding from November: a small gain for many, less for some families
The personal income tax reform reaches the payslip, but the effect depends heavily on salary and household situation.
4 sources · Het Nieuwsblad, Paris Match Belgique, Securex +Fed rate call and Big Tech earnings make for a pivotal day on the markets
Markets expect a US rate pause, while the AI rally has already lifted the Brussels exchange.
6 sources · Business AM, De TijdTech
All of TechAI & LLMs
OpenAI halves the price of its mid-range model and points it at agent-driven office work
The new GPT-6.1 Terra is meant to read screens better and operate software more precisely, at half the price of its predecessor.
3 sources · 9to5Mac, InfoWorld, HeiseGoogle DeepMind's Genie 4 gives generated worlds sound and keeps them coherent for two minutes
The new world model builds interactive environments frame by frame, now with audio and steering while you play.
2 sources · TechCrunch, Ars TechnicaMathematicians scrutinise AI proofs said to topple a pillar of complexity theory
OpenAI and, shortly afterwards, Anthropic claim their models have refuted a widely accepted conjecture in computer science; independent checks are still under way.
3 sources · The Next Web, TechCrunch, The VergeProgramming languages
CPython drops its experimental JIT compiler from the main branch after a withdrawn proposal
Python's Steering Council found the plans for maintenance and performance too vague; work can continue outside the main code.
3 sources · LWN, InfoWorld, Python DiscourseUS cyber agency confirms PHP2Shell break-ins as millions of servers may remain exposed
A week after patches for two critical PHP flaws, there is evidence of successful intrusions; US federal agencies have three days to update.
2 sources · TechCrunch, HeiseNpm worm hides in dozens of GitHub projects and targets AI coding assistants
Attackers used files too big for GitHub's search, so the malicious code went unnoticed for a long time.
3 sources · InfoWorld, JFrog, SafeDepOther tech
Belgian trio launches ESAI to give companies a grip on their AI spending
Hosting firm Combell, consultancy Delaware and research centre imec are targeting businesses alarmed by their rising AI bills.
3 sources · De Tijd, De Standaard, Business AMWashington lets Amazon absorb Globalstar while Europe wants its satellite spectrum mainly for its own firms
The fight over frequencies for satellite links to ordinary smartphones is intensifying on both sides of the Atlantic.
2 sources · Heise, De TijdScience
All of ScienceTwo skeletons from China point to an amphibian that spent its whole life in salt water
Two skeletons of Gerrothorax maritimus, about 237 million years old, are the first evidence that an amphibian could live entirely at sea.
4 sources · VRT NWS, UC Davis, Nature +Beech trees go all out on seed more and more often, at a cost to their growth
Forest floors are covered in beechnuts, and Ghent University forest ecologist Kris Verheyen says such bumper years are becoming far more common because of climate change.
3 sources · VRT NWS, De Standaard, Nature TodaySport
All of SportLehecka wins in straight sets as Wawrinka plays his final tour match in Basel
The 41-year-old Swiss, a three-time Grand Slam champion, lost in the first round of the Swiss Indoors and said goodbye to a crowd on its feet.
4 sources · Sporza, ATP Tour, La Télé +Site work begins on Club Brugge's stadium as UEFA bars Lens supporters after Bruges pyrotechnics
Club Brugge takes a first step towards a ground for more than 40,000 fans, while Lens pays for its supporters' fireworks at the Jan Breydel stadium.
4 sources · VRT NWS, Sporza, VoetbalkrantLukaku's Fenerbahçe need another manager after Kartal quits following derby loss
A month after his first resignation was refused, Ismail Kartal is now allowed to leave, a day after the 2-1 defeat at Galatasaray.
4 sources · Sporza, Daily Sabah, Goal +