Flemish

Electrabel - the Belgian subsidiary of French utility Engie - says it will not make any further investments at Doel unit 4 and Tihange unit 3 unless it is clearer whether the reactors will or will not be allowed to operate beyond 2025. A report due out at the end of next year may lead to the reactors being allowed to continue operating to ensure Belgium's energy security.Read Full Story Energy SecurityBelgiumFranceNuclear PowerEnergy PolicyEnergy PricesElectricity SupplyBelgianTihange 2Tihange 3The Council Of MinistersFlemishWorld Nuclear NewsElectrabel StaffFrench Utility EngieAlexander De Croo

(CNN) — Leave it to Shonda Rhimes to give us a Black queen. Rhimes' production company, Shondaland, is behind the new hit period Netflix drama, "Bridgerton" which includes Black and White members of early 19th century British high society.The series was created by its showrunner Chris Van Dusen and is based on a Regency novel by Julia Quinn. In the show, Britain's real-life Queen Charlotte is portrayed as a Black woman by actress Golda Rosheuvel.Many have long believed that the queen, who was married to King George III and is an ancestor of the current Queen Elizabeth, had African ancestry based in part on the images of her.Yet there are others who dispute that claim.Quinn talked to The Times about the diverse casting of the show based on her book. "Many historians believe she had some African background," she said. "It's a highly debated point and we can't DNA test her so I don't think there'll ever be a definitive answer."Queen Charlotte is just one of many through history whose racial identity has been debated. Here are a few others:Ludwig van Beethoven In September The Guardian's Philip Clark wrote about the belief that the famed composer was of mixed heritage.The writer reported that the theory was floated in 1907 by British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor who was mixed and said he saw a resemblance between his features and that of the likenesses of Beethoven. It's an idea which Clark says survived the years and was picked up by Black activists Stokely Carmichael and Malcolm X."Was Beethoven black? The evidence is scant and inconclusive," Clark wrote. "The case rests on two possibilities: that Beethoven's Flemish ancestors married Spanish "blackamoors" of African descent, or that Beethoven's mother had an affair. But the truth Carmichael and Malcolm X sought was not scientific. "Beethoven was black" was a grand metaphor designed to unsettle and shake certainty."J. Edgar Hoover The first director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation was well known for the work he did to undermine the civil rights movement and its leaders.In 2011 Barbara A. Reynolds wrote a piece for the Washington Post which examined speculation that Hoover was of mixed heritage and "passing" as a white man prior to his death in 1972.The story quoted Millie McGhee, author of "Secrets Uncovered, J Edgar Hoover -- Passing For White?" an African American woman who recalled being told she was related to Hoover when she was growing up in McComb, Mississippi.McGhee said her later research unearthed that they were indeed family."Because of Edgar's anti-black history, I am not proud of this lineage but history must be based on truth," she said. Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy OnassisWas Jackie Kennedy the first Black first lady?This theory seems to stem from research into her ancestry.According to information from the New England Historical Society, she was descended from early New York settlers Anthony and Abraham van Salee -- who were believed to have been born to Dutch pirate Jan Janszoon and a mixed-race mistress of his.The piece notes that "When First Lady Jackie Kennedy visited England in 1961, society photographer Cecil Beaton met her at a dinner party. In his journal he commented she had a "Negroid" appearance.Some historians have also noted that her father, Wall Street stockbroker John Vernou Bouvier III, was called "Black Jack" which they attributed to his swarthy complexion.Clark GableGable was known as the tall, dark and handsome "King of Hollywood."There has long been talk that he had both Black and Native American heritage, which no one has ever thoroughly documented.But he was well known for his early championing of African American civil rights.In 2005 actor Lennie Bluett told NPR's "Hearing Voices" about being an extra on the set of "Gone With the Wind" in Culver City, California, in 1938 when he alerted Gable to the fact that there were segregated portable bathrooms marked "White" and "Colored.""He looked at me and he read the signs and he cussed like a sailor," Bluett recalled.Gable, who was the star of the film, went to the director and the property master and demanded that the signs be removed or else the hundreds of Black extras on the set that day would walk off. Bluett said the signs were removed. Black And WhiteQueen CharlotteBlack JackBlack WomanDramaHollywoodCNNShondalandNetflixBritishRegencyTimesGuardianFlemishThe Washington PostChris Van DusenJulia QuinnQueen ElizabethLudwig Van BeethovenBeethovenStokely CarmichaelMalcolm XJackie KennedyJan JanszoonCecil BeatonJohn Vernou Bouvier IiiLennie BluettShonda RhimesJ. Edgar HooverRhimesJ Edgar Hoover

(CNN) — Millions of people across Europe are living under restrictions as the continent battles a second wave of coronavirus -- but in Belgium, authorities have decreed that one jolly worker is exempt from the rules: Santa Claus. The country's Health Minister, Frank Vandenbroucke, wrote a letter to St. Nicholas...Read Full Story Coronavirus Disease 2019Santa ClausBelgiumSpainEaster BunnyEuropean RulesSchool RulesFrench LanguageCovidCNNFlemishLe SoirJohns Hopkins UniversityThe Tooth FairySt. NickJacinda ArdernSaint Nicholas

Millions of people across Europe are living under restrictions as the continent battles a second wave of coronavirus — but in Belgium, authorities have decreed that one jolly worker is exempt from the rules: Santa Claus. The country’s Health Minister, Frank Vandenbroucke, wrote a letter to St. Nicholas on Thursday...Read Full Story Santa ClausCoronavirus Disease 2019BelgiumSpainEaster BunnyEuropean RulesSchool RulesFrench LanguageCovidFlemishLe SoirJohns Hopkins UniversityThe Tooth FairySt. NickBelgian ChildrenJacinda ArdernSaint Nicholas

Celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse, owner of nine popular restaurants from Florida to Pennsylvania and New Orleans to Las Vegas, hopes to whip up a deep-pocketed buyer for his elegantly appointed mansion near the posh resort community of Destin, Fla., on the Panhandle’s Gulf Coast, which has popped up for sale at $5.25 million.Read Full Story Celebrity ChefGulf CoastCelebritiesLas VegasPizzaChoctawhatchee BayPennsylvaniaFlemishPan-MediterraneanMainsail Realty Co.Florida Home SignInstagramTwitterFacebookKitchenEmeril Lagasse

Become a member to unlock this story & Save 30% with our Early Bird Holiday Sale!. From a hot and dusty summer Strade Bianche all the way through to the dim sun of an autumnal Vuelta a España, this 2020 season was one like no other as the template pro cycling season got turned on its head.Read Full Story Vuelta A EspañaSan SebastianRace CarsEuropeanSpanishHoodyItalianFlemishThe Tour De FranceLiège-Bastogne-LiègeAmstel GoldThe Strade BiancheCo.CyclingRacingAndrew HoodPeter SaganAlejandro ValverdeDavid LappartientPrimož Roglič

BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium’s northern region of Flanders approved 575 million euros ($680 million) Tuesday to support staff at nursing home and welfare facilities that has come under intense pressure during the coronavirus crisis. During the first wave of the pandemic during the spring and again now, care homes have...Read Full Story BelgiumNursing HomesFlandersPublic HealthAmnesty InternationalCoronavirusBrusselsHome CareFunding ConditionsGovernment In CrisisAPDutchFlemishThe ACV UnionThe Associated PressJan Jambon

But in a nod to the future, the 1941 note also contained the workers’ recommendations on what staples to stock in case of another war, and also to “enjoy life to the fullest.”. The quartet of craftsmen stuffed a matchbox with the message and hid it in a keystone of...Read Full Story 1941MatchboxWorld War IiBelgiumWorld War IIBlack ChurchBelgian ChurchFlemishNazisNationale FeestdagAntwerp City ArchivesZenger NewsBluestonesThe Museum Aan De StroomSint-Jacob ChurchJohn JanssenJohn Wooden

“Fearless” is the word chosen by Sotheby’s to describe the late Hester Diamond and her collection, which is to be sold in New York in January. Diamond — a dear and much-missed friend — was indeed fearless, but she was also warm, funny, generous, highly intelligent and, for all her apparent birdlike frailty, indefatigable.Read Full Story Baroque SculptureEsteThe BronxWomen CollectionClassic TheatreARTMusicHester DiamondSotheby 'sWagnerianBritishFlemishFerrareseThe Worcester Art MuseumMondrianPeggy GuggenheimHarold DiamondBarbara HepworthPicassoOrtolanoPaolo VeronesePontormoMadonnaDosso DossiFederico BarocciFabrizio MorettiBill ViolaXu ZhenMike DGian Lorenzo BerniniDustin YellinPietro BerniniJon LandauTitian