Former world number one Simona Halep has appointed Thierry Van Cleemput as her new coach and will officially begin working with the Belgian at next week's Qatar Open.

Halep had planned to fly solo for the first few months of 2019 after former coach Darren Cahill left to spend more time with his family in Australia.

French Open champion Halep began speaking with Van Cleemput at last month's Australian Open after he split with world number 21 David Goffin midway through the tournament, according to a report on the WTA website.

Van Cleemput had worked with his compatriot for the last five years, overseeing Goffin's rise to the top-10.

World number three Halep, whose pre-season was shortened due to a back issue, made the fourth round at Melbourne Park where she lost to American Serena Williams in three sets.

Halep will represent Romania in their Fed Cup tie against Czech Republic in Ostrava this weekend before tournaments in Doha and Dubai.

Former world number one Simona Halep has appointed Thierry Van Cleemput as her new coach and will officially begin working with the Belgian at next week's Qatar Open.

Former world number one Simona Halep has appointed Thierry Van Cleemput as her new coach and will officially begin working with the Belgian at next week's Qatar Open. Halep had planned to fly solo for the first few months of 2019 after former coach Darren Cahill left to spend more time with his family in Australia. French Open champion Halep began speaking with Van Cleemput at last month's Australian Open after he split with world number 21 David Goffin midway through the tournament, according to a report on the WTA website. Van Cleemput had worked with his compatriot for the last five years, overseeing Goffin's rise to the top-10. World number three Halep, whose pre-season was shortened due to a back issue, made the fourth round at Melbourne Park where she lost to American Serena Williams in three sets. Halep will represent Romania in their Fed Cup tie against Czech Republic in Ostrava this weekend before tournaments in Doha and Dubai.

Simona Halep appoints Belgian Van Cleemput as new coach

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said his government would continue as a minority administration after the biggest party in his coalition quit on Saturday in a row over signing the UN migration compact.

Michel, a French-speaking liberal, said he "took note" of the departure of the Flemish N-VA from the four-party coalition formed in 2014 and would reshuffle posts -- a particularly complex task in bilingual Belgium, as French- and Dutch-speakers must by law have an equal number of ministerial posts.

With a federal election due anyway in May, many observers expect no immediate change to that electoral calendar.

In a move critics have described as an opening shot in that election campaign, the right-wing N-VA, which is the biggest party in parliament, said it was pulling its ministers from the coalition after Michel refused its demand that he rescind a plan to sign the UN migration compact in Marrakesh on Monday.

Michel had secured a large parliamentary majority last week in favour of maintaining Belgium`s support of the United Nations text, which since it was agreed by all UN states bar the United States in July has run into criticism from European politicians who say it could increase immigration to Europe.

The N-VA faces electoral losses in its Dutch-speaking region to the harder-right, anti-immigration Vlaams Belang. Its leader Bart De Wever, the mayor of Belgium`s second city Antwerp, had issued Michel an ultimatum that it would quit the government if he signed the non-binding UN declaration.

A crisis cabinet meeting on Saturday night was cut short when two N-VA ministers, Interior Minister Jan Jambon and Migration Minister Theo Francken, walked out.&nbsp;

Michel said he would replace N-VA ministers with lower-ranked state secretaries and maintain a minority coalition involving his French-speaking liberal MR and two Flemish parties, the centre-right CD&amp;V and Open VLD.

At least six EU states -- mostly in formerly Communist eastern Europe -- have already shunned the accord to regulate the treatment of migrants worldwide, a sign of how the bloc has turned increasingly restrictive on accepting refugees and migrants alike since a 2015 spike in arrivals. 
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Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said his government would continue as a minority administration after the biggest party in his coalition quit on Saturday in a row over signing the UN migration compact.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said his government would continue as a minority administration after the biggest party in his coalition quit on Saturday in a row over signing the UN migration compact. Michel, a French-speaking liberal, said he "took note" of the departure of the Flemish N-VA from the four-party coalition formed in 2014 and would reshuffle posts -- a particularly complex task in bilingual Belgium, as French- and Dutch-speakers must by law have an equal number of ministerial posts. With a federal election due anyway in May, many observers expect no immediate change to that electoral calendar. In a move critics have described as an opening shot in that election campaign, the right-wing N-VA, which is the biggest party in parliament, said it was pulling its ministers from the coalition after Michel refused its demand that he rescind a plan to sign the UN migration compact in Marrakesh on Monday. Michel had secured a large parliamentary majority last week in favour of maintaining Belgium`s support of the United Nations text, which since it was agreed by all UN states bar the United States in July has run into criticism from European politicians who say it could increase immigration to Europe. The N-VA faces electoral losses in its Dutch-speaking region to the harder-right, anti-immigration Vlaams Belang. Its leader Bart De Wever, the mayor of Belgium`s second city Antwerp, had issued Michel an ultimatum that it would quit the government if he signed the non-binding UN declaration. A crisis cabinet meeting on Saturday night was cut short when two N-VA ministers, Interior Minister Jan Jambon and Migration Minister Theo Francken, walked out. Michel said he would replace N-VA ministers with lower-ranked state secretaries and maintain a minority coalition involving his French-speaking liberal MR and two Flemish parties, the centre-right CD&V and Open VLD. At least six EU states -- mostly in formerly Communist eastern Europe -- have already shunned the accord to regulate the treatment of migrants worldwide, a sign of how the bloc has turned increasingly restrictive on accepting refugees and migrants alike since a 2015 spike in arrivals.

Belgian PM set for minority after biggest ally quits coalition

The world&#39;s oldest male twins, Pieter and Paulus Langerock of Belgium, turned 103 on Friday, raising a glass of wine to more than a century of living side-by-side. 
 
The brothers, neither of whom ever married, have lived together for most of their lives. To this day, they barely leave each other&#39;s side, sharing a room at their nursing home just outside the Belgian town of Ghent. 
 
While they sometimes regret not having had any children or grandchildren, they say they are each other&#39;s best friends and celebrated their birthday with a glass of French red wine. 
 
After their long careers as court magistrates in the middle of the 20th century, the elegantly-dressed 103-year-olds prefer speaking French and being addressed as &quot;Pierre and Paul&quot;. 
 
They have another two years to go to break the record of US brothers Glen and Dale Moyer, both of whom reached 105. 
 
(Reuters)

The record of oldest twin brothers is held by Glen and Dale Moyer from US, both of whom reached 105

The world's oldest male twins, Pieter and Paulus Langerock of Belgium, turned 103 on Friday, raising a glass of wine to more than a century of living side-by-side. The brothers, neither of whom ever married, have lived together for most of their lives. To this day, they barely leave each other's side, sharing a room at their nursing home just outside the Belgian town of Ghent. While they sometimes regret not having had any children or grandchildren, they say they are each other's best friends and celebrated their birthday with a glass of French red wine. After their long careers as court magistrates in the middle of the 20th century, the elegantly-dressed 103-year-olds prefer speaking French and being addressed as "Pierre and Paul". They have another two years to go to break the record of US brothers Glen and Dale Moyer, both of whom reached 105. (Reuters)

World's oldest male twins from Belgium turn 103

The Belgian data protection authority lost a legal battle with Facebook on Wednesday in which it sought to stop the company from tracking online activities of non-Facebook users in Belgium who visit the site&#39;s pages. 
 
The Belgian Privacy Commission said that the Brussels Appeals Court had dismissed its case on the grounds that the regulator has no jurisdiction over Facebook Inc, which has its European headquarters in Ireland. 
 
That marks a victory for the US company, which staunchly maintained that only the Irish Data Protection Commissioner has jurisdiction over how it uses Europeans&#39; data. 
 
Facebook has had run-ins with a number of European privacy watchdogs over its use of user generated data. 
 
Belgium&#39;s data protection regulator took Facebook to court a year ago, accusing it of violating EU privacy law by tracking people without a Facebook account without their consent. 
 
The court ruled in favour of the regulator and ordered Facebook to stop tracking non-Facebook users when they visited a Facebook page or face a 250,000 euros ($277,000) fine per day. 
 
Facebook appealed the ruling. In the meantime, it said it would comply and stop using the so-called &#39;datr&#39; cookie which it places on user&#39;s browsers when they visit a Facebook.com site or click a Facebook &#39;Like&#39; button on other websites, allowing it to track the online activities of that browser. 
 
&quot;We are pleased with the court&#39;s decision and look forward to bringing all our services back online for the people in Belgium,&quot; a Facebook spokeswoman said. 
 
The Belgian regulator said it would look into launching a final appeal with the Court of Cassation, which can throw out previous judgments but not deliver new ones. 
 
&quot;Today&#39;s decision simply and purely means that the Belgian citizen cannot obtain the protection of his private life through the courts and tribunals when it concerns foreign actors,&quot; the regulator said in a statement. 
 
It added that the Court of Cassation had previously overruled the Court of Appeal on matters of jurisdiction over foreign companies. 
 
&quot;Thus the citizen is also exposed to massive violations of private life,&quot; said Willem Debeuckelaere, president of the Belgian privacy commission. 
 
The Brussels appeals court also threw out the Belgian privacy commission&#39;s claim that the case was urgent and required expedited procedure. 
 
(Reuters)

The Belgian body had sought to prevent Facebook from accessing data on non-Facebook users in the country via it's datr cookie

The Belgian data protection authority lost a legal battle with Facebook on Wednesday in which it sought to stop the company from tracking online activities of non-Facebook users in Belgium who visit the site's pages. The Belgian Privacy Commission said that the Brussels Appeals Court had dismissed its case on the grounds that the regulator has no jurisdiction over Facebook Inc, which has its European headquarters in Ireland. That marks a victory for the US company, which staunchly maintained that only the Irish Data Protection Commissioner has jurisdiction over how it uses Europeans' data. Facebook has had run-ins with a number of European privacy watchdogs over its use of user generated data. Belgium's data protection regulator took Facebook to court a year ago, accusing it of violating EU privacy law by tracking people without a Facebook account without their consent. The court ruled in favour of the regulator and ordered Facebook to stop tracking non-Facebook users when they visited a Facebook page or face a 250,000 euros ($277,000) fine per day. Facebook appealed the ruling. In the meantime, it said it would comply and stop using the so-called 'datr' cookie which it places on user's browsers when they visit a Facebook.com site or click a Facebook 'Like' button on other websites, allowing it to track the online activities of that browser. "We are pleased with the court's decision and look forward to bringing all our services back online for the people in Belgium," a Facebook spokeswoman said. The Belgian regulator said it would look into launching a final appeal with the Court of Cassation, which can throw out previous judgments but not deliver new ones. "Today's decision simply and purely means that the Belgian citizen cannot obtain the protection of his private life through the courts and tribunals when it concerns foreign actors," the regulator said in a statement. It added that the Court of Cassation had previously overruled the Court of Appeal on matters of jurisdiction over foreign companies. "Thus the citizen is also exposed to massive violations of private life," said Willem Debeuckelaere, president of the Belgian privacy commission. The Brussels appeals court also threw out the Belgian privacy commission's claim that the case was urgent and required expedited procedure. (Reuters)

Facebook wins privacy case against Belgian data protection authority

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