Briefing+Book

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__Belgium Church to Pay Abuse Victims__ Throughout the past year over 500 witnesses have given statements of molestation by Belgium Catholic clergy over a period of decades. Because of these allegations the Catholic Church has spent months trying to decide how to deal with the problem. May 30 they announced they would pay the victims of clergy sexual abuse to "help restore their dignity". But the leader of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests says she'll believe it when she sees it. She said "We need to see action before we believe anything they say".

__Russia says Belgium Contributed to Politkovskaya's Suspected Killer Arrest__

Russia announced the "Belgium's law enforcement officers helped in the arrest of a Russian murdered. In recent years journalists and reporters in Russia have been killed and the head of the group has yet to be found but one murderer has. Law enforcement agencies in Belgium had increased their search for him which forced him out of the country and back to Russia. He was recently caught in Russia and will soon be returned to Moscow for trial. The reporter, Anna Politkovskaya, was shot and killed in her apartment over four years ago. The accused killer is Rustam Makhonudov.

__France, Belgium, Dutch Investigate IKEA Blasts__

IKEA is the world's largest furniture retailer. Three stores located in Belgium, France and the Netherlands had minor explosions after rigged alarm clocks blew up. The alarm clocks had small amounts of gunpowder in them and the attack seems to have been coordinated. A spokesman for the stores said there was no warning before the attacks. No one was seriously injured but two workers suffered minor injuries in Belgium. The stores opened as usual the next day.

__Outlook Dim for Climate Agreement by Year's End__

Recently there was a two-day meeting in Brussels, Belgium of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate where major greenhouse gas-emitting nations gathered to reach a global agreement to limit the gases. Todd Stern, the U.S. special envoy for climate change, said after the meeting that he doesn't believe that an agremeent will be reached any time soon. Countries which included the European Union, Japan, China, India and Brazil attended the meeting in hopes of negotiating an agreement in the coming year. Mr. Stern said the countries have different opinions on the necessity of an agreement and the view of the U.S. is that it's "not a necessary thing to happen right away". He said the U.S. believes that an agreement would need to include all major countries like China, India, Brazil, South Africa and any other countries with large economies and it wouldn't make sense to create an agreement without them. Many of the poorest nations, including small island nations which face rising sea levels, will more than likely continue pushing for an agreement.

__Belgium Landfill to be Mined in Pioneering Venture__

The world's first hi-tech landfill mining project will begin soon in Belgium. This project will combine gasification and plasma technology to withdraw materials and energy from buried waste. Over 16 million tons of waste is stored in the landfille and they're hoping that 45% of it can be recycled. An energy plant will be build on the site and the energy produced will be put into the national electricity grid in Flanders.