Fright night.

Organisers of Welkenraedt’s Halloween Rock Festival used the photograph of notorious killer Jon Venables on the poster to promote the event. Venables is one of the two British 10-year-olds who kidnapped, tortured and killed a two-year-old boy in 1993. The event is co-sponsored by the municipality which also approved the posters. No one there recognised Venables at the time.

That will be €29.95, please.

Charleroi has shelved plans to tax funeral processions in order to cover a €5.5 million budget shortfall. The tax would have been paid on all funeral cortèges that went through the municipality while on their way to city graveyards, crematoriums or the airport, in the case of corpses needing to be repatriated. A tax on airport parking is being considered instead because the €300 tax on funeral processions would have hit local residents instead of out-oftowners hardest.

Does this look like a WC?

Two Ecaussinnes town councillors faced off in court with one accusing the other of libel after being caught peeing on the town’s war memorial during a music festival in June 2009. Councillor Christine Hemberg spotted Councillor Sébastien Deschamps relieving himself on the monument. He then cited her in court for spreading slanderous stories, but the court found in Hemberg’s favour and Deschamps was ordered to pay costs of €1,200.

Monkey see ...

Eight firefighters, two fire engines and two vans were dispatched to rescue a monkey stuck on a roof in Saint-Hubert, Luxembourg province, on October 13. A fireman trained in rescuing domestic animals and a veterinarian safely brought the 90cm-tall 20kg beast down.

Mind your manners, gramps.

A school to teach elderly people how to be good grandparents opened in Namur on October 11. Run by the Maison des Seniors charity, the school will provide a meeting point, discussion groups, training, workshops and conferences to help grandparents understand their role in modern society.