Belgium

Belgian authorities said Thursday that they had destroyed a shipment of more than 3,000 bottles of California-made sparkling wine as part of a crackdown on illegally labeled champagne. The destruction of the U.S. bubbly highlights a global battle by European food and drink producers to protect their brands by enforcing laws that say only products made in their original regions can carry names such as champagne or Parma ham.

Yahoo Inc., the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based operator of the second-most-popular Internet search service, is the latest target of Belgian newspapers in a copyright dispute over how search engines link to articles. "We sent a formal letter to Yahoo yesterday, requesting it to remove all links to our newspapers' content," said Margaret Boribon, secretary-general of Copiepresse, a group that includes 17 French- and German-language Belgian newspapers.

A man stole $28 million worth of diamonds from an Antwerp, Belgium, bank where he had become a trusted trader with access to the vault, officials said. Prosecutors say the suspect broke into safe-deposit boxes in an ABM Amro bank last week. He took diamonds weighing 120,000 carats, police said. The suspect gave the name Carlos Hector Flomenbaum of Argentina, but authorities believe he was lying. A passport in that name was stolen in Israel a few years ago.

Soldiers will be deployed to Belgian forests to tackle millions of hairy caterpillars that are causing allergic reactions, a military spokeswoman said. Procession caterpillars, so-called because they march in lines, are covered in long, toxic hairs, which cause dermatitis and respiratory problems. "About 24 soldiers and airmen will be deployed to help the fire brigade and civil protection authority," spokeswoman Ingrid Baeck said.

A former Rwandan army major was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his involvement in the 1994 killings of 10 Belgian peacekeepers at the start of the Rwandan genocide. Bernard Ntuyahaga was found guilty of manslaughter by a jury. Prosecutors had asked the court to sentence the 55-year-old to life in prison for his role in ensuring the 10 peacekeepers were disarmed and killed by a mob of local soldiers in Kigali.

To the uninitiated, the existential crisis splitting Belgium down the middle these days might seem like a (very) civilized war as told by Dr. Seuss, with the French-speaking Walloons on one side and the Dutch-speaking Flemings on the other. To continue the literary analogy, consider the library at Belgium's Leuven University. Make that two libraries. German armies had burned down Leuven's library in the two world wars, and it was rebuilt after each.

About 35,000 Belgians marched through Brussels to defend the unity of their linguistically divided country. The protest was meant to press Dutch- and French-speaking politicians to resolve differences that have left the country without a new government for more than five months. The stalemate has fueled speculation about a breakup of the 177-year-old kingdom.

Lawmakers from Belgium's Dutch-speaking Flemish north and French-speaking Walloon south teamed up to block a bill that sought to split the country in a vote that may clear the way for a new government. Belgium has languished since June 10 elections without a Cabinet, and coalition talks have stalled over the Flemish side's unmet demands for more autonomy.

Belgian leaders cobbled together an interim government that will tackle urgent economic issues, ending a six-month political deadlock. The five-party interim government will be in office three months, which will give officials more time to agree on constitutional reforms designed to grant more autonomy to the Dutch-speaking Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia regions.

Belgian police arrested 14 suspected extremists Friday on suspicion of plotting the prison break of a charismatic Al Qaeda operative serving a 10-year sentence for planning a suicide bombing of a NATO base. Amid the most urgent terrorism alert in Belgium in years, police rounded up a group that they suspect had intended to use guns and explosives to aid the escape of Nizar Trabelsi, one of the first extremists imprisoned in Europe after the Sept. 11 attacks.