Belgium permits post-Covid-19 four-day work week
Belgian employees will be able to work a four-day week after the government on Tuesday agreed a new labour accord aimed at bringing flexibility to an otherwise rigid labour market.
Speaking after his seven-party coalition federal government reached a deal overnight, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said the coronavirus pandemic had forced people to work more flexibly and combine their private and working lives.
"This has led to new ways of working," he told a press conference.
Employees who request it will be able to work up to 10 hours a day if trade unions agree, instead of the maximum eight now, in order to work one day less per week for the same pay.
Sandy Hook families settle with gunmaker over school massacre
Remington Arms will pay US$73 million (S$98 million) to the families of five adults and four children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, the families said on Tuesday, the first time a gunmaker has been held liable for a mass shooting in the United States.
Twenty students and six adults were killed on Dec 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut by gunman Adam Lanza, who used a Remington Bushmaster AR-15 rifle to shoot his way into the Sandy Hook Elementary School after killing his mother at home.
Remington Arms will pay US$73 million to the families and release all the discovery and disposition material to the public. The settlement will be paid through insurance policies.
Teen aims to follow sister's record with solo world flight
British-Belgian teenager Mack Rutherford is hoping to become the youngest male, at 16, to fly around the world solo in a light aircraft, just months after his sister became the youngest woman to do so.
Rutherford said on Tuesday he felt "pretty confident" he was ready for the challenge as he posed for pictures in front of his Shark ultralight plane at Biggin Hill Airfield in London.
"It's really exciting to think that really soon I'm going to do something incredible," he told Reuters, adding he was looking forward to seeing, among many other places, the Sahara Desert, the Congolese jungle and New York.
Valieva had multiple substances in system, reports NYT
Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva had three different substances used to treat heart conditions in the sample which triggered the doping storm at the Beijing Olympics, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
Valieva learned during the Games she had tested positive in December for trimetazidine, a drug used to treat angina which also boosts endurance.
On Monday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that she could carry on at the Olympics, but that does not mean she has been cleared of doping and she could still face punishment at a later date.
Family of woman shot on Rust set sues actor Alec Baldwin
The family of a woman shot by Alec Baldwin on the set of the movie Rust sued the US actor on Tuesday, claiming "substantial" damages for her wrongful death.
Baldwin was holding a Colt gun during a rehearsal for the Western in New Mexico in October when it discharged a live round, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
At a press conference on Tuesday, lawyer Brian Panish alleged the "reckless conduct and cost-cutting measures" of Baldwin and the other Rust producers had led to Hutchins' death.
