Month: September 2025
Smoking and vaping on and near terraces will be banned from 1 January 2027, as will the use of public smoking rooms, such as in bars, airports and shisha bars. That decided the federal government on Friday, reports 24brussels.
The coalition agreement mandated an expansion of the smoking ban to include terraces, a move opposed by the hospitality sector. The council of ministers approved the measure on Friday, delaying its implementation from the originally planned start date of 1 January 2026 to allow businesses time to adapt.
The ban prohibits smoking and vaping on and near public terraces, along with a prohibition on public smoking rooms found in airports, hospitality venues, and establishments catering specifically to smokers like cigar clubs and shisha bars.
“With these measures, we prevent children and adults from involuntarily inhaling harmful cigarette smoke.”
Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke emphasized the focus on public health, stating, “Protecting people’s health and creating a healthy environment for everyone is what matters to us. With these measures, we prevent children and adults from involuntarily inhaling harmful cigarette smoke and ensure that people are not tempted to light up a cigarette.”
Catering establishments will be required to display clear signage regarding the ban and to engage with customers who smoke. They will face penalties for inadequate signage, ignoring smoking violations, or providing items that may encourage smoking, such as ashtrays.
According to the most recent Sciensano Health Survey, 17.6 percent of the Belgian population currently smokes, with 12.8 percent smoking daily. These figures represent a decline from 2018, when 19.4 percent of the population reported smoking, with 15.4 percent being daily smokers. However, the popularity of e-cigarettes continues to rise, particularly among younger demographics; in 2023-2024, 21.7 percent of the population reported having tried an e-cigarette at some point.
John Nacion/Getty Images
- Kering hosted its annual Caring for Women dinner in New York City on Thursday night.
- Stars like Dakota Johnson and Colman Domingo wore bold fashion on the red carpet.
- Other attendees, like François-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek, needed some outfit tweaks.
Some of this month’s best celebrity fashion wasn’t seen at New York Fashion Week.
Instead, it was on display at Kering’s annual Caring for Women dinner on Thursday night.
Some stars walked the event’s red carpet in glamorous gowns and diamond accessories, while others opted for daring lace looks that showed some skin.
Unfortunately, there were a few ensembles that missed the mark, too. Here’s a look at the best and worst outfits of the night.
Philip Cheung for The Washington Post via Getty Images
- Trump nominated author and conservative pundit Nick Adams to be US Ambassador to Malaysia.
- Adams’ financial disclosure offers a rare look at the personal finances of a MAGA influencer.
- He disclosed around $47,000 from Cameo, the personalized video platform, in the last year and a half.
It’s not every day that a high-profile political influencer has to detail exactly how they make their money.
But that’s exactly what Nick Adams, a MAGA-aligned influencer and author, has done as he awaits Senate confirmation to become the US Ambassador to Malaysia under President Donald Trump.
Adams describes himself online as an “alpha male” and is known for his occasionally crass humor. He is originally from Australia, where he was elected to local office in 2004. He later moved to the US and became a citizen in 2021.
Trump announced Adams’s nomination in a Truth Social post on July 10, calling him an “incredible Patriot and very successful entrepreneur, whose love of, and devotion to, our Great Country is an inspiration.”
Adams did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
His financial disclosure, obtained this week by Business Insider, details various sources of income. The 29-page document covers his financial activity from the beginning of 2024 until June.
His largest source of income that he disclosed during that period was from the Foundation for American Liberty and Greatness, a nonprofit organization that Adams founded in 2016. It promotes American civics content in K-12 schools. He was paid more than $380,000 during the reporting period.
Adams also reported earning a $156,000 salary from Highfield Consulting, an entity he owns that receives the fees he earns from book sales, paid speeches, and other payments.
His next largest disclosed source of income is paid speeches, which netted him over $114,000. His disclosure lists 36 different appearances, most of which were before local Republican Party groups.
He also earned a salary of over $56,000 from Influenceable, a firm that works to promote conservative content online via social media influencers.
Adams, who describes himself on social media as Trump’s favorite author, also appears to have made thousands of dollars from the sale of 10 books. But it’s unclear exactly how much he earned from book sales overall: Adams disclosed that he could only provide approximations for how much money he had made from each book.
His most recent book, entitled “From Mar-a-Lago to Mars: President Trump’s Great American Comeback,” was published in May 2025.
Among Adams’s most interesting sources of income was the roughly $47,000 he earned from Cameo, a website where individuals pay for personalized video messages from prominent figures.
According to his Cameo profile, Adams charges a minimum of $100 for personalized videos that include roasts, birthday messages, and pep talks.
He appears to have continued making Cameo videos well after his nomination was announced in early July: The most recent video he recorded was on August 20, according to the site.
Adams also disclosed earning over $28,000 in fees for a series of appearances on Al Jazeera, a news channel that is funded by the government of Qatar, in late 2024 and throughout the first half of 2025.
And like other Trump administration appointees, he’s made a decent chunk of change simply from being active on social media.
His disclosure said that he expected to earn over $41,000 this year from a monetized Meta account, along with $11,850 from X’s content creator payment system.
If he’s confirmed, he’ll have to give it all up — at least during his time as an ambassador.
Adams signed an ethics agreement that largely forbids him from continuing to receive outside compensation, beyond his government salary.
