Search form

menu menu

Belgium raises terror threat level at public events after Paris attacks

Belgium has increased its terror threat level from 2 to 3 at big sporting and cultural events, following the co-ordinated attacks in Paris on Friday night in which 129 people were killed and 352 injured. Belgian prime minister Charles Michel made the announcement late on Saturday night, after a...

Gastronomy: Liège restaurant Le Jardin des Bégards among the stars

Le Jardin des Bégards won a Michelin star in 2013 with local chef François Piscitello adamant that he would not compromise his creative style of cuisine. He described the award as “the cherry on the cake” of a long career in the province of Liège. Proudly self-taught, Piscitello has intuitively...

Culture beat: 13 November

Fans of body art can seek inspiration at the Brussels Tattoo Convention held in Tour & Taxis this weekend. The sixth edition welcomes 220 of the top tattoo artists in the world, hailing from the UK, US, Canada, France, Luxembourg, Russia and Germany, among other countries. There’s also live and...

Brussels is 'weakest link' in Europe’s fight against terrorism

The complexity of the police and political structures in Brussels is a large part of why Belgium has supplied more jihad fighters to IS than any other country, according to federal home affairs minister Jan Jambon. According to figures from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation,...

Newspaper contract safeguards 3,500 Bpost jobs

The government’s decision to give Bpost the contract for delivering newspapers and magazines has safeguarded 3,500 jobs that would otherwise have been at risk, according to analysis by business magazine Trends. The sum paid by the government for the service, part of a package of “services of...

Belgium is fifth country in the world for doping

Belgium is the fifth country in the world in terms of the number of doping violations, according to a 325-page report published by a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) independent commission, writes Het Nieuwsblad . Due to its small size, Belgium has relatively few top athletes, and yet it ranks fifth...

Nearly one in five Belgians is retired

The number of people in Belgium entitled to benefits from the National Pensions Office (NPO) increased last year to 1,938,773, or nearly one in five. That's 8.2% more than in 2010 and 2.26% more than in 2013, according to the NPO's annual report. The report shows that the federal government spends...

Website rates hospitals for hygiene and infections

The Scientific Institute for Public Health (ISP) has created a public overview of the efforts of local hospitals to prevent on-site infections. The scores of 105 Belgian hospitals concerning hygiene can be examined online and will be updated every year. WIV has criticised the shortcomings of...

Brussels gang movie Black takes Belgian cinema where it has never gone before

Black, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah’s electrifying new film, opens with what could be just another Tuesday in Brussels. Armed with a fist-size rock, a teen rapidly walks up to a car idling in front of a red light. In one sweeping motion, he smashes the window and snatches the driver’s purse from...

BBC to host debate in Brussels on the future of Europe

Sorry, registrations for this event are now closed. The BBC World Service is holding a debate in Brussels this coming Tuesday on some of the big issues facing Europe today. The free event takes place at the Royal Library of Belgium from 18.00 on 17 November, and will be recorded for broadcast on...

Pages