Belgium's federal government has saved €15m on energy after awarding utility company Electrabel a contract last year for a group purchase on behalf of 1,500 public buildings, SeeNews reports. According to Servais Verherstraeten, state secretary for the public buildings administration, bundling...

Police in Belgium have launched a series of inspections at sheep farms in the area outside Brussels in order to obtain information about people who plan to slaughter a sheep in their own home as part of celebrations to mark the Feast of Sacrifice (Eid Al-Adha) which falls today, several Belgian...

Belgium is the top packaging recycler among all 27 EU member states, according to figures from 2011 released by Eurostat, reports Recycling International . Belgium tops the table with a rate of 80.2%, followed by the Netherlands and Germany on, respectively, 71.9% and 71.8%. At the bottom of the...

Fashion designer Christian Louboutin yesterday won his legal battle Monday to stop an extremist campaign featuring his signature red-soled shoes. The poster by far-right Flemish group Women Against Islamisation shows the bare legs of former Miss Belgium – and now Vlaams Belang senator - Anke Van...

Originally from Auderghem, 44-year-old Laurence Couturier moved to Saint-Gilles after she finished studying. She later found somewhere to live in Schaerbeek, but when she felt the itch to buy her own house, she wanted to move closer to her roots. “Via my grandmother’s hairdresser I got word of a...

Belgium has won the first world blind wine-tasting competition for teams, with Denmark and England finishing second and third, the event’s organisers said. Philippe Ketelslegers, Filip Mesdom, Eric Derenne and Serge Condens took top honours at the competition held in the south-western French town...

Police discovered two kilograms of cocaine in the luggage of a Brazilian drug trafficker at Brussels Airport, the Brussels prosecutor’s office announced yesterday. The Brazilian drug smuggler was stopped at customs at Brussels Airport on Saturday night; the drugs were found hidden in the false...

Alleged Somali pirate warlord Mohamed Abdi Hassan, also known by the nickname ‘Afweyne’ or ‘Big Mouth’, has been arrested by Belgian police at Brussels airport, various media report this morning. The United Nations considers Abdi Hassan one of the most notorious and influential Somali pirate...

Belgium has joined the International Surfing Association (ISA), as its 77th member, reports Surfer Today . Belgium has over 65km of coastline and offers a variety of large sandy beaches and a few protected jetties, favouring north groundswells and south-west windswells that provide fun waves for...

The annual bank tax levied on credit institutions in Belgium will yield €16m more in 2013 than initially forecast, writes Tax News’ Ulrika Lomas . In a written parliamentary response, finance minister Koen Geens announced that the bank tax will serve to generate around €96m for the state’s coffers...