Although the commercial heart of Jette is officially called Place Reine Astrid, nearly everyone refers to it by the name of Place du Miroir, a throwback to the days when it was home to a ‘house of mirrors’ on the spot where florist Demesmaeker (1 Chaussée de Wemmel) now sits. Clearly the...

There was a record number of injuries requiring treatment by emergency services during yesterday’s Car Free Sunday, a spokesman for Brussels’ firefighters has revealed. While there were no serious accidents, many pedestrians and inexperienced cyclists suffered sprained ankles, broken feet or broken...

Members of the Belgian royal family have long travelled using ‘fake’ passports for security reasons, former foreign minister Mark Eyskens has revealed in the VTM programme Royalty. Not only passports but also other identity documents have been issued to some members of the royal family, allowing...

The Association of Voucher Issuers (VIA), which represents the interests of companies issuing prepaid vouchers has warned that scrapping meal tickets would have "serious economic and social consequences" for Belgian employees and employers alike. It follows a call by the minister for economy Johan...

Belgian finance minister Koen Geens has announced plans to abolish a raft of taxes deemed to be unfair, obsolete, or contrary to international law, writes Tax News’ Ulrika Lomas . Alluding to such levies as "plague taxes," Geens pledged to repeal any charges that yield little for the state, but...

Belgian fashion pioneer Bruno Pieters is breaking from tradition and offering high-end customers “transparent shopping from A to Z” through Honest by , a web-only label he created last year which gives the shopper an intricately detailed breakdown of a product’s elaborate supply chain. In the world...

Like most of those in Europe, Belgium’s Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI) has its roots in the national observatory. As technology rapidly improved towards the end of the 19th century, scientists, who would later call themselves meteorologists, were starting to investigate the lowest part of the...

Flemish public transport company De Lijn wants to introduce four tram routes into Brussels, but some STIB directors are vetoing the plan because the draft agreement does not allow the Brussels company, in return, to extend some of its lines into Flemish Brabant, La Capitale reports today. Under De...

One of seven Belgian football hooligans arrested in Lisbon on Tuesday is a Brussels policeman, Het Laatste Nieuws reported yesterday. The information has been confirmed by a press release from the Brussels-West police force. The arrests took place before the Champions League game between Benfica...