Flemish green party Groen has called for a reform of the pensions systems, based on two principles: a basic pension for all and a supplement based on years worked. "Our society needs decent pensions in order to fight rampant poverty,” said MP Wouter De Vriendt in a statement. Twenty-two percent of...

The Red Cross is currently facing a shortage of blood and has issued an urgent call for donations. "We notice an overall decrease in our inventory of blood products. Even stocks of blood types O Positive and A Positive, usually stable, are low," the organisation said in a statement yesterday. The...

Agents of Securail, the security arm of Belgian railway operator SNCB / NMBS, detained 480 fare dodgers in the first six months of 2013, three times more than a year before, spokesman Louis Maraites has told La Dernière Heure. Securail conducted 270 detentions in 2012. This is explained in part by...

Beady Eye have cancelled their gig at the Lokerse Feesten tonight because of an injury to guitarist Gem Archer, reports the NME . The Liam Gallagher-fronted band were expected to play the festival, before flying out to Japan for the Summer Sonic festival in Tokyo. A statement from the band's...

People who want to have their shoes repaired are finding it increasingly difficult to find a cobbler. The number of independent cobblers in Belgium has dropped from 344 to 227 in ten years, it appears from a report by business information bureau Graydon. There are currently only two cobblers every...

August 4, 1914: the beginning of the First World War. It’s a date of such gravity that it will be marked by a series of commemorative events around the world when the 100th anniversary is reached next year. The centenary will finish on November 11, 2018 – Armistice Day. Flanders, naturally, is at...

If you haven’t filed your tax return yet, you’re too late. If you do not file your tax return or if you file it late, the taxman can make you pay for it. He can deduce your taxable income from estimates and force you to prove what your actual taxable income is - and that is not a nice position to...

The validity of lunch vouchers in Belgium will soon be increased from three months to one year. The law, passed a few months ago by the commons, has just been published in the Belgian Official Journal, the union for the middle classes (UCM) announced in a statement yesterday. The new law will come...

The ceremony at which foreign affairs minister Didier Reynders was awarded the Légion d’Honneur was paid for with public money, it has been revealed. On March 27, Reynders was made a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur by former French president Nicolas Sarkozy. As reported in Le Vif at the time, the...

John Simenon has donated the entirety of the archival documents relating to his father’s work. He has created the Simenon Heritage Fund within the King Baudouin Foundation , which will ensure its perpetuity. The donation includes manuscripts and typescripts, correspondence, books, photographs,...