As The Observer’s restaurant critic and the One Show’s resident food expert, Jay Rayner has made a name for himself as a no-nonsense foodie, a man with a ferocious appetite and no time for fads or style over substance. Yet behind his imposing frame and his ability to wax lyrical over simple food...

The departing U.S. ambassador to Belgium, Howard Gutman, left Brussels yesterday, but with the firm intention of returning here as a businessman and cultivating friendships he forged during the four years of his mandate, the American Embassy announced. He wrote in La Libre Belgique that he intended...

The European alert threshold for ozone was exceeded in Brussels yesterday in late afternoon, with a reading of 246 micrograms per cubic metre, while the threshold is 240 micrograms. Important physical effort should be avoided when the alert threshold is exceeded, warns the Belgian Interregional...

A bus driver was assaulted with a syringe feared to have belonged to a drug user, in an attack that took place on Monday night, De Gazet van Antwerpen reports. The driver had stopped at the De Lijn terminus in Deurne. When he came out of the bathroom, he was assaulted by a man who took his wallet...

Local authorities have decided to ban the wearing of political or ideological signs at the Tomorrowland festival, De Morgen reports. A total of 180,000 festivalgoers from 200 countries are heading for the electronic festival, which begins in two days’ time. The preventive measure was taken “to...

Chris Froome shrugged off three weeks’ fatigue and a distinct lack of sleep to continue his winning ways in Belgium on Monday - just 24 hours after his Tour de France triumph, writes Metro’s Gavin Brown . He joined many of the other riders who completed in the race at the Natourcriterium van Aalst...

One question I have kept hearing in recent days was whether the British royal baby would arrive on the same day as the new Belgian King began his reign. Well now we know. The baby boy is happily arrived. Warmest congratulations to Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge! As Prime...

Mothers in Belgium could soon pass on their maiden names to their children, reports BBC News . As things stand, Belgian children automatically take their father's family name. But that's about to change, thanks to a plan approved by the country's cabinet. If approved by parliament, it will allow...

King Philippe has decided not to grant a collective pardon on the occasion of his accession to the throne, justice minister Annemie Turtelboom is quoted as saying in De Standaard and Het Nieuwsblad. The last collective pardon dates back to 1993, when King Baudouin granted a six-month remission of...

In five years, the number of fraudulent unemployment benefit claimants fell by 17,000 in 2008 to 3,000 last year, De Standaard and Le Soir report today. According to Wouter Langeraert, who coordinates field controls at the National Employment Office, the drastic decrease in benefit fraud is not due...