Women are the victims of fiscal discrimination in Belgium, where tampons and sanitary napkins are taxed at the highest rate (21%), in the same category as so-called luxury goods. The value-added tax (VAT) on tampons and sanitary napkins in Belgium is 21%, while condoms, for example, fall under the...

Cancer fund Kom op tegen Kanker has called for semi-public open spaces – like train platforms, football stadiums and amusement parks – to be made smoke-free areas. The measure is necessary to protect people more against passive smoking, the breathing in of other people’s smoke, it says. The charity...

The Belgian branch of the Church of Scientology has been acquitted of being a criminal organisation by a court in Brussels. “After 18 years, the discrimination against Scientology comes to an end,” said spokesperson Chris Meganck. The case concerned charges of fraud, extortion, illegal practice of...

A 20-year-old man from Liège was summoned by the federal police to explain himself for negative comments made on Facebook about Belgium's prime minister Charles Michel. The detectives are tasked with investigating all potential threats against the prime minister, reports RTBF. The man reacted to an...

The Belgium-based Armenian boxing champion Sasha Yengoyan, who won several titles for Belgium, has been requested to leave the country because he has no work permit and his job as kitchen porter is not on the list of shortage occupations, reports Knack. "My life is about to collapse," says the 31-...

The Bulletin meets... soprano Nicola Mills It's not every day you find a British professional soprano opera singer performing on the Grand Place in Brussels. Nicola Mills is from the north of England and came to Belgium to sing for the Opera Vlaanderen. She had a fear of singing by herself - so she...

American artist Bruce Geduldig passed away this week, on his 63rd birthday and in his hometown Sacramento, California. Known worldwide for his pioneering multimedia work with San Francisco avant-garde music collective Tuxedomoon, who rode out the Reagan years in exile in Brussels, Geduldig also...

Secondary school student organisation Vlaamse Scholieren Koepel (VSK) has launched a campaign to change images in school books to more realistically represent the diversity that makes up Belgian society. According to the VSK, most school books in Flanders present only traditional family structures...

Flemish artist Jan De Cock has listed his Brussels Art Institute (BAI), which is also home to his own studio, up for sale after the loss of a subsidy and bank demands for repayment of a loan. The move could see 400 students of the Sint-Lukas School of Arts, who are using the BAI while their school...

Anderlecht are the last Belgian side standing in European football, but only by a thread after losing 3-1 at Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk in last night’s Europa League final 16 tie. Besnik Hasi’s Anderlecht were on the back foot at the Lviv Arena, but Frank Acheampong’s 68th-minute goal offered...