Search form

menu menu

Belgium's new sugar tax is half-baked, admits health minister

The Belgian government's new tax on soft drinks also applies to diet drinks and even sugar-free drinks, the Belgian media recently brought to light. It was not feasible to differentiate between the different soft drink categories in the short term, argues public health minister Maggie De Block. The...

Brussels gets new running race along the canal

On Saturday, 7 November, the first edition of the Brussels Canal Run will take place in the city's canal zone, with a choice of three distances: 4, 8 or 12 km. For children under 12, there is a 1 km run. Unlike most other Brussels running competitions, the canal route is completely flat, writes...

Eco Cheques soon to be issued electronically

The paper Eco Cheques – vouchers to buy green products in Belgium, often provided as part of an employee contract – will soon be replaced by an electronic version. The decision was made by the federal government after e-cards were successfully introduced to replace paper meal vouchers. A similar e-...

100 years later: Remembering Edith Cavell's 'ultimate sacrifice'

At dawn on 12 October 1915, British nurse Edith Cavell - one of the heroines of the first world war - was executed by a 16-man firing squad in German-occupied Brussels. At the national shooting range in Schaerbeek that morning, she was still wearing her uniform from the hospital where she worked as...

Army Museum in Brussels to charge entrance fee from 2016

From 5 January, 2016, the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces, located in Brussels' Parc Cinquantenaire, will charge an entrance fee of maximum €5, with discounts for certain visitors. The introduction of an admission fee marks the end of a long tradition, as entrance to the Army Museum has been free...

Federal government reaches agreement on tax shift

The Belgian federal government has presented the details of its tax shift - a rearrangement of taxation aimed at allowing workers to take home more at the end of the month by shifting the burden of taxation elsewhere. Among the measures is a tax on soft drinks. Between now and 2019, those on lower...

Train World: New Brussels museum is a hymn to the railways

Did you know that Mechelen was once the centre of this country’s fledgling rail network? That Antwerp’s beautiful Central Station was almost demolished after the Second World War? Or that Victor Horta worked on Brussels Central until he was 84? As the oldest station still in its original state, on...

Belgium prime minister and Brussels parliament websites hacked

The websites of Prime Minister Charles Michel and the Brussels regional parliament were hacked on Saturday by hacker collective Anonymous Belgium, which proudly claimed responsibility for hacking the prime minister's site via Twitter with a tweet in French. "The Belgian government challenged us,”...

Dog Elvis wins Most Beautiful Zinneke contest

A dog named Elvis ( pictured ) was elected Brussels' 'Most Beautiful Zinneke of 2015' on Saturday in the third edition of the contest organised by the Prince Laurent Foundation and merchants from the Marché aux Poissons. The name of the contest refers to the Zinneke Pis, a statue of a urinating dog...

Culture beat: 9 October

Music With Europalia Turkey now underway, one of the first musical events of the four-month festival is an evening dedicated to two masters of traditional folk this evening (Friday). La Nuit du Kemençe presents two international musicians, the Turk Derya Turkan and Sokratis Sinopoulos from Greece...

Pages