Based on an urban legend, Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s macabre musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street took Broadway by storm in 1979. Sondheim announced at the time that the versatile piece was both opera and musical theatre, depending on where it was staged. Decades later,...

In the Brussels commune of Molenbeek on Friday, an unknown number of youth lit a police car on fire. A second police vehicle was the target of attempted arson in the night from Friday to Saturday. The police are still investigating whether the two incidents are connected. The first vehicle was set...

Belgium's federal police has closed 241 Twitter and Facebook accounts since the establishment of its new Internet Referral Unit (IRU) less than a year ago, says interior minister Jan Jambon in Het Laatste Nieuws and the Sudpresse newspapers. Launched by the European Police Office (Europol) in 2015...

About 20 disgruntled Belgian prison guards this morning gathered outside the private residence of prime minister Charles Michel in Wavre, and rang the bell at 6.00. The prime minister regrets the action, which frightened his wife and baby daughter, writes De Standaard . According to a union source...

Single-use plastic shopping bags will be banned in the Brussels-Capital Region from 1 September 2017, the region’s environment minister, Céline Fremault, has announced. Initially the ban will cover supermarkets before being extended to all retailers in 2018. The EU has called for member states to...

Unizo, the organisation that represents the self-employed in Flanders, has begun a study into a universal basic income. According to Unizo director-general Karel Van Eetvelt, a guaranteed income would help motivate people to work rather than, as many fear, encourage them to remain unemployed. It is...

Federal consumer affairs minister Kris Peeters has announced the approval of new legislation that allows the use of “mystery shoppers” – investigators who pose as ordinary customers to check the conduct of shops and other businesses. Previously, the use of such covert operators was in breach of...

Starting next week, a humanoid robot called Pepper will assist staff at the reception desk of AZ Damiaan hospital in Ostend. It will mark a world first in robots being deployed for a reception task in a medical context. The robot was developed by Ostend-based QBMT, the robotics firm that developed...

According to UGent researcher Marlijn Peeters, the extent to which a house is hidden is the number one risk factor for robberies and not how difficult it is to access. A very tall hedge, for example, makes a house less accessible but actually increases the risk of burglary, she said, because it...

After so many years watching from afar as the top sides battle it out in the big competitions, Belgium’s footballers are now part of the show. When the European Championships begin on Friday in France, Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard, Toby Alderweireld and the other Red Devils will be one of the most...