Customers of Colruyt can now make mobile payments using a smartphone app in 470 supermarkets across the country, the company has announced. The system uses the SEQR app available for Android, Apple and Windows phones and is already available in all the group’s stores, including Colruyt, OKay, Bio-...

About 860,000 people in Belgium take care of a dependent person on a daily basis. The hours they put into the informal care represent more than 150,000 full-time jobs, reports the Institute of Public Health (IPH). The institute warns that while this informal care may be “free”, it can have a...

I’m delicately holding a raisin between my thumb and forefinger, turning it slowly while observing it carefully. Repressing the sense of ridicule, I follow instructions to inhale its scent before popping it in my mouth. Then I feel it with my tongue before gingerly taking it between my teeth,...

Federal minister of health Maggie De Block is calling on home care associations to start trial projects that help new mothers and their babies stay in hospital for shorter periods and recover from the deliveries at home. The minister is also considering projects that organise such treatments as...

Following yesterday’s conviction of one its drivers by a Brussels police court, private taxi firm Uber has now come under scrutiny by the Belgian tax authorities and social inspection services, who have contacted the company’s headquarters in Amsterdam, requesting information on Uber drivers based...

The competitors in this year’s Queen Elisabeth Competition for violin have been allotted their places for the first round of the competition, which began yesterday in Flagey in Brussels. There are two Belgian violinists among the 62 competitors from 20 countries. Fien Van den Fonteyne from East...

A Saudi chemical waste treatment plant could be set up in the Port of Antwerp, at a cost of €3.7 billion and creating 900 jobs. Following a market study, the Port of Antwerp’s board stated its preference to engage in negotiations with the Saudi company, Energy Recovery Systems, with a view to...

Belgium is the 10th best country in the world to be a mother, according to an annual survey by the NGO Save the Children. Norway is the best country in the world to be a mother and Somalia is the worst, claims the organisation. The US, in 33rd place, came in well behind the Scandanvian countries...

Spring is now in full bloom and for a few short weeks parks, forests and terraces are bursting with colour and fragrance. As we edge into May, soon the petals will start to wilt and the full vibrancy of summer will take hold. But before then, it’s not too late to take advantage of the warm weekend...

Belgium has an urgent need for a legal framework for surrogate motherhood that protects the interests of the child, the surrogate and the prospective parents, according to Kind & Gezin, a Belgian agency representing the needs of the family and children. “Kind & Gezin is concerned that...