The city of Aalst will step up security during the Carnival period to the highest ever level due to fears of a terrorist attack. The celebrations will be monitored by 350 police officers – 20% more than last year – along with 80 security cameras. “We have obviously increased security measures to...

About 3,500 people have applied for a job as air traffic controller at Belgocontrol in recent weeks, three times more than the company expected, according to brusselnieuws.be. Only 12 of the applicants will be selected to follow a two-year training course in September in order to become an traffic...

A 40-year-old Hell’s Angel from Genk, Limburg, has been sentenced to the maximum 30 years in prison for killing three members of the rival Outlaws gang in Maasmechelen in 2011. Ali Ipekci intends to appeal the sentence to the Cassation Court. The trial in Tongeren heard that Ipekci shot the three...

In 2014 there were about 600 Belgian phones tapped monthly on the orders of a magistrate, while four years ago there were about 450 phones tapped per month, reports La Dernière Heure . The increase is part of a bigger trend, but also partly due to the higher risk of terrorism linked to jihadism in...

Belgium’s suicide prevention hotline 1813 received a quarter more calls in 2014 compared with two years ago, reports VRT news. Recent advertising campaigns about the hotline could offer a partial explanation for the increase. The suicide prevention hotline 1813 last year answered 14,295 calls, an...

The American writer and publisher Dave Eggers, author of the best-selling novel The Circle , has been awarded the Amnesty International Chair at Ghent University (UGent). The chair is given to someone who has made exceptional efforts in the fight for human rights. Eggers will give a lecture on 17...

It’s Monday and Place Van Meenen is humming with visitors to its weekly market. I’m searching not for my shopping but for my interviewee, Denise de Souza Costa. We find each other among the stalls and look for somewhere quiet to chat. Denise knows a place on the corner facing the Saint-Gilles town...

When family and friends come to visit it's de rigeur to make a day-trip to stylish Antwerp, bustling Ghent or touristy Bruges. Maybe in summer you take a train to the coast to dip your toes in the North Sea or head south to take in the small city of Dinant. What's almost certain is that a trip to...

In less than a fortnight, towns all over Belgium will embark on their the time-honoured traditions of kicking off the Catholic church’s Lent period with a bang. Throughout Belgium, Carnival is celebrated in the days leading up to Ash Wednesday, which this year falls on February 18th and marks the...

On the eve of the national release of Jacques a vu , Xavier Diskeuve tells us about his first feature film. The l’Avenir journalist and satirical writer (Votez pour moi, Bel RTL) has previously directed four award-winning comedy shorts. Shot entirely in Diskeuve’s home province of Namur, Jacques a...