Brussels’ Place Sainte-Catherine on Wednesday inaugurated 10 new terraces, putting an end to the “no man’s land” in front of the church, according to Brussels minister Marion Lemesre. Not everybody is pleased with the addition, however, including a campaign group set up on Facebook to protest...

Federal MP Nele Lijnen (Open VLD) plans to propose a bill banning the use of trans-fats in all foodstuffs in Belgium, following the US example. Trans-fats are unsaturated fats of animal or vegetable origin that have been partially hydrogenated – treated with hydrogen – to make them solid or semi-...

A plan by Flemish public transport authority De Lijn to scrap the night bus service between Anderlecht in Brussels and Brussels Airport in Zaventem is “a bad idea,” according to Paul Delva, fraction leader for CD&V in the Brussels parliament. Line 620 runs from Erasmus Hospital in Anderlecht...

The 60-year-old ‘mayonnaise law’ in Belgium is outdated and urgently needs updating, according to the country’s mayonnaise manufacturers. The law states that mayonnaise produced in Belgium must contain at least 80% fat and 7.5% egg yolk. These minimums do not apply to mayonnaise produced outside of...

Check out the young woman in the photo above. What is she doing? She is at the Gentse Feesten, so the possibilities are many. Is she drunk? Is she engaged in performance art? Has she has eaten too much fried food? Or is she just a typical tree-hugging hippie Gentenaar ? During the Gentse Feesten –...

After 35 years of making documentaries with a social conscience, Thierry Michel ’s work is uncompromising; it follows the harrowing yet inspiring work of the doctor who repairs women sexually abused in ongoing conflicts in DRC. The majority are raped by militias and soldiers who use sex as a weapon...

Caesarean sections are less clinical than in the past, with doctors now emphasising the importance of direct skin-to-skin contact between mother and child. The so-called ‘gentle’ caesarean (c-section), already a rising trend in neighbouring countries, is now increasingly common in Belgium, as well...

The federal and local police in Belgium reported a total of 956,297 criminal offenses last year, a decrease of 3.7% compared to 2013. Crime rates were highest in the Brussels-Capital Region and in Flanders, writes persinfo.org. Incidences of crime in Belgium have been steadily decreasing since 2011...

The Belgian sperm and egg cell banks face a shortage of donors, writes VRT Nieuws. The launch of the website levensdonoren.be one year ago, intended to attract more donors, appears to have had little effect. "There is still a serious shortage," confirms Professor Herman Tournaye of UZ Brussels’...

Never before have drivers in Belgium spent as much time in a traffic jam as in the first half of this year, according to mobility organisation Touring Mobilis’s new traffic barometer. The barometer shows that so far in 2015 there have been 607 hours of 100km or longer traffic jams on Belgian...