Prison sentences of ten months to twenty years were handed down on 30 suspects in the so-called ‘Syrian network’ trial in Brussels’ magistrates’ court on Wednesday. They are all suspected of having taken part in terrorist activities. The chief suspect Khalid Z. was sentenced to 12 years in prison...

Of 100 patients who filed a demand for euthanasia on the basis of unbearable psychological suffering between October 2007 and 2011, 35 died after euthanasia was carried out. That was shown by a study of six Belgian doctors and scientists, published in the British Medical Journal. It’s the first...

“I mentioned Bastogne and she clammed up,” says historian Martin King as he describes the painstaking process of encouraging Augusta Chiwy to recall the traumatic events of December 1944. The Antwerp-based British author had tracked down Chiwy to a care home in Brussels after hearing about her...

Nearly half of all drivers caught speeding on Belgian roads last year were foreigners, according to figures released to VTM Nieuws by the police. A total of 323,721 drivers were caught speeding in 2014, up 44% on the previous year’s figure which stood at 224,536. The reason for the surge is...

The head, legs and arms of Xhuliano B a 22-year-old ULB law student of Albanian origin, were found in two suitcases in a Dilbeek park following a search in the area on Monday. Xhuliano B’s torso was discovered in a sports bag on 9 June in a field on the border of Jette and Wemmel. The two chief...

Police in Saint-Gilles in Brussels have broken up a studio for the manufacture of false identity documents. The discovery was made when terrorism investigators from the federal judicial police went looking for a terrorism suspect. The man in question was not present at the address in Rue des...

A budget of €20 million has been earmarked for the development over three years of the pedestrian zone in the centre of Brussels. Beliris, the body which cooperates with the Brussels Capital Region and the federal level on the promotion of Brussels, gave its green light to the budgetary agreement...

Health minister Maggie De Block and Belgian pharmaceutical organisations Pharma.be and FeBelGen signed an agreement on Monday which will see an overall drop in the price of generic drugs for patients. Presented as a ‘win-win’ pact, the agreement foresees a raft of changes to the pharmaceutical...

Today, we’re long past the days when knitting was seen as purely the domain of wrinkled grannies in rocking chairs by the fire. But when Kaleidoscope first opened, knitting was just emerging from two decades of dark ages for the craft, fuelled by a fashion industry that declared yarn work decidedly...

According to a census launched in 2006, there are currently 426,939 declared firearms for 108,579 firearms’ holders in Belgium. The census was started following the entry into force of the Onkelinx law, which stipulates that a person in possession of a firearm must declare it. The provinces with...