Citizens, companies and government departments now have easy access to all available geographical data on Flanders and Brussels via the portal site Geopunt.be. The online application was presented yesterday during a meeting of the Flemish Geographical Information Agency in Ghent. On the site, you...

A tax paid by every household in Flanders for the maintenance and renovation of the sewer network was used by municipalities for its intended purpose, the Association of Flemish Towns and Municipalities has said. The association was responding to a report from the Flemish Environment Agency (VMM),...

Belgium’s food banks have issued an urgent appeal for donations, as some locations are now having to turn people away because of a shortage of provisions. At Moeders voor Moeders (MvM) in Antwerp, the organisation best known for its work with foundlings, are at this point only catering to those...

The Maison Autrique, built in 1893, was one of architect Victor Horta’s first major commissions and this alone makes the fully restored house worth the visit. The temporary exhibition Shadows & Lanterns (until January 26) is an added bonus, enhancing the fin-de-siècle flavour of the place. With...

The low-cost airline Ryanair will begin flights out of Brussels Airport from February, with 10 new destinations, the company announced at a press conference yesterday in Brussels. Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said Brussels would be the airline’s second hub in Belgium after Charleroi and promised the...

A proposal to extend the right to euthanasia to minors passed by a vote of 26 to 8 yesterday in the Senate committee on justice and social affairs. The measure received broad cross-party support, although CD&V and its French-speaking counterpart cdh voted against, together with Vlaams Belang...

Flanders’ minister of public works, Hilde Crevits, has told a conference on super storms that three artificial sandbanks might be built to protect the Belgian coastline between Zeebrugge and the Dutch border. The last of the sandbanks would extend into Dutch coastal waters off the town of Cadzand...

The Hippodrome of Boitsfort is set for a new lease of life, after 15 years of abandon, concession holders VO Group said. The Hippodrome was a popular racecourse from 1875, the only one in the Brussels region and another of the innovations of Leopold II, a fan of horse-racing. However like its...

SamuSocial, the Brussels service for the homeless, has started turning away families looking for accommodation, arguing that the additional capacity laid on for the winter period has been fully taken up by former squatters from the Gesú convent. SamuSocial has space for 450 people, but only a...

Johan Leeman, 45, from Leuven, talks about what he earns and how he spends it What is your job? I keep a bed & breakfast, De Waterlies in the Redingenstraat in Leuven. I'd always dreamed of having a B&B. Five years ago I came across this modern Art Deco house from 1935, and I was sold. Two...