You can compare the Tour de France with a tennis Grand Slam, to the World Cup in football. Whoever wins gets a prestigious place of honour in the list of winners and enjoy eternal fame. And yes, the Tour winner also gets a nice present financially. Whoever is standing on the highest winners...

Tens of thousands of Belgian firefighters do not have adequate protective clothing, according to a report by the Belga news agency. While there is no shortage of equipment for cleaning duties, as many as 17,500 firefighters – including 12,500 volunteers – lack the proper gear for maximum protection...

Federal minister for work and consumer affairs Kris Peeters and CD&V party president Wouter Beke have revealed that they have received death threats in recent months. The announcements followed news that Theo Francken, federal minister for asylum and migration, recently received a death threat...

One out of six self-employed people in Belgium takes home an average monthly net salary of €833, well below the poverty level, according to statistics from the SNI trade union. The problem is more widespread than previously thought, according to SNI president, Christine Mattheeuws. “Given that the...

Contrary to popular belief, fewer than 1% of French nationals living in Belgium avoid paying French taxes, La Libre Belqique has found. A study commissioned last year by the French Consulate in Brussels found that around 1,000 individuals – or less than 1% of registered French nationals living in...

Mobile phone operators have increased their capacity in and around the Pukkelpop festival grounds to allow festival-goers to communicate with home in the event of an emergency. Four years ago, a heavy storm led to the deaths of five people at the festival, when stage equipment and tents collapsed...

When this childless writer wanted to write on the best playgrounds in Brussels, she went right to the source. Heike Kelman, age five, of Forest shared her top picks of the finest jungle gyms, sand pits and, above all, slides in Brussels. 1. Georges Henri Park Heike’s top spot goes to the playground...

Belgium’s fame as a paradise for chocolate lovers is largely thanks to the praline, invented by Jean Neuhaus. This famous Belgian rivals Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone, and cartographer Gerardus Mercator, whose maps first took into account the fact that the world is round. But several...

The number of 50+ workers is increasing in Belgium, according to new federal statistics cited by De Standaard . In the first quarter of this year alone, there were about 1,276,000 workers in the 50-and-over age group, compared to 1,109,000 during the first quarter of 2011. The increase is...

There are many mysteries surrounding the tiny bronze Manneken Pis statue that has such a symbolic value for Belgium. One question that troubles scientists is whether the sculpture currently showcased as the original in Brussels’ city museum Broodhuis is in fact the authentic one. The Free...