Carla Dejonghe, a member of the Brussels Parliament, is to spend the next month living on no more than €180. Dejonghe says the idea came to her after a discussion with Thérèse Van Belle, this year's Miss Homeless. According to her, all that remains from the social security benefits she receives,...

Flanders’ minister-president Kris Peeters held his first official meeting yesterday with the new United States ambassador to Belgium, Denise Bauer. They met at the cabinet office of the minister-president on Martelaarsplein in central Brussels. Bauer was appointed by US President Barack Obama in...

A selection of 57 tourism projects will receive government financing of €8.8 million, Flemish tourism minister Geert Bourgeois and Toerisme Vlaanderen announced. More than 130 applications for funding were received for three “impulse programmes” – Flemish Coast, Flemish Regions and Flemish Art...

The federal Privacy Commission is starting a series of lessons to teach primary school students how to surf safely on the internet. Youngsters learn that they should always think twice before sharing personal data, like their address or GSM number. Although social media such as Facebook are...

From every €100 donated to the Haiyan 21-21 consortium made up of NGOs Caritas International, Handicap International, Oxfam Solidarity, Unicef Belgium and Doctors of the World, €87 goes to aid requirements on the ground, according to consortium chairman Erik Todts. De Standaard newspaper checked...

The Red Star Line Museum is an exciting, multi-layered project. As a cultural and heritage landmark, it breathes new life into the shipping company’s original warehouses overlooking the Scheldt in Antwerp. By presenting the story of the Star boats, as they were known in Antwerp dialect, it...

The Belgian first aid and support team B-Fast has arrived in Tacloban in the Philippines, one of the areas hardest hit by typhoon Haiyan, and been reunited with its material. The 30-strong team originally arrived in the area without materials, which had to be transferred to a freight ship after the...

The ports of Zeebrugge and Antwerp have signed a memorandum of understanding with the port authority of Singapore to harmonise procedures for the provision of liquid natural gas (LNG) as a fuel for ships. The ports said the choice of LNG was made because of new tougher sulphur emissions standards...

The education system can play an important role in dealing with child poverty, but it needs help from the government. That is the message of a press statement issued yesterday by the Flemish Education Council (Vlor). Vlor recommends increasing the school subsidies for parents with low incomes and...

About one-quarter of the squatters last week evicted from the Gesú convent in Saint-Josse in Brussels – some 50 people from a total of nearly 200 – are expected later this week to move into new temporary accommodation offered by the Brussels region, housing minister Christos Doulkeridis said. The...