The consulting firm of Jean Schrurs and Dominique Huret is based in Braine l’Alleud, just outside Brussels, but its name refers to a place far off in Alaska. Cape Decision is the tip of Kuiu island, where a lighthouse has been providing guidance to passing ships since 1932. “Just like this beacon...

The City of Brussels will from now on remove graffiti from façades for free, the alderwoman in charge of public cleanliness Karine Lalieux said in a statement yesterday. In 2012 , nearly 4,000 pieces of graffiti were removed by the City. The new regulation on graffiti removal came into force on...

The number of marriages of convenience is decreasing in Belgium, reports Le Soir. The number of cases handled by the prosecution has dropped from 5,770 in 2011 to 4,711 in 2012, a decrease of nearly 25%, according to latest statistics supplied by the College of Attorneys-General. The Prosecutor-...

German mobile payments services provider Payleven has launched its chip and PIN technology in Belgium, The Paypers reports . The chip and PIN card reader connects via Bluetooth with the Payleven app on a smartphone or tablet and allows payments by debit or credit card to be accepted - no fixed...

Hercule Poirot is to test his famous grey cells once again in a “new” Agatha Christie novel – the first featuring the fictional Belgian detective since Christie’s death in 1976, writes the Independent’s Nick Clark . Christie is the latest author to be resurrected by their estate, following novels...

The ‘mysterious’ Orkney vole is likely to have originated from Belgium 5,100 years ago according to researchers, reports BBC News . The team of scientists - led by the University of Aberdeen and Cornell University in America - believe the subspecies of the European common vole was brought over by...

Train driver Dries Verhauwaert, 32, from Heule, West Flanders talks about what he earns and how he spends it What do you do for a living? I have been a train driver since October 2009. I carry out security checks and maintenance work on the trains, then of course I drive on several routes. I depart...

The federal minister for public enterprise , Jean-Pascal Labille, has called on the two bosses of Belgian railway operator SNCB, Jannie Haek and Marc Descheemaecker to waive their contractual severance pay, seeing as they both found other positions in the public sector. "I expect loyalty and ethics...

Flemish minister for mobility Hilde Crevits yesterday inaugurated a rush hour lane on the E40 between Sterrebeek and Heverlee. The rush hour-only stretch is 7km long and is expected to improve the flow of the traffic between Brussels and Louvain in the early evening. A recent study conducted by the...

There were 2,103 children aged 6 to 12 years involved in traffic accidents in Belgium in 2012, Flemish broadcaster VTM announced last night, citing figures from the Belgian Institute for Road Safety (IBSR). Of these 2,103 children, 532 were cycling, 463 were and on foot and 959 were car passengers...