There’s a growing trend in some Brussels communes to have a group of volunteers attend the funeral of someone they don’t know, and sometimes even say a reading during the service. In the Brussels commune of Jette, the system of volunteer funeral guests has been around for two years, and in Woluwe-...

Staff from the Institute for Nature and Woodland Research out on the North Sea last week for a bird census spotted a basking shark near the Oosthinder sandbank, several kilometres off the coast of Bredene. “This is a rare sighting,” Jan Seys of the Flemish Maritime Institute told VRT. “In the last...

Belgian professor Jean-Pierre Kruth has won the 2015 Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science, one of the most prestigious science awards in the United States. Professor Kruth ( pictured ) leads a team in the University of Leuven’s mechanical engineering department, within the production...

Belgium is known as much for its music festivals as its beer and chocolate. This relatively small country famously hosts some of Europe’s biggest festivals. There’s Rock Werchter, Pukkelpop and Lokerse Feesten. Graspop, Tomorrowland and Couleur Café. Then there’s Ars Musica: another kind of...

Belgium has received a request to send ground troops to Iraq as well as instructors to train Iraqi soldiers, said Defence Minister Steven Vandeput. He added that the Belgian F-16 mission against the Islamic State in Iraq could be extended beyond the original deadline of December 31. "We're (the F-...

Eighteen-year-old Loïc Nottet will represent Belgium at the 60th Eurovision Song Contest next May in Vienna, public broadcaster RTBF reports. Nottet, from Charleroi, was a finalist in the popular Belgian television song contest The Voice six months ago. Despite losing in the final round, he was...

Rail services have returned to normal this morning in Linkebeek, just outside Brussels, after an accident yesterday in which 16 people suffered light injuries. The accident happened when a goods train collided with a passenger train travelling from Eigenbrakel to Aalst at about 13.30. No official...

The federal government has launched a new website aimed at getting residents to cut down on electricity consumption this winter. Belgium faces the threat of brownouts or blackouts this year during prolonged cold spells due to partial shutdowns at two nuclear power plants. The government is trying...

Belgium needs to do away with at least one of its four major banks, according to Luc Coene, Governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB). The Belgian banking sector is currently dominated by BNP Paribas Fortis, KBC, ING and Belfius. During a television interview with Channel Z, Coene said that...