Federal home affairs minister Jan Jambon (N-VA) has announced plans to confiscate passports from Belgians who join rebel forces fighting in Syria, taking away their Belgian nationalities. Jambon also wants to draw up a list of radicalised Jihadist fighters wanted by national and international...

Belgium is the guest of honour at this year’s Christmas market in Strasbourg, which starts on Friday. The Strasbourg Christmas market, one of the largest and oldest in France (dating back to 1570), attracts about 2 million visitors each year. The massive market features nearly 300 chalets spread...

Belfius Bank has expanded its range of mobile banking apps with Belfius Direct Wear, a new app for Android smartwatches, computerized wristwatches that can relay information from smartphones. As many as 12,000 smartwatches were sold in Belgium in the first nine months of 2014, according to market...

The Antwerp company neoScores has been chosen as the second-most promising start-up in the world by the jury of the prestigious Start-up Nations Summit, which took place this week in Seoul. The jury included high-profile representatives of technology giants such as Samsung, Huawei and Foxconn. The...

The Belgian chip shop culture is on its way to being recognised by Unesco. The three language communities in Belgium have submitted a joint application to the United Nations heritage organisation to have the long-standing Belgian tradition of eating at the chip shop recognised as world heritage...

The City of Brussels will not be organising its traditional New Year's Eve fireworks this year at Mont des Arts/Kunstberg, writes brusselnieuws.be based on a report from RTBF and confirmed by the City Council. The fireworks will be replaced by an alternative pyrotechnic show at De Brouckère. The...

The Flemish Parliament has a higher percentage of female MPs than any other regional or federal parliament in Europe, according to a report commissioned by parliament speaker Jan Peumans. The report shows that 44.4% of members of Flanders’ parliament are women, which puts the region’s assembly just...

Unesco, the United Nations body in charge of safeguarding and promoting cultural heritage worldwide, yesterday recognised Belgium’s carillon culture as intangible cultural heritage, announced the Wallonia-Brussels Federation and the culture ministers from the Flemish and French Communities, Sven...

Cancer was listed as the cause of death in one in four cases in Belgium in 2011, responsible for taking the lives of 27,639 people, or more than a quarter (26.5%) of the deaths in the country, according to the latest figures from Eurostat. Lung cancer was the most common form of cancer among the...

Lieselot Decroix, pro cyclist on the women’s Lotto Belisol team and a biomedical scientist, will head a new chair at the Free University of Brussels (VUB). The Lotto Science Chair will focus on the recuperation of cyclists and the influence of exertion on the brain. The chair will also serve as...