Belgium’s foreign affairs department has announced it will shut down 18 embassies and consulates around the world in a round of heavy budget cuts, Belgian media report. To help meet the government-imposed savings of €30 million in the coming years, the department plans to do away with as many as 18...

Netlog, the Ghent-based social network that was at one point more popular with young people in Belgium than Facebook, is no longer operating. Owners Massive Media have pulled the site, and users are now directed to one of its other properties, Twoo.com. Netlog was first launched as Redbox, an early...

Amid weeks of protests, strikes and rebellion throughout the country, largely in response to the Michel I government’s unpopular austerity measures, here’s a look at the three greatest protests in Belgium’s long, proud history of revolt. Belgian revolution – 1830-1831 Perhaps the ultimate Belgian...

The Brussels-Capital Region has unveiled its new flag and logo. Gone is the stylised iris of gold on a blue background, in comes a golden heart blooming amid two blue petals. This week the Territorial Development committee of the Brussels Parliament approved a motion to change the flag to sport the...

In Belgium’s federal elections on May 25, half of the Brussels population voted blank or invalid, was not eligible to vote, or simply chose not to, according to research by geographer Filip De Maesschalck, which appeared in the political magazine Sampol . De Standaard wrote about the Sampol piece...

Only one in 20 Belgians are willing to work until the new proposed retirement age of 67. Willingness to work longer is linked to wage and flexible working conditions, according to a study by Trendhuis in which 4,000 Belgians took part. The study was commissioned by the European Social Fund Agency (...

Flemish nationalist party N-VA will receive €12.3 million annually up until the next election, making it the party in Belgium with the highest public funding. The grant, which is calculated according to the number of MPs elected to the federal and regional parliaments, represents the largest figure...

The incidence of cot death, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), in Belgium is five times less than 20 years ago, according to data on the leading causes of death published by the Agency for Care and Health. The statistics show that SIDS was the cause of death of 19 babies in 2012. "It will...

The best things in life are free, the song goes. It might not always be true, but it’s definitely a great way to approach gift-giving. This holiday season, talk of the imminent melting of the ice caps and hundreds of thousands of tonnes of plastic floating in the ocean has many people inspired to...

A new means of transport has arrived in Brussels: the electric tuk-tuk, a small, three-wheeled vehicle that is especially popular in Asia. The Brussels company Mobiloo introduced the new tuk-tuk to the European capital on Wednesday. With the motorised rickshaws, Mobiloo is offering an alternative...