BNP Paribas Fortis and telecom operator Belgacom are set to jointly launch a mobile wallet in Belgium, reports The Paypers . The mobile wallet will integrate mobile payments, virtual ticketing, e-couponing and loyalty programmes. The pilot is planned for the end of the year with full rollout from...

Belgium’s capacity to generate nuclear power will be halved by the end of this month as the Tihange-1 reactor is shut down, writes Bloomberg’s Patrick Henry , quoting a report from today’s L’Echo. Tihange-1 will be closed from March 30 to May 21 for maintenance, and the shutdown won’t affect...

Developmental psychologist Julyata Shibru manages Retrak ’s drop-in centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which reintegrates street children with their families, educates them and organises vocational training to help them fulfil their potential. She explains what the centre does and how donations to...

Minister for economy Johan Vande Lanotte and employment minister Monica De Coninck will lodge an official complaint to the European Commission against the German authorities in order to stop social dumping in the country, Le Soir and De Morgen report today. This unfair competition leads Belgian...

The new tax amnesty plan featured in the federal government’s 2013 budget will allow corporate fraudsters to regularise their black money, but legal uncertainties in the draft proposal could result in many reconsidering their decision to come clean. One of the novelties of this plan is that, for...

Physical and verbal attacks on train conductors are decreasing, La Libre Belgique reports today. A total of 1,178 attacks were recorded last year, compared to 1,230 in 2011. The 2010 figures, however, were slightly better, with 1,084 attacks. The majority (70%) of physical or verbal violence stems...

Train World, the vintage train museum due to open next year in Brussels’ Schaerbeek station, is faced with an unexpected problem: there are too many trains, writes the Wall Street Journal’s Frances Robinson . Belgium built continental Europe’s first railway line in 1835 and still has the world’s...

Pukkelpop has announced this year’s line-up, with Eminem, Nine Inch Nails, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, The Prodigy and The xx as headliners. The festival will take place from August 15 to 17 in Kiewit, near Hasselt. Franz Ferdinand, Boys Noize, Slayer, Bat for Lashes and The Deftones are also among...

A shake-up of Belgian diplomatic posts is under way, foreign minister Didier Reynders confirmed to Le Soir. The reform is borne out of economic necessity and sees some embassies and consulates close, some open and others merge with their Dutch counterparts. Among the most high-profile new permanent...