The winter season has officially opened for the homeless in Brussels, following delays caused by the lack of official signatures. The winter regime for the homeless should have started at the end of last week, but the necessary legal papers remained unsigned by the social aid agency CPAS of...

Flemish transport minister Hilde Crevits has approved a €270,000 budget to continue the programme that sees road accident victims giving talks to secondary school students. The two-year project Getuigen Onderweg (Witnesses on the Road) was launched by the Flemish victims’ assistance organisation...

Brussels social education centre Citizenne has been awarded this year’s Flemish Culture Prize in the category of social-cultural work with adults, culture minister Joke Schauvliege announced. Citizenne is part of a network of Vormingplus centres across Flanders that help residents develop new...

The University of Leuven (KU Leuven) board has approved two new studies requiring tests on rhesus macaque monkeys. The experiments will take place between 2014 and 2017 and are financed by the independent agency Science Research Fund (FWO) for a total of €793,500. The experiments on the macaques’...

Louis Michel, a member of the European Parliament and former EU commissioner, has denied any knowledge of more than 150 amendments proposed to an EU privacy law in his name. Yesterday a member of Michel's office resigned amid rumours the man had filed the proposed amendments in Michel's name in an...

The commercial tribunal of Antwerp has announced the bankruptcy of Free Record Shop (FRS), at the company’s request. FRS has subsidiaries in Luxembourg and the Netherlands, which are not affected by the bankruptcy. In Belgium, the CD and games retailer employs 230 people in 68 stores. Earlier this...

The European Parliament has approved a €50 million package of support measures for Ford Genk, as part of the 2014-2020 budget. The money will go to a reconversion of the Ford site as part of the SALK relaunch plan set up by the government of Flanders to help the province of Limburg recover from the...

Research at the University of Antwerp shows that one in 20 students at the school uses psychostimulant drugs such as Ritalin or Concerta, often without a prescription, to improve exam results. The study is part of a large-scale research project by universities in Antwerp, Ghent and Leuven. The...

Three years before it is due to open, the shopping and leisure centre Uplace in Machelen, which borders Brussels, has already let 40% of its 32,000 square metres of shopping space, the company said. “The question is no longer whether Uplace will open,” CEO Jan Van Lancker said. “We are ready, and...