It’s official: Laura Groeseneken, an experienced musician and singer from Leuven, will represent Belgium at the Eurovision Song Contest next year in Lisbon. Flemish public broadcaster VRT chose Groeseneken, though the singer had never put her name forward as a candidate. “I was totally surprised because I thought you had to apply to be considered,” […]

On Wednesday workers in Parvis de Saint-Gilles have found two complete skeletons, believed to be 300 years old. They were digging holes to plant trees in front of the Brasserie Verschueren and found the bones 1 metre below. A team of archaeologists from Brussels city heritage department was dispatched to the site and excavated the […]

According to figures released by the Federal Public Service (FPS) Economy, the average salary of a full-time worker in Belgium was €3,445 brut a month in 2015. In 2014 the average salary was €3,414. The figures also show that half of the country’s workers earned more than €3,095 and 10% earned at least €5,308 before […]

Consumer organisation Test-Achats has threatened to take legal action against low-cost airline Ryanair due to its decision to cancel a number of flights out of Brussels and Charleroi airports between now and the end of October. The Irish airline claims that the cancellations of 40 to 50 flights per day – are being made to […]

The Monnaie shopping centre in downtown Brussels will reopen its doors in the second half of October, after two years of building works, owners have announced. Renamed “The Mint”, the three-level complex will house 20 stores including Decathlon, Uniqlo, Kiabi and Flying Tiger. The 15,000m² complex replaces the ageing shopping arcades which dated back to […]

Next year Brussels commune Uccle will get a free coding school for 450 students of 18- to 30-year-olds, backed by French internet tycoon Xavier Niel. Niel, who founded one of France’s biggest internet service providers, Free, began offering coding lessons in Paris in 2013 and is now expanding his operation to Belgium. Ecole 19 will […]

Flemish government has produced a new magazine and website aimed at expats, which describes the benefits of living, studying and working in the capital. Bruzine.be is available in English, Dutch and French. There will be just one issue of the printed magazine, but the website will be updated regularly, said Sven Gatz, Flemish minister for […]

Renovation of City 2 shopping centre in central Brussels will start next week. Management of shopping centre told that the renovation will not effect customer sevice. The complex on Rue Neuve, which turns 40 next year, will remain fully open during the works, which will be limited mostly to night-times and Sundays. Floors and ceilings […]

Belgium is going to conclude an agreement with the United States that will allow US Customs and Border Protection to check all passengers in Brussels Airport with a direct flight to the US. It was announced by Didier Reynders, foreign affairs minister. The officials will carry out ‘preclearance’ checks at Brussels Airport in order to […]

A new car-sharing lane will be tested out on the E411 motorway into Brussels, reserved for vehicles with at least three people on board. The pilot scheme will allow car-pool drivers to avoid traffic by using the existing bus and taxi lane instead. A similar test zone will be set up in the other direction […]