Secretary of State for Social fraud, Privacy and the North Sea, Philippe De Backer, has announced a plan to extend the new flexi-job status to retirees who want to work part time in the hospitality industry. This project started in late 2015 and refers to part-time work in hotels, bars and restaurants in addition to […]

Drivers have been advised to be extra-vigilant on the roads in the coming days as overnight temperatures fall below freezing across a large part of Belgium. Ice, mist and fog are likely on country roads on Thursday morning, especially in the south, where daytime temperatures are not forecast to get above 4°C, according to official […]

The White House has confirmed that Mike Pence will visit Brussels on the 20th of February. Pence will first visit Munich, where he will participate in an international security conference. After that he will travel to Belgium to have meetings with representatives of the federal government, the European Union and Nato. These meetings will be […]

The deepest swimming pool Brussels has opened an underwater restaurant – serving lobster, caviar and champagne from €99 per person. The Pearl, at Nemo 33 in Uccle, is a four-cubic-metre sphere, five metres below the water surface. It took a year to research, build and test. “It’s a kind of cocoon where you can chat […]

Personalised number plates for vehicles were introduced in Belgium in 2014 and have already brought in €15.3 million of income. 12,956 personalised Belgian plates are now in circulation – new figures released by mobility minister François Bellot. When they launched three years ago, personalised plates cost €1,000. Since December 2015 their price has doubled to […]

Professor of international economics at KU Leuven Hylke Vandenbussche carried out simulations of what will happen if the new US president Donald Trump follows through with his campaigning promises to raise import tariffs. According to the results of this investigation between 1,200 and 5,000 jobs in Belgium could be at risk. The US currently applies […]

“Intelligent rubbish bins” that send out a message when they need emptying are very popular and useful in Brussels’ pedestrian zone. This fact prompting the city council to invest in more of them. 18 of the solar-powered bins were installed in the city centre in November 2015. Each bin uses the photovoltaic energy to compress […]

To rent out a room, appartments or other property via the online booking site Airbnb renters will have to pay the equivalent of the tax applied to hotels starting on 1 February. It was announced by Brussels minister-president Rudi Vervoort. Up to now, municipalities have applied the hotel tax at varying rates and using different […]

About 30 ski resorts are open in the south of the country this week. Heavy snowfall and widespread freezing that took place in recent days in Belgium made their contribution into opening cross-country and downhill ski routes in the provinces of Liège, Luxembourg, Hainaut and Namur. Some 18 ski resorts for cross-country and downhill skiing […]