Electricity costs to rise in Flanders and fall in Brussels

19/12/2014 • 12:32

The Flemish Electricity and Gas Market Regulator VREG says that from next month electricity bills in Flanders will rise by an average of 8.4%. Meanwhile, VREG’s counterpart in the Brussels Capital Region Brugel says that consumers in Brussels can expect to pay 6% less for their electricity from the beginning of next year.

Budget approved after marathon session

19/12/2014 • 16:45

Farmers protest against cut-price meat

19/12/2014 • 16:38

Brussels North Station to keep its star

19/12/2014 • 14:32

Just two royal pardons in 2014

19/12/2014 • 12:00

King Filip has granted just two royal pardons so far this year. The number of royal pardons has never been lower. Although it is the King that grants royal pardons, he does this at the behest of the Ministry of Justice.

Schoenaerts stars alongside Winslett

19/12/2014 • 11:29

The Flemish actor Matthias Schoenaerts has won his fair share of international acclaim for his roles in films such as ‘The Loft’, 'Blood Ties' and 'Suite Française'. Now fans can see the Antwerp-born actor play alongside the English actress Kate Winslet in a new romantic drama 'A Little Chaos'.

19/12Embassies and consulates set to close

19/12Brussels North Station to keep its star

19/12Farmers protest in Brussels

19/12Electricity costs to rise in Flanders and fall in Brussels

19/12Just two royal pardons in 2014

21/11Belgium welcomes first snow as winter starts early

Embassies and consulates set to close

19/12/2014 • 10:57

The Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders (Francophone liberal) has published a list of which embassies and consulates as set to close as part of the government’s cost-cutting and restructuring measures.

Farmers protest in Brussels

19/12/2014 • 10:17

More than a thousand farmers from home and abroad have gathered at the Schumanplein in Brussels’ European district to protest about cuts and free trade agreements.

Bomb alarm at Brussels courthouse

19/12/2014 • 13:16

The courthouse in Brussels has been evacuated due to a bomb alert. Police received an anonymous telephone call stating that a bomb was set to go off in the courthouse.

Videozone

A Year in the Life of King Filip

18/12/2014 • 10:19

For the past year VRT’s royal correspondent Pascale Mertens has been working on a special, revealing report about the new King of the Belgians. Pascale and her team gained unprecedented access to the king, his family and his work environment. The result is the following report that is published here in English for a first time.

Monthly flights to expel criminal illegals

18/12/2014 • 10:38

Theo Francken, Belgium's Asylum and Migration Secretary, has told the daily Het Laatste Nieuws that he would like to see a charter flight with criminals who are staying in Belgium illegally leave the country each and every month: "Organising special flights is cheaper and more efficient than having them expelled on regular flights."

Belgian Ford factory closes

18/12/2014 • Update 12:45

The last Ford car will leave the Ford assembly plant in Genk (eastern Belgium) today. The last vehicle rolled off the assembly line on Wednesday. To mark the closure of the factory sirens will sound at 12:30pm as local church bells ring out.

Three come forward after beggar is battered to death

18/12/2014 • 11:31

Three young men who assaulted a beggar on the Anspachlaan in central Brussels on 6 December have turned themselves in to the police. The assaulted man later died of his injuries.

Fight to stop McDonald's in Bruges still undecided

18/12/2014 • 14:41

A new outlet of the American fast-food giant McDonald's opened in the western city of Bruges on Wednesday. The eaterie is controversial as the city of Bruges would prefer not to see any fast-food joints on its main shopping street.

Ford Genk: a history in images

18/12/2014 • 15:49

18/12/14 - It was in October 1962 that work first started on the Ford plant in Genk. At its height 14,000 people worked here but by the noughties the industry was facing massive overcapacity and in 2012 the company announced the closure of its last remaining Belgian plant.