Belgium News in English - Expat Guide to Belgium

February 19, 2019

EU official sentenced for rape of junior colleague

A senior EU official has been sentenced to four years for the rape of a junior colleague in 2015 on European Commission premises in Brussels, a court official said Tuesday. The official, an Estonian born in 1967 holding the rank…

February 18, 2019

Belgian Jewish museum trial interrupted as juror questioned

The trial of a Frenchman accused of shooting dead four people at the Jewish museum of Belgium was briefly interrupted on Monday as police were summoned to question a juror. “We cannot start the closing arguments under these conditions,” judge…

February 15, 2019

Kampala expels boss of MTN’s Uganda arm, citing ‘national security’

Kampala has deported the Belgian CEO of the Ugandan branch of MTN on security grounds, in the fourth such expulsion targeting the South African telecoms giant within a month. Police spokesman Fred Enanga said MTN’s Wim Vanhelleputte had been deported…

February 15, 2019

Uganda deports MTN chief over ‘national security’

Uganda has deported the Belgian head of South African telecoms giant MTN’s local branch, the company said Friday, making him the fourth employee to be kicked out of the country this year. Police spokesman Fred Enanga said that MTN Uganda’s…

February 13, 2019

National strike brings Belgium to standstill

Belgium slowed to a standstill on Wednesday as a national strike closed airports, shuttered businesses and caused major disruption to railways. The strike, called by three unions, severely disrupted the country’s public transport, particularly in Brussels, where a meeting of…

February 12, 2019

No flights to or from Belgium due to strike on Wednesday

Belgian airspace was to be closed to all flights below 8,000 metres on Wednesday as a national strike threatened to bring the European country to a standstill. With “no certainty” on how many controllers would be following the strike movement,…

February 8, 2019

Strike forces Brussels Airlines to cancel flights Wednesday

Belgium’s biggest carrier Brussels Airlines said it had cancelled all of its flights out of the Belgian capital on Wednesday due to a national strike. Brussels Airlines is “eliminating its entire 222-flight schedule. The travel itineraries of more than 16,000…

February 7, 2019

Alleged Brussels museum killer was ‘sadistic’ Syria jailer

Two French journalists on Thursday told a terrorism trial in Brussels that they had “no doubt” the accused Jewish museum killer is the man who imprisoned and tortured them in Syria. The former hostages came to Brussels to testify against…

February 7, 2019

Reporters tell trial alleged Brussels museum killer held them hostage

Two French journalists on Thursday told a terror trial in Brussels that Mehdi Nemmouche, the main defendant in the May 2014 Jewish museum murders, had imprisoned and tortured them in Syria. The journalists who were freed in April 2014 came…