e Yugoslavia

Bruges, Belgium  – The Grote Markt (”Big Market” square) was thronged with international tourists. In their midst were tour guides, easily spotted by the closed umbrellas, colourful flags and a bright red balloon that they held overhead. The guides were telling the tourists in Bruges, which in medieval times was the capital of the country [...]

Brussels – Former cycling world champion Tom Boonen faces a criminal investigation but no sports sanctions after testing positive for cocaine again, Belgian news reports said on Saturday.

Brussels – The European Commission on Thursday urged mobile phone companies to eliminate some 2 billion euros (2.7 billion dollars) in unnecessary costs to consumers by reducing the fees they charge them for making a call from another operator’s network. According to officials in Brussels, so-called “termination rates” should be based only on the real [...]

Brussels – NATO cares about ordinary Afghans and seeks to reduce the number of civilian casualties to as close as “zero” as possible, the alliance’s top military commander said Thursday. “We really care about civilian casualties, in the sense that we want them to be zero,” said Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, chairman of NATO’s Military [...]

Brussels – The European Commission on Wednesday responded to public anger about perceived managerial greed in the midst of recession by recommending curbs on company pay and bonuses. The European Union executive also issued tighter rules on the management of high-risk alternative investment funds, such as hedge funds.

Mexico City  – A Belgian businessman kidnapped a month ago in the Caribbean resort city of Cancun, Mexico, was freed by security forces.

Brussels  – Shares in fallen Belgian banking giant Fortis surged by over 40 per cent on Monday morning as investors gave an enthusiastic welcome to a sell-off deal agreed with French bank BNP Paribas over the weekend.

Brussels  – The Belgian government, the French bank BNP Paribas SA and Fortis, the Belgian-Dutch financial services company, agreed overnight to a plan for the divestment of Fortis’ Belgian financial units.

Vienna – The price for crude oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) rose further on Thursday, to 59.92 dollars, the oil cartel said Friday.

Brussels – Croatia has made good progress, but still has much to do in the fields of judicial reform and competition before it can start European Union membership talks next year, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Tuesday.