The gargantuan Congo Panorama, unveiled at the 1913 Ghent World Exhibition, might be the biggest painting ever made. But it was a lie, meant to show visitors that the Belgian colonisers were friendly and peaceful - as a new AfricaMuseum exhibition reveals: www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/1855...

✨ The new issue of @brusselstimes.com Magazine is out! From football revolutions to foreign-policy, surreal whodunnits to cemeteries, spies to wine, ultrarunners to Art Nouveau heroes, this small country contains big dramas. Read, roam and stay curious.

Where does Belgium fit in today’s chaotic world – and can it be heard amid the global cacophony? Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot tells me why Belgium still has a voice on Gaza, Trump, Ukraine and the EU. And reveals his go-to karaoke song: www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/1851...

Jimmy Cliff, 1944-2025: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrHx...

Happy Halloween! 🎃🦇🔪 www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjwQ...

Huge Home Office backlogs, seriously overcrowded accommodation, and increasingly polarised political debate has led to nationwide protests Hugo Gye, @leocendro.bsky.social, @dannyshaw.bsky.social and Ben Witham give their verdicts on how to fix the asylum crisis: trib.al/oNRdtBZ

We need more of these pics

The latest @BrusselsTimes.com Magazine is out now 🇧🇪🐾 Animals – wild, domestic, mythical – have always been part of the Belgian story. For this issue, we hear them bark, purr, moo and tweet. Cover art by @lectrr.bsky.social

Robert Redford, 1936-2025

In this chaotic and scary world, we need good news stories. Today, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was at the Port of Antwerp, with Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever. Noem was introduced to one of the port's Malinois dogs. The good news? The dog still lives.

The French Revolution perfected the art of swift political justice with the guillotine. The blade is parliamentary rather than steel, but France’s embattled PM Bayrou will feel it on Monday when he face a confidence vote in the National Assembly: inews.co.uk/news/world/f...

Until the next time, #Tirana

Rock on Ksamil beach in Albania looks like a face

Smoke from wildfire in Delvina, Albania rising behind Saranda. Corfu is on the left.

Smoke from wildfire in Delvina, Albania rising behind Saranda. Corfu is on the left.

Fires spread across the mountains near Saranda, Albania

Fascinated by the relief carvings - attributed to Renaissance sculptor Tullio Lombardo - around Saint Anthony’s tomb in Padua

Love the paving stones in Rovinj

Charming Ljubljana’s quirky architecture

Two years ago, Oppenheimer hit cinemas like an atomic blast. But did you know the man behind the Manhattan Project came to Brussels not once, but three times for the world’s most elite scientific gatherings? (Today is also 🇧🇪 national day) 🧵

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's husband was just freed after five years in jail, but Belarus’s leader-in-exile is still fighting inews.co.uk/news/world/p...

Trump has announced 30% tariffs on the EU. It may all be performative - claiming spurious grievances and declaring punishments in hopes of securing concessions - but the repercussions of this disruption could be massive: inews.co.uk/news/trump-s...

The new Superman movie is out this week, and this time, the Man of Steel is accompanied by #Krypto the #Superdog. He looks cheerful and fun. But what's dogging me is why he wears a cape. As any dog - or even Superdog - owner can tell you, capes are a terrible idea.

🚨 The King Baudouin Stadium in Heysel, home of Belgian football for almost a century, may have hosted its last ever game for the Red Devils It needs major repairs and may be torn down - with new sites already being considered Me with @dennisabbott.bsky.social: www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/1653...

The latest @BrusselsTimes.com Magazine is out now Our cover story is about Belgium’s firepower. The European Union may be a peace project, but it is now - reluctantly – rearming, with guns made in Belgium. Cover art by @lectrr.bsky.social

Le Creuset is seen as the quintessential French cookware, but its two creators were Belgian (and one was behind a lost Art Nouveau marvel): www.brusselstimes.com/art-culture/...

An opera diva's tomb, a solstice light trick, a funerary art museum, a Rodin Thinker: all this and more at the Laeken Cemetery: www.brusselstimes.com/magazine/163...

Apparently, this is not AI

These are angry times. Folks are out in the streets protesting. I found this sit-down demo completely blocking my way this morning. I think it’s Feathers 4 Justice.

Preview of the new Art Nouveau and Art Deco galleries, opening on Friday at the Art & History Museum in the Cinquantenaire in Brussels

How do you brand a new smartphone these days when everyone has one? Samsung’s latest, the Galaxy S25 Edge, is just 5.8mm thick. So they partnered with top chef Paul Delrez for a pop-up restaurant where all the food was also very thin (and delicious).

The Sun reaches peak gammon with its tale of how a British gran's dream holiday to Corfu became "the worst holiday I've ever been on" because her all-inclusive resort "didn't have any English food"

On the pitch at Union Saint-Gilloise after the team was crowned Belgian champions - for the first time in 90 years! 🇺🇦⚽️🏆 @rusg.bsky.social

Hergé's Quick and Flupke were the antithesis of the valiant, globetrotting detective, but the mischievous street kids were much closer to his Brussels heart: www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/1591...

Even in Brussels, Ursula Von der Leyen is seen 'Empress Europa', concentrating powers upwards into her hands. It may not be pretty, but it gets results, making the European Commission more effective than ever: inews.co.uk/news/politic...

Pope Leo is the first US pope. He is also a national of Peru, having obtained Peruvian citizenship after spending much of his career ministering in the country. Which means this is the second successive Latin American pope.

The next Now You See Me movie makes it to Antwerp. Having showcased Poland in A Real Pain, can Jesse Eisenberg do the same for Belgium's second city?

Brilliant account by @jonhenley.bsky.social of the true military surrender of Nazi Germany in Reims on May 7, 1945. Stalin refused to accept it, insisting the official surrender take place in Berlin on May 8 - the date we now commemorate. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

Somewhere in Belgium, there is a piece of engineering so gargantuan, so mind-bogglingly over-the-top, that it makes the Atomium look like a child’s sandcastle. Me on Belgium's boat lifts: www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/1554...

Our cover this week.

Europe has sent America's tech bros a warning - but it has plenty more cards to play inews.co.uk/news/world/e...

The latest @BrusselsTimes.com Magazine is out now! We’re looking at canals, arteries of commerce for centuries, still quietly conveying crate-laden barges across the country. They are also being repurposed for the modern era. Cover art by @lectrr.bsky.social

....says woman who was wrong about pretty much everything

....says woman who was wrong about pretty much everything

A Paris court has just found Marine le Pen guilty of fraud. Sentencing later and could be a 5 year ban on political office- ruling her out of 2027 presidential elections. Massive for France: she currently leads opinion polls. She'll appeal and claim it is a witch hunt - may seal her martyr status.

École Fondamentale No 13, Schaerbeek

Spray-Painted Penis Only Thing Holding Cybertruck Together

Newly-restored Art Deco town hall of Forest/Vorst, built between 1935 and 1938, architect Jean-Baptiste Dewin

"I still support our president" Says man whose wife was detained by ICE as they returned from honeymoon. MAGA is a cult - and I suspect we're going to see a lot more cognitive dissonance as the prophecy fails.