Belgian Premier Yves Leterme’s government collapsed after negotiations broke down to resolve a long-simmering dispute between Dutch- and French-speaking politicians over a bilingual voting district.

POLICE freed 56 Iranian monarchists after removing them from a plane at Brussels airport yesterday, ending a 15-hour protest by the group against the Tehran government.

Supporting proposals in neighbouring France to outlaw Islamic headscarves in public schools, Belgium’s Interior Minister Patrick Dewael said today he favoured imposing a similar ban in Belgium.

Twelve people died and dozens more were injured when a German bus en route to Paris swerved off the highway at the Belgian-French border early today and burst into flames.