The atmosphere in Brussels is funereal. The Christmas lights are up but the pretty Christmas market stalls are all shut tight. The streets are almost empty and even the police sirens of the past week are silent.

Beer giant SABMiller turned up the heat in its takeover battle with rival Anheuser-Busch InBev as it said a sweetened bid from the Budweiser brewer "substantially undervalues" the business.

Badminton: Ireland endured a long and sobering second day at badminton’s European Mixed Team Championship in Leuven, Belgium yesterday, but one that ultimately ended with the team qualifying for today’s quarter-finals for the first time.

Ireland all but assured themselves of a place in the quarter-finals of badminton’s European Mixed Team Championships yesterday with a 3-2 defeat of hosts Belgium at the Sportoase arena in Leuven near Brussels.

The EU is investigating Belgium’s tax deals with multinational corporations, potentially dragging dozens more companies into widening probes of sweetheart fiscal pacts handed out by national governments.

Ask any student who has spent their Erasmus year in Leuven — they will tell you it’s a great city, and they had the time of their lives.

Christmas came early for Dace Zarina when she got word of her move to Leuven.

Belgian police have confirmed that the two bodies found at the scene of a fire in Leuven are those of two Irish students.

Newcastle 1 Club Brugge 0

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s biggest brewer, hasreported an unexpected decline in second-quarter volume and lower profit as sales fell in the US and Europe.

A torchlight march, ravioli and meatball dinners, rides in a funicular railway, A singalong and a dress-up casino evening were some of the things that made a fateful Swiss Alps trip “mega-cool” for 24 Belgian schoolchildren.

A tourist bus that slammed into a concrete wall in a Swiss Alps tunnel, killing 28 people, was not speeding, Swiss police have said.

Twenty-eight people, 22 of them children, were killed when a bus taking Belgian pupils back from a skiing holiday crashed in a Swiss tunnel, police said today.

The world's largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev, today said its net profit in the fourth quarter nearly doubled compared to the same period a year earlier thanks to strong global growth of its Budweiser and Stella Artois brands.

IRELAND and Australia fans were desperately trying to swap tickets ahead of the weekend’s Rugby World Cup quarterfinal matches, with internet forums and hostel message boards overflowing with listings for tickets.

THE death toll from a fierce storm that ripped tents, uprooted trees and flung multi-storey metal scaffolding towers and racks of concert lights across the grounds of a music festival in Belgium has risen to five, officials say.

British band Skunk Anansie’s lead singer Skin has told of the terrifying moment a fierce storm struck an open air music festival killing five people.

Belgians are celebrating a 'world record' as their political leaders reach crisis day 249 in their efforts to form a government.

THE Vatican yesterday protested to Belgium over raids carried out on Church offices and the home of a cardinal by investigators looking into sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests.

EVENTING Ireland Chairman John Wright hopes a root and branch analysis of the organisation will lead to a “slicker” operation.

Search teams today located one black box from the wreckage around two trains that crashed into each other near Brussels, killing 18 people and injuring over 170.

One train driver survived the head-on crash that killed at least 18 people outside of Brussels and will be questioned as soon as his serious injuries permit it, railway officials said today as the search resumed for more victims.

BELGIUM’S worst ever train crash claimed at least 18 victims after a commuter train appeared to run a stop light during morning rush hour and collided with another head-on.

At least 18 people are now thought to have died when two commuter trains collided head-on after one ran a stop light at rush-hour in a Brussels suburb.

Beer giant InBev today said the UK remained its most challenging market in western Europe, despite sales of Stella Artois recovering over the summer.

A Belgian scouting organisation may face a fine and a bill for causing a bomb scare this week at a railway in the city of Leuven where officials found a suspicious package marked “bomb 2”.

Beer giant InBev today said sales of its flagship beer Stella Artois have fallen sharply in the UK.

WOMEN from around the country are taking part in a pioneering study that could revolutionise breast cancer treatment.

FINDING a cure for cancer came two steps closer to reality last night with the publication of ground-breaking research, an Irish oncology expert said.

Rail officials believe that human error caused the fatal rail crash in Belgium.

A crowded train has slammed head on into an empty locomotive in central Belgium, leaving at least eight people dead.

Two trains have collided head-on in central Belgium, killing at least four passengers.