Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has described the situation in Lebanon and the crisis on the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon as an “open bazaar over strange things.”

When asked by As Safir daily to comment about the situation, Jumblat, who is currently in Brussels, said he prefers to stay away from Lebanese politics and its “absurdities.”

Belgium tobacco sales have soared to record heights this year as cheap cigarettes and tobacco lure discount-seeking smokers from Britain and France, the daily Le Soir said Saturday.

As health experts complained that Belgium's cheap tobacco goods fanned cancer, Le Soir, citing exclusive data from the country's finance ministry, said cigarette sales leapt 19 percent in the first nine months of the year though the national tobacco federation said domestic sales were sliding.

A joyrider who drove his Aston Martin nearly 300 kilometers per hour on a Belgian highway was found by police after posting a video of his high-speed adventure on YouTube, Belgian officials said Tuesday.

The images, which circulated throughout Belgian media, were filmed by a passenger who focused the camera on the speedometer that read 293 kilometers (182 miles per hour).

The search for the world's first malaria vaccine received a boost with the release of early results from a major clinical trial showing it cut risk by about half in African children.

The vaccine known as RTS,S is made by the British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline's lab in Belgium, and is the first of its kind to attempt to block a parasite, rather than bacteria or viruses.

Belgian bank KBC announced on Monday a deal to sell Luxembourg unit KBL to a Qatar investment group for 1.05 billion euros ($1.41 billion), finding a new buyer after a deal with India's Hinduja group fell through.

KBC group chief executive Jan Vanhevel said the sale will allow the Belgian bank to release capital, reduce its risk profile and further focus on its core markets in Belgian and Central and Eastern Europe.

Belgium's feuding Flemish and Walloons agreed Saturday on an institutional reform aimed at ending a crisis that has left the kingdom rudderless for 18 months and on the brink of collapse.

The deal will also provide some reassurance to the markets a day after ratings agency Moody's threatened to downgrade Belgium over its failing bank Dexia.

A controversial European Union bid to impose a tax on financial transactions is intended to make the finance sector pay something back after massive public sector bailouts in recent years.

Draft European Commission legislation endeavors to prevent companies from relocating outside the single market, as critics claim, or consumers from picking up the tab further down the line, as campaigners fear.

Belgian political parties trying to end a crisis that has left the country without a government for a world-record 468 days agreed Saturday on greater autonomy for the feuding regions during marathon talks.

"It's a giant step in the right direction," Charles Michel, head of the French-speaking Reformist Movement, said after the 18-hour meeting of the eight Flemish and francophone parties.

Australian beer giant Foster's has accepted an improved takeover worth Aus$9.9 billion (£6.5 billion) from British-based brewer SABMiller, the pair announced on Wednesday.

Foster's Group, whose leading lager brands include Corona and Foster's, had in August rejected a hostile bid of Aus$9.51 billion from SABMiller, which produces rival beers Grolsch and Miller Lite.

Thousands of Flemish nationalists marched Sunday under tight security on the outskirts of Brussels to stake their claim to a part of Belgium at the heart of the country's linguistic feud.

Amid a sea of yellow-and-black flags and balloons -- the colors of northern Dutch-speaking Flanders -- separatists clamored "Our country!" through the largely French-speaking streets of Lindebeek as police helicopters hovered ahead and 300 officers stood watch.