With only 11 million inhabitants, Belgium made history in the summer of 2018 by reaching the semifinals of the World Cup in Russia. Despite the defeat against France, its inhabitants received the footballers as if they were true heroes, with a great celebration in Brussels' Grand-Place. One of the most acclaimed was Robert Martínez from Balaguer, their coach. He took office in August 2016, intending to leave after two years. But with the success in the World Cup, which catapulted the country to number 1 in the FIFA rankings, he reconsidered. Aware that the golden generation of players (Courtois, Hazard, Lukaku, De Bruyne, and company) had an expiration date, he became determined to build a legacy that went beyond titles, to prepare Belgian football to sustain its miracle in the future.

Neither Donald Trump's calls nor FIFA's favors have served much. The United States' journey in their World Cup has ended in the round of 16 after deservedly falling to Belgium, who will be Spain's opponent in the quarterfinals. will be Spain's opponent in the quarterfinals. Mauricio Pochettino's team played its worst match at the least opportune moment, likely distracted by all the noise caused by the scandal surrounding Folarin Balogun, the local forward sent off against Bosnia who was pardoned after pressure from the White House. An unprecedented event, where the president of a government boasts about having pulled strings so an expelled player can play the next match. But Balogun, likely overwhelmed by everything that had happened in the previous 24 hours, did very little on the pitch and the Belgian red devils ran over the hosts (1-4).

Donald Trump reportedly called FIFA President Gianni Infantino personally to demand that Folarin Balogun be allowed to play tomorrow against Belgium, according to reports from The New York Times. Balogun, the United States' top scorer in this tournament, was sent off in the round of 16 match against Bosnia after inadvertently stepping on an opponent. In recent days, members of the United States government had complained about this incident, and today, surprisingly, FIFA announced that Balogun will be able to play in the round of 16 against Belgium. According to The New York Times, Trump reportedly called Infantino personally last Wednesday to discuss this matter.

Wednesday's round of 32 of the World Cup saw three new qualifiers for the round of 16. England came from behind against the Democratic Republic of Congo (2-1), Belgium staged an epic comeback against Senegal (3-2 after extra time), and the United States defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina (2-0) despite playing half an hour with one player less.

At least five people have died this Wednesday and sixteen more have been injured in a fire in an apartment building in the city of Antwerp, Belgium. According to the Belgian police, more than 200 people lived in the building, which has now been evacuated, although it is not known how many people were inside at the time the fire broke out. The mayor, Els Van Doesburg, specified that the lives of none of the injured are in danger. The local fire department received the alert at 9:53 a.m., reporting a fire of "high intensity" in a ten-story apartment building located in the Linkeroever neighborhood.

A passenger train collided this Tuesday morning with a school minibus at a level crossing in the Flemish town of Buggenhout, Belgium, causing four deaths, as confirmed by the Belgian Minister of Transport, Jean-Luc Crucke. Seven secondary school students, a chaperone, and the driver were traveling in the school vehicle, heading to a special education school, according to the Belgian newspaper "HLN". The fatalities are the two adults and two of the adolescents.

It's a Saturday, the sky is clear, and it's already 9 a.m. On the seafront in the town of Oostduinkerke (Flanders, Belgium), fishermen Bruno Mertens and Marius Dugardein hitch their carts to their horses—a powerful, high harness that will take them out into the North Sea. From September to December, they start early because that's when the tide is low, and the horses wade in until the water covers half their bodies; only their heads and rumps stay dry. Two hours later, at 11 a.m., the tide will begin to rise, and the fishermen will pack up their gear and catch and head home. "Always on a Saturday, because that's when people can come and watch us. We put on public demonstrations for everyone, and the little ones have a great time watching," explains Bruno.

Dozens of trucks loaded with brand-new contraceptives are waiting in warehouses—one of them in Belgium—to be incinerated. These are implants, IUDs, and birth control pills that the US administration had purchased through the USAID program, the US Agency for International Development, and were destined for countries in the Global South. But now the Donald Trump administration has decided to destroy them, a US government spokesperson confirmed to the newspaper The Guardian at the end of July.

Brussels is the only part of Belgium that is officially bilingual, and it has two distinct educational systems in the same city: French-speaking and Flemish-speaking. Studying in one educational system or the other doesn't vary much in terms of teaching methods, but the dominant language is obviously decisive, as strict language immersion is the norm. In fact, teacher Núria Borràs asserts that "more importance is placed on languages" than in our country—in both French and Flemish, as well as English—and emphasizes that "there is even still a strong tradition of studying Greek or Classical Latin."

The Majorcan rapper Valtònyc was happy and also emotional as he left Ghent's Court of Appeal of Ghent this Tuesday after a very short hearing. The Belgian court again rejected his extradition to Spain, as the Spanish High Court has demanded for the last four years. The court had to examine his case for the second time, after the Brussels Court of Cassation upheld in part the appeal by the Spanish Prosecutor's Office. And that is why Valtònyc had to stand trial again in Ghent, this time by a different set of judges. The court only heard the case for insults against the Crown. Being a reconfirmation of a previous sentence, everything indicates it should be final. Nevertheless, the Belgian Prosecutor's Office can still appeal again in cassation, and that is why the musician has struggled to hold back tears during his statements to the press.

The last instance of the Belgian judicial system will decide on Tuesday, January 18 on the extradition of the Majorcan rapper Josep Miquel Arenas, alias Valtònyc, to Spain. The Court of Cassation in Brussels has therefore delayed the decision on the rapper, who is wanted by Spain for glorification of terrorism, insults to the Crown and threats, for another week. The Ghent Court of Appeal had already overturned the European arrest warrant at the end of December, but the Belgian prosecutor's office, on behalf of the Spanish one, decided to appeal to the last judicial instance, which is the one that will decide next Tuesday.