Brussels  - Rene Vandereycken was sacked on Tuesday night as Belgium national team coach over a poor World Cup qualifiying campaign with almost no hope of making the 2010 finals.

Vandereycken's time was over after begium lost twice to Bosnia-Herzegovina, on March 28 and April 1, to rank fourth in their group, 11 points behind runaway leaders Spain. Only the top team qualifies directly for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Vatican City  - The reaction of Belgium's parliament to Pope Benedict XVI's remarks against the use of condoms, is "astonishing" the Vatican's chief spokesman said Friday.

Father Federico Lombardi was commenting on a vote by Belgian lawmakers on Thursday in which they approved a motion which could lead their country's government to lodge an unprecedented, formal protest with the Vatican over the pontiff's remarks.

Brussels - There can be no alternative to a two-state solution for the Middle East, said Quartet envoy Tony Blair in Brussels on Wednesday, a day after the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in.

"There is no alternative to a two-state solution, except the one-state solution. And if there is a one-state solution, there's going to be a big fight," Blair said after a meeting with European Union officials in Brussels.

Brussels  - The European Commission on Wednesday decided to drop its antitrust charges against MasterCard after the payments card company agreed to reduce the fees it charges for international transactions.

MasterCard had already bowed to EU pressure in June by temporarily repealing its multilateral interchange fees (MIFs), which had been found to breach the bloc's competition rules.

Antwerp, Belgium  - The setting sun bathes Antwerp's diamond district in ruby-red light. Standing outside a diamond exchange are black-clad Hasidic Jews wearing high hats, some fur-trimmed, and sporting side locks curled like corkscrews. They are discussing business in Yiddish.

"Jerusalem on the Scheldt" is one of the many nicknames for the city, which shows visitors a different face in every district.

Only London, Paris and Naples were more populous than Antwerp in the 16th century, which then had more than 100,000 inhabitants. The Welsers and Fuggers, German merchant and banking dynasties, controlled their businesses from the Flemish metropolis.

Brussels - NATO is reaching out to young audiences in the West by posting three unconventional advertisement videos on the popular You Tube website, alliance officials said Monday.

The videos, which last about 45 seconds each, are designed to raise awareness about the trans-Atlantic alliance's role in the world by arguing that security should not be taken for granted, even in developed countries.