03 July 2009
From the
Associated Press:
The life work of Rembrandt — all 317 known paintings, 285 etchings and more than 100 drawings — go on display next week in full-sized digital reproductions that attempt to recreate the works as they emerged from the artist's studio rather than as they exist today. In some ways, the high resolution images are more authentic than the real paintings, said Ernst van de Wetering, a leading Rembrandt scholar who supervised the project. Employing computer wizardry, pieces of canvas or panel that were sliced off centuries ago have been patched back on. Colors are restored to the vibrancy they had when they came off the master's brush. Details hidden in darkness because of aging pigments emerge into view.
"The Complete Rembrandt, Life Size" exhibition opens Sunday in the former Amsterdam Stock Exchange building and runs through Sept. 7.
Organized chronologically, the exhibition brings together work from more than 100 museums and collections around the world to offer viewers "a walk through Rembrandt's mind," said the art historian. It follows his 45-year evolution from young painter to possibly the most famous master of his day, and the sudden leaps of inspiration and conceptualization in between that jolt him to new levels.
In the exhibition, a copy of The Night Watch — a 1642 group portrait of an Amsterdam militia in colorful formal attire — as it is in Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, stands next to a recreation of the original. Over the years, the massive painting had been trimmed on all sides, and two figures were cut completely from the left side. The result moved the two central characters to the middle of the canvas, destroying Rembrandt's intention to convey an image of motion.
Read the entire article
here.
03 July 2009
From
Reuters:
Amsterdam city council is turning its attention to a pressing problem for one of the city's key business sectors - banking and credit for prostitutes who can't get accounts from mainstream institutions. The city's red light district is famed the world over for its women in tiny windows and even tinier clothing, but despite the trade being legal, many banks shy away from taking the ladies on as customers. As part of the city's "Project 1012" to remake the De Wallen neighborhood, which includes the sex district, the city council has been asked to find a way to help bordello owners and sex workers gain more access to banks.
"Up until now, it's been very difficult for people in the sex industry to get credit with the banks," a city council spokesman said on Friday. "For them it is a hazard that they can not get regular credit or help or mortgages or anything from a regular bank." He added the city wants to ensure that prostitution is a "bona fide" industry, and that the "entrepreneurs" who ply the local trade need access to regular bank credit for legitimacy.
Read the entire article
here.
01 July 2009
From the
Sacramento Bee:
Tropical islands and mountain glaciers get all the attention. But the planet's river deltas are the real front lines of climate change. Sharing that message is a goal of the Delta Alliance, a new effort by officials in the Netherlands to unite people around the world struggling to manage river delta regions. This includes Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Nigeria – and California. Scientists have advised California to prepare for 55 inches of sea level rise in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta by 2100. Protecting communities and the Delta freshwater supply, which serves 23 million Californians, will be a complicated and pricey task.
The Dutch have lived below sea level for hundreds of years. They've survived by building massive levees that are the envy of the world. Last week, a delegation from the Netherlands visited San Francisco and the Delta. One result is a planned September symposium in California on common challenges.
The Bee interviewed Bart Parmet, director of the Deltateam for the Netherlands Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, during the delegation's stop in Sacramento.
Read the interview
here.
30 June 2009
From
MonsterandCritics.com:
Employees of abortion clinics in the Netherlands will hold a minute of silence on July 1 to raise awareness about violence against women seeking abortions and against the doctors and clinics conducting them. The Dutch minute of silence is part of a series of protests being planned by other abortion clinics in France, Belgium, Spain, among others. The staff of Belgian abortion clinics are due to dress in black, while French abortion clinics will hold a strike soon. The international initiative was launched to protest the murder of US abortion physician George Tiller who was killed on May 31.
Abortion clinics have existed in the Netherlands since 1971, but it was not until 1981 that it was legalized. The number of abortions performed in the Netherlands each year remains relatively stable with 33,000 procedures, according to the 2007 Dutch health inspection year report. Nearly 14 per cent of all abortions in this country are performed on foreign women who cannot undergo the procedure in their home countries.
Read the entire article
here.
30 June 2009
From
NRC International:
A Unesco conference in Spain will decide this week whether the Dutch-German area of the Wadden Sea will be added to its list of 878 World Heritage Sites. Those involved in the Netherlands say it would be "a recognition of an area unique in the world" and could bring economic benefits. The Wadden Sea (Waddenzee) is a shallow stretch of sea along the North Sea coasts of the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. The Wadden (literally: mud flats) are characterised by a constant change of tides and are rich in biological diversity. The Germans and Dutch want its uniqueness recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).
The area up for nomination encompasses the uninhabited parts already protected under national laws: one million hectares of water, salt marshes and tidal flats. The Dutch islands, popular destinations for holidaymakers, are not included, but some of the German islands are.
Read the entire article
here.
28 June 2009
From the
New York Times
Of all things, historical and cultural, that link Amsterdam to New York, there is a particular bond that strikes a personal chord with Carolien Gehrels. Mrs. Gehrels, the deputy mayor of Amsterdam, will be among a delegation of officials from the Netherlands who are flying to New York this weekend to attend gay pride celebrations and to embrace efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in New York State. “We talk about the shared DNA of the two cities, the legacy of tolerance, the openness and the international orientation,” Mrs. Gehrels said in an interview, “and that’s exactly what we celebrate this year.” Mrs. Gehrels brings a personal perspective to the issue: she is married to a woman. She said that while the approval of gay marriage in the Netherlands that took effect in 2001 was “a milestone in equal rights,” even eight years later “equality and freedom are never self-evident.” Same-sex partnerships were legalized in 1998.
She said the legislation pending in Albany deserved a full debate. “This is exactly what happened in the Netherlands before the legalization of same-sex marriage,” she said. “The debate as well as the legal recognition meant an enormous step forward in the acceptance of homosexuality in Dutch society.” On Friday, she is expected to join advocates for gays and lesbians at New York University to mark the Stonewall uprising, which helped inspire the gay rights movement, and to endorse equality for gays and lesbians, including the same-sex marriage legislation.
Her visit this weekend reflects a broader collaboration between the two cities as they celebrate the 400th anniversary of the arrival in New York in September 1609 of Henry Hudson, an English explorer commissioned by the Dutch East India Company. “Amsterdam, like New York, is more progressive than the rest of the country,” Mrs. Gehrels said, “and Amsterdam, like New York, is a gay capital. It’s a key part of the policy of the city, though not every citizen likes it. There’s always a struggle when you are a minority, but Amsterdam has a history as a city of minorities and in Amsterdam almost everyone is a minority.”
Read the entire article
here.
25 June 2009
From
SiliconRepublic.com:
At the IBM-hosted SmarterCities conference yesterday in Berlin, the tech firm announced its plans to collaborate with Rotterdam in implementing the world’s first Smart Delta City. A Smart Delta City is one that will use IBM technology to collect and analyse real-time data on the rivers, ocean, weather and similar data all through one intuitive dashboard.
Rotterdam will use real-time, real-world information to manage city infrastructure related to climate change issues. This means that city councils would be better able to respond to potential disasters like floods or droughts, and monitor changes in water conditions that could harm aquatic life. “We are committed to reducing carbon dioxide by 50pc and reaching a climate adaptive situation, while also strengthening our region’s economic condition by 2025,” said Paula Verhoeven, Rotterdam Climate Office director. The SmartCities conference is designed to make countries around the globe more aware of the environmental issues of growing cities and how green technology can make them safer, more environmentally friendly and sustainable.
Read the entire article
here.
23 June 2009
From the
Associated Press:
The White House says President Barack Obama will be meeting next month with Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende to discuss bilateral relations and the Netherlands help with the U.S.-led effort to defeat Taliban and al-Qaida forces in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The White House said Tuesday that the July 14 meeting is designed to build upon the Netherlands significant contributions to the U.S.-directed NATO effort in Afghanistan and it's participation in the alliance training mission in Iraq. It said the two leaders also will focus on the situation in Iran, peace efforts in the Middle East as well as climate change and energy policies.
Read the entire article
here.
21 June 2009
From
LoHud.com:
From Rip Van Winkle to the Roosevelts, America has had a long relationship with its Dutch heritage. That relationship is examined in a brilliant new show at the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers that marks the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's exploration of the river and region that now bears his name."Dutch New York: The Roots of Hudson Valley Culture" is a terrific art show, with eggplant, emerald and slate-gray galleries offsetting the richness of more than 250 paintings, maps, photographs, posters, drawings and decorative art objects. Text panels in blue and white evoke one of the Netherlands' greatest exports - Delftware pottery.
(...) History suggests our mixed feelings about our Dutch legacy. That ambivalence is suggested by the show's first work, "Henrik Hudson Entering New York Harbor, September 11, 1609," an 1892 oil painting by Edward Moran. Unlike other works on this subject, which give us waving American Indians and smiling Europeans, Moran's painting offers no sentimental perspective. Instead, a lone brave gazes out at Hudson's distant ship, the Half Moon, under a pink and gold sky.
"The American self-image that we revere is more closely tied to the open, entrepreneurial, self-reliant, tolerant, immigrant-driven colony that was New Netherland than to any of the other mythic forebearer colonies from Massachusetts Bay to Jamestown," Michael Botwinick, Hudson River Museum director, writes in the companion book (Fordham University Press). At the same time, Dutch tolerance - particularly when race, slavery and immigration were concerned - was always tempered by commercial interests. If in the early days of New Netherland all people were welcome, it was because the Dutch West India Company, which managed the colony, required all hands on deck. The idea that what you do is who you are would drive New York.
"The Dutch had been forgotten by 1809 so that (Washington Irving) had a blank slate to re-create them," curator Bland says. In "A History of New York From the Beginnings of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty" and in subsequent tales like "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" Washington cast a backward glance at the Dutch that was both amused and affectionate. "There's a kind of country-bumpkin quality about Irving's Dutch," Bland says.
Americans came to appreciate this as they celebrated the centennial of American independence in 1876 with a period of Colonial revivalism. These in turn foreshadowed the Holland Mania of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the passion raged for Dutch ideals as well as Delftware, fruit-embellished Kasts (armoires), solidly carved cradles and chairs and refined silverwork. Holland Mania reached a high point with the exuberant Hudson-Fulton Celebration of 1909, a two-week show that had crowds thronging to such gathering spots as flag-festooned Getty Square in Yonkers. Meanwhile, descendants of the Dutch first families - the Van Cortlandts, Philipses, Vanderbilts and Roosevelts - had become as blue-blooded as those whose ancestors came over on the Mayflower.
Read the entire article
here.
19 June 2009
From
Art Daily:
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and the President of the Russian Federation, Mr. Dmitry Medvedev, will attend opening celebrations of the
Hermitage Amsterdam museum on the evening of Friday, June 19, one day prior to the public opening of the museum on June 20, 2009. Other members of the Dutch Royal family expected to attend include Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima. The Hermitage Amsterdam opens with the dazzling exhibition, “At the Russian Court: Palace and Protocol in the 19th Century.”
The Hermitage Amsterdam is the first branch of the magnificent Russian State Museum Hermitage in St. Petersburg. The Hermitage Amsterdam will organize temporary exhibitions chosen from the collections of the Hermitage and other Russian museums. The opening exhibition will feature more than 1,800 objects to tell the story about the court life of Russian tsars, including the Romanov throne, jewelry by Fabergé, gala dresses and the last tsarina’s grand piano.
Hermitage Amsterdam is the only dedicated, independently managed venue in the West of St Petersburg’s magnificent State Hermitage Museum. At the Russian Court — a scholarly researched exploration of the opulent material culture, elaborate social hierarchy and richly layered traditions of the Tsarist court at its height in the 19th century — will remain on show from June 20th in the new institution until January 31st 2010. Hermitage Amsterdam will then stage two large-scale, temporary exhibitions each year, drawing on the encyclopaedic collections and unparalleled scholarship of Russia’s museums to offer cultural riches that would otherwise be unavailable in Amsterdam.
Read the entire article
here
18 June 2009
From the
New York Times
During the summer months, Amsterdam can seem like a whole different city. Sunny days peek through the gray while the long nights of winter are replaced by their daylight equivalents. This Sunday, June 21, the city ushers in the summer with the 2009 iteration of the Amsterdam Roots Festival. Free and always fun, the festival attracts groups from around the world for a one-day display of international music across seven stages at the Oosterpark. And what better day than the year’s longest for the party? The festival begins at noon with the opening of the “world market”: 125 stalls, arranged throughout the park, with vendors selling food and drinks from a number of different world cuisines.
Read the entire article
here.
Amsterdam Roots Festival (Official website)
18 June 2009
From
The Register:
Dutch developer SPRXMobile has created a browser that overlays local information on the camera view, augmenting reality with superimposed information provided by business partners, who pay for the privilege. Android handsets feature a digital compass, which can be used along with GPS to enhance the real world with additional information sourced from cyberspace. Layar (as SPRXMobile titles their browser) isn't the first to do this - Mobilixy's Wikitude has been doing much the same thing for some months - but the company has signed deals with local information providers in the Netherlands to advise on houses for sale and rent, local hot spots and jobs.
Right now the company only has deals in the Netherlands, but is obviously hoping to spread the idea, as well as supporting more platforms. More observant readers will have noticed that the new iPhone 3GS (to be launched Friday) also features a compass and GPS, and SPRXMobile will be porting their application to Apple's platform as soon as they get the chance - Android still being rather a niche proposition.
Read the entire article
here.
16 June 2009
From
AFP:
About 120 original letters by Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh will be exhibited, alongside the works he was writing about, for three months from October, the
Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam said Tuesday. "The combination of more than 340 works... including paintings, drawings, letters and letter sketches offers a multifaceted and penetrating view of Van Gogh as letter writer and as artist," it said in a statement. "Van Gogh's own writing and his intimate sketches allow the visitor to look over the artist's shoulder, as it were." This would be the largest exhibition to date of Van Gogh's letters, which are seldom shown in public due to their fragility and sensitivity to light. Most are addressed to his younger brother and backer, Theo.
The museum owns more than 800 of the 902 letters known to have been written by the Dutch Post-Impressionist master. They will be published in book form shortly. Van Gogh was born in the Netherlands on March 30, 1853. Before he turned to painting at the age of 27, he worked as an art dealer's apprentice and a preacher. He moved to Paris in 1886, where he was influenced by impressionist painters. Van Gogh died in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris on July 29, 1890, at the age of 37, two days after going to a field and shooting himself in the chest.
Read the entire article
here.
16 June 2009
From
Reuters:
The Dutch economy is expected to contract 4.75 percent this year, more than previously expected, due to a slump in world trade and less consumer spending, Dutch government think tank CPB said on Tuesday. CPB, which cut its forecasts for the fourth time in a year, warned that the credit crisis and recession may still be worse than expected and that new problems in the financial sector could arise.
CPB had forecast in March that GDP would shrink 3.5 percent this year and 0.25 percent in 2010, but the new forecasts were still more optimistic than those of the Dutch central bank (DNB). The DNB last week projected the Dutch economy -- which had a GDP of 595 billion euros in 2008 and is the 5th largest in the euro zone -- would contract 5.4 percent this year. The Netherlands, which depends on imports and exports for about two-thirds of its economic activity, will face a rise in its budget deficit, projected at 4.1 percent of GDP this year and 6.7 percent in 2010, CPB said.
Read the entire article
here.
15 June 2009
From
BlackBook.com:
One of the better parts about Amsterdam, besides the legal sticky icky, the legal red light district, and the bunches of babes on bikes, are the ”beer bikes” that tour people around the city. These booze-filled bikes o’ fun are under some scrutiny by the government due to two recent, drunken, crashes. Beerbiking tours generally seat about 20 people, including a sober driver. A two-hour tour on the weekend costs about $34 per person, beer included. There’s even a special version of the beerbike that includes karaoke. The city is considering putting the brakes on these beer mobiles, but it isn’t clear what they mean to do.
“This beer bike is completely legal, but he [City Councilor Hans Gerson] is not very enthusiastic about this idea of people drinking while being amongst traffic,” said one recent report. The spokesperson “downplayed the possibility of a ban, stressing the alderman is looking into various options.” In response, the owner of Beerbike claims that his company “only rents a beer bike out with a driver and has never been involved in an accident.”
Read the entire article (including video report)
here.
11 June 2009
From
The Chronicle:
This is the Holland of picture postcards. Charming small farming towns dot a landscape crisscrossed by canals, and between the canals, seemingly on every spare plot, at every house door, are tulips. The fields of color are so intense that from afar they look fake. But they are indeed fields of flowers, planted so closely together their leaves are hidden by perfect tulip bowls of red, yellow, white or orange and grape hyacinths in blue. Any springtime trip to the Duin-en Bollenstreek (meaning “dunes and flower region” in Dutch) should include its three major attractions: Keukenhof Gardens, Aalsmeer Flower Market and the Bloemencorso (flower parade). All are just southwest of Amsterdam.
If you’ve ever seen a picture from Holland, chances are good it was taken at Keukenhof Gardens. It claims to be the most photographed spot on Earth, and one trip there makes you believe that’s true. Keukenhof, which means “kitchen garden,” originated in the 15th century as the herb and vegetable patch for a castle near what is now the town of Lisse. Local flower growers took over the 79-acre grounds in 1949 to showcase their products. Now it’s ground zero for all things beautiful and floral.
Read the entire article
here.
11 June 2009
From
USA Today:
Andre Ooijer and Arjen Robben scored Wednesday for the Netherlands to beat Norway 2-0 and stay perfect in World Cup qualifying. The Netherlands leads Group 9 with 21 points from seven games and has already advanced to next year's tournament in South Africa. Norway is last with three points from five games. Ooijer headed in Rafael van der Vaart's free kick in the 32nd minute, and Robben got the second in the 50th. "We knew we had already qualified but we had to play beautiful football for our fans," Van der Vaart said. The Netherlands threatened from the start in a rain-soaked Kuip stadium, with Robben and John Heitinga creating early chances for Robin van Persie.
Needing a victory to boost its chances of qualifying through a playoff, Norway created nothing in the first half. Two minutes into the second half, Morten Gamst Pedersen forced a diving save from Netherlands goalkeeper Maarteen Stekelenburg. Mark van Bommel's clearance from the resulting corner robbed Norway of another scoring opportunity. After thwarting the Netherlands in the opening minutes, Norway's defense failed to stop Ooijer's goal off a free header. Van Persie then skilfully controlled the ball before setting up Robben for the second.
Read the entire article
here.
09 June 2009
From
Business Week:
On the streets of Amsterdam last week, major changes were afoot. The first of 1,200 households installed an energy-saving system from IBM and Cisco aimed at cutting electricity costs. Others were given fresh access to financing from Dutch banks ING and Rabobank to buy everything from energy-saving light bulbs to ultra-efficient roof insulation. And on Utrechtsestraat, a major shopping avenue in the center of the Dutch capital, solar-powered panels on local bus stops were installed to transform the road into a "Climate Street" piloting clean technology.
The projects are Amsterdam's first steps toward making its infrastructure more eco-friendly. Other projects are expected to follow soon. They include 300 power hookups around the city to recharge electric cars, solar panels that will be installed on Amsterdam's historic 17th century townhouses, and infrastructure upgrades that will allow households to sell energy they generate from small-scale wind turbines or solar panels back to the city's electricity grid for a profit.
As the city's energy infrastructure gets a face-lift, local policymakers also are devising ways to maximize the new smart grid. By early next year, Amsterdam's planners expect to create a "virtual power plant," or infrastructure upgrades that will let households sell excess energy generated from domestic solar panels, wind turbines, and biomass plants back to the city for a profit. All told, the plan could add 200 megawatts of renewable energy, roughly the size of a large wind farm, to Amsterdam's electricity generation.
Amsterdam's plans are ambitious, but they do come with a hefty price tag. According to estimates, it will cost $438 per household over 15 years to install smart grid technology alone. Additional outlays, particularly costs of up to $280 million needed to make the city's homes more energy-efficient, could be a tough sell for consumers already suffering in the economic downturn. Yet by converting Amsterdam into a smart city, local planners expect to bolster the economy through public and private investment, as well as cut emissions by 40% by 2025.
Read the entire article
here.
07 June 2009
From the
Associated Press:
The Dutch are coming — again — and they're bringing more than the $24 they supposedly paid for Manhattan. The Netherlands government this year is spending $8 million promoting and staging events and exhibits in New York and elsewhere to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's voyage on the river that would later bear his name. That's twice as much as New York state is splitting three ways to pay for quadricentennial events commemorating Hudson and French explorer Samuel de Champlain's voyages as well as belated bicentennial recognition of Robert Fulton's steamboat trip in 1807.
Some of that foreign funding can be seen in action Saturday, when a fleet led by a pair of 17th-century Dutch ship replicas lifts anchor in New York City and sails up the Hudson River for Albany. The Dutch government's funding includes support for the Half Moon, a 20-year-old replica of Hudson's ship, and the Onrust, a newly built 50-foot yacht built by volunteers at an upstate historic site.
Although the yearlong commemoration of the Hudson voyage began in January with exhibits in New York and the Netherlands, this weekend's start of River Day essentially kicks off a three-month series of events aimed at boosting tourism in Manhattan and Albany and points in between. One of the biggest is River Day, which started Friday evening with a ceremonial blessing of the fleet near the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. Gov. David Paterson joined state and Dutch officials, many of them clad in yellow raincoats, under a tent at Battery Park as clergy members from various religions blessed the fleet. Other Hudson "quad" events include the Macy's Fourth of July fireworks display, which is being moved from the East River to the Hudson River in honor of the explorer's 1609 voyage.
More large-scale events are planned for September, including another gathering of ships in New York Harbor and an arts festival on Governor's Island off the southern tip of Manhattan. Organizers said plans are in the works for Holland's Prince Willem-Alexander to visit New York City in September, when the Half Moon, Dutch naval vessels and other ships gather to mark Hudson's voyage exactly 400 years earlier.
Read the entire article
here.
05 June 2009
From
UPI:
Geert Wilders, the Dutch anti-immigrant maverick, apparently led his party to a surprising runnerup slot in the Netherlands' European elections, officials say. Exit polls in the election to choose a European parliament indicate Wilders' Freedom Party won 15 percent of the vote and claimed 25 seats Thursday. That would be enough for a second place finish to The Christian Democrats of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and a step ahead of the Labor party of Wouter Bos, The Guardian reported. Only two of 27 European Union countries, Britain and the Netherlands, voted Thursday. Elections are scheduled Sunday in 18 other countries.
Read the entire article
here.
Dutch anti-Islamic party makes gains in EU poll (AFP)
EU parliamentary elections hit turbulence Friday after prematurely published Dutch results confirmed fears of voter apathy and extremist gains and Britain's prime minister sought damage control. As the world's biggest transnational vote gathered pace, with Czech and Irish voters going to the polls on day two, embattled British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was already licking his wounds. A shell-shocked Brown reshuffled his cabinet and said his party had suffered a "painful defeat" after British voters cast their ballots on Thursday in both EU and local elections.
n the Netherlands, far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) came second in its first EU election with 17 percent of the vote and won four seats in the new parliament, according to near-complete results of Thursday's voting there. Reviled and adored alike for his anti-Islamic rhetoric, the 45-year-old firebrand has made deep cracks in a long tradition of Dutch consensus politics, declaring himself on a mission to fight the "Islamisation" of the Netherlands.
The Christian Democrats (CDA) of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende lost over four percentage points compared to 2004 to finish with less than 20 percent, according to results released with 99.7 percent of the vote counted. Release of the Dutch results broke European rules banning their publication before polls close across Europe Sunday night. The European Commission sought an explanation and mulled possible action. The low turnout that many feared was also evident in the Netherlands, with 36.5 percent of voters in the founding EU member taking part, down from 39.2 percent in the previous elections in 2004.
Read the entire article
here
Dutch result release questioned (News24)
Europe's election marathon was clouded in controversy on Friday after the premature release of Dutch poll results confirmed widespread fears of gains by the far-right and low voter turnout. The European Commission said that publication of the Dutch results - which by law should have been held back until late on Sunday - appeared to be against the spirit of the rules for the European Parliament polls.
"We are going to ask for clarification from the Netherlands," said Amadeu Altafaj Tardio, a senior spokesperson for the European Union's executive arm. "We want to know who published what information, at what moment, and to whom. We will give the interested party a chance to explain itself before we make a decision" on any action, he said. The Dutch move, he said, "does not appear to respect the spirit of the elections to the European Parliament".
Under EU rules, no results - preliminary, partial or local and including turnout figures - can be given to the media or polling institutes before the end of voting across the entire European Union. "We will assess [the Dutch response] from a legal point of view, and we will take measures if measures have to be taken," the spokesperson said. "We as the guardian of the treaties have to make sure the legal framework is observed." The Dutch government insisted that voters had the right to know the outcome of the polls in a timely manner.
Read the entire article
here
04 June 2009
From
CNN:
Voters in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands became the first European Union citizens to go to the polls Thursday to elect a new European Parliament. The massive election, involving all 27 member states, around 375 million eligible voters and 736 MEP seats, is the biggest exercise in transnational democracy the world has ever seen, with voters from Bulgaria and Romania, which joined the EU in 2007, participating for the first time. Each country in the EU sets its own timetable for voting with most going to the polls on Sunday. In Ireland and the Czech Republic voting takes place on Friday. Counting is due to start on Sunday night. The powers of the European Parliament -- the EU's main legislative assembly -- have increased significantly since it was established in 1979, with the parliament often shaping legislation which is then passed down to national parliaments for ratification at member state level.
Read the entire article
here.
European elections get under way
The European parliamentary elections got under way in the Netherlands and Britain on Thursday, with Geert Wilders, the Dutch anti-immigration politician, vowing to do his utmost to stop Turkey entering the European Union “in a million years”. Smaller parties are expected to gain seats in the 736-seat chamber from bigger rivals in both countries, the first two nations to vote in pan-European polls that run until Sunday. Voters across the 27-nation bloc are expected to focus on unemployment and economic uncertainty in the poll. While the mainstream parties have indicated they would not form a coalition with the PVV on the national stage, the party is increasingly part of the political furniture. It was only formed in 2006, drawing on the legacy of Pim Fortuyn, the gay anti-immigration politician who was shot in 2002. Dutch exit polls will give a first picture after 21:00 CET on Thursday.
From the
Financial Times
A live stream of Dutch tv covering the result of today's election can be found
here (Nos Nieuws, from 21.00 CET).
04 June 2009
From
USA Today:
The Netherlands can become the first European side to clinch a place at the 2010 World Cup on Saturday. While England and Denmark are among the other teams able to move closer to a spot in South Africa, the Dutch can get there with two games remaining with victory at Iceland. The Netherlands has almost a full-strength side for the game in Reykjavik, one of 14 qualifiers in Europe on Saturday. Only midfielders Wesley Sneijder and Ibrahim Afellay are missing for the Group 9 leaders, who have won all five of their qualifiers and are eight points clear of second-place Scotland. "We want to grab this first chance," captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst said. "We've never been able to qualify so quickly for a tournament.
The Netherlands already beat Iceland 2-0 in Rotterdam last year through goals by Joris Mathijsen and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. The Dutch host Norway four days after the Iceland match in the next round of qualifying and that game could now be a celebration.
Read the entire article
here.
02 June 2009
From
BBC News:
Almere, near Amsterdam: Three black cars screech into the market square. Shoppers enjoying the sun and a break in one of the many cafes around the square look up from their drinks and ice creams. About ten serious-looking men in suits with bulges under their jackets get out of the back two cars and position themselves around the front vehicle. One carries a fold-out, body-length bullet-proof shield. Who can be in the front car? The prime minister? A member of the Dutch royal family? Suddenly a white blond quiff emerges, followed by its owner, Geert Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party (PVV).
« Previous | Main | Next »
A walk on the Wilders side
Mark Mardell | 10:45 AM, Monday, 1 June 2009
ALMERE, near Amsterdam:
Three black cars screech into the market square. Shoppers enjoying the sun and a break in one of the many cafes around the square look up from their drinks and ice creams.
About ten serious-looking men in suits with bulges under their jackets get out of the back two cars and position themselves around the front vehicle. One carries a fold-out, body-length bullet-proof shield.
Who can be in the front car? The prime minister? A member of the Dutch royal family? Suddenly a white blond quiff emerges, followed by its owner, Geert Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party (PVV).
He may not be royalty but he is, according to some opinion polls, more popular than the Dutch government and hopes to do well in the European elections. He wants to hold a referendum to demonstrate the Dutch people are against the Lisbon Treaty, as they were against the constitution, and wants to take powers back from Brussels. But that's not why he grabs the attention. He is the Netherlands' Mr Provocative, determined to poke sensitive Muslim opinion in the eye. But is he the heir to the mantle of the extreme right or a post-modern populist? Where does his PVV fit in the political spectrum? He's been banned from Britain, is being prosecuted in the Netherlands for hate crimes, has made a film about the Koran - a book he wants banned - and promises a second film that will be just as forthright.
He's very much against Turkey joining the European Union and wants to take powers back from the EU. He is not advocating leaving the euro or the EU, but wants the balance of power to change. But there's little doubt it is his opinions of Islam that are eye-catching. There's certainly genuine support for him among people who rush to have their picture taken with him. One woman tells me "he says what millions of us think". It is a refrain I hear repeatedly. But one man ostentatiously shreds the election pamphlet, saying that even Dutch cuisine is based on a mixture from all over the world and Mr Wilders' views were rather un-Dutch.
Read the entire article
here.
01 June 2009
From
Associated Press:
The 2,700 pigs on the farm that John Horrevorts manages yield more than ham and bacon. A biogas plant makes enough electricity from their waste to run the farm and feeds extra wattage into the Dutch national grid. He even gets bonus payments for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As the world struggles to reduce pollution causing climate change, attention has focused on the burning of fossil fuels in factories, power stations, and vehicles. But U.N. scientists says farming and forestry account for more than 30 percent of the greenhouse gases that are gradually heating the earth. Much of that pollution comes from cattle, sheep and pigs that belch or excrete methane, a heat-trapping gas more than 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide, the most common global warming gas.
Horrevorts says a group including his operation and four other commercial farms avoids methane emissions equivalent to 40,000 tons of carbon a year. Dozens of private or nonprofit companies known as offset providers will "buy" those tons as a way of supporting renewable energy or other projects that reduce carbon emissions, then resell the credits to individuals or companies who want to shrink their carbon footprint. Last year, Horrevorts said, a British offset provider paid euro5 ($6.70) per ton for people wanting to neutralize plane travel or rock concert tickets. This year, the farm was negotiating with a Dutch company seeking to become carbon neutral to promote a green image.
Though operating expenses for the biogas plant are considerable, the combination of electricity savings, power production and carbon credits makes it profitable, Horrevorts says. Horrevorts, who is a biological researcher rather than a professional farmer, says that with financial incentives through electricity subsidies, it could become standard practice for ordinary farmers. About 50 commercial biogas plants operate on farms in the Netherlands, and the practice is spreading across industrial livestock farms around the world.
Read the entire article
here.
30 May 2009
From
WalletPop:
Oh, to be Dutch. In the Netherlands, prostitution and marijuana are legal, Heineken is the local brew, and Amsterdam is a bike-able international city with a huge selection of fine cheeses. And now comes the news from the Dutch justice ministry that the crime rate is so low that it will close eight prisons and cut 1,200 jobs. There are too few prisoners for its prison cells -- 12,000 detainees in a prison system that has capacity for 14,000.
Layoffs should be prevented in the closing of prisons in the Netherlands, and some reprieve may come from a deal with neighboring Belgium to unload some of its overpopulated prisons. About 500 Belgian prisoners could be transferred to the Tilburg prison by 2010. The deal would give the Netherlands 30 million euros, and allow the closing of the prisons in Rotterdam and Veenhuizen to be postponed until 2012. Theories abound on why crime is so low in the Netherlands. The murder rate, for example, has been declining since the 1990s, when there were an average of 250 murders per year. The rate hit a record low in 2007 with 147. One idea is that decriminalizing drugs leads to less violent crimes, and that a passive approach works best.
Read the entire article
here.
28 May 2009
From
AFP:
As the credit crunch keeps away sight-seers and business travellers, the owners of Amsterdam's brothels, escort agencies and sex shops all grumble that those visitors who still do indulge in the pleasures of the flesh are increasingly tight-fisted. (...) "Things are bad," lamented salesman Dave Doeve. He owns Casa Rosso sex shop in the middle of Amsterdam's brazen red-light district where neon-lit prostitutes' windows normally draw hoards of tourists.
According to Andre van Dorst, director of the Netherlands' VER sex industry association, turnover had dropped 30 to 40 percent over the last year. The more exclusive the club, the bigger the impact as clients seek cheaper options. "Eating and drinking are the very last things people save on, followed by sex - both are basic needs. In these difficult economic times, people frequent restaurants less and supermarkets more, just as they opt for less glamorous sex clubs," said van Dorst. Metje Blaak, spokeswoman for De Rode Draad (The Red Thread) sex workers' representative group, said clients were "paying less and demanding more". "And the girls often have no choice but to discount their prices. They have to pay the rent."
Though prostitution has long been tolerated in the famously liberal Dutch capital city, the Netherlands only legalised the world's oldest profession in 2000. Last December, Amsterdam's city officials announced plans to halve the total 482 prostitutes' windows in the centre in a multi-million revamp that would also involve shuttering many cannabis-vending coffee shops -- another tourist drawcard. Officials claim the two vices, in themselves not illegal, attract elements of organised crime - but observers have pointed to a growing Dutch conservatism.
Read the entire article
here.
26 May 2009
From
Earth Times:
Hail, rain and strong winds battered the Netherlands Tuesday, felling trees, creating localised flooding and causing major road and rail disruption. The Dutch meteorological institute KNMI said wind speeds of more than 105 km/h caused trees to fall on roads and rail tracks, resulting in long delays throughout the country for commuters. In the southwest of the country, hailstones of more than 5 cm were recorded. There were more than 300 km of traffic jams on the Dutch roads, with the A20 near Rotterdam entirely closed off in both directions due to flooding and fallen trees. Lightning brought down the railway network's electrical systems at Leiden, neer The Hague, and several other towns.
Read the entire article
here.
26 May 2009
From the
Associated Press:
The U.S.' chief environmental official said Tuesday that America can learn much from the way the Dutch manage water — focusing more on living with it than on trying to control it at every turn. "As climate changes and we start seeing more and more rain we have to stop fighting it," said Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson said. "There's not enough energy in the world to fight it." Jackson is accompanied on the weeklong visit to the Netherlands by a delegation from Louisiana — a low-lying area, like the Netherlands. Louisiana officials turned to the Netherlands for inspiration in redesigning the state's water defenses after Hurricane Katrina caused levies to fail, flooding New Orleans.
Recently, policy makers here have adopted a philosophy they term "living with water" — which means working with nature whenever possible and accepting that simply building dikes higher and hire will lead to disaster. New techniques include pumping sand into strategic offshore locations where currents in the North Sea sweep them into place, bulking up dunes; re-establishing minor waterways and removing pavement to allow the country to absorb sudden influxes of water; and designating zones for intentional flooding in an emergency. Last year the Netherlands announced more than euro 100 billion (US$140 billion) in new spending through the year 2100 to prepare for the effects of global warming. Jackson said she was most impressed by "the idea that when it rains, the rush is not to pump out, but to be able to hold an amount of water."
Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, a Democrat, was visiting the Netherlands for the third time since Katrina struck. She said her focus this time is on the organizational side, learning how Dutch water districts raise money and work with other governmental bodies and the citizenry to reach consensus on what should be done. "The Dutch approach ... is a more integrated approach. Our approach is very stove-piped in a sense," she said.
Read the entire article
here.
24 May 2009
From
Canada.com:
Erik Kessels takes in his surroundings: linoleum floor, cracked paint, circa-early-1980s TV with cigarette burns on the chassis. This room on the ground floor of a budget hotel in Toronto -- a hotel that prefers to remain nameless for this story -- may not be pretty, but it looks relatively clean. (...) At the
Hans Brinker Budget Hotel in the centre of Kessels' hometown of Amsterdam, there are only pictures of chairs on the walls, a jokey attempt to earn the establishment even one star from the Dutch tourist board. That the ploy didn't work is a good thing; earning a star might have interfered with the Hans Brinker's long-standing claim to mediocrity. Its promises of no amenities, rude fellow guests, terrible food and even the possibility of dog mess in the lobby have all been documented in a new, colourful book, The Worst Hotel in the World.
One of the first ads appeared on the side of a tram; Kessels cleverly only bought the ad for a streetcar line that passed by Amsterdam's main tourist information office, and only on the side of the tram that faced the building.
The ad bragged about how exclusive the Hans Brinker was -- it excluded a lot of things: bellhops, saunas, bidets, a swimming pool, tennis courts, mini bars... Over the years, the campaign has worked through several themes, all with the same central, no-frills message. One series of ads showed before and after pictures of guests, with the after pictures looking haggard and unslept.
In case it isn't obvious by now, Kessels doesn't actually believe the Hans Brinker is the worst hotel in the world. "That's marketing. We say, 'Improve your immune system' with a picture of bed bugs. It doesn't say there are bed bugs." And the food in the canteen, he says, is actually pretty good. The ads work because they're full of irony, Kessels believes. "It's just a language that the backpackers really like." The ads also appeal to the backpacker's sense of bravado: What 21-year-old wouldn't want to tell the folks back home that they'd stayed at the worst hotel in the world? The Hans Brinker even sells souvenir posters to commemorate the event.
Read the entire article
here.
21 May 2009
From
Mid Hudson News.com:
The Dutch East India Company ship that explorer Henry Hudson steered around the world 400 years ago may be long gone, but a replica of that vessel is now sailing up the very river that he explored so many centuries ago. The Half Moon docked at Waryas Park in the City of Poughkeepsie Wednesday. The ship is a traveling museum that conducts historical programs about the Dutch colony, New Netherland (now New York).
A ribbon cutting ceremony commemorating the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage was held dockside by representatives of the City of Poughkeepsie, The Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce, and Dutchess County Tourism. The ship and Waryas Park will host a variety of activities this Memorial Day weekend. “This ship was like the Internet of yesterday since it brought goods from around the world here to the Dutch colony,” said Chip Reynolds, captain of the Half Moon. He added that the ship and many of its components were almost identical to Henry Hudson’s 1609 vessel.
Read the entire article
here.
More on the celebrations surrounding New York and the Hudson regions 400th anniversary in
archives.
Shop Only in Holland
» Dutch lawmakers approve mink ban
Dutch MPs approved on Tuesday a ban on mink breeding for fur with effect from 2018. "A draft law was approved by a majority in the house of representatives," a spokeswoman said. The law, yet to be approved by the senate and signed by Queen Beatrix, prohibits the keeping and killing of minks for their fur. While allowing a phasing-out period, it does not make provision for compensation for farmers. Animal lobby group Bont voor Dieren (Fur for Animals) said the Netherlands is the world's third biggest mink fur producer.
Read the entire article at the
Sydney Morning Herald
» Hells Angels win another Dutch legal battle
The Dutch Supreme Court refused Friday to outlaw a local branch of the Hells Angles in the motorcycle club's latest legal victory. The country's highest judicial panel said prosecutors failed to prove their claim that the Harlingen Hells Angels chapter in the northern Netherlands is a threat to public order and should be disbanded. The Supreme Court's ruling upheld two lower courts' decisions. It said the club may be involved in undesirable and possibly criminal activities, but they are not serious enough to merit a total ban. A ban "is a serious infringement of the freedom to gather that is at the foundation of a democratic state," the court said in its written ruling. The court also rejected prosecutors' attempts to link the Harlingen chapter to alleged criminal activity of Hells Angels elsewhere in the Netherlands and the rest of the world, saying links between the local chapter and other groups were not close enough.
Read the entire article at the
Associated Press
» Dutch banker missing, and so are his guns
London police are looking for Dutch banker Huibert Boumeester, a former member of ABN Amro bank's management board, who has been missing since Sunday. The 49-year-old banker is believed to be carrying two firearms, the police said. "We are seriously concerned for the safety of Mr Boumeester. We are extremely keen to locate him as soon as possible to make sure that he is well," a spokesperson for the police in Boumeester's residence London said. He expressed concern because Boumeester was said to have been depressed since loosing his job after the carve-up of ABN Amro in 2006.
From
NRC International
» Netherlands: Caught in World Wide Web
Two men who robbed a 14-year-old of cash and a cellphone in September were arrested after the victim spotted them in a photo on Google Maps, the Dutch police said Friday. The victim contacted investigators in Groningen in March after he found a photograph in the mapping site’s Street View function showing him and his assailants moments before the robbery. “As the faces were unrecognizable, police made contact with Google in the United States and received the original photograph by mail in June,” a police statement said.
From the
New York Times
» Dutch March-May unemployment 4.6% vs 4.1% year ago
Unemployment in the Netherlands rose on the year in the March to May period, the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics, or CBS, said Thursday. In March to May 4.6% or 358,000 people in the Netherlands were unemployed, up from 4.1% or 313,000 people in the same period a year earlier. Since summer 2008 the unemployment rate in the Netherlands has started rising, after many years of declining unemployment figures.
Wall Street Journal
» Anne Frank's writings to go on permanent display
The writings of Jewish teenager Anne Frank, who hid in an Amsterdam attic with her family for two years before her capture by Nazis, will soon be on permanent display, the Dutch government said Thursday. "Her diaries and writings will return home" to the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam that used to be the teenager's family home, Culture Minister Ronald Plasterk told journalists on the eve of the 80th anniversary of Anne's birth. Three diaries, a book of short stories and a "favourite quotes notebook", all authored by the girl, will be on display in a newly upgraded exhibition hall from November 1. "Forty of the several hundred very brittle, loose sheets on which Anne rewrote her diary from May 1944 will be on permanent alternating display," said a statement. The documents have been donated to the museum by the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation under an agreement signed Thursday. Most of the documents had been kept in a safe by the institute, and occasionally loaned to the museum for display. Only the first of her three personal diaries, one she had received for her 13th birthday on June 12, 1942, had been exhibited at the museum to date.
From
AFP
» Iceland to pay UK, Netherlands over failed bank
Icelandic authorities have agreed to reimburse Britain and the Netherlands for compensation they have paid out to British and Dutch depositors in Icesave accounts of the failed Landsbanki bank, the governments said in a joint statement on Saturday. The signed agreements with the Iceland Compensation Scheme will see payments made over 15 years, with an initial 7-year "grace period". Under the deal, the 2.3 billion pounds paid out by the British government will be treated as a loan to the scheme. During this period the loan will be guaranteed by the Iceland government, which also signed the agreement. Landsbanki collapsed along with its main Icelandic peers last October after the global financial crisis left them starved of the easy credit necessary to service billions of dollars of debt accumulated over years of rapid overseas expansion. Hundreds of thousands of savers, who had been attracted by the high interest rates, were affected across Europe.
More at
The Guardian
» Octo-Mom gets television show deal in the Netherlands
The Southern California woman who gave birth to the world's longest-surviving set of octuplets has signed a deal to star in a reality television series, her lawyer said. Nadya Suleman, who gave birth to the six boys and two girls in January and also has six other children, agreed to be filmed for a proposed television show by Eyeworks, a Netherlands-based production company, attorney Jeff Czech said. The company hasn't yet sold the show to any American television network, he said. The show will be modeled after a successful Eyeworks TV series in Denmark that documents the lives of four children from the day they were born until they become adults.
More at the
Associated Press
» Giro d'Italia to start in Amsterdam in 2010
Just as the 2009 Giro d'Italia was drawing to a close in Rome, the organisers announced that the 2010 edition of the race will start in the Netherlands on May 6. It will be only the ninth occasion that the Giro has started outside Italy in its 100-year history. Organisers have provisionally scheduled three stages in Netherlands: Amsterdam, Utrecht and Middelburg. A possible excursion into neighbouring Belgium may follow before the riders transfer to Italy.
From
Cycling Weekly.
» Ajax signs Martin Jol as new coach
Martin Jol is leaving Hamburg to take over as coach of Ajax next season. Ajax announced the hiring Tuesday. Jol replaces Marco van Basten,
who resigned three weeks ago. Jol led Hamburg to the UEFA Cup and German Cup semifinals in his first season in charge and the team ended fifth in the Bundesliga. Jol, who previously managed Premier League club Tottenham, signed a three-year contract with Ajax. The club ended third in the Dutch league this season, behind AZ Alkmaar and FC Twente, after inconsistent performances.
More at
USA Today.
» Dutch burglar to police: Help, I'm trapped
A burglar had to call Dutch police to free him after finding himself trapped in an attempt to break into a school in Amsterdam, police said Wednesday. The 26-year-old "got into the school through the roof and a small window" on Tuesday night, said police spokesman Ebe van der Land. "He was unable to leave the same way and found himself trapped in an inner court, his exit blocked by a high gate. "He said he did not have the strength left to scale the gate, and so called the police."
From
AFP
» Amsterdam park gets gay cruising signs
An Amsterdam park has introduced information signs pointing out areas where gay cruising takes place and men have sex with other men. The city council of Slotervaart, a district in southwest Amsterdam, decided to post the signs in De Oeverlanden park after receiving complaints from passers-by about the sexual activities taking place in the park. The sign indicates not only cruising areas, but also areas where children can play and people can walk their dogs. The park, De Oeverlanden, has been known for decades as a gay cruising area. Some say it's the most popular one in Holland.
Read the entire article at
Radio Netherlands
» 6 landscape paintings stolen from Dutch museum
Thieves pried open the emergency door of a small Dutch museum with an iron bar and made off with six 17th- and 19th-century landscape paintings — the second major art heist in 10 days in the Netherlands. The break-in at 3 a.m. Monday set off an alarm that summoned police within minutes but the burglars already had fled, leaving behind two paintings that they dropped in their haste and damaged, Mark de Kok, a spokesman for the city of IJsselstein, said Tuesday. The paintings included three by Jan van Goyen, a prolific contemporary of Rembrandt who died in 1656. The others were a 17th century painting by Pieter de Neyn and 19th-century pieces by Willem Roelofs and Adrianus van Everdingen. The damaged works were by Salomon van Ruysdael and Salomon Rombouts. The theft occurred 10 days after an armed robbery of two paintings by Salvador Dali and Tamara de Lempicka from the Scheringa Museum for Realism in Spanbroek, a small town in northwest Holland. Security expert Ton Cremers said the two thefts were carried out differently, indicating no reason to connect them. The last major museum heist in the Netherlands was six years ago, he said.
More at
Associated Press
» Van Basten leaves Ajax after Sparta defeat
Marco van Basten has quit as Ajax coach after the failure of the Dutch giants to qualify for next season's Champions League. The 44-year-old took over at the Amsterdam Arena last summer with high hopes, but has departed after less than a year of his four-year contract. Ajax lost 4-0 at Sparta Rotterdam on Sunday with Steve McLaren's FC Twente beating new champions AZ Alkmaar to clinch second spot in the Dutch Erevidisie. The results left former European champions Ajax in third place and a place in the lesser Europa League next season. Basten could not hide his anger at his team's performance. After talks between the coach and the board, Van Basten decided to resign, claiming he could not see how he could improve things next term. "I don't have the idea that I can do better in the new season," he said today.
More at
CNN
» Two works stolen from Dutch museum
Masked gunmen stole two paintings from a Dutch museum on Friday, including a work by Salvador Dalí, officials said. The police said several robbers had threatened a guard at the Scheringa Museum for Realism in Spanbroek with a gun before making off with two paintings. No one was injured, they said. The robbers took “Adolescence,” a 1941 gouache by Dalí, and “La Muscienne,” an oil painting from 1929 by the Polish-born Art Deco painter Tamara de Lempicka. The paintings’ value was not released, but museum officials said they were among the top works in its collection.
More at the
New York Times
» Dutch confirm swine flu case in three year-old
Dutch health authorities have confirmed one case of swine flu in the Netherlands, Dutch news agency ANP reported on Thursday, citing the health ministry. A three year-old child had contracted the virus, ANP said. This is the first confirmed case in the Netherlands.
From Reuters.
» No cases of swine flu reported in Netherlands
The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment reports that there are no known cases of swine flu in the Netherlands. A few people who had just returned from Mexico with flu-like symptoms have been examined, but were found not to be carrying the disease. The institute has warned people returning from the country to see their family doctor if they have a fever or develop a cough. Amsterdam's Schiphol airport says it sees no reason for extra measures in connection with the swine flu outbreak in Mexico. The airport authorities say they are in constant contact with the Public Health Institute and the Foreign Ministry. Up to now flu medicines such as Tamiflu and Relenza appear to be effective against the flu strain. The public health Institute says the Netherlands has 4.5 million doses of Tamiflu in stock and the country would be well prepared to deal with any pandemic.
More at
Radio Netherlands
» Faked kidnapping sparks massive police hunt
A lovesick Dutch woman who made up a story about being kidnapped sparked an eight-hour police hunt across Germany that ended with her capture by a special forces unit on a sealed-off motorway. Worried relatives alerted Dutch police about the supposed abduction around midday on Thursday after the 35-year-old sent an SMS text message telling them two Eastern European men had taken her captive in her car, authorities said on Friday. Reports soon came in that the woman's vehicle had entered Germany, where squad cars and police helicopters fanned out in a search which spread out over three federal states. By evening, police in Bavaria had tracked down the black Seat to a traffic jam near Wuerzburg, and shut down the motorway. Just before 9.00 p.m. (1900 GMT), the special forces team stormed the car - and found her alone inside. "During questioning she said she was having a relationship crisis," a local police spokesman said, adding that the hunt had cost "tens of thousands of euros" in Bavaria alone. "People need to be aware of the costs of making up stories like this.
More at
Reuters.
» Netherlands limits adoptions of US children
The Dutch government said Wednesday it would make it more difficult to adopt American children, who formed the third largest group of foreign adoptions in the Netherlands last year. "The adoption of children from the United States will be subjected to stricter requirements," the justice ministry said in a statement - explaining that small children could easily be placed with American families. From a total of 767 foreign adoptions last year, 56 were of American children -- the third largest group after China and Haiti. The ministry said the tougher criteria would not be applied to American children of five years or older, those in foster care, or those who are difficult to place because of health problems or other special reasons.
From
AFP
» Home births just as safe as hospital deliveries
Home births are just as safe as hospital deliveries, according to a study of more than 500,000 women. The study was carried out jointly by the TNO research institute, the AMC hospital in Amsterdam and the UMC hospital in Maastricht. Almost a third of pregnant women give birth at home in the Netherlands, far more than in other western countries. The high infant mortality rate in the Netherlands has often been blamed on the large number of home births. The study shows there is no difference between the infant death rate in the first week of the two groups.
From
Radio Netherlands
