Make sure you consider living in Utrecht if you are moving to the Netherlands. Already voted as one of the best and happiest places to live not only in the Netherlands, but in the whole world, the country’s fourth largest city is an impressive hometown choice.
Entertainment
Dec 19 '19 09:00
Dec 17 '19 12:40
Mind My Mind, a film from Dutch animator and film director Floor Adams, was one of ten films shortlisted for the Animated Short Film Oscar. The announcement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was revealed early Tuesday morning in the Netherlands, and it also showed that Dutch film Instinct did not make the cut in the International Feature Film category.
The list of films in both categories will be whittled down to the final nominees for the 92nd Academy Awards, expected to be announced on January 13. The Oscars will be handed out on February 9.
Dec 14 '19 09:30
American rock band Guns N' Roses was announced as the final headlining act for music festival Pinkpop. The 2020 edition of the event is a three-day affair, which will feature the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Post Malone as the closing acts on each of the first two nights.
The festival takes place from June 19 - 21 in Landgraaf, Limburg. It will be the 51st time the annual event is organized, and the 24th time the festival is spread out over three days.
Dec 12 '19 20:00
An Albert Heijn store in Den Bosch created its own version of an artwork, which consisted of a banana stuck to a wall with duct tape. But where the artwork by Maurizio Cattelan recently sold for 120 thousand euros, the Albert Heijn version is discounted to only 0.28 cents.
The recreated work in the Albert Heijn store on De Arena was thought up by manager Ron Soeters. He loved the Italian artist's idea, he said to BN De Stem. "It's wonderful to see that such a simple banana impresses people so much."
Dec 12 '19 16:30
It took less than an hour for the first tranche of Eurovision 2020 tickets to sell out on Thursday, the song competition said in a statement. Ticket sales for the semi-finals and the Grand Final in Rotterdam opened up at noon, with some customers complaining that access to the website was buggy and limited.
Dec 12 '19 08:38
The first tickets for the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam next year will go on sale at noon on Thursday. Rotterdam residents with a low income can now also sign up on the municipality's website to win free tickets.
Dec 5 '19 12:40
The tickets for the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam will range between 18.50 euros for a place with limited visibility during a rehearsal to and 248.50 euros for a standing place in Ahoy at the final. The song festival will be presented by Chantal Janzen, Edsilia Rombley, and Jan Smit. The organizers are also taking various measures to limit ticket resale as much as possible, RTL Nieuws reports.
Dec 5 '19 11:50
This evening is Pakjesavond in the Netherlands - the evening on which Sinterklaas delivers his gifts. As a result, evening rush hour is expected to start earlier and be busier than usual, as many people leave work earlier than normal to get home on time, travelers association ANWB and public works department Rijkswaterstaat warn.
Dec 5 '19 11:10
95 percent of Netherlands residents are in favor of harsher punishments for violence against police officers and other first responders during New Year's. 78 percent agree that fireworks should be banned next year in neighborhoods where aid workers are threatened. And 72 percent agree that fireworks should be banned in municipalities where the police cannot guarantee safety, according to a study by I&O Research on behalf of Binnelands Bestuur.
Dec 5 '19 09:24
The ninth edition of DeMedia100, the ranking of the 100 most influential people in Dutch media, again contains more women. This year there are a record 30 women among the most influential media personalities in the Netherlands, including three in the top 10, NOS reports.
Media magnate John de Mol still tops the ranking, like he did in all eight previous editions. Presenter Arjen Lubach is in second place, followed by presenter Eva Jinek in third. In addition to Jinek, Linda de Mol and Chantal Janzen are the other two women in the top 10, in fourth and ninth place respectively.
Dec 5 '19 07:26
This morning parents across the Netherlands will be bringing their kids to school to celebrate Sinterklaas, Packjesavond and the saint's imminent return to Spain. Foundation Nederland Wordt Beter is calling on parents to keep their children at home if their school's party still features blackface Zwarte Piet.
Nov 29 '19 17:15
Former casting director Job Gosschalk will not be prosecuted for sexual intimidation. Following a successful mediation process, the person who pressed charges against Gosschalk decided not to pursue the case any further, the Public Prosecution Service said on Friday. The case against the casting director is therefore conditionally suspended.
Nov 29 '19 15:35
The organization behind the New Year's bonfire on the Duindorp beach in The Hague decided to pull the plug on the event. They no longer have any faith in the municipality of The Hague, the organizers announced on Friday, NU.nl reports.
On Thursday evening the municipality of The Hague met with the organizations behind the annual bonfires on the beaches of Duindorp and Scheveningen. The municipality said that a final decision on whether the events would be granted permits would be made on December 3rd.
Nov 29 '19 13:40
A LEGO flagship store opened on Kalverstraat in Amsterdam on Friday - the second LEGO store and first flagship store in the Netherlands. In addition to a complete range of new products that can only be found at LEGO stores, the Amsterdam store also boasts a large number of pieces specifically dedicated to the Netherlands
Nov 27 '19 14:30
The New Year's bonfires on the beaches of Sceveningen and Duindorp in The Hague will likely not happen in the coming years because there is "no evidence of a demonstrably professional organization", interim mayor Johan Remkes said. The organizers of the two annual bonfires are also unable to get insurance - no one wants to insure them after last year's rain of sparks, RTL Nieuws reports.
Nov 27 '19 11:55
The MeToo movement and increased awareness about sexual harassment is changing the reality TV scene in the Netherlands. After scrapping reality show De Villa last week, RTL and Videoland announced that they will no longer broadcast programs in the "guilty pleasure" genre, such as reality show Temptation Island, for the time being, the Volskrant reports.
Nov 26 '19 10:30
Dutch documentaries Dance or Die and Bellingcat - Truth in a Post-Truth World were both awarded prizes at the International Emmy Awards. Dance or Die by Nieuwsuur reporter Roozbeh Kaboly won in the Arts Programming category, Bellingcat - Truth in a Post-Truth World by director Hans Pool won in the Documentary category, NOS reports.
Nov 26 '19 07:30
Fox Sports suspended Marco van Basten for a week after he made a comment referring to the Nazi salute on air on the program De Eretribune on Saturday night. The fee that Van Basten normally receives for appearing on the show will be donated to the Netherlands institute for war documentation NIOD, to promote awareness and knowledge about the history of the Second World War, Fox announced.
Nov 25 '19 11:50
Coalition party CDA wants to do more to protect children against advertising and sponsors on television, YouTube and other social media. According to CDA parliamentarian Harry van der Molen, children are currently treated as "mini-consumers" and that has to stop, AD reports.
Nov 22 '19 09:20
The Utrecht district of Zuilen decided to cancel its Sinterklaas arrival party, scheduled for Saturday. The foundation in charge of organizing the party received serious threats because it decided to switch to so-called Chimney Pieten - Piet characters with soot marks on their faces instead of blackface makeup as the character is traditionally portrayed, Miranda Spies of the Gemeenschap Zuilen foundation said to AD.
Nov 18 '19 13:40
All 11 members of radical nationalist group Pegida arrested during the national Sinterklaas arrival party in Apeldoorn on Saturday, have been released from custody, the police announced on Sunday. The Pegida demonstrators, dressed as blackface Zwarte Piet, were arrested for refusing to follow police orders. The other Sinterklaas arrival parties throughout the Netherlands happened largely without major incident.
Nov 16 '19 11:07
Several people Including the head of radical nationalist group Pegida were arrested in Apeldoorn at the national arrival of Sinterklaas, the winter holiday folklore character who brings gifts to children. Police say that most of those arrested were protestors who refused orders to move to a cordoned off area for demonstrations.
Nov 16 '19 09:00
Minister Arie Slob plans to use better-than-expected advertising revenue from Ster to cover the government's contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held in Rotterdam next year, sources told De Telegraaf. Ster is the foundation that provides advertising to the Dutch public broadcasting system.
Nov 14 '19 08:12
The vast majority of Dutch municipalities are staying out of the discussion around the appearance of Zwarte Piet at the Sinterklaas arrival parties in their cities. Only a small number set conditions regarding the controversial character in the Sinterklaas tradition, NOS reports after speaking to the 120 largest municipalities in the Netherlands, three quarters of which responded to the broadcaster's questions.
