Tens of thousands of people gathered on Amsterdam's Dam square on Sunday to protest for a more active policy. Carrying signs saying things like 'What will my world look like when I'm as big as you?', 'Save the earth', and 'Do something', the demonstrators marched through the cold and rain from Dam Square to the Museumplein, NU.nl reports.
Politics
Mar 8 '19 14:40
This weekend will be a protest-filled one for the Dutch capital. The recurring Women's March will happen in Amsterdam on Saturday, and an even more popular climate protest is schedule to happen on Sunday, AT5 reports.
Around 3,500 people said on Facebook that they will be participating in the Women's March on Saturday. And over 16 thousand said they would be attending the climate protest on Sunday, with thousands more indicating that they are interested. While Facebook figures say little about the actual attendance, it seems that both protests will be well attended.
Mar 8 '19 13:50
On Friday a flock of giant breasts are floating down Amsterdam's canals for International Women's Day. This action is "to celebrate the fact that boobs are just boobs", organizer 72andSunny Amsterdam said in a press release. "Like the noses on our faces, they're simply part of the body, part of what makes us women."
Mar 8 '19 09:34
The first debate for the Provincial State elections of 20 March, which will ultimately also determine the composition of the Senate, happened on RTL on Thursday. The climate was one of the main points that the leaders of the VVD, CDA, D66, PVV, SP, PvdA and FvD debated, NU.nl reports.
Mar 7 '19 16:50
The home of Friesland PVV candidate Jeffrey Graansma was vandalized. Texts accusing the populist party of fascism were spray-painted on the wall of his home in the Friesland village of Boelenslaan, according to a photo PVV leader Geert Wilders shared on Twitter. "Disgusting and unacceptable", the PVV leader said.
The 19-year-old Graansma is a candidate in Friesland for the provincial states elections on March 20th, according to newspaper AD.
Mar 6 '19 16:00
Broadcaster WNL uninvited DENK leader Tunahan Kuzu from being a guest editor on current affairs program Goedemorgen Nederland, because the broadcaster thinks that he does not sufficiently guarantee press freedom in the Netherlands, NU.nl and NOS report.
The current affairs program is inviting a different political leader every day to discuss the Provincial States election that is taking place on March 20th. Wednesday morning was Kuzu's turn.
Mar 6 '19 15:10
The police had to remove a man from the public gallery in the Tweede Kamer on Wednesday afternoon for disrupting the parliamentary debate. The man tried to start a discussion with State Secretary Raymond Knops of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations by screaming at him from the gallery. The elderly man seemed to be confused and could barely stand on his feet, AD reports.
Mar 6 '19 07:53
Not informing the Tweede Kamer about the government purchasing shares in Air France-KLM was a "judgment call", Minister Wopke Hoekstra of Finance said in a debate on the matter on Tuesday. He considered all variants of parliamentary involvement in the purchase. "Considering all the pluses and minuses, this was the most ideal, but an ideal outcome does not exist", he said, NOS reports.
Mar 5 '19 14:50
A parliamentary inquiry will be done into gas extraction in Groningen. The Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, unanimously supported this. According to the Kamer, it will be good for the restoration of Groningen's trust in politics if there is accountability for choices made by persons, organizations and institutions. When exactly the inquiry will start is not yet clear, but it is unlikely that it will start earlier than next year, NOS reports.
Mar 5 '19 12:20
The Dutch voting software OSV will also be used in the Provincial States election on March 20th. Over the past years, multiple vulnerabilities have been found in the software.
Mar 5 '19 11:30
D66 party leader Rob Jetten wants Dutch people who have more than a million euros to pay more tax on their wealth, and for the tax rate for small savers to be lowered, he said in his Kerdijk lecture at Sociëteit De Witte in The Hague, AD reports.
Mar 5 '19 07:30
A Bahraini asylum seeker who was deported by the Netherlands was sentenced to life in prison in his native country, without being given a trial, Amnesty International and asylum seekers' organization VluchtelingenWerk said to NRC based on discussions with his family. Ali Mohammed Al Showaikh's nationality was also revoked and he was fined 1 thousand euros, NOS reports based on reports based on reports in local media.
Mar 4 '19 12:30
Of all State members in the Netherlands, the members of the Provincial States in Limburg were most often absent during meetings in the past four years at 7.6 percent. Absenteeism was least in the Provincial States of Gelderland and Noord-Brabant at 3.5 percent, according to research by NOS and the regional broadcasters into the attendance lists of the past administrative period.
Mar 4 '19 09:10
The Dutch government will not help Dutch rebel fighter in the Syrian civil war Yago R. get out of Syria, where he is currently in a Kurdish prison. His British wife and their newborn son are also not welcome in the Netherlands, the Volkskrant reports based on information from immigration and naturalization service IND and the Ministry of Justice and Security.
Mar 1 '19 13:30
A new neighborhood in IJburg in Amsterdam is very nearly done, but Mayor Femke Halsema and the committee that advises the mayor on names for new streets and squares in the Dutch capital can still not settle on what to call the new neighborhood's streets, the Volkskrant reports.
Amsterdam aims to do justice to the diversity of the city in its street names. Mayor Halsema repeatedly rejected suggestions from the committee for naming public spaces CNOR, she said to the city council on Thursday.
Mar 1 '19 12:40
It seems that the Netherlands and France are on good terms again, after the Dutch state unexpectedly bought a large interest in Air France-KLM this week. During a joint press conference, Dutch Minister Wopke Hoekstra of Finance and French Minister Bruno Le Maire of Economic Affairs stressed their common interest in making Air France-KLM "the best aviation company in the world", NOS reports.
Mar 1 '19 07:39
Almost a third of Dutch voters want to punish the Rutte III government for its policy during the Provincial States election on March 20th, according to the latest poll by research bureau I&O. A quarter of voters want to support the cabinet with his or her vote. And almost half said that they won't take into account whether or not the government coalition will get a majority in the Senate when they cast their vote, AD reports.
Feb 28 '19 09:25
French president Emmanuel Macron wants clarity from the Dutch government about its strategy with regard to Air France-KLM. Now that the Dutch state bought a considerable interest in the airline combination, it is important for the Netherlands to make its intentions clear, Macron said, AD reports.
Feb 27 '19 08:53
The Dutch State bought 12.68 percent shares in Air France-KLM, worth 680 million euros, Minister Wopke Hoekstra of Finance announced at a press conference on Tuesday evening. The French government did not know about this move in advance, according to French Minister of Economic Affairs Bruno Le Maire, NU.nl reports.
Feb 26 '19 09:47
Prime Minister Mark Rutte is "not optimistic" about British Prime Minister Theresa May finding a new way to handle the so-called Irish backstop in the Brexit. "We are sleepwalking into a no deal scenario. It's unacceptable and your best friends have to warn you. Wake up. This is real. Come to a conclusion and close the deal", he said to BBC journalist Laura Keunssberg, addressing May.
Feb 26 '19 07:36
Dutch customs officers at the port of Rotterdam intercepted a container with 90 thousand bottles of vodka, which were likely intended for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his army command, newspaper AD reports. The container was found in a ship, hidden under the hull of an aircraft on Friday.
Feb 22 '19 14:20
Thursday was a milestone for PVV leader Geert Wilders. He filed his 25th motion of no-confidence. The 'lucky' recipient of this motion was Minister Carola Scouten of Agriculture during a parliamentary debate on pulse fishing. The motion failed, RTL Nieuws reports.
"What did I do?" Wilders responded when RTL alerted him to this milestone. "Ah, a wonderful moment. There may be many more to follow."
Feb 21 '19 08:47
Tucker Carlson, a presenter on American broadcaster Fox News, called Dutch journalist and historian Rutger Bregman a "moron" during an interview, according to video footage of the interview released by platform NotThisNews.
The interview started off well enough, but by the end Carlson is completely sick of the Dutch historian. "I wanna say to you, why don't you go fuck yourself, you tiny brain - and I hope this gets picked up, because you're a moron", Carlson said to Bregman. "I tried to give you a hearing, but you were too fucking annoying."
Feb 21 '19 08:09
The Ministry of Defense acknowledged liability for the death of 20-year-old Koninklijke Marechaussee officer Kelvin Bosman in 2016. The young man became unwell during the final exercise of his basic training to become a Marechaussee and later died of the consequences of heat exhaustion, NOS reports.
