Hurricane Irma not only caused massive material destruction on Sint Maarten, but also enormously disrupted the population, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in a press conference on Friday after the second crisis meeting about the situation on the island that forms part of the Kingdom of the Netherla
France
Sep 7 '17 13:20
Minister Bert Koenders is on his way to Tallinn to meet with his French and British counterparts for a discussion on the consequences of devastating Hurricane Irma, the Telegraaf reports. "We are in close contact with the other affected countries. It's time to put our shoulders to the wheel", Koenders said to the newspaper.
The EU Foreign Affairs Ministers are meeting in Tallin, the capital of Estonia, today. Estonia is the current president of the European Union.
Sep 1 '17 13:20
Whether the Dutch national football team will be able to qualify for the World Cup in Russia next year, is a question that's on the mind of every sports lover in the Netherlands today, including the government. Almost all Dutch Ministers watched Oranje lose 4-0 against France in the qualifier on Thursday, according to broadcaster NOS.
Aug 18 '17 16:30
The French Ministry of Agriculture published its first list of Dutch products to be recalled from French supermarkets because they contain toxic insecticide fipronil. The list consists of 17 types of waffles, NOS reports.
Aug 14 '17 15:50
On Sunday the police pulled over a refrigerated truck on the A29 near Klaaswaal and found six stowaways inside. Two of them were hypothermic, NOS reports.
The truck was pulled over based on a tip from a motorist who heard knocking from the truck while in traffic. According to the broadcaster, all six stowaways are Iranian. It is believed that they got into the truck in France.
The stowaways were checked over by paramedics before being transferred to the immigrant department.
Aug 8 '17 14:20
Residents of the province of Zeeland spent the least money on vacationing abroad last year, according to data platform Localfocus based on figures from Statistics Netherlands. The average expenditure per Zeeland resident was 697 euros per resident. Noord-Holland residents spent the most money, 902 euros per holiday, NU.nl reports.
Destinations also differed between the two provinces. Zeeland residents preferred to go to Spain. While Noord-Holland residents opted for more expensive holiday countries like Germany and France.
Aug 4 '17 12:50
About 40 percent of the Dutch who rent out their homes on Airbnb don't hold to the only 60 days per year limit, according to a study by Trouw, De Tijd, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Le Monde. The study looked at the Airbnb rentals in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France and Switzerland based on data from Airbnb and data analyst AirDNA.
Jul 26 '17 14:20
Most of the Dutch tourists currently spending their holidays in the south of France have experienced little trouble from forest fires raging in the area, tour operators Neckermann Reizen and Vrij Uit said to RTL Nieuws on Wednesday.
Forest fires have been raging in southern France near St Tropez and on Corsica since early this week. But of the tourists who booked holidays through the two companies, none had to be evacuated or had to leave the area prematurely. "Our customers don't notice much about that", a spokesperson said to the broadcaster. "They're enjoying their holiday."
Jul 25 '17 15:00
Dozens of Dutch tourists were evacuated from their holiday homes and campsites in southern France on Tuesday due to fierce forest fires in the area. The dry, hot weather and strong winds mean that the fires are spreading quickly, but the French fire department says it has the situation under reasonable control, the Telegraaf reports.
Jul 24 '17 15:30
The Limburg police are working with the French authorities to investigate about a dozen tips about 20-year-old Elle Custers, who went missing in France on Friday, the police said on Facebook.
Jul 24 '17 09:08
Dutch voters want a strong leader that will get things done, but within the democratic rules, according to a large-scale poll on populism by international poller Kantar Public. The researchers questioned representative groups in the Netherlands, France, Germany and Great Britain. They concluded that Germans are the least susceptible to populism, the French and English the most. The Netherlands is in between, the Volkskrant reports.
Jul 24 '17 07:31
Nijmegen student Elle Custers is missing in France, the Limburg police reported on Sunday. The 20-year-old woman did not arrive at her holiday address over the weekend. Her parents had contact with her for the last time on Friday.
Elle is from Spaubeek in Limburg. According to the police, she traveled from Spain, where she worked as an au pair, to Bordeaux in France by train and bicycle. She contacted her parents from Bordeaux on Friday. She had a train ticket to travel from Bordeaux to Sainte Foy la Grande on Saturday. Whether she made this journey is unclear.
Jul 14 '17 07:32
With the region Zuid starting summer holiday this afternoon, the ANWB expects the roads to be extremely busy on Friday and Saturday, both in the Netherlands and abroad. Be ready to spend time in traffic jams, according to the service, AD reports.
Jun 14 '17 11:00
A total of 11 million Dutch are going on summer vacation this year, 3 percent more than last year, according to research by NBTC-Nipo. That means that about 7 in 10 Dutch will be going away on vacation this year, NOS reports.
Most people are going abroad for vacation - nearly 8 million. Like last year France is the most popular destination for Dutch vacationers, with 1.3 million visitors. Spain follows in second place. Greece took a massive leap in popularity and can expect 50 percent more Dutch visitors this summer than last year.
Jun 2 '17 08:15
All 50 Dutch kids involved in a bus accident on the A6 in northern France on Thursday morning, are back home. They arrived at the Strabrecht College in Geldorp around 8:30 p.m. Four teachers are still in the hospital, three for observation.
Jun 2 '17 07:54
The United States is pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, president Donald Trump announced in a statement at the White House on Thursday afternoon, local time. The Netherlands deplores this decision, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in response. Our country and the rest of the world remains committed to battling climate change, he stressed. Foreign Affairs Minister Bert Koenders called Trump's decision a "cardinal error", Environment State Secretary Sharon Dijksma called it a "historic mistake".
Jun 1 '17 12:55
Eleven students and five teachers from the Strabrecht College in Geldorp were hospitalized after their school bus crashed into the back of a truck on the A16 between Duinkerken and Calais in France this morning, the school said in a statement on its website. The bus driver was critically injured and is in hospital in Lille.
Jun 1 '17 07:36
A Dutch school bus crashed into a truck on the A16 highway in Bourbourg, France on Thursday morning. The bus driver was rushed to the hospital in critical condition by helicopter. Sixteen kids and two adults were also injured. Two of them were taken to hospital, the others sustained minor injuries, according to NU.nl
The accident happened around 4:45 a.m. There were around 50 kids and six adults from the Strabrecht College in Geldorp on the bus. They were on their way to London for a school trip and left Geldorp around 1:00 a.m.
May 25 '17 08:06
NATO is joining the coalition fighting against terrorist organization ISIS in Syria and Iraq, the 28 NATO member states decided on Wednesday. The Netherlands will contribute two planes to the fight against Islamic State this year, Ministers Bert Koenders of Foreign Affairs and Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert announced.
May 16 '17 20:00
American author Kristin Anderson has been based in the Netherlands for over five years now, and has used the time to become a full-fledged novelist. Her second book, The Things We Said in Venice, is a travelogue that takes its two main characters on an on-again-off-again romance across Europe and ultimately to the Netherlands. Essentially written as a much-needed vacation to the eco-thriller she previously worked on, she based the characters on a subject of a Huffington Post article and a travel photographer/blogger.
May 8 '17 09:34
The number of cross-border child abductions in the Netherlands showed a significant increase in 2016. Last year a total of 251 children were reported kidnapped to the Dutch center of international child abductions IKO, 14 more than in 2015, the center announced according to RTL Nieuws.
Most of these abductions involved a parent taking a child abroad following a divorce or separation. Most of the abducted children were below the age of 6, the youngest one was two months old at the time of abduction. In 70 percent of the cases, the perpetrator is female.
May 8 '17 08:36
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Foreign Affairs Minister Bert Koenders expressed their congratulations to new French president Emmanuel Macron and congratulated the French population for choosing pro-Europe and anti-xenophobia. PVV leader Geert Wilders congratulated runner up nationalist candidate Marine Le Pen on getting the votes of "millions of patriots".
Apr 26 '17 12:55
The Netherlands is the European country with the second most ransomware infections last year, according to security company Symantec's annual Internet Security Threat report. Globally the Netherlands is in 6th place, Tweakers reports.
Apr 24 '17 08:46
PVV leader Geert Wilders called it "great news" that right-wing populist Marine Le Pen of Front National reached the second round of the French presidential election. In the second round Le Pen is up against Social-liberal Emmanuel Macron.
"A wonderful day for patriots inside and outside France who want more national sovereignty and less EU and immigration", Wilders said to news wire ANP. "I just sent her my congratulations. Now on to a feisty second round, but I'm hoping for President Le Pen!"
