Great Britain

The Netherlands should approach Spain and France to form an alliance in the European Union to replace Great Britain as an ally after the Brexit, according to the advisory council on international affairs AIV. Parliament asked the AIV to look into which diplomatic strategy the Netherlands should follow now that Great Britain is leaving the European Union, NU.nl reports.

A 60-year-old truck driver from the Netherlands was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Great Britain for cocaine trafficking. He was caught smuggling 15 kilograms of the drug into the country early this year. According to the British Prosecutor, the drugs are worth around 1.5 million pounds, or about 1.7 million euros, RTL Nieuws reports.

The Dutch man was arrested at Harwich harbor on January 22nd, shortly after arriving there with his truck. He declared that he was carrying computer parts.

On Wednesday the court in Bristol sentenced 48-year-old Berlinah Wallace to life in prison for pouring acid over her ex-boyfriend, Mark van Dongen from Rijsbergen, in September 2015. Wallace will be eligible for early release after 12 years in prison, AD reports. 

A friend of a British man wo drowned in the Noordzeekanaal  after falling off a party boat last month, launched a crowdfunding action to help pay for the Newcastle man's body to be sent back to Britain, as well as for his funeral.

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. 

British competition watchdog CMA approved Heineken's acquisition of Punch Taverns' British pubs. The Dutch brewer made sufficient concessions to remove competition concers, the CMA decided, ANP reports.

The supervisor found 33 locations where the competition between pubs would be affected by Heineken taking over the Punch Taverns pubs. Heineken then submitted proposals to sell the pubs involved. 

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. 

The Ajax team departed from Schiphol airport on Tuesday morning and is on their way to Stockholm, where the Amsterdam team is playing against Manchester United in the Europa League finals on Wednesday. Manchester United is also scheduled to travel to Stockholm today.

Tonight both teams will train in the Friends Arena, where the match will be played on Wednesday, NU.nl reports. After training coaches Peter Bosz and Jose Mourinho and a player for each team will give a press conference. 

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and counterterrorism coordinator Dick Schoof both called an apparent attack in Manchester on Monday "terrible". At least 22 people were killed and over 50 were wounded in an explosion shortly after an Ariana Grande concert in the Manchester Arena. The English authorities are "treating it as a terrorist attack until we know something else", the police said, RTL Nieuws reports.

The victims include children. The police currently believe it was a suicide bombing. 

68 stowaways, including 15 children and two pregnant women, were found hiding inside four trucks at the Harwich International Port in Great Britain on Thursday night. The trucks were transported to England from Hoek van Holland on a Stena Line ferry.

Arresting terrorists and bringing them to justice is the only measure that works against all kinds of threats.