UEFA announced the draw for the Champions League quarter finals on Friday. Ajax will be facing off against Juventus. On Twitter a number of Ajax footballers seem a bit daunted by the prospect of a match against the Italian team, but also excited for the challenge.
😍 The quarter-final draw 😍
A criminal case is being prepared against Dutch oil and gas giant Shell. The company is suspected of paying bribes for the exploitation rights of an oil field off the coast of Nigeria, Shell said on its website and the Dutch Public Prosecutor confirmed to NOS.
The Prosecutor told NOS that the investigation is almost complete and they are working on the criminal prosecution of Shell.
This case involves the acquisition of the rights to oil field OPL-245. Shell, together with Italian energy group Eni, paid 1.3 billion euros for these rights in 2011.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte criticized Brussels for being too lax as far as Italy is concerned. The European Commission must be harsher on Italy for violating budget agreements, Rutte said at an economic summit in Davos. The current state of affairs fosters mistrusts among citizens of other EU member states, including the Dutch, he said, NU.nl reports.
A total of 90 people arrested in a large international action against the Italian mafia clan 'Ndrangheta on Wednesday morning, was announced at a press conference at European judicial cooperation body Eurojust in The Hague. As part of 'Operation Pollino', the police and judiciary in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium raided various locations.
Police and judiciary in the Netherlands, Italy, Germany and Belgium are raiding countless locations on Wednesday morning in a coordinated action against the Italian 'Ndrangheta, a mafia clan from Calabria that is active throughout Europe. Raids and arrests are currently taking place in the four countries, ANP reports
Dozens of raids are being done in the Netherlands, a spokesperson for the Public Prosecutor said to the news wire. He could give no further information.
At least 11 hikers were killed in a sudden flood in the southern Italian region of Calabria. They were in the Raganello gorge when a river overflowed due to heavy rainfall. Local reports say that one Dutch was injured, NOS reports.
Many of the hikers were dragged along by the strong currents. The victims include at least four men and four women. Two people are still missing. 23 people were brought to safety, of whom seven were taken to hospital.
The 3-year-old son of Deventer Statesman Zafer Aydogdu drowned in a swimming pool in Italy on Sunday. The family was holidaying in the Italian region of Tuscany. The boy was rushed to a hospital, where he passed away, De Stentor reports.
The Italian police believe that 17-year-old Koen van Keulen from Soest died in a fatal accident at Lake Garda. His family saw camera footage that confirm this conclusion, a spokesperson for the family said to RTL Nieuws.
The Dutch rescue dogs team that went to Italy with 12 sniffer dogs to search for Koen van Keulen on Sunday, will remain in the country for the time being to help search for a missing Italian girl. The Italian authorities asked the Dutch for help, foundation RHWW said on Twitter.
A body was found during the search for 17-year-old Koen van Keulen in Italy. It is not yet known if it is the missing teenager from Soest, RTV Utrecht reports.
The body was found in a ditch along a main road on Monday morning, according to the broadcaster.
A 17-year-old boy from Soest disappeared in Italy during the early hours of Friday morning. The local authorities and some 200 volunteers searched for Koen van Keulen the whole weekend, but so far to no avail. On Sunday evening search dogs from the Netherlands joined the search, NOS reports.
The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the G7 countries called on Russia to provide clarification on the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. According to the G7, evidence from international investigations that MH17 was shot down by a Russian army BUK missile is "convincing, significant and deeply troubling", RTL Nieuws reports.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte will be attending an informal European Union summit on migration on Sunday. This summit is intended to remove the irritations among various heads of government about the European migration policy, Rutte said in parliament. "It will be complicated", the Dutch Prime Minister said, NU.nl reports.
Italy refused to allow rescue ship Lifeline to dock after it picked up a few hundred asylum seekers on the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Libya. "Go to the Netherlands with those people", Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said, RTL Nieuws reports.
European Parliament approved the European Medicines Agency's move from London to Amsterdam, on the condition that the authorities report on the progress of the construction of the new EMA office on Zuidas every quarter, ANP reports.
The Italian protest against the relocation of the European Medication Agency from London to Amsterdam continued during a so-called fact-finding mission which took place in Amsterdam on Thursday.
An Italian fugitive was arrested by the Amsterdam- and Italian police on the KNSM island on Thursday afternoon. According to the police, there is an international arrest warrant for the man, who still has to serve seven years in prison in Italy.
The man was arrested on Venetiehof around 4:00 p.m., according to NU.nl. The Amsterdam police deployed a SWAT team for the arrest. He will soon be extradited to Italy, a spokesperson for the police said to the newspaper.
Italy plans to urge European institutions to reconsider the decision to move the European Medicines Agency from London to Amsterdam due to the Brexit, AD reports based on sources around the Italian government in Rome.
The Finance Ministers of France and Germany are calling for the world's top economic powers to debate Bitcoin and cryptocurrency regulation at the G20 summit in Argentina next year. The Netherlands does not form part of the G20 - the 20 largest economies in the world - but was invited to participate in the summit by host country Argentina.
A nail-biting lottery is how Amsterdam is now officially the next home of the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Roughly 900 jobs will move to Amsterdam, with staffers needing to choose between staying in the UK or making the move to the Netherlands.
The European Union's EMA will formally leave London, United Kingdom beginning in March 2019 because of the impending Brexit.
Lawyer Jan Willem Koeleman from Utrecht died while participating in a triathlon in Italy on Sunday morning. The 54-year-old man became unwell during the swimming leg of the race and drowned, the Telegraaf reports.
Koeleman took part in the half-triathlon of the Forte Village Challenge in southern Sardinia. This involved 1.9 kilometers of swimming, 90 kilometers of cycling and 21 kilometers of running, according to the newspaper.
Three 21-year-old Feyenoord fans were arrested in Naples during the early hours of Tuesday morning. The Dutch men are accused of throwing stones at police officers, among other things. They are in custody, NU.nl reports.
The National Police is establishing a team especially for hunting fugitive members of the Italian mafia, AD reports. This team is in response to criticism from Italy that the Netherlands does not do enough to search for mafia members, allowing mafia leaders to live carefree lives in our country, according to the newspaper.
The Italian mafia is permanently based in the Netherlands and mainly engages in drug trafficking, according to the newspaper. Mafia experts also warn that the mafia is penetrating into sectors of the Dutch economy.
The Fyra trains in NS's failed high speed railway project are getting a new owner, according to newspaper AD. Italian railway company Trenitalia is buying 17 of the 19 trains, train manufacturer AnsaldoBreda confirmed to the newspaper.
According to Italian media, Ternitalia is paying about a third of the price that NS originally paid for the trains. The compensation NS will receive amounts to around 20 million euros, AD calculates.
