An Enschede resident is starting 2019 out 30 million euros richer. He or she won the main prize of the State Lottery's New Year's Eve draw. The draw fell on lot AV 83402, AD reports.
On Monday a record number of 32 lots per second were bought between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. That amounts to over 115,000 lots in one hour. In total over 6.3 million lots were sold. The total prize package for the New Year's Eve draw came out at over 67.5 million euros.
During the run up to New Year's Eve and a few days after, over 53,000 complaints were reported to a website devoted to logging fireworks nuisances in the Netherlands. The registration had a 10 percent increase in complaints over a year ago, suggesting that either people are more frequently annoyed by fireworks, or more people know about the website created by 30 local GroenLinks party factions.
The average person living in the Netherlands viewed 190 minutes of television every day, down 4.8 percent from a year earlier. In 2014, the Netherlands put on a strong showing in both the Winter Olympics and the World Cup, but no such events took place in 2015.
An investigation into a fireworks attack on a Jewish family in Amsterdam’s Rivierenbuurt neighbourhood led to the arrest of three teens, Amsterdam mayor Eberhart van der Laan said on Thursday. The family involved said the three shouted anti-Semitic phrases while trying to kick the door of the house in on New Year’s Eve.
Police in Germany arrested three people including a 14-year-old Syrian boy seeking asylum in the Netherlands on suspicion of sexual assault. The accusation stems from an alleged New Year’s Eve attack on two girls, aged 14 and 15, newswire ANP reported on Thursday.
Over 40,000 people packed into an area around Rotterdam’s Erasmus Bridge to watch some 4,000 kilograms of fireworks explode in the sky during one of the most elaborate New Year’s Eve countdowns in the Netherlands. The eight-minute long display was the centerpiece of commercial network RTL 4’s countdown to 2016.
Fire departments across the Netherlands are asking people to try to extinguish small fires themselves before calling emergency responders on New Year’s Eve. Firefighters are often overloaded with calls during end-of-year celebrations, with little time to waste on inconsequential blazes.
Two men who sold dangerous fireworks should face three years in prison, the public prosecutor told a court in Breda, Noord-Brabant on Wednesday. The 25- and 33-year-olds from Breda co-ran a shop which provided customers with fireworks from Poland, the public prosecutor (OM) released.
Dozens of people were injured by fireworks over New Year's.
There has already been problems with fireworks in the run-up to New Year's Eve. A man from Zwolle was seriously injured on his hands and face when he was making fireworks. Eleven other people have also been hurt by fireworks. The complaint site Vuurwerkoverlast.nl has already received more than 44 thousand complaints.
Fireworks enthusiasts have to be patient and remember that fireworks may only be lit from 18:00 tonight. In previous years it was allowed from 10:00 a.m.
Netherlands residents have lodged over 30,000 complaints about fireworks in just six days on the website Vuurwerkoverlast.nl. The site is operating for its third year and went back online for the holiday season less than a week ago.
"Aid workers such as police officers must not bear the brunt of out of control misconduct. Colleagues who are nevertheless confronted with violence can count on maximum support from the organization." said Chief Constable Gerard Bouman of the National Police regarding the rising trend of violence against officers during the turning of the year.
The nearly 100 rioters who were arrested last year in Veen for the New Year's eve riots, will get 200 euro for every night that they were unjustly imprisoned, reports the Algemeen Dagblad.
There will be almost no additional manpower deployed to ensure that the new times for fireworks are observed on New Year's Eve, NOS reports. The law is currently being adjusted, the lighting of fireworks will only be allowed on December 31st from 18:00 p.m. Previously fireworks may have been lit from the morning.
The four major cities, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, and The Hague, want to limit the time in which fireworks may be sold and set off. They addressed the issue with Minister Opstelten of Security and Justice in a joint letter, according to De Telegraaf.
A 14-year-old boy is still in critical condition after shrapnel from an early New Year's Day explosion hit him in the head. The boy was standing more than 40 meters away from a group of people who blew up a parking meter using fireworks.
The round-up of some of this week’s most noteworthy events and news stories features the selection of two Dutch for Mars travel, One.com won’t follow Gmail on Wilders Anti-Islam Stickers, the Dutch economy falling sharply on global ranking, the bankruptcy of Aldel, a wrap up of New Year's damages, a giant yellow duck of Dutch make that bursts in Taiwan, and YouTube, Spotify blocked in trains.
If it were up to the Mayor of The Hague, Jozias van Aartsen, there would be restrictions on fireworks.
Accidents and vandalism during New Year's celebrations caused about €9 million in damages to private homes around the country, according to a national association of insurers. The damage estimate is similar to last year, and also includes problems triggered by fireworks.
The owners of 69 cars parked around the Hague were in for a shock Wednesday morning to find their vehicles had caught fire during New Year's celebrations. There had already been 30 car fires reported near Den Haag by midnight.
A 51-year-old man died due to a fireworks accident in Medemblik, Tuesday around 18:30.
Netherlands residents can expect a rainy New Year's Eve, with the skies clearing up at just about midnight.
Two Eindhoven residents (28 and 31 years) were sentenced to eight and nine years in prison for kidnapping and raping a young woman from Turnhout.
