New costumes selected for Zwarte Piet at the Amsterdam Sinterklaas parade have sparked a new critique from activists in the Netherlands. The organizing committee, SSIA, dropped the decades-old Zwarte Piet costume because of its apparent connections to the 17th century child slave trade, replacing it instead with costumes inspired by Spanish nobility in the 16th century.
spain
Nov 10 '17 12:30
Nov 7 '17 12:30
The roughly 400 Pieten helping Sinterklaas in Amsterdam's celebration this year, will be decked out in brand new, specially designed suits, the foundation responsible for the Amsterdam Sinterklaas celebration, SSIA, announced on Monday night. The new costumes were specifically designed to remove all references to slavery from the controversial character, discovered in examinations of the history behind the Zwarte Piet costume.
Oct 17 '17 13:20
Two devastating natural phenomena in Ireland, Spain and Portugal had a beautiful effect on the Netherlands. The effects of Hurricane Ophelia over Ireland and the forest fires in Spain and Portugal, turned the morning sun in the Netherlands into a beautiful fireball red-orange on Tuesday.
Oct 9 '17 16:30
A 47-year-old Dutch man was killed in an accident with a small plane on the Spanish island of Majorca on Sunday. Richard de Nijs took off in good weather on Sunday morning, but quickly found himself in thick clouds in the Tramuntana mountain range, according to newspaper AD. The local authorities believe he crashed into a mountain hidden by the clouds.
The small plane went up in flames after the crash, also causing a small forest fire, according to the newspaper. De Nijs, who had been living in Barcelona for some time, was found dead in the cockpit.
Aug 25 '17 07:34
A 22-year-old man arrested in Zevenbergen, Noord-Brabant early on Thursday morning, posted a threat in which he promised an attack during a concert by American band Allah-Las in Rotterdam's Maassilo on Wednesday night, Minister Stef Blok of Security and Justice confirmed to BNR, calling it an"idiotic action".
Aug 24 '17 10:40
The police arrested a 22-year-old man in Noord-Brabant during the early hours of Thursday morning in connection with a terrorist threat in Rotterdam on Wednesday evening. In a statement the police said a Special Interventions team entered the man's home around 2:00 a.m., arrested him and searched the home carefully.
Aug 24 '17 07:46
A concert by American band Allah-Las in the Maassilo in Rotterdam on Wednesday night, was canceled after the Spanish police tipped the Dutch authorities off about a potential terrorist threat. A few hundred meters from the Maassilo, the Rotterdam police pulled over a van with Spanish license plates and found gas bottles inside. The driver was arrested, RTL Nieuws reports.
Aug 18 '17 15:10
There is no reason to increase the terrorism threat level in the Netherlands following two terrorist attacks in Spain, National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security Dick Schoof said on Friday. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also sees no reason to adjust the travel advice for Spain, Minister Bert Koenders said to the council of Ministers.
Aug 18 '17 13:10
The terrorist attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils on Thursday and Friday emphasize the need to hurry with the government formation, VVD leader Halbe Zijlstra said at the start of the formation talks on Friday morning. "A country without a government is really something you should not have for too long, certainly not in this time", he said to newspaper AD.
Zijlstra called the attacks terrible.
Aug 18 '17 08:01
Spain was hit by two terrorist attacks. The first in Barcelona on Thursday afternoon, the second in Cambrils during the early hours of Friday morning. Thirteen people were killed and over 100 others were injured, including three Dutch, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed. Their condition is not life threatening, NOS reports.
The attack in Barcelona happened around 5:00 p.m. A van drove onto the Ramblas, crashing into dozens of people. Thirteen people were killed and over 100 ended up in hospital, including the three Dutch. The perpetrators fled.
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 2 '17 16:30
The police arrested two men suspected of involvement in the death of 52-year-old Melvin Arduin. He died a few days after being attacked in De Vaag bar on Straatweg in Rotterdam in February, AD reports.
The suspects were arrested separately. They are 31 and 35 years old, both from Rotterdam. They are facing charges of public violence. A 19-year-old was previously arrested in Spain and extradited to the Netherlands. He is still in custody.
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 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 20 '17 12:50
The Spanish police arrested a 57-year-old man on Wednesday who is wanted in the Netherlands for involvement in a shooting at the Thialf ice rink in Heereveen early this year, the police announced on Thursday.
Jul 3 '17 12:53
A Dutchman was recently freed by the Spanish police after spending 11 days as a hostage. He was kidnapped at his home in Lloret de Mar in mid-June and his abductors demanded 1.5 million euros in ransom. The man was freed just before the ransom was paid, AD reports.
The perpetrators were wearing police uniforms when they grabbed the Dutch man as he tried to enter his home. He was beaten, drugged and blindfolded before being forced into the trunk of a car.
Jun 26 '17 11:35
The Spanish police caught a Dutch hunter trying to sneak the head of a mouflon to the Netherlands in his suitcase from the Alicante airport on Sunday. The Dutch man was fined because he did not have a hunting permit, or permission to shoot the wild sheep, 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.
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.
Mar 31 '17 15:25
Three archeologists found almost 90 sliver coins from the period 1542 to 1571 in a field in Westwoud, Noord-Holland. Almost all the coins show the head of Spanish King Philip II, who once reigned over the Netherlands, the Westfries Museum announced on Friday, AD reports.
Along with the coins, the remains of a container was found in which they were supposedly kept, the Museum said.
Mar 27 '17 12:05
At 5:00 p.m. this afternoon it will be exactly 40 years since the worst airplane disaster to date happened on the Spanish island of Tenerife. On 27 March 1977 a KLM Boeing 747 collided on the runway at full speed with a PanAm Boeing. 583 people were killed in the crash, including everyone on the KLM flight, NOS reports.
Mar 22 '17 13:50
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Eurogroup chairman and departing Finance Minister, is facing fire over statements made about southern European countries in an interview with the Frankfurter Allegemeine on Monday.
In the interview he said that he finds the Stability Pact, which contains the EU budget rules, very important. He praised the "northern countries" for showing "solidarity" with "crisis countries", but that comes with "responsibilities", he said. "I can't spend all my money on alcohol and women and then ask you for help", he said.
Feb 22 '17 08:33
Small amounts of radioactive iodine-131 found in the air above Norway, Finland, Poland, Czech Republic, France and Spain last month raised concerns across Europe. But there is no trace of the radioactive substance in the Netherlands, Dutch national health institute RIVM announced after taking careful measurements, ANP reports.
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