British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted to ICU with the coronavirus on Monday, after being hospitalized on Sunday. Prime Minister Mark Rutte wished him strength and a speedy recovery on Twitter.
"On behalf of the Dutch government, I wish Boris Johnson, his family and the British people much strength and luck in this difficult time. I hope to soon be able to him in good health," the Dutch Prime Minister tweeted.
United States president Donald Trump banned entry to flights from Europe for 30 days starting on the night from Friday to Saturday. This has to do with coronavirus Covid-19. Schiphol will definitely be affected by this ban, the airport said in a brief statement, adding that it is mapping out "what this means exactly for flights to the U.S."
The entry ban exempts countries outside the Schengen Area, like the United Kingdom and Ireland.
A search of a van near the Rotterdam Port uncovered six men, likely of Iranian and Iraqi nationality, hidden in a small secret compartment inside the vehicle. Four people were arrested on suspicion of people smuggling after authorities made the discovery.
The van, which had a Romanian license plate, was inspected by authorities before driving aboard a ferry headed to England. The six others in the vehicle shot out of the van when officers found the hidden compartment.
More and more companies are setting up in the Netherlands because of the Brexit. Last year 78 companies made this move, compared to 43 in 2018, according to annual figures from the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA), which helps foreign companies settle in our country. The Netherlands is now home to 140 "Brexit companies", NOS reports.
Authorities in the Netherlands say they found a group of 19 Albanian people hidden inside a truck at the Hoek van Holland. The 17 men and two women were in a vehicle that was going to travel to England by ferry.
The 47-year-old Romanian driver of the truck, which had Romanian license plates, was taken into custody on Friday evening by the Marechaussee. The driver was being held on suspicion people smuggling.
All 19 of the people found in the truck were hidden in the truck’s trailer area. They range in age from 19 to 43.
Many British citizens who are living in the Netherlands and want to continue to do so now that the Brexit has taken place, will have to apply for a residency permit by December 31st, according to the Dutch immigration and naturalization service IND. There are some exceptions to this, including those UK nationals who already carry permanent residency in the Netherlands, and those who also hold the nationality of an EU nation, IND said in an updated bulletin on the subject.
Last year fewer people emigrated from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom, while the number of immigrants from the UK to the Netherlands increased. This situation has been the case since 2015 - shortly before the United Kingdom decided to leave the European Union in June 2016, Statistics Netherlands reported on Friday. The Brexit is officially happening at midnight.
Dutch musician Andre Rieu is currently number one on the iTunes and Amazon hit lists in the United Kingdom with his Ode to Joy. UK residents are massively buying and streaming the song to protest against the Brexit, scheduled to happen on Friday, NU.nl reports.
All 26 Dutch members of the European Parliament will be voting for the Brexit on Wednesday evening. Some with complete conviction, others with pain in their hearts. "With reluctance", "we regret it", "it is inescapable", "inevitable", and "this is what the British want", is how the more reluctant Dutch MEPs explained their 'yes' vote to NOS.
On January 31s the United Kingdom is scheduled to leave the European Union. Negotiations on a trade agreement will start in February. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is confident that a deal will be reached within a year, but Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is not so certain.
A woman from Iran drowned on the Channel between France and England and was found in Dutch waters. Her body was discovered a few dozen kilometers off the coast of IJmuiden in August, NOS reports. Two suspected human traffickers will appear in court in France on Wednesday.
As far as is known, this was the first time that the body of a drowned migrant was discovered in Dutch waters. The suspects are a Dutch-Guinean man and a man from Afghanistan. They were arrested in October and face 10 years in prison for assisting undocumented migrants and manslaughter, the broadcaster writes.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party achieved an absolute majority in the parliamentary elections on Thursday. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is pleased that his win will at least bring quick clarity on what will happen with the Brexit, he said according to NOS.
"I don't feel relief or sadness, but rather an factual finding to settle this. I think everyone thinks that is good news, otherwise it will keep us occupied for years", Rutte said.
A woman from the United Kingdom recently got a pleasant surprise. The Amsterdam police sent her back her phone that was stolen in the Dutch capital - nearly three years ago.
The woman posted a photo of the returned phone, and accompanying letter from the Amsterdam police, on Twitter on Tuesday.
"My phone was stolen in Amsterdam in February 2017 and I just got a l just got a letter through the post," she wrote. "The Dutch police have found and returned it almost 3 years later. Fair fucking play. Big up."
Prime Minister Mark Rutte was spotted in a video that leaked from the NATO summit currently happening in London. The video shows a group of world leaders - seemingly unaware that they are being recorded - apparently mocking American president Donald Trump and his habits during a gathering on Tuesday.
The group of chatting world leaders include Rutte, Princess Anne, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte is attending a two-day NATO summit in London on Tuesday and Wednesday. The conference is already off to a rocky start, with American president Donald Trump clashing with French president Emmanuel Macron, and a number of sensitive topics still on the agenda.
Shell turned to court to demand that all Greenpeace protests be banned on and around the four Brent oil platforms in the British part of the North Sea. In mid-October Greenpeace protested on two of the no-longer-in-use platforms, demanding that Shell dismantle and remove the platforms. A court in Scotland will rule on this case on Thursday, NOS reports.
A truck in which 39 bodies were found on an industrial site in Grays, east of London on Wednesday, belonged to Edwin Kluft Transport from Hoogeveen three years ago. "Bizar", Kluft said to AD. "Very sad what happened in England."
Kluft said that he sold the red truck to a dealer in central Netherlands three years ago. "After that it was resold a number of times and eventually ended up in Bulgaria."
A party on the beach of Wijk aan Zee to say goodbye to the United Kingdom when they are scheduled to leave the European Union on October 31st will happen, whether the Brexit actually happens or not, organizer Ron Toekook confirmed to NOS.
The Dutch cabinet and European leaders should be cautiously pleased that a deal has been reached between the U.K. and the European Union over remaining Brexit issues, said Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands. “Now we have to study the details,” he told broadcaster NOS.
On the surface “it is very encouraging. We are very happy about it.”
The British police arrested 13 people on Friday in an investigation into drug trafficking from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom. The British and Dutch gang suspected of being behind this operation is believed to have smuggled over 50 tons of drugs from the Netherlands to the United Kingdom, AD reports.
From next year the Eurostar train will run directly between London and Amsterdam and Rotterdam, instead of the current arrangement in which travelers leaving the Netherlands have to change trains and go through passport checks in Brussels.
A two-day strike by the Balpa labor union for pilots in the UK has led to at least 44 flight cancellations at Schiphol Airport, according to information provided by the Amsterdam airport. Pilots for British Airways walked off the job on Monday, leading to about 1,700 canceled flights in total.
Of British Airways flights originating in Amsterdam, eight flights to Heathrow and three flights to Gatwick were canceled on Monday and again on Tuesday. The figures were the same also for flights destined for Schiphol.
Since the British population decided that the United Kingdom should leave the European Union in a referendum in June 2016, Dutch investments in the UK decreased steadily and existing investments were even withdrawn. British investments in the Netherlands, on the other hand, more than quadrupled since the Brexit decision was made, Statistics Netherlands reported on Monday.
PvdA leader Lodewijk Asscher lashed out at PVV leader Geert Wilders and FvD leader Thierry Baudet on Facebook. He accused the far right leaders of "playing poker with our securities", like British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is doing with the Brexit, AD reports.
