warning

For the first time ever, the Dutch authority on food and consumer product safety NVWA issued a warning to a breeder of Bambino Sphynx cats. These 'designer cats', which have no fur and short legs, often have serious health problems. The NVWA expects that more warnings will follow, RTL Nieuws reports.

The company that was reprimanded was Cattery in Gendt, Gelderland. The owner says she has now had her cats sterilized, according to the broadcaster. 

Highly pregnant cows are slaughtered in the Netherlands several times a week, despite a ban on doing so. This involves cows pregnant with full-grown and viable calves in the 8th or 9th month of their pregnancy, RTL Nieuws reports based on figures received from Dutch food and consumer product safety authority NVWA. 

The biennial NL Alert emergency message test will be happening at 12:00 p.m. today. If all goes well, everyone in the Netherlands should be receiving a message around midday.

The municipality of Amsterdam is about to stop the campaign in which tourists were warned about white heroin sold on streets as cocaine. Last year at least three people died and several others were treated by medics after snorting heroin they thought was cocaine.

The threat that Dutch nationals will be kidnapped and held hostage abroad is rising, and Dutch people abroad have been told to be extra vigilant for terrorist acts. The Dutch counter-terrorism co-ordinator NCTV's Dick Schoof advises that people in volatile countries in the Middle-East, Asia and Africa have to be extra careful, the NOS reports.

The Netherlands' Foreign Affairs Minister Frans Timmermans wrote on his Facebook page that he supports sanctions against Russia. He believes that it is the correct counter-measure for Russia's meddling in Ukraine, the NOS reports.

Professional gangs are reportedly siphoning large amounts of diesel from trucks. It is estimated that there are hundreds of cases, where some ten thousand liters of diesel have been stolen, the Telegraaf reports.

Workers across the European Union should no longer be exploited, and should be properly paid for honest work. This comes from Deputy Prime Minister Lodewijk Asscher in an opinion piece for the Volkskrant.

ProRail has voiced concerns about a new trend in selfies called the 'rail selfie', in which people take pictures or videos of themselves standing on or next to train tracks, sometimes with an oncoming train in the distance.

The ANWB has warned drivers this morning that there is heavy fog throughout most of the country. Traffic could be affected.

The Dutch Red Cross will add 600 assisting staff to its services at the carnaval in Limburg and Noord-Brabant. That's 60 percent more than last year, when 235 volunteers were standing ready.