Personal belongings of the Dutch dancer and spy Mata Hari went under the hammer on Friday in Amsterdam.Among the items were jewellery, a marble Chinese statue, silver cutlery, a doll's tea service and opera glasses.They brought a total of €17,000, ten times their estimate. 'We valued them as if they were regular items because we had no idea what extra value the name Mata Hari would give them,' an auction room spokesman told the Telegraaf.Safe keepingMata Hari probably gave her possessions to her friend the artist Piet van der Hem in 1916 for safe keeping.They were later handed to a notary whose nephew has now brought them to auction.Mata Hari was born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle to a well-to-do Frisian family in 1876. Following an unhappy marriage, she went to seek adventure in Paris where, as the exotic and mysterious Mata Hari, she became one of the most famous dancers of her day.She was arrested by the French in February 1917, tried as a spy for the Germans, and executed by firing squad that October at the age of 41.  More >

Dutch energy companies emitted 12% more carbon dioxide in 2015 because of an increased use of coal, the Netherlands emission authority says.This compares with a rise of 6% in 2014.Three new coal-fired power stations came into use last year. Uniper began use of its power plant on the Maasvlakte, with the official opening this month. Essent also opened a new power plant on the Maasvlakte, and a third came into use by GDF-Suez at Eemshaven.However, the emission authority expects emissions to begin falling with the closure at the end of 2015 of the old coal-fired power stations in Nijmegen, Borsele and Geertruidenberg.Two further old coal-fired plants on the Maasvlakte are scheduled to close in 2017.     More >

Approximately 30% of those Europeans who left for Syria and Iraq as foreign fighters have returned to their home countries, according to a new report by the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism in The Hague. The study is based on a variety of sources, including information provided directly to ICCT by ministries, intelligence services and other government agencies from 23 EU states. The report says almost 600 European jihadis have died in Syria and Iraq, or around 14% of the total 3,900 to 4,300. Almost 90% of the total come from residential areas in bigger cities.'This seems to indicate that there are already existing (extremist) networks in these areas, that a circle of friends radicalises as a group and decides to leave together or recruits those friends remaining at home while already in conflict zones,' the report says. In the Netherlands, 'there is a notable cluster of Dutch foreign fighters stemming from The Hague, but also other towns, such as Delft, Zoetermeer, Gouda and Arnhem,' the report said. The majority of Dutch jihadis have lower or lower middle class socio economic backgrounds, low to medium levels of education and limited chances on the labour market, the report said. Many have also been exposed to crime and drug abuse.  More >

The Netherlands is one of five European countries which have consistently blocked moves to open the way for Ukraine to join the EU, the Volkskrant says on Friday.Germany, France, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands all refused to allow any openings to Ukraine, despite the efforts of Britain, Sweden, Poland and the Baltic states during five years of treaty talks, the paper says. It bases its claims on diplomatic sources.The Maidan revolution and the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 did not lead to any change in the opponents’ position, the paper says. Its researchers talked to German, French, Belgian, British and Lithuanian diplomats and academics.Ukraine’s potential membership of the EU is one of the key issues in next week’s Dutch referendum on the EU treaty. The ‘no’ campaign says the treaty is a precursor to Ukraine joining the EU and this is the main reason why 75% of ‘no’ supporters say they plan to vote.ExpansionFrench diplomat Pierre Vimont, who led the treaty of association negotiations with Ukraine, told the Volkskrant there was a core group of countries which wanted to include the prospect of EU membership in the final treaty. ‘A second group consistently refused... to make any pledges about the future,’ he said.A Lithuanian diplomat said countries such as France and the Netherlands thought including a clause in the treaty on membership went too far. ‘They just kept saying “No perspective, no perspective”,’ he said.The Netherlands and France suffered most from being ‘fed up with expansion’, Vimont is quoted as saying. Both countries also rejected the EU constitution in referendums in 2005.BufferEarlier this week, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said in an interview with Nu.nl that Ukraine should never become a member of the European Union.Speaking a week before the controversial referendum in the Netherlands on the EU’s treaty with Ukraine, Rutte said Ukraine has an important buffer role between the EU and Russia.The Netherlands is against EU membership for Ukraine because ‘we think that Ukraine should have a good relationship with Europe and Russia. And that would not be possible if it was part of the European Union.’  More >