The minority coalition and three other parties have finalised their plans to cut the Dutch budget deficit to below 3%. More... comments (3)

Efforts by anti-smoking campaigners to reinstate a smoking ban in small cafes and bars failed on Wednesday when judges in The Hague ruled the law does allow exceptions. More... comments (6)

Some 10.8 million of the Dutch 17 million population will head off on holiday this year, down 400,000 on a year ago, according to new research by the tourism board. More... comments (3)

Football club finances improve
Six professional clubs remain on the Dutch football association’s watch list because of their problematic finances, the KNVB said on Wednesday. More...

House sales down almost 20% in April
Just 8,236 houses changed ownership in April, a drop of 18% on a year ago, the land registry office Kadaster said on Wednesday. More...

Healthcare spending rose 3.2% last year
Spending on healthcare rose 3.2% last year, compared with 2010, the national statistics office CBS said on Wednesday. In total, €90bn was spent on healthcare and welfare services, the CBS said. More...

Little support for Hedwige polder flood plan
A compromise plan to flood part of a polder in Zeeland to compensate for lost nature has failed to win majority support in parliament, news agency ANP said on Wednesday. More...

Football fans warned to behave in Ukraine and Poland
Dutch football fans are being given a special booklet drawn up by the Dutch football association and foreign ministry with dos and don'ts for June's European football championships in Poland and Ukraine. More...

Minister yes, but MP no
Social affairs minister Henk Kamp and his deputy Paul de Krom, justice minister Ivo Opstelten, foreign minister Uri Rosenthal and transport minister Melanie Schultz are not standing for parliament in the September 2012 general election. More... comments (1)

Turkish singer goes back home after Schiphol questioning
A Dutch concert by popular Turkish singer Arif Sag was cancelled this weekend after he gave up and returned home after lengthy questioning by officials at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. More... comments (6)

Four teenagers held over video showing sexual assault
Four boys, two aged 13, have been arrested in Tilburg in connection with an internet film which appears to show a 14-year-old girl being sexually assaulted. More...

Jewish groups may refuse to sign ritual slaughter covenant
Jewish organisations are considering refusing to sign the covenant on ritual slaughter currently being worked out by religious groups and government officials, Trouw reports on Wednesday. More...

Bad debts in the Netherlands pressure ABN Amro's first quarter
ABN Amro booked underlying net profit of €486m in the first quarter of this year, down 17% on the first three months of last year. More... comments (3)

Longest ice rink goes bankrupt
The longest ice rink in the Netherlands was declared bankrupt by a court in Zwolle on Tuesday, despite having earlier been given a postponement on paying its debts. More... comments (1)

Minister, police unions return to the negotiating table
The police are to stop their industrial action and restart talks with caretaker justice minister Ivo Opstelten, police unions and the minister said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon. More...

Persgroep buys VNU Media
Flemish media concern De Persgroep is buying VNU Media, owners of job vacancies sites Nationale Vacturebank and Intermediair and technology site Tweakers. More...

Unique Marilyn Monroe memorabilia unearthed - in Scheveningen
A box of papers and photographs from the 1950s, bought by the owner of a shop in the seaside town of Scheveningen, has turned out to contain a unique collection of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia, the Volkskrant reports on Tuesday. More... comments (1)

Opta again in trouble with the European Commission
The European Commission is considering taking further action against telecom watchdog Opta for its pricing policy on calls made between different networks. More... comments (1)

Is it okay to call a policeman an ant-f******? The high court says yes
A homeless man has been cleared by the High Court of insulting a police officer by calling him a mierenneuker - literally ant-fucker - a term used in popular speech to describe people who stick obsessively to the rules. More... comments (16)

Kangaroo on the loose near Arnhem
Experts from Arnhem zoo will on Tuesday try to catch a kangaroo which has been spotted in woods close to the city for the past few days. More... comments (2)

Minister to get tough on white-collar crime, subsidy abuse
White-collar criminals will be subject to much tougher punishment, including prison sentences, if a motion being introduced to parliament on Tuesday by caretaker justice minister Ivo Opstelten is passed. More... comments (5)

The Hague hit by wildcat bus strikes
Public transport in The Hague is being affected on Tuesday by wild-cat strikes by bus drivers at the city's transport company HTM. More... comments (1)

André Kuipers' relief crew on its way to space station
The Russian rocket that will bring André Kuipers back to Earth was successfully launched on Tuesday morning, say press reports. More...

Dutch ecological footprint grows
The Netherlands needs six times more land than it actually has to provide all the goods and services it uses, according to the latest Living Planet Report complied by the World Wildlife Fund. More... comments (18)

Benefit fraud will be boosted by new law, say researchers
Social security fraud will become more attractive if a new law is passed, according to Henk van Deún, chairman of the national organisation for benefit investigators in Tuesday's Volkskrant. More...

Former ING directors go to court for higher pensions
A group of 10 former senior executives at financial services group ING have gone to court demanding their pensions be topped up, the Telegraaf reports on Tuesday. More... comments (2)