January 2007

News from Wednesday 31 January 2007

Essent Nuon merger a step closer

The supervisory boards of Holland’s two biggest energy concerns Essent and Nuon voted in favour of a merger at the end of last week and are expected to formally announce their decision on Thursday, reports today’s Volkskrant.......more

Dutch mixed feelings on Corus takeover (update)

Dutch reaction to the takeover of Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus by India’s Tata Steel was cautiously optimistic today although some employee organisations are concerned that the high price paid – 608 pence per share – could have a negative impact on the company’s investment plans and jobs.......more

New cabinet to ditch cautious growth rule

The next Dutch government is set to base its financial planning on economic growth estimates that are higher than the ‘cautious’ forecasts drawn up by its think-tank, the Financieele Dadblad reported on Wednesday.......more

Police raid on biggest ever ecstasy lab

Four people were arrested in Haarlem on Tuesday night after police raided what is said to be the biggest ecstasy laboratory ever found in the Netherlands. Dismantling the lab, which contained an 'enormous' quantity of chemicals used to make the illegal drug, is expected to take until Thursday....

NL lowest youth unemployment rate in EU

The Netherlands has the lowest youth unemployment rate in Europe, at just 6.6%, according to European statistics office Eurostat. The average jobless rate among the 27 member states is 16.3%, with Poland highest at 25.9%. The overall Dutch unemployment rate of 3.6% is also very low in EU terms, only Denmark is lower (3.2%)....

Longer calls boost Vodaphone results

Telecoms group Vodafone saw sales per Dutch customer fall by over 8% in 2006, compared with 2005. Subscriber numbers also fell by 2.4% to 3.8 million. But on average people spent 6% longer on the phone, boosting Vodafone Nederland’s overall turnover....

Stork to focus on takeovers in 2007

Engineering group Stork is to focus on boosting growth through acquisitions in 2007. The €75m originally set aside for a share buy-back will now be used for takeovers, the company said.......more

Growth continues in temp agency market

The Dutch temporary employment market grew by 18% in December, temps agency association ABU said on Wednesday. The number of hours worked rose 15%.......more

200% increase in use of anabolic steroids

The number of people using anabolic steroids and other illegal substances to boost their physique or sporting performance has gone up by 200% to 150,000 over the past four years, says the Dutch doping authority. The authority warns that the users, mainly young men, are risking their health by taking enormous quantities of illegal, and often contaminated, performance boosters...

Gnomes visit old people’s home

Residents of the Zuidervaart old people’s home in Alphen aan den Rijn have been surprised by the arrival of 47 plastic gnomes which turned up overnight in their garden. No-one knows where they came from, Paola de Boer, from the home told the Parool yesterday. In the meantime, the residents have been busy knitting the gnomes scarves....

Dutch cricket team out of world final

The Dutch national cricket team has failed to reach the final of the World Cricket League competition, after losing to hosts Kenya on Wednesday. The league is made up of the six nations which have qualified for this year’s cricket World Cup alongside the more established cricketing countries such as Pakistan and the West Indies....

Inquiry into 20 years of educational reform

MPs back holding a parliamentary inquiry into 20 years of educational reforms following growing concern that the changes are not boosting standards. Last Friday school pupils and students held a protest demonstration in The Hague demanding more traditional teaching......more

Crackdown on private use of company cars

Tax inspectors are to use cars fitted with special scanners in an effort to track down people who use their company cars for private business without paying the proper tax.......more

Van Dale to publish censored dictionary

Dictionary publisher Van Dale is to produce a censored version of its primary school dictionaries aimed at orthodox Christian schools. The new dictionary, produced at the request of five schools from the Bible belt town of Staphorst, has scrapped 200 swear words and obscenities from its traditional version....

Warmest January on record

January 2007 has been the mildest January since records began in 1706, weather bureau KNMI said on Wednesday. The average temperature this month has been 7.1 degrees, almost a full degree higher than the previous record of 6.2 degrees. On 18 January, the temperature reached 14.9 degrees in Westdorpe in Zeeland....

Queen Beatrix celebrates 69th birthday

Dutch monarch Queen Beatrix is celebrating her 69th birthday today reports NOS. The queen will spend the day with her family at Huis ten Bosch in The Hague. Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard was born at Soestdijk Palace in Baarn and became queen in 1980, succeeding her mother, Juliana....

Ship fire continues to blaze

The A9 motorway between Beverwijk and Velsen remained closed during Wednesday morning’s rush hour due to the massive fire on board of a ship in the harbour at Velsen. The road was reopened by mid-morning but the Beverwijk exit was still unusable. The fire was still burning on Wednesday morning, almost 24 hours day after the blaze began.......more

India's Tata Steel wins battle for Corus

Indian conglomerate Tata Steel has won the battle for Anglo-Dutch steel concern Corus beating its Brazilian rival CSN in an auction in London on Tuesday night.......more

News from Tuesday 30 January 2007

Dutch heatwave deaths topped 1,000

The Netherlands comes in at number four in the UN’s list of countries affected by natural disasters in 2006. According to figures published by the UN’s disaster research unit in Geneva today, a thousand people in Holland died during last July’s heat wave.......more

Drug use stable for 10 years

The use of hard and soft drugs by the Dutch has remained stable over the past 10 years, according to health ministry figures. Some 5.5% of the population use cannabis while hard drugs (ecstasy, cocaine and heroin) are used by 1.5%. These figures have changed very little over the last decade, although ecstasy use has gone up, the figures show....

Pressure mounts on Bos over ministry job

Labour party chairman Michiel van Hulten wants party leader Wouter Bos to be part of the new cabinet, reports NOS. Van Hulten made his feelings clear at a meeting of Labour MPs today. During the election campaign Bos said that the party leader should remain on the back benches if he did not become prime minister.......more

Air France-KLM not bidding for Alitalia

Air France-KLM is not bidding for shares in the Italian airline Alitalia, reports NRC.next. Some 11 candidates had registered for the shares by the 6pm deadline yesterday, the paper said. The Franco-Dutch alliance was seen as one of the most obvious candidates to acquire a major stake in its Italian rival.......more

Dutch troops protected by anti-missile nets

Special fibre nets which can catch and immobilise anti-tank grenades are to be sent to Afghanistan to give Dutch troops extra protection against Taliban missiles. The so-called ‘constrictors’ have been developed by the Dutch research institute TNO.......more

Edgar Davids back to Ajax

Dutch footballer Edgar Davids is to return to Ajax and will sign a 18 month contract with the Amsterdam team this afternoon. The immediate transfer from Britain’s Tottenham Hotspur was confirmed by Ajax this today. After over 10 years playing abroad, the 33-year-old midfielder is returning to the team where he started his career in 1991....

Average age for leaving home is 23 for men

The average age of Dutch men when they leave home is 23, two years older than women, according to national statistics office CBS. Children stay at home longest in Noord-Brabant. On averaqge children of Turkish and Moroccan origin leave home two years earlier than native Dutch offspring....

No subsidy for extreme Christian party

Fundamentalist Christian party, the SGP, is again set to be been refused state subsidies because of its stand on women.......more

Wilders backs MP accused of wife beating

Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration party PVV, has given his full backing to PVV MP Dion Graus who was accused of wife beating and financial irregularities last month.......more

NL soldiers will not destroy opium crops

Dutch soldiers serving in Afghanistan will not take part in the destruction of opium crops because the action will not help build public support for reconstruction efforts, aid minister Agnes van Ardenne said on Monday evening.......more

Young psychiatric prisoners missing

The justice ministry has confirmed reports in the AD that 80 of the 600 young people in psychiatric prisons (tbs) escaped last year and that four of these remain unaccounted for. Forty of the 1,400 adults in psychiatric prisons escaped in 2006....

Passengers trapped in train

Around 200 passengers were trapped in a train between Woerden and Bodegraven for almost four hours yesterday evening due to problems with overhead cables. The passengers were not allowed to leave the train for safety reasons and because there were not enough buses available....

Shell in billion dollar Iranian gas contract

Anglo-Dutch energy concern Shell and the Spanish oil company Repsol have won orders believed to be valued at $4.3bn in a project to drill for gas in Iran, the Financieele Dagblad reports today.......more

US praises NL help in terrorist trial

Dutch terrorist suspect Wesam al Delaema has pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges at a federal court in the US. Al Delaema, who was extradited from the Netherlands at the weekend, appeared before a US court on Monday.......more

Dutch terrorist gang young but typical

The Dutch terrorist network known as the Hofstad group is typical of Muslim fundamentalist groupings throughout Europe, says Edwin Bakker of the Clingendael Institute in his new book Jihadi Terrorists in Europe.......more

News from Monday 29 January 2007

Rotterdam benefit recipients down 9%

The number of people on social security benefits in Rotterdam fell by 9% to 33,600 last year, the city council said on Monday. According to Rotterdam the reduction is considerably higher than in Amsterdam, The Hague and Utrecht....

Coalition deal set to be finalised this week

The leaders from the three parties involved in forming a new Dutch government were set to meet at the prime minister’s Cathuis official residence (pictured) in The Hague on Monday afternoon. Negotiations between the coalition partners are now nearing an end.......more

Sharp differences still in local taxes

Local council taxes are expected to rise by an average of 5% or €31 this year according to a survey carried out by Groningen University on behalf of 37 major municipalities. The average household will pay €590 in council taxes in 2007.......more

Binck commissioner quits

Charles Langereis has quit the supervisory board at internet broker Binck pending an investigation into the leak of earnings figures last year and possible insider trading, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Monday. Binck’s 2006 Q1 figures were posted on the IEX investors’ website days before their formal publication on April 18....

Auction to decide Corus takeover

India’s Tata Steel and Brazilian rival CSN must take part in an auction tomorrow to decide the fate of the Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus, the British Takeover Panel has ruled.......more

TomTom: navigation systems safe

SatNav maker TomTom says the Trojan horse virus on some of its GO910 navigation systems is low risk and not dangerous for the system. The affected machines were made between September and November last year....

Government to spotlight illegal gambling

The justice ministry is to launch an investigation to see if steps to stamp out illegal gambling introduced after its last probe six years ago have been successful. The department also wants to find out how much money is involved in the illegal circuit.......more

More delays for RandstadRail

The launch of the RandstadRail 3 light rail connection between Loosduinen and The Hague planned for Monday was cancelled after two trains derailed during testing last week. The RandstadRail 4 service has been suspended since last November after four derailments in which 15 people were injured....

Families in need of financial aid doubled

The number of families applying to the government’s credit association NVVK for financial help has doubled over the past five years to 46,000, chairman Ger Jaarsma said on Monday.......more

Joker is parliament security guard

Robert Coleman, the 35-year-old man who managed to get an official Dutch ID card with a photo of himself made up to look like the Joker from the Batman stories, worked as a security guard in parliament.......more

Schools boost their cash reserves

Dutch secondary schools and universities boosted their reserves by €372m last year to a total of €6.7bn, the national statistics office CBS said on Monday. In 2005, schools and colleges held over €249m of their budgets, the CBS said....

Dutch consumers join iPod campaign

The Dutch consumers association Consumentenbond has become the latest national agency in Europe to pressure Apple to change the restrictions on songs bought from its iTunes website. Spokesman Ewald van Kouwen has confirmed that his group has filed a formal complaint with the Dutch competition authority NMa asking for an investigation into what he called illegal practises.......more

Maxima should be Dutch Queen say MPs

A majority of MPs think Princess Maxima should be given the title queen when Crown Prince Willem Alexander becomes king. The Christian Democrats, Labour and Liberals are in favour, the Telegraaf reported on Saturday. 'In Dutch hearts she is that already and I can imagine that we formalise the position,' said CDA MP Liesbethe Spies.......more

Dutch terrorist suspect extradited to US

The Netherlands has extradited a naturalised citizen to the US on terrorism charges, the justice ministry said on Saturday. Wesam al Delaema, 32, is wanted for questioning about attacks on US troops in Iraq in 2003. Last December, the appeal court ruled that Al Delaema could be extradited.......more

'Chelsea wants Hiddink and Rijkaard'

Roman Abramovich, the billionaire Russian owner of UK football club Chelsea, wants both Guus Hiddink and Frank Rijkaard to join his coaching team to replace Jose Mourinho, Britain's Sunday Mirror reported yesterday. The paper said Abramovich wants Hiddink to take overall control of football at Chelsea with Rijkaard in charge of coaching the first team.......more

News from Saturday 27 January 2007

Officials deny Randstadrail was unsafe

The launch of the RandstadRail light railway line last October was 'safe and responsible,' officials said on Friday evening. They were responding to an article in the Volkskrant which claimed transport ministry inspectors had not been told about technical problems with the points and that the system had only been tested for three days.......more

Midfielder Davids set to return to Ajax

Edgar Davids is set to return to Dutch football after 10 years playing abroad. The Tottenham Hotspur midfielder is finalising an 18-month contract with his former club Ajax, before the transfer window ends on Wednesday. Davids, 33, who has been capped for the Netherlands 74 times, had also been in talks with FC Dallas....

Coalition deal ready end next week

The three parties involved in talks to form a new Dutch government expect to have reached broad agreement on new cabinet policy by the end of next week. A spokesman for Herman Wijffels, the man coordinating the talks, said on Friday evening that the negotiations were now nearing the end.......more

News from Friday 26 January 2007

‘Pay jobhunters,’ says government think-tank

The government’s academic think-tank WRR says that workers who lose their jobs should not get golden handshakes but should instead be paid their salary while job hunting. It suggests the length of time they are paid should depend on how long they had been employed.......more

Spyker profitable in 2006

Luxury car maker Spyker expects to book its first profits last year, the company said in a trading update. Production doubled to 94 cars last year, slightly below earlier estimates of 100. The order book at the end of 2006 stood at 145 sports cars and 182 SUVs....

Broker Binck claims 14% of retail market

Internet broker BinckBank claims to have 14% of the Dutch retail investment market in 2006. CEO Thierry Schaap told ANP he was still aiming for 20% of the market. Binck saw its net profit rise 77.5% last year to €24m, and said it had 54,100 customers. Binck profiles itself as a budget broker....

V&D to make a profit, says departing CEO

After years of losses, department store group V&D will make a profit in its current book year, chairman Dirk Goeminne says in the Financieele Dagblad today. Goeminne announced yesterday he was leaving V&D after almost 10 years.......more

Kok, Van Lede and Eustace to Stork board

The Amsterdam Company Court has appointed Wim Kok, Cees van Lede and Dudley Eustace as its three representatives on the supervisory board of engineering group Stork. Kok, the former Dutch prime minister is on the supervisory board at Shell, ING and KLM.......more

Court ends dispute over share lease

Investors who borrowed money to invest in shares under Dexia Bank’s share lease scheme have been told by a court in Amsterdam that they must accept the out-of-court settlement reached 18 months ago. Under the deal, investors must pay back just one-third of the money they borrowed to invest in shares.......more

RandstadRail tested for just three days

Council officers gave the go ahead for RandstadRail - the light rail system between The Hague and Rotterdam - even though it had only been tested for three days, the Volkskrant reports this morning. Officials also failed to tell transport ministry inspectors about persistent problems with the mechanics and track changing software, the paper says.......more

News from Thursday 25 January 2007

Found: war letters by Anne Frank’s father

Some 80 documents written by Anne Frank’s father Otto - including several letters from Amsterdam detailing his desperate attempts to save his family - have turned up in New York, Time Magazine reports today. The letters were discovered in a file by a volunteer archivist at the city’s YIVO Institute for Jewish Research two years ago.......more

Greenpeaces launches music service

Artists such as Ali B, Blof, Zuco 103, Candy Dulfer and the Osdorp Posse have donated both existing and new tracks to international environmental organisation Greenpeace for a money-raising download service. Tracks cost €1.50 to download, with part of the proceeds going to Greenpeace....

Nigerian con trick gang arrested

Amsterdam police have arrested six people on fraud and human trafficking charges. The Telegraaf says the gang were involved in swindling millions of euros out of mainly American victims using the notorious Nigerian banking scam....

Luxury PS3 gets Dutch launch

Only the expensive, luxury version of the new Sony game computer Playstation 3 will be in the Dutch shops, Sony confirmed to news agency ANP. The PS3 will hit shops on March 23, priced at €599. The spokesman said it would depend on demand whether the cheaper version would make it onto shop shelves....

Dutch urged to be clear on EU constitution

It is ‘high time’ the Netherlands makes it clear to its European partners how it intends to contribute to efforts to realise a European Constitution, former Belgian prime minister, Jean-Luc Dehaene, tells the Financieele Dagblad today. Dehaene was speaking ahead of tomorrow’s meeting in Madrid between the 18 countries which have ratified the treaty.......more

Acceptgiro payments have had their day

The big three Dutch banks – ING, ABN Amro and Rabobank – are working together on phasing out the current system of payment by acceptgiro (through which companies and local authorities send customers a ready-prepared cheque to sign).......more

Lawyers to get go ahead to recruit clients

Dutch lawyers are to be given the go-ahead to actively recruit clients, Els Unger, of the Nederlandse Orde van Advocaten (Dutch Bar Association) told the Pers newspaper on Thursday.......more

Bloemendaal has most expensive houses

Bloemendaal was the most expensive place to buy a house in the Netherlands last year, estate agents association NVM said on Thursday. The average price of a home in the leafy town near Haarlem was €747,000, 15% up on 2005.......more

Consumer confidence hits 6-year high

Consumer confidence in the economy reached a six-year high in January, says the national statistics office CBS. In particular, consumers are more willing to make major purchases, such as furniture. Producer confidence has slipped slightly since last October's record high....

Drunk drivers to lose licence

Drunk drivers who are caught offending for the second time face automatically losing their licences if the Senate (Eerste Kamer) gives its backing to the plan. The government's advisory group, Raad van State, has given its approval. Offenders would have to take a new driving test to get their licence back....

School experiments with electronic books

From next week, a class of 27 pupils at the Bonnefanten College in Maastricht will use an electronic book, or Iliad, in their Dutch and history classes. It's the country's first experiment in replacing traditional books with the A5 screens.......more

Supermarket group Sligro earnings up 20%

Food and supermarket group Sligro booked net profit of €62m last year, over 20% up on 2005's earnings. Turnover rose 7.5% to €1.6bn. Sligro said it expected sales to reach €2bn this year following the takeover of several Edah stores....

Akzo Nobel to press ahead with Organon IPO

Akzo Nobel said on Thursday it was to press ahead with plans to launch 20% to 30% of its Organon pharmaceutical arm on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange this year. Last year, Akzo Nobel said it planned to float the pharmaceuticals unit to focus on its chemicals and coatings divisions.......more

Joker gets official Dutch ID card

A man from Hellevoetsluis has managed to get an official ID card with a photo of himself made up to look like the Joker, from the Batman films. The man managed to get round strict new rules governing photos for ID cards and passports by saying the make-up and hat were part of his religious beliefs. The council gave the go ahead.......more

News from Wednesday 24 January 2007

Aid minister sees progress in Afghanistan

Dutch efforts to rebuild parts of Afghanistan are beginning to pay off, despite several recent incidents in which troops have come under fire, Aid Minister Agnes van Ardenne told BNR Nieuwsradio. The Netherlands has around 1,600 soldiers serving in the Uruzgan region.......more

Record fines for employing illegal workers

Government labour inspectors handed out a record 3,197 fines to companies for employing staff without the proper papers last year, as the government’s clampdown on the black economy continues. Companies taking on illegal workers face fines of up to €8,000 per individual.......more

Child pickpockets in secure accommodation

Five child pickpockets, possibly Romanian, who were arrested by Amsterdam police at the weekend are being held in secure accommodation until they can be identified.......more

BAM in South African soccer stadium project

Dutch construction firm BAM and South African company Grinaker LTA are to build a massive football stadium in Johannesburg, which is to be the focal point of the 2010 World Cup. The Soccer City Stadium will have 94,700 seats – making it far bigger than the Amsterdam Arena.......more

Friesland to keep Nuon shares

The planned sale of the Provincial Council of Friesland's 12.6% stake in Dutch energy group Nuon to the province of Noord-Holland has fallen through, the provinces said in statement. Noord-Holland holds 9.5% of Nuon, which is 100% in the hands of local and regional government.......more

Animal group angry at hunting prince

Animal protection group Faunabescherming is angry with Crown Prince Willem-Alexander for telling a Spanish newspaper that he hunted partridges ‘just for fun’. The organisation said it was very disappointed that the prince, who is a role model, travelled to Spain to go hunting in the wild – something which is banned in the Netherlands....

Suzanne murder gets ministerial attention

Home Affairs Minister Johan Remkes has called for a very detailed investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of 12-year-old Suzanne Wisman who was murdered in December last year.......more

Dutch marijuana growers move to Belgium

Belgian police discovered 241 marijuana plantations last year, compared with just 50 in 2004. Most of the growers were Dutch, a police spokesman told newspaper De Morgen. In particular, the area south of Breda was being used for 'large-scale and hyper-professional plantations,' the paper reported....

Amsterdam better to live in than do business

Amsterdam only ranks 18th in a new survey of 60 cities in terms of its attractiveness for studying or doing business in; but the Dutch capital ranks sixth in terms of a being a good place to visit or live.......more

High speed rail project faces more delays

Delays to the high speed train link between Amsterdam and the Belgian border will cost the treasury at least €200m in lost income and there is a real risk of even more delays, transport minister Karla Peijs told parliament on Tuesday.......more

Escapee otter eats goldfish

An otter which escaped from the Lelystad Natuurpark has turned up in a garden in Nunspeet eating the goldfish in the garden pond. The animal was captured when it went to sleep after its fish dinner, the Telegraaf reports....

Faith in health service increases

Faith in the Dutch health service is increasing across the board, according to research being presented to the Clingendael Health Forum later today. The NIPO survey showed that 87% of the population is happy with healthcare, up 13% on a year ago. But 66% are still unhappy with the new insurance system, with only 7% saying they are now better off.......more

New housing estates should be greener

Major new housing developments, such as the Leidse Rijn project near Utrecht, need far more trees and parks, housing and planning minister Pieter Winsemius has told MPs. Research shows that while residents are happy with their homes, they would like to see more green spaces.......more

News from Tuesday 23 January 2007

Apax pulls out of PCM newspapers

British private equity group Apax is pulling out of Dutch publishing group PCM. Apax bought 47.5% of PCM, which publishes the Volkskrant, NRC and Trouw newspapers, in July 2004.......more

New free newspaper enters the fray

The Netherlands third free newspaper was launched on Tuesday with a print run of 250,000. The paper, called De Pers, is aiming at a more upmarket readership than Spits and Metro, describing itself as 'free but not cheap'....

Equens to cut 400 jobs post merger

Equens, the banking payment processor formed last year through the merger of the Netherlands' Interpay and Germany's Transaktionsinstitut, is to cut 400 jobs. The company says the reorganisation is necessary to improve its competitiveness....

Over €30bn earmarked for housing plan

Twenty-one of the Netherlands’ biggest housing corporations have pledged to invest more than €30bn over the next 14 years renovating, demolishing and rebuilding housing stock in the larger Dutch cities. .......more

Cabinet may buy Rembrandt portrait

The cabinet may back the purchase of a Rembrandt portrait owned by a British noble family but currently on show at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The portrait of Catrina Hooghsaet, who was 50 when it was painted, normally hangs in Penrhyn Castle near Bangor in Wales.......more

Uranium traces found in ground water

An investigation has begun into the source of low levels of uranium in groundwater, apparently leaching from two disused rubbish dumps in Brabant. The provincial council has advised farmers not to use the water, pending the outcome of the checks.......more

Amsterdam clubs launch ID scheme

Nine Amsterdam nightclubs are introducing compulsory ID cards for clubbers – which will include names, addresses, photos and details of illegal drugs use or other unacceptable behaviour. The aim of the card is to make clubs safer and counteract discriminatory door policy, a spokesman said....

Saudi Arabia cuts out tour operators

The Saudi Arabian Embassy in the Netherlands has told four Dutch travel agents that it will no longer work with them on organising all-in trips to Mecca. Ambassador Waleed Elkhereiji told radio station NIO that the agencies had put pilgrims up in hotels that were still under construction – or failed to book them flights....

De Vlieger faces prosecution

The Public Prosecution Department (OM) is to take legal action against former media and construction magnate Erik de Vlieger for blackmail and threatening behaviour, ANP reports. A café owner on Amsterdam's Leidseplein has accused De Vlieger and several others of forcing him to give up his business. .......more

Civil service USB stick found

A USB stick containing confidential information about the Dutch Embassy in Warsaw – including the secret entrance codes to a diplomat's home and the names of bodyguards – has been left in a rental car and is now in the hands of the Volkskrant newspaper.......more

Philips to boost takeover tempo

Electronics giant Philips is planning to increase the tempo at which it takes over other companies, CEO Gerard Kleisterlee says in an interview with today's Financieele Dagblad. 'Over the past few months, we have freed up more people to identify potential takeover targets. That has delivered quite a pipeline,' Kleisterlee told the paper.......more

Less foreign investment in Netherlands

The Netherlands attracted 113 companies to set up operations on Dutch soil last year, an increase of just one on 2005, according to new figures from the economic affairs ministry. Foreign investment in the Netherlands totalled €357m, well down on the 2005 figure of €505m. The number of jobs created fell from 3,121 to 2,425.......more

Education spending needs €700m boost

The next cabinet will need to spend €700m to cope with the expected growth in demand for education, says social policy think tank SCP in a new report. The SCP says the forecast growth in school pupil and student numbers has only partially been adopted by the education ministry.......more

Netherlands 4th for hosting virus websites

The Netherlands is the fourth-worst country in the world for hosting websites which spread trojans, viruses and other dangerous software, according to internet security company Sophos. The US, China and Russia head the list with almost 75% of the sites between them.......more

News from Monday 22 January 2007

Private equity creates €1.1bn rubbish group

The Netherlands’ biggest waste processing group, AVR, is to join forces with major competitor, Van Gansewinkel, creating a company with a combined turnover of €1.1bn. AVR was sold by Rotterdam City Council last spring to private equity groups – CVC Capital Partners and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts – for €1.4bn.......more

Eindhoven hurt by immigration policy

The cabinet’s strict immigration policy is one of the main reasons why companies in Eindhoven are having such trouble recruiting well-qualified technical staff, according to a report by ABN Amro economists and TNS Nipo.......more

TV dating show planned for facially-disfigured

Commercial broadcaster SBS is planning a new dating show for people whose faces have been severely disfigured – such as burn victims or people with no eyes, a spokesman confirmed on Monday. The disfigurement must be ‘very severe’, the spokesman said.......more

Schiphol calls for random security checks

Schiphol Airport would like to replace the current strict security checks on passengers with random checks because of the nuisance and delays caused by the new rules.......more

Urban crime rate falls faster than rural

The crime rate in major cities across the Netherlands has fallen 17% after peaking in 2002, the national statistics office CBS said on Monday. In smaller towns and villages, the crime rate has fallen by 6%. Notably, there has been a decrease in theft and burglary....

Suicide consultant not guilty

Suicide consultant Ton Vink has been found not guilty of actively helping a 54-year-old woman to die. The court in Amsterdam ruled that Vink, 53, had not taken the lead in the woman's death or told her how many pills to take.......more

Major Dutch waste processors merge

Waste processor Van Gansewinkel has been taken over by private equity groups CVC and KKR. The two already own Van Gansewinkel's competitor AVR and will merge the two companies into a single operation.......more

Firework injury increase under investigation

Environment Minister Pieter van Geel is to start an inquiry into the sharp increase in serious injuries from fireworks, reported during the New Year's Eve festivities. In total, 960 people were treated for burns – compared with 660 in 2005/06.......more

De Vries pulls out of Senate race

Former Social Affairs Minister and PvdA (Labour) MP Klaas de Vries has pulled out of the race for a place in the Eerste Kamer (Senate), after being placed number 23 on the PvdA's candidates list – meaning he was virtually unelectable.......more

Development bank earning rise 50%

Dutch development bank FMO (see Alphabet Soup), booked record earnings of €110m last year – more than 50% up on 2005. Chairman Arthur Arnold said the increase was due to economic growth, the absence of financial crises and the increasing involvement of commercial investors in developing countries which meant the FMO could pull out....

Philips 2006 earnings soar

Philips saw net earnings soar from €2.9bn in 2005 to €5.4bn last year, the electronics group said on Monday. Sales were up 6% to almost €27bn....

Sparta player's wife refused Dutch visa

Sparta Rotterdam midfielder Sani Kaita is not allowed to bring his new bride to the Netherlands, Nigerian media reported this weekend. The visa application for Aishat Yaro, begun five months ago, was turned down by the Dutch Embassy in Abuja, The Tide reported. 'This is a nightmare,' the paper quoted Kaita as saying....

Cabinet to increase student loan interest

The cabinet is planning to increase the interest rate on student loans by one third to 3.7%, the Volkskrant reports on Monday morning. The plan is included in a memo sent by the cabinet to parliament at the beginning of last week. The paper says the press release which accompanied the memo spoke only of 'improvements' in the rules governing student loans.......more

Dutch women win hockey Champions Trophy

The Dutch women's national hockey team has won the Champions Trophy with a 1-0 win over host nation Argentina. Maartje Paumen made the only goal of the match after just two minutes. It is the fifth time Oranje has taken the prestigious six-nations title, ANP reports. Last October the women's squad also won the hockey World Cup....

Casinos fail to curb gambling addiction

Holland Casino, the government-owned company which operates the Netherlands' 14 legal casinos, does too little to combat addiction to gambling and keep out money launderers, TV show Zembla claimed on Sunday night.......more

Smit to salvage stranded ship Napoli

Rotterdam-based marine services group Smit is to salvage the container ship MSC Napoli which got into trouble during Thursday's storm and is now stuck on a sandbank off the English coast. A spokeswoman declined to give details on Sunday but told ANP a Smit vessel was on its way to the Napoli for the towage operation.......more

News from Saturday 20 January 2007

Rodin’s thieves were after bronze

The thieves who took seven sculptures - including a cast of Rodin’s Thinker - from the gardens of the Singer Museum in Laren appear to have been after bronze, director Ineke Middag said on Saturday. The Rodin sculpture has been recovered but is missing one leg and efforts appear to have been made to cut it into pieces, Middag said.......more

Phone records on file for 18 months?

The cabinet wants telecom companies and internet providers to keep all details of their subscribers phone calls and internet activities for 18 months, the NRC reported on Saturday. The proposal is contained in a draft bill before parliament.......more

Foreign assets boost tax receipts

The tax office’s campaign to track down undeclared money and property abroad generated €391m for the treasury over the past five years, the finance ministry confirmed on Saturday. Some 7,400 people with illicit savings were found and a further 4,100 people reported their foreign assets voluntarily.......more

Five soldiers wounded in Uruzgan

Five Dutch soldiers serving in Uruzgan, Afghanistan, were injured in an explosion on Friday while they were on patrol. Reports said it appeared a car bomb had gone off in front of their armoured car. Shots were exchanged with rebel militia after the explosion and an Apache helicopter was called in as back up.......more

News from Friday 19 January 2007

Feyenoord out of UEFA Cup

Rotterdam soccer club Feyenoord has been thrown out of the rest of this season's UEFA Cup competition following last November's crowd trouble in Nancy, France after a direct appeal by UEFA. The European football body was appealing against the relatively mild punishment imposed on Feyenoord by its own disciplinary commitee last year.......more

Beter Bed ups earnings forecast again

Bed retail group Beter Bed has raised its 2006 earnings forecast for the second time. The Dutch company now expects net profit to total €24m, a 50% increase in 2005’s earnings of €15.6m....

More foreign firms set up in Amsterdam

86 foreign firms set up offices in Amsterdam last year, creating 892 jobs, the city council said on Friday. In 2005, 73 firms moved to the city, but created more jobs. Of the new firms, 35% came from Asia. Amsterdam is focusing this year on attracting more firms from China....

House prices rose almost 6%

The average price of a house in the Netherlands rose 5.9% last year to €235,843, according to Kadaster (Land Registry) figures. Semi-detached houses went up most in value. A total of around 210,000 homes changed hands....

Significant progress in coalition talks

Talks on forming a new government have made 'significant progress' Prime Minister Jan Pieter Balkenende said on Friday, after three days of negotiations on a country estate near Hilversum.......more

Brothel owners get green light to stay open

Judges in Amsterdam have ruled that 33 brothels, scheduled for closure by the city council, can stay open until their appeals have been heard. The court ruled that Amsterdam City Council had no grounds for demanding the red-light premises be shut down immediately.......more

Two arrested over Rodin theft

Police have arrested two men from Muiderberg, aged 40 and 44, thought to have stolen seven bronze sculptures – including a copy of 'The Thinker' by Rodin – from the garden of the Singer Museum in Laren on Tuesday night. The artworks have yet to be recovered....

More than 3,000,000 Dutch women work

For the first time ever, the number of working women in the Netherlands has exceeded three million, according to the CBS. Figures show that around 97,000 women found a job in 2006. The number of jobs filled by men last year was 59,000....

Hockey women in Champions Trophy final

The Dutch women's hockey team has reached the finals of the Champions Trophy in Argentina after beating Australia 1-0. The Netherlands – which took the world title last year – will play Argentina or Australia in Sunday's gold-medal match....

Dutch government surplus reaches €3bn

The Dutch government surplus reached 0.6% of GDP or €3bn – up on earlier estimates of 0.4% – Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm says in Thursday's NRC Handelsblad. At last September's budget, Zalm had put the surplus at 0.1%....

Feyenoord waits for Uefa riot appeal verdict

Rotterdam football club Feyenoord will find out today if it is to be banned from European competition after all. European football body, UEFA, is appealing against the light punishment Feyenoord received after its fans went on the rampage in Nancy in France, last year. Feyenoord was fined €125,000 and put on probation for three years....

Arriva faces second ultimatum over service

The province of Zuid-Holland has become the second to issue private bus company, Arriva, an ultimatum over poor services, ANP reports. The province said the service in Dordrecht, which Arriva has been running since the beginning of the year, was 'unacceptably bad', with 15% of services failing to operate.......more

Wapenveld crash girl dies, death total now four

The 19-year-old girl injured in last week's car crash which killed three young men has also died. The men, aged 18 to 22, died when their car smashed into a tree and burst into flames near the village of Wapenveld. The girl had been in a coma since the crash....

Storm death toll reaches six

The Netherlands returned to normal on Friday after Thursday's severe storm, in which six people were killed. Dozens more died elsewhere in Europe. Insurers have now begun assessing the extent of the damage – estimated at €160m for private property alone.......more

News from Thursday 18 January 2007

Storm winds reached up to 130kph

At least six people were killed as winds of up to 130kph battered the Netherlands on Thursday evening. Ten thousand commuters were stranded at railway stations as the rail network shut down. On the roads, there were long delays as storm damage led to motorway closures. Only one of Schiphol airport’s five runways was operating.......more

Red light court case on Friday

Amsterdam city council would like the 33 brothels which have had their licenses withdrawn to close next week. They will state their case in court on Friday. Sex industry bosses are appealing against the decision to take away their licences because of concerns over their criminal connections....

Nature attacks Lucy B murder statistics

The Telegraaf has managed to get its hands on an early copy of science magazine Nature, which looks at the case of serial murderer Lucy B. The nurse was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Dutch court in 2003 for murdering seven patients – despite the lack of physical evidence against her.......more

Dutch Sanne wins Ford model title

Dutch model Sanne Nijhof – who won the Holland's Next Top Model competition last year – has come first in the prestigious Ford Model of the World contest. Sanne, 19, from the village of Den Ham, was notorious for her poor English during the TV show. She also wins $250,000 and a contract with Ford Models agency....

Lawyer Böhler sets her sights on Senate

Lawyer Britta Böhler – known for representing Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan, Pim Fortuyn's murderer Volkert van der G. and former Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali – is high on GroenLinks' list of candidates for the Eerste Kamer, or Senate. German-born Böhler said she wants to play an active role in politics....

Holec pulls out after Nigeria shooting

Electrical engineering company Holec has withdrawn two other workers from Nigeria after Tuesday's armed raid in which a colleague was shot dead. The 28-year-old Dutch service engineer was killed when a Nigerian militia attacked the ferry they were travelling on. Work on the Shell terminal has been halted....

One-third of mosques have no imam

Approximately 180 of the Netherlands' 450 mosques are without an imam says Mohamed Ousalah, Deputy Chairman of the Dutch Imam Association, in the Telegraaf. Ousalah said imams were leaving the Netherlands because they no longer felt welcome and were being too readily identified with extremism.......more

All quiet on EU constitution front

Eight out of 10 people think the government has gone very quiet about the status of the European Constitution – rejected by the Netherlands in a referendum in 2005. The TNS Nipo survey showed around 60% are still opposed to an EU constitution although almost half might be prepared to accept an amended version....

Unemployment falls to 5%

Unemployment in the Netherlands fell to 5% in the final quarter of 2006 – a 0.2 percentage point drop on the previous quarter – the national statistics office CBS said. In total, some 394,000 people were officially unemployed in the final quarter of the year.......more

PGGM boosts assets 4% in Q4

Civil service pension fund PGGM saw its assets rise 4.1% to over €81bn in the fourth quarter of last year. The fund booked an 11% return on investment over 2006 as a whole. PGGM's chief investment officer, Else Bos, said the increase was due to investment in property and shares, which now account for 58% of its investment portfolio...

Randstad sponsor AT&T Williams Formula 1

Temporary employment group Randstad has extended its sponsorship contract with the AT&T Williams Formula 1 Team for a further three years. The new contract stipulates that the Dutch firm's logo will appear on the front of the Williams car.......more

Three still in hospital after chlorine leak

Three people taken ill after the chlorine leak at the Hotel de L'Empereur in Maastricht remained in the hospital overnight. One, a 25-year-old woman, is under observation in the intensive care unit but her life is not in danger, the hospital authorities said. The woman was swimming in the hotel pool when the leak occured.......more

Second severe storm hits the Netherlands

Weather bureau KNMI says the storm sweeping the Netherlands on Thursday could lead to winds of up to Force 10 in coastal areas, particularly in the north of the country. Nationwide, gusts of 110 kph to 130 kph may be reported.......more

Muted response to mega-province plan

Calls from a high-powered government commission to merge the four Randstad provinces into a single entity can count on little support from the likely next cabinet, the Financieele Dagblad reports. The committee, under the leadership of former prime minister Wim Kok, called for the provinces of Noord and Zuid Holland, Utrecht and Flevoland to be combined into a massive Randstad province.......more

Stork ruling pleases both sides

Amsterdam’s company court has ordered an investigation into the management of engineering group Stork since September 2005 and has annulled the preference shares issued late last year. Two hedge funds, Paulson and Centaurus, had gone to court calling for the prefs, which had considerably diluted their voting rights, to be scrapped.......more

Five die as storm batters the Netherlands (Update 4)

At least five people were killed as winds of up to 130kph battered the Netherlands on Thursday evening. Ten thousand commuters were stranded at railway stations as the rail network shut down. On the roads, there were long delays as storm damage led to road closures. Only one of Schiphol airport’s five runways was operating.......more

News from Wednesday 17 January 2007

Hotel evacuated after chlorine leak in cellar

At least 15 people were taken to hospital with breathing difficulties after chlorine fumes spread through Hotel L’Empereur in central Maastricht late on Wednesday morning. A futher 20 people were treated on the spot for breathing trouble, nausea and eye irritations.......more

Petten to take leading role in EU energy

The Dutch energy research centre in Petten, Noord-Holland has been chosen as the new centre for European energy research, the Telegraaf reported on Wednesday. The paper said the energy research activities of all seven European Commission research centres would be merged into the Institute for Energy, which has been based in the coastal village for decades.......more

Eleven in hospital after hotel chlorine leak

At least 15 people have been taken to hospital and some 20 others treated for breathing difficulties after a chlorine leak at the Grand Hotel de L'Empereur in central Maastricht, news agency ANP reports. Poisonous fumes spread throughout the hotel following a leak in the cellar under the swimming pool.More to follow ...

Hells Angels court case verdict in February

A court in Leeuwarden will deliver its verdict at the end of February on whether the Hells Angels chapter in Harlingen should be a banned organisation. At yesterday's hearing, the Public Prosecution Department said the motorcycle club should be banned because of it persistent involvement in crime.......more

Zwartboek makes Oscar shortlist

Paul Verhoeven's film Zwartboek (Black Book) is one of nine films on the shortlist for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Zwartboek, which has taken over €7m at the Dutch box office, was one of a record 61 submissions.......more

Leisure time spent behind a screen

The Dutch spend a third of their free time – roughly five hours a day – watching TV, surfing the internet, listening to music, reading and making phone calls according to research by TV advertising foundation SPOT.......more

Friesland criticises bus groups on service

The provincial government of Friesland has criticised public transport groups Arriva and Connexxion for poor train and bus services in several areas. The province has given the firms until April 15 to sort out the mess. Groningen province has already fined Arriva for its bad train service....

Record spending on lottery tickets

The Dutch spent €737.6m on tickets for the Staatsloterij (State Lottery) last year, 10% up on 2005. In total, €482.2m was handed out in prize money; 65.4% of the total ticket sales....

Cabinet talks continue in Hilversum

Talks on forming a new cabinet are continuing at a villa in woods near Hilversum until the end of the week. Sources told ANP the talks were focusing on financial issues. This was a crucial week in the cabinet formation process, the sources said....

ASML has record sales in 2006

Microchip-equipment maker ASML said on Wednesday it had booked a record €3.6bn turnover in 2006 – 42% up on sales in 2005. The company said it had profited from increased demand for machines to make memory chips for mobile phones, digital cameras and MP3 players.......more

Stars line up for Rutger Hauer masterclass

Isa Hoes, Antonie Kamerling and Georgina Verbaan are among the actors who will star in a string of short films made by students attending an eight-day filmmaking course at the Rutger Hauer Filmfactory. The films will premiere at IFFR (International Film Festival Rotterdam), which opens on January 24....

New calls for anonymous job applications

The chairman of a government task force aimed at reducing youth unemployment has called on firms to introduce anonymous job applications. Hans de Boer said this would boost the chances of youngsters with an ethnic minority background getting interviews.......more

AFM to monitor conflicts of interest

The financial services watchdog AFM is to focus attention on extra jobs done by supervisory board members, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Wednesday. The paper says questions may be raised if such jobs are not included in company annual reports.......more

College council calls for action on spelling

Students at HBO colleges need an intermediary year to learn how to read and write properly according to Doekle Terpstra, chairman of the HBO college association. Terpstra was reacting to the news that 68% of trainee teachers failed a special language test.......more

News from Tuesday 16 January 2007

Camper van owner admits murder

The camper van owner arrested in connection with the death of 12-year-old Suzanne in December has admitted kidnapping and raping the girl and then driving over her body when she tried to escape, police said on Tuesday. The man first claimed he and Suzanne had been abducted together....

Zalm tips Bos for finance job

Outgoing Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm says PvdA (Labour) leader Wouter Bos should take over his job in the next cabinet. Zalm's Liberal (VVD) party is not involved in talks on forming a new coalition. Bos's involvement would boost the cabinet's stability, Zalm told a TV show on Monday night.......more

Fifty-five is old say Dutch bosses

On average, bosses describe workers as 'old' when they reach 54.6 years, according to research carried out for the Ministry of Social Affairs. In 2005, 51.5 years was deemed to be 'old'. Employees themselves say they hope to carry on working until they reach an average of 61.7 years....

Tele2 to bid for football rights

Swedish telecom firm Tele2, which has an 80% stake in Dutch provider Versatel, is determined to hold onto the broadcast rights to live football which are currently in the hands of Versatel. Versatel paid €91.5m for three seasons. The contract expires next summer. .......more

Big firms want harmony on Sarbanes-Oxley

The Netherlands' biggest companies are asking their accountants not to apply US accounting rules too stringently, in order to reduce their bills, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Tuesday. The paper says telecom firm KPN and five other AEX companies have already met the big accountantcy firms asking for a 'Dutch interpretation' of the rules of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.......more

Money is not dirty says microbiologist

Money is not actually dirty, says microbiologist Rijkelt Beumer of Wageningen University. Beumer tested banknotes in a number of food shops for four types of bacteria which can make people ill.......more

Soldiers to get new code of conduct for leave

The armed forces are working on a new code of conduct to govern soldiers' behaviour while on leave following a number of incidents involving drink and drugs. Soldiers are soldiers '24 hours a day, seven days a week,' said a Defense Ministry spokesman....

Kids get lessons in death

upils at a primary school in Someren are building and painting a coffin for their teacher who is dying of cancer, the Telegraaf reports this morning. 'Dying should not be taboo,' teacher Eri van den Biggelaar, 40, tells the paper....

Internet offers online training for terrorists

The Netherlands' anti-terrorism 'tsar' Tjibbe Joustra says he is extremely worried about films on the internet showing potential terrorists how to make explosives and suicide-bomb belts. The videos are currently in Arabic but Joustra is concerned they may soon crop up in Dutch.......more

Transport users call for tough line on smartcard

Public transport users organisation ROVER has urged Transport Minister Karla Peijs to get directly involved in the introduction of the new 'Smartcard' (OV-chipkaart), which will pay for all tram, bus and metro travel from 2009.......more

Firm must pay damages to burnout victim

Employers can be held responsible for damages if their staff suffer from burnout, a court in Heerlen ruled on Tuesday. The court agreed that a service engineer was entitled to compensation after going off sick with burnout. The amount of damages has not yet been agreed.......more

Defections shake up darts world

Three of the Netherlands’ top darts players – Jelle Klaasen, Michael van Gerwen and Vincent van der Voort – have resigned from the British Darts Organisation to join their compatriot Raymond van Barneveld in the rival Professional Darts Corporation.......more

More spending power for everyone

Most Dutch households will see their spending power grow between 1% and 2% this year, says the Nibud institute, which monitors domestic spending. However, Nibud warns low income families not to expect too much - they will have between €10 and €20 more to spend a month. Well-off double income families will see their spending power rise by some €73 to €109 a month....

Court hears demand to ban Hells Angels

A court in Leeuwarden will today begin hearing the public prosecution (OM)'s case for a ban on the Hells Angels. The case will focus on the Hells Angels chapter in Harlingen - one of seven groups nationwide. Last year the OM said it wanted to see the organisation banned because of its persistent involvement in crime. More to follow...

News from Monday 15 January 2007

Builder blamed for car park scandal

The official report into the serious building errors at Amsterdam's Bos en Lommer complex has blamed both the main contractor, Hillen en Roosen, and Amsterdam City Council for many of the shortcomings. Around 190 people were forced to leave their homes last July after cracks appeared in an underground car park.......more

Kingfishers make comeback in warm winters

The number of kingfishers in the Netherlands has risen from 150 breeding pairs to several hundred – thanks to a run of mild winters – bird research group Sovon said on Monday. Nevertheless, the species is still highly endangered, Sovon said....

Wind turbine output reaches record

Dutch wind turbines produced a record amount of electricity in November – 384 GWh, or 4% of national energy needs – the national statistics office CBS said on Monday. The old record dated from January 2005, when 341 GWh was generated. Capacity has gone up 40% since the old record was set but there was less wind, the CBS said....

Wages rose 2% in 2006

Dutch wages rose by an average of 2% in 2006, compared with just 0.7% in 2005, the national statistics office CBS said on Monday. Taking inflation of 1.1% into account, spending power rose by 0.9% – the biggest difference since 1999, the CBS said....

Essent to have upper hand in Nuon merger

Essent will have 55% of the shares in the merged Essent/Nuon group, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Saturday. The paper said the two energy companies had reached agreement on the terms and conditions of their long-awaited merger and had sent a proposal to shareholders.......more

TNT wins major UK post contract

TNT has won the contract to deliver bills for UK telecoms company BT. TNT says the three-year deal, valued at €134m, is its biggest contract ever in the UK. The deal will involve processing around 70 million items of post a year. TNT has other UK contracts with banks, media companies and utilities companies....

Printer group Océ profit slides 30%

Copier and printer maker Océ saw net profit drop over 30% last year to €82.2m, largely due to production problems at its Digital Document Systems (DDS) unit. Turnover was up 16.2% at €3.1bn.......more

Tighter controls on volunteers urged

All volunteers working with children should be required by law to have a certificate of good behaviour (VOG), says the Dutch Association For Volunteer Effort, NOV. At the moment, sex offenders can easily come into contact with children via voluntary work, said spokesman Joost van Alkemade in Saturday's NRC....

Two released after fatal crash

Two men arrested following a fatal car crash in Wapenveld on Friday night have been released because of insufficient evidence to keep them any longer, police said on Sunday. Three young men (two of them brothers), were killed and a woman seriously injured when their car went off the road and burst into flames shortly after it had overtaken cars being driven by the two suspects....

University boss calls for more diversity

The Netherlands needs far more variety in higher education, Sijboldt Noorda, the new president of the VSNU (Association of Universities) says in the Volkskrant on Monday. The strict division between universities and more practical-orientated HBO colleges (hogescholen) should be broadened into five or six sub-categories, Noorda said.......more

Kramer wins European all-round skating title

With the speed skating season now in full swing, Dutchman Sven Kramer has taken the all-round title at the ISU European Championships in Collabo, Italy, beating defending champion Enrico Fabris. Fellow Dutchman Carl Verheijen was second; Fabris had to settle for bronze.......more

One dead in Amsterdam private club shooting

One man was shot dead during an armed raid on a private club on the Jacob van Lennepkade in Amsterdam on Sunday morning. Police said a number of armed and masked men burst into the club just before 7.30 am and demanded money. One man was shot dead in the ensuing scuffle.......more

Canadian must return kids to the Netherlands

A Canadian woman has been ordered to return her three daughters to the Netherlands so the Dutch courts can rule whether she or her ex-husband should have custody of the girls, a Canadian newspaper reported on Sunday.......more

Edgar Davids in talks with FC Dallas

Dutch international midfielder Edgar Davids could be the latest European soccer star to follow David Beckham to the US. American media report that Davids is in talks with FC Dallas. ''We have been speaking for a couple of weeks,' said Dallas coach Steve Morrow.......more

New cabinet before March 7, says Balkenende

The three parties involved in talks on forming a new government have put March 7, the day of the provincial elections, as the latest deadline to complete the cabinet talks, prime minister and Christian Democrat leader Jan Pieter Balkenende said on Saturday evening.......more

News from Sunday 14 January 2007

Senior ANWB manager goes to main rival

A senior executive with motoring organisation ANWB is joining the company's main rival Route Mobiel. Monique van der Sanden has held various functions within the ANWB for the past 20 years and is currently head of mobility services. She is now to join Route Mobiel as general manager.......more

News from Friday 12 January 2007

Akzo Nobel to move HQ to Amsterdam

Chemicals group Akzo Nobel is to move its headquarters from Arnhem to Amsterdam, CEO Hans Wijers said on Friday after the close of the stock exchange. Insiders said the move was aimed at strengthening the company's image....

Teenage drinking dens face clampdown

The local authorities association VNG and food safety body VWA are to clamp down on illegal teenage drinking dens, a spokesman confirmed on Friday. The VWA is charged with making sure Dutch laws on alcoholic drinks are not broken, but says it has no control over the sheds and caravans where many teenagers meet to drink, especially in rural areas.......more

Wildcats return to Limburg

The European wildcat (felis silvestris) has returned to the Netherlands and is nesting in dense woodland in Limburg, the provincial council said on Friday. Photographs of a wildcat were taken by secret camera in the Heuvelland region near Epen in mid-December.......more

Cabinet firm on colonial back pay

The cabinet will not pay any more money to old soldiers and civil servants from the former Indonesian colonies who were not paid when Indonesia was under Japanese occupation during World War II. A delegation from lobby group Indisch Platform met ministers to discuss the issue on Friday.......more

Dutch spending on R&D below EU average

The Netherlands lags behind some of the world’s richest countries, including the US, Japan, France and Germany, when it comes to spending on research and development, according to figures from European statistics office Eurostat.......more

Stork offered hedge funds seat on board

Engineering group Stork offered hedge funds Centaurus and Paulson a seat on its supervisory board last year, it emerged at a court hearing on Friday. In return, the funds were asked to hold off on their demands that the company be split up for a further 18 months.......more

Ericsson chairman to chair Unilever

Unilever has appointed Michael Treschow to succeed Antony Burgmans as chairman of Unilever. Treschow will be the first person from outside Unilever to hold the office and will be the first independent, non-executive chairman of the company. Treschow is currently the chairman of both Ericsson and Electrolux, and a non-executive director of ABB....

Gorilla performs better than AEX

The gorilla Jacko, who picks stocks for the beursgorilla.nl website according to which banana he eats, has had better result than the AEX for the seventh year running. Jacko booked a return on investment of 27.9% last year while the AEX as a whole rose 13.4%. Jacko’s portfolio of 10 stocks is adjusted every month....

600 licences lost in clampdown on speeding

Rotterdam traffic police confiscated 600 driving licences last year, almost double the 2005 total. A spokeswoman said the increase was due to a stronger focus on tackling drivers that exceeded speed and alcohol limits.......more

Former MP jailed for benefit fraud

Former VVD (Liberal) MP Patricia Remak has been jailed for nine months for unemployment benefit fraud totalling €100,000. Remak, who was an MP for four years, failed to declare her income as a member of the Noord Holland provincial council and her salary for working at the finance ministry when claiming wachtgeld, the special unemployment benefit for former MPs...

Protests at Belgian road toll plans

Dutch motoring organisation ANWB is to make a formal protest to the European Commission about Belgium's plans to introduce a compulsory €60 charge for foreign cars using its roads from 2008. MPs have called on transport minister Karla Peijs to take action....

Sugar beet lorries overloaded

Groningen police fined 118 lorry drivers for overloading their trucks during last year's sugar beet harvest. In total, 153 lorries were weighed and 60 had so many extra beet on board that they had to be unloaded on the spot....

Power cut disrupts Amersfoort trains

Train travel was severely disrupted round Amersfoort for a time this morning because of a power cut. Some 70,000 homes were also without power...

Storm damage to buildings put at €15m

The storm which hit the Netherlands yesterday caused some €15m worth of damage, insurers said on Friday. Zeeland and Noord-Holland provinces were the hardest hit, insurers said.......more

EU court stops Somali deportation

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the Netherlands cannot deport a Somali refugee back to his country, even if parts of Somalia are considered relatively safe by the government.......more

News from Thursday 11 January 2007

Storm-force winds hit air and ferry travellers

Storm force winds lashed the Netherlands late morning and this afternoon as the long-anticipated storm moved across the country from the coast and Wadden Sea. At press time, it was unclear how much damage the winds, which were gusting at up to 110kph in coastal areas, had caused.......more

Summer camp murder suspect denies charges

The man arrested in connection with the murder nine years ago of 11-year-old Nicky Verstappen has denied any involvement in the boy's death. Nicky was taken from his tent while on a summer camp in 1998. The 36-year-old man will appear in court on Friday.......more

EC go ahead for Euronext NYSE merger

The European Commission has given the definite green light to the merger between Euronext and the New York Stock Exchange. The merger is set to completed by the end of March. The NYSE bid €7.5bn for Euronext in a long-running takeover battle with Deutsche Börse....

Hundreds of skulls in 17th century cellar

Archaeologists have discovered skulls and bones from hundreds of bodies in the remains of cellar on the Parade in Bergen op Zoom. They suspect the skeletons were dumped there in the 17th century along with other building rubble....

Church get richer despite congregation drop

Despite falling congregations, Dutch churches managed to boost their income by 1.1% in 2005 to €384.5m, according to the churches’ fund raising umbrella group Kerkbalans. The average amount given per Protestant church member totalled €133 while Catholics donated an average of €25.75, Kerkbalans said....

Junkfood advertising ban is backed

Some 57% of the population would like to see a total ban on junk food advertising, according to research for Adformatie magazine. Top of the anti-junk food supporters were childless couples - 65% of them backed a ban.......more

Tougher action on animal abuse urged

Some two-thirds of animal abuse cases result in either the case being dismissed or a small fine, says animal protection group Dierenbescherming. The group is urging the public prosecution department and justice ministry to clamp down hard on animal abusers, and serial offenders in particular. The call follows yesterday's discovery of 62 badly neglected dogs at a trader’s....

House prices rise 3.7% last year

House prices rose 3.7% on average last year, says estate agents' association NVM. Home-owners now pay an average of €241,000 for a home. The NVM says interest rate rises and an increase in economic growth will boost house prices some 5% in 2007....

Sex offenders face teaching ban

At least 18 people convicted of child sex offences have been given the green light to carry on teaching since April 2004, the Parool reported yesterday.The justice ministry has now announced plans to automatically stop sex offenders being given formal certificates of good behavior (VOG) which are needed to get teaching jobs....

Inflation hits lowest level in 17 years

Inflation reached just 1.1% in 2006, the lowest figure since 1989 and the third rise of under 2% in a row, the national statistics office CBS said today. The low inflation rate is due to a reduction in local authority taxes and a slowdown in energy price rises, the CBS said.......more

Rijkaard best football coach

Frank Rijkaard, Dutch trainer for FC Barcelona, has been named the best football coach of 2006 by the international federation of football historians and statisticians (IFFHS). Rijkaard takes the title for steering Barcelona to the Spanish premiership title and the Champions League. 'It was team work,' said the former Dutch international....

86% savings premium can go on costs

Up to 86% of the premiums for small investment-based saving schemes goes on costs, commission and life insurance, according to research by broker Independer for the Financieele Dagblad.......more

Schuitema books 2.4% sales growth

Food group Schuitema booked 2.4% sales growth at its C1000 supermarket chain in 2006. Sales totalled €3.9bn. C1000 has 458 outlets; it added six new stores and closed 10 unprofitable ones last year. The Ahold supermarket group owns 73% of Schuitema shares....

Probation officers in schoolboy murder case sacked

Two probation officers involved with supervising Julien C, the man charged with murdering schoolboy Jesse Dingemans in December, face being sacked for failing to do their job properly. A third has already been fired, the probation service said on Thursday.......more

Two new suspects charged with terrorism

Two key witnesses in the Samir Azzouz terrorism trial are themselves to be prosecuted on terrorism charges, the public prosecution department (OM) said on Thursday.......more

EU must focus on CO2 say Dutch power firms

Dutch energy sector organisation EnergieNed says the ‘numerous obligations’ contained in the European Commission’s new energy proposals, published yesterday, ‘limit the freedom of energy companies in their mix of energy sources and undermine the free energy market’.......more

Storm passes with few problems so far

The severe storm predicted by Dutch weather forecasters for Thursday morning has passed with relatively little effect, news agency ANP reported at lunchtime. The storm had been set to reach maximum force by midday but the predicted gusts of up to 120 kph had by then failed to appear.......more

News from Wednesday 10 January 2007

Action needed to tackle ethnic tension

The Netherlands needs to wake up and take action to reduce rising ethnic tension between different groups of youths, a senior government advisor warned on Wednesday. Dick Corporaal, charged with monitoring youth flash-points by integration minister Rita Verdonk, said that if the country is not careful, things could get out of control.......more

Amsterdam wants ban on circus animals

Amsterdam council executive Marijke Vos is to urge the cabinet to draw up tough rules governing the use of animals in circuses. The city voted in favour of a ban on circuses featuring animals last year but was unable to implement it because of national laws.......more

Thijssen book latest library give-away

Theo Thijssen's classic De Gelukkige Klas (The Happy Class), a homage to the teaching profession, is to be the second book to be distributed free by Dutch libraries as part of the Nederland Leest (The Netherlands Reads) project. Thijssen (1879-1943) was championed educational rights for all and was a Socialist MP in 1933....

Sligro CEO voted employers Man of the Year

Abel Slippens, CEO of food concern Sligro, is the business community’s Top Man of the Year, reports Wednesday’s Financieele Dagblad. The value of Sligro’s shares has increased almost 17-fold since Slippens took over the reins in 1989.......more

Wilders won't contest provincial elections

Geert Wilders' anti-immigration party PVV, which took a surprise nine seats in the November general election, is not going to contest the March 7 provincial elections. This means the party will not be represented in the upper house of parliament (Senate).......more

Van Gogh photo used in Italian death threat

Photographs of murdered Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh and anti-Islam campaigner Ayaan Hirsi Ali have been sent to right-wing Italian politician Daniela Santaché as part of a death threat, newspaper Corriere della Sera reported on Wednesday. Arabic text written on the fotos read 'this is the hour of my liberation', the paper said....

Eight years for saucepan murder case

A 27-year-old woman from Spaarndam has been sentenced to eight years in jail for her part in the so-called saucepan murders, in which the victim's head was boiled on the stove and his body put through a mincer. She was found not guilty of helping with the murder of a second victim, the wife of her alleged accomplice. His trial continues....

Property funds may be foreign targets

Dutch property funds Rodamco Europe, Eurocommercial Properties, VastNed Offices and Wereldhave could be targeted by foreign buyers this year because of changes in ownership rules, according to analysts at Merrill Lynch.......more

TNT buys Brazilian express firm

Post firm TNT has taken over Brazilian express delivery market leader Mercúrio for an undisclosed sum. Mercúrio has 15% of the domestic Brazilian market and turnover of over €190m last year. The deal will be paid for in cash....

Organon teams up with AMC on rheumatism

Akzo Nobel subsidiary Organon is to work with Amsterdam's AMC teaching hospital on developing a new treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and possibly other diseases, Organon said on Wednesday. .......more

Cinema visits up in 2006

The number of cinema visits in the Netherlands rose 9% last year to over 22.5 million, according to cinema association NVB. Top film was Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest with 1.5 million tickets sold while Dutch film Zwartboek came in third, attracting almost one million people.......more

Warm winter upsets nature

It might technically be mid-winter but the unseasonally warm temperatures are totally confusing nature, the Volkskrant reports today. The paper’s front page photograph shows a man mowing the lawn, which by rights should be stiff with frost.......more

High security prison is serious fire risk

The high security unit at Vught prison, where several convicted terrorists are being held, poses an extreme fire risk and is to be partially evacuated within the next week, it emerged on Tuesday evening. A justice ministry spokesman told ANP that the special terrorist unit is on the ground floor and will not be affected.......more

Bankruptcy restarts save jobs

Seven of the 10 biggest bankruptcies in the Netherlands last year resulted in a successful restart, reports Wednesday’s Volkskrant. The paper said 1,800 out of the 2,800 jobs which were under threat following the bankruptcies were saved. For example, the relaunch of mushroom grower Heveco meant 625 out of 650 jobs were saved, the paper reported....

Rabobank earnings growth 'encouraging'

Cooperative bank Rabobank said on Tuesday that earnings growth was 'encouraging' despite heavy competition for mortgage customers in the Netherlands. The bank did not give financial details but said profit has grown at its international operations for both commercial and private customers.......more

Ice wars heat up

The war between broadcasters RTL and SBS over their rival celebrity ice-skating shows is heating up with RTL announcing it will launch its programme on Thursday, a day earlier than planned. The SBS version was already scheduled for Thursday.......more

Formation talks restart in The Hague

Talks on forming a new government resumed on Wednesday morning in the Catshuis, the prime minister's official residence in The Hague, RTL Nieuws reported. It is the first meeting of the three party leaders, Jan Peter Balkenende (Christian Democrats), Wouter Bos (Labour) and André Rouvoet (ChristenUnie) since they agreed last week that they have enough common ground to form a coalition.......more

Sharp-eyed cleaner foils casino robbery

A sharp-eyed cleaner at the Holland Casino in Rotterdam appears to have foiled an armed robbery after she spotted mysterious chalky dust on the floor of a cubicle in one of the ladies' toilets. She alerted security guards, who found a gun, balaclava, crowbar and a jacket hidden in the ceiling.......more

Bankruptcy restarts often successful

Seven out of the 10 biggest bankruptcies in the Netherlands last year resulted in a successful restart, the Volkskrant reports this morning. The paper said 1,800 out of the 2,800 jobs which were under threat following the bankruptcies were saved.......more

News from Tuesday 09 January 2007

'Godfather’ Holleeder breaks his silence

The justice ministry may take sanctions against Holland’s top crime boss suspect, Willem Holleeder, who has broken his silence in an interview with today’s Telegraaf. The ministry says Holleeder, who is being held at the top security prison in Vught pending his trial, did not have permission to talk to the press.......more

Semi-fit more likely to lose their jobs

Workers with a minor handicap are losing their jobs in large numbers, according to a survey by the labour research foundation. Of the thousands of people officially classified as 35% unfit to work, almost two-thirds have been sacked by the time their two-year period of sick pay is up, the organisation says.......more

Few switch health insurers this year

Only 3% of the population switched health insurers this year, according to Vecozo, an internet system used by insurers to exchange information. This is well below the 18% who moved at the beginning of 2006 when the new insurance scheme was introduced....

TNT expects to earn €1bn abroad

TNT Post expects a turnover of €1bn from its European networks (eight countries outside the Netherlands) this year, according to the Financieele Dagblad. This is double the figure booked in 2005.......more

Strong wind cause Schiphol airport delays

Planes coming into and leaving Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport are being delayed for up to an hour because of strong winds, reports the NOS website. The problem is expected to remain until around 8pm Tuesday evening....

Organ donations drop in 2006

The number of organ donors fell by 7% in 2006 compared to a year earlier, according to provisional figures from the transplant foundation. Nevertheless, the waiting list remained more or less stable at 1,440. Around 200 people every year die while waiting for a transplant....

Sex baron sells 20% of his brothels

Amsterdam sex industry baron Charles Geerts, who faces having his brothel licences withdrawn because of suspected criminal connections, has sold a fifth of his red light district property to other sex industry bosses. Geerts is challenging the council’s cancellation of his licence in court next week....

Endemol France back into the fold

TV production company Endemol, which owns the rights to Big Brother, is to buy the Endemol France operation and merge back into a single group. The deal values Endemol France at €450m.......more

Heineken and Phillips settle beer row

Beer company Heineken has settled its long-running dispute over patents on home draught beer systems with Philips and rival brewer InBev.......more

Healthcare targeted by anti-cartel body

The Dutch competition authority NMa expects to deal with a further increase in mergers and acquisitions this year, particularly in the healthcare sector.......more

Court orders closure of paedophile website

A website which names and shames suspected and convicted paedophiles has been removed from the internet after a court order, the Volkskrant reports today.......more

Man arrested for camp murder (update)

Police have arrested a 36-year-old man in Landgraaf on suspicion of the kidnapping and murder of Nicky Verstappen, the 11-year-old boy who disappeared from his tent during a summer youth camp near Heibloem in 1998.......more

Comet visible this week if skies clear

Sky-watchers can this week see the comet McNaught which will be visible for a few hours just after sunset above the west-southwest horizon. Astromers say McNaught can clearly be seen with the naked eye if skies are clear....

Body of young woman found on A4

The body of a young woman was discovered on the A4 motorway close to the Roelofarendsveen exit in the early hours of Tuesday morning. According to media reports the woman fell out of a van but it is unclear whether her death was an accident or the result of a crime.......more

Tax deductible legal fees in labour disputes

The cost of lawyers’ fees should be tax deductible for employees who take legal action when sacked, says a member of the Judiciary Council (Hoge Raad) in Tuesday’s Financieele Dagblad.......more

News from Monday 08 January 2007

Timmer, Wennemars take Dutch skating titles

Speed skater Marianne Timmer took her ninth Dutch national sprint title on Sunday despite falling just metres from the finish in the second 1,000 metre race.......more

Dutch MP arrested in Scotland

Dutch Socialist Party MP Krista van Velzen has been arrested during a blockade of the Scottish military base Faslane on Monday. Faslane is the base for the UK's nuclear submarines. The action is in protest at plans by the British government to buy new nuclear subs....

Fewer shops, cafes and banks

The number of banks, shops and cafés in the Netherlands has fallen by 8% over the past four years, according to new figures from the official statistics office CBS. The number of bank branches fell 38%....

Coalition talks restart Wednesday

Talks on forming a new Dutch government between the Christian Democrats, PvdA (Labour) and ChristenUnie are set to resume on Wednesday, with the parties getting down to serious policy discussions.......more

Cocaine hidden in supermarket bananas

Supermarket staff in Zuid-Limburg have found 50kg of cocaine hidden in a shipment of bananas. Police said drug smugglers appeared to have made a logistical error by delivering three boxes to a supermarket in Hoensbroek and Brunssum by mistake. The haul was valued at between €3m and €4m....

Shell admits to Russian pressure

Shell chairman Jeroen van der Veer has told NOS radio that the company had found it very difficult to deal with pressure from the Russian government over the Sakhalin II oil and gas project.......more

Insurers fear investment-based product claims

Financial analysts at Rabo Securities say the row over investment-based savings and insurance products could end up costing Dutch insurers €1bn in lost income and compensation.......more

Wolters Kluwer school books on market

Wolters Kluwer has put its school book operations on the market for €700m, British newspaper the Daily Telegraph reports today.......more

Winning photo is symbol of hope

Photographer Laurens Aaij has won the 2006 Zilveren Camera photography prize for his photograph of horses stranded by flood water in Friesland in November.......more

Amsterdam office prices down 7%

The average price for office space per worker in Amsterdam dropped just over 7% from €7,350 in 2005 to €6,830 last year, according to PropertyNL which bases its figures, published in today’s Financieele Dagblad, on a survey by estate agent DTZ Zadelhoff.......more

Rijnmond gives psychiatric care in Morocco

Psychiatric health services (RIAGG) in Rijnmond are still active in Morocco providing care for Dutch patients from Moroccan backgrounds who are on holiday despite a legal ban on such care, according to various media reports on Monday.......more

Copper thieves disrupt rail travel

Train passengers faced delays on the route between Utrecht and Den Bosch on Monday morning because thieves had stolen copper from railway tracks. Similar problems hit services elsewhere in the country last month following soaring copper prices....

Major traffic jams around Amsterdam

The Monday morning rush hour caused almost 450 kilometres of traffic jams as commuters returned back to work after the Christmas break, reports the VID traffic information service.......more

Air quality norms around roads to cost €700m

Tackling Holland’s traffic congestion problems will cost another €400m in the coming years, according to an interview with Jan Hendrik Dronkers, director of roads and traffic safety at the transport department, in Monday’s Financieele Dagblad.......more

Massive fire in Enschede

Fire-fighters in Enschede spent Sunday night bringing a massive fire under control and were still at the scene on Monday morning.......more

Dutch tactics in Afghanistan praised

The Dutch military operation in Uruzgan has aroused interest from Nato partners who wonder whether it’s just luck or the softer Dutch approach that has resulted in so few Dutch casualties in Afghanistan, reports Monday’s Volkskrant.......more

News from Friday 05 January 2007

Firm basis for new cabinet, says Wijffels

The three parties involved in forming a new cabinet will get down to detailed negotiations next week, Herman Wijffels, the man leading the talks, said this afternoon. After three ‘intensive’ days in the relaxed atmosphere of a country estate in Friesland the ‘firm basis’ for a coalition agreement had been laid, Wijffels said.......more

Laurus units to boost Sperwer supermarkets

Supermarket group Sperwer, which owns the Plus and Spar chains, expects turnover to grow between 20% and 25% this year, director Jaap Lagerweij told news agency Betten. Sales rose almost 11% in 2006.......more

Schiphol near its limits says CEO

Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport saw passenger numbers rise 4.3% to over 46 million and cargo transport up 5.5% to 1,530,000 tonnes last year, CEO Gerlach Cerfontaine said on Thursday evening. ‘Compared with our main competitors - London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt - we performed extremely well,’ Cerfontaine said.......more

Belgium popular for hiding dodgy money

The Dutch have some €8.5bn in ‘black money’ deposited in Belgian bank accounts Belgian paper De Morgen reports today. In total, the Dutch have some €27bn stashed away abroad, the paper says.......more

Dutch farming incomes rise fastest in EU

Dutch farmers’ incomes have grown the fastest of all EU farmers, according to European statistics office Eurostat. Farmers’ income rose an average 2.6% last year, but in the Netherlands earnings were up 17.6%.......more

Mittal boss is investors’ man of the year

India's Lakshmi Mittal, CEO of steel group Arcelor Mittal, has been voted man of the year by members of the Dutch investors association (VEB) with 18.6% of the votes. Mittal won his placing because of his victory in the takeover battle for Arcelor.......more

Not enough evidence on 'wife beating' MP

The public prosecution department said today that it had not gathered enough evidence to prosecute Dion Graus, an MP for the anti-immigration PVV, for beating up his eight-months pregnant wife in 2003.......more

Dead cats found in freezer

The bodies of 33 cats have been found wrapped in plastic bags in a freezer in a barn in Schiedam. A further 41 cats have been taken into care. The alarm was raised by cat owners who were concerned about conditions when they replied to an advert for the ‘pet hotel’....

Roman road uncovered during rail works

Remains of the limes or road, which marked the border between the Roman empire and Lower Germany in the 1st century AD, have been found by builders expanding the railway near Houten. The road connected the Roman forts of Fectio (Vechten) and Traiectum (Utrecht). Work on the railway has been stopped while excavations are carried out....

Difficult pupils miss out on school

Thousands of children are missing out on schooling because they are waiting for a place in special education, the AD reports today. The education ministry wants ordinary schools to take in problem pupils while they are on waiting lists for specialist institutions.......more

Party centre blaze forces evacuations

Some 120 people were evacuated from their homes in the early hours of Tuesday after fire broke out in the Palace entertainment centre in Rotterdam. The complex was completely destroyed in the blaze. Two people were taken to hospital suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation....

Dutch nationality at 93 is ‘nonsense’

A 93-year-old German woman, who has lived in the Netherlands since she was a little girl, has undergone a formal naturalisation ceremony to become Dutch - because she could not prove who she was to her bank.......more

News from Thursday 04 January 2007

Green groups criticise Chinese pollution deal

The Dutch government is subsidising two highly-polluting factories in China, the Volkskrant claims on its front page today. The paper says the factories produce a coolant which releases a gas 11,700 times more polluting than CO2.......more

Arcadis to work on New Orleans protection

Dutch civil engineering group Arcadis, together with Bioengineering Group, has been awarded a major contract to provide consultancy and construction management services to the US Army in New Orleans.......more

Baby's body found in Den Bosch

The body of a baby has been found in the Engelermeer country park in Den Bosch. Passers-by spotted the body close to a path running alongside the water. Police have urged the mother to come forward....

More baby seals washed up

The number of baby seals washed up on sandbanks in the Wadden Sea has reached 79, the Pieterburen Seal Sanctuary reported on Thursday. The animals, which cannot swim well because of their thick coats, became separated from their mothers during last weekend’s storms....

Prosecution confident on Holleeder case

The Public Prosecution Department (OM) said on Thursday that it had enough evidence to prosecute alleged crime boss Willem Holleeder for blackmailing four property magnates. At a pre-trial hearing in the heavily-guarded courtroom in Amsterdam's Osdorp district, public prosecutor Koos Plooij said that a number of witnesses had come forward to confirm the contents of secret talks between property boss Willem Endstra and the police in 2003.......more

Radical imam preaches despite ban

Radical imam, Kariman, preached at the Anwar-e-Medina mosque in Eindhoven on Sunday despite being given a two-year ban by the courts in December. The mosque's owners had asked for the ban because of Kariman's 'divisive and rude behaviour'.......more

New car sales rise in 2006

New car sales rose by 45% in 2006 to 484,000, according to figures from motoring organisations BOVAG and RAI. Volkswagen was the most popular brand for the second year running, while Toyota and Fiat both saw sales up by more than 20%.......more

'Private equity interested in Organon'

Chemicals company Akzo Nobel is in talks with private equity groups about the takeover of its pharmaceutical division, Organon, the Financieele Dagblad report today. The paper says at least two private equity groups have been asked to make an offer by mid-January.......more

Stand-up two wheelers banned

The stand-up motorised two-wheeler known as a Segway was banned from all public roads, bikepaths and pavements in the Netherlands as of New Year's Day – because it's officially classed as a moped.......more

Fathers can't afford to work less

Around 64% of fathers would like to work less and spend more time with their children but only 38% can actually do so, according to research carried out by childcare magazine, Ezeltje Prik. One third say they cannot afford to work less and 18% say they are worried about their career prospects....

Coalition talks: ambitions public on Friday (update)

The leaders of the Christian Democrats, PvdA (Labour) and ChristenUnie hope to have the basis of a future coalition agreement ready by Friday, news agency ANP reported on Thursday evening. The three leaders are set to end their negotiations on a country estate in the Frisian village of Beetsterzwaag on Friday afternoon.......more

Cancer health check-ups under fire

The health inspectorate IGZ has launched a campaign against companies offering full medical check-ups, including body scans, the Financieele Dagblad reports this morning. Ten companies have been warned that offering certain sorts of medical diagnosis need to have proper permits, the IGZ told the paper.......more

Ministry to pay bill for subsidy stop

Junior social affairs minister Henk van Hoof is faced with a €450m bill after losing a court case over EU subsidies for unemployment projects. The appeal court ruled yesterday that Van Hoof had not properly communicated his decision to close the European Social Fund subsidy desk and must now honour late applications.......more

News from Wednesday 03 January 2007

Home buyers pay for building site thefts

Construction firms are passing the cost of stolen building materials and equipment onto home buyers, even though they have claimed the cash back on insurance, home owners lobby group Eigen Huis (VEH) claims in its January magazine.......more

Supermarket sales rise in 2006

Dutch supermarkets booked record turnover of €27.2bn in 2006, an increase of 3.9% on 2005, says retail research group GfK. 'The supermarket price wars would seem to be at an end,' says GfK spokesman Joop Holla. Supermarket turnover fell in both 2005 and 2004....

Newspapers' circulation fall again

The circulation of most Dutch newspapers fell again in the third quarter of 2006, says the media auditing institute HOI. Only the Financieele Dagblad booked a significant increase, up 3.2%. New morning paper nrc.next has a circulation of 65,000, HOI says....

Samir Azzouz gets medical check-up

Convicted terrorist Samir Azzouz has undergone medical check-ups at the Vught high security prison after his wife Abida said he had become seriously ill.......more

Illegal download sites removed

Some 115 Dutch websites which allowed people to illegally download music and films were removed from the internet last year, says anti-piracy foundation Stichting Brein.......more

Happy hooker gets wed

Writer and former prostitute Xaviera Hollander (63) has married her third husband, the 10-year-younger Philip de Haan, in a simple civil ceremony in Amsterdam. ‘He is really kind and caring,’ says Hollander. The couple has known each other for 18 months. Hollander became famous, especially in the US, for her book The Happy Hooker....

Bet that Van Nistelrooij returns to Oranje?

There will be no Elfstedentocht ice-skating race in 2007 and Ruud van Nistelrooij will rejoin the Dutch football team – these are among the things punters are betting on using online gambling agency Unibet, reports the Telegraaf. The odds on a Dutch win at the Eurovision song contest are 50:1, the paper says....

Even more asbestos on board the Otapan

The ship Otapan contains almost 77 tonnes of asbestos and not one tonne as stated on the original export document, environment minister Pieter van Geel told MPs yesterday. The Otapan was due to be broken up in Turkey last year but the Turkish authorities refused to accept it when it emerged the ship contained far more asbestos than registered on the export licence.......more

Formation process begins in earnest today

The leaders of the Christian Democrats, Labour (PvdA) and ChristenUnie get down to business today and start serious talks on forming a new government - some six weeks after the general election. The talks are taking place under the leadership of CDA stalwart Herman Wijffels.......more

Connexxion consolidates bus operations

Regional bus company Connexxion is to take over the Nijmegen city public transport group Novio after The Hague's bus company HTM pulled out, Nijmegen city council said on Tuesday. Connexxion is to merge Novio with its Gelderland regional bus operator Hermes.......more

Holland America Line back in Rotterdam

The Holland America Line is to reopen operations in Rotterdam, 36 years after ending its transatlantic services, Rotterdam mayor Ivo Opstelten announced in his New Year speech on Monday.......more

Millions of guilders handed back

Guilders worth some €14.6m were handed in to post offices and the Dutch central bank in the last three months of 2006, the finance ministry said yesterday. In total, some 325,000 people brought in coins and notes - 100,000 of whom waited until the last two days of the year.......more

Banking on prostitution

The association of Dutch banks NVB is to talk to Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen about extending loans to brothel owners, the Volkskrant reports today. 'It is a very difficult situation,' director Hein Blocks told the paper, warning against too-high expectations.......more

More people uninsured on religious grounds

The number of people in Holland who are deliberately uninsured on religious grounds doubled last year to around 11,000, the social insurance bank SVB said. The SVB said the increase was mainly due to the new health insurance system which meant children now have to be formally insured as well.......more

News from Tuesday 02 January 2007

New Year celebrations marred by deaths

The country began getting back to normal on Tuesday after New Year celebrations in which two people were killed and at least 150 arrested. Despite a number of incidents in which emergency service workers were attacked by drunken youths, police said the New Year festivities passed off largely peacefully.......more

New rules for foreigners and fishermen

A host of new legislation came into effect on January 1. The most controversial is the law on compulsory integration (inburgering) for many non-EU immigrants. This means both new immigrants and people who have lived in the Netherlands for many years will have to take standard tests to prove they can speak Dutch and understand how Dutch society operates.......more

Cancer biggest cause of child deaths

Cancer is the most common source of death for children aged between two and 12, says the national statistics office CBS. On average, 400 children are diagnosed with cancer and 100 die every year. Some 60% have either leukemia or a brain tumor. Traffic accidents are the main cause of death for 13 to 15-year-olds....

Lottery winners celebrate millionaire wins

An unidentified person in the northern province of Groningen won over €20m in the annual New Year state lottery. The second prize of €12.2m went to a household in the province of Zuid-Holland. Four other people won €1m, the state lottery organisation said yesterday.......more

More jams again in 2006

The number of traffic jams in the Netherlands rose 7.2% last year, bringing the total increase since 2000 to 26%, says traffic information service VID. Top of the list of problem spots was the A4 at Zoeterwoude-Rijndijk, followed by Coenplein on the Amsterdam ring road. The A1 (Amsterdam to Amersfoort) and A2 (Utrecht to Den Bosch) were the busiest stretches of road....

Questions after Samir A. gets new cell

Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-immigration party PVV, has demanded an explanation from justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin on why convicted terrorist Samir Azzouz has been moved to a new cell where he will not come into contact with women.......more

Jumbo profits from supermarket expansion

Independent supermarket group Jumbo saw net profit rise 20% in 2006 to €972m, the family-run firm said on Monday. The increase is largely due to the opening of 18 new stores, bringing the group total to 94. Organic growth was 4%, one percentage point up on 2005....

Barneveldt wins new world darts title

Dutch darts superstar Raymond van Barneveld has won the world darts title in his first year in the PDC league. Barneveld came back from three sets down to defeat 13-times tournament winner Phil Taylor (British) in the final of the Ladbrokes World Championship. Barney was four-times winner of the BDO world title....

More acclaim for Cohen

Amsterdam's mayor Job Cohen was voted Dutchman of the Year by readers of the Volkskrant newspaper. Second and third on the list were Socialist Party leader Jan Marijnissen and safety council chairman Pieter van Vollenhoven (husband of Princess Margriet) who compiled last year's damning report into the Schiphol deportation centre fire.......more

Text messages reach New Year record

The Dutch sent a record number of mobile phone text messages between 10pm on December 31 and 4am on January 1, telecom operators report. Vodafone subscribers sent 17.5 million Happy New Year messages, seven million more than last year, KPN users sent 10 million messages (up 30%) and Telfort almost 1.5 million messages....

Prosecution warning on job cuts

Hans Brouwer, the most senior civil servant in the public prosecution department (OM), has warned the three political parties in talks on forming a new government not to slash jobs at his department. The Christian Democrats and Labour (PvdA) both backed cutting civil service staff in their election manifestos. Coalition formation talks restart today....

Analysts pick stocks to watch for the FD

Fugro, USG People, Fortis, Crucell and Hagemeyer are the stocks to watch this year, according to five analysts polled by the Financieele Dagblad. But the analysts warn against too-high expectations. Returns will not be more than 10%, they say.......more

News from Monday 01 January 2007

Scheveningen New Year swim cancelled

For the first time in 39 years, the annual New Year swim in the North Sea off Scheveningen has been cancelled. Organisers Unilever said the combination of strong winds and rising tide made it too dangerous. Police and rescue workers had warned of the risk of high waves and strong currents....

New Year begins with death and vandalism

A 36-year-old man was killed outright when a firework exploded in his face shortly after midnight, but police said the New Year celebrations passed off largely peacefully. Fire fighters had to deal with dozens of burning cars in The Hague. Some 150 people were arrested.......more