Friday 28 September 2007

Woman jailed for threatening Wilders
A 33-year-old woman has been jailed for one year and sentenced to compulsory psychiatric prison for threatening Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-Islam party PVV. The woman sent over 100 emails to Wilders using computers in public libraries, ANP reported. comments (2)

More Dutch troops head for Afghanistan
The Netherlands is sending an extra 80 soldiers to bolster the NATO mission in Uruzgan, southern Afghanistan, sources close to the cabinet said on Friday.

Dutch call for sanctions against Burma
Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende used his speech to the general meeting of the UN on Thursday to call for sanctions against Burma, where at least nine protestors have been shot dead. More...

Chinese firm 'interested' in Stork Aerospace
Chinese state company Avic-1 is interested in taking over Stork Aerospace and approached the Dutch engineering firm several months ago, the Financieele Dagblad claims. Stork told the paper the initiative was 'not serious'.

More profit for Ernst & Young
Accountants group Ernst & Young Nederland booked a net profit of €161 over its 2006/07 book year, an increase of almost €13m on the previous year. Turnover was up 4.6% to €642m. The company employs 4,340 people in the Netherlands, a slight increase on the previous period.

France Télécom completes Orange sale
The sale of Orange Nederland by France Télécom to Deutsche Telekom for €1.3bn is almost completed now the Dutch company's works council has approved the deal, the French firm said on Friday. Orange Nederland is to be merged into T-Mobile.

Calamity insurance for Burma cut
Travellers heading to Burma are no longer covered for 'calamities' if they visit the country between now and the end of October, the travel agents' insurance trust said on Friday.

‘Dutch football players bet via illegal circuit’
The Dutch football association KNVB said on Friday it had no indications that players were betting on the outcome of their own games, and that betting on the illegal gambling circuit was a matter for the justice ministry. More...

Seals spotted in IJsselmeer lake
Two seals have been spotted swimming in the freshwater IJsselmeer lake. The animals normally live in the Wadden Sea, which is separated from the IJsselmeer by the massive Afsluitdijk sea wall. The animals probably got into the lake via a drainage sluice, officials said.

MPs want good behaviour pledge from priests
A majority of MPs think that catholic priests and other church officials who work with children should have an official certificate of good behaviour (VOG), says television show Network. Network reported on Thursday night that some church workers who have been convicted of child abuse are still allowed to work with children.

US more popular for holidays
The low dollar has boosted the US's popularity as a holiday destination with the Dutch, the AD reports on Friday. The paper says bookings to New York are up an estimated 50% on last year.

Foreign car imports up
Last year 78,000 new cars were imported into the Netherlands from other European countries, a 20% increase on 2005, according to newspaper Nrc.next. More...

Porn star campaigns against animal abuse
The Volkskrant today focuses on porn star Charisma Gold and her campaign against bestiality and animal porn, which she says has led to her receiving death threats. More... comments (7)

Golden Earring drummer gets culture prize
Cesar Zuiderwijk, who has played drums with Dutch rock group Golden Earring (of ‘Radar Love’ fame) for 35 years, has been awarded The Hague's 2007 culture prize for his 'uitstanding' contribution to the arts. Zuiderwijk, who joins previous prizewinners such as choreographer Jiri Kylian and artist Auke de Vries, wins a sculpture and €25,000.

ABN Amro boss Groenink hospitalised
ABN Amro CEO Rijkman Groenink has undergone an operation for a appendicitis and is likely to miss the endgame of the takeover battle for the biggest Dutch bank, a bank spokesman confirmed on Friday. More...

PM calls for action against Burma
Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende used his speech to the general meeting of the UN on Thursday to call for sanctions against Burma, where at least nine protestors have been shot dead. More...

Councillors cheat on benefit claims
One in five local or city councillors who is entitled to unemployment or disability benefit does not properly declare their council earnings, according to new research. More...

Donner hints at redundancy changes
Social affairs minister Piet Hein Donner is amending his plans to reform redundancy law but is keeping those changes close to his chest, various papers report on Friday. More...

AFM refuses accountants' licences
Financial sector watchdog AFM has refused to give four accountancy practises licences to approve bourse-listed company accounts because they either don't have the necessary expertise or quality controls, according to Friday's Financieele Dagblad. More...

Non-bourse firms nominated for Sijthoff
For the first time in its 54-year-history, non-listed companies can take part in the Financieele Dagblad's annual Henri Sijthoff competition for the best financial report of the year. More...

AZ out of Dutch cup
Leeuwarden first division football club Cambuur created the latest shock of the KNVB cup on Thursday night, putting out premier side Alkmaar AZ 1-0. More...

Thursday 27 September 2007

Economy up 2.6% in second quarter
The Dutch economy grew by 2.6% in the second quarter of this year, a slow-down on the 3% recorded over the same period in 2006, says national statistics office CBS. However, the slow-down is less than predicted in August, when the CBS put second-quarter growth at 2.4%.

PSV thrown out of KNVB cup
Dutch football’s governing body, the KNVB has disqualified the current national champion PSV from taking part in the Dutch cup. More...

Red pencils to return to polling stations
Traditional ballot papers should replace voting computers at election time until all problems with electronic voting have been removed, concludes a government commission set up to look at Dutch voting systems. More...

15 million phone numbers missing
Some 15 million phone numbers are missing from Dutch directories, according to research by number information service Wixi 1890. The most common reason for not being in the directory is having a mobile phone or wanting to avoid telephone sales, Wixi says.

Amsterdam could go Microsoft-free
Amsterdam may become the third city in Europe (after Munich and Vienna) to have a Microsoft-free city council following a successful first experiment in using free software. More...

The Netherlands is even less corrupt
The Netherlands has risen to number seven in the annual Transparency International rankings of countries where bribery and corruption in the business sector is least prevalent. Holland was in 11th position two years ago. More...

Private schools more popular
Some 2,700 Dutch children are now being educated at private schools, up from 1,700 a year ago, says sociologist Don Weenink in today's Trouw. More...

Breathalyser for Polish workers
Temporary employment agency Groenflex in Wateringen is forcing all its 170 Polish staff to undergo breathalyser tests every Monday morning in an effort to curb excessive drinking. More...

Chelsea denies contacts with Van Basten
London football club Chelsea has denied it is trying to recruit Dutch national coach Marco van Basten to replace its departing trainer José Mourinho. More...

More cash for urban renewal
Housing corporations in more wealthy parts of the country have agreed to put a combined €750m into helping corporations in run-down areas undertake major urban renewal projects, housing minister Ella Vogelaar said on Wednesday. More...

Scheepbouwer to stay on at KPN
Ad Scheepbouwer is to stay on as CEO at telecom firm KPN for the next four years without any changes to his basic pay package, the company announced on Thursday. More...

DSM increases earnings forecast
Chemicals group DSM has increased its 2007 profit forecast and long term targets, the company said on Thursday at a conference for analysts. More...

Tulip wants to take over Commodore
Dutch computer firm Tulip is planning to bid $1 a share for the US computer firm Commodore, valuing the company at $81m. More...

Absenteeism rate halved since 1980
Absenteeism has more than halved in the last 25 years from 10% in 1980 to just over 4% in 2005, according to a report by the government’s social advisory body SCP on Thursday. More...

Holland to up healthcare aid by €125m
The Netherlands has earmarked an extra €125m to improve healthcare in developing countries, prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende announced at a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative in New York on Wednesday. More...

Ajax trainer 'embarassed' by narrow victory
Henk ten Cate, trainer of Amsterdam's Ajax football club, has apologised for the team's 'unworthy' performance against amateur club Kozakken Boys in the KNVB football cup. More...

Cabinet crisis looms over redundancy plan
Labour ministers will quit the cabinet if social affairs minister Piet Hein Donner (Christian Democrat) refuses to amend controversial plans to reform redundancy law, the Volkskrant reports on Thursday. More...

Wednesday 26 September 2007

Boom wins under-23 cycling time trial title
Dutchman Lars Boom won the under-23 individual time-trial title on the first day of the road cycling world championship in Stuttgart on Wednesday. Boom completed the 38 kilometres in 48.57 minutes. Second was the Russian Michail Ignatjev (49.06) with Frenchman Jerome Coppel (49.43) in third place.

Holland cheaper than Luxemburg for funds
Funds investing in the Netherlands rather than Luxemburg can save an annual 0.7% in costs according to research by tax law firms KPMG Meijburg and De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek. In addition, financial services are cheaper and supervisory authorities more approachable in the Netherlands, the firms say.

Cost of water falls 10% in ten years
The cost of tap water has fallen by 10% for the average user over the past ten years, reports the Telegraaf on Wednesday. More...

Secondary school reforms scrapped
Plans to reduce the number of streams in the final years of secondary education from four to two will not go ahead, junior education minister Marja van Bijsterveldt told parliament on Wednesday. The minister said she did not want to confront schools with yet more changes.

Amsterdam backs mushroom plan
Amsterdam city council backs plans by mayor Job Cohen to put tighter controls on the use of hallucinogenic mushrooms, after a number of serious incidents involving tourists. Cohen wants to introduce a three-day wait before tourists would be able to buy fresh mushrooms.

Accountants Deloitte increases earnings
Accountants group Deloitte booked pre-tax profit of €120.7m in its 2006/07 book year, up €18.2m on the previous year. Turnover rose 7% to €747m.

'Air France-KLM to bid for Iberia'
Air France-KLM is preparing to bid for Spanish airline Iberia, newspaper Expansion says on Wednesday. More...

Foreign firm investment reaches record
Foreign firms invested €18bn in Dutch companies in the second quarter of this year, the highest quarterly figure ever, says the Dutch central bank DNB. More...

Women more often take care of pets
Household pets are the primary responsibility of the woman of the house in 60% of cases, with men in charge just 25% of the time, according to a TNS Nipo poll. The most common causes for arguments about 'whose pet it is' revolve around taking the dog for a walk and cleaning out the cat litter tray, the survey shows.

Green group calls for tax on meat
Environmental group Milieudefensie wants the government to put an 85 cent per kilo tax on meat and spend the money on making meat production more environment and animal-friendly. The Dutch buy some 800 million kilos of meat a year.

Tired teens need more exercise and sleep
Over-tired teenagers are not tired because of their busy diaries but because they are anxious, have a gloomy outlook on life and need more exercise and sleep, says psychologist Maike ter Wolbeek in her thesis published on Wednesday. More...

No increase in US tourists to Amsterdam
The number of American tourists visiting Amsterdam has not increased for the first time in years, the central statistics bureau CBS reported on Tuesday. More... comments (1)

Steel giant Tata wants to keep Corus intact
Indian steel giant Tata does not want to break-up the British-Dutch steel manufacturer Corus which it took over earlier this year, CEO Ratan Tata told the IJmuiden workforce on Tuesday. More...

Geert Wilders 'is asking for trouble'
Nearly 60% of the Dutch think that anti-Islam party leader Geert Wilders has brought the threats he receives on himself because of his outspoken comments, the Telegraaf reports on Wednesday. In addition, 60% of those polled think the taxpayer should not have to pay for Wilders' special security provisions.

Dutch children are respected, says PM
Dutch children are the happiest in the developed world because they are treated with respect, prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende told an international conference on global leadership in New York on Tuesday night. More... comments (2)

Climate changes top Dutch worry chart
The Dutch are more worried about climate change than about terrorism or integration according to research for the governmental Durability Monitor 2007, Trouw reports on Wednesday. More...

Rita Verdonk stays put for the time being
Rita Verdonk, the controversial former immigration minister, will not be expelled from the Liberal party (VVD) for the time being, the party's vice-chairman Rogier van der Sande told tv news programme EenVandaag on Tuesday night. He says talks with Verdonk are on-going. More...

Vitesse big loser in KNVB cup
Arnhem's Vitesse was the big loser in Tuesday night's second round of the KNVB football cup. The premier division team went down 4-2 to FC Eindhoven, currently bottom of the first division, in what critics said was a 'very uninspired performance'. More...

Dutch back EU referendum call
Some 55% of the Dutch think there should be a referendum on the new EU treaty, with a similar percentage saying they would vote in favour, according to a Maurice de Hond opinion poll. More...

Tuesday 25 September 2007

Record fall in consumer confidence
Dutch confidence in the economy fell by its largest ever margin in September, taking the confidence index from +15 to -1. It is the first time the consumer confidence index has been negative for over a year. More...

Labour MPs say no to referendum on EU
A majority of Labour MPs on Tuesday decided not to back calls for a second referendum on the European Union, making it almost certain that the approval of the new EU treaty will be left to parliament rather than the public at large. More... comments (3)

Moonlighting popular with hard-up police
Up to 15% of police staff have extra jobs to keep their heads above water financially, the police trade union confirmed on Tuesday. The figure is shocking said the ACP, adding that it will demand a net pay rise of €200 a month in upcoming pay talks.

Minister considers tax on fatty food
An extra tax on fatty foods and membership to a gym as part of health insurance are two of the options being looked at by health minister Ab Klink in an effort to reduce obesity and other problems. More... comments (1)

RBS offers major role for Amsterdam
Royal Bank of Scotland will make Amsterdam its European financial centre for international cash-management and clearing, if the consortium it leads succeeds in taking over ABN Amro, the Scottish bank said on Tuesday. More...

Dutch architect to build Russian island
Dutch architect Erick van Egeraat has won a commission to design an artificial island close to the Russian city of Sochi where the 2014 Winter Olympics will be held, the Telegraaf reports. More...

Building firm BAM raises forecast again
Construction firm BAM has again raised its full-year profit forecast, following the sale of US company Flatiron to Germany's Hochtief for €172m. More...

Philips doubles energy-efficient investments
Electronics group Philips is to more than double its investment in environment-friendly innovation to €1bn over five years, the company says in a letter to personnel. More...

Record fall in consumer confidence
Dutch confidence in the economy fell sharply in September, taking the confidence index from +15 to -1, the biggest drop ever recorded. More...

Temp agencies fined over €1m
Thirty-three temporary employment agencies have so far been fined a total of over €1m for breaking employment laws, said the organisation charged with monitoring the sector, SNCU, on Tuesday. More...

Climate change tops youth worries
An overwhelming majority of young people in the Netherlands between the ages of 12 and 29 believe action must be taken quickly to stop climate change (83%) and that the government is doing too little in this area (85%). More...

3,700 need medical help for dog bites
Some 3,700 people in the Netherlands seek medical help after being bitten by dogs every year, the free newspaper Metro reports on Tuesday. In 20% of case the victim is a child aged under five.

Driving tests overhauled from 2008
Driving tests will place more emphasis on driving independently, reacting to dangerous situations and dealing with heavy traffic and congestion as from next year, the driving licence authority CBR confirmed on Tuesday. More...

Máxima is talking rubbish, says Wilders
Princess Máxima was talking 'well-meant, politically-correct rubbish' when she gave a speech welcoming the publication of a report on Dutch nationality, said Geert Wilders leader of the anti-Islam party PVV on RTL news. More... comments (1)

Former finance minister Zalm joins Permira
Former finance minister Gerrit Zalm is to be an advisor at the major British private equity firm Permira but was not selected because of his political connections, he says in an interview with today’s Financieele Dagblad. Zalm believes it is more his feel for gauging public opinion that attracted his new bosses.

Charity boss Ploumen to chair Labour party
The Labour party (PvdA) has elected aid charity director Lilianne Ploumen as its new chair. Ploumen unexpectedly beat her more well-known rival, the former minister and left-winger Jan Pronk. More...

Amsterdam least favourite with traders
Amsterdam ranks 49 out of the 50 best trading cities drawn up by US website Trader Daily. While Amsterdam scores an eight for nightlife and seven for trading infrastructure, it rates a zero on taxes. More... comments (1)

Holland strong in business talent
Britain, Germany and France are not as good at developing high-qualified staff and find it harder to attract talented foreigners than the Netherlands, according to Tuesday’s Financieele Dagblad. More...

Monday 24 September 2007

New ambulances for obese patients
Special ambulances designed to transport overweight patients are to be introduced in Assen, Emmen and Leeuwarden in February 2008, reports the Telegraaf on Monday.The new ambulances are designed to take people weighing over 100 kilo and three of them will be used for a test period of two years.

EU postpones ruling on Organon takeover
The European Commission has postponed its decision on the takeover of Organon BioSciences, the pharmaceutical division of Akzo Nobel, by Schering-Plough until October 11, the Commission announced on Monday. Schering-Plough offered €11bn in cash for Organon in March 2007.

Small firms flourish in building trade
Small and one-man building firms have increased their annual turnover by 50% since 2000, the national statistics bureau CBS reports on Monday. This has increased their contribution to total building sector turnover from 19% in 2002 to 22% in the first half of 2007.

Number of households rise to 7.2 million
There were nearly 7.2 million households in the Netherlands on January 1 2007, 600,000 up on the figure 10 years ago, according to statistics released on Monday by the CBS. Much of this growth was caused by single-person households. Their numbers grew by 380,000 to 2.5 million.

More space to be found for natural burials
The number of people wanting to bury their loved ones under trees, in woods or fields is growing and more space is being found for environment-friendly burials, according researchers at Wageningen University, quoted in Tuesday's Telegraaf. More...

Confusion over red light window count
No-one seems to know just how many red light district windows there are in Amsterdam, the Volkskrant reported at the weekend. Even Charles Geerts, the sex industry boss who sold 18 of his properties to a housing corporation does not seem to know how many there are. More...

Porceleyne Fles takes over Leerdam Crystal
The Netherlands last remaining Delft blue porcelain maker Porceleyne Fles is to take over crystal glassware company Leerdam Crystal, currently owned by US company Libbey. More...

Terrorism tzar criticises anti-Islam tone
The coordinator of the government's anti-terrorism efforts Tjibbe Joustra has criticised the 'radical' tone used by some anti-Islam campaigners for being sharp enough to possibly 'push individuals who were considering violence over the edge'. More...

Dutch people get Big Brother award
Citizens rights lobby group Bits of Freedom has awarded its sixth Big Brother award for the person doing the most to damage the privacy to the entire Dutch population for being 'totally uninterested in who holds information about them'. More...

Four arrested on Amsterdam car-free day
Amsterdam police arrested four people for attacking stewards who were stopping people driving into the city on car-free Sunday. One of those arrested attempted to drive over the steward, who was slightly injured. The city was closed off to outside traffic between 9am and 5pm. comments (1)

Health changes prompt hospital cash woes
Hospitals will have financial problems and may go bankrupt over the next few years as a result of the changes in the health system and poor financial results, the independent financial institute for the health sector WfZ says in a letter to health minister Ab Klink. More...

Europe's greenest city is Amersfoort
Amersfoort has been voted Europe's greenest city by the jury of the European Entete Florale. Amersfoort took the prize because of its policy of encouraging greenery and the amount of trees, shrubs and plants in front gardens and on business parks and recreation areas.

Afghan PM praises Dutch troops
Afghan president Hamid Karzai told the UN General Assembly in New York that he hopes Dutch soldiers will stay in Uruzgan, NOS news service reports on Monday. More...

Shock defeat for Feyenoord, PSV heads table
Rotterdam's Feyenoord no longer heads the premier league football table after losing Sunday's match to current champions PSV. The Eindhoven team won the game 4-0, putting it ahead of Feyenoord. More...

CDA and Labour losers in new poll
The Labour party (PvdA) and the Christian Democrats (CDA) would lose seats if there was an election now, the latest poll from Maurice de Hond showed on Sunday. The loss would be even greater if Rita Verdonk, the controversial former immigration minister who was recently sacked from the right-wing Liberal party, took part with her own party. More...

Sunday 23 September 2007

Two passports, a fact of modern life: WRR
Having two passports should no longer be regarded as a problem in the Netherlands, says the government's scientific research council WRR. More... comments (5)

Car-free Sunday in Amsterdam
People planning to visit the Dutch capital Amsterdam on Sunday are being advised to leave their cars at home as the city holds a car-free day. Between 9am and 5pm Amsterdam is closed to traffic within the ring-road, with the exception of Zeeburg borough council. comments (2)

Saturday 22 September 2007

Cabinet to veto EU referendum plan
The cabinet will block plans by a group of opposition MPs to force a referendum on the new EU treaty, the Volkskrant reports on Saturday. Ministers decided on Friday not to hold a referendum on the treaty because it was not a constitution, and only need parliament's approval. More...

Friday 21 September 2007

Justice department given deadline
The justice ministry has been given until December 1 to find a place in a psychiatric prison for a man who has been waiting in jail for 20 months. More...

Museums face new Nazi art claim
Descendants of Jewish art collector Nathan Katz are demanding some 227 works of art back from Dutch museums. More... comments (1)

Aid minister is parliamentary Robbie Williams
Aid minister Bert Koenders is the ‘Robbie Williams of parliament’ and the most woman-friendly minister in the government according to the Women on Top organisation. More...

Boycott Mugabe, foreign minister urged
A number of government and opposition parties have called on foreign affairs minister Maxime Verhagen to boycott the December meeting between the EU and African countries if Zimbabwean prime minister Robert Mugabe is present. More...

Boy prostitution boss faces eight years
The public prosecution department in Arnhem on Friday asked for a eight-year prison sentence for the boss of a homosexual escort agency Best Boys, and his spouse. The couple are are on trial for offering under-aged boys for prostitution between 2001 and 2006.

Former Liberal leader backs referendum
Frits Bolkestein, former leader of the right-wing Liberal party VVD and a former European commissioner says in an interview with today's Volkskrant that he backs calls for a referendum on the new European treaty. More...

'East Europeans stay in Holland'
Around 70,000 people from Poland, Bulgaria and Romania were officially resident in the Netherlands in July, says national statistics office CBS. More... comments (2)

Lifting brothel ban not worked, says mayor
The lifting of the ban on brothels in 200 has not improved the position of prostitutes, Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen said on Thursday. More...

Fortis goes ahead with rights issue
Belgian-Dutch financial services group Fortis is making a €13.4bn rights issue at a 'heavily discounted' €15 a share to raise money to fund its part of the takeover of ABN Amro. More...

Spyker deal on Formula 1 sale
Troubled luxury car maker Spyker has reached a deal to sell its Formula 1 racing team to the family of its former chairman Michiel Mol and the Indian businessman Vijay Mallya. More...

Albert Heijn clashes with Coca Cola
The Albert Heijn supermarket group is refusing to sell 1.5 litre bottles of Coca Cola and Fanta Orange in protest at a sharp price rise. More... comments (4)

KPMG merger fails to pass partners
A proposal to for KPMG Nederland to merge with the company’s operations in the UK, Germany and Switzerland failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority by just one vote on Thursday, ANP reports. More...

Beatrix drawings sold to Princess
Forty sketches and one watercolour painting made by queen Beatrix when she was a young girl have been sold at auction to Aad Ouborg, head of the kitchen equipment company Princess. More...

Housing corportions angry over tax
A number of housing corporations are considering pulling out of the social housing system following the government's decision to make them pay corporate taxes, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Friday. More...

Budget: cabinet makes concessions
Labour MPs have withdrawn their demands that the cabinet restores the spending power of middle-income families next year. More...

Dutch soldier shot dead in Afghanistan
An 11th soldier, 20-year old Tim Hoogland, died in Afghanistan on Thursday evening and is the first Dutch soldier to be killed by a Taliban bullet. More...

Opposition MPs draw up referendum bill
The opposition GroenLinks, Socialist and D66 parties are drawing up a private member's bill which would force a referendum on the new European treaty, the Volkskrant reports on Friday. More... comments (1)

Dutchman questioned over Maddie
Portuguese police investigating the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann yesterday questioned a 61-year-old Dutchman who runs an animal crematorium in the Algarve, the Telegraaf reports. More...

Thursday 20 September 2007

Sex industry boss sells red light property
Amsterdam sex industry magnate Charles Geerts is to sell his red light district property to housing corporation Het Oosten in a deal worth some €25m. More...

Barclays bid too low says ABN boss
The €58bn bid by Barclays for ABN Amro is 'too low compared with the offer from the consortium,' the Dutch bank's chairman Rijkman Groenink told an informal meeting of shareholders on Thursday. More...

Aalsmeer, Flora Holland vote to merge
Members of the Dutch flower auctions Flora Holland and Bloemenveilingen Aalsmeer voted overwhelmingly in favour of a merger today. The new combine is the biggest flower auction in the world, with 90% of the Dutch and 30% of the European market.

Unions want 3.5% pay rise next year
Holland's second biggest trade union federation, the CNV is recommending negotiators aim for a rise of between 2% and 3.5% in the next round of pay talks. More...

Rabo boosts internet banking for the blind
The Rabobank has launched a special device to make it possible for blind people to do their banking via the internet, reports today’s Financieele Dagblad. More...

NATO chief's Afghan comments 'premature'
The cabinet and MPs are irritated by comments made by NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer that the Netherlands should keep troops in Afghanistan after the current mandate expires next year. More...

Budget: cabinet rejects spending plea
The cabinet on Thursday rejected calls by Labour MPs to compensate for the 0.25% loss in spending power for middle income households which will result from the government’s budget plans for next year. More...

Subsidy boss most powerful man in film
Toine Berbers, director of the Filmfonds subsidy organisation, is the most powerful man in Dutch cinema, according to the Volkskrant. More...

Corporate Express hit by hedge fund rumours
Corporate Express, the Almere-based office supplies group formerly known as Buhrmann, is the next Dutch company to be targeted by activist shareholders, news agency Reuters said on Thursday. More...

Unemployment falls to 4.4%
The official unemployment figure fell to 4.4% over the first six months of this year, compared with 5.3% a year ago, the national statistics office CBS said on Thursday. Unemployment is falling by an average of 5,000 a month, the CBS said.

Labour members back Pronk as chairman
Some 43% of Labour party members back former aid minister and left-winger Jan Pronk for the job of party chairman, according to a Radio 1 poll. Lilianne Ploumen, director of charity Cordaid, has the support of 30% of members.

Opel Vectra most popular company car
Almost one in five Dutch employees have a company car with an average catalogue value of €34,000, according to the latest figures from the Dutch institute for salary statistics. More...

Budget: restore spending power, say MPs
The coalition parties will present a significant package of changes to the proposed budget for next year on Thursday during the second day of debate on the proposals announced by the government earlier this week. More...

PSV off to good start in Champions League
PSV Eindhoven started its 11th season in a row in football's Champions League with a 2-1 win over Russian club CSKA. 'It is good to start with a victory, it gives breathing space,' said coach Ronald Koeman after the match.

Chipknip cash card dropped by shops
The chipknip smart card or electronic purse is to disappear from shops, says Thursday’s Financieele Dagblad. The chipknip was introduced 10 years ago to pay for small items. More...

Cabinet against referendum on EU treaty
The cabinet will not hold a new referendum on the future of the European Union, reports Thursday’s Volkskrant, quoting anonymous government sources. More...

Wednesday 19 September 2007

NATO chief: stay in Afghanistan
NATO secretary general and former Dutch foreign minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer says in an interview with Wednesday’s NRC that none of the countries serving with the NATO mission in Afghanistan will pull out. More...

€8.5m paid to Enschede firework victims
A total of €8.5m in compensation has been distributed to the victims of the Enschede firework factory explosion, seven years after the disaster in which 23 people were killed. More...

Budget: Liberals call for income tax cut
The opposition free-market Liberal (VVD) party on Wednesday called for a 0.5% reduction in income tax across the board. The call was made by party leader Mark Rutte during the first parliamentary debate on the government’s 2008 budget which was presented yesterday. More...

Arnhem gets first bike vending machine
The first vending machine for bicycles will start operating tomorrow at the Arnhem-Zuid railway station and offers travellers 50 bikes which can be used and then returned via a pass card. The bikes have been specially designed for the vending machines by Gazelle.

Scientists oppose censorship BBC
Almost 400 Dutch scientists have signed a petition calling on the BBC not to allow Dutch tv companies to censor its nature programmes. More...

Wind turbine maker set for IPO
Wind turbine maker Emergya Wind Technology (EWT), based in Zeeland, is to be launched on the stock exchange at the beginning of next year to finance its rapid extension, reports Wednesday’s Financieele Dagblad. More...

Budget: MPs want more cash for kids
MPs from the three-party ruling coalition on Wednesday urged the government to do more to help children from poor families and to withdraw its budget plans to cut child benefit. More...

Budget punishes entrepeneurs, say directors
The 2008 budget will slow down improvements in productivity and economic growth, according to the Dutch centre for company directors NCD. More...

Few students switch university for MA
Only 15% of students currently studying for a bachelor's degree at a Dutch university or college are thinking of switching university if they do a master's, according to research by consultancy Newcom.

Potatoes make yoghurt more creamy
Chemicals firm DSM and potato starch producer Avebe have jointly developed a new product which the manufactures claim make yoghurt and dairy drinks 'even creamier'. More...

Fewer children cycle to school
While 55% of primary school children cycled to school 10 years ago, the figure has now fallen to 40%, says research by traffic safety group VVN. More...

NATO should do more on Afghan partners
The Netherlands and Canada plan to urge other NATO countries to get involved in rebuilding efforts in Afghanistan at next month's informal NATO ministers' meeting in Noordwijk. More...

Unions threaten action over Stork split
The FNV and CNV engineering unions say they will take industrial action over the threatened split-up of industrial group Stork now the company appears to have softened its opposition to the idea. More...

Dutch firm charged with exports to Iran
Dutch aviation services company Aviation Services International, its owner and two other firms have been charged with exporting parachutes and aircraft parts to Iran in violation of US embargoes, news agency AP reports on Wednesday. More...

Jams up, cycling and traffic deaths down
The number of hours the Dutch spent in traffic jams rose 11% last year to 44 million, according to the latest mobility monitor, compiled by the transport ministry. More...

Bus firms in trouble over trains
The province of Gelderland has fined bus company Connexxion €160,000 for failing to run agreed train services between Ede and Amersfoort during the first two weeks of September. More...

Budget: Royals get more to spend
Queen Beatrix, crown prince Willem Alexander and princess Máxima will get a combined €6.1m from the state next year, an increase of €100,000. The royal household costs the state a further €84m for security, the upkeep of palaces, air travel and PR.

Moroccan Dutch 'new underworld bosses'
A group of young Moroccans in Amsterdam could develop into the country's new crime bosses, according to Willem Woelders, departing chief of the city’s detective squad, in an interview with the AD newspaper on Wednesday. More...

Tuesday 18 September 2007

Budget: government sets ambitious targets
The cabinet’s plans also include a string of targets for individual ministries to meet. Among the main ambitions outlined on Tuesday: More...

Budget: main spending plans
The government's spending plans for next year include increasing the tax and premium burden by €7bn and increasing VAT to 20%. More...

Budget: 'strongest shoulders bear burden'
Despite rosy economic figures, most people will have less to spend next year as the government takes advantage of strong growth to create a buffer against future problems. More... comments (1)

Budget: queen sees hope in future (update)
There is much in the Netherlands to give hope and confidence for the future, Queen Beatrix said on Tuesday in her traditional speech to open the political year. More...

Budget: 'Industry foots bill' say employers
Dutch industry will have to pay the bill for the 2008 budget which will damage the country's economic motor, employers’ organisations said on Tuesday in reaction to the government's spending plans. More...

Budget: Left-right split on spending
The main right-wing opposition party, the free-market Liberals (VVD), have accused the cabinet of not doing enough in terms of integration and immigration, security and combating traffic congestion in the 2008 budget. More...

Budget: Difficult decisions says PM
The cabinet will be taking a number of difficult decisions which will hit most people's spending power next year, prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende said in a short comment on the government's spending plans on Tuesday. More...

Budget: 'Hope for future,' says queen
There is much in the Netherlands to give hope and confidence for the future, queen Beatrix said on Tuesday in her traditional speech which formally opens the political year. More...

Government popularity drops again, poll
The government’s popularity has fallen further with the public now giving the fourth Balkenende cabinet a score of 5.3 out of 10, down from 5.6 in June, according to a poll by the current affairs programme ÉenVandaag on Tuesday. More...

Mayor of Best sent death threats
The mayor of Best, Letty Demmers, and three councillors are under police protection after the mayor received a death threat last week by a man living on a local caravan park, reports news service ANP. More...

Researchers find male infertility gene
Researchers at the University Medical Centre St Radboud in Nijmegen have discovered the cause of a rare form of male infertility, reports news service ANP. More...

Defendent in Holleeder trial goes missing
One of the main defendants in the ongoing property magnate blackmail trial in Amsterdam failed to appear in court on Tuesday and is being sought by justice ministry officials. More...

Lower vat on environment-friendly goods
The cabinet wants environment-friendly goods and services to fall under a lower European vat (btw) tariff, reports ANP news service. More...

The Hague fears losing Escher painting
The Hague city council is having trouble finding a new home for the famous painting Metamorphose by M.C. Escher and Labour councillors are afraid it will be lost to the city, reports news service ANP. More...

Housing corporations deal on urban renewal
Housing minister Ella Vogelaar and the housing corporations have finally reached agreement on the funding of urban renewal plans after months of negotiations. More...

Princess Amalia to attend state school
Crown prince Willem-Alexander and princess Máxima have decided to send their daughter Amalia to the state school Bloemcamp in Wassenaar. More...

Cost of medicines to fall by 10%
A two-year agreement signed by health minister Ab Klink, the pharmaceutical sector and health insurers will see the cost of many medicines fall by 10%. This means households will pay €200 less on health care premiums, reports news service ANP. More... comments (1)

Crowds gather for state opening of parliament
Tens of thousands of people are expected to gather in central The Hague to watch the traditional coach procession by queen Beatrix and other members of the royal family on their way to parliament this afternoon for the formal opening of the political year. More...

Bos approves consortium ABN Amro deal
Finance minister Wouter Bos has given his approval to the consortium bid to take over ABN Amro. 'This is an important step towards the completion of the banks' offer for ABN Amro,' the group of three banks said in a statement. Bos earlier gave his approval to the rival bid by Barclays. More...

Opposition at KPMG to UK merger
A number of partners at the Dutch arm of accountants group KPMG have written to the rest of the 220 Dutch partners opposing a merger with the UK operation, the Financieele Dagblad reports today. More...

Monday 17 September 2007

Biggest union group goes for 3.5% pay rise
The Netherlands' biggest union group, the FNV, is to make a 3.5% pay deal the central plank in the next round of pay and conditions discussions. More...

Verdonk stays on as MP, won't quit VVD
Rita Verdonk, the outspoken former integration minister who was expelled from the free market Liberal party (VVD) last week, is to remain in parliament. More... comments (1)

Verdonk will not set up new party - NOS
Media speculation as to the political future of former free-market Liberal VVD minister Rita Verdonk was rife at the end of Monday afternoon. More... comments (1)

Four years prison for preparing terrorist attack
Samir Azzouz was sentenced to four years imprisonment by a court in Amsterdam on Monday for preparing a terrorist attack, reports ANP news service. More...

265 kgs heroin found in The Hague
Heroin with a street value of €25m was found by the police in The Hague at the weekend, reports the public broadcaster NOS news site. More...

Unions demand higher taxes for well-off
Trade union federation FNV disagrees with the way in which finance minister Wouter Bos wants to tackle top salaries and has come up with an alternative plan, according to Monday's Financieele Dagblad. More...

Theo van Gogh monument defiled
The monument to murdered film-maker Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam was covered in graffiti on Saturday night, reports Monday’s Volkskrant. The words ‘Al-Qaeda’ and the date 27-11-2007 were written on it in large black letters. More...

Nedcar staff on shorter working week
The 1,450 employees at the NedCar factory in Born are to reduce their working hours because of the fall in car sales, reports ANP news service on Monday. More...

Number of firms up 32.5% in 10 years
The number of firms in the Netherlands has risen 32.5% to almost 594,000 in the last 10 years according to government statistics office CBS. More...

Candover withdraws bid for Stork
UK investment house Candover has withdrawn its bid for Dutch engineering group Stork because it cannot get enough backing from shareholders. More...

Government to boost use of free software
The government is to make more use of free and open source software in order to cut costs and make it less dependent on powerful single suppliers such as Microsoft, news agency ANP reports. More...

First female foot soldier set for Uruzgan
The Dutch army will be sending women to the front line as foot soldiers for the first time in 2008 when it despatches the recently formed 45th infantry battalion to Uruzgan. Corporal Suzanne Koudijs (21), who passes out later today, is the first woman to join the battalion and the first to receive a sharp-shooter brevet, reports Monday's Volkskrant. More...

GroenLinks leader rejects coal-fired hat
GroenLinks leader Femke Halsema has decided not to wear the hat designed for her to wear at tomorrow's budget presentation. The hat, consisting of a pile of coal topped by a chimney, is supposed to be an anti-coal-fired power station statement, but made her daughter laugh, Halsema said. Was she right? Click here.

Dutch ask Slovakia for help in Afghanistan
Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen has asked his Slovakian opposite Jan Kubis to supply troops to support the Dutch mission in the southern province of Afghanistan, the foreign affairs ministry confirmed at the weekend. More...

Houkes wins world judo title
Ruben Houkes surprised everyone at the world judo championships in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday by winning the gold medal in the under-60 kg class. More...

Budget leaks: basic income tax cut
More details of Tuesday's budget have emerged in Monday's papers following the leaking of the government's financial statement (miljoenennota) to tv company RTL. More...

ABN Amro finds split-up risks acceptable
ABN Amro no longer sees the splitting up of the bank as unacceptable if it is taken over by the Royal Bank of Scotland consortium, board chairman Rijkman Groenink tells Monday's FD in an interview. More...

Talk to the Taliban, urges Pronk
Labour party stalwart Jan Pronk, currently candidate for the post of party chairman, says the government should be talking to the Taliban, reports Monday's Volkskrant. It is the only way to make a success of the Dutch mission in the Afghan province of Uruzgan, Pronk said in Utrecht on Saturday, according to the paper. More...

MPs drop Verdonk, stick with Liberals
Two MPs from the free-market Liberal party (VVD) are to stick with the party despite earlier suggestions that they might join former integration minister Rita Verdonk in setting up a splinter group. More...

Feyenoord still top soccer league
Rotterdam’s Feyenoord remains top of the Dutch football premier league after winning their game against Roda JC 3-1 on Sunday. Feyenoord heads the league with 12 points after the first four competition matches this season. More...

Sunday 16 September 2007

VVD leader wins confidence vote
The free market Liberal party VVD voted by a two-thirds majority on Saturday not to get rid of parliamentary party leader Mark Rutte for his role in expelling outspoken former integration minister Rita Verdonk. More...

Financial statement again leaked
The government's financial statement (miljoenennota), due to be presented during Tuesday's budget, has once again been leaked to tv company RTL. More...

Friday 14 September 2007

Anti-terrorist squad hit by staff shortage
The special anti-terrorist unit DSI set up a year ago is not functioning as it should, reports ANP news service. More...

School kids hit by car
At least 13 children aged between 13 and 15 were injured in the province of Zuid Holland while cycling to school this morning when a car ploughed into them. More...

VVD in crisis, Verdonk ponders future
There is growing speculation that the decision to expel the outspoken former integration minister Rita Verdonk from the right-wing Liberal party (VVD) could result in Mark Rutte losing his position as party leader. More...

Utrecht's new mayor will be Labour
Labour (PvdA) supporters Aleid Wolfsen and Ralph Pans have been selected to battle it out in the referendum for the new mayor of Utrecht. The Socialist Party and local party Liveable Utrecht have criticised the council's short list, saying a choice between two PvdA candidates is a 'vote about nothing'. More...

Food with health logo sells better
Food which carries the ik kies bewust (conscious choice) sells better than products without, the AD newspaper reports on Friday. More...

Barclays go ahead with ABN Amro bid (update)
The shareholders of British bank Barclays voted overwhelmingly in favour of pressing on with the company's bid to take over ABN Amro on Friday. More...

Verdonk party bigger than VVD, poll
If former immigration minister Rita Verdonk sets up her own political party now that she has been thrown out of the Liberal VVD, she could count on 27 seats in parliament, according to a TNS Nipo poll. More... comments (1)

New bathroom priority for home owners
A new bathroom is the top priority for 30% of Dutch home owners, according to a survey by USB. Next on the list is a revamped garden (22%) and kitchen (17%). More...

Wild cockerels cause headache in Amsterdam
Feral chickens and cockerels are causing increasing problems in parts of Amsterdam by waking people up early, digging up gardens and abandoning their eggs which then rot. More...

Rinus Michels world's best football coach
Former Dutch national football trainer Rinus Michels is the world's best post-World War II coach, says Britain’s The Times newspaper. More...

Majority oppose redundancy reforms
Some 55% of the Dutch are opposed to social affairs minister Piet Hein Donner's plans to reform redundancy law, according to a poll for the FNV trade union federation. More...

Dutch energy policy unrealistic, says ECN
Holland’s 20% target for renewable production by 2020 is unrealistic because it means an eight-fold increase on the present level. However, a 16% share could be achieved, says a report by the Dutch Energy Research Centre (ECN) and nuclear consultancy NRG. More...

Finance minister introduces new M&A rules
Finance minister Wouter Bos is to introduce new rules on mergers and acquisitions, including setting time limits on the takeover process, the Financieele Dagblad (FD) reports on Friday. More...

VVD in crisis as Verdonk expelled (update)
There is growing speculation on Friday that the decision to expel the outspoken former integration minister Rita Verdonk from the right-wing Liberal party (VVD) could result in Mark Rutte losing his position as party leader. More... comments (1)

ABN Amro: 'Fortis can't have everything'
Fortis must agree to sell off some of ABN Amro's corporate banking activities if it and its partners want European Commission approval to take over the Dutch bank, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Friday. More...

'Council of State: no EU referendum'
The Council of State says that the Netherlands does not need to hold a referendum on the new EU treaty, the Volkskrant reports on Friday. More...

VVD in crisis as Verdonk expelled
The right-wing Liberal party (VVD) is in crisis following the expulsion of its former integration minister Rita Verdonk for continually criticising the party leadership. More...

Thursday 13 September 2007

Dutch court releases Sison
A Dutch court on Thursday freed Philippine opposition leader José Maria Sison from custody, saying there was not enough evidence that he has been leading the communist movement while based in the Netherlands. More...

SBS, RTL raided over phone-in quiz shows
Finance ministry investigators raided six offices belonging to tv stations RTL Nederland and SBS Broadcasting on Thursday in connection with a probe into phone-in competitions. More...

Verdonk expelled from Liberal party
Rita Verdonk, the controversial immigration minister in the last government, has been expelled from the right-wing Liberal party VVD for once again criticising the party leadership. The decision followed a crisis meeting by VVD MPs on Thursday afternoon. More...

KLM helps staff to get pregnant
KLM flight staff who want to have a baby can get time off to try and get pregnant, reports Thursday’s Telegraaf. More...

Champagne glass tower reaches record height
Dutchman Luuk Broos has set a new world record for building a champagne tower: a seven-metre high, 62-layer edifice involving 41,664 glasses. The tower was built to mark the opening of the Zeelandhallen leisure complex in Goes.

New W F Hermans translation is a 'classic'
A modern English translation of Willem Frederik Hermans' classic The Darkroom of Damocles reveals it as a 'classic to rival Camus', according to a review in Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper. More...

The Dutch are feeling happier (update)
While the murders of Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh have had a lasting effect on Dutch society, over 80% of the Dutch now say they are happy or very happy, according to a report by the government's social policy unit SCP. More...

Lubbers unhappy with integration debate
‘It makes me sad that my city, my country, has forgotten how to live with people who come from somewhere else,’ are the opening words of former Christian Democrat prime minister Ruud Lubbers in the book De Vrees Voorbij (Past Fear), reports Thursday’s Volkskrant. More...

MPs criticise red tape plans
Ministers' efforts to reduce red tape are 'too vague' and 'disappointing', MPs said during a debate on cutting bureaucracy on Wednesday night. More...

No tenders for €168m worth of projects
Government ministries last year broke EU rules and failed to place tenders for contracts totalling €168m, according to an audit office report. More...

Bus firms pull out of transport group
Bus companies Arriva, Veolia and Connexxion have pulled out of the public transport umbrella organisation Mobis, arguing that private transport firms have different interests to state-owned companies. More...

Retailers miss out €6bn worth of sales
Retailers are missing out on some €6bn worth of sales because they do not meet shoppers' needs, according to a report by Boer & Croon. More...

GPS may be used to control livestock transport
Trucks transporting livestock over long distances may have to use a GPS navigational system so that their location and the animals’ health can be monitored as from next year, agriculture minister Gerda Verburg told MPs on Wednesday. More...

Verdonk criticises her party on immigration
The right-wing Liberal party (VVD) is no longer a democratic party with just a couple of senior party members drawing up policy, former integration minister Rita Verdonk said in a speech in Utrecht on Wednesday night. More...

Power group Eneco profits rise 12%
The third largest Dutch energy concern, Eneco, today announced that net profit rose 12% to €209m in the first half of 2007. The company’s total turnover from electricity and gas was up 7% at €2.3bn. More...

Minister bans livestock transport
Dutch agriculture minister Gerda Verburg has again banned the transport of livestock after a case of foot-and-mouth disease was discovered in England on Wednesday, ANP news service reports. More...

VVD: €9.5bn needed to solve traffic jams
The opposition liberal VVD party says the government needs to spend €6.5bn on roads and €3bn on trains in the period up to 2025 to alleviate the country’s growing congestion problems. More...

Dutch are happier, says new report
While the murders of Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh have left their traces, over 80% of the Dutch now say they are happy or very happy, according to a major new report by the government's social policy unit SCP. More...

Injury time goal gives Dutch 1-0 win
Ruud van Nistelrooy scored in injury time to give the Netherlands a hard-fought 1-0 win over Albania in their European Champions League 2008 qualifying match on Wednesday. More... comments (4)

Wednesday 12 September 2007

Extra €1bn needed for teacher shortage
The government needs to spend an extra €1.1bn a year on improving teachers' pay if it is to eradicate the looming shortage of staff, according to a government commission. More...

Half cancer cases due to unhealthy lifestyle
At least 50% of all cancer cases are due to an unhealthy lifestyle, the Dutch cancer society KWF Kankerbestrijding said on Wednesday. More... comments (1)

High speed to Paris in mid-2009
The first proper Thalys high-speed train journey between Amsterdam and Paris will not take place before mid-2009 at the earliest, Belgian railway company NMBS said on Wednesday. More...

Green light for pig factories
The village of Markelo in the east of the country is to be the site of six new pig farms with a total of 15,000 animals despite widespread opposition, the local council agreed on Tuesday night. More...

Fewer Dutch fear terrorist attacks
The number of people afraid of a terrorist attack in the Netherlands has fallen dramatically in the last two years from 55% in 2005 to 36% today, according to Maurice de Hond poll quoted in today’s Volkskrant. More...

Losing your faith is fine, say most Muslims
Some 75% of Dutch Muslims consider losing your faith as a personal matter but 24% said they would break any contact with someone who is no longer a believer, according to a poll by the tv programme Nova. More...

Hotel occupancy rate hit 72% last year
The Dutch hotel branch did well in 2006 with occupancy rates up three percentage points to an average 72%, according to research by leisure trade advice group Horwath HTL. More...

Getronics boss to get €2.4m on KPN sale
Getronics boss Klaas Wagenaar will get a golden handshake of €2.4m when the company is taken over by IT firm KPN according to KPN’s bidding documents, reports Wednesday’s Financieele Dagblad. More... comments (6)

Employers criticise BV changes
The employers’ organisation strongly criticises proposals by the justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin to change the legal criteria for setting up a limited company (BV) in the Netherlands in today’s Financieele Dagblad. More...

AFM demands role in takeovers
The financial sector watchdog AFM should have a role in corporate takeovers once the share price of a takeover target rises by more than 10%, AFM board member Paul Koster said at a congress on Tuesday. More...

Volunteer firemen furious with top official
The volunteer fire-fighters organisation has reacted furiously to a statement by fire chief Don Berghuijs in which he describes the volunteer sector as being 'like a gentlemen's club in need of professionalisation'. More...

At least 17 local councillors are invisible
At least 17 people elected to local or provincial councils have never taken their seats, but the real figure is probably far higher, according to research by the council clerks' organisation VvG. More...

Supermarkets to put a lid on chill cabinets
Supermarkets in Amsterdam and Zandvoort must put covers on their chill cabinets, the Council of State ruled in two separate judgements on Wednesday. More...

This way to the cannabis café
Terneuzen in the coastal province of Zeeland close to the Belgian border, is to get new traffic signs directing visitors to the town's cannabis café. More...

Essent, Nuon review strategy
Energy firms Essent and Nuon are reviewing their strategy following the failure of their proposed merger. 'There is a new reality. In our analyse, a merger with Nuon was the best strategic option but there are other possibilities,' said Essent financial director Rinse de Jong. More...

Princess Annette loses licence for speeding
Princess Annette, the wife of prince Bernhard (queen Beatrix’s nephew), has had her driving licence confiscated by the police for speeding. More...

Water boards profit from too-high bills
Consumers’ annual water bills are around €25 too high because publically-owned water firms are booking excessive profits and paying out too much to shareholders, reports Wednesday’s Volkskrant. More...

Minister firm on redundancy reform
Social affairs minister Piet Hein Donner is to press ahead with the cabinet's plans to reform redundancy laws, despite strong opposition from the coalition Labour party (PvdA). More...

Remove ban on Mein Kampf, says minister
Adolf Hitler's book Mein Kampf should no longer be banned, education minister Ronald Plasterk says in the latest edition of magazine Hollands Diep. More...

Royal award for Hans van Manen
Choreographer Hans van Manen was inducted as Commander of the Order of the Netherlands Lion on Tuesday night after the first performance of a series of his works celebrating his recent 75th birthday. More...

Tuesday 11 September 2007

Technology, not behaviour cuts pollution
While pollution levels have fallen in recent years and the air is cleaner, this is mainly due to technological advances rather than change in people’s behaviour, according to a new report from the government’s environmental think-tank MNP. More...

Accusations fly in Holleeder trial day two
Murder allegations involving some of the Netherlands' most notorious underworld figures were heard in a heavily-fortified courtroom in Amsterdam on Tuesday, where suspected crime boss Willem Holleeder is on trial for blackmail. More...

Mecom firm on Wegener offer
UK media group Mecom has no plans to increase its offer for Dutch newspaper group Wegener, founder David Montgomery told Reuters news agency. Mecom has offered €17.70 a share for Wegener but has so far only pulled in 35% of the shares.

PM makes surprise visit to Afghanistan
Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende paid a surprise visit to Dutch troops at Camp Holland in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday morning. More...

Consortium seeks support through website
The consortium of three banks – Royal Bank of Scotland, Fortis and Santander – which is trying to take over ABN Amro has opened a website aimed at winning the hearts and minds of ABN Amro workers. More...

Identical triplets born in Nijmegen
A rare group of identical triplets has been born by caesarean section in the Sint Radboud hospital in Nijmegen. The boys, Luc, Wes and Nik, weighed between 2250 and 2060 grammes.

High speed rail opening again delayed
The Dutch section of the high speed rail link between Amsterdam and Paris will be delayed by months, Tuesday's Volkskrant reports anonymous sources as saying. It was due to open on December 10 but the locomotives will not be ready in time because Canadian manufacturer Bombardier does not yet have a working safety system in place, the sources say. More...

Death rate drops again
The number of people dying in the Netherlands dropped again in the first half of 2007, reports the national statistics bureau CBS. There were fewer deaths among the over-70s in particular. If the trend continues, 10,000 fewer people will die this year than in 2002.

Ouddorp is best Dutch beach
The beach at Ouddorp in Zuid-Holland province has been voted the best in the Netherlands by readers of the AD newspaper. Second in the poll was Katwijk. Both locations were popular with readers for their peace and quiet.

AH sends money back to African growers
Supermarket group Albert Heijn is setting up a special fund to help African fruit and vegetable growers, Trouw reports on Tuesday. More...

Intelligentsia sign up to support Jami
Columnists, academics and other members of Holland's white, middle-class intelligentsia have signed up as supporters of Ehsan Jami's committee of ex-Muslims. . More...

Green bottle helps boost Grolsch beer
Beer brewer Grolsch booked a 17% increase in new profit in the first half of this year, bringing earnings to €7.6m. More... comments (1)

American suspected of station axe murder
A 41-year-old American, arrested for murdering a 22-year-old student with an axe on Roosendaal station this weekend, wanted to attack a commando from the nearby barracks, local newspaper BN/De Stem reports. More... comments (1)

Schools launch own teaching college
Dutch secondary schools are to set up their own masters teaching certificate to improve teacher training, reports Tuesday's Volkskrant. The initiative, announced today, comes from a number of secondary school boards who will launch the Dutch Teachers College on August 1 2008 with 300 students. More...

New asylum seekers face 100-day wait
Asylum seekers arriving at Schiphol airport are being held for an average of 100 days while waiting for their initial applications to be processed, according to a report by the Dutch council for refugees published on Tuesday. More...

More effort needed on Afghanistan: minister
The international community should be doing more to aid the reconstruction of southern Afghanistan, Dutch aid minister Bert Koenders says in an interview with Tuesday's Volkskrant. More...

Army college courses out of favour
The ROC training colleges report that 1,600 students have signed up for courses preparing them for a military career, 400 fewer than last year, according to Tuesday's AD. More...

Minister ups controls on animal transport
Farm minister Gerda Verburg is to increase checks on the live animal transport sector after several companies were found to have overloaded lorries and broken animal welfare rules. More... comments (1)

Crime boss suspect denies blackmail
Willem Holleerder was not involved in the blackmailing of property tycoon Rolf Friedländer, according to the suspected crime boss himself on the first day of his trial on Monday. More...

Monday 10 September 2007

110 year old wants quiet birthday
Grietje Jansen Anker, the Netherlands' oldest inhabitant, will be 110 on Wednesday and has let it be known that she would like to spend the day quietly with family and friends in her residential home in Middelburg. The local council told ANP news service it will send flowers.

Juvenile detention centres 'dangerous'
Many of the Netherlands' juvenile detention centres are dangerous places for inmates as well as staff, according to a critical report published by social work inspectors on Monday. More...

PKK suspect arrested in Holland
Dutch police have arrested a member of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party PKK at the request of the French authorities. The man, who is wanted on charges of financing and organising the group's activities, apparently left France at the end of August. More...

Pressure off Dutch after Bulgaria victory
The pressure on the Dutch national football team for Wednesday’s European Championship qualifying game against Albania is off following their 2-0 victory over Bulgaria at the weekend. More...

Philips reorganises to up profits (update)
Philips is to simplify its organisation and reduce operations to three core divisions, the electronics giant said on Monday. More...

Rotterdam port books higher earnings
The Port of Rotterdam has seen operating profits rise by €7m to €93m in the first half of this year, compared with the first six months of 2006. More...

Computers widely used in schools
Nine out of 10 primary school pupils use a computer during lessons. In secondary schools the number is half this, with 11% never having worked on a computer. More...

Children should get pocket money sooner
Parents are not teaching their children how to handle money in preparation for a financially- independent existence, says the national institute for family finance (Nibud) on Monday. More... comments (1)

Philips reorganises to boost profits
Philips is to simplify its organisation and reduce operations to three core divisions, the electronics giant said on Monday. It expects the reorganisation to cut costs by €150m to €200m a year and to lead to a doubling of operating profit (ebita) per share by 2010. More...

Dutch children most scared of spiders
Spiders are the biggest fear of 20% of Dutch children, who say they are 'dirty, scarey, big, irritating and stupid', according to a UN survey. Almost 13% are scared of the dark and nearly 8% are frightened of thunder and lightning.

Olympic campaign for Dutch gymnast
Dutch gymnast Yuri van Gelder (24) won the silver medal at the World Cup in Stuttgart on Saturday but missed out on a place in the Dutch team for the Olympic Games next year in China. Now AD Sportwereld has started a campaign to get the man known as the Lord of the Rings the last available wild card entry. comments (1)

Canadian professor to help Dutch schools
Junior education minister Sharon Dijksma is to ask the Canadian education specialist Michael Fullan for help in improving reading and arithmetic in Dutch schools, reports ANP news service on Monday. More...

Van den Ende in healthcare property
The new property investment firm set up by the internationally renowned theatre impresario Joop van den Ende is in exclusive talks with two hospitals over the development of so-called 'healthcare boulevards', reports Monday's Financieele Dagblad. More...

Top salaries not our business: minister
The government should not be interfering in top salaries says social affairs minister Piet Hein Donner. He made the remark during a lecture on Sunday night, saying that the government’s involvement in private sector pay limits companies’ freedom. More...

Suspected crime boss trial re-opens
The trial of suspected crime boss Willem Holleeder continues on Monday morning at the top security court in Osdorp, Amsterdam. Holleeder and a number of co-defendants are charged with the blackmail of four property tycoons. More...

Energy merger Essent, Nuon off
Holland’s two largest energy concerns Essent and Nuon have terminated their proposed merger. The announcement was made in a joint statement by the companies on Friday evening and follows over a week of speculation that talks had broken down. More...

Friday 07 September 2007

Big city public transport not out to tender
Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague do not have to put their public transport services out to tender, the cabinet announced on Friday. MPs are opposed to public tendering but until now junior transport minister Tineke Huizinga had backed the plan.

Problem youth camps a 'last resort'
Special campuses for problem youngsters will only be used as a last resort when other efforts to keep them on the straight and narrow have failed, justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin and minister for youth André Rouvoet told MPs on Friday. More...

Computers now essential to working day
Only one in 10 Dutch workers can do their job properly without a computer, according to a new survey by research group Trendbox. More...

Dismantling nuclear plant to cost more
The environment ministry is considering forcing the current owner of the nuclear plant in Dodewaard to pay more towards its dismantling. The company, GKN, estimates the cost at €130m. More...

July industrial production rises 4%
Dutch industrial production rose 4% in July, compared with July 2006, the national statistics office CBS said on Friday. Industrial production was between 5% and 6% higher over the first four months of this year, the CBS said.

ABN works council readies for consortium
ABN Amro's central works council says it accepts there is a very real chance that the biggest Dutch bank may be taken over by a consortium of three others. The works council is currently drawing up a document outlining its position should the consortium succeed. More...

Tanja's parents knew of FARC membership
The parents of Tanja Nijmeijer knew about her involvement with anti-government FARC guerillas in Colombia and tried to persuade her to come home, they said last night in a written statement. More...

Don’t think of ‘us’ and ‘them’, urges PM
Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende made a plea for unity and respect during last night’s parliamentary debate into Islamic activism, but said the government would come down hard on those who preached hate and violence. More... comments (1)

Good behaviour certificates on the rise
The number of requests for certificates of good behaviour, known as VOGs, reached 116,146 in the first three months of this year, compared with 277,000 in 2006 as a whole, the Volkskrant reports on Friday. More...

Baby boomers spend, spend, spend
Pensioners are spending more on having a good time and leaving money less to their children according to a survey by the homeowners' organisation Eigen Huis, insurance company Aegon and the Postbank. More...

Dutch duo win Muslim architecture prize
The Amsterdam architect duo Dick van Gameren (45) and Bjarne Mastenbroek (43) have won the Aga Khan Prize for their design for the Dutch embassy in Addis Ababa. The prize, the most prestigious in the Muslim world and worth €370,000, was presented to the pair in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.

Foreign power firms set up splinter lobby
Four foreign energy concerns in the Netherlands have broken off from the power sector’s organisation EnergieNed and set up their own lobby group. More...

FC Utrecht crisis: chairman wins
The supervisory board at football club FC Utrecht has resigned after the courts reinstated club chairman Jan-Willem van Dop. More...

Minister will not tighten up exam standard
Education minister Ronald Plasterk says he does not intend to tighten up school leaving exams so that pupils who score 'insufficient' for maths, English or Dutch officially fail. More...

Cabinet may slash new car tax
The cabinet is considering lowering the tax on new cars in 2008, Tuesday's Financieele Dagblad quotes sources in The Hague as saying. More...

Prepaid tram tickets postponed in Rotterdam
Public transport users in Rotterdam metro will still be able to use a traditional strippenkaart to pay for their journeys after October 1, now that junior transport minister Tineke Huizinga has postponed the introduction of the prepaid OV-chipcard. More...

Thursday 06 September 2007

Economy grows and gets cleaner
The Dutch economy has grown 48% since 1990, but this has not been matched by a similar increase in pollution, according to a report presented to the economic affairs minister on Thursday by the national statistics office CBS. More...

Finance minister: Holland not for sale
It is a myth to say that the Netherlands is up for sale and that Dutch companies are being preyed on by foreign firms, finance minister Wouter Bos told a meeting at the Holland Financial Centre on Thursday. More...

Drivers on A12 most likely to speed
Drivers using the A12 close to Utrecht and Arnhem are six times more likely to break the speed limits than those using the A20, and 15 times more likely to drive too fast than motorists on the A13, the Telegraaf reports. One reason may be that speed checks have only been introduced on the A12 fairly recently.

Van Gogh painted on table cloths
Impressionist Vincent van Gogh painted on old table cloths and tea towels when he did not have enough money to buy linen, Louis van Tilborgh, curator of the Van Gogh Museum curator, says in The Art Newspaper. More...

Schoolboy killer gets 12 years
The court in Breda on Thursday sentenced Julien Constancia (23) to 12 years in jail and compulsory pyschiatric treatment (tbs) for the murder of the eight-year old schoolboy Jesse Dingemans at his primary school last year. Constantia denies killing Jesse and a motive has never been established.

Extra Dutch MEP from 2009
The Netherlands is to get 26 seats in the European parliament from 2009 when the 750-seat chamber is restructured. Under original plans, the Netherlands would have had 25 seats. It currently has 27.

Nedap alters wikipedia entry
Dutch computer voting machine maker Nedap is the latest to be caught amending its entry on the online encyclopaedia wikipedia. More...

Wegener takeover uncertain
The takeover of newspaper group Wegener by British media firm Mecom may be in doubt following the refusal of shareholder Governance for Owners (GO) to tender its 13.3% stake. More...

Building group BAM ups profit forecast
Building company BAM has increased its full year profit forecast by €20m to €230m, the company said at the presentation of its first-half figures on Thursday. More...

Holland has 2,500 Muslim activists
The Netherlands has a potential 2,500 Muslim activists, home affairs minister Guusje ter Horst told MPs late on Wednesday. More...

Dutch diplomatic contact over FARC girl
The Netherlands is involved in high-level contact with the Colombian authorities over Tanja Nijmeijer, the Dutch woman who has been with a FARC guerilla group in the country since 2004. Foreign minister Maxime Verhagen acknowledged that there has been contact but refused to give details.

Half AEX stocks score well on going green
More than half of the Netherlands’ major bourse-listed companies either use or are developing environmentally friendly technology, according to Rabobank and Robeco's research institute Iris, says today's Trouw. More...

Eco-tax to boost energy bills up to €20
Increases in eco-tax on energy will push up gas and electricity bills by between €10 and €20 next year, according to latest leaks from the budget published by public broadcaster NOS. More...

More effort needed on football hooliganism
Football clubs, supporters, local councils and the police are not doing enough to prevent and combat football hooliganism, according to the latest report by the hooliganism monitoring group Auditteam. More...

No school certificate for 'insufficient'
Children who are given an 'insufficient' grade in their Dutch, English and maths exams should not be awarded a school-leaving certificate, the education council Onderwijsraad is recommending. The council says this will help improve basic standards.

After-school care waiting list hits 20,000
Some 20,000 children are on the waiting list for a place in an after-school club, due to a 'totally unexpected' increase in demand, says a government task force. By the end of this year, some 215,000 children will make use of after-school facilities, an increase of 35,000 on 2006.

Stork may sell food unit to Marel
Dutch engineering group Stork is no longer ruling out selling its food machinery division to Icelandic group Marel, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Thursday. More...

Pronk sorry for 'liar' comment
Labour stalwart Jan Pronk, one of seven people competing for the job of party chairman, says he is sorry for calling prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende a liar. It was a 'political error', Pronk said on Wednesday. More...

Wednesday 05 September 2007

Netherlands less stable financially
The Netherlands is less financially stable now than it was six months ago due to unrest on the international credit markets. There is, however, no cause for concern, the Dutch central bank said on Wednesday. More...

Traffic fines create jobs
The workforce at the justice ministry's fine collection agency CJIB is to expand by some 200 to 1,150 to cope with the sharp rise in traffic fines. More...

Use wolves to catch deer, says water board
Wolves and lynx could be used to reduce the number of deer in the dune area west of Amsterdam, says the city's water board Waternet, according to news agency ANP. More...

Utrecht FC in power struggle crisis
The main sponsor of FC Utrecht is demanding the resignation of the premier division football club’s full supervisory board in an ongoing power struggle for control of the club, reports ANP news service. More...

More vegetables in tv dinners
The amount of green vegetables in ready-to-eat meals in Dutch supermarkets has gone up from an average 93 grams in 2005 to 119 grams this year, say government food inspectors. Nevertheless, only a few dishes can be officially called a complete meal, the inspectors said.

Dutch give themselves B+ for beauty
The Dutch give themselves an average score of seven marks out of 10 for their appearance, magazine HP/De Tijd reports on Wednesday. More... comments (4)

Mediterranean fish move north
Several young gilthead sea bream, a sharp-toothed fish which lives in the warm waters of the Mediterranean, have been caught by scientists monitoring fish stocks in the Wadden Sea, off the northern Dutch coast. More...

The Netherlands lacks ambition, says PM
The traditional Dutch approach to stimulating economic growth by wage moderation and boosting the number of people with jobs will not be enough in the future, says prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende. More...

Germany ignores Betuwelijn rail project
Germany has done nothing to develop its side of the Betuwe freight-only railway line from Rotterdam to the Ruhr industrial area for the past 10 years, Oliver Wittke, transport minister in Nordrhein-Westfalia, says in today's Volkskrant. More...

Unilever job losses: 12,000 in Europe
Food-to-detergents group Unilever is to cut between 10,000 and 12,000 jobs in Europe as part of its earlier announced plan to scrap 20,000 jobs worldwide. More...

Siemens picks The Hague for wind energy research HQ
The German industrial concern Siemens is setting up a research centre for off-shore wind energy in The Hague, reports today’s Financieele Dagblad. The centre will be officially opened next month and employ 20 people within 18 months. Siemens is the fifth largest builder of wind turbines in the world.

Employers’ boss calls for registered shares
The chairman of the employers association VNO-NVW says that the Netherlands should introduce the principle of registered shareholders, so that companies can approach investors directly when under attack. More...

PM must explain ongoing budget leaks
With the budget still two weeks away, prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende has been urged to explain why so many details have already been leaked to the media. More...

M&A market reaches record level
The Dutch mergers and acquisition market reached record levels in the second quarter with 195 transactions valued at a total €59.4bn, reports Wednesday’s Volkskrant quoting publisher KSU. More...

'Schools must start at 8am, 5 days a week'
After-school childcare would be much easier to organise if primary school hours were 8am to 2pm five days a week, says the MOgroep, the sector organisation for after-school care in today’s AD newspaper. More...

MPs want tougher action on top pay
The call for limits to top people's pay by Finance minister Wouter Bos do not go far enough, according to a majority of MPs quoted in today's Financieele Dagblad. More...

Public sector bosses face salary controls
The salaries of senior staff working for universities, public broadcasters, the arts sector and hospitals should be placed under strict government control, according to a cabinet commission chaired by former Liberal (VVD) leader Hans Dijkstal. More...

Injuries hit Dutch hopes against Bulgaria
Two of the top footballers in the Dutch national team are injured and are unlikely to play in the European Championship qualifying round against Bulgaria on Saturday. More...

Balkenende is a liar, says Labour hopeful Pronk
The Labour party must tell prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende that he is ‘a liar’, says former Labour (PvdA) minister Jan Pronk. The comment by Pronk, who is one of seven candidates running for the chairmanship of the party, is reported prominently by all the Dutch media on Wednesday morning. More...

Tuesday 04 September 2007

'Integration course rules too complex'
Only 500 of the 4,000 people who should be attending integration courses in The Hague are actually doing so because the new rules are too complicated and do not work properly, city council officials said on Tuesday. More...

Specialist job websites popular
Job websites specialising in particular areas of the job market are growing in popularity, according to research by the Intelligence Group agency. The site for council jobs rose from 25th to 15th spot in the top 50 and the government job site made the top ten. Most popular jobs site is still Monsterboard. comments (1)

Christian Democrats wants bulb tax scrapped
The ruling Christian Democrat party (CDA) is to ask the EU commission to scrap the 66% import tax on energy-saving lightbulbs. Brussels is considering extending the tax for another year. Without it, the bulbs would be half the price, says CDA Euro MP Corien Wortmaan in today's Telegraaf.

Smoking boosts Alzheimers risk up to 70%
Smokers have an average 50% greater chance of developing Alzheimers disease or dementia than non-smokers or people who have given up, according to research by the Erasmus Medical Centre Rotterdam published on Tuesday in Neurology magazine. More...

Energy firm Delta books H1 profit up
Holland’s fourth biggest energy concern Delta booked net profit of €52m in the first half of 2007, compared with €51m in the same period last year. The company said it will pay out an extra dividend of €15m to its local government shareholders. Turnover rose 12% to €803m.

Bus firm Connexxion sees sales up 19%
State-owned regional bus firm Connexxion booked sales of nearly €524m in the first six months of this year, an increase of 19% on the year-earlier period. Connexxion took over city public transport firms GVU and Novio this year, which boosted turnover. Passenger numbers rose 1%.

Candover extends Stork share deadline
UK investment house Candover, which is facing strong opposition from an Icelandic group in its efforts to take over Stork, has extended the deadline for shares to be tendered until September 18. More...

Netherlands gives UN meeting religious twist
The Netherlands is to emphasise the right to freedom of religion and belief at the sixth sitting of the UN's human rights council in Geneva next month, foreign affairs minister Maxime Verhagen told MPs on Monday evening. . More... comments (1)

Million euro homes more in demand
In total 627 house sales involving homes costing more than €1m were recorded at the Kadaster land registry office by the end of July this year, compared with 871 over 2006 as a whole, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Tuesday. More...

University chiefs face salary ceiling
University chiefs face a ceiling on their salaries to make sure they do not earn more than the prime minister, education minister Ronald Plasterk said at the opening of the academic year in Utrecht on Monday. More...

3,000 crimes solved by phone tip-off service
The anonymous crime tip-off phone number, set up exactly five years ago today, has been a great success. The organisation behind the initiative said on Tuesday that over 250,000 people have used the phone number leading to 4,500 arrests, 3,000 crimes being solved and the discovery of €2m-worth of fraud.

Modern slavery flourishing, say inspectors
The four companies discovered by government inspectors last year where workers were treated virtually as slaves were probably the 'tip of the iceberg', according to a social affairs ministry spokesman in today's Volkskrant. More...

Burundi drummers melt away
Of the 14 drummers from Burundi brought to the Netherlands to pep up a charity campaign, 12 have slipped away to start a new life as illegal immigrants. During the final concert in Nijmegen, five drummers had disappeared after the interval, the Volkskrant reports on Tuesday. The following day another seven had gone. comments (1)

Maternity pay for self-employed
Women who go it alone in business are to be able to claim maternity pay for up to 16 weeks, the cabinet has decided. The amount will based on their income, up to a maximum of the legal minimum wage of €1,317 per month. The measure is expected to cost the treasury €25m a year.

Colombia rebel unmasked
The young Dutch woman fighting with anti-government FARC guerillas in Colombia is Tanja Nijmeijer, who graduated in Spanish from Gronginen University in 2002, various media report on Tuesday. The Dutch foreign ministry says it has no idea who she is. More... comments (8)

Cost of 100-day tour rises to €3.2m
The cabinet's 100-day tour of the country cost more than €3.2m according to Liberal (VVD) MP Charlie Aptroot in Tuesday's Telegraaf. 'That is shocking for what was just an advertising campaign for this cabinet,' he told the paper. More...

Bos calls for limits on top salaries
The salaries of company bosses must have a limit and it is up to their supervisory boards to establish a ceiling, says finance minister Wouter Bos in an interview with the Financieele Dagblad on Tuesday morning. More... comments (2)

Train delays Amsterdam to Schiphol
Train delays are affecting the Amsteram-Schiphol area this morning after an intercity collided with a crane near the city’s Henk Sneevlietweg metro station on Monday night, seriously damaging the rails and overhead cables. More...

One in five children obese by 2015
Fewer than 10% of primary school pupils take any form of physical exercise for more than 30 minutes a day. And the figure for children between 12 and 17 is under 30%. The result is that one in five kids will be overweight by 2015, according to a report presented on Tuesday. More...

Monday 03 September 2007

Teachers welcome pay rise proposal
A plan to give teachers with higher qualifications more pay was welcomed by the teaching sector on Monday who said the proposals could give teachers up to €1,000 extra a month and will improve the quality of education. More... comments (2)

Tourist numbers top 10 million last year
The number of foreign tourists visiting the Netherlands reached a record 10.7 million last year, according to the latest tourist board report published today. More...

Foreign policy spending up 6.5%
Government spending on foreign policy rose 6.5% last year to €16.4bn, largely because of the high cost of the Dutch military mission in Afghanistan, according to the government statistics body CBS on Monday. More...

Budget leaks: extra tax on home owners
The cabinet is planning to increase the tax on wealthy home-owners and introduce a ceiling on pension premium tax deductions, according to the latest leaks ahead of the September 18 budget. More...

More children monitored by social services
The number of children under the supervision of social workers in the four big Dutch cities has gone up 100% in the first six months of this year in some areas. More...

Holleeder to stay in jail
Crime boss suspect Willem Holleeder will not be released from jail pending the restart of his trial on blackmail charges despite health problems, judges in Haarlem ruled on Monday. More...

Seven candidates for Labour chairmanship
Seven people are competing for the job of Labour party chairman. The candidates include the outspoken former environment minister Jan Pronk (67) and one woman, Lillianne Ploumen (45), director of the Cordaid aid group. Party members can vote between September 16 and 23.

Dutch vital to Australia role in Uruzgan
Australia may have to review its military deployment in Afghanistan if the Netherlands decides to withdraw its troops from the UN mission in Uruzgan, says Australian defence minister Brendan Nelson. More...

TNT top dogs reduce bonuses
Top managers at post and logistics company TNT will put some of their bonuses into a special fund to help staff affected by the company’s reorganisation, CEO Peter Bakker said in a letter to staff on Friday. More...

Van Grunsven takes third European title
Horsewoman Anky van Grunsven took her third solo European dressage title in Italy this weekend, adding to earlier victories in 1999 and 2003. More...

Feyenoord, Vitesse top Dutch league
Rotterdam football club Feyenoord and Vitesse Arnhem are now neck-and-neck at the top of the Dutch premier division, with both PSV Eindhoven and Amsterdam’s Ajax giving points away. More...

Icelandic group has 43% of Stork
Icelandic investment fund LME, backed by the Marel industrial group, has expanded its stake in Dutch engineering firm Stork to 43.3%. More...

MPs also fiddle with Wiki entries
The Wikipedia entries of various MPs have been fiddled with using computers from parliamentary offices, reports Monday’s Trouw newspaper. More... comments (2)

Irene Bussemaker is top hat designer
Irene Bussemaker has been named Hat Designer of the Year by the prestigious London-based The Hat Magazine. More...

Spyker in talks to sell Formula 1 team
Troubled luxury car maker Spyker is in 30-day exclusive talks with Indian industrialist Vijay Mallya who has offered €80m for Spyker’s Formula 1 racing team. More...

ABN Amro unions back independence
Banking unions have launched a last ditch offensive to stop ABN Amro being taken over either by Britain's Barclays or a consortium of three other banks, the Financieele Dagblad reports. More...

Dutch girl serves with Colombian rebels
A Dutch girl going under the name of Eillen is apparently serving with FARC rebels in Colombia, according to Colombian paper El Tiempo on Sunday. More... comments (2)