Wednesday 31 October 2007

Soccer coach Koeman quits PSV for Spain
In a surprise move, PSV trainer Ronald Koeman is to leave the Eindhoven football club to become coach of the top Spanish team Valencia. More...

Six suspects freed after ‘unofficial’ ruling
Six suspects, including a woman charged with murdering her partner and a man on trial for rape, have been released from custody because one of the judges involved in their cases had not officially been sworn into the judiciary. More... comments (1)

Numbers approved as domain names
Private citizens can register internet domain names using telephone numbers, dates of birth or random numbers with the Dutch domain registry SIDN from the end of January next year. More...

Belgian jail-breaker caught in The Hague
A Belgian crook who made a spectacular escape from a Belgian prison yard by hijacked helicopter, has been recaptured in the Netherlands after an armed robbery on a motorbike shop, police said on Wednesday. . More...

Fire service slower at answering emergencies
The fire service is getting slower at answering emergency calls, says the central statistics agency CBS on Wednesday. More...

Tax office tops complaints list
The national ombudsman has received 1,424 complaints about the tax office in the first nine months of this year, making it the most common complaint he has to deal with, reports the AD on Wednesday. More...

Five freed on jihad charges
A court in Rotterdam has freed five out of six people charged with recruiting for an armed jihad, or holy war. More...

Crime boss suspect Holleeder gets stamp
Crime boss suspect Willem Holleeder has been immortalised on a 44 cent stamp, commissioned by twice-convicted murderer Martin K, the Telegraaf reports on Wednesday. More...

Dutch miss out on EU subsidies
The Netherlands makes less use of European subsidies than any other member country, according to the EU's final financial statement for the period 2003 to 2005. More...

Garmin tops TomTom bid for map maker
The US navigational systems producer Garmin has made a rival bid for the Dutch-Belgium digital map-maker Tele Atlas, beating TomTom's offer by 15%. More...

Six released after 'unofficial' judge ruling
Six suspects, including a woman charged with murder and a man on trial for rape, have been released from custody because one of the judges involved in their cases had not officially been sworn into the judiciary. More...

Housing merger creates market leader
Amsterdam housing corporations Ymere and Woonmaatschappij plan to merge, creating the biggest social housing group in the country, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Wednesday. More...

Rabobank sells Alex to Binck
Rabobank is to sell its online broker Alex to the bourse-listed internet bank BinckBank for €390m. The companies announced the deal on Wednesday morning. More...

Dutch send top official to Iran over activist
Foreign affairs minister Maxime Verhagen is to send his highest political advisor to Tehran in an effort to find out what is happening to the Dutch human rights activist Abdullah Al-Mansouri, arrested 18 months ago on terrorism charges, reports ANP news service. More...

ChristenUnie urged to exclude gays
Orthodox Christian party ChristenUnie should ban homosexuals from becoming party officials, according to Amsterdam local councillor Yvette Lont. More...

Tuesday 30 October 2007

Iran denies death sentence for activist
Dutch foreign affairs minister Maxine Verhagen told MPs on Tuesday afternoon he has received assurances from the Iranian authorities and their ambassador in the Netherlands that no death sentence has been passed on Dutch human rights campaigner Abdullah Al-Mansouri. More...

Prince furious with paedophile website
Crown prince Willem-Alexander has reacted furiously to the news that photographs of his eldest daughter Amalia were placed on the website of a pro-paedophile association. More... comments (1)

Learn to drive at 17, says minister
Transport minister Camiel Eurlings has suggested allowing 17-year-olds to learn to drive under the supervision of an experienced driver. More... comments (2)

Work-experience pay €1.70 an hour
People on work experience programmes earn an average of €245 a month or €1.70 per hour, according to research by student monitoring groups. More...

New probe into Schiphol fire
There is to be a new investigation into the cause of the Schiphol detention centre fire in which 11 people died in 2005, reports public broadcaster NOS on Tuesday. More... comments (1)

More people work overtime
Some 15% of employees say they regularly work overtime and 30% say the amount of extra hours they put in has risen sharply over the past two years, according to a poll for jobs magazine Volkskrant Banen. More...

Judges reject cancer screen plea
A court in The Hague has rejected a call by a group of older women to include them automatically in the national breast cancer screening programme. More... comments (2)

Winter holiday bookings on the up
Winter holiday bookings are up 6% so far this year, due to an increase in demand for sunny destinations. More...

Police to crack down on bike lights
Cyclists who attach bike lamps to their clothes or bags or who use flashing lights could be fined, police chiefs have decided. More... comments (2)

Higher earnings for TomTom target Tele Atlas
Digital map maker Tele Atlas booked operating profit of €15m in the third quarter of 2007, up 35% on the previous year. Turnover was up 14% at €74m. More...

ASMI books higher earnings, fewer orders
ASM International, which supplies machinery for the micro-chip industry, booked net profit of €15.8m in the third quarter of this year, up 6% on the previous quarter. More...

No surprises in KPN’s Q3 figures
Telecom group KPN booked turnover of just over €3bn in the third quarter of 2007, practically unchanged on the 2006 figure. Operating profit was up 18% at €680m which was above analysts’ expectations. More...

Dutch top theatre visit league
The Dutch top the list in Europe when it comes to going to the theatre - 58% said they had been to a performance at least once in the past year, according to a survey by European statistics agency Eurostat. More...

Amsterdam expat office to open in April
The proposed expat office for skilled foreign workers in Amsterdam will be opened by junior justice minister Nebahat Albayrak at the end of April next year, reports today’s Financieele Dagblad. More...

Hundreds of millions extra for green power
Hundreds of millions of euros in extra cash will be available for green power subsidies, reports ANP news service on Tuesday. More...

Van der Sar to retire from Dutch team
Dutch goal-keeper Edwin van der Sar is to retire from the national team at the end of the European Championships next year. More...

20% increase in weapons at schools
The number of schoolchildren carrying weapons rose 20% in the first three months of the current school year, says the Telegraaf. More...

Members quit and join post-Verdonk VVD
A record number of people have cancelled their membership of the free-market Liberals (VVD) since Rita Verdonk left the party, says Tuesday's Volkskrant. More...

Healthy hardest hit by insurance change
Healthy people who make few demands on the health service will be hardest hit by changes to the health insurance system next year, reports the AD. More... comments (1)

Ex-minister ready for activist mercy mission
Former Dutch foreign affairs minister Ben Bot is prepared to go to Iran to plea for an amnesty for the Dutch human rights campaigner Abdullah al Mansouri who has been sentenced to death. More...

Monday 29 October 2007

Urgent action agreed on Randstad traffic
Transport minister Camiel Eurlings, other ministers and dozens of local authority officials on Monday signed an agreement aimed at speeding up plans to reduce traffic congestion in the region around the Netherlands’ four biggest cities and increase accessiblity. More...

Dutch activist faces execution in Iran
An Iranian court has sentenced Dutch human rights activist Abdullah al-Mansouri to death for terrorist activities, reports ANP news agency. More...

Jaap Stam quits professional football
Ajax defender Jaap Stam has ended his professional football career with immediate effect. More...

Re-open nurse murders, says committee
The case against nurse Lucia de B, jailed in 2004 for life for murdering seven patients and attempting to murder three others, should be reopened, says a legal advisory committee which looks into possible miscarriages of justice. More... comments (3)

Dutch won't eat human flesh
Most Dutch would rather starve than eat human flesh, according to research carried out for entertainment software company Electronic Arts. More... comments (3)

Breast cancer deaths down
Deaths from breast cancer have dropped again, according to figures released by the central statistics agency CBS on Monday. More...

Sonja Bakker backing means higher profits
Companies recommended by diet guru Sonja Bakker increase their earnings by a total of €45m a year, according to research by AC Nielsen. More...

Spend money on schools, says business
Some 80% of Dutch businessmen and women want the government to put more money into education, according to a survey for BNR radio. More...

Postal group TNT books 10% sales increase
Post and express parcels company TNT booked a 10% increase in sales in the third quarter of this year, taking turnover to €2.65bn. More...

Hairdressing can damage your health
Around one third of hairdressers suffers from repetitive strain injury (RSI) or has back trouble and one fifth has some form of eczema, the ministry of social affairs reports on Monday. More...

Small pension funds worry central bank
The Dutch central bank (DNB) is concerned that small and medium sized pension funds cannot cope with the demands being made on them, reports Monday's Financieele Dagblad. More...

Royals in court over paedophile website
Members of the royal family will this morning ask Amsterdam district court to grant an injunction against paedophile website Martijn for refusing to remove photographs of their children from discussion forums. More... comments (1)

PSV moves to top of the league
PSV Eindhoven beat Sparta Rotterdam 4-1 on Sunday to move into the lead of the Dutch premier football league, with a two-point lead over Ajax and Feyenoord. More...

More right-wing than Islamic radicalism
Dutch local councils are more likely to be confronted with right-wing extremism than radical Islam, according to research by the crisis management institute COT. More...

Willem-Alexander and Máxima arrive in Bhutan
Prince Willem-Alexander and princess Máxima arrived in the Himalyan kingdom of Bhutan on Saturday to a spectacular welcome by the uncrowned king Jigme, reports the Volkskrant on Monday. More... comments (3)

Kramer and Smit take Dutch skating titles
Sven Kramer took gold for the second time in the Dutch long distance skating championship in Heerenveen on Sunday. More...

Hells Angels court case begins
A total of 22 Hells Angels will appear in court in Amsterdam on Monday on charges ranging from membership of a criminal organisation to drugs possession, illegal weapons and violence. More...

Animal party asks many ministerial questions
The animal welfare party PvdD has asked the farm ministry so many questions that it has been forced to take on two new officials to deal with them, the AD reports on Monday. More...

Savanna social worker in court
The social worker in charge of the three-year-old girl Savanna who was starved and beaten to death by her mother, appears in court on Monday, charged with failing in her duties. More...

Temp agency USG increases earnings 39%
Temporary employment agency USG saw third quarter earnings rise 39%, while turnover was up 9.4% to €1.02b. More...

MPs oppose US Guantanamo request
Suggestions that the Netherlands and other NATO countries should take in prisoners from the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay have been rejected by a majority of MPs, news agency ANP reports. More... comments (2)

Friday 26 October 2007

US asks Holland to take Guantanamo suspects
The US foreign affairs department has asked the Netherlands to take over a number of prisoners from its Guantanamo Bay camp on the island of Cuba, the Parool reports on Friday. More... comments (3)

EU asked for clarity on football profs
Sport minister Jet Bussemaker and her French colleague have asked the European Commission to take a clear stance on the legal position of professional footballers, reports NRC Next. More...

Dutch firm to sponsor Polish skaters
A transport firm from Overijssel is to sponsor the Polish national skating team, reported regional broadcaster RTV on Friday. More...

Civil servants have too many meetings
Civil servants spend an average of over five hours a week in meetings and would like to see that halved, according to research by local government sector's magazine Binnenlands Bestuur. More...

Consumers happier with energy firms
Consumer confidence in the energy sector has risen slightly according to a new report published by the competition authority NMa on Friday. More...

Building fraud whistleblower 'no regrets'
Ad Bos - the man who blew the whistle on widespread corruption and price-fixing in the construction sector in 2001 - has lost everything and now lives in a camper van, the Volkskrant reports on Friday. More...

Private forestry firms in profit
Privately-owned forestry projects are finally making money – some €21 per acre, according to agricultural institute LEI which says this is due to rising world timber prices. More...

New child porn law legally problematic
Government plans to make viewing online child pornography a criminal offence are criticised by lawyers in today's Volkskrant. More...

Flying the European flag
Over 150 Dutch local councils have so far ordered a European flag from staunch pro-European MEP Toine Manders, who is paying for the flags out of his own pocket. More... comments (3)

Birthday kisses not popular
The 'compulsory' three kisses from colleagues on your birthday is a veritable nightmare for one in four female workers while one in five men don't like kissing their female colleagues either, the Telegraaf reports on Friday. More... comments (2)

CDA expects extension of Afghan mission
Pieter van Geel, leader of the senior government Christian Democrat party in parliament, expects the cabinet to extend the Dutch mission in Afghanistan past the August 2008 deadline. More...

Clocks go back this weekend
The clocks go back one hour at 2am on Sunday morning as official winter time begins in the Netherlands.

Princess photo on paedofile website
The paedofile association Martijn has been ordred to remove a photograph of princess Amalia from its website immediately by the state information service. More...

Controversial Dutch businessman arrested
The controversial Dutch businessman Joep van den Nieuwenhuyzen has been arrested in Switzerland on fraud charges connected to the bankruptcies of several companies. More...

S&N says Heineken bid is 'derisory'
British brewer Scottish & Newcastle has rejected out of hand a takeover bid by Heineken and Carlsburg saying it 'undervaluing S&N's strengths and market positions'. More...

Hagemeyer dismisses Rexel offer
Technical goods trading company Hagemeyer has dismissed the €4.60 a share takeover bid from Rexel but is prepared to enter talks with the French market leader. Hagemeyer sees 'considerable synergy advantages in terms of sales and costs' in a takeover, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Friday.

Power firm Essent considers IPO
Local-government owned energy concern Essent is considering a stock market listing once it has fully separated its grids from its commercial (production, supply, trading) activities, says company chief Michiel Boersma in the latest issue of the in-house newsletter. More...

Amnesty costs €11,000 per refugee
The government's amnesty for long-term refugees will cost the state €329m, or €11,000 per asylum seeker, junior justice minister Nebahat Albayrak told MPs on Thursday. More...

Thursday 25 October 2007

Dutch still undecided on Afghanistan options
France has offered to send military instructors to help train Afghan soldiers in southern Afghanistan, boosting Dutch efforts in the region. More...

Prince Willem-Alexander joins climate debate
Prince Willem-Alexander joined the climate change debate on Thursday, speaking in the Indian capital Delhi where he is on an official visit with his mother queen Beatrix and his wife princess Maxima, ANP news agency reports. More... comments (2)

Dutch DJ best in the world
Dutch DJ Armin van Buuren has been voted best DJ in the world this year by readers of Britain's DJ Magazine, knocking Holland's other turntable maestro Tiësto into second place. More... comments (1)

Number of singles still rising
The number of single-person households is expected to rise from 35% today to 44% in 2050, says national statistic office CBS. More...

Queen Beatrix to do voluntary work
Queen Beatrix and other members of the royal family are to take part in the Make A Difference Day on November 3 by doing voluntary work. More...

Corbijn film nominated for UK awards
With 10 nominations, the film Control by Dutchman Anton Corbijn has a big chance of winning a prize in the prestigious British Independent Film Award (BIFA), reports today’s Financieele Dagblad. More...

Chemicals group DSM earnings rise
Chemicals group DSM saw third quarter net earnings rise 1% to €142m, due to higher sales volumes and prices. More...

Vedior earnings rise 21% in Q3
Temporary employment group Vedior booked a 21% increase in net profit in the third quarter of this year, on turnover up 9% to €2.2bn. More...

Shell profits better than expected
Oil giant Shell said on Thursday net profit measured against the cost of supply had fallen 8% to €6.4bn in the third quarter of 2007. However the decline was not as sharp as analysts had forecast. More...

French firm bids for Hagemeyer
French electro-technical goods trader Rexel has made a €4.60 per share offer for Hagemeyer, valuing the Dutch trading group at €3bn. More...

New atlas is best-selling book
The new edition of the Bosatlas van Nederland is a best-seller just a week after publication, reports today’s NRC Next. More...

Unibet boss released on bail
The boss of international online betting company Unibet who was arrested at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport earlier this week was released on bail by an Amsterdam court on Wednesday. More...

Viewing online child porn to become crime
Looking at child pornography on the internet will become a criminal offence in the Netherlands under new legislation being drawn up by justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin, ANP news service reports. The possession of child porn is already a crime. More... comments (2)

Youths arrested for school stabbing
Amsterdam police arrested two 15-year-old boys on Wednesday evening in connection with the stabbing of a schoolboy in Amsterdam Zuid-Oost earlier in the day. More...

France offers to support Dutch troops in Afghanistan
France has offered to send between 80 and 100 soldiers to back up Dutch troops in southern Afghanistan, according to sources close to the meeting of NATO defence ministers in Noordwijk, reports Thursday’s Volkskrant. More...

Dutch smash int'l child-smuggling ring
Police investigating the disappearance of 140 girls from Dutch asylum seekers' centres have arrested some 20 people in connection with a major international child trafficking ring. More... comments (2)

Wednesday 24 October 2007

Queen, crown prince in India for state visit
Queen Beatrix began her official state visit to India this morning with a meeting with president Pratibha Patil at the presidential palace in Dehli. More...

Three Dutch films in box office top 10
Three Dutch films are currently featured in the country’s top 10 movies for the first time ever, reports Holland Film on Wednesday. More...

More people travel through Schiphol
The number of passengers that travelled via Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport in the first nine months of this year rose 3.9% to over 36.5 million compared to the same period last year, the airport announced today. Freight traffic was up almost 4.9%.

Last words of Jan Wolkers
The last words of Dutch author Jan Wolkers, who died last week aged 81, were 'and that is enough,' after drinking a glass of pomegranate juice and eating two pieces of bread and jam, according to his biographer in today's Trouw. Wolkers was cremated today.

Gorilla Bokito has chicken pox
Bokito, the Rotterdam gorilla who became world famous after jumping out of his enclosure and attacking woman in May this year, has chicken pox, the Blijdorp zoo authorities said on Wednesday. More...

Some 2% Dutch workers paid partly 'black'
Some 2% of Dutch workers with a permanent job admit to having part of their wages paid under the counter, compared with 23% of Romanians, according to a European Commission survey.

More than 60% want a new job
More than 60% of Dutch employees are dissatisfied with their work and would like to leave, while 16% are actively looking for a new job, says a survey by Towers Perrin published in today’s Volkskrant. More...

Online music 'pirate' shut down
Dutch and British police have shut down what is said to be one of the world's biggest online sources of pirated music. More...

New Bacharach album for Oosterhuis
Singer Trijntje Oosterhuis is to make a second album with the legendary US composer Bert Bacharach. More...

Americans ban Sinterklaas, says Telegraaf
Cocoa processing plant ADM in Koog aan de Zaan near Amsterdam has been banned from holding its annual Sinterklaas party for employees’ children on company property, the Telegraaf reports on Wednesday. More... comments (18)

Most Amsterdammers not born in the city
Just 44% of the people living in Amsterdam were actually born in the city and only one-third of those living in the centre are ‘natives’, according to new figures from national statistics office CBS. More...

Fewer Muslims in Holland than thought
One in 20 Dutch nationals has Islamic origins, a lower percentage than first estimated, says the national statistics office CBS. More...

Almost half immigrants want to move house
Some 40% of non-Western immigrants in the Netherlands would like to move to a new house, a far higher percentage than low-income natives, according to national statistics office CBS. More...

Passengers stuck in broken-down train
Some 400 passengers were stuck in a broken-down train for several hours on Tuesday evening after a small fire caused a short circuit in the power supply. More...

Aerospace unit pressures Stork earnings
Troubled engineering group Stork saw third quarter earnings down almost one third, due largely to lower results at its aerospace division. Turnover rose 14% to €520m. More...

PSV has tough task in Champions League
PSV Eindhoven will find it difficult to get into the Champions League third round, after drawing 0-0 at home in the first of two football matches against Turkish club Fenerbhace yesterday. Fenerbhace, the Turkish number four, was reduced to 10 men before the end of Tuesday’s game. More...

TomTom increases earnings forecast
Car navigation systems maker TomTom has increased its turnover forecast for the current year marginally - from between €1.6bn and €1.8bn to between €1.7bn to €1.8bn. More...

NATO defence ministers meet in Noordwijk
Defence ministers from 25 NATO countries are meeting in the seaside resort of Noordwijk today for two days of talks which are expected to focus on sending more troops to Afghanistan and the tension on Turkey's border with Iraq. More...

Tuesday 23 October 2007

Gambling firm chief arrested at Schiphol
The director of online gambling company Unibet was arrested at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on Monday on the request of the French authorities. More...

Causes of radicalism complex: minister
Dutch justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin has called on scientists, policy makers and others to guard against simplistic reasoning and explanations when it comes to radicalisation. More...

Environmental licence red tape slashed
The number of companies exempt from applying for environmental licences will go up by nearly 40,000 to 320,000 from January 1 because of harmonised and simplified procedures. More...

Police buy US school weapon detectors
The Amsterdam-Amstelland police force has purchased 10 new mobile metal detection scanners from the US which they will use mainly use to control whether students going into secondary schools are carrying weapons, reports today’s Telegraaf. More...

European hair and eye colour gene found
Dutch and Icelandic researchers at the University Medical Centre St Raboud in Nijmegen have found the gene that determines eye, hair and skin colour in Europeans, reports ANP news service. More... comments (1)

Groningen has up to 700 right-wing extremists
Some 600 to 700 youngsters in the province of Groningen hold extreme right-wing views, according to new police research in the region. More... comments (3)

'Dutch more attractive to low-skilled migrants'
The Netherlands' policy of reducing the income gap between rich and poor will make high-skilled migrants less likely to come to the country, according to research by the government's economic policy unit CPB. More... comments (5)

Unilever workers to strike on Wednesday
Unilever workers are to strike on Wednesday and will hold a demonstration in Rotterdam against the closure of three of the company’s six Dutch factories. More...

Consumers still pessimistic about economy
Consumers are still pessimistic about the economic climate, national statistics office CBS reports on Tuesday. More...

KPN takeover of Getronics finalised
Dutch telephone company KPN has finalised its takeover of IT service provider Getronics, the AD newspaper reports on Tuesday. More...

Akzo Nobel Q3 results disappoint analysts
Dutch paint and chemical company Akzo Nobel reported on Tuesday that its third quarter profit, before interest and tax, was up 11% on the same period last year to €244m. More...

German discount supermarkets battle it out
German discount supermarket chain Lidl will overtake its arch rival Aldi on the Dutch market, according to food retail analyst Joop Holla of market research firm Gfk in today's Financieele Dagblad. More...

Hagemeyer sales up in Q3
Technical goods trader Hagemeyer booked a 3% increase in sales in the third quarter of this year with turnover reaching €1.6bn. More...

Christian councillor sacked for fraud
The fundamentalist Christian party SGP has sacked one of its councillors in the fishing town of Urk after he was given community service sentence. More...

Woman with baby jumps from Bijenkorf (update)
Police have arrested a 23-year-old woman who on Monday evening dropped or threw a one-year-old child from the fourth floor of the Bijenkorf department store in Amsterdam before jumping from the building herself. More...

Explosive growth in train travel
The number of passengers travelling by train in the northern provinces of Friesland and Groningen has grown massively over the past two and a half years, ANP news agency reports. More...

Fire destroys Armando museum
A massive fire in the centre of Amersfoort has totally destroyed the Armando museum. The fire started around 1.30pm on Monday afternoon in the tower of the 19th century Elleberg church where the museum is located. More... comments (1)

Monday 22 October 2007

Six arrested for suspected car arson
Six men were arrested in Amsterdam at the weekend on suspicion of planning to set fire to cars, police said on Monday. More...

DNB changes pension fund structure
The Dutch central bank (DNB) has changed the structure of its €1bn pension fund so that it can be managed by the American fund management company BlackRock, reports Monday's Financieele Dagblad. More...

Petrol tax accounts for 63% of litre price
The government gets 61.5% of the price consumers pay for petrol and this will go up to almost 63% in the coming six months, according to the motoring sector’s trade organisation Bovag. More...

Aid minister backs new World Bank president
Development aid minister Bert Koenders is positive about the course the new World Bank president Robert Zoellick will take, news agency ANP reports on Monday. More...

No office booze-up at 1 in 10 firms
One in 10 Dutch firms never holds a company drinks party or organises alcohol-free gatherings only, according to a survey by magazine Management Team. More...

Doctors warn on sex advice clinics
Government plans to limit services to the under-25s at specialist contraceptive and abortion advice centres will increase the pressure on second-row services such as hospitals, the abortion doctors association warned on Monday. More...

Poll rise for Rita Verdonk
Rita Verdonk's brand new politicial movement Trots op Nederland (proud of the Netherlands) would take 23 seats if there was a general election tomorrow, according to the latest Maurice de Hond opinion poll. More... comments (4)

Local policitians should speak Dutch, says mayor
Local politicians should always speak Dutch during council meetings, Rotterdam mayor Ivo Opstelten told Sunday's AD newspaper. More... comments (1)

Maase sets new Dutch marathon record
Kamiel Maase set a new national record of 2.08.21 in the Amsterdam marathon on Sunday, knocking 10 seconds off his time and giving him ninth place and an Olympics ticket. More...

Getronics ex-boss says never again
Klaas Wagenaar, the much criticised CEO of IT company Getronics says he will never again take over the top job at a big company. More... comments (2)

BinckBank close to Alex takeover
Internet bank BinckBank is in exclusive talks with Rabobank on the takeover of sector peer Alex. More...

New car safety belt is Best Idea
Cees Stam won the Best Idea of the Netherlands competition on Saturday evening with a car safety belt that opens automatically on contact with water, thus reducing the chance of drowning. More... comments (1)

Three arrests for suspected car arson
Three youths were arrested in Amsterdam on Saturday night on suspicion of planning to set fire to cars, police said on Sunday. The three, aged 16, 17 and 19, come from Amsterdam West but were arrested by the Sloter park carrying a bottle of petrol. More...

Feyenoord holds on to premiership lead
Feyenoord held on to the premier division leadership this weekend with a 1-0 win over Rotterdam's Excelsior with Giovanni van Bronckhorst scoring the only goal of the match 15 minutes before time. More...

Cut Afghan troops, extend mission: general
The Netherlands' top military official Dick Berlijn is advising the government to reduce the number of soldiers serving with NATO forces in Afghanistan but to extend the Dutch mission for two years, the Telegraaf reported on Saturday. More...

MPs back child benefit cuts for vandals
A majority of MPs agree with Amsterdam council executive Lodewijk Asscher's suggestion that parents of young vandals should be hit where it hurts, namely in their pockets. More... comments (2)

Saturday 20 October 2007

Hirsi Ali attacks Dutch government
The Dutch government is showing critics that they had better keep quiet by refusing to pay for her security in the US, says former MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali in an interview with Danish paper Jyllands Posten, reports the Volkskrant. More... comments (13)

Norwegian gas pipeline cancelled
Plans to build a gas pipeline from Norway to the Netherlands, the UK or Belgium have been cancelled, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Saturday. More...

Princess Ariane christened on Saturday
Princess Ariane, the third daughter of crown prince Willem-Alexander and princess Máxima, was christened at the Klooster church in The Hague on Saturday. More...

Numico boss gives away his bonus
Numico chairman Jan Bennink is to give the bonus he is set to receive when he leaves the specialty food group next month to his children and to charity, Bennink says in Saturday's Financieele Dagblad. More...

Writer and sculptor Jan Wolkers dies at 81
Writer and sculptor Jan Wolkers, best known abroad for his 1969 novel Turks Fruit (Turkish Delight), has died at his home on the island of Texel at the age of 81. More...

Friday 19 October 2007

More foreigners in Amsterdam marathon
Two-thirds of the 8,500 entrants for Sunday’s Amsterdam marathon are foreigners, ANP reports. More...

Judges hit back at ‘too soft’ claims
The council for the judiciary has denied accusations that judges in the Netherlands are too lenient. More...

Light bulb city plans to switch off
Light-town could soon become dark-town, the Volkskrant reports on Friday, because Eindhoven is set to become the first city in the Netherlands to switch the lights off at night. More...

Healthcare choices need more objectivity
The government's healthcare advisory council RVZ has called on politicians to be more objective in the way they decide what treatment should be included in the basic healthcare package. More...

Minoes tops Dutch film successes abroad
Minoes, the film about a women who turns into a cat, is the most successful Dutch family film abroad of the last 10 years, says the Dutch film institute. More...

Employers should teach Polish staff Dutch
Integration minister Ella Vogelaar is to talk to employers about how they can help Polish and other eastern European staff learn Dutch. More... comments (2)

Civil servant is black female manager of 2007
Marylin Haimé, the powerful head of the government's integration services, has been named black female manager of the year by the black women's business foundation. More...

Ajax wants changes to cup competition
Amateur football clubs should be excluded from the Dutch cup, and a group section introduced to make upsets less likely, says Ajax director Maarten Fontein. More...

Pharming makes medical leap
Leiden-based biotechnology company Pharming said on Friday it had made a 'major step forward' in the process of getting its most important medicine, Rhucin, on the market. More...

'Worker shortage biggest economic issue'
The severe shortage of workers, not the current crisis in the financial services sector, is the biggest danger for the global economy, news agency ANP quotes academic and investment guru Jaap van Duijn as saying. More...

Time to move forward on Europe says PM
Last night's successful finalisation of the new EU treaty by ministers marks the happy end of an important discussion, Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende told reporters at a news conference. More...

Utrecht museum hosts Hogwarts
Utrecht’s railway museum is set to transform into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on Friday November 16. More...

Police want higher penalties
Amsterdam police have asked the courts for increased powers to handle troublemakers in the suburb of Slotervaart. More... comments (1)

Georgia offers help in Uruzgan
Georgia is prepared to send 200 troops to the Afghan province of Uruzgan next year to support the Dutch contingent there. Georgian president More...

Older women in court over breast checks
Three elderly women are taking the state to court today because they are not included in the national breast cancer check-up scheme. More...

Property tax rates up to local councils
Local authorities are to be given free reign to decide what property tax rate (onroerendzaakbelasting) to charge home and office owners from January 2008. More...

Ministers act on teenage drinking
A ban on the sale of pre-mixed cocktails in supermarkets and tougher alcohol sales licences are among the measures the cabinet plans to introduce to curb teenage drinking, according to NOS news. More...

Thursday 18 October 2007

CDA unhappy with Verdonk's TON
The Christian Democratic party CDA is unhappy at the way Rita Verdonk is using its own ‘Trots op Nederland’ (proud of the Netherlands) slogan for her new political movement. More... comments (1)

Police get tough, arrest eight youths
Amsterdam police arrested eight youths in the western suburb of Slotervaart on Wednesday night in a get-tough campaign to prevent further trouble breaking out in the area. More... comments (1)

Netherlands fined for too much milk
The Netherlands has been fined almost €9m by the European Commission for producing too much milk in the 2006/07 season. More... comments (4)

Christine Kroonenburg is party queen
Christine Kroonenburg, widow of property tycoon Jaap Kroonenburg, has been named society queen of 2007 by magazine Miljonair. More...

No ban on traditional light bulbs
Environment minister Jacqueline Cramer has abandoned its much-criticised plans to ban traditional incandescent light bulbs. She said the market had already got the message about energy-saving lighting. More... comments (1)

Addiction rate high among prisoners
Some 60% of people in Dutch prisons are addicted to drugs, alcohol, gambling, or a combination of all three, according to justice ministry research. More...

Central bank gets female director
Joanne Kellerman, 47, a former partner at law firm Nauta Dutilh, has been appointed head of insurance and pension fund supervision at the Dutch central bank. More...

Zalm gets another new job
Former finance minister Gerrit Zalm has been named chairman of the trustees at the international organisation for standards in accountancy, IASB. More...

'ABN Amro decision took 10 minutes'
The decision by Royal Bank of Scotland, Fortis and Santander to make a bid for ABN Amro took just 10 minutes, Fortis chairman Jean-Paul Votron says in an interview with the Belgian employers organisation VBO. More...

Bourse-listed Ajax losses mount
Amsterdam football club Ajax, the only Dutch club to have a stock exchange listing, posted a loss of €10.4m in the 2006-07 season, compared with a loss of €6.6m in the previous season. More...

Van der Moolen cuts US workforce by 25%
Stockbroker Van der Moolen is to reduce its US workforce by a quarter in an effort to cut costs. More...

Sligro forecasts higher full year net profit
Food wholesaler and supermarket combine Sligro expects full year earnings to be higher than the €62m it earned in 2006, the company said in a trading update on Thursday. More...

Ahold unit Schuitema ups earnings
Supermarket group Schuitema, which is 73% in the hands of the Dutch market leader Ahold, booked a 1.7% increase in sales in the third quarter of this year compared with 2006. More...

Return to Srebrenica 'traumatic'
The return of 12 former Dutch soldiers to Srebrenica this week turned out to be far more traumatic than expected, the Volkskrant reports on Thursday. More... comments (3)

Eight youths arrested in Slotervaart
Amsterdam police arrested eight youths in the suburb of Slotervaart on Wednesday night. Three were carrying jerry cans, five others were taken into custody on suspicion of planning to cause trouble, a police spokesman said on Thursday. More...

Netherlands beat Slovenia 2-0
The Netherlands came a step closer to qualifying for the European Championship with a 2-0 win over Slovenia in Eindhoven on Wednesday night. More...

MPs oppose grant cuts to pay teachers
Phasing out basic student grants to help pay for a sharp increase in teachers' pay will not get parliamentary backing, it emerged on Wednesday night. More...

Wednesday 17 October 2007

Verdonk is 'Proud of the Netherlands'
Former Liberal (VVD) integration minister Rita Verdonk has launched a new political movement with the name Trots op Nederland (proud of the Netherlands). More... comments (1)

Heineken to bid for Scottish & Newcastle
Heineken plans to form a consortium with Danish rival Carlsberg to take over British brewer Scottish & Newcastle. More...

Moroccan university to go Dutch
Morocco is about to become the first country in the Arabic world to launch a university course in Dutch, the Telegraaf reports on Wednesday. More...

'Freeze option deals during takeovers'
The share and options packages held by board-level staff should be frozen during takeovers, say a majority of MPs from across the political spectrum. More...

Air France-KLM shows interest in Alitalia
French-Dutch airline group Air France-KLM is to hold talks with troubled Italian flag carrier Alitalia 'within several weeks' chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta was reported as saying on Wednesday. More...

Mild weather means fewer deaths
As a result of the mild summer and less flu, 10,000 fewer people are expected to die in the Netherlands in 2007 than did in 2002, according to the national statistics office CBS. More...

Sex not important to the Dutch
Just over half the Dutch think sex is very important, the lowest percentage in a poll of 12 European countries carried out by a contraceptive manufacturer. Only 25% of the Dutch polled had had a one-night stand and the average number of partners (5.7) was also the lowest in Europe. comments (2)

Roma centre gets Max van der Stoel award
The €50,000 Max van der Stoel award for human rights has been awarded to the European Roma rights centre in Romania, for its work in combating discrimination against the Roma and Sinti peoples. More...

Katja starts anti-poverty project with Hema
Actress Katja Schuurmans has teamed up with Hema to launch her own brand of fair trade and recycled products under the label Return to Sender. More...

One-third of Liberals would vote Verdonk
Rita Verdonk should found her own political party now she has resigned from the Liberals (VVD), think 61% of VVD voters. More...

Grid capacity shortage for green power
The building of renewable power plants is being frustrated by a shortage of high-tension grid capacity, the Volkskrant reports on Wednesday. More... comments (1)

MPs block wild boar hunting plan
A majority of MPs is opposed to plans to lift the ban on hunting with beaters so that 5,000 of the 6,000 wild boar roaming the Veluwe heath lands can be shot. . More...

Holland sells old defence system to Israel
The Netherlands is to sell an old air defence system for the Hawk helicopter to Israel, junior defence minister Cees van der Knaap told parliament on Tuesday evening. Left-wing opposition MPs say the sale breaks the agreed Israeli weapons trading embargo.

Provinces want limit to foreign rubbish
Maximum limits are needed on the amount of foreign waste brought into the Netherlands for burning, provincial councils have told environment minister Jacqueline Cramer, according to news agency ANP. More...

Business leaders visit Afghanistan
A group of top Dutch business leaders has visited the Afghan province of Uruzgan and the capital Kabul, the ministry of defence announced Wednesday. More...

Turn the lights off, says minister
Councils should reduce energy wastage and lower light pollution by switching off unnecessary lighting at night, says environment minister Jacqueline Cramer. More...

Student grants may be scrapped
Education minister Ronald Plasterk is considering replacing the basic student grant, currently some €253 a month, with a loan in order to give teachers a hefty pay increase and combat the teacher shortage. More...

End mortgage tax breaks: report
Mortgage tax relief should be gradually phased out to breathe new life into the housing market, says Henry Meijdam, chairman of the housing ministry independent advisory council Vrom-Raad in today's Financieele Dagblad. More... comments (2)

Tuesday 16 October 2007

Aegon signs as new Ajax sponsor
Insurance group Aegon is to be the new main sponsor of Amsterdam football club Ajax, replacing long-time sponsor ABN Amro, the Telegraaf reports on Tuesday. More...

Fragile states to get more aid
Countries which are at risk of becoming destabilised because of internal or regional conflict will get more aid support and money from the Netherlands in the future, says development aid minister Bert Koenders. More...

Foreign mortgage providers lose out
Foreign mortgage providers such as Bank of Scotland have lost market share in the Netherlands after a successful start, the Financieele Dagblad reports. . More...

Canadian soldiers jailed for attack
Amsterdam court has sentenced two Canadian soldiers to jail for beating up a 28-year-old man this spring but said there was not enough evidence the attack was made because the man was homosexual. More...

Internet privacy stepped up with new rules
Websites which publish people’s personal details such as their criminal record or sexual preferences will face heavy fines if the privacy protection body CBP gets its way. More...

Dutch inflation lowest in euro countries
The Netherlands has the lowest inflation rate among the euro countries, according to new figures from European statistics agency Eurostat. More...

University seeks men with sweaty feet
Entomology student Niels Verhulst is looking for men with sweaty feet, reports Tuesday's Telegraaf. More...

US green light for TomTom's Tele Atlas deal
Car navigation systems maker TomTom has received permission from the American Federal Trade Commission for its takeover of digital map supplier Tele Atlas, ANP news agency reports on Tuesday. More...

Alles is Liefde goes gold in one week
The new Dutch comedy Alles is Liefde (all is love) has been seen by more than 100,000 people in its first week, giving it golden film status. Written by actress Kim van Kooten, the film has an all-star cast and follows six couples' adventures in love.

Mushroom ban protest mounts
Over 10,000 people have so far emailed ministers protesting about the planned ban on the sale of hallucenogenic mushrooms, according to website reddepaddo.nl (save the shroom). More... comments (1)

Shareholders call for distance on Stork
Stork chairman Sjoerd Vollebregt should keep out of negotiations between British investment house Candover and Iceland's LME group on the future of the Dutch engineering company, according to the shareholders lobby group VEB. More...

Anne Frank's story to get BBC series
The Diary of Anne Frank is to be produced as a five-part tv series by the BBC for screening on BBC1 early next year, according to the broadcaster's website on Tuesday. More... comments (1)

Chinese should be in curriculum, say MPs
Secondary school pupils should be given the choice of studying Chinese from the next school year, according to a majority of MPs. More...

NATO 'working hard' on Dutch Uruzgan wishes
NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is doing his utmost to make it possible for Dutch soldiers to stay on in Afghanistan, the former Dutch foreign minister said at a press conference in Brussels. More... comments (1)

Police station attacked after shooting
A group of 20 to 30 youths threw stones at a police station and set a car on fire in the Amsterdam district of Slotervaart late on Monday evening, despite appeals for calm from community leaders. More... comments (4)

Verdonk quits VVD, to stay in parliament
Rita Verdonk resigned from the right-wing Liberal party (VVD) on Monday night after the party leadership threatened to expel her for refusing to give up her seat in parliament. More... comments (2)

Aegon signs as new Ajax sponsor
Insurance group Aegon is to be the new main sponsor of Amsterdam football club Ajax, the Telegraaf reports on Tuesday. The paper says Aegon is investing between €10m and €12m in the club. The contract will run for seven years. More...

Monday 15 October 2007

Police knife-man was in clinic (update)
The man who was shot dead after stabbing two police officers at an Amsterdam police station on Sunday has been identified as Bilal B, a 22-year-old Amsterdammer of Moroccan origin, chief officer of justice Leo de Wit said at a press conference on Monday. More...

MPs want less community service
Judges are too quick to impose community service sentences on people convicted of serious crimes such as rape and attempted murder - crimes which should only ever be given a prison term, according to a majority of MPs. . More... comments (1)

Postbank under fire over low interest
The ING-owned Postbank was heavily criticised on Monday for offering interest of just 0.5% on its Plus and 1.1% on its Kapitaal savings accounts, compared with a market average of around 2.5%. More...

KPN finalises Getronics takeover
KPN on Monday declared its takeover of IT group Getronics definite, after almost 90% of the shares were tendered. More...

Sneijder and Persie back in national squad
Dutch national football coach Marco van Basten will be shuffling his players again for the European Cup qualification match against Slovenia on Wednesday in Eindhoven. More...

Gay couples dance off with medals
Dutch couples won three medals at the world championship same-sex ballroom and latin dancing in Nijmegen on Saturday. More...

Burglar dies escaping from his victims
A burglar who was surprised when his victims returned home to their flat in Waddinxveen has died after falling down a flight of stairs while running away, news agency ANP reported on Saturday. comments (2)

Holland good on immigrants rights
The Netherlands is one of the best countries in Europe in terms of the legal situation of new new immigrants, according to research by the Migration Policy Group in Brussels. More...

Stork talks with LME and Candover continue
Engineering group Stork, Icelandic consortium LME and British investment house Candover are to continue their talks on the possible takeover of the Dutch firm after failing to reach a deal at the weekend, says the Financieele Dagblad. More...

Technical problems delay bourse opening
The start of trading on the Amsterdam and other Euronext stock exchanges was delayed on Monday because of technical problems.

MPs ask for explanation of Holleeder interview
Christian Democrat MPs have asked justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin to explain how suspected underworld boss Willem Holleeder was able to give a long telephone interview to journalists from magazine Vrij Nederland. More...

Dutch cats and dogs are fat
According to cautious estimates, 40% of Dutch dogs and 35% of cats are overweight. The statistic is contained in the new animal welfare bill drawn up by farm minister Gerda Verburg. More... comments (2)

Ex-Muslim Jami asked to quit council seat
The Labour party in Leidschendam Voorburg has asked Ehsan Jami, founder of the committee of ex-Muslims and local Labour councillor, to give up his seat. More...

Eric Gudde is Feyenoord's new managing director
The head of sports and recreation services at Rotterdam city council is to take over as managing director of Feyenoord football club. Eric Gudde, 51, who worked for the tax office until 2003, has a long history of involvement with amateur football and is father of Sparta player Wouter.

Dutch men's team takes darts world title
The Dutch men's darts team took the world team title in Rosmalen this weekend, with Mario Robbe and Joey ten Berge also taking the doubles. More...

Dual nationality not a problem, says minister
The Netherlands does not have a problem with dual nationality, and contributing to society has nothing to do with the number of passports you hold, justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin is quoted as saying in Monday's Volkskrant. More... comments (2)

Electronic invoices could save €10bn a year
Dutch companies could save €10bn a year if they stopped sending invoices on paper and just used electronic mail, the entrepreneurs organisations VNO-NCW and MKB told Monday's Financieele Dagblad. More...

One hundred post-war buildings listed
Some 100 post-WWII buildings are to be added to the roll call of listed monuments by cultural minister Ronald Plasterk. It is the first time monuments dating from the post-war reconstruction period have been designated as listed monuments. More...

Province to expand Nuon stake
The province of Noord-Holland is to expand its stake in energy company Nuon from its present 9.8% to at least 12%, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Monday. The province will buy the shares from other local authorities who want to sell their interest. More...

Man shot dead in police station (update)
The man who stabbed two police officers and was then shot dead by one of his victims at an Amsterdam police station on Sunday was a 22-year-old Amsterdammer of Moroccan origin, police said on Monday. More...

Philips sales increase in Q3
Electronics giant Philips booked sales of €6.5bn in the third quarter of this year, a 7% increase on the year-earlier period. More...

Friday 12 October 2007

Schiphol to stay in state hands
Schiphol airport is to remain fully in state hands, finance minister Wouter Bos said on Friday after the weekly cabinet meeting. More...

Shortage army engineers may affect Afghanistan decision
The shortage of trained army engineers, currently running at some 15%, is extremely worrying and may affect the Netherlands' decision on whether to extend its support for the NATO mission in Afghanistan, MPs told Radio 1 news on Friday. More...

Commission delays Numico ruling
The European Commission said on Friday it needs more time to decide on the implications of the takeover of Dutch specialty foods group Numico by French rival Danone. More...

Emotional meeting for stabbed 16-year old schoolboy
Over 100 pupils and teachers on Friday attended an emotional meeting at the Amsterdam technical college where a 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death on Thursday. More...

Fans campaign for Harry Potterstraat
The Dutch Harry Potter fan club has begun an online petition in an effort to have the Potterstraat in Utrecht renamed after the boy wizard, reports RTV Utrecht.

Consumer group wants action on wrinkle fillers
The Consumer Association is urging the government to ban the use of permanent wrinkle fillers or to at least reclassify them as medicines. More...

Boxer voted greatest Rotterdammer
Champion boxer Bep van Klaveren, who died in 1992, has been named the greatest Rotterdammer in a city poll, winning nearly 33% of the vote. Van Klaveren won Olympic and European boxing medals. More...

Seven arrested in large scale car control
Seven people were arrested during spot police checks on 1,100 cars travelling along the A1 motorway near Deventer on Thursday night. More...

Mushrooms to fall under opium law
Health minister Ab Klink and justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin have agreed that hallucinogenic mushrooms are to come under the opium law so that the sale of fresh ones are illegal. Dried mushrooms are already banned. More... comments (4)

Construction group Heijmans lowers profit forecast
Construction concern Heijmans lowered its full year profit forecast on Friday because of continuing problems at its building division. More...

Injured Van der Sar out of Dutch squad
Dutch goal-keeper Edwin van der Sar has been forced to withdraw from the national team ahead of the European championship qualifiers against Romania and Slovenia because of a toe injury, reports Sky News on Friday. More...

Dual nationality again under threat
Children with double passports who have lived in the Netherlands for five years will have to select one nationality when they reach 18 if a proposal by justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin is accepted. More... comments (14)

ABN Amro CEO to get €26m golden handshake
The departing CEO of ABN Amro, Rijkman Groenink, is to get a golden handshake of €26m following the takeover of the biggest Dutch banking group, reports today’s Volkskrant. More... comments (1)

Working women have high stress levels
One third of well-educated working women suffer from severe stress, according to a survey of 145,000 employees by research bureau SKB. More...

MPs want integration courses for Poles
A majority of MPs want Poles, Bulgarians and Romanians to follow compulsory integration courses, despite being members of the EU, the Volkskrant reports on Friday. More... comments (7)

Holleeder witness died of drugs overdose
Bram Zeegers, a key witness in the trial of suspected crime boss Willem Holleeder, died from an overdose of the drug ecstacy, police said on Thursday. More...

Thursday 11 October 2007

Competition authority fines builders
The NMa competition authority has fined 18 construction firms a total of €5.5m for cartel forming, the NMa said on Thursday. More...

Call centre staff get 7.3% pay rise
The 12,000 workers at KPN and SNT call centres are to get a 7.3% pay rise spread over two year plus a one-off bonus of 2% of their salary. More...

Mark Fisher to replace ABN Amro CEO (update)
Royal Bank of Scotland board member Mark Fisher (46) is to take over the helm at ABN Amro following the departure of CEO Rijkman Groenink. More...

Speculation continues over key witness death
Speculation over the death of Bram Zeegers, a key witness in the trail of suspected crime boss Willem Holleeder, continues to command media attention today with the emphasis shifting to the role of the woman who was at Zeggers’ home when the police arrived in the early hours of Tuesday. More...

Student dies after school stabbing
A 16-year-old boy at a technical school in Amsterdam has died after after being stabbed, reportedly in the neck, by a fellow student. A 14-year-old boy has been arrested. More... comments (3)

Hiddinck to extend contract with Russia
The Dutch trainer of the national Russian football team, Guus Hiddink, is to extend his contract up to and including the world championships in 2010, reports ANP news service. More...

PM under fire over royals, wasting money
Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende is under fire from MPs over three politically sensitive issues – failing to defend princess Máxima for comments she made about the Dutch identity, a 36% increase in the budget for the royal family and wasting money on the cabinet’s 100-day tour of the country. More...

Students pay too much for lodgings
More than 40% of students in the Netherlands are paying too much for their accommodation, according to students' union research. More...

Akzo Nobel sells Nobilas repair unit
Paint and chemicals group Akzo Nobel is to sell its its Nobilas Claims and Fleet unit to British insurance company Innovation Group. More...

Fortis rights issue a success
Dutch-Belgian financial services group Fortis said on Thursday it had a 98% take-up for its new rights issue aimed at financing its share of the takeover of ABN Amro bank. More...

Food sector boosts retail sales
Retailers saw turnover increase again in August, boosted largely by bigger sales volumes, the national statistics office CBS said on Thursday. More...

Immigrants leave major four cities
The proportion of immigrants in the country's four major cities of Amsterdam, Utrecht, Rotterdam and The Hague fell slightly between 2000 and 2006, as fewer newcomers moved in and more people left, according to figures from the national statistic office. More... comments (1)

MPs angry at hunting ban lift
A majority of MPs is opposed to countryside minister Gerda Verburg's decision to allow thousands of wild boar in the Veluwe heathlands to be hunted and killed with the help of beaters to drive them into the open. More...

RBS asks for Amsterdam listing
The Royal Bank of Scotland, which heads the consortium of three foreign banks taking over ABN Amro, has applied for listing on the Amsterdam stock exchange from October 15. More...

My Fatherland tops poll to find new anthem
Mijn Vaderland, performed by Frans Bauer, was voted the new Dutch national anthem by watchers of VPRO tv on Tuesday. More... comments (1)

Utrecht referendum for mayor flops
Around 9% of voters turned out for Utrecht's referendum to chose a new mayor, making the result invalid (a 30% turn out was required). More...

Mark Fisher to take over as ABN Amro CEO
ABN Amro CEO Rijkman Groenink is to leave the company at the next shareholders' meeting following the takeover of the Dutch bank by a consortium led by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). More...

Wednesday 10 October 2007

Fish fraud ringleaders fined in Urk
Fines of up to €100,000 and provisional jail terms were handed out to the ringleaders of a massive fisheries fraud in the staunchly protestant town of Urk on Wednesday. More...

'Experts' to judge foreign state firm activity
Economic affairs minister Maria van der Hoeven wants to set up a 'committee of experts' to look into the eventual takeover of Dutch companies by foreign state-owned firms. More...

Marco Borsato biggest tearjerker
Singer Marco Borsato is more likely to make Radio 2 listeners burst into tears than any other performer, according to University of Tilburg research. More...

New rules for ministerial weblogs
The cabinet is planning to tighten up the content of ministers' online diaries or weblogs to stop them from being used for party political purposes or image building. More...

RTL tv scraps phone-in quiz shows
The four RTL television channels are to stop broadcasting controversial phone-in quizzes from November 1 'until further notice'. More...

Most job seekers exaggerate their cvs
Some 60% of job seekers exaggerate their accomplishments on their cvs and 25% actually lie, Nrc.next reports on Wednesday. More... comments (1)

ABN Amro take over bad for Holland
The takeover of ABN Amro by a consortium of three banks is bad for the Netherlands and weakens its reputation as a financial centre, Bernard Wientjes, chairman of the employers organisation VNO-NCW said on Tuesday. More... comments (3)

MPs want clarity on cost of royalty
A majority of MPs have called on the cabinet to explain why the cost of running the royal household has risen 36% to €113m last year. More... comments (1)

MEPs eat poisoned fruit
Three out of eight pieces of fruit bought at the European parliament building in Brussels by Dutch environmental group Milieudefensie contained illegal amounts of pesticides. The orange contained 40% more cancer-causing chemicals than legally allowed, the organisation said.

One in three want more police on the beat
One in three people want to see more police on the streets, with 64% claiming to see a police officer less than once a week, according to research by the national statistics office CBS. More...

Sonepar reports stake in Hagemeyer
Colan Entreprendre, the holding company which owns French trading house Sonepar, has built up a 5.77 stake in Dutch trading group Hagemeyer, according to records held by the financial sector supervisor AFM. More...

Arrests over mosque fire bomb attack
Police in Haarlem have arrested five people aged 16 to 21 for throwing Molotov cocktails at a city mosque in July. The mosque was undamaged.

Utrecht votes for new mayor
Turnout in the referendum to chose a new mayor of Utrecht was reported to be slow on Wednesday morning. More...

Minister plans to widen crucial roads
Transport minister Camiel Eurlings is in talks with Amsterdam and Almere officials today in an effort to end the stalemate around easing traffic congestion in the region. More...

Mystery surrounds Holleeder witness death
The death of Bram Zeegers, key witness in the trial of suspected gang boss Willem Holleeder, remains shrouded in mystery on Wednesday morning, with no clear cause of death. More...

Adrie Koster interim coach at Ajax
Amsterdam's Ajax has appointed Adrie Koster as interim coach to replace Henk ten Cate who is heading for the London football club Chelsea. More...

MPs back ending Hirsi Ali US security deal
A majority of MPs supports the cabinet's decision to stop paying for Ayan Hirsi Ali's security in the US, news agency ANP said on Tuesday evening. More...

Minister to ban magic mushroom sales
Health minister Ab Klink is preparing to ban the sale of hallucinogenic mushrooms following a string of incidents involving foreign tourists, the AD newspaper reports on Wednesday. More... comments (20)

Tuesday 09 October 2007

AZ Alkmaar to play St Petersburg in UEFA Cup
The group A round of the UEFA Cup football tournament will open with a duel between Alkmaar’s AZ and FC Zenit St Petersburg in Russia on October 25. More...

Radical Islam winning ground in the Netherlands
The non-violent variation of radical Islam is winning ground in the Netherlands, according to a report by the security service AIVD reported in Tuesday's Volkskrant. The the violent version of Islam, the jihad, is not making much headway in this country, the report says. More...

Unilever sheds three factories and 474 jobs
Food-to-detergents manufacturer Unilever is to close three Dutch factories by the end of next year with the loss of 474 jobs. More...

System of integration courses to be simplified
The new integration legislation introduced at the beginning of this year will be simplified and local councils will once again be able to offer Dutch language and culture courses directly to all immigrants from November 1, reports today’s Volkskrant. More...

Woman held following death of crown witness (update)
A female friend of Bram Zeegers, a crown witness in the trial of suspected crime boss Willem Holleeder, has been arrested in connection with the investigation into his death, reports ANP news service. More...

Salman Rushdie calls on Dutch to protect Hirsi Ali
The British writer Salman Rushdie has accused the Dutch government of abandoning the Somali-born former Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, reports Tuesday's Trouw. More...

The Netherlands chairs UN refugee board
The Netherlands has been elected chair of the executive board of the United Nations' refugee agency UNHCR for the coming year by the member states. More...

French firm announces bid for Hagemeyer
French trading company Sonepar announced on Tuesday that it has put in an indicative cash bid of €4.25 per share to take over Dutch trading firm Hagemeyer. The bid values Hagemeyer at around €2.5bn. More...

Prince Floris becomes father
Prince Floris, nephew of queen Beatrix, has become a father. His wife Aimée gave birth to a baby girl at the VU hospital in Amsterdam in the early hours of Tuesday morning. More...

Two Dutch Emmy nominations
The Netherlands has been nominated for two international Emmy Awards, reports Trouw on Tuesday. Pierre Bokma is nominated as best actor for his role in the tv film De Uitverkorene (The Chosen) and the film Valse Wals (False Waltz) has been put forward in the cultural programmes category. More...

'Education wastes €16bn a year'
Wrong study choices by students and teacher shortages cost €16bn a year. This is the conclusion of the National Think Tank, a group of 20 masters and PhD students, published on Tuesday. More...

EC approves KPN takover of Getronics
European competition commissioner Neelie Kroes approved KPN’s €766m takeover of IT services company Getronics on Monday. More...

KPN fined for price incentives
Telecoms watchdog Opta has fined KPN a total of €2.88m for failing to inform the regulator of two major deals in the commercial sector, reports ANP news service. More...

Thieves steal blue tongue sheep
Ten sheep were stolen from a field in Waalre on Monday, one of which has blue tongue disease, reports the NRC. More...

Amsterdam 5th best business location
Amsterdam is back in the list of top five best company locations in Europe, according to a new report by property consultants Cushman & Wakefield. More...

Biggest rise in supermarket sales for a year
Supermarket sales rose 5.5% in September compared to the preceding month representing the biggest monthly increase in the past year. More...

Crown witness Holleeder trial found dead
A key crown witness in the trial of suspected crime boss Willem Holleeder was found dead in his home in Amsterdam south on Tuesday morning. The police said they can neither confirm nor deny that Bram Zeegers had committed suicide. More...

Bike sales up 10% in first half 2007
Bicycle sales in the first half of 2007 rose by 10%, report motor trade organisation Bovag and manufacturers association RAI. More...

Traffic chaos around Utrecht
An accident involving six cars and a van close to Oog in Al has created ‘chaos’ around Utrecht this morning according to the motoring organisation ANWB. More...

Monday 08 October 2007

Consortium wins ABN Amro with 86%
The consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland said on Monday that some 86% of shareholders in Dutch banking group ABN Amro had accepted its €71bn offer. More...

‘Peace missions don’t help reconstruction’
The reconstruction efforts carried out by peace missions are too little, too late, too short and too fragmented to be of much value for the countries involved, says former Dutch defence minister Joris Voorhoeve. More...

Ajax trainer Ten Cate to Chelsea
Ajax trainer Henk ten Cate is to join the London club Chelsea, reports ANP news service on Monday afternoon. More... comments (1)

Major new plan for Schiphol Airport
Special train stations and sound absorbent pyramids are among the ideas contained in a major new plan for Schiphol airport which is to be presented to transport minister Camiel Eurlings on Monday. More...

Four awards for 'Tussenstand' in 'Dutch Oscars'
The big winner at this year's Golden Calf awards, the Dutch Oscars, is the film Tussenstand (Half-time Score) by Mijke de Jong which won best direction, best actress (Elsie de Brauw) and best sound and also took the Dutch film critics prize. The film is about a separated couple and their difficult 17-year-old son. More...

Most people unconcerned about pensions
Most people are not concerned about their pensions, according to research by the national institute for budget information (Nibud), reports Monday's Volkskrant. More... comments (1)

Medals for Dutch at World Cyber Games
The Dutch won one gold and two silver medals in the World Cyber Games in Seattle at the weekend. The Dutch gamers will come home with a total €20,000 in prize money reports ANP news service.

DSM ups production of bullet-proof fibres
Chemical concern DSM is to increase the production of fibres used in bullet-proof material in the US by 25% next year, reports ANP news service on Monday. More...

Akzo Nobel increases share dividend
Chemicals firm Akzo Nobel is to pay shareholders a dividend of at least 45% of its profit in the coming years rather than the 35% to 40% it has paid until now, reports ANP news service on Monday. This means the dividend for 2007 will go up to €0.40 per share from €0.30. More...

Five hurt in Amsterdam ferry collision
Five people have been injured following a collision between two boats on the North Sea Canal in Amsterdam on Monday morning, reports news service ANP. Three of those injured are in a serious condition according to rescue workers. More...

Dutch World War II deaths higher than recorded
The number of Dutch people who died in World War II is considerably higher than the accepted figure to date according to researchers at Utrecht University, reports ANP news service on Monday. More...

SER chairman most influential Dutchman
Alexander Rinnooy Kan, chairman of the government advisory body SER, is the most influential person in the Netherlands, according to the new Volkskrant's Top 200 published on Saturday. More...

Integration courses bogged down in bureaucracy
The government's compulsory integration courses are completely bogged down in bureaucracy, according to Saturday's Volkskrant. More... comments (2)

Oranutan prefers tattooed blondes
Sibu, a male orangutan at the Apenheul ape centre in Apeldoorn, is being moved back to Britain because he only shows interest in tattooed human blonde women and refuses to mate. More...

Feyenoord back on top of national league
Rotterdam’s Feyenoord is back at the top of the national football league after a difficult 1-0 victory over Arnhem’s Vitesse on Sunday. More...

Econcern chairman is Entrepeur of the Year
Ad van Wijk, chairman of of the renewable energy project developer Econcern, has been awarded the title Entrepeneur of the Year 2007 by Ernst & Young. More...

Dutch law student to address UN
A 22-year-old international law student, Sandra van Beest from Nijmegen, is due to address the United Nations in New York on Monday on children's rights. Van Beest was appointed UN children's representative in 2006. More...

Dutch heroin smugglers arrested in Poland
Two Dutchmen were arrested on the Polish-Ukrainian border at the weekend for smuggling 60 kilos of pure heroin in a hidden compartment in their car, reports ANP news service. More...

Consortium may announce ABN Amro takeover Monday
The consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland is set to claim victory in the takeover battle for Dutch banking group ABN Amro on Monday reports Reuters news service. More...

Friday 05 October 2007

Barclays defeated in battle for ABN Amro (update)
Barclays has conceded defeat in the battle for Dutch bank ABN Amro and withdrawn its €61bn offer after failing to get enough shares tendered by yesterday's closing date. More... comments (1)

Ten Cate: ‘I am staying with Ajax’
Ajax coach Henk ten Cate told journalists on Friday that he planned to complete his contract with the Amsterdam club, ANP reported. The contract expires next year. In addition, Ten Cate said it was not true that he had signed a contract to join London club Chelsea as assistant trainer.

Missing drugs not used by police
Over 150kg of heroin which cannot be accounted for after coming into police hands have not been lost or used in sting operations, justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin has told MPs, reports the Parool. More...

Amsterdam pays disputed tax bill
Amsterdam city council has agreed to pay a tax bill totalling €40,000 for the 100 or so residents of Amsterdam district of Bos en Lommer who were forced to move out of their new homes because of severe structural faults. More...

Under-age escort bureau staff jailed
A homosexual couple and a driver have been jailed for between two and three-and-a-half years for recruiting under-aged boys for their escort bureau and for sexual abuse. More...

Staalbankiers reaches insider trading deal
Private bank Staalbankiers has reached a €400,000 out of court settlement in connection with a case of insider trading involving property fund VHS in 2002. More...

Spyker seals Formula 1 sale
Luxury car maker Spyker has reached a definite deal on the sale of its Formula 1 racing team to its former boss Michiel Mol and businessman Vijay Mallya. More...

Plastic driving licences popular
Some two million of the country's 10 million driving licence holders now have the new credit card-format permit which replaces the paper version, driving licence body RDW said on Friday. More...

Barclays withdrawns ABN Amro offer
Barclays has withdrawn its offer for Dutch banking group ABN Amro after failing to get enough shares tendered, the UK bank said on Friday. More...

One-way rest room mirror is a 'good joke'
The new toilets at popular beach pavilion Parnassia close to Bloemendaal have a one-way mirror which allows men to spy on women using the ladies' rest room, the Parool reports. More... comments (4)

Máxima: Holland always multi-cultural
Dutch society has never been based on one single culture, princess Máxima says in this week's issue of women's magazine Magriet, reports ANP news service. More... comments (8)

Ahold reaches deal with former CEO
Dutch supermarket concern Ahold has reached a financial settlement with its former CEO Cees van der Hoeven and financial director Michiel Meurs in connection with the book-keeping scandal that hit the company five years ago. More...

Shell prosecuted for gas leak
Shell is to be prosecuted for not telling the Dutch authorities quickly enough when one of its plants released ethylene oxide into the atmosphere in March 2004. More...

'Jami deserting Labour,' says party leader
‘It’s not the party that has deserted Jami, but Jami who has deserted Labour,’ says Labour leader Wouter Bos in an interview with the Trouw on Friday. More... comments (1)

Hospitals attack property profit claw-back
Over 400 hospitals have launched an official appeal against plans by the health ministry to claw back money they earn from their property, reports Friday’s Financieele Dagblad. More...

Health minister agrees on own-risk payback
Health minister Ab Klink has bowed to pressure from MPs and agreed that more people will get compensation when the own-risk clause is introduced into the health insurance system next year, reports ANP news service on Friday. More...

Ten Cate signs with Chelsea, says NOS
Ajax coach Henk ten Cate has signed a contract to join London club Chelsea as assistant trainer, NOS tv news reports on Friday, quoting Ten Cate's business manager. More...

Ajax in shock exit from UEFA cup
Ajax Amsterdam made a surprise exit from football's UEFA cup on Thursday after a 3-2 home defeat by Dinamo Zagreb. More...

Thursday 04 October 2007

Internet firms face action on child porn
Justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin has given Dutch internet service providers such as KPN and Tiscali three months to start blocking child pornography websites voluntarily or face a legal requirement to do so, public broadcaster NOS reports on Thursday. More... comments (1)

Hirsi Ali security deadline extended twice
The deadline for Dutch state protection for Ayaan Hirsi Ali in the US was extended twice in the past year to give the former Dutch MP time to sort out her own security measures, says justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin in a letter to parliament on Thursday. More...

Film director gives up on Botox
Film director Dick Maas has changed the title of his new film De Botox Methode to Moordwijven (Murderous Wives) after pharmaceutical company Allergan, which makes Botox, threatened him with legal action. More...

Compulsory redundancies halved
The number of permits to sack staff handled by the CWI unemployment offices reached 14,000 in the first six months of this year, compared with 27,000 in the year earlier period. More... comments (1)

'Dutch only in polling stations'
Liberal (VVD) councillors in Amsterdam want a ban on all languages apart from Dutch in the city's polling stations, reports news agency ANP. More...

Apple juice set to soar in price
A bad apple harvest in eastern Europe is set to sharply force up the price of apple juice - a staple in every Dutch kitchen - according to major producer Friesland Foods.

SER chairman warns on school segregation
The Netherlands is well on the way to developing a segregated educational system, says Alexander Rinnooy Kan, chairman of the government's advisory body SER, in Thursday's NRC. More...

More Amsterdam taxis, and more complaints
The number of taxis in Amsterdam has gone up from 450 before the sector was liberalised in 2000 to some 4,500 now, the Volkskrant reports. Since deregulation, complaints about taxi drivers in the capital have soared.

Liberals make a game out of finance
The Liberal party (VVD) is to launch an online game today in which gamers try to stop finance minister Wouter Bos emptying out the treasury while other politicians throw 'stupid' plans at him. More... comments (1)

Customs uncover cocaine-stuffed beetles
Customs officers have uncovered 300 grams of cocaine stuffed inside a shipment of beetles and other exotic insects being imported into the Netherlands from Peru. More...

Zwitserleven up for sale
Pension group Swiss Life has put its Dutch arm Zwitserleven up for sale alongside its Belgian activities, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Thursday. More...

Hirsi Ali not in danger, says minister
Ayaan Hirsi Ali is not in any specific danger in the US, Dutch justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin told the former MP in a letter at the end of last year, according to media reports. More...

Dutch pensioners shot dead in Turkey
A retired Dutch couple have been found shot dead in their home at Duaci iin Turkey. The couple, aged 79 and 71, built their villa there three years ago.

Dutch 'don't know' on Australia Uruzgan plans
Neither the Dutch defence minister nor the foreign affairs department have any knowledge of plans by the Australian government to send extra troops to Afghanistan to compensate for a withdrawal of Dutch soldiers, reports ANP news service. More...

Pay rise agreed for primary teachers
Some 175,000 primary school teachers are to get a 6.9% salary rise over two years under a new pay agreed between the education ministry and trade unions on Wednesday evening.

Brussels approves Fortis ABN Amro deal
The European Commission has given the green light to Dutch-Belgian insurer Fortis for the takeover of parts of Dutch banking group ABN Amro, as long as certain conditions are met. More...

'Most AEX firms increase CO2 emissions'
Three-quarters of the companies listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange registered an increase in carbon dioxide emissions last year, according to a survey carried out by the Volkskrant. More...

Salary limits for state-owned firms
Finance minister Wouter Bos is to limit boardroom salary rises at state-owned firms such as Dutch Rail (NS) and Schiphol Airport to the same percentage as agreed for shop-floor workers. More...

Chelsea eyes up Ajax coach Ten Cate
London football club Chelsea is looking at Ajax coach Henk ten Cate as a possible field trainer, the Telegraaf reports on Thursday. More...

Wednesday 03 October 2007

Anne Frank tree gets reprieve
Amsterdam city council has decided not yet to chop down the famous horse chestnut tree which Anne Frank wrote about in her diaries, giving objectors time to come up with a rescue plan. More...

AFM keeps close watch on Boskalis
The financial sector watchdog AFM told the Telegraaf on Wednesday that it was keeping a close eye on price movements in the shares of dredging group Boskalis. More...

Cabinet divided on nuclear power - FD
The ruling Christian Democrat party (CDA) says that comments by Labour’s environment minister Jacqueline Cramer that a new nuclear power plant in the Netherlands is ‘not an option’ are premature, reports today’s Financieele Dagblad. More...

No support for CDA bonus tax
Christian Democrat suggestions that management redundancy pay-outs be subject to an extra tax would not effectively curb top people's pay but would hit the investment climate, says finance minister Wouter Bos. More...

Novelist's real murder book hits the shops
The publication of writer Richard Klinkhamer's true crime book Woensdag Gehaktdag (mince on Wednesday), about how he killed his wife in 1991, is the subject of much press comment on Wednesday. More... comments (1)

Emile Ratelband voted most irritating Dutchman
'Positive energy' guru Emile Ratelband has been voted the most irritating Dutchman by the readers of Nieuwe Revu magazine. 'Great, another prize, you have to look at it positively,' he told tv programme Shownieuws. comments (1)

Spyker denies C12 Zagato has been iced
Luxury car maker Spyker has denied reports in car magazine Automobiel Management that its C12 Zagato car will never be put into production, news agency Betten reports. Spokeswoman Winnie Koole said that as stated earlier, production had been delayed.

Dutch cannabis prices rise 20%
Police raids on marijuana plantations have led to a 20% increase in the price of Dutch cannabis, says drug information centre Trimbos Institute. More... comments (3)

Civil service strikes loom
Teachers at trade schools (mbo) are poised to take industrial action after a break-down in their pay talks, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Wednesday. More...

Foreign investments continue to rise
The CBIN committee charged with attracting foreign businesses to the Netherlands brought in 113 new investment projects in 2006 but had topped that figure by the end of August 2007, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Wednesday. More...

Tighter Sunday shopping laws on cards
The cabinet is likely to clamp down on 'abuse' of the Sunday shopping laws, which allow shops in tourist areas to be open for more than 12 Sundays a year. More... comments (5)

Finance committee to discuss ABN Amro
The parliamentary finance committee is to debate the takeover of ABN Amro on October 17, according to the NRC newspaper. The two rival offers for ABN Amro both expire this week. Ministers have been criticised for not doing enough to stop the sale and possible break-up of the biggest Dutch bank.

Not enough lessons at secondary schools
The majority of secondary schools are failing to provide pupils with the regulation 1,040 hours of teaching a year, according to a draft report by the schools inspectorate. More...

Children's book award for Marjolijn Hof
This year's Gouden Griffel (golden pencil) for the best children's book was awarded to Marjolijn Hof on Tuesday evening for Een Kleine Kans (A Small Chance). Culture minister Ronald Plasterk made the presentation at the start of children's Book Week. More...

‘Democracy must not be taken for granted’
More money needs to be invested in democracy and children need to be taught the values of democracy at school, in sports and other clubs. This is the conclusion of a report published today by the council for social development (RMO). More...

Security Hirsi Ali costs over €4m, Volkskrant
The cost of 24 hour protection for the former Dutch MP and outspoken critic of Islam, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, must total at least €4m a year in bodyguards alone, says Wednesday’s Volkskrant. More... comments (3)

Cheaper health insurance for non-smokers
Agis is the first health insurer to offer a cheaper insurance policy to non-smokers. The company announced the plan on Radio 1's news bulletin on Wednesday morning. More...

Disaster exercise for emergency services
The port of Rotterdam is the location for a large-scale disaster exercise on Wednesday, reports news service ANP. The exercise is designed to show how prepared the Netherlands is to deal with a major catastrophe or terrorist attack. More...

PSV loses 0-2 to Inter Milan
Eindhoven football club PSV was beaten 0-2 by Inter Milan in the Champions League match on Tuesday evening. More...

Tuesday 02 October 2007

Teacher training drop-outs almost 39%
Almost 39% of first-year teacher training students dropped out in the 2006/07 academic year, up from the normal 25% drop-out rate, according to figures from the HBO college council. More...

European airlines furious over extra tax
Plans to put an extra tax on air travel in the Netherlands are ‘a money-raising measure masquerading as an environmental tax’, says the European airline association AEA. More... comments (1)

Gay-bashing Canadians face jail terms
The public prosecution department has asked the courts to jail a 22-year-old Canadian soldier for eight months for beating up a homosexual man in Amsterdam this spring. A second soldier, also 22, faces a six-week sentence. The attack sent out alarm signals about increasing violence against gay people.

Online marketplace for concert tickets
Concert organiser Mojo has set up an online marketplace (livenation.nl) so that music fans can sell on their tickets. The tickets will be offered at a fixed price or via an auction and Mojo will guarantee that they are genuine. comments (1)

New fire safety rules save firms €16m
New fire safety rules announced by housing minister Ella Vogelaar on Tuesday will save companies up to €16m annually, reports ANP news service. More...

'Timeless' fashion photographer wins award
‘Classy and timeless’ is how Utrecht-based photographer Nicoline Patricia Mlina (24) describes her fashion pictures which have won this year’s international Excellence in Fashion Photography Award. More...

Gurkhas back up Dutch troops in Uruzgan
Nepalese Gurkha soldiers are providing Dutch troops in the Afghan province of Uruzgan with military backup, reports Tuesday’s Volkskrant. More...

Minister backs ban on terrorist websites
Home affairs minister Guusje Ter Horst has backed a EU proposal which would allow governments to block terrorist websites which incite hatred but is against a blanket ban on sites that could help in gathering intelligence, reports ANP news service.

Essent to invest €10bn in new projects
Power concern Essent plans to invest €10b in new energy projects over the coming five to 10 years, said company CEO Michiel Boersma at a seminar on Monday, reports news service Betten. More...

Minister rules out new nuclear power plants
The government will not issue a licence for a new nuclear power plant during its current four year term, says environment minister Jacqueline Cramer in today’s Financieele Dagblad. More... comments (2)

German wine sales in Holland double
The volume of German wine sold in the Netherlands has doubled to 525,000 hectolitres since 2000, says the German wine information bureau.

Drug prescriptions up 33% since 2001
Dutch doctors are set to write 143 million prescriptions this year, an increase of 33% on 2001, De Pers reports on Tuesday. More...

TomTom makes formal bid for TeleAtlas
Car navigation systems company TomTom launched its formal takeover offer for digital map supplier Tele Atlas on Tuesday. TomTom is offering €21.25 a share. More...

ABN Amro completes LaSalle sale
ABN Amro has completed the sale of its US subsidiary LaSalle to Bank of America for $21bn. The sale was originally part of ABN Amro’s plan to be taken over by Britain’s Barclays bank. More...

Frisian wants to ditch Dutch nationality
Frisian nationalist and local councillor Sjoerd Groenhof is going to court in an attempt to ditch his Dutch nationality and become officially Frisian, the Volkskrant reports on Tuesday. More...

CDA wants extra tax on extra bonuses
Senior managers should pay 20% tax on any extra bonuses and payouts they get on top of the basic golden handshake when leaving a company, say Christian Democrat (CDA) MPs. More...

Océ earnings almost double
Printer and copier maker Océ booked a rise of almost 97% in its third-quarter net profit to €12.6m. Operating profit was up 27%. More...

Half workforce wants part-time job
More than half the Dutch workforce (57%) would like to work part-time and some 25% actually do so, according to new research from temp agency Randstad. More... comments (1)

Air travel tax will mean fewer passengers
The new tax on air travel that the cabinet plans to introduce next year will lead to a 11% to 13% reduction in passengers, according to a report sent to parliament by junior finance minister Jan Kees de Jager. More...

Monday 01 October 2007

Train fares could rise 7%
The introduction of the prepaid travel card will mean an increase in train fares of 7% per kilometre says passengers watchdog Rover in today’s Algemeen Dagblad. More...

Hirsi Ali leaves US, returns to Holland
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the controversial former MP and outspoken critic of Islam, returned to the Netherlands on Monday, according to media reports. The news comes just a week after Hirsi Ali was presented with her American green card in Washington. More... comments (14)

'Pay medical researchers to return'
Top Dutch medical researchers working abroad should be offered a payment to return to the Netherlands say professors Henk Timmerman of Amsterdam University and Douwe Breimer of Leiden University. More...

Dutch chef 'best' in Europe
Chef Toine Smulders of restaurant Villa Copera in Tolkamer in Gelderland has been named Europe's best chef, ANP news service reports on Monday. More... comments (2)

Consumer spending hit by warm weather
Household consumption rose by just 1.5% in the first half of 2007 compared with 2.7% in 2006, the national statistics office CBS reports on Monday. The main reason for the dip was lower gas use because of the warm weather. More...

Immigration courses in chaos
The bureaucracy surrounding the government's compulsory integration schemes for most immigrants is so chaotic that only a fraction of the people who are supposed to take the courses are doing so, newspaper Trouw reported on Saturday. More... comments (1)

Corporate Express CEO quits
Frans Koffrie has stepped down with immediate effect as CEO of office equipment suppliers Corporate Express, the company announced on Monday. He is replaced by Peter Ventress. More...

Home nursing sector on verge of collapse
The home nursing sector is on the brink of collapse and 12,000 people may lose their jobs, the heads of two big home nursing groups say in today's Volkskrant. More...

Akzo Nobel to finalise ICI deal January 2
Chemicals company Akzo Nobel said on Monday it expects to complete its acquisition of British company ICI on January 2, 2008. More...

'People with drink problems getting older'
The over-55s now account for 20% of all problem drinkers, compared with 13% 10 years ago, said health institute NIGZ on Monday. One in three of the older problem drinkers is female, compared with one in four of the total.

Bar owners sue brewers over cartel
The café and bar owners association Horeca Nederland is taking legal action against Heineken, Grolsch and Bavaria for over-charging its members. More...

Dutch inventor wins climate change prize
The Picnic Green Challenge prize for inventions that could help combat climate change was awarded to Igor Kluin of Qurrent by jury chairman Sir Richard Branson on Saturday. More...

Willem II fans arrested in Nijmegen
Police in Nijmegen arrested 68 supporters of the Tilburg football club Willem II on Sunday afternoon after a fight in a café with NEC supporters. NEC won the match 1-0.

Dutch resistance hero dies
The Dutch World War II resistance hero, Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema – made famous in the film Soldier of Orange - has died at his home in Hawaii. He was 90. More...

Attenborough angry at evolution edits
British wildlife broadcaster David Attenborough has urged the BBC to stop allowing Christian fundamentalists (like Dutch broadcaster EO) to delete references to evolution from his documentaries, the UK's Telegraph said on Saturday. More... comments (2)

Hospitals may test paying out profits
The health authority NZa is in talks with a number of hospitals about a test period in which they would be given the freedom to make profits and pay these out to investors, NZa chairman Frank de Grave tells Monday's Financieele Dagblad. More...

Alan Greenspan backs hire and fire in Europe
It should be easier to fire people in Europe says Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve. The 81-year-old banker made his remarks during a press conference on Saturday afternoon in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. More...

Ajax regain league leadership
Ajax thrashed VVV Venlo 6-1 on Sunday to reclaim the top spot in the Dutch football league. More...