The Netherlands: Dutch politician is arrested over plot to KILL Prime Minister Mark Rutte

Arnoud van Doorn, who quit the far-right Freedom Party in 2012 to convert to Islam, was detained in the Hague over the alleged plot. He was released without charge on Monday but police said an investigation was ongoing.

Also on Monday police announced they had stepped up security for Rutte, who is known for cycling to work with little or no security, over fears he could be targeted for kidnapping or attack by drug gangs.

Police said they arrested van Doorn after he was seen 'acting suspiciously' in the same area of the Hague as Rutte.

The prosecutor's office said van Doorn appeared to be gathering information for 'preparation of attempted murder', without elaborating.

But his lawyer Anis Boumanjal said van Doorn had only been in the Hague for an hour prior to his arrest and was in the area to give his mother's cat medication.

In that time he stopped for coffee at a café that was coincidentally opposite the gym where Rutte was exercising and then just happened to walk past a BMW believed to be carrying the PM.

Read more at: Dutch politician is arrested over plot to KILL Prime Minister Mark Rutte | Daily Mail Online

The Netherlands - Global Warmimg: IMF says Dutch economy is recovering, but more needed in climate change fight

The strong economic recovery of the Netherlands justifies the Cabinet's decision to stop the massive coronavirus economic support packages. But the continuing direction of the coronavirus pandemic remains "uncertain" and politicians in The Hague will have to remain ready to reactivate support programs such as the NOW scheme if necessary, according to researchers from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Read more at: IMF says Dutch economy is recovering, but more needed in climate change fight | NL Times

The Netherlands: Dutch Covid-19 hospitalizations at lowest point in 10 weeks

Hospitals in the Netherlands have admitted 301 patients with Covid-19 this past week, the lowest total since July 19. Hospital admissions have fallen by 20 percent compared to the previous seven-day period, according to figures from patient monitor LCPS which were updated on Monday.

An average of 43 patients were admitted each of the past seven days, including 10 sent to an intensive care unit. A week earlier, hospitals were accepting 54 patients daily, though the number of average ICU patient admissions remained the same.

Read more at: Dutch Covid-19 hospitalizations at lowest point in 10 weeks | NL Times

Netherlands: Thief jailed for stealing van Gogh and Frans Hals paintings worth millions of pounds from museums - by Amar Mehta

A man has been convicted of stealing a painting by Vincent van Gogh worth several million pounds from a museum in the Netherlands.

The 59-year-old was also found guilty of snatching a Frans Hals piece from another museum in the country, again worth millions of pounds, and neither of the works have been recovered.

Read more at: Netherlands: Thief jailed for stealing van Gogh and Frans Hals paintings worth millions of pounds from museums | World News | Sky News

Dutch Court Rules Border Police Can Use Ethnicity as One of the Gauges for Searches

A Dutch court ruled Wednesday that border police can use ethnicity as one of the gauges for selecting people for checks at the border, although it cannot be the only one.

Read more at: Dutch Court Rules Border Police Can Use Ethnicity as One of the Gauges for Searches

Democracy: How democracy can win again – by Gergely Karácsony

My political awakening coincided with the systemic changes that unfolded following the collapse of communism in Hungary in 1989. I was both fascinated and overjoyed by my country’s rapid democratisation. As a teenager, I persuaded my family to drive me to the Austrian border to see history in the making: the dismantling of the Iron Curtain, which allowed east-German refugees to head for the west. Reading many new publications and attending rallies for newly established democratic political parties, I was swept up by the atmosphere of unbounded hope for our future.

Today, such sentiments seem like childish naivety, or at least the product of an idyllic state of mind. Both democracy and the future of human civilisation are now in grave danger, beset by multifaceted and overlapping crises.

Read more at: How democracy can win again – Gergely Karácsony

Netherlands remains red on Europe's coronavirus map - with Flevoland Province highest numbers of cases.

As expected, the whole of the Netherlands will remain red on the European Union's coronavirus risk level map for seven more days. Over 4.6 percent of all coronavirus tests performed in the Netherlands over the past two weeks were positive, according to data submitted by the Ministry of Health to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Anything over 4 percent during a two-week period puts an entire country at the red level. Red is the second highest warning color on the map that the European health service ECDC produces every Thursday. All twelve provinces were also at red last week.

Flevoland is relatively the largest fire in the country. In the past two weeks, 281 out of every 100,000 inhabitants tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. That is considerably lower than last week's calculation. Friesland follows, but the number of positive tests there is almost 19 percent higher than with data used to produce last week's ECDC map. With 254 cases per capita, Friesland has overtaken Noord-Holland (244), Zuid-Holland (241) and Overijssel (227). The number of cases is also increasing in Utrecht.

Read more at: Netherlands remains red on Europe's coronavirus map | NL Times

Netherlands: The Dutch are the world's tallest people. But they're getting shorter, study shows

Statistics Netherlands (or CBS), a government institution that gathers statistics about the country, says that Dutch men born in 2001 are 0.39 inches (1 centimeter) shorter than those born in 1980. Dutch women are 0.55 inches (1.4 centimeters) shorter. Despite these drops, the Netherlands still has the tallest people in the world — with CBS reporting that today's generation stands, on average, at 6 feet (182.9 centimeters) for men and 5.55 feet (169.3 centimeters) for women.

Read morwe at: The Dutch are the world's tallest people. But they're getting shorter, study shows

EU: Dutch PM Rutte to Invite Britain to Join Defence Deal With EU

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to be offered a defence and security co-operation deal with the European Union during a meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in Downing Street on Friday, the Times newspaper reported, citing a diplomatic source.

“Since Brexit, not enough European leaders have been in touch with Johnson. It is important to look at the geopolitics without being divided and there is a need to work with the UK," the source said.

It is expected that Turkey will also be approached by the EU in joinimg this new EU defence strategy

Read more at: https://eu-digest.blogspot.com/2021/09/france-recalls-ambassadors-to-us.html

The Netherlands: Dutch foreign minister resigns over Afghan evacuation

Dutch Foreign Minister Sigrid Kaag resigned on Thursday following a vote of no confidence in parliament.

A parliamentary majority decided that she had mishandled the evacuation of refugees from Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control.

Read more at: Dutch foreign minister resigns over Afghan evacuation | News | DW | 16.09.2021

The Netherlands: 150,000 people joined protests against nightlife restrictions in the Netherlands this weekend

150,000 people reportedly marched in ten cities, 80,000 of which in Amsterdam alone, also taking to the larger provinces of The Hague, Eindhoven, Groningen, and Utrecht following an earlier protest in August. ‘Unmute Us!’ sparked international attention, with an aim to call attention to the plight of the nightlife industry.

The protest demanded that the Dutch government to amend COVID restrictions in the country after noting the successful reopening of clubs elsewhere in Europe.

Read more at: 150,000 people joined protests against nightlife restrictions in the Netherlands this weekend - News - Mixmag

Paris to Berlin in an hour: Welcome to the future of high-speed rail travel in Europe

Picture this: the year is 2045. You’re standing on a platform in Berlin awaiting a sleek Hyperloop pod that will glide into the station to a noiseless halt and then deposit you in Paris an hour later, ready for your morning meeting.

In the afternoon, you’ll take another southbound pod on a leisurely trip to Barcelona for the weekend, a journey that will take no more than 90 minutes.

The speed and ease is no longer a surprise to you because in the last quarter-century, almost all travel throughout Europe has shifted from the skies to the ground.

Read more at: Paris to Berlin in an hour: Welcome to the future of high-speed rail travel in Europe | Euronews

The Netherlands: Uber Loses Battle Over Drivers’ Rights in the Netherlands

Uber Technologies Inc. lost another suit over its drivers’ working rights after an Amsterdam court ruled workers who ferry passengers using the Uber app in the Netherlands are covered by a local collective labor law.

The legal relationship between Uber and its drivers meets all of the characteristics of an employment contract, the court said in its judgement. Uber must apply the Collective Labor Agreement for Taxi Transport to protect drivers, allowing them in some cases to claim overdue salary. Uber was also ordered to pay the local labor union, FNV, 50,000 euros ($59,000) in compensation for failing to comply with the agreement.

Read more at: Uber Loses Battle Over Drivers’ Rights in the Netherlands

EU: Netherlands to stop social distancing but expand Covid entry passes from Sept. 25

Physical distancing rules in the Netherlands that call for people to remain 1.5 meters away from each other will be cancelled as of September 25. From that same date, a coronavirus pass frequently generated by the CoronaCheck app will be mandatory for everyone aged 13 and older when visiting catering businesses and cultural venues, including cafés, concert halls and theaters, sources close to the Cabinet confirmed after reports from RTL Nieuws, De Telegraaf and NOS.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Health Minister Hugo de Jonge are expected to announce the decisions during a press conference on Tuesday evening. Rutte and members of the Cabinet met on Sunday with pandemic advisors from the Outbreak Management Team to discuss the coronavirus situation in the Netherlands at Catshuis, the prime minister’s official residence.

Read more at: Netherlands to stop social distancing but expand Covid entry passes from Sept. 25 | NL Times

Europe Doesn’t Want to Fight America’s Battles Anymore -by Christopher Caldwell

To listen to the debate in Europe over the chaotic retreat of United States troops from Afghanistan is to be struck by what a huge vocabulary Europeans have developed over the centuries for describing military calamities. What we just witnessed has already been described as a débâcle, a débandade, a dégringolade and a déroute, not to mention a “rout,” a “fiasco” and a “humiliation.”

The question at the heart of these discussions is whether the botched withdrawal is a failure serious enough to merit a rethinking of European-American defense arrangements. The Afghan war was a NATO operation, involving the core of the trans-Atlantic alliance system that dates from the Cold War. American fecklessness has left European leaders infuriated. In Germany, Armin Laschet, who is running to replace his Christian Democratic colleague Angela Merkel as chancellor in national elections this month, speaks of “the greatest debacle NATO has suffered since its founding.”

Read more at: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/03/opinion/afghanistan-europe-nato.html

EU Main Drug Entry Points: Netherlands, Belgium supplant Spain as main gateways into Europe for cocaine

Belgium and the Netherlands have become the main hubs for cocaine trafficking to Europe, supplanting Spain as the main route of entry into European countries, Europol said on Tuesday.

The report from the European police agency noted that criminal organisations, from Colombia especially, are using the ports of Rotterdam (Netherlands), Hamburg (Germany) and especially Antwerp (Belgium) to bring the drugs into the Netherlands, from where they are transported throughout Europe.

"The epicentre of the cocaine market in Europe has shifted northwards," the report, drawn up in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said.

Read more at: Netherlands, Belgium supplant Spain as main gateways into Europe for cocaine | Euronews

The Netherlands: Climate change poses serious health risk for people in the Netherlands, says expert

The Dutch medicine journal NTvG joined 200 other medical journals worldwide in their call for world leaders to intensify their effort in combating climate change, NOS reported.

Climate change poses an immediate risk for public health, the experts said. “Climate change and the decline in biodiversity is a much larger problem than the pandemic”, NTvG editor-in-chief Olde Rikkert told NOS Radio 1 Journaal. “While you do have a vaccine for the coronavirus, you don’t have that for climate change and biodiversity.”

The experts said they believe the earth is steering towards a two degrees Celsius temperature increase.

Read more at: Climate change poses serious health risk for people in the Netherlands, says expert | NL Times

GA-ASI SeaGuardian Flies From UK to the Netherlands

In cooperation with the UK and Netherlands airspace authorities, the Royal Air Force, and the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF), General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) flew a company-owned, MQ-9B SeaGuardian® Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) today from RAF Waddington across the North Sea to Leeuwarden Air Base in the Netherlands, completing a two-day series of flights between the two airspaces.

Read more at: GA-ASI SeaGuardian Flies From UK to the Netherlands

The Netherlands: Dutch coalition talks deadlocked 5 months after election

The Netherlands appeared to be heading toward talks to form a minority coalition after efforts to piece together a Cabinet made up of five parties from across the political spectrum broke down Tuesday.

More than five months after a general election left the Dutch political landscape fragmented, two key parties said they do not want to form a new government with a pair of leftist parties.

The decision by caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte's conservative People's Party for Freedom and Democracy — known by its Dutch acronym VVD — and the CDA Christian Democrats came after months of talks between party leaders and an official who is attempting to cobble together the coalition.

Read more at: Dutch coalition talks deadlocked 5 months after election