The Netherlands: In the Netherlands, a foray into cocktail history - by Liza Weisstuch

The ferry ride from Rotterdam to Dordrecht is only an hour long, but it seems to take you centuries away. Boat seems the most appropriate way to travel to the oldest city in Holland, which thrived for centuries thanks to its location at the intersection of three rivers. Wood, grains and genever — a traditional Dutch spirit flavored with juniper — were among the goods local merchants shipped out to the rest of the world. In the 1870s, some of the genever was made by Simon Rutte, whose distillery still stands, seven generations later, in a square about a 15-minute walk from the harbor along winding cobblestone streets.

From the outside of this modest three-story building, you’d never imagine the extent of what goes on in what you might call the flavor factory inside. In the tasting room, adorned with vintage family photos, there are about two dozen dark-glass spritz bottles, each labeled hazelnoot, Kaffir lime, oranje-bloesem and an assortment of other fruits, nuts, herbs, flowers and spices. They’re the aromas of the individual distillates that are blended to craft various genevers, such as Old Simon, the founder’s recipe involving roasted hazelnuts and almonds, cinnamon, mace and celery.

“It’s the broadest category in the world,” said Myriam Hendrickx, master distiller and former food scientist, of genever. “You have all elements from gin in terms of having flavors from so many botanicals, and all the variables in whiskey, grain-wise and aging-wise. Plus you can age it or not.”

Read more at: In the Netherlands, a foray into cocktail history - The Washington Post

European Song Festival: Eurovision makes Covid-lite return in the Netherlands

The glamour of Eurovision is back, with the Dutch hosting a scaled-down, coronavirus-safe version this week after the song contest was cancelled last year.

Delegates will be officially welcomed at the grand opening of this year's week-long event on Sunday afternoon, which includes a glitzy "Turquoise Carpet" event where contestants will strut their stuff, organisers said.

But four teams have already been nixed from the opening ceremony after a Polish and Icelandic delegate tested positive for Covid-19 and Malta and Romania are staying away as a precaution because they are staying in the same hotel.

French singer Barbara Pravi is the bookmakers' favourite to win the Eurovision song contest

Good news for U.S fans of the Eurovision Song Contest. Ahead of Tuesday’s first semi-final, it has been confirmed that the Peacock streaming platform https://www.peacocktv.com/ will air all three shows in the United States. It is set to be available to users of both the premium and free option of the site. Netflix US streams the contest on delay. Pre-qualifying contests are on May 18 and May 20 starting at EST 15.00hrs and PT 12.00hrs. The Grand Final will be on Saturday May 20 starting at EST 15.00hrs and PT 12.00hrs.

Read more at: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/eurovision-makes-covid-lite-return-in-the-netherlands/ar-BB1gMseX

The Netherlands: EUROVISION: the popular Song contest will be held in Rotterdam next year

Read more at: 

https://nltimes.nl/2019/08/30/eurovision-song-contest-held-rotterdam

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EUROVISION SONG COMPETION: Rotterdam and Maastricht remain in the running to host 2020 song festival

Read full report at:: 

https://nltimes.nl/2019/07/17/rotterdam-maastricht-still-running-host-eurovision-song-competition

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Turkey - Netherlands relations: Turkey recalls Rotterdam consulate employee who beat-up Kurdish visitor to consulate

http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/61e50cd5-2d82-42bb-a0fe-db1439602ea2

Netherlands - Terrorism: Rotterdam incident: Police stop van containing gas cylinders as rock concert cancelled over 'terror threat'

City of Rotterdam

Police in the Netherlands say they have stopped a van with Spanish number plates containing a number of gas bottles, as a terror alert in Rotterdam triggered the cancellation of a concert by an American rock band.

The band, Allah-Las, was due to play on Wednesday evening at the Maassilo venue.

Concert organizer Rotown released a statement saying they had been advised by the authorities to cancel the show.

It came after the van, parked near the venue, was discovered by police.

Rotterdam's mayor, Ahmed Aboutaleb, said the van's driver had been detained and was being questioned.

Mr Aboutaleb said the concert was cancelled after a tip-off from Spanish police, who are continuing to investigate a twin terror attack in Catalonia that left 15 people dead.

A counter-terrorism official said late on Wednesday the detained van was not connected to the recent vehicle attacks in Spain.

Definition of Terrorists: "A group of mentally disturbed, brain-washed people, who do not respect  "democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs."

Read more: Rotterdam incident: Police stop van containing gas cylinders as rock concert cancelled over 'terror threat' | The Independent

The Netherlands: Fire shuts down Europe′s largest oil refinery in the Netherlands

Royal Dutch Shell has suspended loadings of oil products from the Pernis refinery after a fire caused the shut down of most of its production. The extent of damage is being investigated.

The night sky over the port of Rotterdam was alight after the blaze broke out Saturday at the high-voltage power station at Shell's Pernis refinery.

Shell spokesman Thijs van Velzen said the flames were extinguished by Sunday morning. Nobody was injured. Firefighters brought the fire under control by around 6 am (0400 GMT/UTC).

Read more: Fire shuts down Europe′s largest oil refinery in the Netherlands | News | DW | 30.07.2017

Global Shipping: Shipping rates hit new lows on excess supply - by Luke Graham

Port Of Rotterdam, the Netherlands

The global shipping industry continues to fall victim to weakening demand and excess supply with freight rates on some routes hitting all-time lows, latest figures show.

Average spot freight rates fell to a record low of $701 per 40-foot shipping container last week, according to the World Container Index (WCI) which tracks 11 global shipping routes. This was the lowest reading since the index started tracking rates in 2011.

The WCI index is 60 percent below the five-year average and has fallen 62 percent in the past year, according to the WCI's director, Richard Heath, in a press release.

One of the worst hit lines is the Asia to Europe route. The Shanghai Containerized Freight Index showed shipping costs on the route have fallen 82 percent over the past 10 weeks to $211 per 20-foot container.

Along with weakening demand from markets such as China, the glut of container ships plying the world's seas has been a major factor hitting freight rates, Philip Damas, director at Drewry, told CNBC in a phone interview. The current rates are not sustainable, he added.

Maersk echoed these reasons in their recent full-year financial reports.

"The continued lack of demand and over-capacity resulted in sharply declining rates from the second quarter and onwards," said Søren Skou, CEO of Maersk Line, in the company's annual report.

Red more: Shipping rates hit new lows on excess supply

The Netherlands - start-up companies: Dutch start-up "Internet of Things" brings the future closer

Imagine a house in which the plants alert you when they need watering or your cat is automatically fed.

Then take it wider, across your neighborhood and your city. The Internet of Things is a network of physical objects, or things, which have been equipped with software, sensors and network connectivity. This enables them to collect and exchange data and improve the way they work, bringing greater efficiency and economic benefits.

Wired magazine says "this Dutch invention "The Internet of Things" revolves around increased machine-to-machine communication; it’s built on cloud computing and networks of data-gathering sensors; it’s mobile, virtual, and instantaneous connection; and they say it’s going to make everything in our lives from streetlights to seaports “smart.”

A sensor is not a machine. It doesn’t do anything in the same sense that a machine does. It measures, it evaluates; in short, it gathers data. The Internet of Things really comes together with the connection of sensors and machines. That is to say, the real value that the Internet of Things creates is at the intersection of gathering data and leveraging it. All the information gathered by all the sensors in the world isn’t worth very much if there isn’t an infrastructure in place to analyze it in real time."

Cloud-based applications are the key to using leveraged data. The Internet of Things doesn’t function without cloud-based applications to interpret and transmit the data coming from all these sensors. The cloud is what enables the apps to go to work for you anytime, anywhere."
 
The idea behind the Internet of Things (IoT) first came about in the 1990s when the board of Dutch electronics giant Philips, together with American innovators, coined the term ‘Ambient Intelligence’. Ambient Intelligence refers to electronic environments equipped with devices that are sensitive to the presence of people, can sense change and relay information to a base – independent of human control.

The theory went that the instruments themselves, working in chorus, would support a more convenient, efficient, life-enhancing world for humans; and become reality between 2010 and 2020.

Last year Wieke Giezeman, a serial start-up entrepreneur, launched The Things Network. The aim: to set up an IoT communication network throughout Amsterdam. He laid out his plans for citywide coverage, set up by and for users, with LoRa Wan (Long Wave Radio) gateway boxes which the company would produce themselves at low cost. Much to his astonishment it was fully crowdfunded and operational within six weeks.

‘We did it because we can. We believe in an open and free internet,’ Giezeman said. ‘The hardware is cheap enough. With this anyone can set themselves up. You don’t even need coding skills.’

LoRa Wan is the same kind of tech that telecoms giants such as KPN and Vodafone are hoping to exploit in order to profit from the need for a reliable IoT network. ‘If we leave this task up to big telcos, a subscription model will be enforced and we will exclude 99% of the cool use cases,’ says Giezeman. ‘Instead, let’s make it a publicly owned and free network so businesses and use cases will flourish on top of it.’

‘In future everything will be connected. A lot of data will be collected to make our lives better. It will allow service providers, of all sorts, to make their services cheaper and better for us, the consumers.’

Since the launch the idea has rapidly gone global. Over 20 cities (from Rotterdam, Eindhoven and Almere to Sao Paulo and Montevideo) are now taking part, 2,000 people are actively seeking to help, and 200 are specifically looking to set up their own local network. In November,

The Things Network launched a second Kickstarter campaign to try and support global roll out.The main aim is to have a network in every major city by the end of 2016. From then on it will need to grow via local communities. They succeeded in raising €295,000, more than €100,000 over their target.

IoT devices don’t need the constant internet access of your laptop. However, they do need consistent coverage, to be reliable in varied environments, safe from hacking and have long battery life in order to transfer data as and when they need to. ‘LoRa Wan has a range of up to 10 kilometres, low bandwidth and the battery use is very low.

This is perfect for machine-to-machine communication,’ Giezeman explains. By producing their own hardware, he and his team have worked hard to make options for different budgets: starting with The Things Gateway, a €200 version, with a range of five kilometres, allowing citizen users to contribute to the network from their own home.

Users have been quick to start using the network, designing tools that can link to it. As an Amsterdam-born idea it’s not surprising that these uses include intelligent sensors that alert you if your boat begins to take on rain water past a safe level for staying afloat. Or a device that locates your bike among the hoards of others parked outside the city’s main railway station.

The city’s port authority and successful sharing startup Peerby have also joined the enthusiastic user crowd. Outside cities, IoT trackers are already being used to monitor rhinos in the wild. In the home, uses could include remote thermostat, cctv or baby monitor control. Some of these are essentially familiar and perhaps don’t seem like such a breakthrough change from apps.

However, Giezeman and IoT innovators like him are anticipating the next stage of development being where the IoT will really take flight. ‘When I talk to people outside tech, in operations for instance, within ten minutes almost everyone can think of new uses. You just need to think of how far digital tech has come in the last thirty years and try and project forward.’ -  (from Dutch News NL and Wired Magazine reports)

Almere-Digest

The Netherlands - Islam:: "Can’t touch this": Muslim students sue Dutch medical university over physical exam

Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Two Muslim students have filed a case against Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam after a request for an exemption from the physical examination requirement was turned down. The curriculum requires a cross-sex physical exam by course mates.

The two Muslim girls filed a case against Erasmus MC at the Board of Appeal for Higher Education in The Hague, De Volkskrant daily reported Tuesday.
 
All students in the course must go through a physical examination provided by their fellow students.

The exam involves looking at the chest, abdomen, and legs, and must be performed both by a male and female student.

The requirement raised concerns among the Muslim students, who did not want to be examined by a male.

However, they stressed that in the future they would practice without making such distinctions.
 
One of them initially applied for an exemption, but her request was denied. Although the other student has already completed the subject, she decided to support her colleague at the Board of Appeals.

David Drexhage from Erasmus MC says the practical experience student gain during such exams is important for their professional skills. “The students also have to experience how an examination feels for a patient. That promotes understanding.”

Students are aware that this part of the studying process is required during enrollment, he added.

Erasmus MC believes that if the Board of Appeals makes a decision in favor of the students, it will have profound implications for the entire course procedure. The Board of Appeals is expected to make a decision in about six weeks.

Note EU-Digest: Lets hope the  'Board of Appeals' does not cave in to this utterly incomprehensible request by students who have chosen the medical profession, where these procedures are common day practice. 

Reading this you also realize that Islam is in "deep need" of reformers like the Christians had in the 16th century with Martin Luther and John Calvin. They brought religious, political, intellectual and cultural renewal that splintered the radical Catholic Europe of those days, setting in place the political structures and beliefs that would define the continent in the modern era. 

Come on, it's 2015 now and Muslims are still hanging on to medieval customs and rituals. If Muslims  want  the "others" to remove the Islamophobia label they put on them, they should "put their money where their mouth is", or as some would say, "wake-up and smell the roses" - do something about it. Don't blame everyone else but yourselves !

As to the two girls who sued the Erasmus University, the suggestion would be, why don't they go to a University in a Muslim country, or anywhere else for that matter,  if they can't  live with the rules at Erasmus? 

Read more: Can’t touch this: Muslim students sue Dutch medical university over physical exam — RT News