Netherlands

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This Art Heist Bombing Went 'Too Well'

Thieves destroy gallery, leave damaged Andy Warhol prints in street in 'amateurish' job

(Newser) - Thieves blew open the door of an art gallery in the southern Netherlands and stole two works from a famous series of screen prints by American pop artist Andy Warhol and left two more badly damaged in the street as they fled the scene of the botched heist, the gallery...

Drop Honors Daring Mission That Failed in World War II

Paratroopers reenact Netherlands operation around A Bridge Too Far

(Newser) - Hundreds of paratroopers dropped out of near-cloudless skies over a heath in the central Netherlands on Saturday to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Operation Market Garden—one of World War II's most daring but ultimately unsuccessful missions. Paratroopers from the Dutch Air Mobile Brigade and 12 other NATO nations...

Amsterdam's Anne Frank Statue Hit by Vandals Again

'Free Gaza' was scrawled in red paint across the base of the structure in Merwedeplein square

(Newser) - A statue of Anne Frank in Amsterdam, not far from the famous Anne Frank House, has been vandalized for the second time with a message regarding Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. CBS News reports that the structure was defaced on Sunday in Merwedeplein square, with "Free Gaza"...

Dutch Child Rapist Is Competing in Olympics

Beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde sexually assaulted 12-year-old girl a decade ago

(Newser) - Beach volleyball player Steven van de Velde will compete in the Paris Olympics, but he won't be staying in the athletes village, and he won't be talking to reporters, as per the Dutch Olympic Committee. That's because the 29-year-old competitor from the Netherlands served time in prison...

In This Nation, Getting to Work Takes Just 17 Minutes

Denmark boasts shortest commute time in the world, per AHTI Games stats

(Newser) - Looking for the shortest, sweetest commute? Consider Scandinavia. That's per AHTI Games, which crunched the numbers to figure out how long it takes to get from home to work across the globe, per Digital Journal . Denmark tops the list, with an average commute time of just 17 minutes. Neighbor...

This 'Sarcasm Detector' Trained on Friends, Big Bang Theory

'Multimodal algorithm' out of University of Groningen is quite accurate at identifying the snark

(Newser) - Is someone speaking earnestly to you, or are they overflowing with snark? Researchers out of the Netherlands decided they wanted to build a device that could offer some insight, resulting in an artificial intelligence-driven "sarcasm detector" that did quite well in sussing out what speech was sincere and what...

Woman's Controversial Death Wish Is Finally Granted

Netherlands' Zoraya ter Beek, 29, gets the OK for an assisted death due to mental health struggles

(Newser) - For nearly four years, Zoraya ter Beek has been patiently biding her time, going through the laborious process in the Netherlands to get the green light for an assisted suicide due to what she describes as overwhelming mental suffering. Last week, ter Beek finally saw her request granted, clearing the...

Eurovision Contestant Booted Right Before Finale

Joost Klein of the Netherlands was removed over a backstage incident now being investigation

(Newser) - A Dutch public broadcaster reacted angrily after the Netherlands' contestant in the Eurovision Song Contest was dramatically expelled from the competition hours before Saturday's final over a backstage incident that's being investigated by police. The European Broadcasting Union, which organizes Eurovision, said Swedish police were investigating "a...

Cops, Activists Face Off on EU Campuses Over Gaza Protests

Police detained 125 at University of Amsterdam; protests also in France, Denmark, Finland

(Newser) - Police arrested about 125 activists as they broke up a pro-Palestinian demonstration camp at the University of Amsterdam early Tuesday, as protests that have roiled campuses in the United States spread into Europe. Police in the Dutch capital said in a statement on the social media platform X that their...

Women Win 'Urination Equality' Fight in Amsterdam

City will start installing more public toilets in October after years of protests

(Newser) - It's been almost a decade since Geerte Piening, a 21-year-old student living in Amsterdam, got fined for peeing in public after she couldn't find an accessible loo late at night. Now, women there are celebrating after a long fight to set up more public toilets in the Dutch...

Cops: Hostages Released From Club, but 'Situation Is Not Over'
Dutch Hostage Drama
Ends Peacefully
UPDATED
Mar 30, 2024 1:45 PM CDT

Dutch Hostage Drama Ends Peacefully

Man was arrested after 4 hostages freed

(Newser) - This story has been updated with new developments. Dutch police detained a man Saturday after he left a nightclub where four people had been held hostage for hours, bringing a peaceful end to a tense standoff in Ede, a town around 50 miles southeast of Amsterdam. "We are exceptionally...

If Hyperloop Catches On, It May Happen Here

Dutch test center opens

(Newser) - A quarter-mile white steel tube running alongside a railway line in the windswept northern Netherlands could usher in a new era in the transportation of people and freight. The tube is the heart of the new European Hyperloop Center that opened Tuesday and will be a proving ground in coming...

Far-Right Leader Says He Won't Be Next Dutch PM

Geert Wilders says he doesn't have enough support from coalition partners

(Newser) - Geert Wilders, whose anti-Islam, anti-immigration rhetoric swept him to a stunning victory in the November election, said Wednesday he doesn't have the support of his prospective coalition partners to become the next Dutch prime minister. Wilders took to X to say that "I can only become premier if...

A New Kind of Love Is Here, 'Whether We Want It or Not'

Spanish-Dutch artist Alicia Framis will wed an AI-driven hologram named AILex this summer

(Newser) - If Alicia Framis' friends and family thought it was bizarre that she once dated a mannequin, things are about to head to the next level. The Spanish-Dutch artist has a wedding planned for this summer at a museum in the Netherlands, to AILex—the first two letters of his name...

Israel's War Effort Receives a Blow in Dutch Court

Dutch government ordered to stop sending F-35 parts to Israel given potential use in war crimes

(Newser) - A court has ordered the Dutch government to stop sending fighter jet components to Israel as they "might be used in the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian law." Human rights groups made that same argument in a lawsuit filed against the government in December. Oxfam Novib,...

Ex-Dutch PM, 93, Dies 'Hand in Hand' With Wife by Euthanasia

Dries van Agt led nation from 1977 till 1982

(Newser) - Dries van Agt, the Christian Democrat prime minister of the Netherlands from 1977 until 1982, has died by euthanasia along with his wife, according to the human rights organization he founded. They both were 93. The news was made public on Friday by the Rights Forum, which said the couple...

Dutch Court Says Wolves Can Be Shot With Paintball Guns

Female wolf in nature reserve has been getting 'increasingly bolder,' expert says

(Newser) - After a long legal battle, a court in the Netherlands has ruled that authorities can shoot wolves with paintball guns if the animals are showing behavior deemed "deviant." The wolves in question are part of a small pack in De Hoge Veluwe National Park, a nature reserve around...

Netherlands, Long a Weed Trailblazer, Tests Legality

In experiment, coffee shops in two Dutch cities will sell legally cultivated marijuana for the first time

(Newser) - A paradox at the heart of the Netherlands' permissive pot policy went up in smoke Friday in two Dutch cities as "coffee shops" began selling the country's first legally cultivated cannabis as part of an experiment to regulate the trade. The experiment could mark the beginning of the...

Geert Wilders' Win Could Be 'Quandary' for Dutch
Geert Wilders' Win Is
a 'Political Earthquake'
THE RUNDOWN
Nov 23, 2023 3:42 PM CST

Geert Wilders' Win Is a 'Political Earthquake'

Victory for Dutch anti-Islam, anti-EU populist is a boost for far-right populists across Europe

(Newser) - After the huge election victory of far-right leader Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, the world is paying a lot more attention to Dutch politics and the country's alphabet soup of political parties. Wilders' Party for Freedom—PVV—won 37 of the 150 seats in the lower house of the...

In the Netherlands, 'a Stunning Lurch to the Far Right'

Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom won big, while 'human rights lost,' per Amnesty International

(Newser) - The party of anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders won a huge general election victory in the Netherlands, according to a nearly complete vote count early Thursday that showed a stunning lurch to the far right for a nation once famed as a beacon of tolerance, per the AP . With nearly all...

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