Dutch city becomes world’s first to ban meat adverts in public

Haarlem’s move is part of efforts to cut consumption after meat was found to contribute to climate crisis

A Dutch city will become the first in the world to ban meat adverts from public spaces in an effort to reduce consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Haarlem, which lies to the west of Amsterdam and has a population of about 160,000, will enact the prohibition from 2024 after meat was added to a list of products deemed to contribute to the climate crisis.

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Dutch defence minister concerned at US gun violence after soldier’s death

‘We don’t expect this,’ says Kajsa Ollongren of shooting that left two other Dutch commandos wounded

The Dutch defence minister has expressed concern at gun violence in the US after a shooting in Indianapolis over the weekend that left one Dutch soldier dead and two wounded.

“We do many trainings of our servicemen in the United States, and we really don’t expect this to happen. So it’s very, very concerning for us,” Kajsa Ollongren said at a meeting of EU defence ministers in Prague on Tuesday.

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Dutch soldier dies of injuries after shooting in Indianapolis

Commando Simmie Poetsema was one of three soldiers wounded in incident outside hotel in US city

One of three Dutch soldiers wounded in a shooting outside a hotel in Indianapolis over the weekend has died, according to US and Dutch authorities.

The commando died of his injuries on Sunday night surrounded by family and colleagues, the Dutch defence ministry said on Monday.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.

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Three Dutch commandos wounded in shooting outside US hotel

Dutch men were in Indiana for training; at least one in critical condition after what police say appeared to be an altercation

Three Dutch commandos in the United States for training exercises have been wounded in a shooting in downtown Indianapolis after what local police believe was a disturbance outside the hotel where they were staying, authorities say.

The Dutch defence ministry said one of the men was in critical condition and the two others were conscious, while Indianapolis police said two of the soldiers were in critical condition and the third was stable.

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Death toll rises after lorry rolls into street party in Netherlands

Many others injured as police say they are trying to determine why vehicle careered down dyke

The death toll from an accident when a lorry drove off a dyke and into a barbecue party in a village south of Rotterdam has risen to six, with a further seven people in hospital, including one in critical condition.

Police said the lorry driver, a 46-year-old Spanish man, was suspected of causing the crash, which happened early on Saturday evening in the village of Nieuw-Beijerland.

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Dutch state railway to sell Abellio in UK management buyout

Abellio UK’s CEO Dominic Booth is understood to be leading buyout and will help fund deal using own money

The Dutch state railway is to pull out of the UK with a management buyout of its subsidiary Abellio, which runs four rail lines and a number of London bus routes.

Abellio, which for 20 years has run East Midlands Railway, Greater Anglia, Merseyrail and West Midlands Railway and employs 15,000 staff, is to be sold by the Netherlands state-run Nederlandse Spoorwegen to its UK management. The business will be operated by a new firm, to be known as Transport UK Group Limited.

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How England Lionesses’ coach Sarina Wiegman developed a ruthless, winning formula

Wiegman has transformed the fortunes of the women’s football team and got them to the Euro semi-finals – with no fear of making tough calls along the way

For any of the 7.6 million BBC One viewers who tuned in to watch England’s dramatic extra-time defeat of Spain in the quarter-finals of the Euros on Wednesday night, the sight of an animated blond Dutch woman on the touchline will not have gone unnoticed.

Sarina Wiegman, England’s manager, is fast becoming a talking point. Less for her antics – although watching her being lifted aloft in a bear-hug from centre-back Millie Bright after the full-time whistle was a treat – and more for the 11-month transformation of the Lionesses from disjointed and confidence-drained to contenders on the biggest of stages.

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Dutch plans to house refugees on cruise ships described as ‘absurd’ and illegal

Solution to overcrowded asylum centres angers NGOs, though three ships have already been commissioned

Plans to house refugees arriving in the Netherlands on cruise ships have been described as “absurd” and illegal, as the Dutch government laid out its solution to overcrowded asylum centres.

Three large ships have already been commissioned and one is due to be anchored in Velsen, near IJmuiden in North Holland, although ministers are struggling to find further willing ports.

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The Uber files: how the leak prompted outrage across the world

From Europe to India and the US, the revelations have fuelled anger from across the spectrum, from the drivers to politicians

The release of the Uber files has prompted a frenzy of reaction around the world, piling pressure on senior politicians, fuelling calls for a crackdown on corporate lobbying and drawing outrage from groups including traditional taxi drivers.

The fuse was lit with the publication of revelations from a trove of more than 124,000 documents about Uber spanning from 2013 to 2017, leaked to the Guardian and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and international media.

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Mob-style killings shock Netherlands into fighting descent into ‘narco state’

Murders, corruption and ‘Mocro Maffia’ prompt Dutch to set up war chest to tackle wave of organised crime sweeping nation

Journalists and lawyers under protection or murdered on the streets, court hearings guarded by the army, witness statements anonymised, and billions in dirty drug money that leaches through society, corrupting as it goes.

This is the Netherlands, where these facts have now inspired a crackdown pitting some €500m a year against a level of organised crime that politicians fear is increasingly “undermining” public order.

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Covid surges across Europe as experts warn not let guard down

Calls grow for greater measures against wave of BA.4 and BA.5 cases in countries from Spain to Denmark

Multiple European countries are experiencing a significant surge in new Covid-19 infections, as experts warn that with almost all restrictions lifted and booster take-up often low, cases could soar throughout the summer leading to more deaths.

According to the Our World in Data scientific aggregator, the rolling seven-day average of confirmed new cases per million inhabitants is on the rise in countries including Portugal, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, the Netherlands and Denmark.

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Revealed: why Van Gogh’s ‘empty chair’ paintings were never shown together

Sister-in-law hid one dedicated to Gauguin because of ‘anger at the French artist’s attacks on his former friend’

Shortly before Vincent van Gogh cut off his left ear and had a breakdown after quarrelling with his fellow artist, Paul Gauguin, in the French city of Arles in 1888, he created a pair of extraordinary paintings. One, Gauguin’s Chair, depicts a couple of books and a lit candle discarded on an ornate armchair. The other, Van Gogh’s Chair, shows a tobacco pipe and pouch on a rustic wooden chair and is instantly recognisable as one of the most famous paintings in the world.

Now, the mystery of how the diptych of paintings came to be split up – and why the picture of Gauguin’s chair was kept in the family collection while Van Gogh’s Chair was sold off – has finally been solved.

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Rolling Stones cancel Amsterdam show after Mick Jagger tests positive for Covid

Singer, 78, developed symptoms as he arrived in Dutch capital for Sixty tour, which includes dates in England

Sir Mick Jagger has tested positive for coronavirus, prompting the Rolling Stones to cancel their show in Amsterdam on Monday.

The singer, 78, began to develop symptoms as he arrived at the Johan Cruijff ArenA in the Dutch capital earlier in the day.

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‘I am amazed’: 101-year-old Dutch woman reunited with painting looted by Nazis

Exclusive: she will sell the 1683 portrait of Steven Wolters by Caspar Netscher through Sotheby’s so her family can benefit from the proceeds

At the age of 101, a Dutch woman has been reunited with a painting that had been looted from her father by the Nazis during the second world war, but she has decided to sell it through Sotheby’s in London so that her family can benefit from the proceeds.

Charlotte Bischoff van Heemskerck, a non-practising Baptist who joined the Dutch Resistance, had never given up hope of finding the 1683 portrait of Steven Wolters by Caspar Netscher, a Dutch master whose paintings are in the National Gallery, London.

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Children of shot crime reporter confront accused in Dutch court

Daughter of Peter R de Vries tells his alleged killers ‘I hate you’ and says her father was a hero

The children of a Dutch crime reporter who was fatally shot last year have confronted his alleged killers in court.

Peter R de Vries, 64, was shot in the head outside an Amsterdam television studio in July 2021 in a crime that prosecutors say was linked to his role in the trial of a Dutch drugs mafia kingpin.

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Russia cuts gas supplies to Netherlands and firms in Denmark and Germany

Gazprom raises stakes in sanctions war after EU move to embargo most Russian oil imports and companies miss deadline to pay in roubles

Russia has further cut off gas supplies to Europe, after state energy giant Gazprom turned off the taps to a top Dutch trader and halted flows to some companies in Denmark and Germany.

The intensification of the economic battle on Tuesday over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine follows the EU’s overnight decision to place an embargo on most Russian oil imports as part of its financial sanctions against the Kremlin.

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Suspect held in Netherlands over 1994 Rwandan genocide

Dutch prosecutors say 64-year-old man accused of role in massacres arrested after extradition request

A Rwandan man has been arrested in the Netherlands based on an extradition request from Rwanda on suspicion that he was involved in the central African country’s 1994 genocide, Dutch prosecutors have said.

The 65-year-old man, who was not identified, has been living in the Netherlands since he was granted asylum there in 1999. He was arrested on Wednesday in the town of Ermelo, 44 miles east of Amsterdam.

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Just Eat senior executive steps down amid misconduct investigation

Takeaway group in boardroom turmoil after two bosses exit before annual shareholder meeting

Just Eat Takeaway is facing boardroom turmoil after a senior executive stepped down amid an investigation by the courier group into a formal complaint regarding misconduct at a company event.

The board of Just Eat said it would not be putting Jörg Gerbig, its chief operating officer, forward for re-election at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday, as it was due to engage an “external expert” to conduct an investigation into “possible personal misconduct”.

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Four-year-old ‘boy racer’ crashes car after early-morning drive through Dutch city

Child found safe and unharmed wandering in pyjamas and bare feet after abandoning car in Utrecht

A “highly enterprising” four-year-old boy was reunited with his parents unscathed after grabbing his mother’s keys and taking her car for an early-morning drive through the streets of Utrecht in the Netherlands, police have said.

The boy, in pyjamas and bare feet, was spotted wandering on a street in the city’s Overvecht district early on Saturday morning by bystanders who called emergency services, the North Utrecht police force said on its Instagram account.

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Dutch football pundit’s sexual abuse story on live TV sparks national outcry

Former player Johan Derksen appeared to make comments about historic drunken incident to amusement of presenter

The Netherlands has been forced again to face questions about attitudes to sexual violence towards women after one of the country’s most famous football pundits appeared to admit live on air to assaulting an unconscious woman with a candle 50 years ago.

Dutch prosecutors opened an investigation after Johan Derksen, 73, made the comments on Tuesday on the talkshow Today Inside, to the amusement of presenter Wilfred Genee and fellow pundit René van der Gijp.

In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support for rape and sexual abuse on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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