Category Archives: Netherlands

Netherlands lifts toughest Covid curbs with Denmark and France set to follow

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Many EU countries opt to reopen despite record infections as WHO suggests Omicron may signal more manageable phase of pandemic

The Netherlands has lifted its toughest Covid controls, Denmark is to remove all restrictions within days and France will begin easing curbs next week, as many – but not all – EU countries opt to reopen despite record infection numbers.

The moves come as data shows hospital and intensive care admissions are not surging in line with cases, and after the World Health Organization suggested the Omicron variant – which studies show is more contagious but usually less severe for vaccinated people – may signal a new, more manageable phase in the pandemic.

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Dutch university gives up Chinese funding due to impartiality concerns

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Vrije Universiteit will also return €250,000-plus it received in 2021 for rights centre that denied forced labour camps exist in Xinjiang

A decision by a leading Dutch university to refuse all further Chinese funding for a controversial study centre has sparked fresh concern about Beijing’s apparent attempts to influence debate at European educational institutions.

Amsterdam’s Vrije Universiteit (VU), the fourth largest university in the Netherlands, has said it will accept no further money from the Southwest University of Political Science and Law in Chongqing and repay sums it recently received.

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Stowaway survives in nose wheel during South Africa flight to Netherlands

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Dutch military police say man taken to hospital and that his age and nationality have not yet been determined

A stowaway was discovered in the wheel section under the front of a freight plane that arrived at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport from South Africa on Sunday, Dutch military police have said.

“The man is doing well considering the circumstances and has been taken to a hospital,” the police in charge of Dutch border control said in a statement.

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Dutch creator of The Voice accused of victim-blaming over abuse claims on show

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John De Mol said women could learn lessons from scandal that took The Voice of Holland off air

The creator of reality TV shows including The Voice and Big Brother has been accused of victim-blaming by his company’s female employees after accusations of widespread sexual abuse of contestants on the original Dutch version of The Voice.

In a full-page advert in the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, a group of employees at the production company Talpa Media castigated its founder, John De Mol, for suggesting that women as well as men had lessons to learn from a scandal that has gripped the country this week and prompted the broadcaster RTL to take Friday’s episode of The Voice of Holland off air.

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Frozen in time: clock that tells tale of Jewish resistance in wartime Amsterdam

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Artefacts from hideout of family sent to Auschwitz death camp with Anne Frank and her family are put on display in Netherlands

A clock that is the sole surviving object from a second world war Jewish hideout will go on display at Amsterdam’s Dutch Resistance Museum this year.

The round mantelpiece clock may have been one of the last things people saw as they were seized by the Nazis and sent to death camps.

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German optimism over Omicron as Europe dampens new year revelry

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Covid expert hopeful for ‘relatively normal’ winter 2022 but prevalence limits celebrations across continent

Germany’s leading coronavirus expert has expressed optimism that his country could expect a “relatively normal” winter in 2022 as Europe prepared to ring in the new year in muted fashion, with many countries limiting celebrations.

As the highly transmissible Omicron variant fuels a record-breaking surge in Covid infections across the continent, many governments have curtailed mass public gatherings and either closed or imposed curfews on nightclubs.

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Large Roman fort built by Caligula discovered near Amsterdam

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Fortified camp for thousands of soldiers thought to have been used by Emperor Claudius during conquest of Britain in AD43

A large Roman fort believed to have played a key role in the successful invasion of Britain in AD43 has been discovered on the Dutch coast.

A Roman legion of “several thousand” battle-ready soldiers was stationed in Velsen, 20 miles from Amsterdam, on the banks of the Oer-IJ, a tributary of the Rhine, research suggests.

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Dutch border-hoppers ignore Belgium and Germany’s ‘stay away’ plea

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Restaurants have had a rush of visitors since lockdown was imposed in the Netherlands on Sunday

People hopping over the border to Belgium and Germany to avoid the Dutch lockdown are filling the neighbouring countries’ restaurants and shops despite calls for them to “stay away”.

Since Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, announced the closure of hospitality and non-essential shops from Sunday, border regions have experienced a rush of visitors.

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Netherlands to enter lockdown as nations across Europe tighten curbs to slow Omicron spread

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Dutch lockdown puts limits on Christmas celebrations, while France and other countries toughen restrictions as Covid cases climb

Nations across Europe moved to reimpose tougher measures to stem a new wave of Covid infections spurred by the highly transmissible Omicron variant, with the Netherlands leading the way by imposing a nationwide lockdown.

All non-essential stores, bars and restaurants in the Netherlands will be closed until 14 January starting Sunday, caretaker prime minister Mark Rutte said at a hastily arranged press conference Saturday night. Schools and universities will shut until 9 January, he said.

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‘Teflon’ Mark Rutte set for fourth Dutch term after record-breaking talks

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Political parties reach new coalition agreement to form government 271 days after elections in March

Dutch political parties have reached a new coalition agreement, paving the way for the country’s caretaker prime minister, Mark Rutte, to form his fourth successive government a record 271 days after general elections in March.

The text of the accord between Rutte’s rightwing liberal VVD party, the progressive D66, Christian Democrat CDA and orthodox Christian party Christen Unie will be presented to the parties’ MPs on Tuesday and the whole parliament on Wednesday.

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Covid live news: WHO says ‘very high’ global risk from new strain; Portugal identifies 13 Omicron cases in Lisbon football team

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World Health Organization briefing says mutations ‘concerning for potential impact on pandemic trajectory’; Belenenses started last match with nine players following Covid outbreak

G7 health ministers are to hold an emergency meeting on Monday on the new Omicron Covid-19 strain, as experts race to understand what the variant means for the fight to end the pandemic, AFP reports.

The meeting was called by G7 chair Britain, which is among a steadily growing number of countries detecting cases of the heavily mutated new strain.

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Dutch police arrest couple trying to flee quarantine for Spain

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Woman and man left hotel where they were in quarantine after testing positive for Covid-19

Dutch military police say they have arrested a married couple who left a hotel where they were in quarantine after testing positive for Covid-19 and were attempting to flee the country.

The couple were arrested “in an airplane that was about to depart”, the police force, known as the Marechaussee, said in a statement. It was unclear whether they had tested positive for the new Omicron coronavirus variant.

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Germany ‘at crossroads’ as Covid cases surge across Europe

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Urgent measures needed to avoid ‘chaos’, warns expert, as Spain, Portugal and Netherlands tighten rules

Germany’s top health officials have raised the prospect of a national lockdown, warning that a rapidly rising number of coronavirus cases and a dramatic increase in the number of patients in intensive care meant contact reduction was the only way of tackling the crisis and avoiding “the road to chaos”.

“We need a massive contact reduction immediately,” said Prof Lothar Wieler, the head of the Robert Koch Institute, Germany’s federal disease control agency.

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Germany and Netherlands face fresh Covid rules as Austria enters lockdown

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Reintroduction of restrictions has led to violent protests in European cities

Germany and the Netherlands have been told they should face still tougher Covid restrictions as the German health minister, Jens Spahn, made the startling prediction that most of his compatriots would be “vaccinated, cured or dead” by the end of winter.

With Europe again the centre of the pandemic, ushering in tighter controls mainly on the unvaccinated across the continent, on Monday Austria became the first west European country to re-enter lockdown since vaccination began earlier this year.

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Covid live: UK reports 40,004 new cases and 61 new deaths; Brussels protest turns violent

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Latest updates: tens of thousands of people march in Belgian capital against Covid measure; UK health secretary says vaccination must be voluntary

From Monday, people aged 40-49 in England will be able to book a Covid jab, the Department of Health and Social Care has confirmed. Sixteen and 17-year-olds will also be able to book in for their second jab.

Taking up the offer of a second or third dose will help protect the progress of the vaccine rollout in the face of waning immunity, and mean people can “enjoy Christmas safely”, the Department of Health and Social Care said.

We simply don’t know how many people who didn’t come forward during Covid-19, during the pandemic, will actually come forward, and therefore we are in a bit of a guessing game about exactly how many.

But the bit I can assure you is that NHS staff and NHS leaders are working incredibly hard at the moment to create that plan to ensure that we can get through that backlog as quickly as possible.

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Violence in Belgium and Netherlands as Covid protests erupt across Europe

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Anger at government restrictions spreads to Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark and Croatia

Violence erupted at demonstrations in Belgium and the Netherlands over the weekend as tougher Covid-19 restrictions to curb the resurgent pandemic led to angry protests in several European countries.

Ten of thousands of people marched through central Brussels on Sunday to protest against reinforced restrictions imposed by the Belgian government to counter the latest rise in coronavirus cases. The march, which police estimated involved 35,000 people, began peacefully but descended into violence as several hundred people started pelting officers, smashing cars and setting rubbish bins on fire. Police responded with teargas and water cannon.

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Rotterdam police open fire as Covid protest turns into ‘orgy of violence’

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Three people treated in hospital with serious injuries after clashes in Dutch city over reintroduction of Covid restrictions

Three people were being treated in hospital in Rotterdam on Saturday after they were seriously injured when police fired shots during a demonstration against Covid-19 restrictions.

In what the Dutch city’s mayor described as an “orgy of violence”, crowds of several hundred rioters torched cars, set off fireworks and threw rocks at police during the protests on Friday evening. Police responded with warning shots and water cannon.

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Why is Europe returning to the dark days of Covid?

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The continent is now the centre of the global epidemic – again. As countries from the Baltic to the Med brace for harsher winter measures, we look at what’s driving the fourth wave

It was almost as if the pandemic had never happened. In Cologne, thousands of revellers in fancy-dress jostled side by side in a tightly packed throng as they counted down to the start of the annual carnival season at 11am on 11 November.

In Paris, the bars and clubs were open late and filled to bursting on Wednesday, with Armistice Day a national holiday. In Amsterdam, it was business as usual in the overflowing cafes and coffee shops around the Leidseplein.

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Covid live: Netherlands to return to partial lockdown from Saturday – as it happened

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Dutch restaurants and shops ordered to close early and spectators barred from major sporting events; Boris Johnson urges Britons to get booster

In the Netherlands, the caretaker prime minister Mark Rutte’s cabinet will take a final decision on new Covid restrictions during a meeting today, and he will announce the measures during a televised news conference scheduled for 1800 GMT.

It is expected that bars and restaurants will be ordered to close early, and sporting events will be held without audiences under a three-week partial lockdown.

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