Tag: Netherlands

Parts of northern Europe clean up after floods

By Iris Maria Maurer, with Sam Reeves in Frankfurt KLEINBLITTERSDORF, May 18, 2024 (AFP) – German emergency workers on Saturday started a major clean-up after heavy rains triggered massive flooding, while parts of Belgium, the Netherlands and France were also affected. The southwestern German state of Saarland was the worst-hit region after a long downpour on Friday flooded buildings, left streets deep underwater and sparked evacuations, with boats carrying stranded residents to safety. Officials said […]

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Poland trumpets its Van Gogh, once peddled for a beer

By Anna Maria Jakubek WARSAW (AFP) – Poland opened an art show Friday to celebrate its only Van Gogh painting, a rare early landscape worth millions that was once hawked by a pedlar for the price of a beer. “Country Huts Among Trees” dates from 1883 when the impoverished Dutch artist was still learning to paint in the countryside around The Hague. The small oil painting — also known as “Farmhouses Among Trees” — is […]

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Dutch hostage drama over, armed suspect arrested

By Nick Gammon EDE, Netherlands, March 30, 2024 (AFP) – A hostage drama in the Netherlands that lasted several hours ended without bloodshed on Saturday as all four hostages were freed and police took the suspect into custody. Authorities said there was no reason to suspect a “terrorist motive” for the ordeal, which took place at a night spot popular with young people in the central Dutch town of Ede. Police said they received reports […]

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DEVELOPING STORY: Three released in Dutch hostage drama, situation ongoing

By Richard CARTER THE HAGUE, March 30, 2024 (AFP) – Three of the hostages being held in a cafe in central Netherlands Saturday have been released, police said, but did not yet sound the all-clear. Authorities have evacuated the centre of the town of Ede since early morning, after several people were held at the Cafe Petticoat. “Three hostages have just been released. The situation is not over yet,” police said in a statement on […]

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Several people taken hostage in Dutch town: police

THE HAGUE, March 30, 2024 (AFP) – Several people have been taken hostage in a town in central Netherlands Saturday, according to police, with houses evacuated and the town centre closed down. Police said there was currently no reason to suspect a “terrorist motive” for the incident in Ede. “A hostage situation involving several people is underway in a building in the centre” of the town of Ede, police said in a statement on X, […]

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Spring’s splendor: Celebrating 75 years of blooms at Keukenhof

LISSE, Netherlands, March 22, 2024 (AFP) – The world’s biggest tulip garden opened to the public on Thursday for its 75th edition, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to enjoy a bewildering array of seven million bulbs in the western Dutch city of Lisse. Keukenhof park, southwest of Amsterdam in the heart of “bulb country”, contains millions of tulips of every colour as well as other flowers across 32 hectares (80 acres). The park […]

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Dutch vote in election thriller

By Richard Carter with Jan Hennop in Enschede, the Netherlands THE HAGUE, Nov 22, 2023 (AFP) – Dutch voters cast ballots Wednesday in a cliffhanger election poised to usher in a new political era after Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s record 13-year stint in charge. Opinion polls suggest the result is far too close to predict, with any of four candidates — including one from the far-right — within striking distance of power in the EU’s […]

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Developing story: Rotterdam hospital was warned about shooter: reports

THE HAGUE, Sept 29, 2023 (AFP) – Dutch authorities had rung alarm bells about the “psychotic behaviour” of a man suspected of a shooting and arson rampage through Rotterdam that claimed three lives, according to local media Friday. The Public Prosecution Service had written earlier in the year to the Erasmus university hospital about the medical student suspected of shooting dead his neighbour, her 14-year-old daughter, and a teacher at the hospital. The man, named […]

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Three killed in twin Dutch shootings

By Nick Gammon and Julie Capelle with Richard Carter in The Hague ROTTERDAM, Netherlands, Sept 28, 2023 (AFP) – A gunman dressed in combat gear and wearing a bulletproof vest went on a shooting rampage at a house and a hospital in Rotterdam Thursday, killing a 14-year-old girl, her mother, and a teacher. Dutch police said they were still investigating the motive for the twin attacks by the 32-year-old man, who also set fire to […]

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One dead, several injured in ship fire off Netherlands: coastguard

THE HAGUE, July 26, 2023 (AFP) – Helicopters and a boat evacuated 23 crew members from a car carrier ship off the Netherlands early Wednesday, after a fire killed at least one sailor, the Dutch coastguard said. Rescue personnel received a call shortly after midnight (2200 GMT Tuesday) saying a fire had started on the Fremantle Highway, a Panamanian-registered ship with some 3,000 vehicles on board, about 14.5 nautical miles (27 kilometres) off the northern […]

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Dutch government collapses over bitter migration row

THE HAGUE, July 8, 2023 (AFP) – Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s coalition government collapsed Friday over “insurmountable” differences on how to tackle migration, with elections expected in November. Rutte, 56, the Netherlands’ longest-serving leader and one of Europe’s most experienced politicians, said days of crisis talks between the four parties failed to produce a deal. They fell out over Rutte’s plans to tighten curbs on reuniting families of asylum seekers, a bid to curb […]

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One dead, many hurt as Dutch train hits crane

by Julie CAPELLE and Jan HENNOP Agence France-Presse VOORSCHOTEN, Netherlands (AFP) — A Dutch passenger train derailed after smashing into a crane early on Tuesday, killing a maintenance worker and injuring 30 other people in the Netherlands’ worst rail accident for years. The double-decker train carrying around 50 people from Leiden to The Hague veered off the tracks near the village of Voorschoten at around 3:30 am (0130 GMT), ending up partly in a field. […]

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