As it is widely known for many years the Netherlands had a policy of tolerance towards soft drug use. This is not a laissez-faire policy, however, since the sales of cannabis and hashish to the public in so called coffeeshops is strictly regulated. A common… Read More

Gregory Anthony “Greg” Halman (August 26, 1987 – November 21, 2011) was a Dutch professional baseball outfielder. He played with the American Major League Baseball team the Seattle Mariners during the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Gregory Halman was also a member of the Dutch national… Read More

In the Netherlands a majority of the MPs is supporting a law proposal to ban Kosher and Halal slaughter methods. The Dutch Senate needs to votes on this law proposal from the unique Dutch Party for the Animals. Just before the vote a crew from… Read More

While in Switzerland the reception of asylum seekers is organised in a very decentralised and bureaucratic way, the Netherlands totally revised its asylum seekers system over the years. Procedures are as short as possible and the asylum seekers are housed in central reception centres. The… Read More

The Scottish BBC program Eòrpa has been filming in Romania to cover the problems the country has to enter the Schengen treaty, making free transport of persons and goods possible. There were notable objections from the Dutch and Finnish foreign ministers. For this background reportage… Read More

All parliaments of the EU member states have to officially agree to the new European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). Just after the Dutch parliament okayed the EFSF, the Europe correspondent of the Japanese public TV channel NHK wants the reaction of the Dutch minister of… Read More

It seems that Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, is planning to visit Australia somewhere in 2012. The Australian Channel 9 program ’60 Minutes’ is planning to cover the visit, and want to come over to the Netherlands to make a portrait… Read More

After the Norway attacks, were two domestic terrorist attacks by far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik against the government, the civilian population, and a Workers’ Youth League (AUF) summer camp, in which a total of 77 people were killed, it turns out that the perpetrator made… Read More

After the first very successful Googoosh Music Academy, an Iranian television reality music competition to find new singing talent, a second episode is produced by the British production company Unique TV for the Iranian satellite broadcaster Manoto TV. The show is an X-factor like format… Read More

As a measure to fight soft drugs tourism the Dutch government presented a series of proposals aimed at transforming coffeeshops into closed clubs. These clubs should have a maximum amount of members, all of whom have to reside in the Netherlands. To get entrance the… Read More

While the Japanese society is recovering from the last earthquake, the tsunami and the disaster with the Fukushima nuclear power plants, reporter Ryusuke Kimura from the Japanese public TV channel NHK is send on a trip through Europe to investigate the actual situation in the… Read More

Two Blokes, Two Bikes and well over two thousand miles – the Hairy Bikers are baking their way around Europe. From Baguettes to Black Forest Gateaux, Croissants to Ciabatta, the boys are on a road trip to find the very best of baking in continental… Read More