The Maasstad hospital in Rotterdam has been in the news since June last year after the outbreak of an antibiotic bacterium named Klebsiella Oxa-48 that has likely caused the death of 78 people. Question arises on how this new bacterium could appear in the Netherlands…. Read More

Saturday Laura Dekker stepped ashore a on the Caribbean island St. Maarten and finished her sail sailing trip around the world. The 16 year and four month old Dutch sailor has made an impressive journey for her age. It took Dekker one year and one… Read More

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it is ‘deeply concerned’ about researchers creating a more contagious and fatal form of the H5N1 bird flu. Researchers in the Netherlands have manipulated the virus to make it more transmissible among humans, and it could potentially kill millions… Read More

In Dutch criminal law a convict can be sentenced to involuntary psychiatric treatment in a special institute called a TBS-clinic. TBS is an abbreviation for “Ter Beschikkingstelling,” literally meaning ‘being placed at disposal’. Legally, such a sentence is not regarded as a punishment like a… Read More

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