Latest Netherlands News

Dutch government led by hard right asks for formal opt-out from EU migration rules

Sep. 18, 2024 09:50 AM EDT

THE HAGUE (AP) — The new Dutch government dominated by the far-right party of Geert Wilders officially asked the European Union for an exemption from its migration obligations on Wednesday, setting up a confrontation over one of the most explosive issues facing the bloc at a time when support for...

The new hard-right Dutch coalition pledges stricter limits on asylum

Sep. 17, 2024 09:46 AM EDT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The new hard-right Dutch government pledged Tuesday to launch stricter policies to hold back or kick out migrants who don’t qualify for asylum, as the king laid out the administration’s plans in a speech to open the parliamentary year. Dutch King...

Germany begins conducting checks at all its land borders

Sep. 16, 2024 21:30 PM EDT

KEHL, Germany (AP) — Germany on Monday began random checks at its borders with five Western European nations as it seeks to crack down on irregular migration, expanding a system of mobile border controls that are already in place at four other borders. The checks began at the...

A tiny village has commemorated being the first Dutch place liberated from World War II occupation

Sep. 12, 2024 22:53 PM EDT

MESCH, Netherlands (AP) — Walking arm-in-arm with the Dutch queen, American World War II veteran Kenneth Thayer returned Thursday to the tiny village that he and others in the 30th Infantry Division liberated from Nazi occupation exactly 80 years ago. Thayer, now 99, visited Mesch,...

Dutch adopt US war graves to harbor memories of the country's liberation 80 years ago

Sep. 12, 2024 05:51 AM EDT

MARGRATEN, Netherlands (AP) — In the rolling hills of the southern Netherlands, locals have vowed to never forget the American and other Allied soldiers who gave their lives in the fight to liberate towns and villages from the Nazi occupation in World War II. Nowhere is the...

A Dutch court convicts 2 Pakistani men over death threats to anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders

Sep. 09, 2024 12:17 PM EDT

SCHIPHOL, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch court convicted two Pakistani religious and political leaders in their absence Monday over calls to their followers to murder anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders, the leader of the Party for Freedom that won last year’s general election in the Netherlands. ...

A capsule has been propelled through a hyperloop test tube in a step forward for the transit system

Sep. 09, 2024 11:31 AM EDT

VEENDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Hyperloop, a new form of mass transit involving capsules whizzing on magnetic fields through depressurized tubes, has achieved significant liftoff in the northern Netherlands, a company developing the technology said Monday. A test vehicle was levitated...

Hunter Woodhall wins Paralympic sprint title to join his wife as a gold medalist

Sep. 06, 2024 17:44 PM EDT

PARIS (AP) — One month after Tara Davis-Woodhall's Olympic title in the long jump, her husband Hunter Woodhall, a double amputee, won his own Paralympic gold medal Friday at the Stade de France. Davis-Woodhall’s rush into the stands for a celebratory hug from her husband became a...

The Dutch government is expanding export restrictions for processor chip machines

Sep. 06, 2024 05:31 AM EDT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch government is expanding export restrictions on equipment used to make advanced processor chips that can be integrated into weapons systems, a Cabinet minister announced Friday, citing security risks. Dutch company ASML, one of the world's...

The Dutch government is 'future-proofing' its military in an increasingly volatile world

Sep. 05, 2024 11:53 AM EDT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Netherlands' defense ministry announced a major plan to “future-proof” the country's military on Thursday, including buying more F-35 fighter jets and the return of a Dutch tank battalion as it gears up to face a world of expanding threats. The...