Dutch government reviews travel advice to Egypt

The Dutch government is holding a crisis meeting to evaluate the situation in Egypt because of the continuing anti-government demonstrations. A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry says the current travel advice that people should avoid Egypt unless absolutely necessary is being reviewed. The United States, Turkey, Russia and Saudi Arabia have advised their citizens in Egypt to leave the country. Washington and Ankara are organising evacuation... [more]

Iran hangs Iranian-Dutch woman for drug smuggling

Iran on Saturday hanged Iranian-Dutch woman Zahra Bahrami for selling and possessing drugs, dismissing repeated pleas by The Netherlands which had sought details about her case. Bahrami’s execution is the latest in a slew of hangings carried out by the Islamic republic in January. Her execution takes the total number of people hanged in Iran so far this year to 66, according to media reports. “A drug trafficker named Zahra Bahrami,... [more]

Dutch MPs back police training mission to Afghanistan after concessions

A narrow majority of MPs have voted in favour of the government’s plans to send a police training mission to Afghanistan, after ministers made a number of conditions. The vote, late on Thursday night, took place after two days of debate during which the government emphasised the civilian nature of the mission. Jolander Sap, leader of the left-wing green party GroenLinks, eventually agreed to back the project, turning the tide in the government’s... [more]

EU extends hacker-induced emissions trading halt

The EU extended a freeze Thursday on trading in carbon credits ordered after hackers broke into national trading registries and stole and then sold millions of euros worth of polluting rights. “Security comes before trading,” said Maria Kokkonen, spokeswoman for European Union climate action commissioner Connie Hedegaard. “It’s going to take time,” she told AFP, with only internal trading in the best-protected... [more]

Dutch schools may impose headscarf code

The Equal Treatment Commission has ruled that schools have a say in the way in which students wear headscarves. The commission was responding to the case of the Gerrit Rietveld College in the city of Utrecht, where 50 students objected to a new dress code. This only allows Muslim girls to cover their heads as long as 90 percent of the face remains visible. Headgear which covers the chin or eyebrows, for example, is regarded as hindering... [more]

EFSF hails success of bond sale to aid Ireland

The European Financial Stability Facility staged Tuesday a landmark five-year bond auction worth five billion euros ($6.8 billion) to raise funds for Ireland and help calm financial markets. Asian bidders snapped up more than one third of the total in what EFSF head Klaus Regling said demonstrated market confidence in the 17-nation eurozone, after the turmoil of massive bailouts for Greece and Ireland last year. “This must be seen... [more]

Europe’s stability fund needs more firepower – IMF

The effective size of Europe’s financial rescue fund should be increased and its banks need rigorous stress-testing to help restore market confidence, the IMF said in a report released on Tuesday. The link between weak balance sheets of European banks and governments was a primary reason why the International Monetary Fund said global financial stability was still at risk nearly four years after the financial crisis struck. In an update... [more]

Watchdog slams UN, EU’s human rights ‘cowardice’

The UN and EU stand accused of “cowardice” for claiming to tackle human rights abuses in places like China through soft diplomacy, Human Rights Watch said in its annual report Monday. Highlighting its claim, the report on global human rights violations was issued in Brussels the same day the European Union hosted controversial Uzbek President Islam Karimov amid protests. The New York-based NGO’s executive director Kenneth... [more]

Swedish daily to jointly publish WikiLeaks

Three major newspapers in northern Europe will join forces with a Norwegian paper to comb through about 250,000 cables originally exclusively handled by WikiLeaks’ media partners, newspaper Svenska Dagbladet told AFP on Sunday. Norwegian daily Aftenposten will share its findings with three major media outlets in Denmark, Germany and Sweden, Martin Jönsson, the executive director of Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet, said on Sunday.... [more]

Dutch Senate to investigate privatisation

The Senate is considering launching its first parliamentary inquiry ever. The inquiry would focus on the effects of 20 years of privatisation of public services in the Netherlands. The senate has had the right to hold parliamentary inquiries since 1887, but has never used it. The initiative for the inquiry came from the Senate’s oldest member, Christian Union Senator Egbert Schuurman, who has been a Senator for 27 years. The Labour... [more]

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