Netherlands

Mediterranean countries ramp up efforts to find missing migrants

15 June 2019; AFP: Mediterranean countries say they have taken a key step towards finding out the fate of thousands of migrants -- many fleeing Syria's war -- who have gone missing while trying to reach Europe.

At a meeting of the International Commission for Missing Persons in The Hague this week, Cyprus, Greece and Malta pledged to coordinate and beef up their efforts to trace nearly 18,500 migrants who have disappeared since 2014 while making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean.

US diplomat Pompeo holding talks with Dutch government

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is visiting the Netherlands for talks with his Dutch counterpart that are expected to touch on rising tensions between Washington and Tehran as well as the crisis in Venezuela and NATO funding.

Pompeo’s brief stop in The Hague on Monday is the third leg of a four-nation tour of Europe in which he is both trying to calm nerves over rising U.S.-Iran tensions and stressing that America will defend itself and not relent in raising pressure on the Islamic Republic with economic sanctions.

Hells Angels biker gangs banned by Netherlands court

30 May 2019; DW: Judges in the Netherlands said the biker gang was led by "a culture of violence" and represented a danger to the public. It is the third biker gang to be banned in the country since 2017.

A court in the Dutch city of Utrecht has banned the international biker club Hells Angels and ordered all its Dutch chapters to close. Authorities are pursuing a clampdown on what are called outlaw motorcycle gangs.

Newscoop: A Facebook for news similar to UMMnews

28 May 2019; DW: The idea of Newscoop was conceived during the height of the Bosnian War. Back then, the online platform's founder Camilla Warrender, a professional pianist, was working in Sarajevo with her friend, Swedish actress Bibi Anderson, to ease the pains of the victims of the conflict through her musical renditions.

The political advocate in her soon realized how information was being manipulated by the Bosnian Serb forces to carry on genocide during the war.

Netherlands poll surprise: Anti-EU parties fall short

24 May 2019; DW: Pro-European parties in the Netherlands are predicted to win most of the country's European Parliament seats, exit polls show. Dutch voters were among the first to take part in four days of voting across the continent.

Dutch pro-EU parties were on track for a surprise win in the European Parliament election, according to an exit poll Thursday that suggested that populist Euroskeptics had failed to make previously forecasted gains.

Dutch fertility doctor used own sperm to father at least 49 children

13 Apr 2019; DW: A Dutch fertility doctor used his own sperm to inseminate female patients who gave birth to 49 children, DNA tests have confirmed.

Jan Karbaat, who died in 2017, has long been suspected of using his own semen at his now closed Rotterdam fertility clinic without the knowledge of the women. The doctor had repeatedly told patients that the sperm came from anonymous donors.

Bosnian Serb Radovan Karadzic loses war crimes, genocide appeal

21 Mar 2019; DW: A United Nations court in The Hague on Wednesday dismissed an appeal by former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic against his convictions for crimes committed during the Bosnian war on Wednesday. The appeals chamber also increased his sentence from a 40-year prison term to life in prison.

Presiding judge Vagn Joensen said that the previous verdict was too light given the "sheer scale and systematic cruelty" of Karadzic's crimes.

Utrecht shooting suspect in custody, motive still unclear

THE HAGUE, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The man suspected of shooting three people dead and injuring five others on a tram in the Dutch city of Utrecht on Monday morning has been arrested, local police said.

The arrest coincided with the conclusion of a joint press conference held by Utrecht Mayor, Jan van Zanen, the public prosecutor and the police, who were just describing the continuing hunt for the suspect.

Prior to the arrest, Utrecht police described the suspect as Turkey-born, 37-year-old Gokmen Tanis.

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