The Netherlands

The Dutch government is planning to make road tax dependent on the size of vehicles rather than their weight, in...

Iran has summoned the Dutch ambassador in Tehran following a statement in the Dutch security service’s annual report which says...

A total of 3,427 people have received royal honours in this year’s lintjesregen, marking the birthday of king Willem-Alexander on...

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The 46 artworks which went missing from the premises of the municipality of Maashorst in Brabant last year “probably” ended...

Dutch king Willem-Alexander has said “peace and harmony can no longer be taken for granted” and that the Netherlands should...

The Netherlands is in for a spell of calm, spring weather, with temperatures rising to above 20° next week, according...

There were mixed, but mostly positive, reactions to Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema’s apology to the Jewish community for the city’s...

The Dutch are turning their backs on holidays to the US and bookings in March alone are down 30% on...

The number of reports of discrimination submitted to police and official bodies rose again last year, with the national hotline...

Maashorst council says print of Queen Beatrix from 1985 series Reigning Queens probably taken with the rubbishIn the hands of Andy Warhol, trash often became a work of art. So perhaps the pop culture icon would not be too upset to know that in the hands of one Dutch municipality, one of his artworks went the other way and was thrown out with the […]

I traveled from Mozambique to Finland to learn parenting hacks, and came away with the same lesson: parenting is hard everywhere, but nowhere is it as lonely as it is in the USFour years ago, scarred by the pandemic experience of trying to care for two toddlers in isolation, my husband and I decided we wanted a built-in community. We were tired of being the […]

‘Their lives were getting harder, even with help. They did not want to go to a nursing home and neither wanted to live without the other. So they left this life together’This is a photo of my parents right after their deaths, in Assen, the Netherlands, on 1 May 2024. My father Klaas Roemers was 90, my mother Fenny Roemers-Visser was 86.They had a good […]

Discovery that clinics have been breaking rules raises genetic risks in such a small, densely populated countryAt least 85 sperm donors in the Netherlands have fathered 25 or more children, the national gynaecology and obstetrics organisation has said, after a new registration system showed fertility clinics have been breaking existing rules on sperm […]

A pair of electrifying London shows bagged four prizes at the Olivier awards. Both were developed by Dutch company ITA, which has an eye for British talent Olivier awards: full list of winnersBackstage at the Oliviers – in picturesGiant, Benjamin Button and Fiddler on the Roof triumphThe Royal Court and Regent’s Park Open Air theatre were among the […]

Mussorgsky’s Khovanshchina – set in the troubled 1680s – can almost describe current events, say directorsA Russian political leader sings about war with Ukrainians and the need for a “durable peace”. The fractured political elite argues over whether they should pursue closer ties with Europe or embrace Russian traditions.The plot of Modest […]

Nests on Amsterdam canals provide archive of plastic waste and show how the material ‘is really here to stay’One day in 1996, someone ate a McDonald’s McChicken burger in Amsterdam.Perhaps it was a quick bite after work? A leisurely stroll down the canals? A family outing? These details are lost to time, but others are hard to erase completely. […]

Keukenhof, near Amsterdam, increasingly catering to growing demand for social media contentNestled among tulip fields not far from Amsterdam, the world-famous Keukenhof garden has opened for the spring, welcoming camera-wielding visitors to its increasingly selfie-friendly grounds.On a sunny day, the paths, park benches and cafes are crowded with tourists […]

Watchdog urges ‘great caution’ with psychiatric illnesses after deaths in such cases rise to 219 from two in 2010The number of people in the Netherlands who died by euthanasia increased by 10% last year, figures have shown, as the official watchdog warned doctors to exercise “great caution” in cases where person has a psychiatric illness.The […]

The inspiring makeover of a 1960s Utrecht college at less than half the cost of a new building and a third the carbon footprint is among projects in the Netherlands that can teach the UK vital lessons in sustainability‘The greenest building,” to quote a slogan now popular among architects, “is one that is already built.” It sums up the belated […]

The prison population in England and Wales has doubled in the last 30 years, with overcrowding now endemic across the system. But the government's strategy of easing this pressure by granting early release to thousands of offenders has had a knock-on effect. With many lacking stability on the outside, reoffending rates are high, exacerbating the existing […]

In our rainbow family, there are two dads and a mum – but the law in the Netherlands only recognises two of usOur daughter is very much on board with the idea that, unlike her, many other five-year-olds don’t have two fathers and a mum. “Only has one dad,” she’ll remark in a confidential tone of a newly made friend at the trampoline park or the […]

Exclusive: How one historian’s investigative work led to artwork finally being returned to ‘English Versailles’In 1951, a leading British art expert visited a stately home in Northamptonshire and viewed its paintings by old masters alone because the owner was ill.Six years later, the wife of Boughton House’s owner popped into an American museum, […]

Allegations of crimes against humanity laid out against former Philippines president over his deadly ‘war on drugs’Rodrigo Duterte has become the first Asian former leader to appear before the international criminal court, where he stands accused of committing crimes against humanity during his notorious “war on drugs” which is estimated to have […]

Mauritshuis exhibition reveals how Dutch men hid in attic to avoid being taken to Germany in second world warThe 13-year-old boy answered the doorbell. “Tell your dad I’m here,” said a man, who stored his bicycle and then disappeared upstairs.It was 1944, and right under the noses of Nazi command, people were hiding in the attic of The Hague’s […]

President sacks Alusine Kanneh after video of him with Johannes Leijdekkers, one of Europe’s most wantedSierra Leone’s president has fired the head of the immigration service days after footage was published showing him receiving a birthday gift from a fugitive Dutch drug kingpin.The footage of Alusine Kanneh being handed a present by Johannes […]

Member states must stop squabbling over trivial matters – and a firmer stance against states that promote Putin’s and Trump’s agenda is needed tooFrans Timmermans is a former vice-president of the European CommissionAfter US vice-president JD Vance’s speech in Munich last month, most European leaders came to the conclusion that our world has […]

Art detective and magazine help crack case of Flemish masterpiece thought to have been stolen by Polish agentsA “spectacular” stolen Flemish masterpiece has been rediscovered hanging on the walls of a provincial Dutch museum thanks to the efforts of an art detective and an antiques magazine.The 17cm-wide painting by Pieter Brueghel the Younger of a […]

From the world of adventure to the worlds of food and theatre: the best original photographs from the Observer commissioned in February 2025 Continue reading...

The tycoon’s links with Donald Trump and Germany’s far-right AfD have slammed the brakes on sales and put the car’s owners in a spinTesla sales almost halve in Europe over Musk’s ties to TrumpWhen Mike Schwede first sat in a Tesla Roadster 15 years ago, he felt like it was a glimpse into the future. By 2016, he was the proud owner of a Tesla, […]