A bus and a fleet of cars have set off from the Netherlands in a continent-crossing convoy to raise awareness of the plight of migrants languishing in overcrowded Greek island camps and maybe even bring some of them back to the Netherlands. Continue reading →
{FD} Dutch lawmakers pass ambitious law to reduce emissions
Dutch lawmakers overwhelmingly approved ambitious new climate legislation Thursday that aims to drastically drive down emissions of greenhouse gases. Continue reading →
{FD} Int’l court prosecutor reports progress in Palestinian probe
International Criminal Court prosecutors intend to complete “as early as possible” a long-running preliminary investigation into allegations of crimes in the Palestinian territories, according to a report issued Wednesday. Continue reading →
{FD} Dutch church holds 24/7 service to shield asylum-seekers
For more than a month, a rotating roster of preachers has been leading a non-stop, round-the-clock service at a small Protestant chapel in The Hague in an attempt to shield a family of Armenian asylum-seekers from deportation. Continue reading →
{FD} Watchdog mulls sending team to Syria after gas attack
The global chemical weapons watchdog is considering sending inspectors to investigate an alleged poison gas attack by rebels in Syria that wounded dozens, its director-general said Monday. Continue reading →
{FD} Central African Republic militia leader appears at ICC
A Central African Republic militia leader and lawmaker who goes by the nickname Rambo told the International Criminal Court on Friday he was beaten and tortured after his arrest late last month in parliament. Continue reading →
{FD} Anne Frank House renovated to tell story to new generation
The museum built around a secret annex in a canal-side house where Anne Frank hid from Nazis during World War II has been renovated to better tell the teenage Jewish diarist’s tragic story to a new generation of visitors who may know little about the h… Continue reading →
{FD} C. African Republic militia leader turned over to tribunal
A commander in a Central African Republic militia has been arrested and turned over to the International Criminal Court to face charges that include murder and torture, the court announced Saturday. Continue reading →
{FD} Dutch protesters planning demos for and against Black Pete
As Dutch children eagerly anticipate the arrival of their country’s version of Santa Claus this weekend, opponents and supporters of his controversial helper Black Pete are gearing up for protests. Continue reading →
{FD} MH17 families appeal to Trump to press Putin for information
Families of those killed when a Buk missile blew Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 out of the sky above Ukraine in 2014 have called on U.S. President Donald Trump to press his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to provide answers about the downing. Continue reading →
{FD} Probe fails to unravel mystery of Croat’s courtroom suicide
Dutch prosecutors said Friday they have closed their investigation without unravelling the mystery of how a Croatian ex-general managed to smuggle poison into a United Nations courtroom and take his own life, seconds after an appeals judge confirmed hi… Continue reading →
{FD} Former Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok dies at 80
Former Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok, a trade unionist-turned-politician who inspired a new breed of pragmatic Social Democratic leaders who swept to power in Europe in the 1990s, has died at 80. Current Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that Kok, wh… Continue reading →
{FD} US urges UN court to toss out Iranian case on frozen assets
The U.S. on Monday urged the United Nations’ highest court to toss out a case filed by Iran that seeks to recover around $2 billion worth of frozen assets the U.S. Supreme Court awarded to victims of a 1983 bombing in Lebanon and other attacks linked t… Continue reading →
{FD} UN court orders US to lift some Iran sanctions
The United Nations’ highest court has ordered the United States to lift sanctions on Iran that affect imports of humanitarian goods and products and services linked to the safety of civil aviation. Continue reading →
{FD} Dutch raids neutralized extremists’ threat, authorities say
The arrests of seven men suspected of plotting a major extremist attack somewhere in the Netherlands neutralized “the concrete threat” the cell posed, the Dutch counterterror coordinator said Friday. Continue reading →
{FD} Intl court opens preliminary probe into Rohingya expulsions
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor announced Tuesday that she is launching a preliminary investigation into deportations of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar into Bangladesh. Continue reading →
{FD} Defense lawyer casts Ugandan war crimes defendant as victim
A lawyer defending an alleged commander in Uganda’s shadowy Lord’s Resistance Army accused of crimes including murder, sexual slavery and using child soldiers cast him Tuesday him as a victim of the rebel group and its brutal leader, Joseph Kony. Continue reading →
{FD} ICC sentences ex-Congo VP to 1 year for witness tampering
Judges at the International Criminal Court on Monday re-imposed a one-year prison sentence and 300,000-euro ($350,000) fine on a former Congolese vice president for interfering with witnesses at his war crimes trial. Continue reading →
{FD} Report links half of Dutch cardinals and bishops to abuse
A media report linking half of the cardinals and bishops who served in the Netherlands between 1945 and 2010 to abuse cases has drawn the country’s Catholic Church into the church’s global sex abuse and cover-up scandal. Continue reading →
{FD} Dalai Lama meets alleged victims of abuse by Buddhist gurus
Four people who say Tibetan Buddhist teachers abused them physically or psychologically presented the Dalai Lama with written accounts from 12 alleged victims and appealed to him Friday in the Netherlands to address the problem. Continue reading →