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Group of 17 were ski touring near resort of Sölden when 80-metre wide avalanche hitAn avalanche near the Austrian ski resort of Sölden has killed three skiers from the Netherlands. Another person was rescued and taken to hospital.The victims were part of a 17-person ski touring group that was on an ascent with four Austrian guides. Ski touring involves using skis with special bindings...

Hundreds of Engelandvaarders took various routes from occupied Netherlands to Britain to fight in second world warThey travelled over land and water, braving the North Sea, trekking across the Pyrenees or fleeing north through Sweden to reach Britain and join the fight against the Nazis.Now a project at the Dutch national archives, opening on Thursday, is for the first time publishing the stories of...

Four parties have agreed to pursue ‘extra-parliamentary’ cabinet, says mediator overseeing tense coalition talksDutch coalition talks will move on from exploratory discussions to more concrete negotiations aimed at forming a largely technocratic government, after the far-right leader Geert Wilders accepted he could not be prime minister.Four months after Wilders’ anti-Islam Freedom party (PVV) became the largest in parliament, Kim Putters, the former socialist senator...

Leader of far-right Freedom party, which came first in election last year, was unable to get all partners in a potential coalition onboardGeert Wilders, whose far-right Freedom party (PVV) shocked the Netherlands by finishing first in elections late last year, has conceded that he will not be the next prime minister because his potential coalition partners do not back him.“I can only become the...

Regulator demands recall of two models, understood to affect about 10,000 of the popular productsDutch authorities have ordered a leading European manufacturer of cargo bikes to suspend sales and recall thousands of its products amid safety concerns over frame breakages.The Dutch regulator for food and consumer product safety (NVWA) called a temporary halt to trading by Babboe, which makes family cargo bikes seen daily...

Europe has been ‘negligent,’ as an acceptance of cocaine and cannabis leads to corruption, violence, and misery, says AboutalebThe mayor of a city on the frontline of the illegal drug trade has said that a “negligent” attitude to recreational drug use, including an acceptance of cocaine as the middle-class narcotic of choice, has led to violence and corruption in Europe’s poorest neighbourhoods.As the Netherlands...

Departure of NSC’s Pieter Omtzigt from coalition talks leaves Geert Wilders needing to negotiate, with several scenarios possibleEurope live – latest updatesForming a new government in the Netherlands when the election was won by a far-right firebrand wanting to ban the Qur’an, reject all new asylum claims, exit the EU and rip up reams of environmental regulations was never going to be easy.It became...

NSC’s Pieter Omtzigt said to be shocked by public finances as he abandons talks to form coalition under far-right leaderGeert Wilders’ chances of forming a majority government in the Netherlands have been dealt a heavy blow after one of the far-right leader’s three potential partners abruptly withdrew from coalition talks citing concerns over public finances.Wilders, whose Freedom party (PVV) shocked Europe by finishing first...

The latest protest comes less than a day after Ursula von der Leyen met with farming groups in a bid to appease themHundreds of tractors choked Brussels city centre on Thursday and angry farmers pelted the European parliament with eggs. Although agriculture was not on the agenda for EU leaders meeting just up the road, politicians may find that they ignore these grievances at...

Police start to interview witnesses following Guardian reports on adoptions to the Netherlands nearly 50 years agoRead more: ‘I was told I could visit. Then she went missing’: the Bangladeshi mothers who say their children were adopted without consentPolice in Bangladesh have launched an investigation into historical allegations that children were adopted abroad without their parents’ consent, after a Guardian investigation into adoptions to...

For some farmers already struggling, paying for more of their pollution is a step too far. Germany is the latest country to see anger boil overThe columns of tractors that have blocked roads in Germany, causing chaos in cities and headaches for commuters, are the latest wave in a growing tide of anger against efforts to protect Europe’s nature from the pollution pumped out...