The Maastricht human rights activist Abdullah Al-Mansouri is still alive. The Iranian authorities recently allowed him to phone his family in Maastricht, who said that he “sounded weak and broken” and that he “was under strong pressure”. Amnesty International believes that Al-Mansouri is being ill-treated and tortured, and is in danger of being executed.
Source: […]

The next Netherlands-England Society event in South Limburg is scheduled for 26 March 2007 when adventurer and ‘Teller of Travellers’ Tales’ John Pilkington will present “Up the Mekong”. He will give an audio-visual presentation in Maastricht at the Grand Hotel l’Empereur. (Stationstraat 2, starting at 8 pm. Non-members are welcome at €5 per person (students […]

The Province of Limburg will hold an open day from 10 am till 5 pm on Saturday 3 March. Free entrance and parking.
See programme on the website of the Province: www.limburg.nl
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The University of Maastricht is to launch a new Chair named after Maastricht art dealer Robert Noortman at the Faculty of Economics on 5 March.
Robert Noortman passed away last January at the age of 60. He was co-founder of the TEFAF international Fine Art Fair in Maastricht.
The new chair aims at stimulating the […]

From today’s Radio Netherlands press review:
NRC Handelsblad reports that a new survey shows that the Dutch are the least stressed workers in Europe. Only 24 percent of Dutch people say their work is too demanding and stressful. In Lithuania, the figure is 71 percent. “The relative satisfaction of Dutch employees confirms another survey that revealed […]

The modernisation of the economy in Limburg is starting to take shape. 29 projects are currently in progress throughout the province, involving a total investment of EUR 657 million.
Source: Dagblad De Limburger via Expatica Netherlands, 28 February 2007
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Dr Jo Ritzen has been reappointed President of Maastricht University (UM) as from 1 February 2007 until February 2011. The Supervisory Council decided on reappointment for a period of four years after consulting with the Management Team and the University Council. Assuming satisfactory performance, a second term was on the cards when Ritzen was appointed […]

The British low cost airline has unveiled plans for a new service from Brussels Airport to Geneva in Switzerland. The new daily service is scheduled to start on 29 June.
Read full story: VRT News, 28 February 2007
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We decided at the end of October that we would book flights to a nearby European destination on one those el cheapo airlines that advertise scarce-as-hens’-teeth seats for one euro cent. We had a good excuse; our baby sitter would celebrate her birthday in the middle of December, which we thought would be a good time to travel. We settled for Venice, but did not tell her, keeping it a surprise. [continued…]

Two visions of Europe at the Spaans Gouvernement Museum, by Hector Pascual Alvarez. [continued…]

On 7 February 2007, Nuffic – the Netherlands Organization for International Cooperation in Higher Education – established its first permanent presence outside Holland and Southeast Asia with the opening of its Netherlands Education Support Office (NESO) in Mexico City. To mark this important occasion, the Director-General for Higher Education at the Ministry of Education, Mr […]

The new Dutch minister for integration Ella Vogelaar says Muslim women should be allowed to wear a burka on the street, but that it is not desirable for them to be worn in jobs where human contact is important. The Labour Party minister cited education and health as examples of professions where it is important […]

At the end of January this year, 2.6 million people received old age pensions (AOW). One in eleven AOW payments go to people living abroad.
Number of recipients grows faster due to ageing of the population
The increase rate of AOW benefits has risen over the last decade. In the period 1997-2000, the number of recipients increased […]

People with a non-western background work in occupations rated below the average level of people with a native Dutch background. This applies to all age groups. A possible explanation is that the level of educational attainment of people with a non-western foreign background lags behind that of their native Dutch counterparts.
Half of people with […]

Politicians in The Hague are concerned that talented students of immigrant background are being recommended for upper secondary and university prep programmes less frequently than native Dutch peers who received the same score on the standardised CITO test.
Parliament is demanding that the education inspectorate investigate the causes for this situation.
A study conducted at schools in […]

The new Dutch cabinet was sworn in by Queen Beatrix Thursday, 91 days after the general election. It is the fourth cabinet to be led by Christian Democrat (CDA) leader Jan Pieter Balkenende and is a centre-left coalition of the CDA, Labour (PvdA) and the small orthodox ChristenUnie party.
Before the swearing-in ceremony, ministers met […]

Schiphol has signed an agreement with Chinese company Chinamex on the development of a Chinese trade and exhibition centre close to the Amsterdam airport.
The centre is to offer space for 1,000 to 1,500 Chinese companies that want to carry on trade with buyers from the EU. Schiphol expects the centre to turn over around […]

Arnoud Bos, the younger brother of Labour (PvdA) leader Wouter Bos, is playing Premier Jan Peter Balkenende in a two-part TV drama.
Public broadcaster VPRO has made a drama about Prince Friso and his wife Princess Mabel Wisse Smith. Their relationship caused a big political commotion three years ago because Wisse Smith had had a relationship […]

With his appointment as Foreign Minister, Maxime Verhagen sees the fulfilment of a long-cherished wish. Although, he is known as a tough negotiator, insiders say he possesses the diplomatic gifts so necessary for his new post.
Verhagen was born in Maastricht on 14 September 1956. His father was an alderman in this southernmost city of the […]

The German author Henryk M. Broder is a controversial person. He recently told the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant (12 October) that young Europeans who love freedom, better emigrate. Europe as we know it will no longer exist 20 years from now. Europe is turning Muslim. And Broder doesn’t relish this prospect. “One does not have […]

Areas in Germany and Belgium close to the Dutch border attract a growing number of Dutch residents. Germany has become especially popular lately. About 5,000 Dutch move to the neighbouring countries every year, De Volkskrant writes.
According to the National Bureau for Spatial Planning, 59 thousand Dutch were registered as living in Belgium last year and […]

A 20-year-old man from the Dutch province of Limburg died during the carnival in Fourons at about 6 pm on Tuesday. The young man fell from one of the vehicles in the procession before finding himself under the wheels of another.
The victim was taking part in the celebration with 20 of his friends. They were […]

Part of the world-famous Terracotta Army is to be put on display in the small (Belgian) Limburg town of Maaseik. The town’s Minderbroeders Monastery will host an exhibition of some of Xian’s finest at the end of next year.
Read full article: VRT News, 20 February 2007
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Children of ethnic minority background in Amsterdam are more frequently given a recommendation for further education that clashes with their results on the standardised CITO test than children of native Dutch background.
This has emerged from the report “Primary school recommendations and ethnicity” presented by the Amsterdam municipality on Tuesday.
The study shows that students of ethnic […]

The number of racist statements has increased dramatically in Europe over the past year. This was certainly the case in the Netherlands, France, Italy and Belgium, said European Commissioner for Justice Franco Frattini after a visit to the Holocaust monument in Berlin on Tuesday.
The number of racist statements reportedly grew by between 25 and 45 […]

The Netherlands should do more to keep foreign students on its labour market. Relaxed immigration regulations for students from outside the EU are needed for this.
This is contained in a report published by the Advisory Committee on Alien Affairs (ACVZ) on Tuesday.
The committee proposes allowing students from outside the EU a year to look for […]

Dutch guards overseeing prisoners on supervised parole may soon have a new tool at their disposal: a robotic knee brace that sends an electrical impulse cramping prisoners’ leg muscles if they try to slip away.
The Justice Ministry said Tuesday it planned to test the system later this year if parliament approves it. Ministry spokesman […]

A group of 181 Syrian asylum-seekers is to be given residence permits. Although Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin does not consider they are in danger in their own country, he is allowing them to stay in the Netherlands.
About a year ago, it emerged that information about the asylum background of a number of the 181 […]

Vodafone Netherlands will broadcast all 20 episodes of the regional Limburg soap De Hemelpaort on the mobile phone. It is the first time in the Netherlands that a regional soap is broadcasted on mobile. The episodes, starting Thursday night 22 February, will be shown weekly on regional TV station L1 TV. On a Vodafone mobile, […]

Twente University has warned lecturers involved in its English-language international masters programme that they have two years to brush up on their English or find work elsewhere. Students have complained about the poor level of lecturers’ language skills.
Source: DutchNews, 20 February 2007

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