Nov-Dec 2008: Studium Generale: Lectures, Debates, Theatre, Comedy, Music
October 31, 2008 Leave a Comment
Studium Generale offers a program with academic and cultural activities for students and members of university staff. The program consists of lectures, debates, concerts and theatrical performances. Although the majority of the scheduled events are Dutch-spoken, a number of events are English spoken . See www.SG.unimaas.nl for actual information, or to subscribe to the Newsletter. [...]
Top 100 Dutch traditions
October 30, 2008 Leave a Comment
From today’s edition of the Radio Netherlands Press review: The Dutch St Nicholas holiday, which sees presents given on the evening of the 5 December, is the number one Dutch tradition. According to a survey conducted by the Centre for Dutch Culture, the centre made a list of the 100 most-cited traditions. The Sunday edition [...]
Top 3% of students study ‘for free’ at UM
October 30, 2008 Leave a Comment
Maastricht University wants to encourage talent. Attracting, cherishing and stimulating talented students is one of the main aims of the 2007–2010 Strategic Programme. A new scheme has been introduced for this purpose, giving the top 3% of students the opportunity to study at UM ‘free of charge’. Ceremony On October 30th 2008, the first group [...]
4 November: Jazz Maastricht presents Vloeimans, van Vliet, Lovsky
October 30, 2008 Leave a Comment
Vloeimans, van Vliet, Lovsky/ Dinner Arrangement Singer Fay Lovsky reveals her skills as multi-instrumentalist. Together with the expressive trumpet of Eric Vloeimans and the warm harmonies of pianist Jeroen van Vliet she offers the audience a combination of opinionated jazz, world music and many creative highlights. Genius at work. Date: November 4 Location: Theater aan [...]
13 November: GNE Lecture: “The Crop Circle Mystery”
October 30, 2008 Leave a Comment
“The Crop Circle Mystery”, a PowerPoint-illustrated presentation by Mr Andy Thomas Thursday, 13 November 2008 (8p.m. till approx. 10p.m.) at Grand Hotel l’Empereur (opposite railway station of Maastricht). With a stunning slideshow, Andy explores the extraordinary phenomenon of crop circles, the intricate shapes which appear in fields around the world each summer and still defy [...]
Dutch say unlocked bike not enticement to steal
October 30, 2008 Leave a Comment
The Dutch Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a bicycle thief who stole a decoy bike planted by police. Lawyers for the convicted thief — a repeat offender who was sentenced to 22 days in jail — had argued that leaving the bike unlocked amounted to entrapment. But the five-judge court has rejected that, [...]
Adoption without government intervention forbidden
October 30, 2008 Leave a Comment
Dutch couples may no longer look abroad themselves for a child to adopt. Couple who wish to adopt a child must use a licensed agency, Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin has written to the Lower House. Special agencies already arrange most adoptions of children from other countries. In about 6 percent of the cases, however, [...]
“Close soft-drugs shops in Maastricht”
October 30, 2008 Leave a Comment
The closure of coffee shops elsewhere in the Netherlands has triggered fears in the Belgian province of Limburg that drug tourists will now flock to the Dutch town of Maastricht. Flemish municipalities are concerned about the impact this move will have on them. Full article: Flanders News, 29 October 2008
Soft drugs summit to be held in Maastricht
October 29, 2008 Leave a Comment
Popping into the Netherlands to take advantage of its soft drugs policy could become more difficult if a group of Dutch municipal officials have their way. The Dutch association for municipalities, VNG, announced Tuesday that it will host a soft drugs summit in the third week of November in Maastricht. Participants will seek ways to [...]
Brussels wants EU-wide smoking ban in pubs and cafés
October 28, 2008 Leave a Comment
The European Commission is planning to start consultations on a possible EU-wide ban on smoking in all work places, but any legislative proposal on the issue is unlikely to happen during the term of the current commission, the EU executive said on Monday (27 October). “[EU social affairs] commissioner Vladimir Spidla would like to see [...]
Dutch National Archive photos on internet
October 28, 2008 Leave a Comment
The Dutch National Archive is placing a portion of its photograph collection on the internet. The historic pictures, mainly of Dutch emigrants, will be accessible on the photo-sharing website Flickr. The archive hopes that making the pictures available will prompt viewers to provide it with more information about the people and objects in the pictures. [...]
Centre Céramique hosts 2008 World Press Photo exhibit, and more
October 27, 2008 Leave a Comment
Apart from hosting the 2008 World Press Photo exhibition in the coming weeks and presenting Limburg-made “Cradle to Cradle” products as of 7 December 2008, Centre Céramique offers many valuable resources for expats in Maastricht. A report by Catalina Goanta.
Dutch plan to cut death duties
October 27, 2008 Leave a Comment
The Dutch Deputy Secretary of Finance, Jan Kees de Jager, wants to lower death duties. He wants to reduce the maximum duty on inheritances for close relatives, partners and children from 27 percent to 20 percent. For partners, he wants to raise the level of exemption to 600,000 euros and for children to 19,000 euros. [...]
Dutch drug policy shaken by coffeeshop closures
October 27, 2008 Leave a Comment
Two southern Dutch town mayors have taken the dramatic step of shutting down all local businesses currently legally selling cannabis. It’s the first time a blanket stop has been introduced in a Dutch town. The two towns, Bergen op Zoom and Roosendaal, claim they are suffering from the nuisance caused by foreign tourists in search [...]
Kruisherenhotel: a unison of times
October 26, 2008 1 Comment
A photo-reportage of the prestigious Kruisherenhotel in Maastricht, by Crossroads writer and photographer Rosanne Rademaker.
Review: All that Jazz!
October 24, 2008 Leave a Comment
A record number of 50.000 visitors, many of whom travelled from Belgium, England and France, converged to Maastricht for the recent Jazz Promenade festival. A review by Catalina Goanta.
Kevin and Sanne most popular names
October 24, 2008 2 Comments
Kevin and Sanne are the most popular first names for Dutch children over the past 20 years – one in 50 children and young adults will have one of these names, reports the Telegraaf. One hundred years ago one in 20 boys was called Jan. De Jong is the most common surname, followed by De [...]
Netherlands plunges in ranking order for press freedom
October 24, 2008 Leave a Comment
The Netherlands has in two years’ time plunged from the first to 16th place in a ranking of countries with the most press freedom drawn up by press organisation Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF). Last year, the Netherlands came 12th, while the year before, it was still the joint leader. Now it is sharing 16th place, [...]
Europe agrees to Blue Card for skilled migrants
October 23, 2008 Leave a Comment
European Union officials agreed to develop a so-called Blue Card, a fast-track work visa they hope will attract skilled migrant workers from devleoping countries. Engineers and health care workers are in high demand. In a bid to attract high-skilled workers from developing countries, the European Union will push forward a Blue Card scheme, an EU [...]
Foreign investment in Holland stable
October 23, 2008 Leave a Comment
Foreign companies continued to invest in the Netherlands last year, with the IT and chemical sectors attracting most new money, according to global research carried out by IBM, reports news agency ANP. The sustainable energy industry was also a strong growth sector in terms of foreign investment, the research shows. Research and development and logistics [...]
Belgian brothers win EU parliament film prize
October 23, 2008 Leave a Comment
The European Parliament on Wednesday awarded its cinema prize to Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for their film “The Silence of Lorna”, already feted at the Cannes Film Festival. The Lux prize and its Tower of Babel-inspired trophy, awarded only for the second time, means the mainly French-language film will now be subtitled in [...]
Police officers sworn in with hand on Koran
October 23, 2008 Leave a Comment
The police in the Gouda region have sworn in police officers who swore allegiance to Allah. Small Christian party SGP has demanded an explanation from the government. Police in the Netherlands can choose between the Christian oath (‘So help me God Almighty) and the neutral vow (‘I declare and promise…’). In Gouda, it now turns [...]
The Netherlands has few trees
October 22, 2008 Leave a Comment
Just 11% of the Netherlands is woodland, reports ANP news service. Only two European Union countries, Malta and Ireland, have fewer trees than the Netherlands, according to EU statistics. In total 42% of the EU is wooded. Source: DutchNews.nl, 21 October 2008
‘Groups of youths’ most serious problem in neighbourhoods
October 22, 2008 Leave a Comment
Trouble caused by groups of youths is the number one annoyance of Dutch citizens among six serious problems put forward to them by the Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS). CBS held a survey on ‘serious problems’ between January and mid-March 2008 among 20,000 people aged 15 years and older. They were asked to say of [...]
24 Oct-6 Dec: Alessandra Siviero and Tom Smetsers at Galerie Tracé
October 21, 2008 Leave a Comment
Brazilian painter Alessandra Siviero and Dutch sculptor Tom Smetsers will exhibit their work at Galerie Tracé in Maastricht from October 24 until 6 December 2008. More information: Galerie en kunstuitleen Tracé Marie-Thérèse Beckers- Visser Alexander Battalaan 31 6221 CA Maastricht Tel: (0031) 043-3260071 / (0031) 043-3643588 Fax: (0031) 043-3643588 Email: galerietrace@planet.nl Related article: International Women’s Day [...]
Murders in large Dutch cities increased in 2007
October 21, 2008 Leave a Comment
A report by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) says the number of murders in Dutch cities with more than 250,000 residents rose sharply in 2007, to more than three per 100,000. The increase wiped out the reduction in the number of murders in large Dutch cities in 2006. The number of violent deaths in Dutch cities with [...]
31 Oct-23 Nov: World Press Photo exhibit
October 20, 2008 Leave a Comment
This year also Centre Céramique Maastricht presents World Press Photo, the travelling, worldwide renowned exhibition for press photography. The exposition can be seen in 100 cities all over the world, such as New York, Rome and Tokyo. This autumn World Press Photo is in Maastricht for the ninth time. The exhibition, the result of an [...]
European Commission launches “Study in Europe” website to promote European higher education
October 20, 2008 Leave a Comment
The European Commission has launched a new web portal called “Study in Europe” to promote the attractiveness of European Higher Education to students from other parts of the world. The portal, at www.study-in-europe.org, is part of a wide-ranging campaign to increase the number of students from outside Europe who study in the EU. “Study in [...]
Young Europeans don’t settle in Holland
October 17, 2008 Leave a Comment
Young Europeans who come to Amsterdam to live and work have trouble fitting in and most leave the city after little more than a year, according to Thursday´s NRC. This is because ´free movers´ feel excluded from Dutch society, claims Adrian Favell who is a sociology professor at the University of California. Favell is not [...]
First Moroccan mayor in the Netherlands
October 17, 2008 Leave a Comment
Rotterdam City Council has voted Ahmed Aboutaleb as its mayor. The current deputy social affairs minister and member of the Labour party will be the first ever Dutch mayor of Moroccan origin. The appointment still has to be officially approved by the interior minister. Mr Aboutaleb will succeed Conservative VVD party member Ivo Opstelten, who [...]
