Netherlands

THE HAGUE, Jan 28 (Reuters) - ASML Holding NV (ASML.AS) said on Saturday it understood progress had been made towards an agreement among several governments on new restrictions on semiconductor manufacturing equipment exports to China.

ASML, a key supplier to chipmakers, has been restricted from selling its most advanced tools to China since 2019.

Tensions between the United States and China over semiconductors have steadily worsened since then, prompting Washington in October to impose export restrictions on its own chip manufacturing equipment companies.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Hundreds of climate activists blocked one of the main roads into The Hague on Saturday, defying attempts to prevent their protest that have sparked concerns about restrictions on the right to demonstrate in the Netherlands.

The protesters, many waving colored flags with the symbol of environmental group Extinction Rebellion and one holding a sign saying, in Dutch, “This is a dead end road,” gathered on the A12 road near the temporary home of the Dutch parliament. Police and hundreds more demonstrators looked on.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The global chemical weapons watchdog said Friday that its investigators found “reasonable grounds to believe” Syria’s air force dropped two cylinders containing chlorine gas on the city of Douma in April 2018, killing 43 people.

A report by a team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons offered the latest confirmation that the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad used chemical weapons during his country’s grinding civil war.

20 Jan 2023; MEMO: The International Court of Justice, on Friday, confirmed it had officially received a request from the United Nations General Assembly to give an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's Occupation of the Palestinian Territories, Reuters reports.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch Senate on Tuesday approved an amendment to the country’s constitution, expanding its first article to specifically ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or disability, a move hailed as historic by rights groups.

The constitution’s updated Article 1 mandates that all people in the country must be treated equally and that “discrimination on the basis of religion, belief, political opinion, race, gender, disability, sexual orientation or on any other basis is not allowed.”

AMSTERDAM, Jan 7 (Reuters) - The Dutch government will summon the Iranian ambassador to the Netherlands for the second time in a month to voice its deep concerns over the execution of demonstrators, Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said on Saturday.

"Appalled by the horrible executions of demonstrators in Iran. I will summon the Iranian ambassador to underline our serious concerns and I call upon EU Member States to do the same," Hoekstra said in a tweet.

OMMEREN, the Netherlands, Jan 6 (Reuters) - An old map believed to mark the spot where German soldiers hid treasure worth millions of euros during World War Two sparked the imagination of amateur treasure hunters in the Netherlands this week.

Armed with metal detectors and shovels, groups wandered through the fields surrounding rural Ommeren in the east of the country after the map was made public by the Dutch National Archive on Tuesday.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is delivering a speech Monday in response to a report on the country’s historical role in the global slave trade, prompting reports he may offer a formal government apology.

Rutte has said only that his speech at the National Archive in The Hague will be a “meaningful moment.”

THE HAGUE, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Russia's attacks on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure, including energy facilities, have been described as possible war crimes by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Amnesty International.

On Friday, Russia launched dozens of missiles across Ukraine knocking out electricity in its second biggest city, hitting critical infrastructure in the south and causing explosions in the capital Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch court on Wednesday upheld the Netherlands’ ban on assisted suicide, a setback for activists who said the prohibition infringes on their right to determine when their lives end.

The Hague District Court rejected the activists’ argument that the ban violated the European Convention on Human Rights.