Free Republic

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Jan. 21 that the issue of Greenland remaining part of Denmark did not come up during his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.Rutte, in an interview with Fox News, was asked about Greenland’s sovereignty under a proposed framework Trump mentioned earlier in the day at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.“That issue did not come up anymore in my conversations,” Rutte said. “[Trump] is very much focused on what do we need to do to make sure that that huge Arctic region—where change is taking place at the moment, where the Chinese and...

The treasury secretary's comments come a day after President Donald Trump unveiled new tariffs against eight European nations who oppose Washington’s efforts to acquire Greenland.The Trump administration is intensifying its push to acquire Greenland, citing national security concerns as China and Russia expand their presence in the Arctic.Speaking Sunday on NBC News' "Meet the Press," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argued that the U.S. must move to acquire Greenland — which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark — because Europe is too weak to protect it from potential threats.IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | 'Fundamental disagreement': Danish official cites ongoing...

Terrified Dutch students made to live side-by-side with 125 refugees to aid their 'integration' were subjected to years of sexual assault and violence, an investigation has reported. Stek Oost, located in the Watergraafsmeer district of Amsterdam, was sold to the Netherlands as the dream solution to the housing and refugee crisis. A total of 125 students and 125 refugees would live alongside each other, and were even encouraged to 'buddy up' so the migrants would adapt to life in the Netherlands more quickly. But students living there told Dutch investigative documentary programme Zembla they faced multiple sexual assaults, harassment, violence,...

According to an exclusive by The Daily Beast, a Department of Homeland Security whistleblower leaked personal information and sensitive details of roughly 4,500 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol employees, including agents.Sensitive details of around 4,500 ICE and Border Patrol employees—including almost 2,000 agents working in frontline enforcement—have allegedly been released by a Department of Homeland Security whistleblower following last week’s fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good.So, you could be a secretary, a stenographer, an interpreter, or an analyst, but you may now be a target of left-wing crazies who want anyone involved with ICE or Border Patrol...

The Viking Ship Museum in Denmark recently announced an unprecedented discovery in the Øresund Strait: the world’s largest and most advanced medieval cargo ship ever found. Hailed as “a milestone in maritime archaeology,” the discovery occurred while divers were investigating the seabed in the Sound, in anticipation of Copenhagen’s new Lynetteholm district, and stumbled upon a record-breaking cog buried beneath centuries of sand and silt. Found approximately 43 feet deep, the precious wreckage escaped destructive forces, resulting in an extraordinary state of preservation that provided archaeologists with a rare, close-up look at never-before-seen details. “It is extraordinary to have so...

Meanwhile, similar incidents of the police being targeted by fireworks were reported in Belgium and two youngsters died in an accident involving home-made explosives in Germany. At least two people were killed in the Netherlands in a string of violent incidents on New Year’s Eve that Dutch police are calling "unprecedented". In the southeastern city of Nijmegen, a 17-year-old was killed in an incident involving fireworks shortly after midnight but police have given no further details. And in the town of Aalsmeer south of the capital Amsterdam, a 38-year-old was killed in another incident involving fireworks which is still being...

The New Year festivities in the Netherlands left two people dead, saw 'unprecedented' violence against police and destroyed a 19th century Amsterdam church. A 17-year-old boy from Nijmegen and a 38-year-old man from Aalsmeer were killed in fireworks accidents. Three others were left seriously injured. One person has been arrested in connection to the teenager's death, but authorities have not yet revealed any information on the suspect's identity and an investigation is ongoing.

A group of Western and allied states issued a joint statement condemning the Israeli security cabinet’s approval of 19 new communities in Judea and Samaria, stating that the move was "part of a wider intensification of the settlement policies in the West Bank." The statement, issued by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and the United Kingdom, described the decision as a unilateral action and claimed that such steps "not only violate international law but also risk fueling instability." According to the statement, the decision risks undermining "the implementation of the Comprehensive...

Chaos reportedly erupted in Amsterdam late Sunday night as masked attackers stormed a Hanukkah concert, sending concertgoers into panic. The assault comes just hours after a deadly assault on Bondi Beach (Australia), where over 15 Jews have been killed during a Hanukkah event. Eyewitnesses described terrified attendees fleeing the venue as security forces arrived to secure the area. “This is an appalling attack on innocent people celebrating their faith,” said one member of the public who witnessed the event. Emergency services were reportedly on site to assist those affected, so far no deaths have been reported. Sources suggest that the...

Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands announced their withdrawals Thursday from next year’s Eurovision Song Contest after organizers decided that Israel will be allowed to compete. Organizers of the pop music spectacle, which draws millions of viewers globally, met earlier Thursday to discuss Israel’s participation, amid calls for the country to be excluded over the war in Gaza and threats from some members to boycott. An independent United Nations inquiry concluded in September that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and that the country’s top leaders have incited genocide. The Israeli government has maintained it is conducting the...

A teenager died after she was tied up and thrown into a swamp to drown in an honour killing because her Western behaviour shamed her family, according to prosecutors in the Netherlands. Ryan Al Najjar's brothers have now been put on trial for her murder, while her father, who is accused of ordering the killing, fled the country to return to Syria. Mohamed, 23, and Muhanad Al Najjar, 25, are charged with taking part in the horrific crime against their 18-year-old sister, whose body was found gagged with her hands bound behind her back, ankles taped together, and submerged in...

A Dutchman has won the award for the most authentic French fries. Photo Credit: Joyce Panda via Unsplash IN a delicious upset, for the first time, a non-French person has won the top prize for the world’s most authentic French fries, at the third edition of the annual International Chip Competition, held in Arras, France on Saturday, September 27. Dutch chef Siem van Bruggen took home the gold for the most flavourful fries, beating out 32 other contestants from multiple countries and competing across five harshly-judged categories: authenticity, creativity, family, chip sauce, and global fries. Van Bruggen is a renowned...

Microsoft has terminated a set of services for the Israeli military after an investigation suggested Israel was using the company’s cloud computing technology for mass surveillance of Palestinians. In a statement posted the company’s blog, Microsoft President Brad Smith said the company had “ceased and disabled a set of services to a unit within the Israel Ministry of Defense.” The move comes after an investigation by The Guardian and Israel’s +972 Magazine in early-August reported that Israel’s military intelligence unit, known as 8200, relied on Microsoft Azure to store millions of phone calls made by Palestinians in Gaza and...

The Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PKN) on Monday issued a declaration condemning anti-Jewish statements made by the German church reformer Martin Luther five centuries ago. In a text published at a seminar in Utrecht on Monday, the PKN declares that Luther's anti-Jewish statements were "unacceptable" and part of the "dark pages" of Lutheran church history. Rabbi Raphael Evers of the Dutch Jewish umbrella organization NIK welcomed the declaration, saying: "I sometimes get the question whether the excuses now are still necessary, given the declaration by the Lutheran World Federation back in 1983. However, I fear that warning against anti-Semitism...

LONDON (AP) — The Netherlands added itself Friday to a list of countries pressuring organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest to drop Israel from the contest because of its war in the Gaza Strip. Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS, one of dozens of public broadcasters that collectively fund and broadcast the contest, said it would not take part in next year’s competition in Vienna if Israel participates “given the ongoing and severe human suffering in Gaza.” “The broadcaster also expresses deep concern about the serious erosion of press freedom: the deliberate exclusion of independent international reporting and the many casualties among journalists,”...

85 percent of women in Amsterdam avoid specific places in the city because they feel unsafe, AT5 reported after surveying over 2,100 Amsterdam residents. Men included, around 70 percent of Amsterdammers have areas they consider dangerous. On average, Amsterdammers give how safe they feel in the city at night a 6 out of 10. But that comes with the warning to avoid certain places in the dark. City parks were most often mentioned, specifically Vondelpark, Sarphatipark, and Oosterpark. “You have less of an overview there, and there are fewer people around,” one respondent said about going to a park at...

The Van Gogh Museum, the beloved Amsterdam home to many masterpieces by one of the 19th century’s most famous painters, said it could be forced to close if the Dutch government doesn’t appropriate more money to a much-needed renovation. The museum threatened closure on Wednesday via press release, an unusual measure that the institution said was necessary because the government is “not keeping the promise” it inked with the Vincent van Gogh Foundation in 1962. The foundation owns most of the artworks on view at the museum, including iconic paintings such as The Potato Eaters (1885). Signed after the artist’s...

The U.S. Coast Guard achieved a milestone with the offload of a record 76,140 pounds of illicit narcotics, valued at $473 million, at Port Everglades on Monday. This marks the largest quantity of drugs offloaded in Coast Guard history. Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton’s crew offloaded approximately 61,740 pounds of cocaine and 14,400 pounds of marijuana, preventing an estimated 23 million potential lethal doses from reaching the United States.

The representatives for Netherlands and Egypt at the embassy. The Netherlands has returned stolen artifacts to Egypt in a show of solidarity. Photo Credit: Egyptian embassy of the Netherlands IN a move reflecting international solidarity, the Netherlands has handed over a collection of Egyptian artifacts dating back to ancient Egyptian civilisation. The Egyptian Embassy in The Hague received the artifacts from the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities following confirmation that the archaeological artifacts had been obtained illegally. The artifacts, which included a myriad of pottery items, are representative of the artistic and artisanal diversity of ancient Egyptian craftsmen. The move,...

...with the elections less than 90 days away, a surprising development has emerged in the opinion surveys: Suddenly, the small center-right Christian Democratic Appeal, or CDA, is surging,...