Dutch cars will get a sticker that says how much they pollute. Towns will be able to use this information to change their parking policies; dirtier cars will pay more. More »

Three weeks after Coca-Cola introduced new bottles here in the Netherlands, the soft drink giant raised prices of bottles this week with 40%, while many consumers have complained about the flimsiness of the new one-time-use bottles. More »

Last Saturday a team of bicyclers were able to cross the city of Rotterdam faster than an auto making the same journey. A group of travelers using public transport also participated; they came in last. The teams traveled the city from west to east and the bikers arrived at the finish two minutes faster than the car. The team using public transport arrived about a half hour later. More »

This year the Dutch organization for mammal study and protection (VZZ) placed twelve ‘bunkers’ in the natural area Slot Haamstede in the province Zeeland to provide winter shelters for bats. Five bunkers which were placed there earlier are now filled with dozens of bats. The twelve new bat shelters also have some new residents overwintering there, and the VZZ expects the number of bats in all of the bunkers to increase in coming years. In total there are 45 bat shelters at Slot Haamstede, and 26 are hosting bats this winter. More »

Shopkeepers outside the center of Leiden protested against a city plan to allow shops in all of Leiden to open their stores to customers on Sundays. Until now this was only allowed in the city center. More »

Three years after the start of the U.S.-oriented news.google.com, Google launched a Dutch version of their news portal on 26 January. Surprisingly, this has upset Dutch newspapers, who believe that Google should have asked them for permission to index their articles. More »

Today we visited the Dutch Ice Sculpture Festival here in Leiden. The theme is the artist Rembrandt van Rijn. In 2006 Leiden celebrates the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt’s birth with different museum exhibits, festival events and other special expositions. The Ice Sculpture Festival features statues and scenes made of ice and snow, taken from the painter’s works and life. More »

Last night a Liberian cargo ship off the coast of the island of Terschelling lost dozens of containers in a heavy storm. The Dutch island’s beaches are now littered with stuff; the lost containers reportedly contained shoes, hammers, corned beef, aluminum suitcases, toys and … hamburgers. The police of the mainland town of Harlingen has sent a ‘mobile unit’ to the island to assist the island’s police force in preventing people from stealing the Liberian hamburgers. More »

CBS reported today that last year the Netherlands saw a population growth of only 30,000, the lowest since 1900. The scant growth is largely due to the large number of emigrants. More »

The warehouses used by the municipality of Leiden to store improperly parked bicycles are nearly full. Because of this the city can no longer clear illegally parked bikes from the train station area. The city needs storage space for at least 3,000 bikes. More »