Dutch begin COVID-19 vaccinations; last EU nation to do so

January 06, 2021

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Nearly two weeks after most other European Union nations, the Netherlands on Wednesday began its COVID-19 vaccination program, with nursing home staff and front-line workers in hospitals first in line for the shot.

Sanna Elkadiri, a nurse at a nursing home for people with dementia, was the first to receive a shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine at a mass vaccination center in Veghel, 120 kilometers (75 miles) southeast of the capital, Amsterdam.

“This is a very important moment for me as a person who works in the care sector. You want to provide the care knowing that your clients are safe,” Elkadiri said. ”Without the vaccine that is not possible, but from now on I can do it."

The Dutch government has come under fierce criticism for its late start to vaccinations. Prime Minister Mark Rutte told lawmakers in a debate Tuesday that authorities had focused preparations on the easy-to-handle vaccine made by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, which hasn't yet been cleared for use in the EU, and not the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Dutch Health Minister Hugo de Jonge didn't comment on the criticism as he spoke before Elkadiri rolled up the left sleeve of her purple nurse's uniform to receive the first shot. Instead, he looked forward to a future with the virus under control.

“Finally, after 10 months of crisis, today we are starting to end this crisis," De Jonge said. But he warned that, "it will take a while before we have all the misery behind us. ” The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which requires ultra-cold storage before it's used, is the only shot that has been approved so far by the European Medicines Agency. On Wednesday, the agency was considering approving another coronavirus vaccine, one made by Moderna.

“I’m very disappointed that we are two weeks behind other countries,” Rutte said in the Dutch parliament. The country's public health institute said that about 300,000 carers and hospital staff are first in line for shots. Two more large-scale vaccination centers are due to open Friday and by the end of next week, 25 should be open across the country, the institute said.

Health authorities plan to be able to vaccinate a maximum of 66,000 care workers per week from Jan. 18. In a tweet thanking staff involved in the rollout, Dutch King Willem-Alexander called the start of vaccinations “a turning point that provides hope of a way out of this crisis.”

The Netherlands is in the midst of a five-week tough lockdown imposed when infection rates were spiking across the country. In recent days, infection rates have been edging lower, but the country's public health institute said Tuesday that the lockdown hasn't yet produced a clear effect on infection rates.

Nearly 12,000 people are confirmed to have died of COVID-19 in the Netherlands since the pandemic started, though the true number is higher because not all people who died with symptoms were tested. Andre Rouvoet, chairman of the umbrella organization of local health authorities, welcomed the first vaccinations, which were aired live on Dutch television.

“It is symbolic of the hundreds of thousands — millions — of vaccinations that will be administered in the Netherlands in coming months,” he said.

Dutch move toward further easing of coronavirus lockdown

May 11, 2021

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch zoos and theme parks will be allowed to reopen next week under strict conditions and bars and cafes can extend the opening hours of their outdoor terraces, if hospital and intensive care admissions continue to fall, caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced Tuesday.

Rutte said the country will move to the second phase of its gradual reemergence from a lockdown that has lasted months on May 19 if the numbers have declined by 20% from peaks in late April. If they don't, the relaxation won't go ahead. But Rutte said he expects the current downward trends to continue and the easing of the lockdown to go ahead.

It is, “Step Two with a pause button,” Rutte said in a nationally televised news conference. The second step in the government's reopening road map also means that swimming pools, gyms and other indoor sports venues can reopen, with strict conditions on visitor numbers, and sex workers can resume their work. Open-air museums and theaters will be allowed to open.

Earlier Tuesday, the national public health institute reported that admissions to hospital intensive care units declined by 22% over the last seven days compared with the previous week. In the same period, the number of positive coronavirus tests fell by 10% to 47,108, a decline caused in part by fewer people getting tests because of school holidays.

Neighboring Belgium announced earlier Tuesday that it too is relaxing its lockdown as of next month. Dutch bars and cafes reopened their outdoor terraces last month, under strict conditions, after a six-month lockdown.

Last month also saw huge crowds gather in Dutch cities, flouting social distancing rules, to celebrate the national King's Day holiday. Underscoring the need to stick to basic hygiene and social distancing rules, Rutte said that local health authorities have attributed 17 large new clusters of infections in Amsterdam to the King's Day celebrations.

The government also said that from May 15 it is easing its general advice not to travel to foreign countries and will allow people to travel to countries designated as safe because of their low infection rates.

Visitors tiptoe through the tulips in Dutch virus test

April 09, 2021

LISSE, Netherlands (AP) — Finally, after bleak winter months of a coronavirus lockdown, springtime shoots of hope emerged Friday as restrictions were relaxed at a Dutch flower garden and other public venues.

Under a government-approved pilot scheme, the world-famous Keukenhof garden opened its gates to let a few thousand people tiptoe through the 7 million tulips, hyacinths, daffodils and myriad other flowers meticulously hand-planted throughout its manicured lawns by a small army of gardeners.

A maximum of 5,000 visitors were allowed into the garden, nestled amid the pancake flat bulb fields between Amsterdam and The Hague, if they could show proof that they had just tested negative for COVID-19.

Minke Kleinen, who visited the central city of Arnhem with her friend Ilse van Egten, said it felt like their “first legal day out.” The friends took rapid tests before setting off and got their negative results by email as they drove.

“It feels strange that we can stand next to one another," said Van Egten, giving Kleinen a quick hug. "It’s nice!” The Keukenhof lost an entire season last year to the pandemic as the first deadly wave of infections swept over the Netherlands. Its scheduled March 20 opening this year never happened because of the country's strict virus lockdown.

The limited opening — six days spread over two weeks in April — is welcome to the 40 gardeners who spend months preparing for the annual spring season. In a normal year, the garden the size of 50 soccer fields can accommodate 10 times as many visitors each day.

Park director Bart Siemerink had mixed feelings. “Of course, happy today. It's the first day of Keukenhof 2021," he said, but added that the park still felt different with such a relatively small number of visitors.

"So it’s a good feeling that we can open, but this is not Keukenhof as it’s supposed to be,” he said. In pre-pandemic years, Keukenhof's paths, park benches and cafes are crowded with visitors from around the world taking photos and selfies with one of the Netherlands' most iconic products — the tulip.

On Friday, small groups of visitors were scattered around the lawns. You could get a plate of poffertjes — a Dutch treat of tiny pancakes covered in icing sugar — without having to wait in a long line.

The Dutch government announced this week that hundreds of public venues would be allowed to reopen under strict conditions to evaluate whether rapid testing can safely help the country ease coronavirus restrictions amid rising levels of vaccinations and warmer weather.

Under the scheme, visitors to the Keukenhof — as well as museums, zoos and other venues — are allowed entry if they order a ticket online and get a negative virus test within 40 hours of their visit. All virus tests are free and a result is emailed within an hour to the tested person. That code, in turn, can be scanned at venues.

The tests come against a backdrop of stubbornly high infections that have begun edging lower in the past week after months of lockdown. Health Minister Hugo de Jonge sees the limited openings as a way of easing back toward normal life as vaccinations reach more and more people.

Visiting the Keukenhof felt like a privilege for those who got in. “This is a gift,” said blogger Berry de Nijs. “It feels great today. It is beautiful weather anyway ... but to walk through the tulips is fantastic!”.

Dutch parliament approves new coronavirus curfew law

February 18, 2021

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch parliament approved hastily drawn-up legislation Thursday underpinning the country's coronavirus curfew after a judge ordered the measure scrapped earlier this week.

The legislation is now expected to be debated by the senate on Friday — the same day that government lawyers go to court to appeal the order banning the 9 p.m.-to-4:30 a.m. curfew. If the senate approves the legislation, the curfew will remain in place and the appeal court's decision will become largely irrelevant.

Maarten Hijink of the opposition Socialist Party gave the legislation his backing, but told the government: “Don’t take the support as an appreciation of the way this Cabinet made such an unbelievable mess of the judicial underpinning of the curfew.”

Populist Geert Wilders was among opposition lawmakers who do not support the legislation introduced by Prime Minister Mark Rutte's government. “What an embarrassment for Prime Minister Rutte, and what a hammer blow for the credibility of the corona policies of his Cabinet in general and the curfew in particular,” said Wilders, who has repeatedly described the measure as disproportionate. He demanded that fines meted out for breaches of the curfew be canceled or repaid.

The curfew, which sparked rioting last month but is very broadly supported and followed, remains in force pending the outcome of the government's appeal. A judge in The Hague banned the curfew, saying the law the government used when it introduced the measure last month can only be wielded in pressing emergencies such as a massive dike breach.

The government argues that the curfew became an urgent necessity because of the swift rise of new, more transmissible variants of the virus, particularly the one first discovered in Britain which has already gained ground in the Netherlands.

Rutte told lawmakers Thursday: “Of course, we regret the situation because it creates a lack of clarity. That's why the Cabinet has tried to create clarity as quickly as possible via ... the urgent appeal against the court decision and also the legislation we're talking about.”

The Netherlands has been in a tough lockdown since mid-December, with all nonessential stores closed, along with bars, restaurants and other public venues. Elementary schools reopened this month, but all other schools and universities remain shut.

Infections have been slowly declining, with the 7-day rolling average of daily new cases decreasing over the past two weeks from 23.38 new cases per 100,000 people to 21.28 on Feb. 17. The country has more than 15,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths.

Dutch lawmakers debate new law backing coronavirus curfew

February 18, 2021

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch lawmakers are holding a debate Thursday on hastily drawn up legislation underpinning the country's coronavirus curfew after a judge ordered the measure scrapped earlier this week.

The lower house of parliament is expected to support the legislation, which would then go to the senate on Friday — the same day that government lawyers go to court to appeal the order banning the 9 p.m.-to-4:30 a.m. curfew.

The curfew, which sparked rioting last month but is very broadly supported and followed, remains in force pending the outcome of that appeal. A judge in The Hague banned the curfew, saying the law the government used when it introduced the measure last month can only be used in pressing emergencies such as a massive dike breach.

The government argues that the curfew became an urgent necessity because of the swift rise of new, more transmissible variants of the virus, particularly the variant first discovered in Britain, which has already gained ground in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands has been in a tough lockdown since mid-December, with all nonessential stores closed, along with bars, restaurants and other public venues. Elementary schools reopened this month, but all other schools and universities remain shut.

Infections have been slowly declining, with the 7-day rolling average of daily new cases decreasing over the past two weeks from 23.38 new cases per 100,000 people to 21.28 on Feb. 17. The country has more than 15,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths.

Skating-crazy Dutch defy pandemic by taking to outdoor ice

February 09, 2021

DOORN, Netherlands (AP) — A deep winter freeze gripping the Netherlands is reawakening the national obsession with skating on frozen canals. With subzero temperatures forecast to last more than a week, ice fever swept the nation Tuesday, offering a welcome respite from grim coronavirus news while also creating a challenge for authorities trying to uphold social distancing rules.

People around the country were rummaging through attics and dusting off long-unused skates, while businesses that sharpen skate blades reported boom times. Ice skating is a national wintertime passion in the Netherlands, with the country's spandex-clad elite athletes dominating Winter Olympic speedskating races in recent years. Amateurs of all ages eagerly await the Arctic conditions that allow them to take to the country's vast network of canals and waterways.

But with the country in a strict coronavirus lockdown, the prospect of a long-distance skating race in the northern province of Friesland being staged for the first time since 1997 remains remote at best.

The association that organizes the 11 Cities Tour over frozen canals and lakes said in January that “under the current coronavirus measures, it is not possible to organize" the near mythical event. Since then, authorities have not relaxed the measures beyond allowing elementary school students back into classrooms this week.

The chairman of the association poured more cold water on people's hopes Tuesday, noting just what a production the race normally involves. “We're talking about a tour with 1--1.5 million spectators, 25,000 participants, thousands of volunteers and half of the Netherlands on the road,” Wiebe Wieling told national broadcaster NOS. “Every right-thinking person will realize that something like that is not possible” amid the pandemic.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte weighed in on the debate Monday night, saying that skating authorities could consider allowing races on natural ice if the country's top 120 racers enter a coronavirus bubble. But he, too, said that staging an event with a huge numbers of spectators was out of the question, even if it is outdoors.

Still, Rutte said the Dutch should make the most of the conditions while they last. “Enjoy this beautiful weather and the ice,” Rutte said. “But do that within the COVID-19 rules.” Dutch media reported a few hardy souls risking a skate on thin ice in parts of the Netherlands on Tuesday, but for the time being temporary ice tracks were the safest place to lace up one's skates.

Local schoolchildren visited the skating club in Doorn, 65 kilometers (40 miles) southeast of Amsterdam, which created its rink by spraying water onto an outdoor inline skating track and built up an even ice surface by dragging a Persian rug around it.

Canals are expected to be frozen solid enough later in the week for people to skate on. Authorities in Amsterdam have closed locks and banned boats on parts of the city's World Heritage-listed ring of canals to give them a better chance of freezing over.

The municipality, however, also warned skaters to stick to social distancing and other coronavirus restrictions. “The coronavirus rules for public places also apply on the ice,” City Hall said. It was not only ice skating fans preparing for the big chill.

A zoo in the central Netherlands moved 15 penguins indoors and out of the cold Tuesday. Unlike their Antarctic cousins, the black-footed penguins hail from South Africa and Namibia and aren’t used to such icy conditions, Burgers’ Zoo said.

The freezing conditions also created natural ice sculptures in a marina in the village of Monnikendam, just north of Amsterdam on Markermeer Lake, with boats moored there swathed in swirling sheets of ice.

Lines of wind-blown icicles hung off boat railings and ropes, and ice coated a set of children's swings and trees near the edge of the snow-covered frozen waters of the lake. “We’re living in the most beautiful painting of the 17th century,” Rutte said.

Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands.

Dutch police clash with anti-lockdown protesters in 2 cities

January 24, 2021

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Rioters set fires in the center of the southern Dutch city of Eindhoven and pelted police with rocks Sunday at a banned demonstration against coronavirus lockdown measures, while officers responded with tear gas and water cannons, arresting at least 55 people.

Police in the capital of Amsterdam also used a water cannon to disperse an outlawed anti-lockdown demonstration on a major square ringed by museums. Video showed police spraying people grouped against a wall of the Van Gogh Museum.

It was the worst violence to hit the Netherlands since the pandemic began and the second straight Sunday that police clashed with protesters in Amsterdam. The country has been in a tough lockdown since mid-December that is due to continue at least until Feb. 9. The government beefed up the lockdown with a 9 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. curfew that went into force on Saturday.

Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus condemned the violence. “This has nothing to do with demonstrating against corona measures,” Grapperhaus said in a statement. “This is simply criminal behavior; people who deliberately target police, riot police, journalists and other aid workers.”

In Eindhoven, 125 kilometers (78 miles) south of Amsterdam, a central square near the main railway station was littered with rocks, bicycles and shattered glass. The crowd of hundreds of demonstrators also was believed to include supporters of the anti-immigrant group PEGIDA, which had sought to demonstrate in the city.

Eindhoven police said they made at least 55 arrests and warned people to stay away from the city center amid the clashes. Trains to and from the station were halted and local media reported plundering at the station.

A woman not involved in the protests was hospitalized after being injured by a police horse, police said. Police said more than 100 people were arrested in Amsterdam. Dutch media reported unrest in other Dutch towns Sunday night caused by people protesting against the curfew.

The violence came a day after anti-curfew rioters torched a coronavirus testing facility in the Dutch fishing village of Urk. Video from Urk, 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Amsterdam, showed youths breaking into the coronavirus testing facility near the village’s harbor before it was set ablaze Saturday night.

The lockdown was imposed by the Dutch government to rein in the spread of the more transmissible variant of the coronavirus. Police said they fined more than 3,600 people nationwide for breaching the curfew that ran from 9 p.m. Saturday until 4:30 a.m. Sunday and arrested 25 people for breaching the curfew or for violence.

The police and municipal officials issued a statement Sunday expressing their anger at rioting, “from throwing fireworks and stones to destroying police cars and with the torching of the test location as a deep point.”

“This is not only unacceptable, but also a slap in the face, especially for the local health authority staff who do all they can at the test center to help people from Urk,” the local authorities said, adding that the curfew would be strictly enforced for the rest of the week.

On Sunday, all that remained of the portable testing building was a burned-out shell.

Peter Dejong reported from Urk.

Rioting youths in Dutch village torch virus testing center

January 24, 2021

URK, Netherlands (AP) — Rioting youths protesting on the first night of a Dutch curfew torched a coronavirus testing facility and threw fireworks at police in a Dutch fishing village. Police said Sunday they fined more than 3,600 people nationwide for breaching the curfew that ran from 9 p.m. Saturday until 4:30 a.m. Sunday and arrested 25 people for breaching the curfew or for violence.

Video from the village of Urk, 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Amsterdam, showed youths breaking into the coronavirus testing facility near the village's harbor before it was set ablaze Saturday night.

The police and municipality issued a statement Sunday expressing their anger at rioting, “from throwing fireworks and stones to destroying police cars and with the torching of the test location as a deep point.”

“This is not only unacceptable, but also a slap in the face, especially for the local health authority staff who do all they can at the test center to help people from Urk,” the local authorities said, adding that the curfew would be strictly enforced for the rest of the week.

On Sunday, all that remained of the portable building used to administer coronavirus tests was a burned-out shell. Police in Amsterdam also were bracing for another protest Sunday, sending officers to a square where demonstrators clashed with police a week ago. The city's municipality designated the square a “risk area,” a move that gave police extra powers to frisk people.

Associated Press writer Mike Corder contributed from Otterlo, Netherlands.

Dutch leader announces tough new nationwide virus lockdown

December 14, 2020

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte imposed a tough new five-week nationwide lockdown Monday, saying schools, nonessential shops, museums and gyms will close down at midnight until Jan. 19.

“We have to bite through this very sour apple before things get better,” a somber Rutte said in a televised address to the nation. As Rutte spoke from his office in The Hague, protesters could be heard blowing whistles outside.

“The reality is that this is is not an innocent flu as some people — like the demonstrators outside — think,” Rutte said. "But a virus that can hit everybody hard.” From Tuesday, all non-essential shops will close until Jan. 19 along with businesses such as hair salons, museums and theaters. All schools and universities will have to switch to remote learning from Wednesday. Child daycare centers will be closed to all except children of key workers.

The government also urged people to receive a maximum of two guests over the age of 13 per day, but relaxed the rule slightly for Dec. 24-26, saying three people can visit on those normally festive days.

“We realize as a Cabinet how intense and drastic the measures we are taking today are,” Rutte said. “Especially so close to Christmas.” As news of the looming lockdown leaked out before Rutte’s speech, many people keen to take their last chance at Christmas shopping flocked into city centers.

Lines formed Monday afternoon at shops, museums and even pot-selling coffee shops as people tried to beat the lockdown. “It's ridiculous at the moment,” said Bart van der Wal at the Tweede Kamer coffeeshop in a narrow alley near Amsterdam's famous canals, where clients were lined up around the corner. “Everybody thinks the coffeeshops will be closed tomorrow.”

Van der Wal said he hoped coffeeshops would be allowed to stay open for takeout “because otherwise people will deal on the street.” Bars and restaurants have been closed since mid-October, although many restaurants, cafes and coffeeshops have offered takeout sales. The partial lockdown initially slowed high infection rates, but they have been rising again in recent days.

The 7-day rolling average of daily new cases in Netherlands has risen over the past two weeks from 29.22 new cases per 100,000 people on Nov. 29 to 47.47 per 100,000 people on Dec. 13. “It's serious. It's very serious,” Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said Monday ahead of a Cabinet meeting to discuss action to rein in the spread of the virus. “We see the infection numbers rising sharply in recent days, we see that hospital admissions are increasing again, the pressure on the health care sector remains high.”

Rutte's speech Monday evening came a day after neighboring Germany announced similar coronavirus restrictions in an attempt to reduce its stubbornly high infection rates. Those measures also go well into January.

And earlier Monday, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that London and surrounding areas will be placed under the highest level of coronavirus restrictions from Wednesday in a bid to slow sharply rising infection rates.

Under Tier 3 restrictions, the toughest level in England’s three-tier system, people can’t socialize indoors and bars, pubs and restaurants must close except for takeout. Around 10,000 people in the Netherlands are confirmed to have died of COVID-19 since the start of the outbreak.

Rutte said that with vaccinations starting in the new year, 2021 would be a year “of hope, of light at the end of the tunnel.”

Dutch hospital airlifts patients to Germany amid virus surge

October 24, 2020

ALMERE, Netherlands (AP) — A bright yellow helicopter rose into a blue sky Friday carrying a COVID-19 patient from the Netherlands to a German intensive care unit, the first such international airlift since the pandemic first threatened to swamp Dutch hospitals in the spring.

The clatter of the helicopter’s rotors as it lifted off from a parking lot behind a hospital 30 kilometers (20 miles) east of Amsterdam was a noisy reminder of how the coronavirus is again gripping Europe and straining health care systems that struggled for equipment and staff during the pandemic's first wave.

Elsewhere on the continent, an absence of noise will underscore the virus' resurgence. More than two-thirds of the people living in France were to be subject to a nightly curfew starting at midnight Friday, hours after health authorities announced that the country had joined Spain in surpassing 1 million confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic.

“The epidemic is very strongly accelerating,” French President Emmanuel Macron said after visiting a hospital near Paris. France became the second country in Western Europe and the seventh world-wide to reach that number of known infections after reporting 42,032 new daily cases. Of the 445,000 confirmed cases the World Health Organization had recorded in the past 24 hours, nearly half were in Europe, Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19, said.

Experts say the real numbers of infections are probably much higher than the ones governments are reporting because of a lack of wide testing early on and the fact that some people don't develop symptoms. The head of the World Health Organization warned Friday that countries in the Northern hemisphere were at a “critical juncture” as cases and deaths continue to rise.

“The next few months are going to be very tough and some countries are on a dangerous track,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a media briefing from Geneva. Curfews to rein in nightlife and other opportunities for the virus to spread are some of the increasingly drastic measures European nations are enforcing to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The 9 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew taking effect for at least six weeks in 38 regions of France come on top of the government imposing the same restrictions in Paris and other French cities last week.

The extension means that 46 million of France’s 67 million people will be under curfews that prohibit them from being out and about during those hours except for limited reasons, such as walking a dog, traveling to and from work and catching a train or flight.

In Italy, where the governors of the three regions that include Rome, Milan and Naples declared overnight curfews early in the week, the capital moved to make “nightlife” hours even shorter for young people who tend to hang out in trendy piazzas, carousing for hours without masks as they sip cocktails and knock down beers.

Protesters in Naples, angry over the just-imposed 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. regional curfew and by the local governor’s vow to put the region under lockdown to try to tame surging COVID-19 infections, clashed with police on Friday night.

RAI state TV said local merchants joined the protest, hours after Gov. Vincenzo De Luca told citizens in a televised speech that he was “moving toward closing everything down” except essential services. Demonstrators threw rocks and smoke bombs, and police officers responded with tear gas, Italian media said.

Rome’s populist Five-Star Movement mayor, Virginia Raggi, signed an ordinance putting off limits, until Nov. 13, several gathering spots highly popular for night-time drinking starting at 9 p.m. The crackdown covers landmark nocturnal hangouts including Campo de’ Fiori, a vast expanse in the heart of Rome that doubles as an open-air food market during the day, and Piazza Trilussa, a square near the Tiber River that is usually packed in the evening with rowdy drinkers.

A 4 1/2-hour nightly curfew is to come into effect Saturday night in the Greek capital, Athens, and the country’s second largest city of Thessaloniki, as well as several other areas deemed to have high infection rates.

In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez publicly appealed for the country to pull together to defeat the new coronavirus. “We have to step up the fight,” he said in a televised address to the nation which this week became the first European country to surpass 1 million officially recorded COVID-19 cases. Sánchez admitted, though, that the true figure could be more than 3 million, due to gaps in testing and other reasons.

Restrictions on European daily life even extended to canceling the one-day fall session of the 31-seat parliament on the Arctic island of Greenland after a member of the assembly’s financial committee was in contact with a person who had tested positive.

Worldwide, the virus has infected more than 41 million people and killed more than 1.1 million, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University. The true numbers are far higher due to gaps in testing and reporting cases.

The Dutch airlift to a hospital in the German city of Muenster came amid soaring rates of infection in the Netherlands, where the seven-day rolling average of daily new cases has risen over the past two weeks from 24.58 new cases per 100,000 people on Oct. 7 to 47.74 new cases per 100,000 on Oct. 21.

Flevohospital spokesman Peter Pels said flying patients across an international border was a last resort after other hospitals in the region around Almere said their intensive care units couldn't take them. The hospital was transferring two patients to Germany on Friday.

“We actually prefer not to move patients because it is very drastic, also for family,” he said. “But to keep the quality and safety of care at a good level, unfortunately it is necessary to move patients.”

Numbers have been spiking in neighboring Germany as well, with the country’s disease control center saying Friday that 11,242 new cases were reported over the last 24-hour period, just shy of the record 11,278 mark set the day before. The nationwide infection rate over the last seven days rose to 60.3 cases per 100,000 residents, up from 56.2 the day before.

At the same time, the country has more than 8,100 intensive care beds free at the moment, with about 21,500 occupied, according to the German Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine. There’s also a reserve of around 12,700 beds that can be activated within seven days if necessary.

During the first phase of the pandemic, in the last week of March and first two weeks of April, Germany took in a total of 232 intensive care patients from Italy, France and the Netherlands. Germany is now also in talks to take in people from the Czech Republic.

In that hard-hit country, the health minister was under pressure to resign Friday after a media report that he broke strict government restrictions and visited a Prague restaurant for a meeting, just hours after announcing tightened virus restrictions.

In France, eight patients were transferred in a medical aircraft from the region of Lyon, in the east of the country, to other hospitals in towns less affected by the virus in western France, something that hadn’t happened since the spring.

“In many cities across Europe, the capacity for ICU is going to be reached in the coming weeks. And that’s a worrying situation as we’re in October,” WHO’s Van Kerkhove said, noting the flu season is about to begin and will likely increase the strain on hospitals. “The worry we have are the numbers of individuals requiring hospitalization.”

Mike Corder reported from The Hague. Associated Press reporters from across Europe contributed to this story.

Dutch students work hard to keep virus out of shared houses

September 29, 2020

LEIDEN, Netherlands (AP) — This is not the student life Iris Raats had hoped for when she was accepted at Leiden University to study law. With the coronavirus pandemic casting its long shadow over education in the Netherlands and around the world, most of her lectures are online and the vibrant social life in the country's oldest university city has been reined in to contain the spread of the pandemic.

Instead, socializing happens predominantly within the four walls of the house that the 19-year-old shares with 13 other students close to the city's central railway station. “I’m very glad that I found ... a room in Leiden and that I can experience living with students and have parties here in the kitchen,” she said. “But it’s not like real student life.”

Houses packed with students in Dutch university cities are seen as a worrying source of infections as the Netherlands has been hit by a strong resurgence of coronavirus in recent weeks. Infections have soared among people aged 20-30.

“It’s very complicated for students if there are 14 of you living in a house with shared kitchen, shared bathroom,” Dutch Education Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven told The Associated Press. “What we see now is that students are working with one another to work out how to make those houses safe.”

That is happening at the house in Leiden, where students are packed into communal spaces almost as tightly as their bicycles in racks in the front yard. The residents have made up their own rules to keep the virus out, largely sealing themselves off from the outside world by strictly limiting the number of visitors.

Students with a cough or runny nose are supposed to self-isolate in their rooms, although the housemates concede it’s hard to rigidly enforce that rule. At the height of the outbreak earlier this year, residents were allowed just one guest, a rule that allowed partners to visit.

When a room is vacated, meetings between housemates and potential new residents — thought to be a source of spreading infections — now happen largely online or in the house’s back garden. So far, it’s worked for Iris and her housemates. Nobody has tested positive for COVID-19, even as Dutch infections are spiking and the government is introducing tougher measures to rein in its spread.

Students squeeze in and out of the cramped kitchen and sit talking around a small table cluttered with newspapers, books, cups and glasses. Iris cooks eggs and fiscal law student Gerard Velthuijs makes coffee.

In a hall, at the bottom of a steep flight of stairs, beer crates are stacked up and empty bottles collected in boxes. A single face mask hangs out of a student's mail collection rack on the wall. So far, about 100,000 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the Netherlands and around 6,300 have died, although the true toll is higher because of limited testing, missed cases and other factors.

Student housing is not just a problem in the Netherlands. In Britain, outbreaks at universities in cities including Glasgow, Edinburgh and Manchester have seen thousands of students confined to their residence halls. Security guards at some schools prevent young people from leaving their buildings.

The clampdown has angered students and parents, who say government and universities should have been better prepared, with clearer social distancing rules and routine virus testing for students. Confining students to dorms also has not stopped them from socializing. Police were called to a residence at Edinburgh University last week to break up multiple student parties.

In the United States, dozens of universities have emerged as virus hot spots. Although students are being spaced apart in classrooms and dining halls, the virus has continued to spread in cramped dorms and through off-campus parties that have been blamed for thousands of cases.

In Leiden, second-year physics student David Hintzen is spending way more time than he would like in his bedroom on the house’s third floor. His days are spent peering at his laptop on the table next to his bed, although he must sometimes go to a university lab to carry out experiments.

“Most of our colleges are online through the website, so … everything I do is basically here,” he said. “I do study with friends sometimes, but that’s also through the laptop.” Not all students in Leiden have been able to resist the temptation to party. Police intervened earlier this month to halt one late-night gathering of students in a Leiden park where people failed to social distance.

“It doesn’t always go well,” Van Engelhoven said. “That was — and they’ve said this themselves — stupid and irresponsible and we have to make sure we prevent that.” For the students, the one upside of the restrictions is more time to focus on their education.

“You can’t get out to ... party," said Velthuijs. "Normally we used to party quite a bit together in the town but that’s all stopped, so it’s kind of boring. But you can concentrate on your studies now, so that’s okay.”

Turkey's Erdogan sues Dutch anti-Islam lawmaker for insults

October 27, 2020

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is suing Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders after the anti-Islam politician posted a series of tweets against the Turkish leader, including one that described him as a “terrorist.”

The state-run Anadolu Agency said Erdogan’s lawyer on Tuesday filed a criminal complaint against Wilders at the Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s office for “insulting the president” -- a crime in Turkey punishable by up to four years in prison.

Wilders posted a cartoon depicting Erdogan wearing a bomb-resembling hat on his head, with the comment: “terrorist.” Wilders continued posting tweets targeting Erdogan this week amid a growing quarrel between Turkey and European countries sparked by Erdogan’s sharp comments against French President Emmanuel Macron, including remarks questioning Macron’s mental health over his stance on Islam.

Erdogan has persistently sued people for alleged insults since he took office as president in 2014. Thousands have been convicted. More than 29,000 people were prosecuted on charges of insulting Erdogan last year, according to the Birgun newspaper.

The complaint against Wilders, whose political career has been based largely on his strident anti-Islam rhetoric, accused him of using language “insulting the honor and dignity of our president and of targeting Erdogan’s personality, dignity and reputation,” according to Anadolu.

Wilders, who leads the largest opposition party in the Dutch parliament, shrugged off the Turkish criminal complaint and described Erdogan as a “loser.” Wilders has lived under tight security for 16 years due to death threats following his anti-Islam rhetoric.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte called the move against Wilders unacceptable and said his government would raise the issue with Turkey. “In the Netherlands, we consider freedom of expression as the highest good. And cartoons are part of that, including cartoons of politicians,” Rutte told reporters in parliament.

He added that a legal case “against a Dutch politician that could possibly even lead to a curtailment of freedom of expression is not acceptable.” On Monday, Turkey's Daily Sabah newspaper, which is close to Erdogan, printed pictures of Wilders and Macron, with the headline: “the two faces of hatred and racism in Europe.”

Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands contributed.

France, Netherlands added to UK's 14-day quarantine list

August 14, 2020

LONDON (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of British holidaymakers on Friday faced the prospect of having to go into self-isolation for 14 days when they return home after the British government reimposed quarantine restrictions on France following a recent pick-up in coronavirus infections.

In an announcement late Thursday, the government said France is being removed from the list of nations exempted from quarantine requirements because of rising coronavirus infections, which have surged by 66% in the past week. The Netherlands, Malta, Monaco and the Caribbean islands of Aruba and Turks & Caicos are also being added to the quarantine list.

The requirement to spend 14 days in self-isolation will apply to anyone returning to the U.K. after 4 a.m. local time on Saturday, a timeframe that may prompt many — particularly those who cannot work from home — to try to return before then.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the decision shouldn't have come as a big surprise given that the government has consistently said it will continue to monitor infection rates when assessing its list of safe countries.

“Unfortunately, this virus doesn’t play ball,” he told Sky News. "So people will look at their own situations. I think a lot of people would have been aware that this was a possibility in France and in some of these other countries.”

Any rush back is likely to be most prominent in France, the second-most popular holiday destination for British tourists after Spain, which was put on the quarantine list last month. Travel companies are urging anyone considering a swift return home to check whether they will be able to do so.

Getlink, which operates the Channel Tunnel rail service linking Britain and France, warned travelers that they may not be able to get back in time as services are heavily booked. John Keefe, Getlink’s director of public affairs, told the BBC that trains were “already pretty much fully booked” on Friday.

He said there was “some possibility of adding additional trains in the off-peak periods” but insisted that would-be travelers have to check online before heading to the terminal. While the number of new infections in Britain is also rising, they are not thought to be increasing at the same pace as in the countries added to the quarantine list. The latest 14-day cumulative figures from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control show 32.1 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in France, compared with 18.5 in the U.K.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Thursday that everyone “understands that in a pandemic you don’t allow our population to be re-infected or the disease to come back in.” The decision is a big blow to France's tourism industry, which is heavily reliant on tourists from Britain.

France's junior minister for European affairs, Clement Beaune, indicated that that France would respond in kind. He said in a tweet that this is “a British decision that we regret and which will prompt a reciprocity measure, in the hope to get back to normal as soon as possible."

The U.K.'s quarantine approach has been criticized by many travel companies, some of whom are urging a change of tack, such as a ramp-up in testing of all arrivals in the country. Shapps said that proposal “isn’t quite as straightforward as it sounds” because many people may not test positive for the virus at the point of arrival but may end up doing so a few days later.

“You need to have a system which is more accurate than that before you can say to people you’ve now been tested and you don’t need to quarantine,” he said.

Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.

Dutch government to take Russia to European court over MH17

July 10, 2020

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch government is taking Russia to the European Court of Human Rights for its alleged role in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine six years ago, the foreign minister announced Friday.

The move is intended to support individual cases being brought to the European court by relatives of some of the 298 people who were killed when a Buk surface-to-air missile fired from territory controlled by pro-Moscow Ukrainian rebels blew the Amsterdam-to-Kuala Lumpur flight out of the sky on July 17, 2014.

“Achieving justice for 298 victims of the downing of Flight MH17 is and will remain the government’s highest priority,” Foreign Minister Stef Blok said. “By taking this step today ... we are moving closer to this goal.”

By launching the case against Russia, the Dutch authorities can share evidence with the Strasbourg-based European court so it can be considered in individual relatives' cases. “As a government, we have information, evidence, that leads us to the conclusion of the involvement of the Russian Federation,” Blok told The Associated Press. “Of course, the relatives themselves do not have all this information so we can help them by starting this procedure.”

Moscow has repeatedly denied involvement in the downing of the Boeing 777. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia sees Friday's announcement "in connection with the disaster of the Malaysian Boeing as another blow to Russian-Dutch relations.”

Throughout the case, the Netherlands has acted “exclusively within the framework of anti-Russian logic, to which both technical and criminal investigations were subordinated,” Zakharova said. However, an international team of prosecutors investigating the case has, however, charged three Russians and a Ukrainian with involvement in bringing down the plane and the murder of all on board. The men are on trial in a Dutch court, although none have been extradited to the Netherlands to face justice.

Blok said much of the evidence the government will submit to the human rights court also is part of that criminal case. Prosecutors say they have evidence the missile that blew MH17 out of the sky was trucked into Ukraine from a Russian military base and the mobile launcher was later returned to Russia.

The Russian foreign ministry didn't immediately react. Konstantin Kosachev, head of the foreign affairs committee in the upper house of Russia's parliament, called the Dutch move “a strange initiative from every aspect” in remarks carried by the Interfax news agency.

"The investigation isn’t over yet, there have been no court verdicts on the national level yet and, finally, what does the European Court for Human Rights have to do with it?” Kosachev said. Friday's move is the latest legal maneuver by the Dutch government, which has long vowed to secure justice for victims and their loved ones. Separately, the government is pursuing Russia for state responsibility in the downing.

“The government attaches importance to continuing the meetings with Russia on the matter of state responsibility,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. “The purpose of these meetings is to find a solution that does justice to the enormous suffering and damage caused by the downing of Flight MH17.”

Blok said the twin legal tracks are headed toward the same goal. “From the onset, we have made clear that the downing of an airplane, civilian airplane, and 298 innocent casualties is such a severe breach of international law that we will pursue any venue to find the truth and bring justice to the relatives,” he said.

The show can't go on: Virus halts circus in Netherlands

April 03, 2020

DRACHTEN, Netherlands (AP) — Circus Renz Berlin’s fleet of blue, red and yellow trucks have had a fresh lick of paint over the winter. But now, as coronavirus measures shut down the entertainment industry across Europe, they have no place to go.

"It's catastrophic for everybody," said Sarina Renz, of the family circus that has been in existence since 1842. For the foreseeable future, the circus is parked up behind an equestrian center in a northern Dutch town, waiting and hoping for an end to the crisis.

The German circus’ animals, including eight Siberian steppe camels, 15 horses and a llama, are spending their time in sandy fields munching their way through the circus’ supply of food and supplies donated by locals.

"We have food, but not for long. We're already nearly through our reserves. Now other people have helped by bringing things for the coming weeks. We've got supplies from people, that's really fantastic."

There are 18 members of the extended Renz family on hand to look after the animals, other performers have already been sent home, Sarina said. Children from the family pass the time playing around the trucks and animals and get home schooling -- that’s new for most children in the Netherlands but not for the Renz family, who usually are moving from one show location to the next too often to attend a regular school.

For now, the family has to get used to a more stationary way of life, but one without the lifeblood of the circus: The public. "We're just used to performing our shows. That's our life,” says Sarina. “We live to make other people happy with our shows, our attractions."

Up in smoke: Coronavirus closures hit Dutch coffeeshops

March 15, 2020

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Trade at Amsterdam’s famed weed-selling coffeeshops suddenly went up in smoke Sunday night after the government ordered them closed along with all other restaurants and bars in the latest move to rein in the spread of the coronavirus.

Queues quickly formed outside coffeeshops in the Dutch capital and elsewhere as customers -- some facing three weeks of no school or work -- decided to buy some pot while they still could. The closures are set to last until at least April 6.

One woman, a health care worker who declined to give her name because of her job, said she rushed out after watching a livestream of a government press conference announcing the new restrictions. Health Care Minister Bruno Bruins made a point of mentioning that coffeeshops would be included in the closures.

“I don’t smoke much, but I thought if I have to sit inside for three weeks,” she told an Associated Press photographer as she waited patiently in line outside the Bullwackie coffeeshop in southern Amsterdam, where the menu includes a gram of Dutch “Amnesia” weed for 10 euros ($11).

Strong showing for pro-EU parties in Dutch EU vote

May 23, 2019

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Pro-European Dutch parties were predicted Thursday to win most of the country's seats in the European Parliament, with right-wing populist opponents of the European Union managing to take only four of the nation's 26 seats.

In a surprise forecast, the Dutch Labor Party of European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans became the country's biggest party in the 751-seat European Parliament, according to an Ipsos exit poll.

"What an unbelievable exit poll!" Labor leader Lodewijk Asscher told a gathering of cheering party faithful. The poll was published by Dutch national broadcaster NOS after polling stations closed Thursday evening in Netherlands. Earlier in the day, Dutch and British voters kicked off the first of four days of voting for the European Parliament in all of the EU's 28 nations.

Official results will only be announced after the last polling station in the EU closes late Sunday. The Dutch Labor party was forecast to win five seats, while the pro-European center right VVD of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte gained one seat to win a total of four seats.

"There is a clear majority of people in the Netherlands, if you count them altogether, who want the European Union to continue playing a role in tackling problems that need to be solved," Timmermans told NOS, speaking from Spain.

Timmermans is a broadly respected former Dutch foreign minister who is trying to become the next president of the European Commission. The Dutch right-wing populist group Forum for Democracy was forecast by the Ipsos exit poll to win three seats in its first European elections, but those gains didn't primarily come at the expense of Europe's mainstream parties. Instead, it appeared they came from other populists. The anti-Islam Party for Freedom led by firebrand lawmaker Geert Wilders lost three of its four EU seats, according to the poll.

The splintered result echoes Dutch domestic politics: There are 13 parties in the 150-seat national parliament. The United Kingdom was the only other EU country to vote Thursday, even as the nation remained in political turmoil over its plans to leave the bloc altogether. No exit polls were expected Thursday night from the UK voting.

The elections come as support is surging for populists and nationalists who want to rein in the EU's powers and strictly limit immigration. Meanwhile, Europe's traditional political powerhouses, both conservative and left-wing, insist that unity is the best buffer against the shifting economic and security challenges posed by an emerging new world order.

But populists across several countries have united to challenge those centrist forces. On Saturday, Italy's anti-migrant Interior Minister Matteo Salvini was joined at a rally by 10 other nationalist leaders, including far-right leaders Wilders, Marine Le Pen of France's National Rally party and Joerg Meuthen of the Alternative for Germany party.

Wilders vowed to keep fighting the populist cause even after his party's projected big defeat. "We had hoped for more seats," Wilders said in a statement. "But with one seat in the European Parliament we will, together with our European friends, fight even harder against the EU monster, Islam and mass-migration."

Voters across Europe are electing 751 lawmakers, although that number is set to drop to 705 when Britain eventually leaves the EU. The U.K. has 73 European lawmakers, who would lose their jobs when their country completes its messy divorce from the EU. Some of its seats will be reassigned to other EU member states.

The British vote may have a direct impact on the future of embattled Prime Minister Theresa May, whose Conservative Party appears to be losing support amid a prolonged Brexit impasse. May has tried but failed for months to get lawmakers in the British Parliament to back her plan to leave the EU.

Both the Conservatives and Labor in Britain were predicted to be heading for an electoral pasting in Thursday's vote, due to the chaos over Brexit. Results of the vote will be announced Sunday night, and a poor showing for the Conservatives would increase the calls for May to step down as party leader, which would set in motion a leadership contest.

Britain's Brexit party, led by Nigel Farage, has appeared to gain strength in recent voter surveys. Farage voted Thursday, then declared that he hopes to have the shortest possible tenure as a member of the European Parliament because he wants Britain to leave the EU as quickly as possible.

"If you want Brexit, you've got to vote Brexit," he said, warning lawmakers from Britain's two major parties — Conservatives and Labor — that they will be vanquished at Britain's next general election unless they respect voters' desire to leave the EU.

Voting in Britain was marred by the inability of hundreds of the 3 million EU citizens in Britain to vote despite having a legal right to do so. EU citizens who wanted to vote in Britain had to complete a form confirming they would not be voting in their homelands. Some say they did not receive the forms.

The Electoral Commission blamed the problem on the short notice that officials had to prepare for the election, which would not have been held in Britain if the country had left the EU in March, as planned.

Katz reported from London.

Turkey says 'Nazi remnant' dispute with Dutch has ended

October 03, 2018

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's foreign minister says the country is working with the Netherlands to end diplomatic tensions and that the days when Ankara described Dutch policies as "Nazi remnants" are behind them.

Turkey and the Netherlands reinstated ambassadors last month following a dispute triggered by a Dutch decision to bar Turkish officials from campaigning on Dutch soil for a 2017 referendum on increasing the powers of the president. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used the term "Nazi remnants" to criticize the Netherlands.

Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said at a joint news conference on Wednesday with Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu: "Today is a positive day in relations." Cavusoglu insisted that Turkey never accused the Dutch people of being "Nazis."

He added: "As we agreed, we left those days behind."

Dutch king and queen to travel to Britain for state visit

October 08, 2018

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands will travel to London later this month on a state visit that the Dutch government says will take them from Buckingham Palace to Brixton.

The government said Monday that the first state visit to Britain by a sitting Dutch monarch since Queen Beatrix in 1982 "re-affirms the excellent ties between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom as 'North Sea neighbors' based on shared values in the past, present and future."

The announcement comes as Britain is negotiating its divorce terms from the European Union, of which the Netherlands is a founding member. The Oct. 23-24 visit that will take the royals to appointments including a speech in Parliament, a banquet at Buckingham Palace and visit to the London neighborhood of Brixton.

Wildfires torment Portugal, Spain; French, Dutch feel heat

August 07, 2018

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Firefighters and anxious residents braced Tuesday for a fifth straight night of battling a major wildfire that is racing across tinder-dry forested hills in southern Portugal. The blaze is sending high plumes of smoke across the Algarve region's famous beaches and bringing criticism of authorities for failing to halt the flames.

A strong seasonal wind from the north known as a "nortada" was driving the fire south toward Silves, a town of about 6,000 people, after it narrowly missed the smaller town of Monchique. Several hundred people were evacuated, and 29 were hurt, one seriously, officials said.

Almost 1,200 firefighters supported by 16 aircraft and 358 vehicles were deployed around Monchique, a town of 2,000 people about 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Lisbon, where the blaze came within 500 meters (yards) of the local fire station.

An unknown number of homes — believed to number in the dozens, according to local reports — in the forested hills have burned down. With so many resources deployed, many residents asked why the fire was still burning, especially after 95 percent of it was under control on Monday.

Firefighters also publicly questioned the wisdom of the strategy to counter the flames, with some claiming poor organization was thwarting the operation. Monchique was identified as a high risk area months ago.

Firefighting is coordinated by the Civil Protection Agency, a government body overseen by the Ministry for the Interior, which oversees national defense. The National Association of Professional Firemen and the Professional Firemen's Trade Union issued a joint statement saying that the government's recent reorganization of firefighting capabilities need to be reassessed and rethought. The organizations asked for a "very urgent" meeting with the Minister of the Interior.

The minister, Eduardo Cabrita, told reporters authorities were switching coordination of the Monchique fire from the local Civil Protection Agency to the department's national operational command in Lisbon.

He declined to criticize the firefighting operation, saying the effort had been "notable." Portugal beefed up its wildfire response over the winter after 109 people died last year in forest blazes amid a severe drought.

Vitor Vaz Pinto, the Civil Protection Agency's district commander, said the weather forecast around Monchique was "unfavorable," with a gusting wind from the north, known as a "nortada." Temperatures were forecast to reach 35 C (95 F) — normal for August in southern Portugal.

The Iberian peninsula endured some record heat last weekend, with temperatures exceeding 45 C (113 F), which parched large areas. Spanish emergency services said a wildfire Tuesday near Valencia, on the Mediterranean coast, was almost under control after two dozen aircraft were brought in. The blaze forced the evacuation of around 2,500 people.

The high temperatures moved northward to France. The hottest weather was expected in central and northeastern France, with temperatures that could reach 40 C (104 F). Dutch authorities evacuated four campsites as a brush fire swept through parched countryside in the eastern Netherlands, where temperatures were in the mid-30s C (90s F). The regional security service said that firefighters from three provinces were battling the blaze Tuesday in Wateren, 135 kilometers (85 miles) northeast of Amsterdam.