Netherlands

THE HAGUE, Feb 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Netherlands has turned down an offer by Russia to prosecute three men suspected of involvement in the 2014 downing of a passenger jet over eastern Ukraine, the Dutch justice minister said.

Ferd Grapperhaus said Moscow sent a letter in October last year in which it asked whether the Dutch would consider transferring the criminal prosecution of three suspects to Russia.

THE HAGUE, Feb 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Dutch farm ministry has ordered all commercial poultry farmers should keep their birds confined indoors as of midnight on Tuesday following reports of a German outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N8 bird flu virus.

The measures are to ensure that Dutch commercial poultry do not catch the disease from potentially infected wild birds from neighbouring Germany, the ministry said in a press release.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The United Nations’ highest court is set to rule Thursday on whether to order Myanmar to halt what has been described as a genocidal campaign against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority.

The International Court of Justice decision comes in a case brought by the African nation of Gambia on behalf of an organization of Muslim nations that accuses Myanmar of genocide in its crackdown on the Rohingya.

17 Jan 2019; MEMO: The Dutch government has criticised the conduct of pro-Israel advocacy group NGO Monitor, singling out the unreliability of their accusations against human rights defenders.

THE HAGUE, January 4. /TASS/: Two acrobats from Russia fell from the height of 10 meters during the World Christmas Circus show in Amsterdam, the Dutch news agency ANP reported.

A man and a woman fell at the same time from the height of about ten meters and the man dropped on the woman at the same time. "This entails a couple from Russia performing the act known as ‘Sky Angels," producer Henk van der Meijden said. "They are known by performing without the safety net," he added.

30 Dec 2019; MEMO: The Senior Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, has rejected Israeli allegations that she is siding with the Palestinians with regard to the possible probe into alleged war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories, Al-Watan Voice reported on Sunday.

“The ICC works on the principle of personal responsibility for crimes,” explained Bensouda. “It does not deal with conflicts among states.”

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders on Saturday said he had revived his plan to hold a contest for cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad, more than a year after canceling such an event out of fear for attacks in the Netherlands.

In a post on Twitter late on Saturday, Wilders called on people to send in their Mohammad cartoons.

“Freedom of speech must prevail over violence and Islamic fatwa’s”, the leader of the largest opposition party in the Dutch parliament wrote.

The Hague, Dec 21 (AFP/PTI) The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has said she wanted to open a full investigation into alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories, sparking a furious reaction from Israel and condemnation from the United States.

The Palestinians welcomed the move by the ICC as a "long overdue step" following a nearly five-year preliminary probe by the prosecutor into the situation since the 2014 war in Gaza.

RAMALLAH, Palestine, Dec 21 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, hailed the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC), to open the way for the Palestinians to sue Israel.

He made the remarks at an ongoing session attended by members of the revolutionary council of his Fatah party, in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

“This is a historic day, and now any Palestinian who gets injured by the occupier (Israel), can file a case to the criminal court,” said Abbas.

HAGUE, Dec 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi urged UN judges to throw out a genocide case against Myanmar, warning it risked reigniting the crisis that forced nearly three-quarters of a million Rohingya Muslims from their homes.

In her closing arguments after a three-day hearing at the International Court of Justice, Myanmar’s de facto civilian leader issued a stark warning to judges that allowing The Gambia’s case against Myanmar to go ahead could “undermine reconciliation”.