People in the Netherlands are voting today in the country's general election.

UPDATE 1pm: Protestors have clashed with riot police after authorities in the Netherlands cancelled a planned rally in support of Turkey’s President.

European drug experts report a “dramatic increase” in the potency of high-strength ecstasy tablets, including so-called ‘super pills’.

In a sweeping victory for Dutch environmental activists that could have global repercussions, a court ordered the government to cut the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25% by 2020.

Despite its number one ranking and its many admirers both here and abroad, the Dutch health care system is still a work in progress, writes Dan Buckley

Manchester United will today reveal the first definitive figures on the financial cost of missing out on the Champions League.

SNAKE STUNT

Sweden’s biggest submarine hunt since the dying days of the Soviet Union has put countries around the Baltic Sea on edge.

Refugees facing imprisonment in their country of origin because they are gay may have sufficient grounds to be granted asylum in Europe, the EU’s top court says.

The Netherlands has said it will adopt the proposed EU Robin Hood tax — the financial transaction tax — provided it is not imposed on pension funds.

Growth the buzzword in PMs’ graveyard

The Netherlands is in the same fiscal boat as the leading peripheral eurozone states it has criticised for missing budget targets, and it needs spending cuts and structural reforms to revive a slumping economy, state think-tank CPB said.

GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI is optimistic that Ireland will host England in a long-awaited friendly in Dublin next year — assuming, of course, that the two countries are not scheduled to meet in the European Championship finals, the draw for which takes place in Kiev on December 2.

A 56-YEAR-OLD German is believed to be the “big fish” in an international drugs gang which had been storing 80kg of cocaine in a shed in a remote village in Co Cork.

ICELAND’S president accused European countries yesterday of having bullied it into agreeing to guarantee repayment of the debts of a failed bank, reviving a dispute with Britain and the Netherlands, whose citizens are owed billions.

DUTCH authorities can ban coffee shops from selling marijuana to foreigners, the European Court of Justice has ruled.

Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness claims his club will fight "to the bitter end" to receive compensation from the Dutch Football Federation for the injury to Arjen Robben.

The Brazilian Football Federation have confirmed Dunga has been dismissed following the country's elimination from the World Cup.

DUTCH-owned ACC bank pulled the finger out of a dyke which held back a tide of debt washing around west Cork-based developers Fleming Construction.

The European Commission today recommended the launch of EU membership negotiations with Iceland.

DUTCH-owned ACC Bank is continuing its disposal of Irish bank branches in 2010, it has just confirmed at year’s end.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed the club intend to seek compensation from the Dutch football federation over the ankle injury suffered by striker Robin van Persie.

Ryanair today announced net profits of €136.5m for the first quarter 2009, a €115.5m (550%) increase over last year’s Q1 figure.

PASSENGER numbers at Dublin Airport are likely to be down by as much as 300,000 last month compared with June last year.

EU leaders will decide this evening whether to agree to Ireland’s Lisbon guarantees and if they will be written into some future treaty.

Holland 3 Scotland 0

EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels today held preliminary talks on informal calls from Washington to grant asylum to as many as 60 Guantanamo inmates against whom America has insufficient evidence to prosecute, but who cannot be sent back to their own countries once Guantanamo closes, for fear of torture and persecution.

Zimbabwe oppposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has today sought refuge in the Dutch Embassy in Harare.

Holland 2 Romania 0

Holland 1 Wales 0

MY wife and I consider ourselves very pro-EU. We have benefited more than most from the fact that Ireland is part of the union.

THE controversial risk equalisation scheme in Ireland — whereby elderly and ill people insured by the largely State- owned VHI are shielded from higher health insurance premiums — has been approved by the European Court of Justice.

A DUTCH expert has predicted that in the most environmentally friendly scenario, integrated renewable sources — biomass, wind, hydro and solar — could fill up to 75% of the world’s long-term energy needs.

Ireland 0 Holland 1

Ireland 0 Netherlands 6

Barclays’ rivals in the battle for ABN Amro today said they would reveal their hand over a potential counter-bid for the Dutch bank on Tuesday.

Europeans are preparing to mark the half-century birthday of the EU with pomp and proclamations this month in Berlin.

Ireland 53 Netherlands 77

DESPITE being held to a 1-1 draw in Georgia on Saturday, Ukraine became the first European nation to qualify for the next year’s World Cup.

Oil giant Shell was today tying up the loose ends of its plan to unify its board and sweep aside 100 years of history.

The Dutch began voting in their first national referendum today, choosing whether to accept – or more likely, reject – a proposed European Union constitution.

Germany has become the ninth country to approve Europe Union’s new constitution, but Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder did not stick around to celebrate after the vote: He hopped on a jet to rally voters in France.

DUTCH authorities reacted with horror to the death of one of the country’s soldiers in Iraq but vowed that the Netherlands would not bow to terror and would maintain its troops in the country.

IRELAND’S bid to win cricket’s European Championships was left in tatters despite a commanding win in their final match against whipping-boys Denmark.