News

NS will run fewer trains on several routes on Monday and Tuesday after heavy rain, fallen trees and lightning disrupted rail infrastructure. The rail operator expects only limited disruption, with most affected routes located in the Randstad region.

Lightning strikes triggered several fires across the Netherlands as severe thunderstorms moved through the country. Firefighters contained the incidents, preventing more extensive damage, although two calves died after a strike at a farm in Groningen.

The KNMI has downgraded weather warnings in the western Netherlands to code yellow as coastal heat begins to lift, though code orange and red alerts remain active across central and eastern provinces. While the extreme temperatures are expected to subside by mid-evening, the safety institute warns that severe thunderstorms with high wind gusts and hail will sweep across the country overnight.

President Donald Trump has threatened to immediately impose a 100% import tariff on all goods from any European nation that implements a digital services tax targeting American tech giants. In response, the European Commission defended its member states' sovereign right to regulate their own economic activities and vowed to act quickly and forcefully against any potential U.S. levies.

The KNMI has issued an orange alert due to thunderstorms and warns that there is a local risk of disruption and damage caused by rain, strong gusts of wind, large hailstones, and lightning.

With a focus on moving from policy-making to street-level results, Eindhoven’s newly appointed board of seven aldermen prepares to tackle the housing crisis, net congestion, and social fragmentation through a mix of experienced leadership and fresh regional perspectives.

A study by the World Weather Attribution group and the KNMI concludes that Europe's current heatwave is "unmistakably" driven by climate change, making today's extreme temperatures virtually impossible fifty years ago. Researchers found that a similar weather pattern in 1976 would have been about 3.5°C cooler, while the current stifling nights are now over a hundred times more likely than during the major 2003 heatwave due to fossil fuel emissions. With nearly half of 854 monitored European cities hitting their highest-ever heat stress levels, Red Cross and climate experts warn of a dangerous gap between rapid global warming and infrastructure that simply wasn't built to withstand it.

The Dutch government has introduced emergency legislation requiring the industry and transport sectors to halve their nitrogen emissions by 2035 compared to 2019 levels, backed by a €250 million funding package. The one-off investment splits €125 million toward curbing pollution in shipping, road traffic, and construction through measures like electrification, with the other €125 million targeting industrial plants near vulnerable nature reserves. Relying on existing frameworks like the European CO2 emissions trading system to help drive down nitrogen oxides and ammonia, the Cabinet warned that additional regulatory measures will be enforced if these sectors—alongside agriculture, which faces a separate 42% to 46% reduction target—fail to meet the benchmarks.