Thursday January 9, 2003, The Hague, Zh, Netherlands

On May 16, 2006 Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a right-wing Dutch lawmaker and critic of Islam, said she was resigning as a member of parliament and would leave The Netherlands following a furor over lies on her asylum application. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, born in Mogadishu (Somali),1967. Fled to the Netherlands to escape a forced marriage arranged by her father. Now living in the Netherlands and a member of the Dutch Parliament. Hirsi Ali wrote the script for the film made by Theo van Gogh "Submission" shown on Dutch television, a film about violence against women in Islamic societies. Van Gogh was killed in Amsterdam 2th of november 2004. A letter left on his body contained death threats against Hirsi Ali and was signed by a suspected terrorist group.

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Sunday August 13, 2006, Galicie, Spain

Fires rage across northwestern Spain

Hundreds of paratroopers joined the struggle to control scores of forest fires in northwestern Spain, while more than 20 suspected arsonists have been arrested. Defense Minister Jose Antonio Alonso, who visited firefighting crews and charred areas, announced Saturday that the government has deployed 400 paratroopers to help in the prevention and control of fires in sensitive areas such as airports or electric power stations. Thousands of firefighters and soldiers and hundreds volunteers tackled the flames throughout the night. Of 71 blazes in the northern Galicia region, 28 had been brought under control, regional environment spokesman Alfredo Suarez said. More than a week of wildfires has charred more than nearly 25,000 acres of forest and scrubland, mainly between the port city of Vigo and the regional capital of Santiago de Compostela, an area known for its fjord-like sea inlets. A total of 24 people have been arrested since Aug. 1 on suspicion of deliberately starting many of the fires, said Emilio Perez Tourino, leader of the regional government of Galicia. He said that 15,000 people are working daily to fight the blazes in Galicia.

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Thursday September 14, 2006, Peshawar, North West Frontier Province, Pakistan

Cheap Afghan heroin floods Peshawar's streets

More than 6,000 tons of opium have been harvested from Afghan poppies so far in 2006. Efforts by coalition troops to eradicate poppy production have failed and the easily-obtainable and cheap drug created from the plant has flooded Pakistan's North West frontier province, creating thousands of addicts who can obtain a daily dose of crude heroin for a mere 1.20 euros. A gram of high quality heroin isn't much more and can be purchased for about 4 euros. Western officials are lamenting the record harvest which fuels insurgency in western Asia, feeds international mafias and causes as many as a hundred-thousands deaths every year.

A Pakistani boy holds a small packet of hashish along the border area between Peshawar and Pakistan's tribal areas.

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Tuesday November 2, 2004, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Filmmaker Theo van Gogh assassinated in Netherlands

A Dutch filmmaker, Theo van Gogh 47, was shot and stabbed to death on November 2nd as he cycled through Amsterdam. The controversial filmmaker and writer recently made a short film called "Submission" which criticizes Islamic violence against women. The gunman was shot in the leg and arrested after a firefight with the police. A policeman and a bystander also received minor wounds. The suspect, a 26 year old man of dual Dutch-Moroccan nationality, left a note on the victim's body, although the note's content has still not been made public. The minister of justice, Piet Hein Donner, said the Dutch secret service know the suspect was affiliated with a radical Islamic fundamentalist group. Van Gogh, a great-grandnephew of the painter Vincent van Gogh, was an advocate for freedom of speech. Several thousands of Dutch citizens gathered in the city on Tuesday evening in a noisy protest. In the Warmoestraat an artist spontaniously paints the portret of van Gogh. The next day jongsters were spitting on the portret.

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Wednesday March 7, 2007, Skenderaj, Kosovo, Kosovo

Kosovo could be headed for independence

Commemoration of the massacre in Skenderaj. One of the founders of the UCK, (KLA, Kosovo Liberation Army) was killed together with his entire family by the serbian army which sparked the war in 1999. Thousands of Kosovars gathered in the village to commemorate.

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Wednesday February 25, 2009, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Turkish airlines flight crashes outside Amsterdam

Turkish Airlines flight TK1951 bound for Amsterdam, crashed into a field about two miles short of a runway at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. The Boeing 737-800 broke into three pieces on impact killing nine people and seriously injuring more than 50.

Emergency workers on the scene of the crash in front of the split fuselage of the plane

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Saturday February 11, 2006, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Muslims protest cartoons in Holland

Cartoon protests in the centre of Amsterdam. Some 300 demonstrators started peacefully, it sahould have become a silent demonstration but soon the crowd started shouting. The elderly prayed on the square 'de Dam', after the demonstration some 50 youngsters started rioting in the shopping streets around the square. A pocket Koran is held by one of the demonstrators.

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Tuesday March 28, 2006, Paris, France

Protesters clash with riot police in Paris

Protesters took to the streets of Paris for yet another day of demonstrations against the government's CPE workers contract. The widely unpopular contract allows employers to easily terminate the employment of workers under the age of 26 during the first two years of their employment.

Protesters are sprayed with water canons.

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Tuesday March 6, 2007, Pristina, Kosovo, Kosovo

Kosovo could be headed for independence

Gipsy camp, Roma camp, just next to the energy plant the Roma live in a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs), it was suppost to be a temporarily camp but they live their now for 7 years.

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Thursday June 12, 2008, Leiden, Netherlands

Hamid Karzai on official visit to the Netherlands

Afghan President Hamid Karzai delivers remarks at the University of Leiden during a two-day official visit. Karzai began his Dutch visit before a scheduled donors' conference in Paris, where he is expected to ask for $50.1 billion in support for the struggling nation.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Tuesday March 31, 2009, The Hague, Netherlands

Holland hosts International Conference on Afghanistan

The Netherlands hosts the 'International Conference on Afghanistan', together with the United Nations and the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan with 73 countries present to support Afghanistan and look at the current political, security, and development issues.

Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen (L) and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (R)

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Saturday November 4, 2006, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Jordaan neighborhood in Amsterdam

A boat on the canal, the Prinsengracht

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Monday August 14, 2006, Costa da Morte, Galicia, Spain

Forest fires sweep through northwestern Spain

More than a week of forest fires in northwestern Spain has left some 25,000 acres of forest and scrubland charred. Hundreds of volunteers have joined forces with firefighters and soldiers to battle the flames in the region of Galicia. Twenty-four people have been arrested in recent weeks on suspicion of having deliberately started many of the fires that have swept through the area.

Local residents watch plumes of smoke emerge from an approaching brush fire.

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Wednesday September 13, 2006, Peshawar, North West Frontier Province, Pakistan

Cheap Afghan heroin floods Peshawar's streets

More than 6,000 tons of opium have been harvested from Afghan poppies so far in 2006. Efforts by coalition troops to eradicate poppy production have failed and the easily-obtainable and cheap drug created from the plant has flooded Pakistan's North West frontier province, creating thousands of addicts who can obtain a daily dose of crude heroin for a mere 1.20 euros. A gram of high quality heroin isn't much more and can be purchased for about 4 euros. Western officials are lamenting the record harvest which fuels insurgency in western Asia, feeds international mafias and causes as many as a hundred-thousands deaths every year.

Pakistani addicts smoke heroin beneath a blanket.

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Wednesday March 7, 2007, Skenderaj, Kosovo, Kosovo

Kosovo could be headed for independence

Commemoration of the massacre in Skenderaj. One of the founders of the UCK, (KLA, Kosovo Liberation Army) was killed together with his entire family by the serbian army which sparked the war in 1999. Thousands of Kosovars gathered in the village to commemorate.

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Wednesday September 13, 2006, Peshawar, North West Frontier Province, Pakistan

Cheap Afghan heroin floods Peshawar's streets

More than 6,000 tons of opium have been harvested from Afghan poppies so far in 2006. Efforts by coalition troops to eradicate poppy production have failed and the easily-obtainable and cheap drug created from the plant has flooded Pakistan's North West frontier province, creating thousands of addicts who can obtain a daily dose of crude heroin for a mere 1.20 euros. A gram of high quality heroin isn't much more and can be purchased for about 4 euros. Western officials are lamenting the record harvest which fuels insurgency in western Asia, feeds international mafias and causes as many as a hundred-thousands deaths every year.

Near Peshawar's Karkhano Market, drug addicts smoke heroin along a side street.

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Monday August 14, 2006, Costa da Morte, Galicia, Spain

Forest fires sweep through northwestern Spain

More than a week of forest fires in northwestern Spain has left some 25,000 acres of forest and scrubland charred. Hundreds of volunteers have joined forces with firefighters and soldiers to battle the flames in the region of Galicia. Twenty-four people have been arrested in recent weeks on suspicion of having deliberately started many of the fires that have swept through the area.

Firefighters battle a brush fire.

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Friday September 8, 2006, Muzaffarabad, Kashmir, Pakistan

Pakistanis still in shelters a year after Kashmir quake

Survivors of the earthquake live in refugee camps (Egro Tech Camp) along the Kishanganga river. Heat, monsoon-rains, mudstreams, and an upcoming cold winter makes life harsh in the shelters. A tent is used as school.

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Friday September 15, 2006, Peshawar, North West Frontier Province, Pakistan

Pakistan, Peshawar, 2006-09-15, crowded streets in Peshawar. ©Taco van der Eb/ Polaris

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Friday April 16, 2004, Tokyo, Japan

Japenese youth live trendy life-style

Shinsuke Ito, 24 Occupation: "I work somewhere as a telemarketer. I like being able to structure my own free time. This job allows me to do that." Clothes: "My clothes have to be simple, but go with each other. I take the time in the morning to choose what I'm going to wear." Dream: "I would like to be a clothing designer later. I know it is very difficult, but I'd like to try it." The Netherlands: "My image of the Netherlands.... No, sorry, no idea. I was once in Greece. Maybe it's a little like that?"

Shinsuke Ito

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Saturday February 11, 2006, Amsterdam, Zh, Netherlands

Muslims protest cartoons in Holland

Cartoon protests in the centre of Amsterdam. Some 300 demonstrators started peacefully, it sahould have become a silent demonstration but soon the crowd started shouting. The elderly prayed on the square 'de Dam', after the demonstration some 50 jongsters started rioting in the shopping streets around the square.

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Monday August 14, 2006, Costa da Morte, Galicia, Spain

Forest fires sweep through northwestern Spain

More than a week of forest fires in northwestern Spain has left some 25,000 acres of forest and scrubland charred. Hundreds of volunteers have joined forces with firefighters and soldiers to battle the flames in the region of Galicia. Twenty-four people have been arrested in recent weeks on suspicion of having deliberately started many of the fires that have swept through the area.

Firefighters battle a brush fire.

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Wednesday September 17, 2008, The Hague, Holland

Geert Wilders nationalist Dutch MP

Politician and member of the Dutch parliament, Geert Wilders of the PVV party, Party for Freedom, which he founded and leads, has strong anti Islam ideas and calls the Quran a fascist book. Fitna is a 2008 short film by Geert Wilders that explores Qur'anic motivations for terrorism, Islamic universalism, and Islam in the Netherlands. The film's title comes from the Arabic word Fitna which is used to describe "striving in the way of Almighty God", or a "test of faith in times of trial". It is the subject of an international controversy and debate on the limits of free speech. In January 2009 a Dutch court ordered prosecutors to try him for making anti-Islamic statements. "In a democratic system, hate speech is considered so serious that it is in the general interest to... draw a clear line," the court in Amsterdam said. Mr Wilders said the judgement was an "attack on the freedom of expression"

Geert Wilders

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Tuesday April 4, 2006, Paris, France

Thousands participate in demonstration against employment laws in Paris

An estimated one million people participated in protests and demonstrations throughout France as Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin refused to bend to the demand that the government scrap the First Employment Contract (CPE) law, that would allow employers to terminate employment, without any reason or notice, within a two year period for under 26 year-olds. Ministers say the law will reduce high youth unemployment but opponents fear it will entrench job insecurity.

In front off the march walks a line of the CRT, the riot police.

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Tuesday March 6, 2007, Pristina, Kosovo, Kosovo

Kosovo could be headed for independence

Gipsy camp, Roma camp, just next to the energy plant the Roma live in a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs), it was suppost to be a temporarily camp but they live their now for 7 years.

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Monday August 14, 2006, Costa da Morte, Galicia, Spain

Forest fires sweep through northwestern Spain

More than a week of forest fires in northwestern Spain has left some 25,000 acres of forest and scrubland charred. Hundreds of volunteers have joined forces with firefighters and soldiers to battle the flames in the region of Galicia. Twenty-four people have been arrested in recent weeks on suspicion of having deliberately started many of the fires that have swept through the area.

A firefighter stands amid smoke while battling an approaching brush fire.

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Thursday October 16, 2008, Leiden, Netherlands

Troubled Fortis bank bought by Dutch government

The Netherlands has nationalized the Dutch banking and insurance activities of Fortis after the troubled financial services company hit an acute cash crunch. The new government assets include Fortis's interest in ABN AMRO, the Dutch bank it bought in a consortium with Royal Bank of Scotland last year for 72 billion euros. Earlier Belgium-based Fortis had received an 11.2 billion-euro ($16 billion) rescue from Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg and said it plans to sell its ABN Amro assets.

Fortis Bank offices

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Friday September 8, 2006, Muzaffarabad, Kashmir, Pakistan

Pakistanis still in shelters a year after Kashmir quake

Houses destroyed by the earthquake in October 2005. The rubble is mainly removed by hand, many places in town are impossible to be reached by bulldozers and trucks. Not much progress has been made since october 2005 and corpses still lay under the rubble.

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Monday November 7, 2005, Brussels, Netherlands

Sudanese government expels UN Mission chief Jan Pronk

The head of the United Nations Mission in Sudan, Jan Pronk, has left the country after being expelled by the Sudanese government. Plonk had drawn the ire of the government in Khartoum after writing about Sudanese Army defeats in Darfur and low morale among national troops.

Jan Pronk speaks at the Hague.

Credit: Taco van der Eb / Polaris

Taco van der Eb