Until recently, the World Heritage site of Kinderdijk in The Netherlands had an outdated sewage septic system that could potentially leak into surface water. For hundreds of years the site, including 18th-century windmills, dikes and old farmhouses, has protected the surrounding area from flooding. Now a new Flygt pressure sewage system from Xylem has reduced its environmental impact and increased safety. Since UNESCO put Kinderdijk on the World Heritage List in 1997, it has become an important

Smarter Packaging magazine aims to inspire new, smarter packaging solutions and highlight BillerudKorsnäs values and products. The success stories featured in the magazine show that behind every great packaging solution there’s a dedicated team of people working to find the smartest, most efficient and most attractive way of protecting and promoting a product. Two great examples from this issue are medical-grade kraft paper and a heart-shaped gift box for Nivea Creme.

'Terrorisme heeft geen plaats in Tunesië', zegt Abel-Baki (43), docent wiskunde aan een middelbare school. 'Ze kunnen alle bloemen wegmaaien, maar de lente komt toch wel. Ja hoor, ik ben nog optimistisch over de toekomst.' Hij staat met zijn collega Ismail (40), docent geschiedenis, bij een manifestatie, georganiseerd door maatschappelijke organisaties voor de hek van het Bardo Museum. Het is de dag na de bloedige aanslag in dit museum. Er staan nog altijd gepantserde politiewagens en soldaten m

In de nacht van 16 februari rond half twee ging de deurbel bij Hussain Jawad (27), voorzitter van de European-Bahraini Organisation for Human Rights (EBOHR). Hij, zijn vrouw Asma Darwish (24) en 2-jarige zoontje Parweez schrokken wakker. 15 gemaskerde politieagenten in burgerkleding stonden voor de deur. Ze doorzochten het huis en namen Jawads mobiele telefoon en paspoort in beslag. Zijn vrouw en zoontje keken toe hoe hij weggevoerd werd naar een busje dat buiten stond te wachten. In het golfst

"We hebben alles aan hem te danken", zegt één van de drie jonge mannen, die naast een bruine rotswand op het strand aan de Perzische Golf aan het barbecuen zijn, met een glimlach over de Omaanse sultan Qaboos bin Said al-Said. Hij wappert met een krant om het vuur wat hoger op te stoken. Net als zijn vrienden draagt hij een wit traditioneel Omaans hoofddeksel met een geometrisch motief. Even verderop ligt het stadje Khasab op het afgelegen schiereiland Moesandam. Over de gezondheid van Qaboos en

Khasab, Oman: The gorge just outside Khasab on Oman's northern Musandam Peninsula is deserted except for two shepherds. Nevertheless, the twentysomethings in their long white robes cast a furtive look around when asked about their next monarch. "It's top secret," says one of them, playing with his phone. "We don't talk about that." Everyone knows the stories about loose-lipped Omanis who are never heard from again. Yet the question of who will succeed the sultan has become more pressing than e

The majority of the hunger strikers are former activists from the left-wing Tunisian General Students’ Union (MEE/Thessa Lageman) UPDATE: This hunger strike ended on 21 April, Wael Nawar, the General Students’ Union UGET’s general secretary told MEE. On that day, the 17 hunger strikers in Tunis signed an agreement with the government that a committee would be formed to find suitable jobs for them. According to Nawar, the former hunger strikers have faith that this committee, which consists of o

"Day and night I had to be ready," said 24-year-old Charisse, a Filipina maid who worked in a Kuwaiti household for a year and a half. "At night, I could only sleep for an hour or two. The husband was nice, but his wife and three children beat me and I was not allowed any contact with my family." Her friend Malaya, 29, also worked in a Kuwaiti household until very recently. "I was given food once a day, and only leftovers, like a dog. Very unsanitary," Malaya said. "At one point I asked the lady of the house if she'd rather have a robot. She responded by spitting on me and hitting me with a broom."

The Hague, Netherlands - Three Dutch citizens were arrested last week on suspicion of recruiting for the hard-line Islamic State (IS) group in its armed struggle in Syria and Iraq, as tensions between radical Muslims and Holland's far-right Pro Patria organisation continue to rise. The men detained come from The Hague, the city that positions itself as an international city of peace and justice, and which Islamic State sympathisers have also named "Jihad City". Mayor of The Hague, Jozias van Aartsen, said during a press conference that they had caught "big fish" who had "sown hatred and incited terrorism" on social media and news sites. One of those detained is 32-year-old Azzedine Choukoud, known as Abou Moussa, a charismatic Dutchman of Moroccan descent. He has been involved in demonstrations in recent years, and has been in contact with fighters in Syria. In a YouTube video, he congratulated the Muslim community on the establishment of the caliphate in Iraq and Syria. A few young men hold up a black IS flag in the background. According to the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service, the Islamic State movement in the Netherlands amounts to a few hundred followers and several thousand sympathisers. Edwin Bakker, director of the Centre for Terrorism and Counterterrorism at Leiden University, estimated that The Hague's Islamic State supporters consists of 200 men.

The Dutch Indies, 1945-1949. Only about 10 percent of the Indonesian population wanted independence. These “roving gangs” needed to be stopped, but there was definitely no war raging. At least, this was the picture created for the Dutch by a successful propaganda war. The information given to the Dutch population at the time of the Indonesian War of Independence was misleading, according to Dutch historian Louis Zweers. The Dutch military communication service decided which photos and informati