The Benelux Union or Benelux is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in Western Europe:Belgium,the Netherlands,and Luxembourg. The name is a blend word formed from joining the first few letters of each country's name and was first used to name the customs agreement that initiated the union. It is now used more generally to refer to the geographic,economic,and cultural grouping of the three countries.
The Netherlands Antilles was a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The country consisted of several island territories located in the Caribbean Sea. The islands were also informally known as the Dutch Antilles. The country came into being in 1954 as the autonomous successor of the Dutch colony of Curaçao and Dependencies. The Antilles were dissolved in 2010. The Dutch colony of Surinam,although relatively close by on the continent of South America,did not become part of the Netherlands Antilles but became a separate autonomous country in 1954. All the island territories that belonged to the Netherlands Antilles remain part of the kingdom today,although the legal status of each differs. As a group they are still commonly called the Dutch Caribbean,regardless of their legal status. People from this former territory continue to be called Antilleans in the Netherlands.
Máxima is Queen of the Netherlands as the wife of King Willem-Alexander.
Since 1 January 2023,there have been 342 regular municipalities and three special municipalities in the Netherlands. The latter is the status of three of the six island territories that make up the Dutch Caribbean. Municipalities are the second-level administrative division,or public bodies,in the Netherlands and are subdivisions of their respective provinces. Their duties are delegated to them by the central government and they are ruled by a municipal council that is elected every four years. Municipal mergers have reduced the total number of municipalities by two-thirds since the first official boundaries were created in the mid 19th century. Municipalities themselves are informally subdivided into districts and neighbourhoods for administrative and statistical purposes.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in the Netherlands since 1 April 2001. A bill for the legalisation of same-sex marriage was passed in the House of Representatives by 109 votes to 33 on 12 September 2000 and by the Senate by 49 votes to 26 on 19 December 2000. The law received royal assent by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands on 21 December 2000 and took effect on 1 April 2001. The Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. Polling suggests that a significant majority of Dutch people support the legal recognition of same-sex marriage.
Het Parool is an Amsterdam-based daily newspaper. It was first published on 10 February 1941 as a resistance paper during the German occupation of the Netherlands (1940–1945). In English,its name means The Password or The Motto.
Saba is a Caribbean island and the smallest special municipality of the Netherlands. It consists largely of the dormant volcano Mount Scenery,which at 887 metres (2,910 ft) is the highest point of the entire Kingdom of the Netherlands. The island lies in the northern Leeward Islands portion of the West Indies,southeast of the Virgin Islands. Together with Bonaire and Sint Eustatius it forms the BES islands,also known as the Caribbean Netherlands.
Sint Eustatius,known locally as Statia,is an island in the Caribbean. It is a special municipality of the Netherlands.
Anthony Gregory Brown is an American lawyer and politician serving as the attorney general of Maryland. He also served as the U.S. representative for Maryland's 4th congressional district from 2017 to 2023 and as lieutenant governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for governor in the 2014 election,losing to Republican Larry Hogan in a close race.
The Maritime Museum is a maritime museum in Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
Julien Gorius is a former French professional footballer who used to be sporting director for RWDM47 in the Belgian First Division B.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands,commonly known simply as the Netherlands,is a sovereign state consisting of a collection of constituent territories united under the monarch of the Netherlands,who functions as head of state. The realm is not a federation;it is a unitary monarchy with its largest subdivision,the eponymous Netherlands,predominantly located in Northwestern Europe and with several smaller island territories located in the Caribbean.
The Caribbean Netherlands is a geographic region of the Netherlands located outside of Europe,in the Caribbean,consisting of three special municipalities. These are the islands of Bonaire,Sint Eustatius and Saba,as they are also known in legislation,or the BES islands for short. The islands are officially classified as public bodies in the Netherlands and as overseas territories of the European Union;as such,European Union law does not automatically apply to them.
Jonathan Guus Ambrose Johnson has been the island governor of Saba since 2008.
The Constitutional Court of Sint Maarten is a court of Sint Maarten. As a constitutional court it evaluates the constitutionality of the provisions of legislation which is approved by the Estates of Sint Maarten and signed into law,but which has not entered into force. Procedures by the court may be initiated only by the ombudsman of Sint Maarten. As of July 2016,the court has decided two cases. Sint Maarten is the only country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands with a constitutional court.
Evelina Betancourt-Anthony is an Aruban-born Bonairean health administrator and politician. From 1 December 2015 she has served as the Deputy Lieutenant Governor of the island and in the absence of the Island Governor fills the duties of that office.
Wycliffe Sylvester Smith is a Sint Maarten politician,former pastor and poet. Smith briefly served as prime minister of Sint Maarten in 2019. From 1983 to 1989 he was the lieutenant governor of Saba.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Bonaire was part of the ongoing global viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19),which was confirmed to have reached the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire on 16 April 2020. On 28 April,all cases recovered. On 14 July,two new cases were discovered. On 13 August,all cases recovered.
Otto Rudolf Anthony Beaujon was a civil servant and politician of the Netherlands Antilles. Beaujon served as Speaker of the Estates of the Netherlands Antilles between 1966 and 1968,and Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles from 1 June 1971 until 15 November 1972.
