Netherlands

Windmills and wooden shoes. No other European country is as easily identifiable as the Netherlands from such a short list of items. Yet many travelers there never see a working windmill, and few Dutch people wear wooden shoes. Perhaps it's because the Netherlands is such a tiny country (three-quarters the size of New Jersey), yet once was one of the world's great sea powers, that we Americans think of it primarily in quaint images of its past. Or perhaps it is the tulips. The Netherlands is a major commercial center, a big exporter of natural gas. But adrift among millions of blooming Dutch tulips in April and most of May, it's hard for the visitor to remember anything of world commerce or energy for industry.

When the Villanova coaches compiled their wish list before last season, they had four wishes - a point guard, a couple of scorers and another big man. It took until early June, but their wishes have been granted. Last weekend, Villanova got a verbal commitment from 6-10 Jair Veldhuis, a native of the Netherlands who has been in this country for two years and led Tamalpais High of Mill Valley, Calif. (north of San Francisco) to the state IV championship last season. It was his only year of high school basketball here, as he had to sit out the previous season under transfer rules.

U.S. diplomats began a terror-alert telephone campaign yesterday, calling the 10,000 Americans in the Netherlands to warn them of possible terrorist acts against U.S. interests here. "We call the larger concentrations of Americans, a firm or a school for Americans, and we let them know, and they let other people know," said spokesman Sam Wunder at the U.S. Embassy in the Hague. The telephone campaign by personnel at the embassy and at the U.S. consulates in Amsterdam and Rotterdam was prompted by a Palestinian terrorist alert declared by the Dutch government.

I was in Leiden, the Netherlands, in line at the supermarket. My mother and I were staying in an apartment a few blocks away, and after a few days I knew where things were and how many euros I'd need at checkout. Then it happened. The lady in front of me smiled while she sorted through her large pocketbook, and she said something in Dutch. I smiled back, nodding in a friendly way. Then she started a conversation in Dutch, and I was in trouble. I had no idea what she was saying, although I had committed myself to the conversation.

AMSTERDAM - Thousands of people, including the Dutch prime minister, gathered last night to lay flowers and mourn at a candlelit memorial service outside a mall in a quiet Amsterdam suburb where a mentally troubled young man shot six people dead a day earlier. Investigators are still puzzling over the gunman's motive and trying to understand how he was able to obtain and legally own five firearms in the Netherlands - where gun-control laws are considered strict - despite prior run-ins with the law and a stay at a psychiatric institution.

As a molder of public opinion, I regularly go on fact-finding missions to foreign countries. I then report my findings to you in the sincere hope that I can improve international understanding by deducting the entire cost of my mission, including beer, from my income taxes. Today I present Part One of my two-part report on this year's mission, which took me to the Netherlands. At one time, large areas of the Netherlands were actually covered by the sea, but over the centuries the hard-working Dutch have turned these areas into dry land.

URUGUAY . . . Germany, Netherlands, Spain, you could have predicted any of them to find a way through to the World Cup semifinals. But Uruguay, World Cup champion of 1930 and 1950, fifth-place finisher in South American qualifying, qualifier only through a 2-1, two-game aggregate score against Costa Rica . . . in the semifinals? The Celeste, as the national team is known in Montevideo, face Netherlands in today's semifinal, following a first-place finish in the group stage, a 2-1 second-round win over South Korea, and the improbable 2-1, 4-2 penalty-shootout win over Ghana in the quarterfinals.

Du Pont Co. and Akzo N.V., a chemical producer based in the Netherlands, have settled their long-running worldwide dispute over the right to manufacture and sell aramid fiber. Du Pont, which introduced the material commercially in 1972, markets its product under the Kevlar trade name. Akzo sells comparable material under the Twaron name. Each company had accused the other of patent infringement in a complex series of lawsuits that began in 1979. Du Pont won an order from the U.S. International Trade Commission in 1986 to block imports of Akzo's product.

They were high school teammates, opponents in college, then reunited this year as members of the U.S. national field hockey team. Now they will get to play together in the World Cup tournament May 20-31 in the Netherlands. Unionville graduates Kate Barber and Christine DeBow were both selected to the World Cup team after returning from a nine-game, two-city trip to Australia earlier this month with the U.S. national team. The United States will be competing with nine other nations at the World Cup. There will be two pools of five teams each.

Along the Gauche River in Jacmel, Haiti, U.N. troops from the Netherlands patrolled Friday while residents forded the river on foot. The United States will cede command of the multinational force in Haiti to the United Nations on Friday.

AMSTERDAM - It's getting surprisingly easy to light up in the Netherlands these days - cigarettes, that is. Even as the Dutch government hardens its famous tolerance policy on marijuana, it is taking an increasingly relaxed stance toward tobacco, bucking the trend in nearly every other developed country. In 2010 it exempted some bars from a smoking ban, and now it plans to reduce spending on antismoking ad campaigns and end funding for health-care programs to help people kick the habit.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast - The nation's former strongman, who nearly dragged his country into civil war in a bid to retain power, is being extradited to the International Criminal Court after the issuance of a warrant for his arrest, his spokesman said Tuesday. Former President Laurent Gbagbo had been under house arrest in the village of Korhogo more than 300 miles north of Abidjan since being ousted by internationally backed forces seven months ago. A plane believed to be carrying Gbagbo landed in the early-morning hours Wednesday in the Netherlands ahead of his transfer to the court in the Hague.

Olivier "Oliver" Everts stands out at Conestoga field hockey practices, and not only because he's the lone boy on the team. At 6-foot-2 and a lean 160 pounds, he is clearly the tallest player on the field. His stick seems to be about the same length as everyone else's, so he bends over considerably to control or hit the ball. The 13-year-old freshman also has stood out during games. Everts is the leading goal-scorer on a talented Conestoga team this season. He has 15 goals for the Pioneers, who are 11-1-1.

Olivier "Oliver" Everts stands out at Conestoga field hockey practices, and not only because he's the lone boy on the team. At 6-foot-2 and a lean 160 pounds, he is clearly the tallest player on the field. His stick seems to be about the same length as everyone else's, so he bends over considerably to control or hit the ball. The 13-year-old freshman also has stood out during games. Everts is the leading goal-scorer on a talented Conestoga team this season. He has 15 goals for the Pioneers, who are 11-1-1.

Netherland is a quiet evocation of a tragic time. Published in 2008, Joseph O'Neill's elegant tale of strained marriage plays out in a low key against the violent backdrop of 9/11 and the clamor of war that followed. Until a decade ago, literary authors like O'Neill paid little attention to terrorism and political violence. Mayhem of that sort belonged mostly to thriller novelists such as Tom Clancy, Ian Fleming, and Robert Ludlum, and the occasional literary lion, like Graham Greene or John le Carré, who could spin a spy tale into high art. All of that changed on 9/11.

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - Once again, Clinton County, Pa., had the advantage of playing as the home team in the Little League World Series and they staved off elimination with a 7-5 win over Warner Robins, Ga. Located under an hour from here, Clinton County played in front of 32,213 fans on Tuesday night. That brings their four-game total attendance to 135,643. In the bottom of the first, leftfielder Landon Breon knocked in two runs on a single to center field and kickstarted Clinton County's six-run first inning.

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - Alex Garbrick held Cumberland, R.I., to three hits before reaching his pitch-count limit, and Wyatt Koch added a key two-out RBI single in the fifth to lift Clinton County, Pa., to a 2-0 victory at the Little League World Series on Saturday night. A night after a tension-filled loss to Kentucky, the hometown favorites rebounded before another partisan crowd at Lamade Stadium. Rhode Island had the tying run at the plate in the sixth but didn't plate it and was eliminated.

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - Kentucky starter Griffin McLarty silenced Pennsylvania's hitters and their huge cheering section at the Little League World Series with a little help from his defense. The lanky, 6-foot pitcher from LaGrange, Ky., struck out 12 and hit a homer in a 1-0 win Friday night over the hometown favorites from Clinton County, just 30 miles down the road from South Williamsport. Central Pennsylvania's favorite sons drew such a huge crowd - a record-setting 41,848 fans - that fans sat shoulder-to-shoulder on the grassy, terraced hill above the outfield fences.

Rafael Nadal excelled when he needed to most, winning the last two sets against John Isner on Tuesday to advance to the second round at the French Open with a 6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-4 victory in Paris. The five-time champion, who improved to 39-1 at Roland Garros, played a five-set match at Roland Garros for the first time in seven visits. Also advancing to the second round were Australian Open finalists Andy Murray and Li Na , as well as Maria Sharapova , Kim Clijsters , and two-time French Open finalist Robin Soderling . NFL: The league will punish teams next season if their players commit multiple flagrant hits that result in fines.

AMSTERDAM - Thousands of people, including the Dutch prime minister, gathered last night to lay flowers and mourn at a candlelit memorial service outside a mall in a quiet Amsterdam suburb where a mentally troubled young man shot six people dead a day earlier. Investigators are still puzzling over the gunman's motive and trying to understand how he was able to obtain and legally own five firearms in the Netherlands - where gun-control laws are considered strict - despite prior run-ins with the law and a stay at a psychiatric institution.