Latest news with #Vink
The South African
11-07-2025
- Sport
- The South African
Donald Ramphadi out of Wimbledon Quad wheelchair singles, but all is not lost
South Africa's Donald Ramphadi played, and lost, his Wimbledon Quad wheelchair singles quarter-final match against Niels Vink of the Netherlands, 6-0, 6-1. It was a valiant effort on Ramphadi's part. The score was no reflection on the quality of tennis on Court 15, with some impressive shots by the South African. The Quad singles world No 8 tried to change things up to keep Vink from coming to the net by hitting high topspin forehands deep into Vink's court to try and interrupt Vink's rhythm. But even the moonballs didn't seem to interrupt Vink's dominance. The match went Vink's way with dictating the match from the start, particularly with his serve. Impressively, both of Vink's aggressive first and second serve win percentage was 10/10 and 3/3, respectively. He was able to convert 75% of his key points when serving at 30-30 and deuce, compared to Ramphadi's 28%. However, all is not lost for Ramphadi's Wimbledon 2025 campaign. The world No 7 doubles ranked player is next due to play in the Quad Wheelchair doubles final with partner Gregory Slade of Great Britain. The pair pulled off a thrilling semi-final upset, defeating second seeds Ahmet Kaplan (Turkey) and Sam Schroder (Netherlands) 7-6 (7/5), 1-6, 7-5. In the final they will face top seeds Guy Sasson (Israel) and Niels Vink (Netherlands). Amisha Savani is reporting exclusively for The South African from the All England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon . Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
Local Spain
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Local Spain
How alarmed should we be about Europe's tightening citizenship rules?
In recent months, several countries in Europe have announced plans, or said they are at least considering, new rules on obtaining citizenship. In Sweden, an inquiry recently proposed extending the residency requirement to eight years from the current five, and since April 1st, the Migration Agency has toughened security checks on applicants, which led to a temporary freeze on the processing of applications. Sweden has also talked of introducing language and civics tests for citizenship applicants. Last year, Finland extended the required residency period for naturalisation from five to eight years and shortened the time limits for allowed absence. In Germany, the new government has passed a bill to scrap the fast-track path to citizenship, which requires only three years of residence for people considered "highly integrated'. The bill, which still needs the approval of the Bundestag, reverses part of the citizenship reform adopted in 2024. In Italy, a referendum aiming to reduce the residency requirement to get citizenship didn't receive enough participation to be valid. Separately, the parliament recently adopted new rules that limit to two generations the possibility to obtain citizenship by ancestry. In Denmark authorities hiked the citizenship fee by 50 percent on May 1st. Months earlier the country's Immigration Ministry also appointed an expert panel to look into the possibility of screening applicants for views considered 'antidemocratic'. Elsewhere in the Nordics, Norway will hold a general election in September, and both the Conservative Party and Progress Party, which could form a right-wing coalition, said they want to tighten citizenship requirements. In France, where the anti-immigration far-right has been growing in popularity in recent years, the country's Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau t alked of his plans to 'toughen up' the citizenship regime, including the possible addition of a history and civic test. Nationality reforms were also at the centre of the political agenda in the Netherlands, where the far-right government, which has recently collapsed, wanted to increase the residence requirement from five to ten years. A similar plan to lengthen the residency qualification period has been taken by the Labour government in the UK, as part of proposals to further tighten immigration rules. Why so many changes? Professor Maarten Vink, Chair of Citizenship Studies at the Robert Schuman Centre, European University Institute in Florence, suggested citizens around Europe shouldn't be too alarmed at all the tightening and changing of the rules. 'It is quite common that countries change citizenship rules every couple of years," Vink said. 'We are in a democracy, so if in elections the political balance shifts, it is normal that this is reflected in legislation. When migration is a very important topic in politics, issues that are related to migration, such as citizenship, are also part of this dynamic,' he said. Professor Vink said that citizenship laws in Europe have recently been 'more dynamic than in other parts of the world', although 'changes go in different directions.' Dual citizenship The most significant trend that has emerged, and is 'unidirectional', he argued, is the acceptance of dual citizenship. 'Back in the 1960s, most countries around the world restricted dual citizenship because this was seen as a problem of loyalty and allegiance, especially at times of more warfare and military conscription," said Vink. Although exceptions remain in Austria, the Netherlands, the Baltic countries and several Eastern European states, this is an area that has seen 'a very clear liberalisation trend globally and in Europe'. Vink said this was partly driven by migration as more people moved and built a life in another country and maintained family ties to the country where they came from, or where their parents and grandparents came from. Another factor was gender equality. 'In the past, a woman marrying a man from another country would automatically become a citizen of that country, or lose hers, and the children would be only citizen of the father's country. Recognising a woman and a man as both independent in citizenship law, as it happened in all European countries, allowed for the creation of mixed citizenship families,' he explained. Vink points out that even the new German government, which has proposed a step back on the "modernisation'" of citizenship laws by removing a fast-track procedure, has agreed to maintain the main elements of the landmark 2024 reform – the acceptance of dual citizenship and the reduction of the residency requirement from eight to five years. Developments in family law also affect citizenship, for example with the right to transmit citizenship from the non-biological parent to a child in a same-sex family. 'Scandinavian countries have been very proactive in incorporating these family law elements in citizenship law, while in countries like Italy there are still restrictions,' Vink said. Crucially most governments in Europe can't just do anything they want when it comes to citizenship laws In most European countries the area is also regulated via the European Convention on Nationality, signed in 1997 under the Council of Europe (not an EU institution). Some 29 European countries signed the Convention, but 8 (Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Poland and Russia) have not ratified it. For example under the rules set by the convention, the residence requirement for citizenship cannot exceed 10 years, an upper limit that is met by all European countries, with the most common requirement set at 5 years.
Time of India
23-05-2025
- General
- Time of India
Dutch synagogues filled with life 80 years after WWII
The Netherlands celebrated the 80th anniversary of World War II (Image: AP) On May 8, Europe commemorated the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, the bloodiest war in the continent's history. Tens of millions of people died, including 6 million Jewish people who were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators in the Holocaust. Dutch Jews were among the hardest hit. Three quarters of the Netherlands' pre-war Jewish population perished in Auschwitz, Sobibor and other Nazi death camps. Eighty years later, some of the community's shattered synagogues have been restored. Amsterdam's first Jewish community: Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal were the first Jewish people to establish themselves in Amsterdam in the early 17th century, settling on the eastern edge of the rapidly expanding city. Many were merchants. Amsterdam's magnificent Portuguese synagogue is an enduring monument to their prosperity. Soon after, poorer Ashkenazi Jews from across eastern Europe began settling nearby in Amsterdam's island districts of Uilenburg and Rapenburg. They mostly eked out a living selling fish, clothing and domestic trinkets. Housing and health conditions were abysmal, but faith and community ties were fierce. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 5 BHK Nature Villas with ₹30K EMI Offer* in Bengaluru Avind Forest Trails Book Now Undo Synagogues lined the streets. Of these, only the Uilenburger synagogue remains. Built in 1766 in the heart of the Jewish district on a lane that no longer exists, it now stands, hidden from sight, behind a brick wall. The Uilenburger synagogue: "This is a beautiful old synagogue, and we try to keep the spirit of the past alive as much as possible and transform it also into a place where people want to come in the 21st century," Maurits Jan Vink, chair of the synagogue's foundation, told DW. From the late 18th century to the 1940s, local Jews gathered in large numbers at the Uilenburger synagogue — up to 600 at a time, according to historical documents. Services were held on the top floor; men prayed in the main section, women on a balcony above. On the bottom floor, chickens were slaughtered, poor people fed and weddings celebrated. "It would have been packed," says Vink. "But this whole area was packed. If you lived here, you lived with 10 people on 35 square meters [377 square feet], and the bathroom was outside." A community ravaged: When the deportation of Dutch Jews began in February 1942, few were more vulnerable than the Jews of Uilenburg and Rapenburg. "You needed money to go into hiding," says Vink. "They didn't have it. On average in the Netherlands, 75 per cent of the Jewish population was killed; here it's 95 per cent. So, almost nobody returned from this community." Those who did return have helped restore the Uilenburger synagogue, turning it into a popular venue for Seder meals, local entrepreneurs, movie shoots, music recitals and Jewish weddings. "People are always very curious, like what is it behind this wall?" says Waheeda Afriat, who helps organize events at the synagogue. "What I often hear is that this place is like a hidden gem." In April, music by two Dutch composers who never returned from the death camps was performed here by pianist Imri Talgam. Menachem Asscher, a rabbi's son and a talented composer, pianist and cellist, was murdered at Auschwitz in July 1942. Leo Smit, who is compared by critics with Stravinsky, was murdered at Sobibor in April 1943. Synagogue on a dike: In Sliedrecht, a town in the south of the country, another little synagogue hides in plain sight. On a sunny day in March, on the weekend of the Jewish holiday Purim, it opened its doors to visitors. "We were just walking by and we noticed somebody by the door, and my girlfriend said, 'well let's take a look,'" a man named Henk told DW. "I've been living here in Sliedrecht for, I think, 56 years, and this is the first time I [have] entered the building," he said. From the outside, Sliedrecht's synagogue is hard to miss. According to its owners, it's the only one in the world built on a dike — a good place to be perched when the nearby Merwede river floods. Sliedrecht's first Jewish families arrived around 1770. Back then, services were held in homes. In 1845, in partnership with the nearby village of Giessendam, a small synagogue was built on the dike, which constituted the boundary between the town and the village. The end of religious services: But the community was small. By 1920, unable to muster the 10 men required to hold services (a minyan), regular services ended, and the synagogue fell into disrepair. Nevertheless, Jewish events continued until 1942, when the deportations began. Hunted down by local Nazis and collaborating Dutch police, Sliedrecht's Jews suffered terribly. By 1945, the interior of the synagogue was in ruins. In the years that followed, it was used by a sack manufacturer, a greengrocer and a carpenter. A new lease of life: In 1989, during a dike reinforcement program, municipal authorities decided the derelict synagogue had to go. Local citizens were aghast and set up a foundation to buy and restore the building. The wooden structure was dismantled into 11 segments and stored in a local warehouse. In 2003, it was reassembled, 80 meters west of its original position on the dike. It was also handsomely refurbished using materials from another synagogue in the region, whose Jewish community had been wiped out. Musical events and guided tours: Re-establishing religious services was, however, another matter. "When we started, we had a service once a month," says Ronald Kitsz, chair of the Sliedrecht dike synagogue foundation. "But a few families went to Amsterdam, a few families went to Israel, and then there were not enough Jewish people anymore." In their absence, the foundation's members (none of them Jewish) began hosting open houses, musical events and guided tours of the synagogue's small museum, including a collection of sacred objects from Sliedrecht's old Jewish community. "It's not just a menorah, or just a prayer book, siddur, or just a tallit," says Ronald Kitsz. "These objects came from Jewish people, whose ancestors lived in Sliedrecht. And that makes it beautiful because every object has its individual story, and we are proud of that."
DW
21-05-2025
- General
- DW
Dutch synagogues filled with life 80 years after WWII – DW – 05/21/2025
Six million Jews perished in World War II. Dutch Jews were among the hardest hit. DW visited two synagogues in the Netherlands to see how they have been resurrected and filled with life 80 years after the war. A few weeks ago, Europe celebrated the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the bloodiest war in European history. Twenty million died in the war, six million of them Jews. Dutch Jews were among the hardest hit. Three quarters of the Netherlands' pre-war Jewish population perished in Auschwitz, Sobibor and other Nazi death camps. Eighty years later, some of their shattered synagogues have been resurrected. Amsterdam's first Jewish community Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal were the first to establish themselves in Amsterdam in the early 17th century, settling on the eastern edge of the rapidly expanding city. Many were merchants. Amsterdam's magnificent Portuguese synagogue is an enduring monument to their prosperity. When the building was actively used as a synagogue, services were held on the top floor, with men praying in the main section and women on a balcony above Image: David Kattenburg Soon after, poorer Ashkenazi Jews from across eastern Europe began settling nearby in Amsterdam's island districts of Uilenburg and Rapenburg. They eked out a living selling fish, clothing and domestic trinkets. Housing and health conditions were abysmal, but faith and community ties were fierce. Synagogues lined the streets. Of these, only the Uilenburger synagogue remains. Built in 1766 in the heart of the Jewish district on a lane that no longer exists, it now stands, hidden from sight, behind a brick wall. The Uilenburger synagogue "This is a beautiful old synagogue, and we try to keep the spirit of the past alive as much as possible and transform it also into a place where people want to come in the 21st century," Maurits Jan Vink, chair of the synagogue's foundation, told DW. From the late 18th century to the 1940s, local Jews gathered in large numbers at the Uilenburger synagogue — up to 600 at a time, according to historical documents. Services were held on the top floor; men prayed in the main section, women on a balcony above. On the bottom floor, chickens were slaughtered, poor people fed and weddings celebrated. Pianist Imri Talgam performed works by composers Leo Smit and Menachem Asscher to a packed audience in the Uilenburger synagogue in April Image: David Kattenburg "It would have been packed," says Vink. "But this whole area was packed. If you lived here, you lived with 10 people on 35 square meters, and the bathroom was outside." A community ravaged When the deportation of Dutch Jews began in February 1942, none were more vulnerable than the poor Jews of Uilenburg and Rapenburg. "You needed money to go into hiding," says Vink. "They didn't have it. On average in the Netherlands, 75% of the Jewish population was killed; here it's 95%. So, almost nobody returned from this community." Those who did return have helped restore the Uilenburger synagogue, turning it into a popular venue for Seder meals, local entrepreneurs, movie shoots, music recitals and Jewish weddings. "People are always very curious, like what is it behind this wall?" says Waheeda Afriat, who helps organize events at the synagogue. "What I often hear is that this place is like a hidden gem." Inside Europe: Little Synagogues in the Netherlands To play this audio please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 audio In April, music by two Dutch composers who never returned from the death camps was performed here by pianist Imri Talgam . Menachem Asscher, a rabbi's son and a talented composer, pianist and cellist, was gassed in Auschwitz in July 1942. Leo Smit, who is compared by critics with Stravinsky, was gassed at Sobibor in April 1943. Synagogue on a dike In Sliedrecht, a town in the south of the country, another little synagogue hides in plain sight. On a sunny day in March, on the weekend of the Jewish holiday Purim, it opened its doors to visitors. "We were just walking by and we noticed somebody by the door, and my girlfriend said, well let's take a look," a man named Henk told DW. "I've been living here in Sliedrecht for, I think, 56 years, and this is the first time I entered the building," he said. From the outside, Sliedrecht's synagogue is hard to miss. According to its owners, it's the only one in the world built on a dike — a good place to be perched when the nearby Merwede river floods. Sliedrecht's first Jewish families arrived around 1770. Back then, services were held in homes. In 1845, in partnership with the nearby village of Giessendam, a small synagogue was built on the dike, which constituted the boundary between the town and the village. The end of religious services But the community was small. By 1920, unable to muster the ten men required to hold services (a minyan), regular services ended, and the synagogue fell into disrepair. Nevertheless, Jewish events continued until 1942, when the deportations began. Hunted down by local Nazis and collaborating Dutch police, Sliedrecht's Jews suffered terribly. The synagogue in Sliedrecht is the only one in the world built on a dike Image: David Kattenburg By 1945, the interior of the synagogue was in ruins. In the years that followed, it was used by a sack manufacturer, a green grocer and a carpenter. A new lease of life In 1989, during a dike reinforcement program, municipal authorities decided the derelict synagogue had to go. Local citizens were aghast and set up a foundation to buy and restore the building. The wooden structure was dismantled into eleven segments and stored in a local warehouse. In 2003, it was reassembled, 80 meters west of its original position on the dike. It was also handsomely refurbished using materials from another synagogue in the region, whose Jewish community had been wiped out. Musical events and guided tours Re-establishing religious services was, however, another matter. Ronald Kitsz, chair of the Sliedrecht dike synagogue foundation, says that the objects in the synagogue's museum came from Jewish people whose ancestors lived in Sliedrecht Image: David Kattenburg "When we started, we had a service once a month," says Ronald Kitsz, chair of the Sliedrecht dike synagogue foundation. "But a few families went to Amsterdam, a few families went to Israel, and then there were not enough Jewish people anymore." In their absence, the foundation's members (none of them Jewish) began hosting open houses, musical events and guided tours of the synagogue's small museum, including a collection of sacred objects from Sliedrecht's old Jewish community. "It's not just a menorah, or just a prayer book, siddur, or just a tallit," says Ronald Kitsz. "These objects came from Jewish people, whose ancestors lived in Sliedrecht. And that makes it beautiful because every object has its individual story, and we are proud of that." Edited by: Aingeal Flanagan
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists issue warning after observing alarming shift in giant spider species: 'Some … hitch a ride with human transport'
New Zealanders might want to check their luggage twice — because some eight-legged travelers may be making themselves at home. Giant Australian spiders, like huntsman spiders, are showing up in surprising new parts of New Zealand, and experts believe this creepy-crawly migration is being fueled in part by warmer weather. While the idea of a hand-sized arachnid might give some people the chills, scientists say the real threat isn't to your comfort — but rather to native biodiversity. Associate professor of entomology at Lincoln University, Cor Vink, recently confirmed that huntsman spiders, a large species introduced from Australia, may be establishing a population in Napier after multiple sightings nearly a year apart. The cause? Rising temperatures in areas that were once too cold for them to survive. But the huntsman isn't alone. At least half a dozen other Australian-introduced spiders — from white porch spiders to bird-dropping spiders — are spreading across New Zealand. Other insects, like the harlequin ladybird and giant willow aphid, are also expanding their territory. Some of these species are making the trip solo, especially if they can fly — but many are simply riding the wave with human travel, such as on boats or planes. "Some move themselves, such as flying insects, and others hitch a ride with human transport," Vink explained. The spread of these introduced species is more than a mere nuisance. It poses a serious risk to New Zealand's already vulnerable native insects — including the katipō spider, which is now endangered. According to Vink, "the major concern is if they spread into natural areas and start feeding on native insects and plants." Invasive species can outcompete or prey local bugs, upsetting the delicate balance of local ecosystems. Vink explained that if species like the huntsman start thriving in natural areas, they could decimate populations of native insects, affecting pollination, pest control, and other vital services these insects provide. Worse still, some newcomers can carry diseases that threaten humans, animals, and plants — a ripple effect that could impact agriculture, food supply, and public health. While there's no easy fix for shifting species driven by global temperature changes, citizen science platforms like iNaturalist are helping track the spread. Everyday people can snap pictures and log sightings to give scientists valuable data. Should we be actively working to kill invasive species? Absolutely It depends on the species I don't know No — leave nature alone Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. To slow the spread, experts also encourage checking vehicles, shipping containers, and household goods — especially those coming from major ports like Auckland, where most new species are believed to first arrive. On the individual level, reporting sightings of unusual spiders or insects through local biodiversity platforms would be a big help. And consider supporting initiatives that protect native species, whether that's planting pollinator-friendly gardens or donating to conservation groups. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
