Amsterdam

Armed hostage situation at Apple Amsterdam shop

Officers were called to an armed robbery on Tuesday afternoon which became a hostage-taking.

Specialist officers are on site to deal with an armed individual and several people have managed to leave the store, police said.

But officers said they were reluctant to release further details due to safety concerns.

Police also asked people in the area to stop sharing images or live streams on social media, for the safety of those still inside the buildings.

Stowaway found in South Africa plane wheel at Amsterdam airport

Flights from Johannesburg to Amsterdam take about 11 hours, with the cargo plane believed to have made one stop, in Nairobi, Kenya.

It is very unusual for stowaways on long flights to survive, due to the cold and low oxygen at high altitudes.

The man's age and nationality have not yet been determined, police say.

"The man was found alive in the nose wheel section of the plane and was taken to hospital in a stable condition," Royal Dutch Military Police spokeswoman Joanna Helmonds told the AFP news agency.

Dozens test positive on SA-Netherlands flights

They have been placed in isolation at a hotel near Schiphol airport.

They were among some 600 passengers held for several hours after arrival while they were tested for the virus.

Dutch health authorities said Omicron, labelled on Friday as a variant of concern, was "probably found in a number of people" who tested positive.

Other European countries, including the UK and Germany, have confirmed cases of the Omicron variant.

Giant air cleaner unveiled in Amsterdam by Envinity Group

The purifier can clean about 800,000 cubic metres of air per hour, tech start-up Envinity Group said.

"A large column of air will pass through the filter and come out clear," Henk Boersen, the group's spokesman said.

The filter had been showcased at an exhibition in Amsterdam.

"It's a large industrial filter about 8m [26ft 2in] long, made of steel... placed basically on top of buildings and it works like a big vacuum cleaner," Mr Boersen explained.

France: 3 people wounded in shooting on high-speed train

The suspect was arrested after the train stopped in Arras, 115 miles (185 kilometers north of Paris, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henri Brandet said on French television BFM. Passengers were evacuated and police have secured the area.

Investigators from France's special anti-terror police are leading the investigation, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor's office said.