Updated The man whose scream caused a panicked stampede of a crowd gathered at Amsterdam’s Dam Square for the national Remembrance Day commemorations last Tuesday has apologized, his lawyer says.

“By crying out at the end of the two minutes of silence my client acted impulsively due to frustrations in his personal life as well as have imbibed an excessive amount of alcohol that day,” van Essen explains. “He could not have foreseen the consequences of his scream.” »

A man described by witnesses as ‘confused,’ let out a lengthy scream during the 2-minutes of silence observed as part of Remembrance Day commemorations in Amsterdam.

The disturbance caused panic in the crowd, with a 50 people injured in the stampede that resulted. [video] »

Drug offences have been encountered at four of Amsterdam’s nineteen grow-shops.

In 2009 at the behest of then mayor Job Cohen three grow-shops were closed for violations of the Opium Act. That has inspired authorities to take a closer look. »

A taxi driver prosecuted in the death of a potential customer has been sentenced to two years in prison.

A judge determined that 44-year-old Rob Sitek died as a result of being attacked at the Leidseplein taxi rank by Sidi Mohamed B. in July 2009. »

While a cloud of ash from the still-erupting Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland continues to slowly spread across Europe, stranded air travelers across the world are scrambling for hotels, trains, ferries and even taxis to reach their destinations.

Amsterdam’s main train stations — Central Station, Amstel Station, as well as the train station at Schiphol Airport — are overwhelmed with long lines of people trying to reach their destination by train. »

More than twenty years since its creation, The Hoerengracht — and artistic interpretation of Amsterdam’s Red Light District — makes its first appearance in the city.

The installation can be viewed through the end of August 2010 at the Amsterdam Historical Museum. »

Amsterdam has taken over from the “Costa del Crime” of southern Spain as the preferred hiding place for Britain’s most wanted fugitives, British newspaper The Telegraph says.

Amsterdam police this week appealed for help in finding six British criminals suspected of crimes including rape, manslaughter and drug smuggling, believed to be in hiding in the Dutch City. »

Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen today resigned effective immediately.

He did so after Labour Party leader Wouter Bos in a surprise announcement this morning said he is retiring from politics — and suggested his leadership should be handed over to Cohen. »

Amsterdam’s most exclusive warehouse is saying goodbye to clothes by Mexx, the troubled Amsterdam-based design firm which just a few years ago was listed among the world’s top fashion brands.

Saying the designer’s apparel has become too run of the mill, the Bijenkorf says it will stop carrying Mexx’s women’s lines by this summer. It has already stopped carrying the firm’s men’s and children’s clothes. »

Two buildings at Vijzelgracht, along the construction site for the new North/South line of the Amsterdam metro system, have subsided.

Shopkeepers in the buildings blame the construction work, while the metro project bureau simply says those buildings already had ‘bad foundations.’ »

The disappearance of the giant red letters ‘A’ and ‘M’ from Amsterdam’s IAMSTERDAM marketing logo was a marketing stunt from Sony Computer Entertainment.

Locals are not amused by the theft. »

Two letters of the enormous IAMSTERDAM marketing slogan have gone missing from the iconic logo’s location at Museumplein

The letters — 2 meters high and with a combined weight of 500 kilos — were later advertised at a Dutch auction website. »

Dutch Railways (NS Nederlandse Spoorwegen) earn millions of Euros by duping tourists who travel from Schiphol Amsterdam Airport to Central Station into buying First Class tickets.

NS claims that’s what tourists want, but according to the VVV Tourist Office — which also sells train tickets at the airport — tourists usually elect to buy Second Class tickets. »

A collision between two metro trains in an Amsterdam station has left 31 people injured.

The low speed collision occurred at Wibautstraat station, when a train full of passengers ran into a stopped, empty metro train. »

If you order a Heineken beer in an Amsterdam pub or restaurant there is a good chance that you’ll be served an unbranded brew instead.

The beer flows from Heineken owned- and labeled taps and is served in Heineken glasses, but in reality comes from unbranded barrels originating from brewers with overcapacity in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. »

Drilling for the North-South extension of the Amsterdam metro system is scheduled to start on March 11, but now warehouse De Bijenkorf has demanded the city first performs more research into the risks involved.

Persistent problems during the construction of underground stations for the metro line have already caused damage to several historical buildings. »

Dutch police have smashed a drug smuggling operation after members of the National Crime Squad intercepted nine kilos (20 lb) of cocaine at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

The drug was hidden among 20,000 long-stem red roses flown to the Netherlands from Colombia for Valentine’s Day. »

Pay up for the ferry to and from Amsterdam-North. Spend less on arts and culture. Raise real estate and tourist taxes, and make people pay more for parking permits. Budget cuts in the areas of education, healthcare, roadworks, and a sharp reducation in the number of civil servants.

Those are some of the options Amsterdam’s Municipal Executive board will have to choose from in order to make sure the city will live within its budget while facing steep cuts over the next four years. »

Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen later this month will present the city councel with a handful of alternative measures designed to prevent the forced closure of coffeeshops located near schools.

Federal rules to go into effect no later than December 2011 will prohibit coffeeshops from operating within 250 meters from a high school. »

Amsterdam is the most bicycle-friendly city in the world, says American travel agency Virgin Vacations. In its listing of “11 Most Bicycle Friendly Cities in the World,” Amsterdam ranks number one.

Small wonder. Amsterdam truly is bike heaven. »

Amsterdam’s world famous Red Light District should be closed for prostitution between 4 am to 8 am, an Amsterdam alderman says.

In addition, the minimum age for prostitutes must be raised from 18 to 23 years, says Deputy Mayor Lodewijk Asscher, proposing measures meant to combat forced prostitution. »

Effective this thursday, the city of Amsterdam wil cancel a recent ban on sailing through some of its canals.

The ban was meant to allow a network of canals to freeze over — turning a large section of the city into a giant ice skating rink. But the weather isn’t playing along… »

Amsterdam’s most photographed bridge, the Skinny Bridge across the river Amstel, is damaged by wood rot. Large sections of the bridge will have to be restored.

The City of Amsterdam will do anything to keep the iconic bridge, a national monument, in its original state. »

The city of Amsterdam has banned boats from using a number of canals in the hope that they will freeze over, turning the historic water ways into a giant ice skating rink.

We’ll show you which canals are affected. »

The City of Amsterdam should never have approved the construction of the North-South metro line a special city council investigative committee concluded Tuesday.

The committee also urges the council to debate the risks associated with the planned drilling of a metro tunnel underneath the historic city center. »