AMSTERDAM Thomson Reuters Foundation - A Dutch sex worker has set up a crowdfunding page to raise money for prostitutes hit by the closure of brothels in Amsterdam due to coronavirus as campaigners raised fears over the loss of income and putting workers at greater risk. Prostitution is legal and regulated in Amsterdam where brothels are legal and window-prostitutes are self-employed tax payers, hiring their own windows on a nightly basis. Hella Dee - the pseudonym of a prostitute who is a member of PROUD, the Dutch union for sex workers - set up a funding appeal, saying the closures have impacted Dutch sex workers and their families, with other prostitutes globally likely to be hit by similar moves. UNAIDS has estimated that there were about 25, mainly female sex workers in Amsterdam although cautioned that the number could be higher with many operating in secret. Campaigners working with sex workers said the closure of strip clubs and brothels until at least April 6 would leave many women with no income. Reporting by Karolin Schaps, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith BeeGoldsmith; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly.

Ever tried using TV programmes to help improve your Dutch? Dutch teacher Joska Kruijssen is here with some suggestions. There are multiple ways to create a meaningful learning environment to help your brain get the most out of your effort to improve your Dutch. An easy way of upping your exposure to Dutch is to choose a couple of tv programmes you find interesting and blend them into your daily routine.

Media in the Netherlands — television , radio , newspapers , magazines — are characterised by a tradition of politico-denominational segregation " pillarisation " on the one hand and an increasing degree of commercialism on the other. Television and radio are provided by a system of public-broadcasting organisations sharing three television and five radio networks together with a number of commercial channels. The Netherlands Public Broadcasting system arose from the former practice — known as "pillarisation" — in which the country's various religious and social groups all organised their own institutions, with financial help from the government.