New reports revealed that three Secret Service agents tasked with protecting President Barack Obama in the Netherlands have been sent home for “disciplinary reasons”.
According to the Washington Post, one of the agents was found drunk and passed out in the hallway of an Amsterdam hotel.
A Secret Service spokesman declined to give details but said the three had been put on administrative leave pending an investigation.
The service has been trying to rebuild its reputation after previous scandals.
In 2013 two agents were removed from Barack Obama’s security detail amid allegations of harassment and misconduct.
Three Secret Service agents tasked with protecting President Barack Obama in the Netherlands have been sent home for disciplinary reasons (photo Reuters)
And in 2012 several agents were dismissed following allegations that they hired prostitutes while in Cartagena, Colombia.
Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said the latest incident happened before President Barack Obama’s arrival in the Netherlands on Monday for a nuclear security summit.
Ed Donovan said the three had been sent home for “disciplinary reasons” but declined to elaborate.
He added that the president’s security had not been compromised in any way.
The Washington Post reported that all three were on the Counter Assault Team – which protects the president – and that one agent was a team leader.
Citing unnamed sources familiar with the incident, the newspaper said that one agent was found drunk and unconscious by hotel staff, who reported it to the US embassy.
It is believed that the other two agents were deemed complicit because they did not intervene.
Barack Obama visited the Netherlands on the first leg of a weeklong, four-country trip. He departed for Brussels on Tuesday night.
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands will officially re-open the Rijksmuseum next week, marking the end of a painful restoration project.
The work at the Dutch state museum in the heart of Amsterdam ran five years over schedule and millions of euros over budget.
The Rijksmuseum has been closed since 2003. Renovation was delayed by flooding, asbestos and a dispute over access for cyclists.
“It was kind of Murphy’s Law,” says museum director Wim Pijbes.
“What could go wrong, did go wrong.”
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands will officially re-open the Rijksmuseum next week, marking the end of a painful restoration project
Wim Pijbes added: “It has been closed for 10 years, but now it can go on for decades.”
On Wednesday, Johannes Vermeer’s The Milkmaid was re-hung, making it the last major work to return to the museum.
The painting sits in the Gallery of Honour, a breathtaking cathedral to the Dutch Golden Age, showcasing works by Rembrandt, Jan Steen and Franz Hals.
The old masters draw the eye, but so do the intricately decorated ceilings and pillars that frame them – all painstakingly recreated after being painted over in the post-war years.
In the halls flanking the grand gallery, the decoration is more modern. British artist Richard Wright, a former Turner Prize winner, has dusted the ceilings with almost 50,000 stars, hand-painted in a swirling, shifting constellation.
It all serves to set up the Rijksmuseum’s biggest star – Rembrandt’s Night Watch.
A gigantic Baroque painting of 17th Century city guards teeming with drama and movement, it is the only work to be hung in its original place.
“Everything has changed,” says Taco Dibbits, the museum’s director of collections.
“We have more than one million objects and we used to display them by material. You had a gallery for glass, a gallery for porcelain, a gallery for paintings.
“Now we have mixed all the media and presented the visitor the story of art from the Middle Ages to the 20th Century.”
The Rijksmuseum’s paintings mingle amongst cabinets, kitchenware, magazine covers, dolls’ houses and pottery in a splendid, higgledy-piggledy array.
It illustrates the cross-pollination between decorative and visual art – for instance, how Japanese prints inspired a Parisian vase-maker, whose designs prompted Van Gogh to paint Amandelbloom In Bloel (Almond Tree In Bloom) – but it also presents some striking juxtapositions.
In the 20th Century Gallery, a kitsch German chess set, with snipers as pawns and a Panzer tank for the kings, is vaguely comedic, until visitors notice the Auschwitz prison uniform worn by 16-year-old Dutch girl Isabel Wachenheimer, which hangs silently nearby in grim disapproval.
In total, there are 800 years of Dutch history retold in more than 8,000 objects across the Rijksmuseum’s 80 galleries.
There is a brand new entrance hall in the shape of a voluminous atrium, flooded with natural light from the five-storey-high glass ceiling.
Wim Pijbes describes it as Amsterdam’s equivalent to Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall – a free-to-enter public auditorium which will host performances, parties and new exhibits.
By tunnelling under a cycle path that runs through the centre of the museum (the proposed closure of which caused uproar) it unites the east and west wings for the first time. It also created a few headaches.
“We found beautiful new spaces, but being below the building means you dig into water,” Wim Pijbes says.
In fact, with Amsterdam already under sea level, digging down meant the Rijksmuseum flooded. Workers floated around in dinghys as they fought the water table.
Even now, skeptics wonder if the museum is jeopardizing its collection.
“For foreigners, it is really frightening to be under sea level, and even more frightening to have the collection below sea level,” says Wim Pijbes.
“But for the Dutch, it’s everyday life.”
He insists that “complex engineering work” means the lower galleries are safe. But these aren’t the only measures taken to protect the artworks.
The museum is newly illuminated by 3,800 individual LED lights, which lack the paint-destroying heat and UV rays of incandescent bulbs.
They were installed by Dutch lighting specialists Philips, who also claim the LEDs enhance the viewing experience.
Visitors will get to decide for themselves when the Rijksmuseum throws open its doors on April 13.
After the gala opening, hosted by the abdicating Queen, the first day’s entry will be free. After that, the directors predict more than two million people will come to the gallery every year, restoring it as one of Europe’s most important museums.
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Lady Gaga has been showing off a more curvaceous figure lately during her Born This Way tour.
And Lady Gaga has now said that there is a very simple explanation for her newly fuller figure – her father’s delicious food.
The 26-year-old singer’s dad Joe Germanotta owns a New York restaurant, and his superstar daughter says that after gaining 25lbs, she will be steering clear of the eatery.
Lady Gaga has been looking sexy since putting on some pounds but admits while she doesn’t feel “bad” about her new shape, she wants to be more conscious of what she is eating.
Lady Gaga has been showing off a more curvaceous figure lately during her Born This Way tour
She told radio host Elvis Duran: “I love eating pasta and pizza. I’m a New York Italian girl. That’s why I have been staying out of New York. My father opened a restaurant. It’s so amazing.
“It’s so freaking delicious, but I’m telling you I gain five pounds every time I go in there. So my dad wants me to eat at the restaurant, and I’m, like, I’ve got to go where I can drink green juice.”
Lady Gaga added: “I really don’t feel bad about it, not even for a second. I have to be on such a strict diet constantly. It’s hard because it’s a quite vigorous show, so I tend to bulk up, get muscular, and I really don’t like that. So I’m trying to find a new balance.”
The star made headlines after she revealed her new look after taking to the stage on Tuesday night in Amsterdam.
Lady Gaga said she gained 25 lbs after nutritionist Majid Ali, who has not treated the singer, told RadarOnline: “Gaga appears to have gained at least 30 pounds.”
But it wasn’t Lady Gaga’s figure that was grabbing people’s attention as she took to the stage in the Dutch capital.
The singer was seen mid-show lighting a big joint of marijuana and inhaling it during a break.
Praising the “wondrous” drug, the singer told fans she had cut down on drinking alcohol because she prefers smoking the substance.
Lady Gaga was quoted as telling The Sun newspaper: “I want you to know it has totally changed my life and I’ve really cut down on drinking.
“It has been a totally spiritual experience for me with my music. It’s like saying everybody needs to take a breath and it’s going to be OK.”
Lady Gaga has been open about how hard she usually works to maintain her trim physique, and caused controversy earlier this year by revealing her diet habits.
Writing on her Twitter page, she said: “Just killed back to back spin classes. Eating a salad dreaming of a cheeseburger #PopSingersDontEat #IWasBornThisWay.”
However, Lady Gaga has previously talked about how she can’t resist hearty Italian food.
She said: “The rumors I am a dab hand in the kitchen are completely true.
“I come from an Italian family – what more can I say? I love to cook. I am really good at Italian food. So I make great meatballs, pasta and all sorts. I love it.”
Lady Gaga has never been one to hide away her body, but after piling on 30 lbs it seems she is reassessing her wardrobe.
Lady Gaga, 26, covered up her new curves in a long sleeved white coat as she left her hotel in Amsterdam on Wednesday night.
The star teamed it with sky-high heels and dark sunglasses with her head wrapped in a white scarf.
She signed autographs and handed out perfume samples to her fans, who had waited for hours to meet her.
The outfit was positively demure for Lady Gaga. But perhaps she had seen photos of herself the previous night.
Then the 5 ft 1 star had strutted on stage in Amsterdam in a series of typically skimpy costumes.
But rather than revealing her toned body, this time they showed bulging hips and thighs, cascading tummy and double chin.
Nutritionist Majid Ali, who has not treated the singer, told RadarOnline: “Gaga appears to have gained at least 30 pounds.”
Lady Gaga is on the European leg of her Born This Way tour, but the obvious weight gain seems to be dragging her down.
This is a far cry from what Lady Gaga looked like just a few months ago, when her muscular legs and toned, six-pack abdomen held spectators in awe.
Lady Gaga has been open about how hard she usually works to maintain her trim physique, and caused controversy earlier this year by revealing her diet habits.
Writing on her Twitter page, she said: “Just killed back to back spin classes. Eating a salad dreaming of a cheeseburger #PopSingersDontEat #IWasBornThisWay.”
Lady Gaga also admits she loves food, especially Italian cuisine, and can’t get enough of it.
“The rumors I am a dab hand in the kitchen are completely true,” she said.
“I come from an Italian family – what more can I say? I love to cook. I am really good at Italian food. So I make great meatballs, pasta and all sorts. I love it.”
Despite her weight gain Lady Gaga was polite to her fans, who had waited for hours to meet her.
Lady Gaga handed out samples of her new perfume, Fame, and signed autographs.
