Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Complaint against Parliamentarian because of anti-Semitic Remark


The Jewish community in the province of Limburg and a Catholic-Jewish group of the Roermond bishopry have put in a police complaint against Parliamentarian Dion Graus of the Freedom Party accusing him of anti-Semitism. Graus has on many occasions said that Jews torture animals behind the mask of religious freedom. News items reporting this carry many anti-Semitic talkbacks.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Half of Sandwiches of Döner Kebab found to be Full of Bacteria


The consumer organization Consumentenbond, has investigated the sandwiches of Döner Kebab at ten randomly chosen locations in Groningen, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Breda. Of the 49 tested sandwiches, a majority were found to contain many bacteria. In 5 of them, even the so-called “excrement bacteria” were found. This high number of bacteria indicates that the sandwiches have either been kept out too long, or that they have not been hygienically prepared. The consumer organization advises that people with weak resistance such as people over 65 and pregnant women should avoid buying Döner Kebab sandwiches.

Monday, October 29, 2012

Minister Shocked by Sexual Abuse Committed by Caretakers


Edith Schippers, Minister of Public Health is shocked by the large number of sexual abuse committed by caretakers. She wrote this in a letter to Parliament as her response to the Inspectorate for health care. This head provided data that in the past five years, more than 400 patients have been sexually abused by caretakers, or were confronted with sexual remarks. This concerns visitors of general practitioners, psychiatric patients and retarded people.
www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/13109630/__Schippers__misbruik_in_zorg_is_aangrijpend__.html


Sunday, October 28, 2012

Lingewaard: Mayor Resigns due to False Claims of Expenses

Harry de Vries (Christian Democrat) resigned as Mayor of  Lingewaard due to false claims of expenses and negligent claims of travel costs. He said, “What I have done is wrong and cannot be justified in any way.” The trust between him, the Aldermen and the municipal council has been broken. De Vries has said that he will reimburse all non-justified claims.


Thursday, October 25, 2012

Mayor Resigns as a Result of Senator Affair


Mayor Ricardo Offermanns (Liberal) has resigned as mayor of Meerssen. Earlier he had withdrawn his candidacy for the mayoralty of Roermond. One of several accusations against the Municipal Councilor Jos van Rey (Liberals) of Roermond was that he had leaked to Offermanns and possibly to others, secret information about the sate of the Roermond candidacy. This led to the resignation of Van Rey as senator and municipal councillor. Offermanns has furthermore resigned as Chairman of the Liberal Party in the province of Limburg.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Senator Resigns Suspected of Breach of Trust


Senator Jos van Rey (Liberal Party) has resigned. He is suspected of breach of trust, in his function as municipal councilor of Roermond. The accusations are that he has given confidential information to two candidates for the position of the town’s mayor. These accusations have come to the fore during an investigation of police detectives about possible corruption of Van Rey.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Paint Bombs against Home of Minister


The action group “No Blood on my Hands” has thrown paint bombs at the home of Minister of Immigration Gerd Leers in Maastricht. This was done in protest against Dutch immigration policy. The Minister said that everyone can demonstrate, but it is not acceptable if a demonstration is against someone’s personal possessions and creates damage. He has put in a complaint with the police.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Civil Rights Movement: Government Hacking Plan Shocking


Minister of Security and Justice, Ivo Opstelten (Liberals) said that the number of cyber crimes is increasing and the ability of the police to deal with it is insufficient. He added that criminals can relatively easily wipe out their digital traces. Therefore he wants the police to break into computers from a distance and if necessary, place software inside. Ot van Daalen, Director of Bits of Freedom, which has as a goal the protection of digital civil rights has said that this is a shocking plan. He explained this by saying that in this way, the police get an interest to keep the Dutch infrastructure vulnerable. That leads to a situation where Dutch computers also become vulnerable for others including from abroad.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Decline in Butterflies due to Agriculture and Climate Changes


Michiel Wallis de Vries has said during his inaugural lecture as Professor of Ecology at Wageningen University that butterflies in the Netherlands are in decline. He said that 17 types of butterflies no longer exist in the Netherlands, and also that the numbers of the surviving types are declining. He explained that this is caused by the rise of intensive agriculture, fertilization with nitrogen derivatives and the changes in climate.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Groningen: Investment of 40 Million Euro Wasted


The province and the town of Groningen have invested almost 40 million Euro into a regional tramway which will not see the light. This was announced by the college and the Alderman of Groningen. The town’s loss out of this is 17 million Euro. It has moved entrances of parking garages, put in electrical cables and moved high tension poles. It is possible that the total amount will increase further.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Rotterdam: Spectacular Theft of Expensive Paintings


Seven major works of art were stolen from a gallery in Rotterdam in one of the most spectacular art thefts in modern history. The paintings were by Picasso, Matisse, Gauguin, Monet and others. Their value is estimated at tens of millions of dollars. The gallery is considered a masterwork of architecture, however, it is also considered difficult to protect by security experts.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Writer Receives Death Threat


A number of angry listeners of the local Amsterdam radio station Radio Mart have threatened to wait with weapons for writer Robert Vuijsje and kill him when he comes to the studio. These people say that the recent movie based on one of his books gives a wrong picture of the Bijlmermeer neighborhood (where many non-Western immigrants live). The program will probably be broadcast from another town.
www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1002/Showbizz/article/detail/3332067/2012/10/15/Schrijver-Robert-Vuijsje-Alleen-maar-nette-mensen-met-dood-bedreigd.dhtml

Monday, October 15, 2012

Amsterdam Municipality Hid Deficit of Over Half a Billion Euro


The daily Telegraaf  quotes a blog which claims that the Amsterdam Municipality mismanaged its budget between 2005-2007. In 2005 already 600 million Euro were spent in a way which was irregular. Much money was paid to cover deficits in the budget of the North-South Metroline, others were spent on unjustified social payments. The municipality masked this mismanagement in its published account.
 
 

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Organized Crime Need not Fear Police and Justice Department


The organized crime in the Netherlands has little to fear from the police and the Justice Department. This was reported by RTL Nieuws on the basis of two yet secret reports. Police and the prosecution department have enough information about the crime organizations, but they don’t have the time and the workers to deal with them. Of all the crime organizations, only a small part can be dealt with. This results from reports of the police and the prosecution to the Minister of Justice.
www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/4492/Nederland/article/detail/3331438/2012/10/13/OM-kan-misdaadorganisaties-niet-aan.dhtml

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Nuenen: Petition against Rat Plague


Three women from the small town of Nuenen in the province of Brabant have started a petition collecting signatures to convince the municipal council to take action against the rat plague there. The town has been suffering from rats for many years. In 2008 and 2009, the municipality spent 15,000 Euro to exterminate the rats. Recently, the alderman responsible said that no further action is necessary because rats are not a danger to peoples’ health. He is also of the opinion that if there are rats, the inhabitants can fight them themselves. The alderman said that in any case, the municipality has no money for this purpose.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Rat Plague in Western part of Amsterdam

A rat plague has broken out in the New Western part of Amsterdam. The municipality has asked people in this area not to leave any garbage outside of the containers. The rats cause risks that houses might sink when their burrowed tunnels under houses collapse. The plague has been caused by the demolition of old homes in the neighborhood, therefore the rats flee into other houses, which can sink as a result.
www.parool.nl/parool/nl/224/BINNENLAND/article/detail/3321557/2012/09/25/Rattenplaag-teistert-deel-Amsterdam.dhtml?utm_source=RSSReader&utm_medium=RSS

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Dutch Muslims Travel to Jihad Areas


Minister of Security and Justice Ivo Opstelten (Liberal) has sent a document to the Parliament on the threats of terrorism. He mentioned that Dutchmen have traveled to areas of jihadic battles. Their presence in the long run may be a risk for the Netherlands because jihadists may inspire others and once they return to the Netherlands, there is the possibility that they will continue their activities. There is no indication however, so far that returning jihadists have such intentions. Among Dutch jihadists, there is much interest for the jihad in Syria. Also Egypt is attractive for them, the more so as in Sinai, there is a lack of authority which gives jihadists the possibility to develop their activities.
www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/13047757/___Sharia4Holland_niet_populair___.html

Monday, October 8, 2012

Great Increase in Bankruptcies in Building Industry


From January until August 2012, 1,330 businesses in the Dutch building industry went bankrupt. That shows an increase of 45% for the same time period in 2011. There was also an increase of about 50% in the bankruptcies of individual specialists such as plasterers, plumbers, painters and glazers. Similarly, there was a 50% increase in the bankruptcies of wholesalers and “do it yourself” businesses in the building branch. Overall, bankruptcies in the Netherlands increased in that period by a quarter to 8,205. It is expected that this year will be a record year.
www.rtl.nl/components/financien/rtlz/nieuws/2012/39/stijging-faillissementen-in-hele-bouwbranche.xml

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Personal Files of Mayors and Commissioners of the Queen Easily Accessible

Due to an internal mistake in the National Archive in The Hague, the personal files of hundreds of mayors and commissioners of the Queen have been easily accessible for the public. The files which originate in the Ministry of Interior contain confidential data such as medical data, solicitation letters and information about issues with which they had problems. One of the files from which many copies were made is that of former Dutch Prime Minister Dries van Agt. On such files, the legal time of disclosure is very long, in some cases up till 70 years.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Fifty percent of Supermarket Personnel Victims of Violence


Half of the employees of supermarkets in the Netherlands is confronted with aggression or violence during their work. This was found in a study by the union CNV Dienstenbond. One third was not told about the problem when they started working. The union asked for better information – its board member Wessel Breunesse said: “There are big risks for both personnel and clients if security is neglected.”



Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Journalists Complain about Police after Beating during Riots

Two journalists, Goos de Boer and Rinus Bouwmeester put in a complaint against the mobile unit of the police because they were thrown on the ground and beaten by the unit during the major hooligan riots in Haren. That, in spite of the fact that they had shown that they were journalists. They said that hundreds of thousands of people heard on the radio what was going on.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Hilversum: Police Hides Violent Incident

It has now been published that the police has remained silent about a violent incident at the beginning of last month in Hilversum. This town has been prominent in recent news because of the many violent incidents there. In this case two men were attacked by a group of five men and one girl. One of the victims had to be treated in hospital. The police assume that the same group later beat another youngster who as a consequence lost a number of teeth.
www.gooieneemlander.nl/algemeen/binnenland/article18210523.ece/VVD-en-PvdA-houden-vast-aan-begrotingsplannen?lref=vplr

Monday, October 1, 2012

Municipality will not Monitor Radical Imam


The Hague municipality will not monitor the prayer services of the radical Imam, Fawaz Jneid. This Imam became nationally known in the Netherlands when he said about the media maker Theo van Gogh, who was later murdered by a radical Muslim: “Oh God, give Van Gogh an illness which no inhabitant of the earth can cure.” He also attacked the former parliamentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who took him to court. The Freedom Party had asked the municipality questions about whether the Imam was not dangerous for public order and safety. The prosecution and the police said that his services are part of freedom of religion.