News below sealevel

Elsewhere, former immigration minister turned nationalist, Rita Verdonk, launched her own political party called ‘Trots op Nederland’ (Proud of the Netherlands). Verdonk said: “When we Dutch people find ourselves constantly having to move over and adapt to new cultures in our own country, I say enough is enough!” Meanwhile, Dutch schools are failing fast: the number of primary schools deemed ‘very weak’ doubled to 155 in the past two years. Minister of Employment, Piet Hein Donner, wants people to work beyond age 65; if they do, they’ll receive increased pension payments of five percent more per year. Local council taxes have risen again this year: homeowners in the major cities face 13 percent increases, compared to seven percent nationwide. The Dutch Trade Union Federation’s chairwoman wants to force companies to use positive discrimination in favor of women, in order to ensure women hold 40 percent of all top jobs in Holland by 2012. Eight Dutch soldiers were wounded in Afghanistan – one soldier lost both his legs. Meanwhile, a Dutch peacekeeping force of 60 marines is heading to Chad in May, where they’ll join a Eufor peacekeeping battalion responsible for protecting 265,000 refugees from Darfur. A block of concrete with 25 huge nails in it pointing upwards was found in a half-meter deep hole covered with dirt and leaves on a walking path in Limburg. The deadly booby-trap was “the work of a psychopath, a twisted mind,” a police spokesman said. As of 1 April, traffic fines increased by 20 percent. Record numbers of traffic tickets were recorded in 2007, worth 12,640,881 euro nationwide. Speeding tickets increased by 10 percent. Amsterdam police led all cities by issuing more than 1.2 million fines. Meanwhile, a new initiative will ‘fine’ diners 10 euro cents if they don’t finish their meals in restaurants. The charity, ‘Rotterdam Helps the World’, hopes 15,000 restaurants will participate: 10 euro cents can feed one person per day in Sierra Leone. Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport is now using a remote-controlled robotic hawk, called the ‘ornithopter’, to scare birds away from runways. Holland opened its first long-distance walking path for the disabled: called the ‘Royal Route’, walkers and wheelchair travelers can follow the 170km path from Noordeinde Palace in Den Haag to Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn. And finally, Mrs Elisabeth de Geus, 57, lost her daughter’s ‘dowry’ on the train: she left her bag containing 1,300 euros in the train while on her way to Amsterdam to buy her daughter wedding gifts. De Geus had saved the money for years in a shoebox. Happily, an honest citizen found the money and returned it to her. (DM)

Our monthly review of what’s been making news in the Dutch papers begins with the headlines that Dutch MP Geert Wilders’ anti-Koran film, ‘Fitna’, was finally released to controversy at home and especially abroad – Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono declared Wilders an ‘undesirable alien’ who will be arrested if he sets foot in Indonesia, while demonstrators at the Dutch embassy in Jakarta waved banners proclaiming ‘Kill Geert Wilders’ and ‘Holland go to hell’. Elsewhere, former immigration minister turned nationalist, Rita Verdonk, launched her own political party called ‘Trots op Nederland’ (Proud of the Netherlands). Verdonk said: “When we Dutch people find ourselves constantly having to move over and adapt to new cultures in our own country, I say enough is enough!” Meanwhile, Dutch schools are failing fast: the number of primary schools deemed ‘very weak’ doubled to 155 in the past two years. Minister of Employment, Piet Hein Donner, wants people to work beyond age 65; if they do, they’ll receive increased pension payments of five percent more per year. Local council taxes have risen again this year: homeowners in the major cities face 13 percent increases, compared to seven percent nationwide. The Dutch Trade Union Federation’s chairwoman wants to force companies to use positive discrimination in favor of women, in order to ensure women hold 40 percent of all top jobs in Holland by 2012. Eight Dutch soldiers were wounded in Afghanistan – one soldier lost both his legs. Meanwhile, a Dutch peacekeeping force of 60 marines is heading to Chad in May, where they’ll join a Eufor peacekeeping battalion responsible for protecting 265,000 refugees from Darfur. A block of concrete with 25 huge nails in it pointing upwards was found in a half-meter deep hole covered with dirt and leaves on a walking path in Limburg. The deadly booby-trap was “the work of a psychopath, a twisted mind,” a police spokesman said. As of 1 April, traffic fines increased by 20 percent. Record numbers of traffic tickets were recorded in 2007, worth 12,640,881 euro nationwide. Speeding tickets increased by 10 percent. Amsterdam police led all cities by issuing more than 1.2 million fines. Meanwhile, a new initiative will ‘fine’ diners 10 euro cents if they don’t finish their meals in restaurants. The charity, ‘Rotterdam Helps the World’, hopes 15,000 restaurants will participate: 10 euro cents can feed one person per day in Sierra Leone. Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport is now using a remote-controlled robotic hawk, called the ‘ornithopter’, to scare birds away from runways. Holland opened its first long-distance walking path for the disabled: called the ‘Royal Route’, walkers and wheelchair travelers can follow the 170km path from Noordeinde Palace in Den Haag to Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn. And finally, Mrs Elisabeth de Geus, 57, lost her daughter’s ‘dowry’ on the train: she left her bag containing 1,300 euros in the train while on her way to Amsterdam to buy her daughter wedding gifts. De Geus had saved the money for years in a shoebox. Happily, an honest citizen found the money and returned it to her. (DM)