Dutch university bans paedophile campaigner
June 17, 2006 Leave a Comment
Radboud University in the Dutch city of Nijmegen has expelled a student for being part of a media campaign demanding rights for paedophiles. The man was studying special needs education for physically and mentally handicapped children.
He is thought to be a member of a new political party that advocates the legalisation of sex with children [...]
University Hospital Maastricht pioneers stomach surgery through the oesophagus
June 17, 2006 Leave a Comment
It’s a problem that 1 in 10 Dutch people suffer from: gastric acid entering the oesophagus from the stomach (reflux). And in 1 in a 1000, the resulting health problems are serious enough to warrant surgical intervention. The operation to relieve reflux (known as Nissen fundoplication) is currently done by abdominal incision or by means [...]
Students protest in Athens
June 16, 2006 Leave a Comment
Around 10,000 students demonstrated in the Greek capital Athens on Thursday to protest against a new higher education bill. The demonstration started off peacefully but became violent later on.
Several banks and shops had their windows smashed and riot police dispersed the protesters with tear-gas and batons.
The students are protesting against a new draft [...]
GDP per inhabitant varied by one to five across the EU25 Member States
June 15, 2006 Leave a Comment
Nowcasts of purchasing power parities (PPP) for 2005 are now available. Based on these nowcasts, GDP per inhabitant in Luxembourg was more than twice the EU25 average in 2005.
Ireland was nearly 40% above average, while Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria and Belgium were around 20% above average. The United Kingdom and Sweden were 15% above [...]
Taïda passes exams
June 15, 2006 Leave a Comment
Kosovar Taïda Pasic has successfully passed her Dutch VWO secondary school exams, ‘De Driemark’ school in Winterswijk announced on Thursday. Pasic sat the exams in the Dutch Embassy in Sarajevo. She left the Netherlands at the end of April after a court agreed with Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk that the rejected asylum seeker was an [...]
British Police learns Dutch
June 15, 2006 Leave a Comment
Dog handlers in a British police force are having to take language classes — to communicate with their latest recruits.
Finding it increasingly hard to find suitable German Shepherds in Britain, some British police forces are bringing in dogs from continental Europe.
But there’s a problem. Although the latest arrivals possess all the attributes needed for [...]
Case of missing girls in Liège attracting attention from foreign media
June 15, 2006 Leave a Comment
The Liège judicial authorities are leaving no stone unturned to solve the case of the two missing girls, Stacy and Nathalie, appointing a second magistrate. Meanwhile, foreign media attention is growing fast.
[...] No trace has been found of the girls, until now, despite various search actions.
Meanwhile, the case is attracting more and more attention [...]
International organisations: Bringing the European Union - and Turkey - closer to Maastricht residents
June 15, 2006 1 Comment
Ordinary citizens often view the European Institutions in Brussels as an inaccessible law-issuing bureaucratic monster. Ever since its foundation, the European Union has been lacking a tool to connect with its citizens. Because of the increasing competencies of the European Institutions, the need for such a tool grows by the day. European citizens ask to be informed and want to feel recognised.
To satisfy this need, the European Commission has created information relays, called Europe Direct, throughout the EU member states. Some nations only have two or three information points, but the Netherlands counts 13 of them, spread among each of its 12 provinces. [continued...]
Herring ritual
June 15, 2006 Leave a Comment
From today’s edition of Radio Netherlands Press Review:
Every year the arrival and auction of the first batch of pickled herring is a celebrated event in the Netherlands, but this year it is extra special because it fell several weeks later than usual. The herring were simply not as fat as they needed to be, because [...]
Dutch PM will raise issue of Strabourg at EU summit
June 15, 2006 Leave a Comment
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende says he will bring up the issue of what some people are calling the EU “travelling circus” at the European Union summit meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. He will explain the Dutch objections to the role of Strasbourg as the second home of the European Parliament.
The parliament [...]
Centre for extremist studies established
June 15, 2006 Leave a Comment
A new centre for the study of radicalism and extremism has been established in Amsterdam.
The Centrum voor Radicalisme en Extremisme Studies (CRES) is being hosted by the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and will bring together researchers from various universities to advance the study of religious radicalisation in the Netherlands.
Researcher Frank Buijs of UvA’s Institute of [...]
Dutch slow to go to doctor
June 15, 2006 Leave a Comment
Dutch people are slow to go to the doctor and often wait anywhere from a few months to a year to make an appointment to have a medical complaint checked out, according to research by the MLD cancer foundation.
While 70 percent of the respondents said their health was important, no less than two [...]
State museums free for Dutch
June 14, 2006 Leave a Comment
From today’s Radio Netherlands Press Review:
As several papers report this morning, the parliament has just approved a bill abolishing entrance fees for the permanent collections of the Dutch state museums. As the Algemeen Dagblad explains, Dutch taxpayers will get a card from the tax office that will allow them to visit museums for free, in [...]
Most people in their fifties still married to first partner
June 14, 2006 Leave a Comment
People born in the period 1940–1954 have now all passed their fiftieth birthday. This makes it possible to take stock of relationship and family formation for this generation. Three-quarters of them are still married to their first partner.
First relationship
Ninety percent of men born between 1940 and 1954 have ever been married, for women [...]
Dutch survey shows widespread racism
June 14, 2006 Leave a Comment
A Justice Ministry survey shows that each year hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the Netherlands are confronted with racist incidents.
Only a few are reported, as the victims feel this won’t achieve anything.
Dutch people of Moroccan descent in particular felt discriminated against. Those of Turkish, Surinamese and Antillean descent were less often the [...]
Radio Netherlands Worldwide goes on a global search for the ‘new’ Rembrandt
June 14, 2006 Leave a Comment
Who is the Rembrandt of our time? How does the ‘great Dutch master’ inspire contemporary artists worldwide? To find out, Radio Netherlands Worldwide (RNW) is lauching an international competition under the title ‘Inspired by Rembrandt’.
Artists around the globe are invited to submit their entries via the official website rembrandt.rnw.nl. They will compete for a [...]
Dutch encouraged to move closer to work
June 14, 2006 Leave a Comment
Housing Minister Sybilla Dekker wants to reward people who move closer to their place of work.
De Telegraaf reports that the minister plans to do away with the 6 percent property transfer tax on buying a house in cases where the buyer relocates closer to their workplace.
She hopes the plan will have a positive [...]
Dutch MPs put citizenship debate on hold
June 14, 2006 Leave a Comment
MPs have postponed a debate on the new citizenship bill presented by Dutch Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk until she answers a number of written questions about her proposals. The MPs are worried that the new law will be thrown out by the courts because it distinguishes between people who have been Dutch nationals since birth [...]
Political scientists analyse young Dutch Muslims
June 14, 2006 Leave a Comment
Three political scientists at the University of Amsterdam have published a book on Muslim youngsters in the Netherlands. They conclude that radicalisation need not always lead to extremism.
At the request of the Justice Ministry, Frank J. Buijs, Froukje Demant and Atef Hamdy wrote the 304 page book ‘Strijders van eigen bodem: radicale en democratische moslims [...]
Dutch churchman praises online contest for Christian soccer star
June 14, 2006 Leave a Comment
A Dutch bishops’ spokesman has welcomed the launch of an online contest to elect a Christian soccer star during the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
“There’s a lot of resistance to the idea that a footballer can also be a Christian,” said Pieter Kohnen, spokesman for the Utrecht-based Dutch bishops’ conference. “It’s good to show that players [...]
Bulgaria attracts Dutch tourists
June 14, 2006 Leave a Comment
The Bulgarian embassy in the Netherlands organizes a special presentation of the country to media and tourist agencies, officials announced.
The special booklet shows thorough information on tourism in Bulgaria, written in Dutch. State Tourism Agency is to show details about the country’s tourist destination, Focus News agency added. According to the data the Netherlands was [...]
1-2 July: Children art exhibit in Antwerp: “Are you Animal, Vegetable or Mineral?”
June 14, 2006 Leave a Comment
The notion of children’s art as being somehow “pure” and free of cultural influence has become something of a cliché. Afterall, children inhabit the same planet as the rest of us.
“Are You Animal, Vegetable or Mineral?” on view at the Dagmar De Pooter Gallery from the weekend 1 - 2 July 2006, from 11:00 [...]
South-Limburg police not involved in search for missing girls in Liège region
June 13, 2006 Leave a Comment
The police in South-Limburg is not involved in the search for Nathalie Mahy and Stacy Lemmens, the two seven and ten-year-old half sisters who went missing from a street fair in Liège in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The Belgian police has not requested for assistance.
The search for the missing half-sisters in the Liège [...]
Syrian ambassador has no information about Al Mansouri
June 13, 2006 Leave a Comment
The Syrian ambassador in Brussels was unable to give the Maastricht branch of Amnesty International any further information to regarding the condition and the whereabouts of Abdullah Al Mansouri.
The human rights activist from Maastricht was arrested last month in Syria together with seven other people. Yesterday Amnesty International met with the Syrian ambassador in Brussels, [...]
Integration programme for ethnic minority women of non-G31 municipalities
June 13, 2006 Leave a Comment
The Dutch Cabinet has agreed to a proposal tabled by Integration and Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk to offer an integration programme to ethnic minority women residing outside the 31 municipalities (G31) with a large urban renewal task.
The programme is a follow-up to the TaalTotaal action plan of the PaVEM Committee on the participation of [...]
Dutch MPs put citizenship debate on hold
June 13, 2006 Leave a Comment
MPs have postponed a debate on the new citizenship bill presented by Dutch Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk until she answers a number of written questions about her proposals. The MPs are worried that the new law will be thrown out by the courts because it distinguishes between people who have been Dutch nationals since birth [...]
Cross-border sharing in international Euro regions
June 13, 2006 Leave a Comment
There is an interesting article about the Meuse-Rhine euroregion in today’s edition of the London Financial Times:
Spend a little time in the triangle of flat, windswept countryside between Aachen in Germany, Maastricht in the Netherlands and the Belgian city of Liége, and you would believe that all is well in the European Union’s internal market.
National [...]
South-Limburg opens lobby office in Brussels
June 12, 2006 Leave a Comment
Since last week, the areas of Heerlen, Maastricht and Sittard-Geleen have their own representation office in the so-called House of Dutch Provinces, that was inaugurated last Tuesday in Brussels .
Apart from the Limburg cities, other cities from Brabant, Gelderland and Overijssel are also represented in the same office. The cities hope that a presence [...]
Hotelschool Maastricht introduces English-language module ‘Tourism and Gastronomy Diversity in The Euregio’
June 12, 2006 Leave a Comment
In cooperation with the Benelux Academy for Regional Gastronomy, Hotelschool Maastricht is introducting a new English-language module titled “Tourism and Gastronomy Diversity in The Euregio” .
The four week module will allow students to learn about the cultural values and diversity of the “Euregio”.
Source: Hoge Hotelschool Maastricht (in Dutch), 5 June 2006
IBMS students from Hogeschool Zuyd can go on directly to UM Master
June 12, 2006 Leave a Comment
Under special conditions, students who have completed the International Business and Management Studies programme at Hogeschool Zuyd will be able to apply directly for a International Master programme at the University of Maastricht, thanks to an agreement recently signed by Hogeschool Zuyd’s Faculty of Finance and the UM.
About 60 new students enroll every year in [...]
