Germany wants EU law on Holocaust denial
January 17, 2007 Leave a Comment
Germany voiced confidence that it can push through new rules which would make denying the Holocaust a crime in the European Union.
“One or the other member states has serious concerns about it, but I am hopeful that we will make progress,” German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries told reporters ahead of an informal meeting of [...]
Drastic situation in special education
January 17, 2007 Leave a Comment
Just 5 percent of students in special education graduate with a school diploma, a government-commissioned report has shown. An extra EUR 200 million is needed this year to drastically improve the special education system. As waiting lists grow, the number of primary schools students in special education has increased 30 percent since 2000 and the [...]
Pay-out after burn-out
January 17, 2007 Leave a Comment
People who eventually suffer burn-out after working too hard and take time off work can sue their boss for damages, thanks to a new ruling from a lower court judge in Heerlen. A former machinery repairman at a large bakery is set to be awarded of thousands of euros.
Source: AD via Expatica Netherlands, 16 January [...]
College council calls for action on spelling
January 17, 2007 Leave a Comment
Students at HBO colleges need an intermediary year to learn how to read and write properly according to Doekle Terpstra, chairman of the HBO college association. Terpstra was reacting to the news that 68% of trainee teachers failed a special language test.
The test was pitched to the level of first year HAVO high school [...]
Few mothers work full-time
January 17, 2007 Leave a Comment
Fewer than one in ten Dutch mothers with underage children had a full-time job in 2005. This proportion has hardly changed since 1996. Although more mothers are working, they mainly opt for part-time jobs. Three days a week at work is a particularly popular choice.
One quarter of mothers work a three-day a week
Nearly 2 [...]
Dutch and Belgian carbon dioxide emission plans rejected
January 17, 2007 Leave a Comment
The European Commission has rejected the Dutch and Belgian proposals for carbon dioxide emissions for the period 2008-2012.
The Netherlands, which had suggested limiting its emissions to 90 million tonnes, was asked not to exceed 86 million tonnes.
Belgium had suggested 63 million tonnes for itself and was asked not to exceed 59 million tonnes. [...]
European Commission endorses open source
January 17, 2007 Leave a Comment
The European Commission has issued a ringing endorsement of open source software, producing a confidence-boost for businesses considering the deployment of Linux and other free software.
In a lengthy report into business deployments of open source software, published in full late last week, the Commission said that in “almost all cases” savings would be made by [...]
Immigrant children get worse healthcare than native Dutch
January 17, 2007 Leave a Comment
Healthcare provided to immigrant children is worse than that provided to native Dutch children, an academic study has found.
Doctoral student Nathalie Urbanus-van Lar said the poorer healthcare provided to immigrants can lead to dangerous situations when children are not given good medication or when no diagnosis is made.
But Urbanus-van Lar could not explain why immigrant [...]
Netherlands has up to 200 Jihad websites
January 17, 2007 Leave a Comment
One hundred to 200 Dutch radical-Islamic websites are presently active. Up to the present, very little action has been taken against them, according to the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism (NCTb) Tjibbe Joustra.
In February 2005, three months after the terrorist murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh, the Lower House adopted a bill which assigned the government [...]
Obituary: Rob Noortman
January 16, 2007 Leave a Comment
A major figure in the art world, Maastricht’s Rob Noortman (60), passed away on Monday as the result of a heart attack.
In its latest edition, The Meuse-Rhine Journal re-prints an article by editor Stafford Wadsworth, published originally in April 1994 in ‘Limburg International Magazine’ about the background of this very interesting man.
Read the article: [...]
Wildcats return to Limburg
January 16, 2007 1 Comment
The European wildcat (felis silvestris) has returned to the Netherlands and is nesting in dense woodland in Limburg, the provincial council said on Friday. Photographs of a wildcat were taken by secret camera in the Heuvelland region near Epen in mid-December.
The wildcat, which looks like a large domestic tabby cat, has not been a [...]
26-28 Jan: Cultural project in Eindhoven: Be[com]ing Dutch, The Gatherings
January 16, 2007 Leave a Comment
Press release:
Be[com]ing Dutch seeks to put our ideas of national identity under pressure and to examine and challenge the processes of inclusion and exclusion in The Netherlands today. As questions of cultural identity and normative ‘national’ values become ever more of an issue in political and cultural debate the concept behind Be[com]ing Dutch is to [...]
University boss calls for more diversity
January 16, 2007 Leave a Comment
The Netherlands needs far more variety in higher education, Sijboldt Noorda, the new president of the VSNU (Association of Universities) says in the Volkskrant on Monday. The strict division between universities and more practical-orientated HBO colleges (hogescholen) should be broadened into five or six sub-categories, Noorda said.
Universities are no more ‘one-size’ fits all, Noorda [...]
EU aims to make bi-national divorces easier and cheaper
January 16, 2007 Leave a Comment
European Union member states have agreed to push ahead with a proposal to make dissolving bi-national marriages less expensive and cumbersome, the EU presidency said Monday.
[...] The planned rules would mean that, for example, a Swedish-Italian couple living in Paris could divorce in a French court which would create a settlement in accordance with [...]
Hottest first 10 days in January ever
January 16, 2007 Leave a Comment
The first 10 days of January this year were the warmest since measurements were first recorded in 1901.
With an average temperature of 8.8 degrees Celsius, 2007 will be recorded as the warmest start to a year ever, meteorological bureau KNMI said on Monday.
KNMI said the previous record of 8.2 degrees was set in [...]
Police across Europe to share DNA database
January 16, 2007 Leave a Comment
Police and security services in the European Union will share access to an unprecedented range of individuals’ personal data under a radical package of measures to be discussed by EU justice ministers this week.
It allows agencies in different countries to search one another’s databases - DNA records, fingerprints, vehicle details - and other personal information. [...]
Dutch ticked off over asylum
January 16, 2007 Leave a Comment
The Netherlands has been well and truly rapped over the knuckles by the European Court of Human Rights. The Strasbourg-based court has ruled that the Netherlands may not eject a Somali asylum seeker from the country, because that is in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights as the man would be in danger [...]
Professor Ineke Boerefijn, an activist academic at the Centre for Gender and Diversity
January 15, 2007 Leave a Comment
Professor Ineke Boerefijn is an activist academic, a rare breed of scholar who refuses to stay up in the ivory tower built for people like her. In March 2006, she was appointed Extraordinary Professor as the new ‘Opzij’ Chair of ‘Power and Strategy’ at the Centre for Gender and Diversity at Maastricht University. A profile for Crossroads. [continued...]
Dutch want answers on motorway tax
January 13, 2007 Leave a Comment
The Dutch Transport Minister Karla Peijs (Christian Democrat) has demanded an explanation from Belgium after plans were announced to charge anyone wishing to use Belgian motorways 60 euros a year.
Many thousands of Dutch tourists travel through Belgium on their way to holiday destination in countries such as France and Spain.
[...]The Dutch Transport [...]
Report finds radio is still the most used medium in the Netherlands
January 12, 2007 Leave a Comment
Despite increasing digitalisation, radio remains the most popular medium amongst Dutch consumers. Nearly 30 years after the Buggles recorded ‘Video killed the radio star’, radio still has a lot of life left in it. Radio accounts for more than 40% of media consumption during the daytime, with a peak in the morning. That’s according to [...]
Netherlands lags way behind in R & D spending
January 12, 2007 Leave a Comment
The Netherlands lags way behind other rich countries in research and development (R&D) spending, figures from statistical bureau Eurostat revealed Friday.
In 2004, the Netherlands spent 1.78 percent of Gross Domestic Product on R&D, not even equalling the average of all the then 25 member states (1.85 percent). Countries like Finland (3.46 percent), Austria, Germany, France [...]
Discovering the Netherlands
January 12, 2007 Leave a Comment
Hilarious column in today’s edition of the Calgary Sun, about a Canadian post office employee who had never heard of the Netherlands:
[...] “The Netherlands,” she read aloud from the label. “That’s in the United States, right?”
“Noooo.” I said slowly, trying to make sure she wasn’t pulling my leg. “It’s in Europe.”
“Never heard of [...]
Dutch inflation at lowest point since 1989
January 12, 2007 Leave a Comment
The Dutch Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis reports that inflation in the Netherlands is at its lowest level since 1989. Last year, prices increased by one-point-one percent. The low inflation is mainly the result of lower government rates and a reduced increase of energy prices. The duty on strong liquor was decreased and the prices [...]
Dutch house prices rise further
January 12, 2007 Leave a Comment
House prices are continuing to rise, while sales volumes are reaching record heights.
The estate agents association NVM reported yesterday that the average selling price of a home increased by 1.1 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter. Over the full year, the average price went up by 3.7 percent. The average selling price [...]
Sex offenders face teaching ban
January 12, 2007 Leave a Comment
At least 18 people convicted of child sex offences have been given the green light to carry on teaching since April 2004, the Parool reported yesterday.The justice ministry has now announced plans to automatically stop sex offenders being given formal certificates of good behavior (VOG) which are needed to get teaching jobs.
Source: DutchNews.nl, 11 January [...]
Belgium to introduce motorway tax
January 12, 2007 1 Comment
In less then a year motorists will have to pay to access Belgian motorways. Ministers met on Wednesday and agreed to introduce a highway vignette or ‘tax token’. The vignette, a small sticker motorway users will have to place on their windscreen, will cost EUR 60 on average.
But reductions of standard road tax will compensate [...]
Through the lens: Mild winter in the Netherlands
January 11, 2007 Leave a Comment
Here are a few photographs taken in early January in my village in the outskirts of Maastricht. Where is the winter? [more photographs...]
EU launches climate-change proposals
January 11, 2007 Leave a Comment
The European Commission wants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions much further than has already been agreed. A 900-page report calls for at least a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gas imissions over 1990 levels by 2020, with the warming of the earth kept to within two degrees Celsius.
The report on energy and the climate also [...]
Report highlights Dutch mulitcultural tensions
January 10, 2007 Leave a Comment
A report has been published by the ‘intervention teams’ set up two years ago to research tensions between different cultural groups, especially among young people, in the Netherlands. The teams were created following the murder of film-maker Theo van Gogh by a young Muslim extremist. They conclude that Dutch local authorities are not on top [...]
EU plans to adopt green card scheme for expats
January 10, 2007 Leave a Comment
The European Commission wants to introduce a ‘green card’ that would be valid across the entire European Union.
The work permits are aimed at highly educated expats, a spokesman for EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini said on Tuesday.
The EC decided more than a year ago to draw up a green card system. Concrete proposals will be [...]
