november
Minister for Agriculture Sharon Dijksma has informed the Dutch House of Representatives that hatcheries and breeding establishments will be provided with financial compensation. These businesses have been directly affected by the far-reaching measures taken by the government to contain the bird flu virus. The extent of the compensation will be determined by appraisers from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency.
Six Dutch hospitals have been taking part in an experiment to monitor heart patients on distance while they are at home. The experiment is a huge success. A lot less expensive hospital visits and very enthusiastic patients that do much better. The development is important because in the upcoming years there will be a sharp rise in the ageing population. The number of heart patients will rise with 10% every year.
This afternoon the Dutch King Willem-Alexander opens the Blue Energy energy plant in the Afluitdijk, the dike that closes off the North Sea from the IJsselmeer, the largest fresh water lake in Western Europe. With this osmotic power plant energy is harvested by passing salt water through a membrane to mix with fresh water. With the ‘blue energy’ plant the Dutch have a world première.
From the 1st of January 2015 part of the Dutch care is reformed and decentralised. Municipalities will be responsible for long-term care for elderly, handicapped psychiatric patients and youth, but will get less budget. For domestic help more than 30% less budget. An elderly couple in their end eighties went to court because city hall decided to stop paying for their For domestic help. The verdict is planned for December 9, 2014. Since there is many more in exactly the same situation the case is followed by many.
The development of agricultural regions in Europe is crucial. Especially in the south of Europe the agricultural sector needs to be stimulated to revive the economy, but also to fight the exodus to the cities and to conserve nature. In total 19,6 billion Euro is available for the stimulation of agricultural initiatives, especially for agricultural start-ups of people in the larger cities that lost their job. On Thursday November 27, the European think tank Groupe de Bruges organises a debate on this topic in Amsterdam.
The recovered wreckage from flight MH17 is on its way to Kharkov. The train with wreckage on board departed from Torez this morning and has twelve train wagons. A few parts of wreckage were too big for transport by train and arrived in Kharkov by truck yesterday. With the transport from Torez to Kharkov the MH17 recovery operation has ended.
Dutch teachers and students created the Famous Deaths Installation, a so-called smell-documentary system wherewith one can relive the approaching end of celebrities like John F. Kennedy, Colonel Kadhafi, Whitney Houston and Prince Diana. In a special coffin like box a new way of storytelling can be experienced via aromas. The system will be presented on 2 December during the congress Sense of Smell.
This morning the recovery of wreckage from flight MH17 has been continued. The wreckage will be brought to Torez en loaded into trains. Later on the wreckage will be transported to Kharkov and finally to the Netherlands. It is already the 5th day the recovery team was able to work at the MH17 crash site.
According to the Dutch minister of justice Opstelten no evidence has been found that the six killed captors clearly have surrendered during the military action. during the press conference he stated that there has not been 'any executions'. This has become evident after the results of archival research by the Dutch ministry of Security and Justice done at the request of the Lower House. At the moment relatives from the Moluccans that hijacked a train in 1977 are bringing the Dutch state to court because they think to have enough proof that the Marines at the time executed some of the hijackers.
Tuesday morning truckers campaigned against transport company Van den Bosch Transports from Erp in Den Bosch. The company is accused by union FNV to exploit foreign drivers and was taken to court in Den Bosch. Van den Bosch is accused of deploying cheaper foreign truck drivers, amongst others from Hungary, for rides in the Netherlands.
The Dutch Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam did research after illegal trade in organs. It also happens in the Netherlands. The main donor organs mainly come from Pakistan, India, Columbia and China. In China sometime people are operated just before their execution. The results of the research will be presented on November 21 at a symposium at Europol in The Hague.
The Dutch council of State decided that the Hedwige polder in Zeeland can be put under water, so the 295 acres of farmland will be given back to nature. The quibbling over the future of the Hedwige polder is already going on for years. Opponents, including the owner of the polder, do not believe in nature restoration.
The judgement of the European Committee for Social Rights is painful and hard to handle for State Secretary Fred Teeven. He wants the Netherlands to stay very unattractive for refugees exhausted of all legal procedures. But his main problem is electoral. Geert Wilders is portraying Teeven as someone who receives refugees happily and does not manage to get them out of the country anymore. The PVV is the largest party in the latest polls.
Access to emergency social assistance for homeless people and irregular migrants in the Netherlands is not in line with the country’s commitments under the European Social Charter, according to two decisions published today by the European Committee of Social Rights. Food, water, shelter and clothing should be ensured for refugees exhausted of all legal procedures.
For the first time a citizen goes to court to fight the reforms in the Dutch health care system in 2015. It is a daughter of very old couple that are in need of care and that will lose their domestic help on the first of January. According to the daughter her parents will not be able to live independently without the seven hours of domestic help a week.
Over the last days the father of the State Secretary of Health Martin van Rijn, responsible for the new reforms in the Dutch healthcare system, gave an interview about the poor care his dementing wife receives in a nursing home. The mother of the State Secretary is left along for many hours, and her husband sees himself as a caretaker inside the nursing home. He stated that he often sees the urine of his wife running down her legs.
On Wednesday November 5 the Netherlands was the first country in the world where lights were powered by living plants. At exactly 17:20 hrs CET the lights were switched on in Ede-Wageningen, home to the innovative young company Plant-e. Five minutes later the old ammunition site Hembrug near Amsterdam followed. The municipalities of Ede and Wageningen are Plant-e’s first customers and have switched on the lights that are powered by a modular plant-system. The first of its kind in the world.
Relatives from the Moluccans that hijacked a train in 1977 are bringing the Dutch state to court because they think to have enough proof that the Marines at the time executed some of the hijackers while they were already wounded. In two weeks results of a new research will be published by the ministry of Justice.
Between 1979 and 1989 Dutch art dealers bought for 60 million guilders in stolen art in the German Democratic Republic. In that way the communist regime managed to get hard foreign currency. The Amsterdam auction Chrtistie's was a key figure in the resale of art and sets an internal investigation. The Dutch actuality TV program Een Vandaag broadcasted an extensive reportage about the affair yesterday.
Around 20% of the Dutch office buildings are empty and unused. At the same time there is a continuous shortage of student housing, especially in the West of the Netherlands. For a few years a special expert team for the transformation of office buildings is creating student apartments in unused office buildings. It turns out that it is profitable to build in simple student housing for a few years. And there is much more to come.
The commemoration of the flight MH17 disaster will take place on Monday 10 November at the RAI in Amsterdam. The commemoration is accessible by invitation only. The persons invited are the surviving relatives of the victims and persons involved in the air crash. The National Commemoration is a mark of sympathy for the victims' next of kin and an expression of respect for all victims.
In an interview in the Dutch newspaper the Volkskrant commander Aleksandr Chodakovski explains that the pro-Russian rebels in the east of Ukraine did have anti-aircraft artillery, but states that they never used the BUK-system. Chodakovski also explains he is happy with the actual cease-fire, because in the end ‘a victory of one of the sides will be impossible’. (…) ‘A country cannot win from itself. We fight against ourselves, that is unnatural.’
From today the European Central Bank (ECB) takes over the final responsibility for the supervision over the large European banks from the national supervisors. It is expected that the ECB will be strict in checking if the European banks are complying with the rules. But others fear that the ECB will not have enough eye for risky behaviour of the banking managers. The Dutch Central Bank now knows everything about the Dutch banking managers, because they place psychologists in boardrooms of Dutch banks.
On November 15 the traditional child friend St Nicholas will make his entry on several location in the Netherlands. Traditionally his helpers, the so-called Black petes will accompany him, and although there has been furious discussions about his racist nature, in most cities his appearance will not change much. Some wait for the outcome of an appeal at the Council of State On November 12, that judged that Black Pete is objectionable for none-white citizens.
European research shows that the Netherlands belongs to the top in the EU in the production, trade and consumption of XTC. The use of XTC by young grownups is the highest in Europe. Lately the XTC pills seem to be more pure and heavier. Nurses express their concerns about under estimating and trivialize the dangers of XTC use. A road map should prevent personal and social harm.