Infant deaths ‘due to postponed motherhood’
The Netherlands has a relatively high rate of infant deaths due partly because women are postponing motherhood and there are a high number of multiple births here, the Perinatal Registration Foundation said. The foundation’s study also indicated that that fetuses with abnormalities are less likely to be aborted and doctors are more reluctant to treat extremely premature babies, Radio Netherlands reported. The study was initiated after EU statistics revealed 7.4 of every 1,000 babies born in the Netherlands die, the highest rate of infant deaths in Europe.
SMS driver avoids jail for fatal crash
A court in Arnhem has imposed a 240 community service order and a EUR 1,000 fine on a woman, 21, who caused a fatal car accident last year while she was writing an SMS message on her mobile phone. She was also banned from driving for 18 months, the last six months of which was suspended. Ruling it had not been proven the accident was a direct result of her SMSing, the judge said it was clear she was not paying any attention to the traffic.
Dutch papers in British ownership
Dutch publishing group PCM has been taken over by British venture capital firm Apax Partners. The move means that four Dutch daily newspapers — De Volkskrant, NRC Handelsblad, Trouw and Algemeen Dagblad — are now in foreign hands. But three Dutch foundations remain part shareholders in PCM. Financial details of the takeover were not revealed. Some aspects are still to be finalised, but it is expected the deal will go ahead, De Volkskrant reported on Thursday.
Boy injured in beach accident
The driver of a pick-up truck was arrested after a 14-year-old Amsterdam boy was severely injured while sunning himself on the Zandvoort beach. Police allege the arrested driver — who was working to build a beach pavilion — drove over the boy’s head. Both the boy and his mother — who received a hip injury — were admitted to the VU hospital in Amsterdam. A police spokesman said the driver had not seen the victims, nor the boy’s father and two siblings lying in the sand.
[Copyright Expatica News 2004]
Subject: Dutch news