Dutch news in brief, 18 August 2004

Cabinet agrees budgetary goals

The Dutch coalition government reached agreement on Wednesday on the outline of its plans for next year’s budget. “The Miljeonennota had been discussed and dealt with. It went like a knife through butter,” finance minister Gerrit Zalm told reporters. The details of the deal have not been published, as the government will unveil its budget in the third week of September. The Cabinet has yet to discuss how it will protect the purchasing power of the lowest paid, the group that will be hardest hit by the billions in spending cuts the government plans to introduce from now to 2007.

Shell raises petrol price

Dutch market leader Royal Dutch/Shell has raised the price of petrol by one cent to EUR 1.329 per litre. The price of unleaded petrol went up to EUR 1.275 per litre. The price of diesel remains unchanged at 92.9 eurocents. Shell’s BK-Gas unit raised the price for LPG gas for cars by 0.3 of a cent to 47 cents.

Hostel worker’s condition stabilises

The condition of the female health worker who was stabbed in an Amsterdam hostel for drug addicts on Tuesday morning has been described as stable. Her doctors believe she is out of danger. It still remains unclear why a female drug addict, said to be confused, stabbed the woman. The suspect was not staying at the hostel and was present there by chance.

Dutch man catches piranha

A man fishing in Stadskanaal in the north west of the Netherlands last week caught a piranha, the infamous carnivorous fish native to the Amazon. The man told news agency ANP he did not know what it was at first. “I thought because of the red belly that it was a red rock-bass,” he said. He took a few pictures of his catch and released it back into the water. An internet search confirmed the fish was a piranha, the man said.

Subject: Dutch news