Dutch news in brief, 14 March 2006

Poultry vaccination begins Thursday

Commercial chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese that normally are raised in the open air can be vaccinated against the avian flu from Thursday, the Agriculture Ministry announced. The European Union gave the Netherlands and France – the two largest poultry producers in the Union – permission three weeks ago to vaccinate poultry most at risk from the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu.

Dutch don’t sleep enough

Dutch people get an average of seven hours and 20 minutes sleep per night. The average person in the Netherlands goes to bed at 11.30pm, falls asleep 10 minutes later and gets up at 7am the next day. That is less than the recommended eight hours and is a lot less than was the case in the Netherlands several decades ago, according to research at the University of Utrecht.

Logging at Schinveld cost EUR 1.5m

The use of ordinary officers and military police to remove activists trying to prevent the clearing of six hectares of Schinveld wood last January cost EUR 1.5 million. The evaluation report into the police was published on Tuesday and confirms allegations made by the environmentalists that police tried to block food and drink getting to the protesters who were camped out in the woods in freezing conditions. The authorities suggest in the report the activists bore the responsibility for looking after themselves. Police arrested 103 activists during the operation to clear the trees to allow safe passage overhead of AWACS planes using the nearby Nato base across the border in Germany.

More cussing on public broadcasters

People cursed more often on public broadcasters last year than on programmes on commercial television stations. A survey carried out by pollster TNS NIPO on behalf of the anti-cursing league Bond tegen het Vloeken found BNN, VPRO AND VARA set the worst example among public broadcasters. Veronica and Talpa were the worst commercial broadcasters when it came to cursing and profanity.

Cabinet consults public on EU

Dutch minister for Europe Atzo Nicolaï launched the website www.nederlandineuropa.nl on Monday to give the public a platform to share views on the future of Europe. The initiative is similar to the ’21-minute’ study last year when 150,000 Dutch people answered questions over the internet about the government’s social-economic policies.

Suriname’s ambassador resigns

Suriname’s Ambassador to the Netherlands, Edgar Amanh, offered his resignation to President Ronald Venetiaan on Monday, confidential sources told news agency ANP. This flows from the controversy over the security check carried out on Surinamese minister Alice Amafo at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on Monday. She was stopping over while returning from Qatar. The ambassador allegedly told her incorrectly she did not have to go through the security check. The minister has twice undergone an ‘100 percent’ security check designed to stop drugs arriving in the Netherlands from Suriname. The government in the Surinamese capital Paramaribo feels the agreement about the checks excludes its representatives. The affair took another turn earlier this week when Amanh failed to answer a summons backs to Suriname. He said he was ill.

Subject: Dutch news in brief