Dutch news in brief, 4 November 2004

Violent offenders might lose Dutch nationality

Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk confirmed to the Dutch Parliament on Thursday that she is investigating the possibility of revoking the Dutch nationality of dual nationals who commit serious violent crimes, newspaper De Telegraaf reported. The Cabinet backed proposals in the summer to revoke Dutch citizenship of terrorists with dual passports. It is not possible to make a person with only the Dutch nationality stateless.

Volcanic eruption delays flights

Air traffic to and from Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam started to resume on Thursday after several dozen flights were cancelled on Wednesday due to mist and a volcanic eruption in Iceland. The cloud of ash mainly affected air traffic in northern Europe, Radio Netherlands reported. Flights were expected to return to normal schedules on Thursday afternoon.

DSM faces EUR 90,000 fine over deaths

The public prosecutor demanded in Maastricht Court on Thursday that chemical firm DSM pay a maximum EUR 90,000 in fines relating to a factory explosion in Geleen in April 2003 that resulted in the deaths of three workers. DSM admitted moral guilt and apologised to the victims’ families. It also said mistakes had been made, but were not entirely the responsibility of the company. The public prosecutor respected that DSM had fulfilled its social responsibilities, but had failed in protecting its workers. The court will hand down its ruling on 18 November.

49 more farms shut down in dioxin scare

Agriculture Minister Cees Veerman shut down a further 49 farms on Thursday in a growing dioxin scare. The animals at the latest farms to be sealed off ate food contaminated by cancer-producing dioxin. The closures bring the number of farms shut down to 162. The ministry reported on Wednesday that it had closed about 140 farms, but a recount brought that number back down to 113. The latest farms to be shut down were sold contaminated animal food by a new McCain distributor, having earlier obtained the peelings from the international potato chip maker. The Food and Product Safety Authority (WVA) said the contamination was caused by mineral clay on potato peel in the cattle’s food.

Subject: Dutch news