Fraud Rampant Among Student Stipends

According to estimates there is wide-spread fraud among students collecting stipends, which amounts to ten of millions of euros. Many students claim that they live away from home while in fact this is not the case. Deputy Minister of Education Van Bijsterveldt (Christian Democrat) has stated that systematic checks will be undertaken in Amsterdam to counter this. Thereafter other towns will follow.

http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/6581929/__Actie_tegen_fraude_studiebeurs__.html?cid=rss

Parliament Wants Special Debate on Congress of Radical Muslims

Four parties – The Freedom Party, the Christian Democrats, and Liberals and the Christian SGP Party – want an urgent debate in parliament about the Congress of Radical Muslims that will take place next month in Amsterdam. The daily De Telegraaf says that one of the organizers is the International Support Organization. The papers say it is a front organization for the International Union of Muslim Scholars which is led by Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who in his fatwas supports suicide attacks.
www.trouw.nl/nieuws/nederland/article3047942.ece/Kamer_eist_opheldering_over_moslimcongres_Amsterdam.html

More Reports Regarding Violence in Trains

The daily Telegraaf quotes a confidential safety report undertaken by the Dutch Railways which shows that there were more reports of violence taking place in trains. In March conductors requested assistance from the police and safety teams 2,000 times, which is 500 times more than the average of 2009. Most reports concern people who are traveling without having a ticket. However, there were 218 cases of threats, 68 of physical violence, 303 cases of verbal abuse and 4 cases of assault with a deadly weapon. The Dutch Railways claim that the increase is due to better reporting.
www.trouw.nl/nieuws/nederland/article3046528.ece/Meer_meldingen_geweld_in_treinen.html

Crime Journalist: Senior Judge Exonerated Criminal in Exchange for Sexual Services

The Dutch crime journalist Peter R. de Vries has claimed on Dutch TV that the late vice-president of the Hague court, Cornelis Stolk, exonerated the criminal Koos Hertogs of a raid he had admitted committing in exchange for homosexual services. Stolk also paid for Hertogs’ driving lessons. Later Hertogs murdered a 12 year old girl and was condemned to life imprisonment. Parliamentarian Fred Teeven of the Liberal Party (VVD) has called on Minister of Justice Ernst Hirsch Ballin (Christian Democrat) to investigate the matter.
www.elsevier.nl/web/Nieuws/Cultuur-Televisie/263299/Koos-Hertogs-had-homoseksuele-relatie-met-rechter.htm?rss=true

Death of Dutch Soldiers in Afghanistan Due to Inferior Armed Vehicles

The Liberal Party has asked Minister of Defense, Van Middelkoop, for clarification about the quality of armored vehicles used by the Dutch Military in Afghanistan. Soldiers serving there have told the daily De Telegraaf that the deaths of two Dutch soldiers last Saturday could probably have been prevented if the military had replaced the light and vulnerable Viking vehicles with Bushmaster vehicles which can resist roadside bombs. The soldiers call the Vikings “death coffins on caterpillar tracks”.
www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/6552298/__Viking_ondeugdelijk__.html?sn=binnenland,buitenland

Radicalization of the Extreme Left in the Netherlands

Minister of the Interior, Ernst Hirsch Ballin (Christian Democrat) has sent figures about radicalization in the Netherlands to parliament. These show that the resistance of the extreme left against the Dutch asylum policies has again become structural and is radicalizing. The left-wing activities include illegal actions and intimidation of people at work or at home. In 2009 the extreme left organized 104 legal activities, such as demonstrations and meetings, and 88 incidences of breaking the law were registered.
www.trouw.nl/nieuws/nederland/article3041577.ece/Links_verzet_tegen_asielbeleid_radicaliseert.html

Mentally Challenged Children Victims of Sexual Abuse

Three former lay-leaders of the Roman Catholic institute De La Salle in Boxtel have come forward saying that in the 60s and 70s mentally challenged children were victims of sexual abuse by friars of the Congregation of Fraters van Tilburg. This is the first time that non-victims of sexual abuse in the Dutch Catholic Church voluntarily have come forward revealing such abuse.
www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/article1369028.ece/Fraters_vergrepen_zich_aan_zwakbegaafden