Politics

A majority in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, support a D66 proposal to allow childcare centers to refuse children who have not been vaccinated. "This is very important for children and parents who can in this way make an informed choice," D66 parliamentarian Paul van Meenen said to RTL Nieuws.

A small group of younger, orthodox Muslims are causing problems in mosques by pressuring other believers to follow a the "strict" course, Said Bouharrou, vice-president of the Council of Moroccan Mosques in the Netherlands, said to the parliamentary committee investigating foreign influence in Dutch Islamic institutions on Monday, NOS reports.

"They are told 'you are not a good Muslim'," Bouharrou said. This small group of orthodox believers also accuse other Muslims of sowing divisions in the faith, he said. 

The Ministry of Defense temporarily put the tender process for a new information system on hold, according to internal documents in the hands of Trouw, other media in the Netherlands, and investigative journalism platform Investico. A consortium led by American IBM and French Atos, that has been working on this tender for years, is now threatening to claim hundreds of millions of euros in damages from the Ministry, Trouw reports.

Broadcaster NTR sparked massive controversy with the latest episode of NPO program Danny op Straat. In the episode, program maker Danny Ghosen spoke to a pro-pedophilia activist only identified as Nelson. He wants to set up a political party to make sex with children legal, AD reports.

The city council of Amsterdam on Thursday approved plans to announce a general ban on fireworks before the end of the year, making the capital the second large Dutch city to completely ban consumers from lighting fireworks after Rotterdam. The motion by animal party PvdD was supported by the entire city council except for the CDA and FvD, NU.nl reports.

The Westerdam, a Dutch cruise ship refused entry to several Asian ports due to fear of the coronavirus, was allowed to dock in the Cambodian port of Sihanoukville. None of the passengers have been diagnosed with 2019-nCoV, but the ship was still refused due to concerns of the virus spreading. The European Ministers of Public Health are gathering in Brussels on Thursday to discuss how to prevent the virus from spreading in Europe, NOS reports.

Two organizations and 7 thousand co-claimants are filing a lawsuit against the Dutch State, demanding that contraception be added to the basic health insurance package for everyone. Bureau Clara Wichmann and DeGoedeZaak will deliver the summons in The Hague on Friday, Valentine's Day, Trouw reports.

Before Schiphol can be given permission to further expand its number of flight movements, there must first be a new investigation into safety at the airport, according to coalition parties D66 and ChristenUnie. They want to be absolutely certain that growth will not affect the safety of passengers and employees at Schiphol, NOS reports.

The Netherlands does not intend to contribute more to the European Union budget in the coming years, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said to EU president Charles Michel at a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday. The 27 EU leaders will gather at an extra summit in two weeks time, during which the EU budget and the member states' varying viewpoints thereon will be discussed, NOS reports.

The head of public works department Rijkswaterstaat allowed Amsterdam construction company Bontrup to dump thousands of tons of waste in a natural lake in Gelderland, the Volkskrant reports based on research by Zembla. Rijkswaterstaat approved this dumping shortly after former Foreign Affairs Minister Halbe Zijlstra became involved, according to the newspaper.

The waste involved is granulite, which is a byproduct of processing granite and sandstone. It is considered "soil" by the Dutch authorities, but concerns about its effects on the environment were raised in 2018.

The current legislation that regulates the government's anti-fraud program System Risk Indication (SyRI) must be scrapped, the court in The Hague ruled on Wednesday. The Work and Income Implementation Organization Act, which regulates the use of SyRI, is in violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. It is difficult to supervise and does not sufficiently respect citizens' privacy, the court ruled, NOS reports.