Flevoland

Delft hyperloop company Hardt Hyperloop received millions of euros in investments this past year and plans to use this money to build a 3 kilometer long test track in the Netherlands. The test track will be part of the company's yet-to-be-built European Hyperloop Center. If all goes according to plan, Hardt Hyperloop hopes to launch the first commercial hyperloop connection by 2025, AD reports

The police arrested a gang that stole 122 mobile phones from attendees of the Defqon.1 in Biddinghuizen in early June. Many of the phones have since been returned to their rightful owners, but 75 still remain unclaimed. The police are looking for people who lost their phone at the dance festival so that it can be returned to them.

Seven members of the phone stealing gang were arrested in the past weeks, according to De Stentor. With these arrests, 122 stolen phones were recovered. 

The average national rent increase in the second quarter of 2019 was the lowest since the second quarter of 2015. Rents in the Netherlands increased an average of 3.1 percent in the second quarter of this year, according to figures from Pararius. This clearly shows that the price increases are slowing down, the housing platform said, NU.nl reports. 

Rent increases fell below 5 percent for the first time in 3.5 years in the last quarter of 2018. And that slowing down effect is continuing, according to Pararius.

An investigation into the discovery of cocaine hidden in a flower shipment in January led to a much larger drug bust in April. Ten people were taken into custody who worked for a logistics firm at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam after 160 kilograms of cocaine was found in another flower shipment.

It was not revealed when the arrests took place, but eight of the suspects were still in custody on Thursday.

An argument at a pay terminal inside a parking garage erupted in gunfire, leaving one young man badly wounded. The man, identified by family as Orpheo Gefferie, died from his injuries at an area hospital, police said.

The mother of his seven-year-old child called Gefferie "the best dad" their son could have had. "We will forever love you," she said on social media.

Gefferie, from Almere, was identified by police as being 26, although at least one newspaper report said he was 24. He spent time traveling back and forth between his Almere home and Suriname.

People across the Netherlands took to the streets Friday night and Saturday to celebrate King Willem-Alexander's birthday. By 4 p.m. on Saturday, only a handful of atypical arrests were announced by authorities.

Dutch national railway NS will run a reduced schedule on Wednesday morning with forecasted snow expected to fall across much of the country. Up to 3 centimeters of snow is expected across much of the Netherlands.

The limited train schedule is in place so the NS can quickly respond to problems, and provide more accurate travel information, the railway said. Passengers can expect longer travel times and more crowded trains.

The court in Lelystad rejected the objections of nature organizations against the culling of over 1,800 red deer in nature reserve Oostvaardersplassen. Foresters can therefore cull the large grazers. No appeal is possible against this ruling, NOS reports.

The culling is expected to start during the course of next week. The exact start will depend on various factors, such as the location of the animals and weather conditions. 

ProRail will be carrying out work around Schiphol this weekend. As a result, no trains will be running on the route between Schiphol Airport and Leiden from Friday to Sunday. On Saturday the airport will be completely inaccessible by train, ANP reports.

On Saturday no trains will run between Amsterdam Sloterdijk and Schiphol, Amsterdam Zuid and Schiphol, and Schiphol and Leiden. The Intercity direct between Amsterdam Central Station and Rotterdam will also be down over the weekend.

The Dutch Safety Board is launching an investigation into the way in which patient safety was handled after MC Slotervaart in Amsterdam and the MC IJsselmeer hospitals in Lelystad and surroundings were declared bankrupt last week. The Safety Board wants to examine how the interests of the patients were weighed before and during the bankruptcy process, NU.nl reports.

The closure of the hospital in Lelystad would be unacceptable and could lead to life-threatening situations, the province of Flevoland and municipalities in the province said in their response to financial problems facing MC IJsselmeer hospitals. The hospital group applied for deferment of payment on Teusday.

The main establishment of MC IJsselmeer hospitals is located in Lelystad.