The Dutch government is planning to launch a campaign against fake news in the run-up to the elections for the Provincial State and European Parliament. In a letter to parliament, Minister Kasja Ollongren of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations said that the government wants to make citizens more aware of misinformation around the elections, NOS report.
Kasja Ollongren
Oct 17 '18 16:00
A broadly shared wish of Dutch parliamentarians to recover dozens of World War II aircraft wrecks with missing crew members, is one step closer. The government is launching an "national program" to recover these wrecks, Ministers Kasja Ollongren of Home Affairs and Ank Bijleveld of Defense said in a letter to parliament, NOS reports.
Oct 15 '18 08:59
Hundreds of people gathered on the Grote Markt in Haarlem on Sunday to express support for mayor Jos Wienen, who recently went into hiding due to threats. Minister Kasja Ollongren of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations and a number of parliamentarians also attended the manifestation, NOS reports.
Sep 25 '18 13:20
VVD Senator Anne-Wil Duthler voted on a bill that her own company gave advice on, according to research platform Follow the Money. With that, Duthler acted unethically, experts said, NOS reports.
In 2013 the Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and Sports asked Duthler's consultancy firm to advise on the text of the Social Support Act, which transferred the responsibility of a number of healthcare tasks to the municipalities. According to Follow the Money, a number of the consultancy firm's recommendations were included in the final bill.
Sep 17 '18 10:18
Minister Kasja Ollongren of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations did not want a critical report from the supervisor on the Dutch intelligence services to be published just before the referendum on the new law for the intelligence services, Nieuwsuur reports based on documents received after appealing to the freedom of information act and the Intelligence and Security Service Act.
Jul 11 '18 10:24
A narrow majority in the Eerste Kamer, the Dutch Senate, voted in favor of abolishing the advisory referendum. Dutch parliament previously approved this measure, also with a narrow majority, and with that the referendum is officially scrapped.
Jun 25 '18 13:10
The Ministry of Home Affairs is establishing a new support team to assist and advise local politicians faced with threats. A new survey among political officials in municipalities, provinces and water boards revealed that 29 percent of them were targeted with aggression or violence last year, compared to 27 percent in 2016, RTL Nieuws reports.
Jun 13 '18 11:40
A majority in the Eerste Kamer, the Dutch Senate, is in favor of a partial ban on wearing face-covering clothing. During a debate in the Senate, the VVD, CDA, PVV, ChristenUnie and SGP supported a legislative proposal for such a ban. The D66, SP, PvdA and GroenLinks are against it, NOS reports.
May 21 '18 10:00
The vacancy for the new mayor of Amsterdam will be reopened because too few suitable candidates have applied, the Provincial Board of Noord-Holland announced, NU.nl reports.
A total of 29 candidates applied in the first application round. Only four of them have a full-time position in government. The confidential committee handling the appointment finds the number of suitable candidates too limited.
May 14 '18 14:10
Civil servants will soon be performing labor actions, the involved trade unions announced on Monday. The unions gave Minister Kasja Ollongren of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations until Monday morning to respond to a wage increase demand for civil servants. She didn't and actions will now follow, the unions announced, NU.nl reports.
Apr 18 '18 16:30
The Netherlands' current election process - with manual voting, polling stations that stay open for long hours, and manual vote counting - is no longer feasible and can give rise to doubts about results' reliability. The association of Dutch municipalities VNG and the Dutch association of civil affairs NVVB therefore composed an 'Election Agenda 2021' with several proposals for making this process more efficient, NOS reports.
Apr 11 '18 09:00
A majority in the Tweede Kamer is satisfied with the changes the government wants to make to the new law for the intelligence and security services. In addition to coalition parties VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie, opposition parties GroenLinks, PvdA and SGP also agree with the changes, was revealed in a parliamentary debate on the law on Tuesday, NOS reports.
Apr 9 '18 12:40
Dutch citizens with dual nationality must lose their voting rights and must not be eligible for political positions in the Netherlands, according to PVV leader Geert Wilders. This is in the interests of "the Netherlands' survival", he said in an interview with the Telegraaf.
"The Netherlands is our country. It must be run by Dutch, who are elected by Dutch. By Dutch wo do not even have the appearance of double loyalty", he said to the newspaper.
Apr 5 '18 15:00
The four parties in the Dutch government are willing to consider adapting the new law for the intelligence and security services. Responsible Minister Kasja Ollongren of Home Affairs will soon present a number of proposals for amendments, sources told BNR.
Mar 29 '18 08:04
Intelligence service AIVD is careless about privacy when sharing information with foreign services in the search for suspected terrorists, concludes the supervisory committee on the Dutch intelligence services CTIVD. Additional measures are required, the committee said in a report, ANP reports.
Mar 21 '18 07:33
It's election day in the Netherlands. Today nearly 12.5 million Dutch can cast their vote in their municipal elections as well as in a referendum on whether or not to implement a new law for the Dutch intelligence services. Most polling stations open at 7:30 a.m. and will remain open until 9:00 p.m., according to NOS.
Mar 20 '18 15:50
Minister Kasja Ollongren of Home Affairs gave the municipality of Zaanstad permission to ban known trouble-makers and people with a criminal record from renting homes in the problem neighborhoods of Poelenburg and Peldersveld. According to the municipality, this selection policy is the only way to improve the quality of life in these neighborhoods, Het Parool reports.
Mar 19 '18 13:10
On Monday Minister Kasja Ollongren of Home Affairs will present a new plan to fight corruption in local politics. The plan includes a mandatory 'integrity test' for all prospective aldermen. They will also have to hand in a Declaration of Good Behavior before they can take office, AD reports.
Mar 14 '18 15:20
The Dutch intelligence services placed 3,553 taps to eavesdrop on people and organizations last year, Ministers Kasja Ollongren of Home Affairs and Ank Bijleveld of Defense reported to parliament on Wednesday. This is the first time that the services' tap statistics are made public, NU.nl reports.
Mar 14 '18 10:40
The software that will be used to count votes in the upcoming municipal elections is still not safe. Hackers can use the vulnerable software to influence the election results, experts that examined the software told RTL Nieuws.
Ethical hacker Sijmen Ruwhof discovered more than 50 vulnerabilities in the software. He calls ten of them 'high risk'.
Mar 14 '18 08:43
Mayor Wil Houben of Voerendaal was threatened with a firearm two weeks ago, the Public Prosecutor confirmed to NOS after reports in De Limburger.
Houben was driving on the outskirts of the town when a man wearing a balaclava stepped into the road and pointed a gun at him. "It was almost surreal", the mayor said to De Limburger. "Out of nowhere there was someone with a balaclava and a handgun in front of my car holding me at gunpoint. He came closer and closer. Then you know instinctively that something is very wrong. My mind said 'drive', and my body did its job."
Mar 9 '18 09:55
GroenLinks parliamentarian Kathalijne Buitenweg called on Minister Kasja Ollongren of Home Affairs to explain why French Islam critic Zineb El Rhazoui was refused protection for her talk in De Balie in Amsterdam on Thursday, RTL Nieuws reports.
El Rhazoui worked at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo when a terrorist attack on the magazine killed twelve people in 2015. Since then she's been the target of numerous death threats, and is therefore under intense security in her own country.
Mar 8 '18 16:20
Chief Public Prosecutor Bart Nieuwenhuizen calls on politicians to stop pressing charges against one another in order to get attention. These "fake, tampering and show declarations" cost the judiciary a lot of time, he wrote in his column on Omroep West.
Mar 6 '18 08:44
The Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, wants to get rid of the European Commission's task force against spreading fake news, the so-called EUvsDisinfo. This follows the task force naming a number of Dutch news services as spreaders of fake news, Het Parool reports.
The Dutch news services involved are NPO Radio 1, the Gelderlander, GeenStijl and The Post Online. According to the task force, pro-Russian propaganda gained the upper hand in a few reports from these organizations.
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