Two hand grenades found around the Grote Markt in Almere on Thursday were rendered harmless by explosives experts, police said. The popular district was evacuated at the start of the business day after the first grenade was found outside an ABN Amro bank branch on Koopmanstraat at about 8:30 a.m.
A second grenade was spotted just steps away from the bank, at the Saint-Tropez shisha lounge on the popular square. Emergency workers kept the area clear until 1:30 p.m., police said on Twitter.
NS will experiment with high speed intercity trains on the route between Amsterdam and Groningen next year. If the experiment succeeds, the high speed trains may be included in the 2021 timetable. "For example, twice an hour as a rush hour train", NS said, NOS reports.
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 St Jansdal Hospital in Hardewijk plans to take over outpatient care in Lelystad, according to a message sent to the staff of the bankrupt MC IJsselmeer hospitals. St Jansdal confirms that there are plans, but that they are not 100 percent certain yet, NOS reports.
MC Slotervaart in Amsterdam and the MC IJsselmeer hospitals in Lelystad and surroundings were all declared bankrupt on Thursday. The hospitals filed for deferment of payment on Tuesday.
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.
The MC Slotervaart hospital in Amsterdam and the MC IJsselmeer hospitals in Lelystad and surroundings filed for deferment of payment. Health insurer Zilveren Kruis and most other health insurers stopped financing for the hospitals. "Bankruptcy may be inevitable", a spokesperson said, NU.nl reports.
The employees and patients of both hospitals will be informed of the current situation on Tuesday. Patient care is guaranteed. "This is a statutory task for health insurers. Patients currently treated in both hospitals can rely on adequate care", the spokesperson said to the newspaper.
A suspicious package found at the provincial house in Lelystad on Monday morning contained no explosives, the police announced after investigation by explosive experts. The police lifted the lockdown of the area around the provincial house. Banners with slogans about nature reserve Oostvaardersplassen were also found hung on the building. Commissioner of the King Leen Verbeek is shocked by the incident, he said to the Telegraaf.
A suspicious package was found at the provincial house on Visarenddreef in Lelystad on Monday morning. The police closed down the area around the building, including part of the nearby train station. Multiple banners with slogans about nature reserve Oostvaardersplassen were also found hanging on the provincial house, a spokesperson for the Midden Nederland police said to NU.nl.
The police are allowing pedestrians into the train station, but motorists are being stopped, according to Omroep Flevoland.
A man was found dead next to a high wall around the prison in Lelystad at around 6:00 a.m. on Thursday morning. There are no indications of a crime and it is believed the man became unwell and then died, the police said on Twitter.
There were attempts to resuscitate the man, but it was already too late, Het Parool reports. The man was already dead when he was found. According to the newspaper, the body was found on the fenced grounds of the prison on Larsedreef.
Amsterdam has the most to offer of all municipalities in the Netherlands when it comes to culture. Maastricht and Leeuwarden are in second and third place respectively, according to the new Atlas for Municipalities presented in Leeuwarden on Wednesday afternoon, Het Parool reports.
Among the provinces, Groningen has the biggest cultural offering, followed by Zeeland and Noord-Holland. Flevoland is last on the ranking.
A large swastika and a German flag were found spray painted on a windmill next to the A6 highway, between Emmeloord and Lelystad, on Sunday morning. The authorities believe the vandalism happened very recently, though who the perpetrators are is unclear, De Stentor reports.
A police spokesperson told the newspaper that they are investigating the case and have informed the owner of the windmill, energy company Innogy. "We certainly take this seriously."
Foresters shot and killed three red deer on the A6 highway between Lelystad and Almere on Sunday afternoon. The animals escaped from Oostvaardersplassen after activists cut the nature reserve's fences in 21 places on Saturday night, NU.nl reports.
According to the foresters, the animals endangered traffic safety. They were shot after permission from the authorities. A spokesperson for forestry association Staatsbosbeheer told NU.nl that all three killed animals were pregnant females.
Today is not only the fist official summer day of the year, but also the hottest April 19th in the Netherlands since temperature measurements started in 1901, Weeronline reports.
At 12:30 p.m. it was 24.4 degrees in De Bilt, breaking the previous heat record of 24.3 degrees from 1988. At 2:00 p.m. the thermometer in De Bilt read 25.1 degrees, making today the first official summers day - with temperatures above 25 degrees Celsius - for the Netherlands this year.
A woman was injured and five people were arrested during a protest at the visitor center of nature reserve Oostvaardersplassen near Lelystad on Sunday. The woman was hurt by a police baton, and the five people were arrested for breaking open a gate at the closed visitor center, AD and ANP report.
Geert Wilders and his PVV won city council seats seats in each one of the 30 municipalities the party participated in during the municipal elections on Wednesday. In total the PVV currently stands on 74 seats, the Volkskrant reports.
During the previous municipal elections four years ago, the PVV only participated in two municipalities - Almere and The Hague. The party got fewer seats in those two municipalities this time around. In Almere the party dropped from nine to seven seats, and in The Hague from seven to two seats.
Clients of the self-proclaimed "biggest Bitcoin factory of the Netherlands" have launched court proceedings against Koinz Trading, considered one of the first Dutch businesses to trade in Bitcoin. Based in Lelystad, the company is now facing off against a client who accuses them of fraud.
The client's attorney, Marco Kalmijn, believes others are planning to press legal action as well. He accuses the companies of giving excuse after excuse instead of contractual payments, Kalmijn told the Volkskrant.
A man convicted of killing his girlfriend and the rape and murder of her daughter, was re-sentenced by a court in Leeuwarden on Monday. Alex L. was again told to spend thirty years of prison and time in a psychiatric prison facility with involuntary treatment for killing Manon Pieters (41) and her daughter Fleur (15).
The Netherlands must take the lead in developing the hyperloop by making sure that the country gets the first test track for this high speed transport system, a number of Dutch companies wrote in a letter to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, which covers Transport, NU.nl reports.
The Netherlands is full of possibilities for a hyperloop test track, but Flevoland is the most suitable location, Minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen wrote to the Tweede Kamer. She asked TNO to investigate the economic and social usefulness and the feasibility of testing the hyperloop in the Netherlands, and eventually building a permanent track, ANP reports.
Motorists in large parts of the Netherlands will have to deal with thick fog on Tuesday morning, especially in the center, west and south of the country. Meteorological institute KNMI issued a code yellow warning, saying that visibility may be reduced to less than 200 meters.
"Dangerous driving conditions due to poor visibility", the KNMI warns. "Adjust speed and keep a sufficient distance. Fog can be treacherous due to sudden appearance. Follow weather reports and warnings."
A 20-year-old man from The Hague who escaped from the prison in Lelystad in May, was caught after he tried to break into a home in Drunen, Noord-Brabant on Wednesday night, AD reports.
An alert local resident noticed two men trying to break open her front door. They fled when she turned on a light in her home. She called the police.
A historical water plane of the Aviodrome theme park had to make an emergency landing at Lelystad Airport on Tuesday. The plane was used in the India memorial in The Hague and on the return flight the landing gear in the nose stopped working, NOS reports.
The historic plane Catalina was built in 1941. Aviodrome uses it for pleasure trips.
According to Omroep Flevoland, the plane first landed on its wheels and then slowly braked on the nose of the aircraft. This landing was safer than landing on the water according to the fire department.
No injuries were reported.
The Lelystad police caught a motorist driving with two large lampposts tied to the roof of his relatively small car on Tuesday. Officers could smell alcohol on the man's breath while talking to him. He refused to cooperate in a breathalyzer test and was arrested, the Lelystad police said on Facebook.
The police responded after receiving a report of the man transporting this unusual cargo between Almere and Lelystad. Officers pulled him over on Oostvaardersdijk. What exactly the man was planning to do with the lampposts is unclear.
