PVV

A majority in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, supports a proposal by ruling party VVD to build more nuclear power plants in the Netherlands. Opponents worry about nuclear waste and what it will mean for future generations, NOS reports.

The VVD proposal was supported by the VVD, PVV, CDA and FvD. Proponents believe that the Netherlands can not afford to outright reject nuclear energy. But they also point out the disadvantages - nuclear waste, the construction of a nuclear plant is a long process, and it is an expensive source of energy.

Twitter accounts run by Russian trolls from St. Petersburg tweeted about the MH17 disaster 1,400 times, according to an analysis by NOS of a database of tweets released by Twitter on Wednesday. The database consists of 9 million tweets from Russian trolls and another 1 million tweets by Iranian trolls, including retweets. The tweets were posted by 3,814 accounts that Twitter linked to the Internet Research Agency based in St. Petersburg. Another 770 accounts are based in Iran. 

The abolition of the dividend tax will definitely not happen, Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced after a coalition meeting on Monday evening. The government and the coalition parties reconsidered and decided to definitively reverse the most controversial measure in the government agreement. "The fact is that support for this measure was limited", Rutte said after the meeting, NU.nl reports.

Alexander Pechtold is resigning as leader of the parliamentary faction of the D66, he announced at the party congress in Den Bosch on Saturday. The party will choose a successor on Tuesday. It is "time for a new generation", Pechtold said n his farewell speech, NU.nl reports.

It is "precisely the intention" that not many child asylum seekers qualify for the children's pardon, State Secretary Mark Harbers of Justice and Security said in a debate about Lili and Howick on Wednesday. The two Armenian kids were set to be deported on Saturday, after living in the Netherlands for 10 years, but got an exemption at the last minute, AD reports.

PvdE city council member in The Hague Arnoud van Doorn is receiving extra security since the death of PVV city councilor Willie Dille early last month. According to Van Doorn, the extra security is the result of a threat analysis. "I was already being threatened, but the threats have increased", Van Doorn said, ANP reports.

Jawed S., a 19-year-old Afghan man suspected of stabbing two American tourists at Amsterdam Central Station on Friday, expected to die in the attack, his lawyer Simon van der Woude said on Tuesday. "My client seems to have taken into account that he would not survive his action himself, because a testament was found in his home in Germany", the lawyer said, ANP reports.

On Wednesday an Islamic party in Pakistan, TLP, called on the government to expel the Dutch ambassador to the country, in reaction to PVV leader Geert Wilders' plans to hold a cartoon competition about the Islam religious figure Mohammed, NU.nl reports.

Russian trolls are trying to influence Dutch discussions on social media with fake accounts, De Groene Amsterdammer reports based on its own research. These trolls show support for anti-Islam party PVV and spread pro-Russian information when it comes to the MH17 disaster, according to the weekly newspaper.

The number of Dutch politicians who reported being threatened increased significantly last year. The special police team that deals with threats against politicians received 331 reports last year, compared to 239 in 2016, the Public Prosecutor announced.

Pakistan summoned the Netherlands' envoy to the country to express their dissatisfaction about a Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest organized by anti-Islam PVV leader Geert Wilders. "Deep concern was conveyed about this willful and malicious attempt to put Islam in a bad light", the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad said, RTL Nieuws reports.