An ATM was blown open on Dorpsstraat in Noord-Scharwoude early on Monday morning. This is the fifth such explosion in Noord-Holland in a week. Last week four ATMs were blown open in Alkmaar, Amsterdam and Zaandam, and one ATM bombing was prevented, NH Nieuws reports.
The bombing in Noord-Scharwoude happened at around 3:30 a.m., the police said on Twitter. Two people were seen fleeing the scene on a scooter. Whether they actually managed to steal any money from the ATM, is not yet clear.
A teacher at primary school De Voorzaan in Zaandam was suspended after complaints from ten concerned parents about corporal punishments used in her classroom. The woman teaches group 3 at the school, the class typically consisting of children between the ages of 5 and 7 years.
According to the concerned parents, children are belittled and physically hit with a stick in her class, NH Nieuws reports. They are sometimes also forced to eat their lunch off the ground.
Prosecutors on Tuesday alleged that a group of seven men were at least partly responsible for the importation of approximately 1,125 kilograms of cocaine hidden inside a shipment of frozen fish. The cocaine entered the Netherlands at the Port of Rotterdam and was then tracked to a worksite in Zaandam in July 2018.
With reporting by Randi Cecchine and Zack Newmark.
The third edition of World Summit AI is being held in Zaandam on Wednesday and Thursday. Two hundred leaders in the artificial intelligence field gather to discuss their experiences with and visions for the future of this technology. The summit is expected to attract some 6 thousand visitors.
The use of cold water baths in the unseasonably warm Dam tot Dam run between Amsterdam and Zaandam on Sunday was very successful. Overheating runners could quickly dunk in the bath and cool down. "I don't rule out that it saved lives", Ron van der Jagt, director of organizer Le Champion, said to RTL Nieuws.
On Thursday Albert Heijn is launching an experiment with a store with no cash registers. The store's door opens when you scan your debit card, and checkout is automatic when you leave - with no need to register for the service, scan products or download an app, NOS reports.
The Dutch supermarket chain is the first in Europe to test such a system in practice. The experiment will happen at the AH head office in Zaandam, only with Albert Heijn employees. Later this year, the small experimental store will move to another location where regular customers can test it.
The getaway car used in the murder of Saban Berk in Amsterdam on Monday night, was often spotted in the vicinity of the gym where he gave classes. The police believe that the perpetrators of the shooting may have been keeping an eye on him, a spokesperson said to Het Parool.
A shooting in Amsterdam Noord on Monday night left one person dead. The perpetrator fled, presumably in a silver BMW that was later found in Zaandam. So far no arrests were made.
The shooting happened at around 9:20 p.m. on Papaverweg, the Amsterdam police said on Twitter. The victim was found critically injured on the street. Responding emergency services tried to save their life, but it was to no avail. The victim died at the scene.
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.
A lack of available primary school teachers forced the Rudolf Steinerschool in Haarlem to put an early end to its Group 7 class on Thursday. The students from the Waldorf-style education program will be redistributed among similar schools in Haarlem, Hillegom, and Hoofddorp, up to 15 kilometers away.
"We've searched all over the country," said Lida Berkhout, the school's deputy director. "From Groningen to Brabant," she told the Volkskrant.
Parents of pupils attending CBS Tamarinde in Zaandam want the primary school to return to a five-day school week. The school has been using a four-day school week these past months due to a shortage of teachers. On the fifth day children stay at home with homework. The parents are fed up with this and filed a request with the municipal school attendance officer to reverse the measure, NOS reports.
On Thursday the police arrested a 31-year-old man on suspicion of involvement in the mistaken identity murder of Stefan Eggermont and the assassination of Massod Amin Hosseini, both in Amsterdam in 2014. Sources told newspaper NU.nl that the suspect is Ilias K.
K. is already in custody on suspicion of playing an organizing role in the assassination of criminal Alexander Gillis in Zaandam in February 2014, according to the newspaper.
The court in Alkmaar sentenced 47-year-old Husseyin A. to 20 years in prison for killing 19-year-old Milica van Doorn in Zaandam in 1992. The sentence matched what the Public Prosecutor demanded, NOS reports.
Milica was found dead in a pond in her home town of Zaandam in June 1992. She had been raped and murdered. Traces of DNA were found on her body, but these did not lead to a suspect at the time.
Tony's Chocolonely is opening its own chocolate factory in former flour mill Pakhuis de Vrede in Zaandam. "There will also be a roller coaster", CEO Henk Jan Beltman said to RTL Nieuws.
Over the past 12 years Tony's Chocolonely has grown to become one of the most popular chocolate brands in the Netherlands. The company only uses responsibly sourced cocoa, for which farmers in Africa received acceptable payment and no children were used during harvest, according to the broadcaster. Its chocolate bars are currently made in factories in Belgium.
Activists angered by the use of blackface around the Dutch Sinterklaas tradition are planning to protest in Dokkum on Saturday. The protestors had previously made arrangements with the municipality to lawfully demonstrate in the Friesland town at the televised Sinterklaas arrival last year, but their buses were stopped by people who created a blockade on the A7 motorway shutting down all traffic on a main road into the province.
The court of Haarlem ruled on Wednesday that the appearance of Zwarte Pieten participating in the national arrival of Sinterklaas in Zaandam on Saturday does not have to be adjusted further. The Majority Perspective foundation was not entitled to institute legal proceedings because no prior consultations were held with the defendants, the court said, NU.nl reports.
A collision between a train and a person resulted far fewer trains running to and from Schiphol airport on Friday morning. Travelers should take considerable delays into account, a spokesperson for rail company NS said to NU.nl.
"There are problems especially from the south towards Schiphol", the spokesperson said. "There are far fewer trains from the direction of Rotterdam."
Passengers departing from Amsterdam, The Hague, Leiden and Zaandam can also take delays into account. The problems are expected to persist until at least 9:30 a.m., according to the NS site.
A 19-year-old man from Zaandam was shot at twice during the early hours of Saturday morning. He was seriously injured. The second shooting happened at the Zaans Medical center, where the man went to get treatment after the first shooting, Het Parool reports.
The man was first shot after an argument on Burcht in the center of Zaandam at around 2:10 a.m. on Saturday. He was then shot at again shortly after arriving at the hospital. So far no arrests were made.
The Zaanstad Sinterklaas committee, the largest in the Zaanstreek, will not participate in the national Sinterklaas arrival in Zaandijk on November 17th. A statement by broadcaster NTR, the organizer of the national arrival, led the committee to the conclusion that no blackface Zwarte Pieten will be allowed to participate in the arrival for the first time. But according to a spokesperson for NTR, this is not the case at all.
Four Dutch and a German were caught with 300 kilograms of cocaine on a yacht near Mallorca on Sunday. They were arrested by the Spanish authorities, NOS reports.
Three men in police uniforms robbed a home on Dok in Zaandam at around 2:15 a.m. on Tuesday. The police are looking for witnesses.
The resident of the home opened the door when three apparent police officers knocked during the early hours of Tuesday morning. They forced their way inside, threatened the man with a firearm and tied him up.
The other resident of the home was upstairs at that time. She managed to flee outside and call for help.
The robbers stole money and jewelry before running off.
A 17-year-old boy was sentenced to a year in juvenile detention and juvenile institutionalized psychiatric treatment for the murder of 16-year-old Nick Bood in Zaandam.This is the maximum sentence possible under juvenile law in the Netherlands, NU.nl reports.
Sanna Munnikendam, education alderman in Zaandam, was unpleasantly surprised to suddenly find posters calling for people to become teachers in Amsterdam throughout her city, Het Parool reports.
The poster shows a smiling woman with a smiling boy. It reads, in childlike writing: "Teacher, you always see what I'm good at". And below that: "Become a teacher in Amsterdam"
"I express myself softly when I say that the action was not pleasantly received here", Munnikendam said to Het Parool.
The police arrested two 30-year-old men on Wednesday morning on suspicion of involvement in the assassination of Amsterdam criminal Alexander Gillis in Zaandam in 2014, NU.nl reports.
The suspects were arrested in Houten and Purmerend based on new information that surfaced in the investigation into this assassination. The suspects will be arraigned on Friday.
