Travel company Thomas Cook bankrupt
It has been in the air for a while, but Thomas Cook, the oldest travel company in the world, has collapsed. The English travel company was struggling with a debt of 2 billion euros. Thomas Cook Group Plc. has 21.000 employees and provided annual holidays for 22 million customers.
Purchasing power of pensioners is falling for the second year in a row
Pensioners saw their purchasing power decline by 2018 percent on average in 0,5. Their purchasing power already fell by 2017 percent in 0,2.
Minister Grapperhaus to Thailand for Van Laarhoven
The Dutch Minister Grapperhaus of Justice and Security will travel to Thailand this week to discuss the possible extradition of the Brabant coffee shop owner Johan van Laarhoven.
Highly educated older people have a higher life expectancy, while the less educated do not
The life expectancy of highly educated 65-year-olds has increased in recent years, while that of the less educated has remained the same. In the period from 2015 to 2018, the difference in life expectancy between highly and low-educated people was more than 4 years for women and more than 5 years for men. The difference in years of life without disabilities also increased for men.
Today in De Telegraaf there is a story by Gerard Joling (59) who was detained for a number of hours at the Pattaya police station. Joling was in Pattaya for a performance and then went out with his crew. His sound man had an e-cigarette with him, was approached by police officers and was taken to the police station.
Nibud: Holidays too expensive for many people
Again, more than a quarter of the Dutch do not go on holiday. 64 percent of them think holidays are too expensive. Last year, 54 percent did not go on holiday for that reason. This is evident from the Holiday Money Survey 2019 of the National Institute for Budget Information (Nibud).
State Secretary Knops (Interior Affairs) wants reporting a loss of passport to be easier. There will be an opportunity to do that online on the Internet.
As of this week, airlines are obliged to share passenger data of all flights arriving or departing in the Netherlands with a newly established passenger information unit (Pi-NL).
The Dutch Myrna, a 24-year-old medical student from Nijmegen, died in Vietnam this week during her trip through Asia. She was electrocuted in a shower at a hostel in the Vietnamese coastal town of Hoi An, where many backpackers stay.
Minister Van Nieuwenhuizen of Infrastructure may want to abolish the compulsory test for people over 75 to renew their driving licence. This idea arose after the annoyances about the long waiting times at the CBR, the body that issues driving licenses.
Dutch seed breeder Simon Groot from Enkhuizen is this year's winner of the World Food Prize. This was announced by the US State Department.
Modernization of pension distribution upon divorce
The distribution of pensions for partners who are getting divorced will be modernised. This is the aim of the 2021 pension distribution bill approved by the Council of Ministers on the proposal of Minister Koolmees of Social Affairs and Employment.
The Dutch Central Bank warns that many pension funds are still struggling with financial problems. If that remains the case, 2 million participants at three large pension funds will have their supplementary pension cuts on 1 January. The following year, another 33 pension funds with 7,7 million participants may face cutbacks.
There is an article in the Volkskrant about the many accidents with rented scooters during a holiday. Thailand is especially notorious. Every year, mostly young Dutch people die or are seriously injured.
Hundreds of rivers worldwide contain worrying concentrations of antibiotics, according to research by the University of York, England. River water samples were taken at 711 locations in 72 countries. Antibiotics have been found in most of them. The permitted level was exceeded at 111 locations, in some cases by as much as 300 percent.
Former coffee shop owner Johan van Laarhoven, who is detained in Thailand, is not allowed to go to the Netherlands for the time being. Minister Grapperhaus of Justice and Security writes this in a letter to the House of Representatives. This is because the Thai court has not yet issued a final judgment on the cassation request.
Only 10% of the Dutch are gloomy about their lives
The majority of Dutch adults are satisfied with their lives. Almost 6 out of 10 are also optimistic about how things are going in the Netherlands in general. More than 3 in 10 are pessimistic about this, 1 in 10 is even strongly pessimistic. The latter group relatively often includes the elderly, the low-educated, men and people with a Dutch background.