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March 6, 2019

The Netherlands: Amsterdam is the most dangerous municipality in the Netherlands- by Mina Solanki

According to the 18th edition of AD’s annual crime monitor, Misdaadmeter, Amsterdam is once again the most dangerous municipality in the Netherlands, with the highest crime rates. Dinkelland in Twente is the safest.

In order to rank municipalities according to safeness, the AD crime monitor looks at 10 different types of crimes and offsets them against the number of residents. The crimes, such as domestic burglary, assault, pickpocketing and robbery, carry different weights depending on the impact they have on the victim.

In 2018, the number of crime reports submitted to the Dutch police decreased by six percent compared with the previous year. Domestic burglaries went down by 13 percent and the number of victims of pickpocketing dropped by 28 percent. There was also an 18-percent drop in thefts from garages and sheds. Despite this decrease in certain types of crimes, robberies increased by four percent and muggings only saw a reduction of two percent.

In Amsterdam, as in the rest of the country, the number of domestic burglaries and reports of pickpocketing decreased. However, the number of robberies rose from 184 in 2017 to 226 in 2018, an increase of 23 percent.

The number of victims of muggings also went up to 1235. These crimes have a greater impact on victims than, say, pickpocketing, and this is the reason why Amsterdam is still number one on the list of the most dangerous municipalities.

Close to Amsterdam, and catching up in terms of crime, is Diemen, which rose from 26th place in 2017 to 8th last year. Diemen experienced an upsurge in the number of burglaries, mainly due to a gang of burglars who were active at the start of 2018. The number of burglaries, however, diminished once the gang was caught.

Eindhoven comes in second according to the crime monitor, with more robberies than last year. Three of the other four municipalities in Limburg that made the top 10 also experienced a rise in robberies.

The top 10 most dangerous Dutch municipalities are:
  1. Amsterdam
  2. Eindhoven
  3. Rotterdam
  4. Heerlen
  5. Maastricht
  6. The Hague
  7. Sittard-Geleen
  8. Diemen
  9. Roermond
  10. Schiedam
 The safest municipality in the Netherlands is Dinkelland. This municipality in Twente only had one mugging, two car thefts and no robberies in 2018. The top 10 safest municipalities in the Netherlands are:
  1. Dinkelland
  2. Olst-Wijhe
  3. Dalfsen
  4. Lopik
  5. Staphorst
  6. Vijfheerenlanden
  7. Loppersum
  8. Tubbergen
  9. Wierden
  10. Borsele
 Read more at: Amsterdam is the most dangerous municipality in the Netherlands

March 5, 2019

ISIS: Danish political parties want to strip foreign fighters of citizenship – but US Trump threatening the EU they will release them in Syria if they don't take them back

This week it emerged that the UK had decided to revoke the British citizenship of Shamima Begum, a so-called Islamic State (IS) bride who wants to return to the UK after leaving London four years ago to join ranks of the jihadist organisation in Syria.

Now, several parties in Denmark are looking to follow suit following a proposal from Dansk Folkeparti (DF) that aims to strip the Danish citizenship of people who travelled abroad to fight alongside IS.

So far, government parties Venstre and Konservative have supported DF’s proposal, although they are not in favour of doing anything that might be in breach of international conventions.

But despite this, the justice minister Søren Pape Poulsen said today that Denmark would likely have to accept the foreign fighters back.

“This is a complex problem and there is no perfect or simple solution. The fact is we can’t deny Danish citizens returning to Denmark,” said Poulsen.

The news comes after the US president Donald Trump urged European countries to bring back its foreign fighters the US are detaining in Syria. Otherwise, the US would have to simply release them.

But despite this, it looks as if some areas of the political spectrum will be doing their best to avoid such a scenario.

“We don’t want to breach conventions, but we will take it to the limit. We must send a clear signal that they are not welcome and we don’t want them back in Denmark – they also present a serious security risk,” Michael Aastrup Jensen, Venstre’s spokesperson on foreign affairs issues, told DR Nyheder.
Note EU-Digest: It is unbelievable how subservient the EU and its member states seem when reacting to US threats, even if it goes against their own principles. Aren't they all aware by now that the US Trump Administration has no respect for the EU,  or cares about  anything the EU does or says. Come on EU show some backbone.

Read more: Danish parties want to strip foreign fighters of citizenship – The Post

March 4, 2019

Italy: Venice introduces entry fee for tourists to increase income for City upkeep

Venice starts charging tourist fees to pay 
for increasing cost city maintenance
The legendary northern Italian city of Venice moved closer to cementing its status as an open-air museum than a functioning urban landscape with permanent residents after it introduced a programme where visitors to the city must now be issued a ticket to visit.

Beginning on May 25 the visitors of the city of canals will begin paying a €3 entry fee, which will later rise to €6 in 2020.

The Venetian government eventually plans to create a variable entry fee ranging from €3-to-€10 depending on the number of tourists in the city. Visitors who attempt to avoid paying the entry fee will face a stiff €450 municipal fine.

The plan is to exempt hotel guests, as they already pay a city tax, and children under the age of 6,

Over the past decade, Venice has been so inundated with tourists that local residents have had difficulty coping with the increasing crowds and sky-high property prices that continue to climb. Local residents that have lived in Venice for generations have been forced to leave the city as scores of cruise ship visitors and day=trippers have effectively taken over.

An estimated 14 million tourists visit Venice just for a day, which brings little-to-no benefit to the local economy. Instead, tourism burden local authorities are left with excessive costs for the cleaning and maintenance of the city’s centuries-old infrastructure.

Read more: Venice introduces entry fee for tourists