Global Warming:Why we strike again – by Greta Thunberg, Luisa Neubauer and Angela Valenzuela

Facing grim science and growing activism, world leaders are increasingly recognising the urgency of the climate crisis. Yet nothing has been done.

Read more at
https://www.socialeurope.eu/why-we-strike-again

The Netherlands: Black Friday, "American Consumerism on Steroids", has hit the Netherlands: what the media say

The sales mania of Black Friday is everywhere – in the high street, on the internet and in the junk emails in your mailbox.

Now the Dutch media have turned their attention to the latest American craze to hit the Netherlands.

The Volkskrant calls Black Friday ‘unescapable’ and has published a list of tips for would-be bargain hunters. ‘If you can’t beat them join them but at least don’t fall for the retail trick of imaginary discounts,’ the list states.

It also recommends checking the prices of electronic goods, at sites such as Tweakers and Hardware Info which monitor prices throughout the year. The Volkskrant’s top tip: ask yourself do I really need another blender?
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The sales mania of Black Friday is everywhere – in the high street, on the internet and in the junk emails in your mailbox. Now the Dutch media have turned their attention to the latest American craze to hit the Netherlands. The Volkskrant calls Black Friday ‘unescapable’ and has published a list of tips for would-be bargain hunters. ‘If you can’t beat them join them but at least don’t fall for the retail trick of imaginary discounts,’ the list states. It also recommends checking the prices of electronic goods, at sites such as Tweakers and Hardware Info which monitor prices throughout the year. The Volkskrant’s top tip: ask yourself do I really need another blender?

Read more at DutchNews.nl:

Black Friday has hit the Netherlands: what the media say - DutchNews.nl

The Netherlands: Man arrested for teen stabbings on Hague shopping street

Police in the Netherlands arrested a 35-year-old man in connection with the stabbings of three teenagers on the Grote Marktstraat in Den Haag. The man, with no fixed address, was being taken to a police station where investigators planned to interrogate him, Den Haag police said in a statement. No suspected motive was released immediately after the arrest. Earlier on Saturday,

Read more at
https://nltimes.nl/2019/11/30/man-arrested-teen-stabbings-hague-shopping-street

The Netherlands: Nine of ten biggest pension funds invest in military weaponry

Nine of the ten largest Dutch pension funds invest in arms manufacturers who supply systems to countries that violate human rights, such as Saudi Arabia. In total these pension funds invest over a billion euros in 14 of these types of arms companies, NRC reports based on the Fair Pension Guide study by peace organization PAX.

Read more at:
https://nltimes.nl/2019/11/28/nine-ten-biggest-pension-funds-invest-military-weaponry

U.S. life expectancy being driven down by middle-aged deaths, study suggests

After rising for decades, life expectancy in the U.S. decreased for three straight years, driven by higher rates of death among middle-aged Americans, a new study suggests.

Read more at:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/us-life-expectancy-jama-1.5374066

The Netherlands: Rutte Government under fire over costly healthcare and educational student loan programs - by RM

The Netherlands privatized Healthcare and Educational programs are not proving to be one of  the Dutch PM's Rutte success stories. As a matter of fact, they are both a disaster, too costly and worst of all undemocratic.

It seems that Mr. Rutte and some of his colleages in the Dutch Government don't seem to be aware that education and healthcare, are not, and can never be seen as marketable commodities.

They are a basic democratic right for everyone, poor or rich, and must be free and widely available to all citizens.

The present privatized health and educational programs, applied by the Dutch Government and a few other Governments in the EU, and around the world, are not only undemocratic, they are also proving to be a financial barrier in providing proper education and healthcare to every level of the population, and when all is said and done, actually do not benefit the overall economy.

It is regrettable that some countries, including the Netherlands, have turned these basic human rights, related to education and healthcare, into marketable commodities.

Almere-Digest

The Netherlands becomes World's Biggest Importer of Chocolate

 In 2018, Dutch cocoa bean imports stood at 1.1 billion kg, more than half of which came from Ivory Coast. This makes the Netherlands the largest importer of cocoa beans in the world. Approximately three-quarters are destined for domestic industrial processing while around one-quarter are resold directly to other countries. This is reported by Statistics Netherlands (CBS) on the basis of new research into destinations of Dutch goods imports.

The Netherlands is a major importer of some important agricultural commodities such as cocoa beans, palm oil (third largest country in the world in terms of import value), soybeans (fourth largest) and coffee (fifth largest). In terms of total volume, the Netherlands is the fourth largest importer of palm oil and eighth largest of coffee.
 
Read more at: The Netherlands becomes World's Biggest Importer of Chocolate