Video Credit: Reuters - Politics - Duration: 01:32s - Published
Dutch govt resigns over child subsidies scandal
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced the resignation of his government on Friday, accepting responsibility for years of mismanagement of childcare subsidies, which wrongfully drove thousands of families to financial ruin.
A scandal over childcare subsidies that has rocked the Netherlands -- which wrongfully drove thousands of families into financial ruin -- has now resulted in the resignation of its government.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced on Friday (January 15) that his administration would step down, accepting responsibility for years of mismanagement by the tax authorities -- much of which was focused on ethnic discrimination.
Rutte said he had handed his resignation to the Netherlands' King Willem-Alexander but the cabinet will remain in place in a caretaker capacity for now, with an election already scheduled for March 17.
A parliamentary inquiry found last month that officials at the tax service had wrongly accused families of fraud over childcare subsidies.
The report said around 10,000 families had been forced to repay tens of thousands of euros, in what it called an "unprecedented injustice." The tax office said last year that many of the families were targeted based on their ethnic origin or dual nationalities.
Orlando Kadir, an attorney representing around 600 families in a lawsuit against politicians, said people had been targeted "as a result of ethnic profiling''.
Bureaucrats "picked out their foreign-looking names," according to Kadir.
Prime Minister Rutte said: "It is never acceptable for someone to feel they are being discriminated against based on nationality, race, gender, or sexual orientation," "It is absolutely unacceptable in a law-based state."
A soccer final in the Netherlands was a real barn burner ... quite literally 'cause a fire broke out behind one of the goals throwing the match into chaos... TMZ.com
Everyone being held hostage in a town in central Netherlands is now free and a suspect is in custody, Dutch police said Saturday, after an ordeal that lasted several hours. "The last hostage has just been released. One person has been arrested. We cannot share more information at this time," announced police on X, formerly Twitter. Police in central Netherlands reported that on March 30, several individuals were taken hostage in a town, prompting evacuations of nearby residences and the closure of the town centre. Authorities earlier stated that, at present, there is no indication of a "terrorist motive" behind the incident in Ede.
#NetherlandsHostage #EdeTown #HostageCrisis #HostagesFreed #SuspectArrested #NetherlandsSafety #EdeIncident #EmergencyResponse #CommunitySafety #PoliceOperation
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These Are the Happiest Countries , on Earth in 2024.
The World Happiness Report
was released on March 20.
It was compiled using global survey data based on life evaluations from 2021 to 2023.
Six key variables were considered:
"GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom, generosity and
perceptions of corruption," CNN reports. .
The 10 happiest countries in the world are:.
Australia.
Switzerland.
Luxembourg.
Norway.
Netherlands.
Israel.
Sweden.
Iceland.
Denmark.
Finland.
The United States dropped to No. 23.
The lowest-ranked countries for
happiness are Congo, Sierra Leone,
Lesotho, Lebanon and Afghanistan. .
The lowest-ranked countries for
happiness are Congo, Sierra Leone,
Lesotho, Lebanon and Afghanistan. .
The lowest-ranked countries for
happiness are Congo, Sierra Leone,
Lesotho, Lebanon and Afghanistan. .
The lowest-ranked countries for
happiness are Congo, Sierra Leone,
Lesotho, Lebanon and Afghanistan. .
The lowest-ranked countries for
happiness are Congo, Sierra Leone,
Lesotho, Lebanon and Afghanistan.
Credit: Wibbitz Top Stories Duration: 01:30Published