In the aftermath of the widespread unrest in 2011, the signing of an agreement between the government and opposition and the departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh marked Yemen’s first moves towards a peaceful transition. Its people’s poverty has dramatically increased in the past twelve months and the transitional government has very limited resources. ‘With support from the international community, the government in Yemen can start building up the country again and win the confidence of the people to carry out democratic reforms,’ said Mr Knapen.

In April 2011 the Netherlands suspended its development partnership with the Yemeni government because Yemeni security forces used excessive violence against peaceful demonstrators. However, funding channelled through civil society organisations (NGOs) continued unaffected. This includes legal assistance to female victims of violence, emergency food aid and accommodation for refugees and displaced persons, and a democratisation programme for young people.

At the moment, the political developments in Yemen are cautiously viewed as positive. There have been no recent reports of large-scale government violence against peaceful protesters. The authorities have promised an independent inquiry into the previous use of violence against demonstrators, and troops are withdrawing from the streets. Meanwhile, President Saleh has transferred his powers to Vice-President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. Yemen now has a new interim prime minister and a transitional government of national unity. In addition, preparations for the presidential elections on 21 February are in full swing.

source: government.nl

The euro countries agreed in the Maastricht Treaty that the public deficit should not exceed 3 percent of the GDP. Since the Maastricht Treaty became effective in 1993, the Dutch public deficit has exceeded 3 percent limit six times, according to Statistics Netherlands.

In the preceding years, deficits were more common. In the period 1980-1990, for example, the public deficit had been above the 3 percent level for 11 years in a row. With 9.2 percent, the highest deficit level was reached in 1995. This was predominantly caused by a non-recurrent lump-sum subsidy payment to housing corporations. Since the coming into force of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993, an annual public surplus occurred five times. In the twenty-four years prior to 1993, this happened only once.

Public debt 64.5 percent of GDP
The euro countries also stipulated that public debt should not exceed 60 percent of the GDP, but for the third year running, the Netherlands has failed to comply. By the end of the third quarter of 2011, the Dutch public debt had run up to 64.5 percent of the GDP. Four years ago, the public debt-to-GDP ratio reached the lowest level ever (45.3 percent). The public debt level is however still far below the nearly 80 percent recorded in the early 1990s.

Per capita debt in the Dutch population doubled in two decades
The per capita debt in the Dutch population stood at more than 23 thousand euro at the end of the third quarter of last year, i.e. twice as high as in the early 1990s. The GDP per capita has risen even more rapidly over the same period.

Manufacturing industry achieved more turnover across the board. The transport equipment sector and the sector petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products recorded the highest turnover growth rates, with 15 and 12 percent respectively. Turnover growth in other branches of manufacturing industry was modest.

Turnover growth on the domestic market was higher than on the export market for the third consecutive month. Previously, turnover growth on the export market had been higher than turnover growth on the domestic market for nearly two years.

The Dioraphte Award (also 10,000 Euro) for the highest-scoring film in the audience poll among the seventeen festival films made with support from the Hubert Bals Fund was won by GOODBYE by Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof.

IFFR 2012 counted 274,000 visits to films, exhibitions, performances and events. The first Curaçao IFFR will take place from 29 March through 1 April 2012 in Willemstad; the 42nd International Film Festival Rotterdam from 23 January through 3 February 2013.

The winner of the UPC Audience Award, MONSIEUR LAZHAR, is a film in the spirit of ÊTRE ET AVOIR, in which the Algerian immigrant Lazhar helps a primary school class come to terms with a tragic loss, while benefitting himself from the innocence of the schoolchildren. MONSIEUR LAZHAR, which also took the award for Best Canadian feature film at the Toronto film festival and is in the running for an Oscar for best foreign film, will be given a Dutch theatrical release on 22 March 2012 by Imagine Nederland.

In the Dioraphte Award winner GOODBYE, a young female lawyer tries to leave Iran. This personal, gripping film by Rasoulof, who himself has been the subject of legal persecution in Iran for his films, was made thanks to a contribution from the Hubert Bals Fund.

Other films scoring highly in the audience award poll included Martin Scorsese’s HUGO, DIE UNSICHTBARE by Christian Schwochow (Germany) and the topical documentary BACK TO THE SQUARE by Petr Lom (Norway).

Looking back over the past festival, director Rutger Wolfson said: “IFFR 2012 had a characteristic, albeit slightly smaller programme of strong, distinctive films in the Tiger Awards Competition, as well as the Bright Future and Spectrum sections.

The Chinese documentaries by Ai Weiwei and others in the Hidden Histories programme; the Syrian and Egyptian works shown in the Power Cut programme and the exuberant Mouth of Garbage films led to much discussion among visitors to the festival. Discussions via social media and reporting on this spread far beyond the borders of the Netherlands.

The smaller number of festival films was good for the profile of individual works, giving new discoveries and world premières an opportunity to build up a reputation among both the general public and professionals. The fact that the likes of Miike Takashi, Michel Gondry, Wang Xiaoshuai, Andrea Arnold, Steve McQueen, Aki Kaurismäki, Peter Kubelka and Peter von Bagh, among many other filmmakers, were in Rotterdam was heart-warming. Films such as VALLEY OF SAINTS (Musa Syeed, India), ROOM 514 (Israel, Sharon Bar-Ziv) and the Hivos Tiger Award winners are already receiving a great deal of international attention.”

Business director Janneke Staarink: “Thanks to the further digitization of the box office and a more transparent pricing system, we have been able to make the festival more user-friendly. The responses to this have been mainly very positive. Visitor numbers, even allowing for a correction for last year’s large-scale anniversary programme, were however down 14%. Part of the explanation for this lies in the deliberate choice for a more compact programme, which has allowed us to improve quality for our filmmakers and visitors. In addition, it is clear that the recession has also had an impact on us as a festival. The economic situation is forcing the festival to be pro-active in its search for new revenue models and to experiment with private forms of financial support. Both in the run up to and during the festival, it has transpired that our audience recognises the urgent need to support the festival – and in doing so support independent cinema – and is doing so. At the same time, the figures show that we have squeezed our prices as far as we can. I hope that the powers that be will acknowledge this signal that, while there may be many opportunities for entrepreneurial parties, the bill for the cuts in government spending cannot be laid only at the door of those who enjoy culture.”

The Netherlands experiences an official cold wave for the first time since 1997. The temperature did not reach above zero degrees Celsius in De Bilt since 7 o’clock in the morning of 29 January. Also, the temperature dropped last night for the third night in a row to -10 degrees.

Before there can be talk of an official cold wave, the temperature at least 5 days to get above freezing in De Bilt. In addition, the strict minimum of three nights with freezing temperatures of -10 degrees or colder, leaves a spokesman weeronline.nl know.

For an official cold wave there must be 5 days with a maximum below 0C and at least 3 nights in a row with freezing temperatures of -10 degrees or colder, according to a spokesman of weeronline.nl

According to Dutch meteorologists, the cold wave is very special: “It has been 15 years since the Netherlands had a cold wave.” The Netherlands had 32 cold waves since 1901.

Also, next week WeerOnline sees little change in the weather. “Until next weekend, we seem pretty confident that the freezing cold will continue”.

The cold wave has also offered opportunities for Ice skaters in the Netherlands who are hopeful they could stage a race that hasn’t happened in more than a decade

The Netherlands almost mythical Elfstedentocht (Eleven Cities Tour) ice skating marathon could be staged later this month for the first time in 15 years, organizers said Monday.

The race, held along a 125-mile network of canals connecting 11 towns and cities in Friesland province, would cause a national frenzy, drawing thousands of participants and more than a million spectators. It was last held in 1997.

A man tried to take advantage of the weather and toss a snowball with a package of drugs in it over the wall of a prison.

Many parts of Europe have been considerably worse off, with a big freeze already claiming more than 260 lives.

In Italy, weather experts said it was the coldest week for 27 years.

To be precise, the average national retail price for a liter of fuel will be 1.761 euro on Saturday, according to consumer collective United Consumers

Despite the struggling economy, the price of oil keeps rising, mainly due to tensions over Iran. The price of fuel reached EUR 1.757 on 13 January, exactly equal to the last record of april 2011.

That record was more spectacular: when gasoline prices reached a new peak for the first time since mid 2008, following first a low of 1.198 euros per liter.

The programme Science4Arts is a joint initiative of NWO’s Division for the Humanities and the Divisions for Chemical and Physical Sciences. The research programme focuses on studies of the physical and chemical changes in works of art, the significance and content of the artistic object concerned, and the context of the work of art. Within each of the projects scientists from various disciplines work together with experts from the world of art.

NWO’s partners in this programme include the American National Science Foundation (NSF) and the French IPANEMA, the synchrotron facility for old objects. NWO has made 3.6 million euros available for the projects (of which 600,000 euros for the collaboration with the US). One or more co-funding museums are involved in each project.

The proportion of people with a non-western background in the labour force grew marginally from 12.6 in 2010 to 13.1 percent in 2011. The increase is less substantial than in the preceding two years. The unemployment rate among people with a western ethnic background also increased somewhat, to 7.1 percent, but with 4.2 percent, the rate among native Dutch residents was slightly below the 2010 level. In the two preceding years, the rate had gone up.

The marginal unemployment growth in the population with a non-western background was most obvious among over-25s. The rate among young people with a non-western ethnic background remained stable relative to 2010 at 23.4 percent. Among young native Dutch, unemployment was reduced from 9.7 percent in 2010 to 7.7 percent in 2011.

The unemployment rate among non-western men rose marginally in 2011; from 12.2 to 13.5 percent, whereas the rate among non-western women diminished from 13.0 to 12.5 percent. This means that more men than women in the non-western population in the Netherlands were looking for jobs. The unemployment rate among native Dutch women also dropped, but the rate for remained at the same level for native Dutch men.

The overall unemployment rate in the Netherlands started to grow again in the course of 2011 after a decline at the end of 2010. As a result, the annual averages over 2010 and 2011 are still close together.

The first snow fell in the Northern provinces this morning. The snow is slowly moving south. The snow will last approximately 3 to 4 hours. Most snow is expected in the west. At many places can have 3 to 5 inches snow fall.

Weather Online says the Netherlands will face about 10 inches of powder snow. The ANWB expects snow will cause problems on the road Friday afternoon. The weather is also bad news for ice skating fans, the snow will prevent ice growth.

After the snow front has passed, it remains preliminary dry with moderate and severe frost.

The coming weekend promises to be the coldest in years. Both tonight, tomorrow night and in the night of Sunday until Monday the minimum calculated temperature in the Netherlands will be between minus 10 and minus 17 degrees, possible even lower.

School expenses rose more rapidly than revenues over the period 2006-2010. This is predominantly due to an increase in personnel costs by 21 percent. The number of full-time job equivalents increased by 2.5 percent and many teachers were upgraded to higher salary scales. Lastly, collectively negotiated (CAO) wages in education rose by 11 percent. The CAO wage increase was above the level of inflation over this period (7 percent).

In recent years, schools tended to spend more than they could afford. As a result, the number of school with large amounts of cash in the coffers was reduced. Schools are defined as financially sound, if their liquidity ranges between the so-called signal values 0.5 and 1.5. In 2010, 73 percent of schools in primary and secondary education had a liquidity level above 1.5 versus 77 percent in 2009.

In primary and secondary schools, 80 and 47 percent respectively had a liquidity level above 1.5. The difference between the two school categories is caused by the fact that primary schools generally have fewer pupils than secondary schools. Smaller schools often keep higher financial buffers to protect them against, for example, the effects of declining pupil numbers.