Caption: PRINCESS AMALIA: Receives an annual allocation from the government
Photo credit: Gemmy Woud-Binnenjijk/royal-house.nl
Netherlands: On the payroll Crown Princess Amalia will receive €1.6 million next year for personal and material expenses, the General Affairs ministry announced. Although Amalia has received an allocation for some years, she announced that she would stop returning it to the Treasury in 2025 after turning 21 in December this year.
Denmark: Joined up The Zealand and Greater Copenhagen regions will merge into East Denmark, reducing the country’s regions to four in line with government plans to reform the Health service, broadcasters TV2 and DR revealed. If approved, the new mega-region will have 2.7 million residents, one-tenth of Denmark’s population.
On the rise Average incomes rose 6.3 per cent in 2023, the sharpest annual increase for 30 years, according to Statistics Denmark (DST), with a typical pre-tax income reaching 395,500 krone (€53,010). The upturn was influenced by better-performing investments, which helped many to practically double their earnings, DST said.
Norway: Eagle attack A gamekeeper shot and killed a golden eagle that swooped on a child of 20 months as she played on the family farm and inflicted injuries that later needed stitches. The same bird, whose behaviour was untypical”, ornithologists said, was believed to have attacked at least two other people in early September.
Long wait Oslo’s public transport companies will use biofuel heaters to prevent a repetition of last winter’s chaos when electric buses ran out of power as their batteries struggled to heat the vehicles. Installing the heaters has begun, the Unibuss operator said, but warned that work would not be completed until the Spring.
Italy: Family feud A Naples man asked the Fabbrocino Camorra clan to kill his abusive son and son-in-law and dispose of the bodies, although the mafiosos told him that a warning would be sufficient. The request came to the attention of the police during tapped phone calls and resulted in 12 arrests on four charges linked to the case.
Repeat guest Villa Palmieri, built in the 14th century in the hills north of Florence and visited by Queen Victoria in 1888, 1893 and 1894, is up for sale with a price tag of €50 million. The 4,000-square metre property is set in nine hectares of gardens, making it the second largest park in the Florence metropolitan area.
Belgium: Storm damage The Flemish Disaster Fund has received 1,443 claims for properties affected by the violent storm which battered Antwerp province, Flemish Brabant, Brussels and West Flanders of July 9. The Fund must now decide whether the conditions in each municipality should be classed as a natural disaster.
Jobs at risk Tupperware filed for bankruptcy in the US with $700 million (€629 million) debts and is seeking a buyer, the company announced on September 17. The brand’s East Flanders factory employs 40 people who said they had “felt it coming” when production began to dwindle, an ABVV union official revealed.
Germany: Stopgap US chipmaker Intel is delaying plans to build a factory in Magdeburg by two years amid a $10 billion (€8.98 billion) cost-cutting programme. Germany’s Finance minister Christian Lindner has now suggested that subsidies earmarked for the factory should instead be used to plug the federal Budget’s €12 million gap.
Funfair tragedy A 20–year-old construction worker lost his life in Munich on September 17 during a trial run of the rollercoaster at the Oktoberfest funfair when he was hit by one of the carriages which was travelling at full speed. He was treated at the scene but later died in hospital despite all the efforts to save him.
France: Early harvest The Burgandy grape harvest began on September 13, although between the late Middle Ages and 1988, the usual date was around September 27. Thomas Labbe, co-author of Climate of the Past, told Le Monde newspaper that climate change meant that what once would have been exceptional was now the norm.
Try again Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader, called for another election in 2025, after the two-round election in June and July resulted in a hung parliament and months of deadlock. “It’s untenable,” Le Pen told fellow members of Rassemblement National (National Rally), currently the largest single party in parliament.
Finland: Hot stuff Celebrating their mutual sauna culture, Finland and Estonia set a new Guiness World Record for “Most Photos of People in Saunas Posted on Facebook in One Hour” between 7 and 8pm on June 8. Guinness accepted 3,602 of the participants’ 3,909 uploaded photos and confirmed the record on September 16.
Phishing trips The Finns have lost at least €27.5 million to fraudsters since January 2024, with most of the losses the result of data phishing scams, revealed the Finance Finland association which represents the finance sector. Nevertheless banks halted and returned €18.2 million of fraudulent payments before they reached the swindlers.
Ireland: Fortune teller Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s former First Minister, predicted a united Ireland as part of a “wider shake-up” of the UK that included an independent Scotland. Sturgeon argued that Ireland’s unification would be part of “a very healthy realignment of how the nations of the British Isles are governed and cooperate.”
On the pill Free contraception for girls of 16 could be included in the next Budget, Health minister Stephen Donnelly said, reviving a 2023 pledge. There had been a high take-up of the scheme which currently covers girls and women aged between 17 and 35, but Donnelly said that extending this to 16-year-olds was “more complex.”
Portugal: On the march The National Confederation of Retirees, Pensioners and the Elderly, Murpi, is organising a protest march in Lisbon on October 17 in a call for more support and funding for senior citizens’ associations and cultural activities. “Our old people should not be isolated or alone,” Murpi president Isabel Gomes said.
Not forgotten US military personnel, assisted by Portuguese and international divers, arrived in Faro on September 1 on a mission to locate a US Navy PB4Y-1 bomber which went down 2.1 kilometres off Faro beach in November 1943. They hope to recover the possible remains of the five airmen who did not survive the crash.
Sweden: Name-calling NAMING a child can be complex as the Swedish Tax Agency, which registers names, can reject those “leading to discomfort for the person bearing the name.” Gomez was vetoed, as surnames may not be used as first names, while Arsenal, Dotcom and T-Rex all received a thumbs-down, although Lego was accepted.
Early start THE government wants to add another year to obligatory schooling with children starting their education at six, instead of seven as they do at present. Although children already attend preschool once they are six, they will instead go directly into first grade, if parliament approves the new measure in November.
