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Dozens of teenagers blackmailed via Snapchat, police warn

  Police in Amsterdam are   investigating   dozens of reports of teenagers who are being blackmailed via social media platform Snapchat. The victims are told they have “bothered” someone and that they will have to “pay a fine”. If they don’t comply they or members of their family will die, the message reads. “The threats are usually general in nature but sometimes the perpetrator seems to know who the family members are,” a police spokesman told broadcaster NOS. The amounts asked for run into hundreds of euros with “discounts” for youngsters who name names of other potential victims. The reports come mainly from the south of Amsterdam but reports are coming in from other parts of the city as well, police said. Teenagers who are being blackmailed should get in touch and take an undetectable screenshot using another phone and hand it to police. The investigation is ongoing.
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Boom Chicago urges debate on role of comedy after Israeli row

  Amsterdam comedy theatre Boom Chicago is to hold an open discussion about the role of comedy in 2025, following the row over a planned appearance by an Israeli comedian. The theatre cancelled two performances by Yohay Sponder after receiving what it called significant negative reactions, both online and from visitors, some of which were “outright threatening”. Last week various Instagram accounts began calling on people to email Boom Chicago en masse, saying Sponder is “ultra zionist” whose jokes are “based on Israeli propaganda”. “As a result, we began to worry about the safety of our performers, audience, and colleagues,” the theatre said in a reaction. They decided to cancel the performance and offered to help relocate the show to another venue in Amsterdam. The police and city authorities were not involved in the theatre’s decision. “We are deeply saddened that this situation has escalated into a polarised debate about Gaza,” the statement said. “In our 32 years of existence,...
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Dutch good causes quit X on Donald Trump’s inauguration day

  In total, 17 Dutch campaign groups and foundations are leaving social media platform X on Monday, to coincide with Donald Trump’s inauguration as president of the United States. Oxfam/Novib, ActionAid Nederland, COC, PAX, Bits of Freedom, and Fossielvrij NL are among the organisations leaving the social media site, the boycott campaigners say. “X is a political project and poses an increasing threat to our democracy and the rule of law,” said Jurjen van den Bergh, director of DeGoedeZaak, one of the organisers of the boycott. “X is no longer a safe place for a good debate,” said Devika Partiman, founder of Stem op een Vrouw, which is also part of the boycott campaign. “Because so many politicians use the platform, journalists feel obliged to stay there, and that means organisations and individuals who want to follow the public debate stay there too. It becomes a vicious circle, and no one dares to go first.” Some 4,000 private individuals have also signed up for Monday’s departur...
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Icy days are here again as record 762-day stretch ends

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  Temperatures stayed below zero at the national weather station in De Bilt on Saturday, ending a record 762-day streak without an official “ice day”. The maximum temperature was recorded at minus 0.7C, breaking a continuous run stretching back to December 17, 2022. The previous record of 755 days was set between January 1974 and January 1976. Since records began there have been 11 years without a single “ice day”, including four since 2014. The record was almost broken in 2021, when a cold snap in early February ended a 744-day continuous streak. Ice days have become an increasingly rare occurrence as global temperatures have risen in recent decades. In the 1980s the Netherlands had an average of 10 days of sub-zero temperatures a year, but in the period between 1995 and 2004 this had shrunk to six. The temperature peaked at minus 0.7C again on Sunday before hovering around freezing point on Monday.  The weather  is forecast to become warmer  during the week, with a...
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