The battle between state control and freedom of the press. Damages claims by traumatised web surfers. And the severed head of an Ahanta king. It's all go in the Dutch papers today. And meanwhile the four-day walkers in Nijmegen plod on, braving the elements ... and the Mexican flu.

De Telegraaf celebrates victory over secret service
Never ones to shy away from devoting a few headlines to their own cause, the folks at De Telegraaf devote most of their front page to their court battle with the Dutch secret service AIVD. The headlines deliver a triple whammy to the spy masters: "Judge calls a halt to AIVD", "Tapping of journalists must end" and "Minister ter Horst called to heel". Yesterday the paper won an injunction against the secret service who tapped journalists' phones and keep them under surveillance after De Telegraaf went public with sensitive information on the Dutch participation in the Iraq war, among other things.

De Telegraaf trumpets its legal victory as "a triumph for freedom of speech" and declares that the secret service has received "a firm slap on the wrist". It's an opinion shared by the associations representing Dutch editors and journalists, who joined forces with the paper in the case. As the head of the editors' association, Arendo Joustra says: "In a democracy, the secret service shouldn't be spying on journalists. It should reserve that kind of strong-arm tactics for saving lives and hounding terrorists."

The other papers give more coverage to the fact that things didn't all go De Telegraaf's way. The ban on phone tapping may yet be overturned and in a separate ruling, the authorities' raids on a journalist's home were upheld as justified. These facts get a little snowed under in De Telegraaf, which is too busy licking its lips at the prospect of the Interior Minister Guusje ter Horst coming under fire in parliament for approving the AIVD's surveillance tactics in the first place. "She signed on the dotted line on four separate occasions ... It looks like the secret service has her on a leash ... The minister has a lot of explaining to do."

Severed head of Ghanaian king starts long journey home
All of today's papers feature a remarkable ceremony that took place in The Hague yesterday. Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen officially handed over the severed head of a tribal monarch to a delegation from Ghana. King Badu Bonsu II of the Ahanta tribe was executed for the killing of two Dutch envoys on the Gold Coast in 1838 and his head was taken to the Netherlands where it was preserved in formaldehyde and became part of a scholarly collection at Leiden University Hospital.

The head itself was kept discreetly behind closed doors during yesterday's ceremony, which de Volkskrant refers to as "the ritual closure of a dark episode". The paper describes this meeting of two worlds: "The Ghanaian delegation, bare shouldered and swathed in scarlet and black robes, stood shoulder to shoulder with the civil servants from the Foreign Office ... a department where wearing brown shoes is frowned upon as ostentatious."

Ghanaian emotions and Dutch jenever flow freely
Trouw reports that emotions ran high among the Ghanaian group. "This is very important to us," one representative insisted. "Someone who has been beheaded is not complete in the next life." A great-great-grandson of the king lamented: "Why did you take his head? It makes me intensely sad to see him here like this." Minister Verhagen seems to have done his best to show how contrite the Dutch are about this episode in their colonial past. He spoke of "a regrettable and shameful" period in relations between the Netherlands and Ghana and insisted: "We need to know that our forefathers can rest in peace."

The ritual was sealed by sprinkling alcohol on the floor in accordance with Ghanaian tradition. Well, more than just a sprinkle. Half a bottle of traditional Dutch gin or jenever found its way into the ministry's carpet. "It's for every river the spirit has to cross," explained the Ghanaian head of delegation. "With all the water between the Netherlands and Ghana, this journey requires a lot of jenever."

Viewers claim shock damages for Queen's Day drama
Few who saw them will forget the gruesome pictures that graced the Dutch media the day after the Queen's Day drama on 30 April, when a troubled man drove at high speed through a crowd of spectators in an attempted attack on the royal family. Eight people died in the carnage. Now it seems that people who watched footage of the attack on YouTube and on TV are lodging claims with an insurer for emotional damages. Arno Akkermans, Professor of Law at VU University Amsterdam tells AD: "It's becoming a kind of test case to find out where the boundaries of shock damage lie." Jaap Smit, director of Victim Support in the Netherlands, dismisses the claims as "inappropriate" and "hopeless".

In its editorial, AD argues that there is something to be said for extending shock damages beyond the current strict criteria but warns that "the danger of commercialising sorrow looms large." It concludes: "It's bad enough that people are now claiming shock damages for having seen a film on YouTube. But it’s even worse that there are lawyers prepared to supports such claims."

Nijmegen marches on through rain and flu
Taking part in the world's largest walking event is never a picnic but the participants in this year's International Four-Day Marches in Nijmegen are having more than their fair share to put up with. De Telegraaf sums up the ordeal with the ominous headline "Flu walks among them" above a front-page photo of hundreds of soaked and bedraggled walkers.

On the third day, following news that a British soldier who was taking part had come down with Mexican flu, the walkers battled on through what Trouw describes as "rain, rain and yet more rain", clinging to assurances that the danger of infection was minimal. The paper describes the "heavy tread of blistered feet" and the "not a care in the world" expression that typify the more experienced marchers. Hang on in there, people. Just one more day to go!