Unsurprisingly the main story in most of this morning's Dutch dailies is the failed attempt to blow up Northwest Airlines flight 253 to Detroit on Christmas Day. On Friday, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to blow up the jetliner just before it landed in Detroit. His flight to the US originated in Lagos Nigeria but he had a nine-hour stopover at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.

The papers cover the story from various angles but all of them ask the essential question: how did the attacker manage to smuggle the explosives on board and just what were security personnel at Schiphol doing or, more to the point, not doing?

All the papers praise Jasper Schuringa, the 32-year-old Dutchman who sprang into action the moment he heard the first explosion and tackled the would-be terrorist.

Terrorist attacker spent hours at Schiphol
De Volkskrant announces confidently on its front page that the man behind Friday's attack, 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was working alone. The left-wing paper cites US government sources as saying the incident "was not part of a large-scale terrorist attack," but adds that Mr Abdulmutallab told interrogators that he was "part of the al-Qaeda terrorist network".

NRC.next reports that the Nigerian had 80 grams of the explosive pentaerythritol or PETN - which is an essential component of the infamous explosive Semtex - hidden on his body, probably secreted in a condom in his underpants. According to NRC.next, Mr Abdulmutallab was screened twice in Lagos, but because he was in the transfer lounge at Schiphol the military police did not screen him. However, before getting on the flight to the US, he did go through a metal detector and his hand baggage was searched.

Security measures
The paper says that security measures at airports flying to or from the US across the globe have been tightened up, but also notes that despite the billions of euros poured into technology since the 9-11 attacks in the US, even the most modern technology is "helpless in the face of the type of explosives used by Mr Abdulmutallab".

AD starts its coverage with demands from Dutch MPs, pilots and airline experts to "equip Schiphol airport with the latest security devices". The Federation of Dutch Pilots has called for the airport to be equipped with advanced full body scanners, a demand backed up by several MPs. Although Schiphol does have 15 full body scanners, they are only used on flights to the Dutch Antilles to screen for drugs couriers. AD writes that the European Commission, in order to conduct an investigation into the health risks and because of privacy issues, stopped large-scale use of full body scanners.

Hero
De Telegraaf's front page is dominated by a large photo of Mr Schuringa and the headline, "Jasper: hero of Detroit". His photo also graces the front page of de Volkskrant and AD, and all the papers praise his courage and quick thinking.

Anger over Queen's Christmas speech
The other story getting quite a lot of coverage in this morning's papers is the response to Queen Beatrix's Christmas Day speech. The Dutch monarch used her annual address to the nation to cast doubt on the value of virtual communication, arguing that although modern technology appears to bring people closer together, it does in fact create distance and encourage people to vent their anger and bile from the cocoon of online anonymity.

Her speech led to a storm of criticism: the headline in NRC.next reads "the modern age has passed her by," and Hyves, a Dutch version of Facebook, has offered the queen a free account. However, some papers applaud the monarch's message. A column in the Protestant Trouw supports the tenor of the speech saying, "the queen rightly calls for awareness of the downside of virtual communication and communities".

Although the paper notes that "virtual contact often leads to real contact," there is a real risk that "the virtual world will replace the real world". The Protestant paper also supports the queen's contention that anonymity "encourages people to vent their emotions and anger".

NRC.next says that her opinion divides her from millions of Dutch people and her contention that virtual contact isn't real contact is false.

De Volkskrant notes that it was quite remarkable that she managed to criticise modern forms of communication without actually saying the words e-mail, internet, text-message or Twitter.

Massive haul of illegal fireworks
Trouw reports that efforts to stop the trade in illegal fireworks has yielded spectacular results with a record 229,925 kilos of illegal fireworks seized in the Netherlands this year, and even larger amounts were prevented from entering the country. According to the paper, 1.5 million kilos of illegal fireworks are set off in the Netherlands every year.

AD reports that a Rotterdam GreenLeft city councillor has called on The Hague to make it illegal for drunken people to set off fireworks. Arno Bonte tells the paper, "it's illegal to drink and drive, the law ought to be extended to cover dangerous activities such as setting off fireworks". The councillor says that the current fireworks safety campaign targets onlookers but "drunks setting off fireworks is a far bigger problem".

The paper also interviews a fireworks designer who says, "Women's fireworks are the new trend". In case you're wondering, women's fireworks are lots of pretty colours and lights and no bangs.

New ear theory - van Gogh back in the news
Yet another theory about Vincent van Gogh's ear and who chopped it off pops up in several papers, but they all pretty much say the same as de Volkskrant. The paper writes that British art historian Martin Baily says Vincent chopped his ear off because he was afraid that his brother Theo was planning to cut him off, "emotionally and financially" after his marriage. Evidence for this new theory is supposedly to be found in the painting Still Life of a Plate of Onions; part of Theo's letter announcing his marriage is in the painting.

The left-wing paper writes that earlier this year, a German art historian announced to the world that Paul Gauguin sliced off Vincent’s ear after a heated argument between the pair. De Volkskrant also notes that this theory was rejected by Mr Baily and researchers at Amsterdam's Van Gogh museum.

Lists, lists and more lists
Yes, it's the end of the year so the papers are full of lists - the 10 best songs, films, books, champagne and deep-fried dough balls - and because it is also the end of the first decade of the 21st century, it's not only the best of 2009 but the best of the noughties as well.

AD predictably has its 'best place to buy olibollen’ (those deep-fried dough balls that I personally think are absolutely disgusting - the literal translation is oil balls; need I say more?). NRC.next has the best champagne to drink on New Year's Eve, and de Volkskrant has a two-page spread rounding up the best and the worst of the noughties.

De Telegraaf goes for five "unforgettable women" who made a big impact on 2009, including European Commissioner Neelie Kroes, women's football coach Vera Pauw and writer Fayza Oum'Hamid.