The Yugoslav Tribunal is under stress as cases hot up, while the strain is starting to show in the government coalition. Bill Clinton receives superstar welcome in a Dutch village. Geese are plenty but hunters are refusing to go a hunting. And it’s Monday so here’s some sports news.

Yugoslav Tribunal under stress
As the International Criminal Yugoslavia Tribunal on Churchill Square in The Hague is winding down its caseload is hotting up. De Volkskrant reports that the tribunal is under stress and for good reason it has never been so busy. The paper expects former Serbian General Ratko Mladic to appear before the court within a week, but at the same time the court is preparing to wind down its last cases. De Telegraaf thinks he might even arrive today. The tribunal, which was set up in 1993 by the United Nations is supposed to close in 2014.

But how long cases takes is notoriously difficult to predict. The biggest trial against Radovan Karadzic has been dogged by delays, not least because the former Yugoslav president has insisted on defending himself. Now the Serb authorities have finally tracked down another big fish Mladic who is suspected of war crimes on several counts.

Another problem is the rising costs. In 1994, the tribunal cost just 10 million dollars, but 300 million dollars have been budgeted for the two year period 2010/2011. And then there is the brain drain, “alarming numbers of the highly-qualified, experienced members of staff are seeking more job security elsewhere,” says ICYT Judge Patrick Robinson.

Clinton welcomed in Dutch village
The tiny Frisian village of Achlum must have thought it was the centre of the universe last weekend. Insurance company Achmea, which has its roots in the farming community, celebrated its 200th anniversary in the town, inviting no-one less than Bill Clinton as its keynote speaker. Trouw describes the hamlet with 600 residents as “a place where nothing ever happens”. Why Clinton, well among his many good causes is healthy living . On his website there are ten rules to healthy living for heart patients. Since 2004, the former US president has been one himself. When he last visited the Netherlands 13 years ago, bins were removed from the streets and manholes were glued shut. This time the authorities simply hermetically sealed off the village, only allowing residents and guests in.

But the villagers didn’t mind. The photo shows them standing in the rain listening to the speakers on a huge stage. Many of the locals have shown their hospitality hosting meetings in their living rooms. One woman says “If I’d known it had been organised so well I would have offered my room.”

Clinton received a superstar welcome when he arrived in the pouring rain and came on stage with his hands in his pockets. He waved to the audience and told them that “a wonderful thing happened here in 1811” when farmers formed a cooperative to help each other out in hard times. De Volkskrant quotes Mr Clinton, “You have to find a unique Dutch answer to modern solidarity,” - a reference to issues like immigration and the Greek economic crisis.

Hunters won’t go a hunting
The Dutch countryside has got a problem. It is being eaten bare by geese and while the conservationists are calling for a cull, the hunters are putting their foot on the brakes. A G-7 (Goose 7 of nature organisations) has been set up to tackle the problem. Nrc.next writes,” everyone agrees there are too many geese”, the problem is getting rid of them is not going to be pretty.

The development of wetlands in the Netherlands has attracted huge numbers of the beasts, but they are destroying farmers’ crops and are a dangerous nuisance for Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. There are 200,000 geese in the country, the G7 wants to halve that number and looked to the Royal Dutch Hunters Association to do the dirty work. But the association stepped out of the strange coalition just before signing the deal.

It would be almost impossible for its 21,000 members to find the time to shoot an extra 100,000 geese. Besides during the brooding period between March and May, hunters don’t like to shoot. They avoid shooting female geese off their eggs and understandably won’t kill mother goose with a line of goslings waddling behind her.

The bird protection society refuses to allow eggs to be shaken to slow down the population growth. Normally they are against culling birds altogether but part of the deal is that there will be no hunting of geese in the winter, which they see as a major victory. Then there’s the problem of what to do with the dead birds. Goose is on the menu a couple of times a week in the hunter’s home, and the odd one is given to friends. But they don’t sell for much and supermarkets are not interested. So many end up in the bin or the incinerator, which is a waste. As hunter Dijksma puts it “They are beautiful birds. They shouldn’t be thrown away.”

“When Wilders says, ‘jump’, Rutte says, ‘How high?’”
The Dutch minority coalition has been in office for just over six months and already the strain is beginning to show. According to freesheet De Pers, Christian Democrat MPs are removing their gags and are starting to speak out against their ministers.

The Christian Democrats, which already lost a huge number of seats at the last general election, is plummeting in the polls. The latest poll puts the party which has been in government more often than any other since the war in sixth place with just 13 seats. The party ranks think it is time the party started showing its teeth as their Christian identity has been seriously damaged by the deal with the anti-Islam Freedom Party for its support in parliament.

Meanwhile at its congress at the weekend, liberal party, D66 began sawing at the legs of the fellow liberal party and the other half of the coalition the VVD writes Trouw. The minority coalition failed to win a majority, even with the support of the Freedom Party, in the recent election of the Upper House of parliament. As a result the minority coalition has been forced to look to the orthodox Christian SGP for a one-seat majority in the first chamber.

D66 leader Alexander Pechtold warns “true liberals do not cooperate with the SGP” as it opposes a number of liberal policies, like Sunday opening hours, gay marriage and equal rights for women. He also ridicules Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s cooperation with the Freedom Party, “When Wilders says jump, Rutte says “How high?”

Monday sports pages
And it is Monday so there is lots of sport in the papers. Star goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar is pictured in De Telegraaf saying farewell to his team Manchester United on Saturday after losing the Champion’s League final against Barcelona. The Dutch goalie is finally leaving football after a very long and successful career.

And ADO The Hague is celebrating in spite of losing its match against Groningen at the weekend writes AD. The two premier league teams ended equal, so penalties were necessary to decide which team goes through to the Europa Cup next year. As a result, ADO has won a place in the European competition for the first time since 1987.

And the Netherlands has got a new star runner. Churandy Martina ran his first race for the Netherlands at the weekend and came second in the 100 metres at the Fanny Blankers Coen Games in spite of being ill writes Trouw. The Antillean sprinter had the choice for which country he wanted to run after the Caribbean island of Aruba left became independent recently. Martina is likely to represent the Dutch at London Olympics next year.