Fact is stranger than fiction today in the papers as a former Playboy model’s story partly corroborates her friend’s ‘unlikely’ sexual assault charges against Gaddafi’s son. A science fiction film is used as a defence in a patency violation case and a report states that safety precautions for a minister conflicted with claims there was no danger to public health after a chemical fire.

Tension in Tripoli, snipers in the city
De Volkskrant’s headline focuses on the ‘ tension in Tripoli’ , Trouw on the ‘ snipers in the city’. Freesheet De Pers points out the dangers of bullets landing on your head when Kalashnikovs are fired in the air in celebration by the rebels.

Meanwhile 35 journalists who were held under siege in the Rixos Hotel have been released, but four others have been taken hostage and are being held in an apartment near the luxury hotel. One of the released journalists described the ordeal as “a 400-dollar-a-night prison”.

CNN’s Matthew Chance explained how relieved they were as some of the gunmen holding them seemed unstable. And imagine the frustration of being in a war zone but unable to report it. “It seemed like we were being held in the last place Gaddafi still had control over.”

AD picks up the story of Talitha van Zon, the former Dutch Playboy star who was invited to Tripoli by one of Gaddafi’s sons. As soon as the rebels reached the capital, Mutassim appears to have dumped her. Reports that she was in a coma turn out to be false, the 39-year-old broke her arm running away from the rebels, who she feared were out to rape and murder her. Funnily enough her story does partly corroborate the claims of a friend of hers who, De Telegraaf reports, filed charges against Mutassim Gaddafi for sexual assault on returning to the Netherlands earlier this year. Until Talitha’s tale came to light the Dutch authorities had not thought the young lady’s story very likely.

Catalogue of errors made fighting chemical fire
Two critical reports on a chemical fire in Moerdijk near Rotterdam agree a catalogue of errors were made when the blaze broke out at chemical firm Chemie-Pack in January. “No one was prepared” writes Trouw.

Moerdijk has a high concentration of companies handling hazardous substances, but there is no specialised fire brigade or collective company fire fighting force. The first firemen to reach the scene were literally in the line of fire. They used too much water due to a lack of leadership – as the fire brigade's chief had already decided to let the fire burn out. As a result there was more damage to the environment as excess water polluted the surrounding area. Firemen were exposed to chemical fumes and contaminated water.

Justice and Security Minister Ivo Opstelten welcomes the findings of the reports and has taken all the recommendations on board. More specialised firemen will be sent to the industrial area and a collective company fire fighting team will be set up.

But the minister himself comes under fire for causing confusion. When he visited the site, he stayed in the bus to avoid coming into contact with possible hazardous substances, while the public health authority was saying that no poisonous dioxins or carcinogenic substances had been released into the environment. In de Volkskrant the minister admits that he was not happy with the decision to stay in the bus.

Parents happy with multiculturalism, but Wilders jeered
In spite of claims by politicians that the multicultural society has failed, parents seem to think differently. De Volkskrant reports on a survey by J/M magazine among 600 Dutch parents on the issue of multiculturalism. Most think it is good for their children to grow up in a pluriform society. Although almost half of them would rather not see their children choose a partner with a different cultural background.

The magazine editor points out that means slightly more than half would accept a partner with a foreign background. The figures reflect international tendencies. All over the world, people would rather see their children marry someone with the same religious and cultural baggage.

But the parents are slightly hypocritical. Although 77 percent of them have no problem with the idea of their children mixing with children with a foreign background, three quarters of the parents still said they would rather not send their children to a school with more than 30 percent children with a different background. In actual fact 51 percent of the children in question didn’t have any friends from a different culture than their own. De Volkskrant also reports that primary school children jeered populist MP Geert Wilders when he came to visit their neighbourhood because of local unrest by what he called “Moroccan scum”.

No view to a room as college year begins
It’s a recurring theme. Nrc.next reports on the problem students have finding accommodation. Students in Amsterdam have to wait an average three years before they find a room to rent. The student housing problem is becoming apocalyptic.

The shortage of suitable and affordable accommodation leads to ridiculous demands. One landlord reportedly requires a bikini photo before he takes in students. In another student house, the utility room is rented out for an astronomical 400 euros.

As a result, some students have to travel a couple of hours to get to college every day. This is the third year in a row that student figures have increased, partly because of an increase in the number of foreign students coming to the Netherlands.

The problem can only get worse as student numbers are expected to grow by another 107,000 by 2015. As many students still live with their parents, that means another 65,000 student apartments have to be built. But student housing organisation Kences already knows that won’t happen. Soon almost everybody will still be living at home.

Tab technology just a lot of science fiction
The patent case between Apple and Samsung is starting to look like science fiction reports freesheet De Pers. Not least because Samsung has called on the Stanley Kubrick film Space Odyssey in its defence. Apple accuses Samsung of copying its iPad design. But Samsung says the 1968 sci-fi movie shows astronauts using interactive portable flatscreen computers. Besides clay tablets were used as far back as four centuries before Christ.

It hasn’t helped Samsung much. Yesterday a Dutch judge ruled that the South Korean electronics firm had copied software from Apple for its range of Galaxy smartphones, but the Galaxy Tab can remain on sale. Meanwhile De Telegraaf sports an advertisement for the offending phones on its front page.