Geert Wilders rations out tweets on the Norwegian massacre. Dutch women in labour are heading for hospital in droves. Beer giant Heineken has declared war on an upstart rival. A football-pitch-full of US dollars could yet be the EU’s downfall. And if you wanted to pick up the Benelux countries, where exactly would you fasten the hook? It’s all in today’s dailies.

Geert Wilders: the oracle tweets
In the wake of the Norwegian massacre, does Geert Wilders have anything to answer for? That’s the question that’s preoccupying the dailies this morning. Faithful press review readers might have noticed that it was also preoccupying the dailies for the past few days.

Geert Wilders has hit back at the critics. In an in-depth TV debate or a newspaper column? Not likely. As de Volkskrant points out, Mr Wilders always picks his own way of communicating and leaves his audience wanting more.

“The strategy works,” a media expert tells the paper. “The scarcity leaves everyone wanting to hear the voice of the oracle.”

So Mr Wilders stuck to a tweet, says Trouw. “Lefties like Cohen and Dibi are trying to score politically from mass murder. Rancid.” He was referring to Labour Party leader Job Cohen and Green Left MP Tofik Dibi, who have said that, although Mr Wilders can’t be held responsible for the bloodbath, they still think it’s his duty to say more on the matter than a couple of 140-character remarks.

De Volkskrant and Trouw agree in their editorials. Politicians have become numbed to Mr Wilders’ aggressive tone, says Trouw, and it’s time they started putting their foot down.

And especially given that some of his supporters on internet forums have been making excuses for Anders Breivik’s killings, Mr Wilders has a duty to watch his words, says de Volkskrant.

Home birth on the wane
Hospitals are frantically building more delivery rooms, De Telegraaf reports. It’s not that there’s a baby boom. Pregnant women are turning their backs on traditional Dutch home birth and heading for hospital.

Around a third of all births in the Netherlands take place at home with a midwife – compared to just a couple of percent in most developed countries. As for the pain, Dutch women mostly just grit their teeth and get on with it. But this tradition is changing. “The demand for pain relief is growing considerably,” de Telegraaf explains. “And you can only get it in hospital.”

The hospital birth boom is also being driven by media reports on the high baby mortality rate in the Netherlands, De Telegraaf says. “Although research is needed to find out if the figures are actually correct, in the meantime, pregnant women would rather be safe than sorry.”

Beer war
“Heineken is on the warpath,” De Telegraaf declares. With chases, secret video footage, and a raid in which bailiffs stripped a rival’s offices. The rival in question is little-known beer brand Olm.

It seems that if you order a glass of Heineken in a Dutch bar, there’s a good chance you’ll actually end up drinking Olm. The cut-price brand is widely sold in cafés, by wholesalers and on the internet, but passed off as Heineken, the beer giant alleges. And unmarked lorries roll up at the crack of dawn to fill up the tanks at Heineken-managed bars.

But Olm is denying everything. The brewer’s chief accuses Heineken of trying to elbow its tiny competitor out of the market. The company has already had to remove a red star from its logo because of objections from Heineken. “They’re always coming up with something new,” he tells the paper.

Football pitch of US debt threatens EU
14,292,975,375,234 US dollars. The US national debt at 10.30 yesterday evening, printed in large red figures on AD’s front page. The US debt crisis is coming our way, the paper warns – it’s “a sword of Damocles over the EU”. “The consequences could be disastrous,” says NRC Handelsblad.

In case we were having trouble getting our heads around the figure, AD thoughtfully includes a large illustration showing what 15 trillion dollars would look like as a stack of 100-dollar bills on a football pitch – 60 by 60 metres and 56 metres high.

Just as the EU thought it had staved off its own crisis, a US crisis could still push Italy and Spain over the edge, the paper says. Panic about the US could drive investors to sell off anything seen as risky – like Spanish and Italian public debt. EU leaders be warned, says AD: you might need to head back from the beach sooner than planned.

How to hang the Benelux on a hook
Perhaps you were wondering exactly where the centre of the Benelux countries lies. No? Well, the precise location has sparked a row between two Dutch villages, NRC Handelsblad reports. Both claim to be at the heart of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

The village of Chaam in the province of Brabant has proudly unveiled a cheery sculpture marking the epicentre of the Benelux countries. But the village of Moergestel, 30 kilometres to the east also claims the honour, and has a large road sign to mark the spot, showing distances to Brussels and Luxembourg.

NRC Handelsblad explains the various methods you can use if you want to determine the centre of an economic block of countries. You could work out its centre of gravity, for example – the point at which you could pick it up on a hook without it wobbling.

The mayor of Chaam is adamant. “In 1822 a commission led by General Man determined the cadastral centre of the Benelux. It was Chaam.” So, that’s clear. Just one thing – why on earth do we need to know?