All today's papers have front-page photos of Nazi war crimes suspect John Demjanjuk being brought by wheelchair into the courtroom in Germany yesterday.

Although the pictures are the same, the papers appear to view the case differently. AD describes the defendant, draped in a blue sheet, his mouth hanging wide open, as "a dead bird". It says from the outset, his state of health threatened to overshadow the seriousness of the indictment: that he was involved in the murder of 27,900 (mainly Dutch) Jews.
 

"Demjanjuk looks no one in the eye" de Volkskrant's headline tells us. In a front-page report on the opening of the trial, the paper says he will continue to keep his eyes closed tight even when a doctor gives evidence that he is fit to stand trial. It argues the doctor had a perfectly normal conversation with the defendant just a short time ago.

 
The mass-circulation De Telegraaf is also suspicious and quotes one of the survivors of the Sobibor death camp, where the defendant is accused of being a guard. It says Thomas Blatt is furious and believes "Demjanjuk is putting on a show".
 

Youth: a social time bomb?
On its front page, de Volkskrant covers The Unfettered Generation, a book based on ten years of research into the values held by 22,000 Dutch residents. It says that, although the book displays a lot of the "tut-tut, young people nowadays" mentality, it also describes something more worrying than the usual generation gap.

The researchers talk of "a social time bomb", with people born after 1986 showing no solidarity with others, no environmental awareness, no interest in politics, no patience and poor health. They are apparently interested in little else than their appearance, the internet, friends and spending money.

 
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende managed to put a positive spin on the issue when he received his copy of the book yesterday. He thought it good that the problem was being analysed. "Maybe it's true that young people are sailing off course, but we can throw out an anchor," he commented.

 
Nrc.next points out that as well as rampant hedonism the researchers also found that young people were searching for structure and steady values in their lives. However, it seems today's parents are unable to pass on values such as responsibility and self-control to their offspring. Worse still, because they want to appear young, parents are said to be increasingly taking up the mindset of their children.

CO2 storage - not in my backyard
After the commotion about government plans to store carbon dioxide in empty natural gas fields under Barendrecht near Rotterdam, Trouw reports on resistance to such schemes in the north of the country.

 
It appears to be getting through that projects to store CO2 deep underground will not be confined to Barendrecht, where local politicians are threatening to take central government to court over its plans.

The provincial government in Friesland has now fired a pre-emptive shot against possible central government moves to store CO2 underground in its region. Employers organisations are furious at the move accusing local government of irresponsibility. "They are raising fears which researchers say are unjustified," says the VNO-NCW umbrella group.

The paper reports that the northern provinces agreed to CO2 storage with the government some time ago and Friesland's independent stance appears to be in breach of that accord.

 
It also mentions that two government ministers will be in Barendrecht this evening to explain why Shell is being allowed to launch a trial of CO2 storage deep below the town. It declines to say what sort of reception they can expect.

 
Italy not allowed to shadow Dutch lawyer 
"Top lawyer member of the Mafia" screams De Telegraaf's headline. Well, the Italian authorities are likely to decide later this month whether Dutch lawyer Leon van Kleef will be charged with Mafia-related crimes. The paper says Italy has, since 2001, suspected the lawyer of working for Mafia bosses and involvement in cocaine trafficking.

 
His office says Mr Van Kleef is blameless and it appears that this view is more or less shared by the Dutch authorities. Earlier, Italy's requests that investigators should be allowed to shadow Mr Van Kleef were rejected by the Netherlands. An Amsterdam prosecution department spokeswoman explains: "We thought there was not enough evidence implicating Mr Van Kleef".

 
Sinterklaas snowed under with mail
Finally, AD reports that Sinterklaas has had so much mail from children that his helpers are finding it difficult to cope. This year, troubled postal service TNT sold special Sinterklaas postcards with his address already filled in and a special stamp sporting the saint's smiling bearded face.

 
However, the idea has proved rather too successful and the saint has already received 20,000 requests from children this year compared to just 8,000 in 2008. Sinterklaas is asking parents not to let their children send him any more mail. Otherwise, he may not be able to answer all the post before 5 December, when he and his helpers deliver presents to Dutch children.