Last week, the Icelandic parliament finally passed a bill authorising the repayment of the loan but yesterday, Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson bowed to public anger and refused to sign the bill into law and ordered a referendum on the issue instead.

 

Under the headline, "Icelandic president gives Bos a headache," AD writes that Finance Minister Wouter Bos was "extremely disappointed," and called President Grimsson's move "unacceptable". Trouw is slightly more hopeful, headlining, "Icesave money will be returned, some day". The Protestant paper reassures its readers that although it might take a while, pressure from the IMF or Brussels will ensure that the Netherlands gets its 1.3 billion euros back.

 

De Telegraaf is far from hopeful and tells its readers, "you can whistle for the Icesave money".

 

The Netherlands published a 'most wanted' list of the eight most sought-after criminals for the first time on Wednesday. "Wanted," screams the headline on the front page of this morning's De Telegraaf. The paper publishes photographs of all eight criminals as well as giving details of their crimes. In a remarkable departure from Dutch custom, the paper also prints the full names of the criminals.
 
Normally, the Dutch media does not print the surname of a suspected or convicted criminal but De Telegraaf, AD and Trouw all break the unwritten code; only de Volkskrant maintains tradition and withholds the surnames of the assorted thugs wanted by the public prosecutor's office (PPO). All eight men are wanted for serious offences including murder, sex crimes and armed robbery.

 
De Volkskrant writes that the PPO "strenuously avoided the phrase 'most wanted' or any mention of financial reward," and notes that the new internet site has "information about eight people, with photographs and surnames - that the police are anxious to interview". The new website is designed to reach a wider audience than the wanted posters hung on the notice boards of police stations.

 

The wintry weather and stories relating to the cold spell crop up in most of the papers; NRC Handelsblad has a photograph of a woman in a plaster cast in a hospital emergency room on its front page, Trouw has a photograph of a salt truck being loaded while de Volkskrant goes for a traditional photo of people enjoying themselves on the ice.

 

NRC Handelsblad writes that emergency rooms across the country were extremely busy and icy conditions caused twice as many accidents on Tuesday than on a normal day. However, the paper cheerfully notes that the 400 kilometres of traffic jams didn't break any records. De Volkskrant writes that many municipalities have almost completely used up their winter supply of salt and icy roads will stay icy over the coming days.

 

According to Eurosalt, one the Netherlands' largest suppliers of road-salt and grit, "we've run out". Manager Sietze de Waard tells the paper that the scarcity of road salt is "a problem across Europe".

 

However, AD writes, "road salt was ordered too late". The director of Germany's Südsalz, which supplies 300 tonnes of salt to Eurosalt, tells the paper, "there's enough salt. If orders had been placed earlier, there wouldn't be so many problems on the roads. However, companies were worried about their budgets and put off placing their orders".

 

AD reports that 2009 was a record-breaking year for Dutch cinemas, "27 million cinema tickets sold," headlines the populist tabloid, adding that 3-D films played an important role in achieving the "best results for 30 years".

 

De Volkskrant reports that cinemas saw a 20 percent rise in sales and, "even Dutch films played to packed houses". Wilco Wolfers, chair of the Dutch Film Distributors Federation tells the paper, "we broke all the records last year, it was just like the Great Depression of the 1930s".

 

He tells AD that Dutch films played an important part in drawing people to the cinemas, " it was very noticeable that it wasn't just the family films that were doing well, and films aimed at an older public also drew huge audiences. This leads me to conclude that the Dutch film industry has matured".

 

AD's front page has a photograph of dozens of twitchers gathered in the snow, training their lenses at the trees, desperately searching for a glimpse of a Baltimore oriole, last spotted in the Netherlands in 1890. Avian expert Anoud van den Berg tells the paper "this is a unique moment for birdwatchers in the Netherlands. The Baltimore oriole migrates from North to South America, but this one managed to cross the Atlantic. You have to respect that".

 

The tiny little bird with orange and yellow feathers was spotted in a garden in Alkmaar last weekend and the news spread among twitchers like wildfire. Birdwatchers from across the Netherlands have descended on the town, and "armed with cameras, binoculars and seed balls," they are running through the quiet neighbourhood, desperate for a glimpse of the oriole. "Ahh," sighs one lucky person who has spotted the bird, "isn't he beautiful".