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You don’t need a degree in rocket science to work out that the government’s higher education cuts are in deep trouble after opposition parties form a united front in the Senate against the €2 billion package. More budget headaches in Brussels as the EU raps the Netherlands over the knuckles for busting the deficit limit that it was instrumental in setting up. Integration lessons for refugees are so time-consuming that they damage their efforts to find work and participate in society, a new report finds. Dutch football clubs have a sensational week in the Champions League, while the tennis team fall agonisingly short of glory. And newly discovered letters from Albert Einstein provide evidence for the theory that Groningen is the most stubborn place in the universe.

Ophef of the week: 

Party drug garden gnome fished out of drugs haul

Water levels are rising but nobody wants to buy Noah’s Ark

Parents reassured after Sinterklaas gets chainsaw treatment (NOS, Dutch)

News

Thousands demonstrate in The Hague against education cuts

Coalition stands firm over €2bn education cuts despite warnings

Netherlands fails EU budget test, only country to miss target

Refugee agency appeals against fine for Ter Apel overcrowding

Combining work and “inburgering” demands holds back refugees

1,000 religious leaders sign petition against Dutch asylum plans

Nearly two-thirds of the Dutch will be overweight by 2050: RIVM

Museum uncovers three letters from Einstein to Leiden physicist

Sport

Manchester City 3-3 Feyenoord: Late rally earns unlikely point

PSV 3-2 Shakhtar Donetsk: Tillman turns tables in late comeback

Vitesse Arnhem docked 21 points after rescue package falls through (NOS, Dutch)

Verstappen to stay at Red Bull after wrapping up fourth F1 title

Italian duo a class apart as Netherlands lose Davis Cup final