Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/3/2012

New Year festivities in the Netherlands became quite violent, although not as violent as in previous years. Boisterous young people started knife fights, vandalized businesses, torched cars, and even threw Molotov cocktails at the police. That last excess prompted the justice minister to admonish the revelers that their actions were “not really a party”.

In financial news, Belgium saw a record number of bankruptcies in 2011. Meanwhile, the jobless rate in Spain has hit a fifteen-year high. Finance Minister Luis de Guindos says that Spain’s financial position in 2012 could turn out to be even worse than previously predicted.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Caroline Glick, Fjordman, Insubria, JP, Kitman, Nilk, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

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Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.