Fire, Re-vote and Powell (Thursday, April 30)

On Wednesday, there was a large wildfire at the Artillery Shooting Range near 't Harde. The fire spread over more than 2 kilometers and the smoke was visible from afar. The fire is largely under control, but extinguishing it completely may take days.

On Wednesday, there was a re-vote in Gorinchem following indications of fraud with proxies. The polling stations closed at 9:00 PM and at three stations nothing unusual occurred. Democraten Gorinchem remained the largest party with seven seats according to the preliminary result.

The fire brigade fought the fire throughout the night at the military training ground in 't Harde. According to NU.nl, the area expanded to 500 hectares due to drought. The Royal Military Police (Marechaussee) are investigating the cause, and an NL-Alert was issued in several regions.

Jerome Powell remains on the board of the American central bank. That is unusual, Dutch media say, because his term as chairman is expiring. Powell says that the Federal Reserve must remain independent, and the interest rate remained unchanged.