CARP

A few weeks ago Hanna Belliot, alderman for health and culture in Amsterdam, stated that a huge number of the Ghanaian community in the Southeast of Amsterdam (Bijlmermeer) is infected with HIV. Therefore she wants to start a special prevention campaign, as the existing ones don't seem to work for non-Dutchies. The Ghanaian community has reacted with outrage and says that Belliot's remark has branded them as irresponsible and promiscuous. They want Belliot to apologise and to retract her statement.

Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen has expressed his sympathy and support to his colleague G. Newson, mayor of San Francisco, regarding gay marriages. In April 2001 Cohen himself married the first same-sex couples in Amsterdam. Cohen has written a letter to Newson in which he praises Newsom for his recent courage to perform same-sex marriages, although the US law is against it.

The other way around, the US wants to install its own security officers at Schiphol Airport, to check passengers heading to America. Like the Dutch can't do this themselves. Besides, I wasn't aware Holland is a part of the US. This follows America's earlier demand to get all sorts of details from passengers travelling to 'the land of the free', such as their nationality, credit card number and food preferences. I suppose eating halal means you are a potential terrorist? Of course, Schiphol can refuse to co-operate as there is not a law that says they must, but the result would be that airlines would lose their authority to land in the US.

Annually between 80.000 and 150.000 bike gets stolen in Amsterdam. Time for some serious action, the police thinks. Within the next few months, they'll put four special bikes out on the street, locked with a not-so-solid lock and equipped with a GPS system. With this system one can track down every movement of the bikes. It is hoped that the special bike will lead the police to organisations that steal bikes. With such huge number of bikes stolen each year, the alderman for transport, Mark van der Horst, thinks there's more to it than just a few junkies stealing bikes. Of course, provoking crime is not legal in this country, but the council is fed up with the huge number of bikes that get stolen each year.

And to end on a lighter note, a survey from Ons Amsterdam - a magazine about ermŠ Amsterdam - among 600 people about their most romantic place in Amsterdam, shows that the Vondelpark is the most romantic spot in the city. Most of them did pop the question there, or kissed for the first time. Bless!