International

Aid to Surinam under review

16 August, 2010 - 21:04 |
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Amsterdam may stop municipal development aid to Surinam in response to Desi Bouterse’s rise to the presidency, reports NRC Handelsblad. Mayor Eberhard van der Laan is preparing a proposal to reconsider international aid. Aid co-ordinated by the Amsterdam police has already been put on hold, according to the paper.

Should Van der Laan decide to suspend all aid to Surinam, then this will have a considerable impact on the city’s controversial development aid programme. According to an evaluation published last year, 33 out of 79 projects being implemented targeted Surinam. Twenty municipal departments and the Centrum and Zuidoost Districts have been involved in aid to Surinam.

Reprimand for calling Paris Dutch capital

14 August, 2010 - 10:14 |

The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) of Turkey has reprimanded Show TV after its experts found 81 errors and mispronunciations in two episodes of a TV series called Türk Malı. Besides incorrect use of the Turkish language, the list includes errors such as identifying Paris instead of Amsterdam as the Dutch capital, use of slang words and mangling of foreign expressions, such as Boy Frenk instead of Boy friend. The council says that the show’s distortion of the Turkish language could harm children’s physical, mental and moral development. If Show TV fails to offer an explanation within two weeks, the show may be banned.

‘Demo for Greece is pointless’

14 July, 2010 - 18:44 |

Next Saturday, a solidarity demo for people in Greece will be held in Amsterdam. In a post on Indymedia (in English), ‘Huey’ expresses his doubts whether ‘200 people walking through Amsterdam with banners and noise’ will achieve much. “Organising a demonstration about the financial crisis in the Netherlands is like organising a vegan barbecue at a butchers’ convention.” In the eyes of the organisation Doorbraak, the solidarity demo may constitute among other things a step towards the development of a protest movement against the upcoming massive budget cuts in the Netherlands and elsewhere.

Male Giro d’Italia ‘miss’ unlikely

3 March, 2010 - 20:01 |
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[Updated] Two men have entered the competition to select the ‘misses’ who will congratulate the winner of the prologue of the Giro d’Italia, but it seems unlikely that they will survive the first selection round next Friday. What is more, even the girl entrants may not be allowed to act as official Giro misses.

Last month, progressive party GroenLinks suggested that instead of a miss, a broad-shouldered man or a drag queen could congratulate the winner of the prologue of the Giro d’Italia in Amsterdam on 8 May. Foreign media reported that indeed a few men have entered the ‘Ciao Bella’ competition organised by local TV stations AT5 and RTV NH to select the Giro misses.

Foreign take on election

28 February, 2010 - 20:00 |
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Foreign media offer extensive coverage of the Dutch national political crisis, but they cover a few local issues as well. They are mainly interested in the debate on foreign-language campaign material and the suggestion to have gay men kiss the winner of the prologue of the Giro d’Italia. “The misses will be Italian and will be brought from Italy by us.”

The Netherlands will elect a new Parliament on 9 June, as a result of the fall of the cabinet over Uruzgan. However, there will be local elections first, on next Wednesday.

Forget Greenpeace

24 December, 2009 - 20:00 |
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Forget Greenpeace, OxfamNovib, the Clinton Foundation and all those other charities that are supported by lottery and charity giant Postcodeloterij. There are all kinds of independent organisations that need your support more. A summary of the requests that have arrived over the past few days.

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