Happy New Year!

31 December 2009 Last year's celebrations at the Nieuwmarkt, Amsterdam.

Dutch to use full-body scanners on flights to U.S.

30 December 2009 From the New York Times:

The major international airport of the Netherlands will begin using full-body scanners on passengers flying to the United States to prevent a recurrence of the security breach that allowed a would-be bomber to smuggle explosives onto a flight to Detroit from Amsterdam on Christmas Day, the Dutch authorities said Wednesday. The new measures were announced as the Dutch interior minister discussed the government’s early investigation into the thwarted bombing. At a news conference at The Hague in the Netherlands the interior minister, Guusje Ter Horst, characterized preparations for the attack as professional but its execution as amateurish, according to The Associated Press.

Although Dutch officials said they would deploy the scanners “immediately,” a spokesman for the country’s counterterrorism office said only 7 of the airport’s 15 full-body scanners were currently ready for use. The rest would be deployed within three weeks after receiving software upgrades. Ms. Ter Horst said the United States originally had not wanted Amsterdam to use the full-body scanners, which look through people’s clothes and show the outlines of the body, because of privacy concerns. But she said there is now agreement with Washington that “all possible measures will be used on flights to the U.S.”

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Jasper Schuringa, Dutchman who subdued bomber on Flight 253, recalls moment

28 December 2009 From the New York Daily News:

First came a popping noise. Then, Dutch filmmaker Jasper Schuringa saw smoke rising from several seats away inside Northwest Flight 253. In a flash, Schuringa climbed over the seats and pounced on a terrorist, who was in flames and trying to blow up the plane over Detroit. "I didn't think," Schuringa said Saturday. "I just went over there to try to save the plane."
"When I saw the suspect, that he was getting on fire, I freaked," Schuringa said. "Without any hesitation, I just jumped over all the seats." Chaos erupted as the flying Dutchman grabbed the fiery suspect and frantically searched him for explosives. "I took some kind of object that was already melting and smoking out of him," Schuringa said. "He put something on fire that was hidden in his pants." Schuringa said a liquidy substance dripped onto the floor, causing two pillows to go up in flames. Nearby passengers screamed and scattered as crew members rushed to retrieve fire extinguishers. "It went very quick," Schuringa said. "We were all just reacting to the fire. Everyone was panicking."

"I grabbed the suspect out of the seat because if he was wearing any more explosives, it would be very dangerous," Schuringa said. "We took him to first class ... stripped him and contained him to make sure he had no more weapons, no more bombs." Schuringa said that throughout the terrifying plane ordeal, Abdulmutallab appeared to be "in a trance." "He was staring into nothing," Schuringa said. "The whole plane was screaming, but the suspect, he didn't say a word." When Schuringa rose to leave the jet, his fellow passengers broke out in applause. Still, Schuringa said he was not the only one who deserved credit for saving the jet. "A lot of people were trying to help," said Schuringa, who was flying to the U.S. for a vacation in Miami. "We had very brave flight attendants. They're also heroes."

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Security at Amsterdam airport under review after terrorist incident

28 December 2009 From WFAA:
Authorities on three continents have launched investigations after an attempted terror attack was foiled on a flight into the U.S. on Friday. A Nigerian national is in custody in the U.S. He claims ties to extremists, but officials believe he was acting alone. The man is hospitalized, being treated for burns after an attempt to ignite an explosive device. His plan was disrupted by passengers and crew on the flight into the city of Detroit. Security at Nigerian airports has worried U.S. authorities for years. What's less clear is whether Amsterdam's security also dropped the ball; that's where the Northwest Airlines flight originated.
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Airports step up security (Straits Times)
Airports stepped up security on Saturday in the wake of an attempt to blow up a US airliner on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, authorities said. 'The extra measures will apply throughout the world on all flights to the United States for an unlimited duration,' the office of the Dutch national coordinator against terrorism (NCTB) said. The NCTB said in a statement that US authorities had asked airlines to take extra security measures. 'It will involve, for example, frisking passengers and extra checks on hand baggage,' NCTB spokesman Judith Sluiter told AFP. The extra measures came into force on Saturday morning in the Netherlands, which received a formal request from the US authorities during the night, she said. In London a British Airways spokesman said, 'The United States government has revised its security arrangements for all passengers travelling into the US. 'This includes additional screening of all US-bound passengers and hand luggage before they board their flights. This applies to all carriers. Passengers travelling to the US will only be allowed to carry one item of hand luggage.
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Suspect charged with attempting to destroy Northwest Airlines jetliner (The Examiner)
A suspect in the attempted bombing of a US jetliner has been charged with “attempting to destroy a Northwest Airlines aircraft,” the US Department of Justice announced Saturday. The suspect, identified as 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was taken into custody by US Customs and Border Patrol officers upon arrival of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 at Wayne County Airport in Detroit on Friday. The Nigerian suspect boarded the flight in Amsterdam on Thursday and reportedly had an explosive device attached to his body. As the flight approached Detroit’s Metropolitan Airport, Abdulmutallab “set off the device, which resulted in a fire and what appears to have been an explosion,” said the Justice Department.
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Christmas canal parade in Amsterdam

25 December 2009

The Dutch capital has launched what it hopes will be a new Christmas tradition by holding it's first yuletide canal parade. On Christmas Eve, 17 festively decorated passenger boats sailed through the canals of Amsterdam. Many of the city's bridges were full of spectators who turned out to see the spectacle. One of the boats featured a folk choir singing Christmas classics. The organiser's say they were pleased with the event and look forward to making it a permanent fixture of Christmas Eve in Amsterdam.
From Radio Netherlands

Video of the parade at AT5.nl (in Dutch)

Dutch police shoot 4 escaped reindeer dead

23 December 2009 Dutch police have shot dead four reindeer that escaped from a Christmas sleigh display, fearing they might run into traffic and cause accidents. Police spokesman Dirk Neef in the northern Dutch province of Drenthe says animal experts attempted capturing the fourth reindeer Tuesday by stunning it with tranquilizer darts, but that proved impossible. Three of the animals were shot and killed hours after their escape on Saturday.

Read the full article at Fox News

Dutch court mulls removing young sailor from home

23 December 2009 From the Associated Press:

A Dutch court is considering a request from child welfare authorities Wednesday to remove 14-year-old sailor Laura Dekker from her father's custody after she ran away from home and flew alone to the Caribbean. Laura, her divorced parents and welfare authorities will discuss her case at Utrecht District Court. Utrecht court blocked her plans and appointed a temporary guardian to ensure she did not set off. Last week Laura flew from Paris to the Dutch Caribbean territory of St. Maarten to stay with friends, sparking an international police hunt.
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Update: Laura will not be removed from her father's custody, a Dutch court has just decided. She will continue to live with her father.

Missing girl sailor Laura Dekker found safe in Antilles

20 December 2009 From BBC News:

A Dutch teenager barred from sailing solo around the world because of her age has been found on a Caribbean island after going missing, police say. Laura Dekker, 14, was located on the Dutch Antilles island of St Maarten three days after relatives in the Netherlands reported her as missing. She has been under supervision since a court blocked her bid to become the youngest person to sail the globe solo. A Dutch police spokesman said the girl had been found "safe and sound".

Utrecht police spokesman Bernhard Jens said the girl had been recognised by a woman living on the island who had been alerted to her disappearance by media coverage. "We have lots more questions," he told AFP news agency. "When did she leave the Netherlands? Why? How did she get to St Maarten? Did somebody help her and was she alone?"

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Dutch teen who sought solo sailing trip disappears

20 December 2009 From the Associated Press:

Laura Dekker, the 14-year-old Dutch girl whose bid to sail solo around the world was blocked by a court, has gone missing, leaving behind her boat, police said Sunday. Dekker appears to have left her father's home on her own, Utrecht police spokesman Bernhard Jens told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. Her boat, Guppy, is still moored at its usual berth. "We do not believe this is a crime," Jens said. Jens would not comment on a report in Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant that Dekker withdrew euro3,500 ($5,000) from her bank account a few days ago. Dutch broadcaster NOS cited a family spokeswoman as saying that Laura left a letter for her father before disappearing. It did not say what was in the letter.

In October, Utrecht District Court refused to let Dekker embark on her attempt to become the youngest person to sail alone around the world, and placed her under the supervision of child care authorities until next July, meaning she could not leave the country without their permission. Jens said Dutch authorities have alerted neighboring countries to monitor airports. "That happens with missing minors — if she is seen somewhere else or tries to leave via an airport or something like that, authorities know we are looking for her," he said. Dekker has joint Dutch and New Zealand citizenship because she was born on a yacht in New Zealand waters. She said earlier this year she might try to go there if Dutch authorities refused to let her sail.

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Christmas in Amsterdam: Dam Square

17 December 2009

Lower chance of terror attack in Netherlands

16 December 2009 From Radio Netherlands:

The threat of a terrorist attack in the Netherlands has officially been scaled down from "substantial" to "limited", according to a government letter addressed to the lower house. Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin and Interior Minister Guusje ter Horst, basing themselves on a report by the National Anti-Terrorism Co-ordinator, wrote that the likelihood of an attack is relatively small, but not to be fully excluded. The threat level is now the lowest but one. It had been raised to "substantial" in March 2008 following the release of anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders' Fitna movie which criticised Islam's holy book, the Qur'an.

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Dutch aubergine grower pipes carbon dioxide into greenhouses

14 December 2009 From The Telegraph:

Having a chemical plant sited next door to your plantation isn't what the average farmer might want for his crop. Jan van Duijn, however, walks proudly through his greenhouse, a vast glass and metal structure spread out over five hectares (12.3 acres) where millions of aubergines are doing very nicely thank you. He's happy because thanks to a deal with a supplier, he's getting hot water piped in from the factory, which produces ammonia, to maintain the temperature at a constant 68 degrees F (20C). The chemical site, five kilometres (three miles away), also supplies carbon dioxide which helps his aubergines grow more abundantly.

The water from the Yara factory, where it is used as a coolant, flows along underground pipes and into his greenhouse at a temperature of 90 degrees C. There it is circulated in pipes between the rows of aubergines, sharing its heat among the beds of rockwool they grow in, before being pumped back to the factory as coolant again. Similarly, CO2 released during the manufacture of ammonia is injected into the greenhouse to stimulate growth. "It's the basic principle of photosynthesis," van Duijn said. Combined with water and light, the plants convert the carbon dioxide into organic compounds, releasing oxygen as a side product. The level of CO2 inside is three times higher than outside, giving a crop yield that according to van Duijn is two to three times greater.

"It's the first time residual heat is being reutilised on a large scale for a private, commercial venture," said Jacob Limbeek, the commercial director of WarmCO2, the company supplying the water and carbon gas. He said that the system allows for a 90 per cent reduction in fossil fuel energy use compared with traditional greenhouses, which are heated by oil or natural gas.

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Is the end of Dutch ice skating near?

14 December 2009

From the Global Post:

It’s one of the most emblematic images of the Netherlands: rosy-cheeked kids wrapped in wool scarves and pom-pom hats skating along frozen canals that cut thought the flat, snowy landscape.The skating museum in this picturesque former fishing village is filled with such views. Whether on wintery black-and-white prints or colorful pre-War advertizing posters, they form a backdrop to what’s proudly proclaimed to be the world’s largest collection of skates. However, with global warming blamed for fewer and fewer cold winters, some in the Netherlands are starting to worry whether the Dutch passion for outdoor ice-skating could be reduced to a memory or museum piece. “It’s depressing,” said Hans Visser, a researcher at the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. “We have a lot of indoor skating … that may keep it alive a bit, but natural ice, that is the real thing for the people of the Netherlands, getting out into the nature.”

Visser is co-author of a report issued earlier this year that caused consternation among Dutch skating fans by looking at the potentially calamitous impact of climate change on the country’s greatest ice race. The Elfstedentocht, or Eleven City Tour, is one of the world’s most grueling sports events, a 200-kilometer (125-mile) trek along the canals on a circuit that links Hindeloopen to 10 other towns in the northern province of Friesland. Dutch sports fans say its grip on the national psyche is like the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup and World Series rolled into one. The last race was held in 1997.

Visser’s report predicts that current levels of global warming will mean that the Friesland ice is only likely to reach the thickness of 15 centimeters (almost 6 inches) required by the race rules once every 18 years, compared to once every 7 years over the previous century. By 2050, based on a worst-case scenario for continued global warming, he warns there will only likely be a chill big enough for the Elfstedentocht once every 180 years. “The chances for an Elfstedentocht in the Netherlands will become very small,” Visser said. Wieling is less pessimistic. He places his hopes on a repeat of the cold snap that hit the Netherlands last winter that allowed people to take to the ice in much of the country, even if the canals of Friesland did not freeze enough for Elfstedentocht standards.

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Dutch man reports theft of Ecstasy pill collection

12 December 2009 From the Associated Press:

A man who said he spent two decades collecting Ecstasy pills of all colors and shapes as a hobby has turned to police for help after they were stolen — because he said some of them are poisonous. Police say the 46-year-old man, who was not identified, decided to report the theft despite the illegal nature of the collection because he was worried about the possible consequences if anybody were to swallow one of the poisoned pills. It was not immediately clear why about 40 red-and-white pills out of the 2,400-pill-strong collection would be poisoned, but the police said they fear the drugs could be lethal if swallowed. "That's really the main reason he came to the police," said police spokeswoman Esther Naber, adding the man "knows he's not going to get his collection back."

According to a police statement, the man gathered the pills over a 20 year period and carefully stored them in coin collecting folders. The folders were allegedly taken during a break-in Wednesday at the man's home in Eerbeek, 56 miles (90 kilometers) east of Amsterdam. Police spokesman Naber said investigators tended to believe the man's story. "Why would you make something like this up?" she said. Prosecutors and drug enforcement officials are still weighing whether to charge him with a crime. "Given that the pills have disappeared, for the moment there's no evidence to support a possession charge," Naber said.

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Netherlands reports 6 human deaths from Q fever

12 December 2009 From the Associated Press:

The Dutch government said Thursday it will vaccinate all goats and sheep in the country against Q fever and kill many pregnant goats to rein in an outbreak that has caused the deaths of six people in 2009. Q fever is a rare bacterial disease that can't be spread between people and usually causes only flulike symptoms. An estimated 2,300 people contracted Q fever in the Netherlands this year, up from 1,000 last year and 168 in 2007. Many animals can carry the bacteria, but contact with infected goats is believed to be the main source of human infections. The ministry Thursday said it planned to slaughter all pregnant infected goats, which carry the bacteria in high concentrations. It was not immediately clear how many goats will be killed. Most humans are infected between February and May, when goats and sheep give birth.

Q fever infections usually occur in a cluster in one year and then peter out the next. But the Dutch outbreak has been growing and spreading out over agricultural areas for three years despite increasingly strong measures to contain it. That hasn't happened before, Van Son said, "not in Europe or anywhere else." He said that so far the outbreak is not known to have spread to neighboring Germany or Belgium. Van Son said one theory as to why the outbreak has been so severe in the Netherlands is the large numbers of animals per farm, combined with the density of the Dutch human population, which is one of the highest in the world. In all there are around 1.2 million sheep and 400,000 goats on 350 farms in the Netherlands, a country of 16 million people. The Dutch health ministry says 11 people in all have died from the diseases since 2007. All are believed to have had other underlying medical problems.

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First fuel cell boat cruises Amsterdam's canals

10 December 2009

From ABC News:

Emitting only water vapour and gliding silently through Amsterdam's centuries-old canals, a canal boat - a popular tourist attraction - powered by fuel cells made its debut cruise on Wednesday. The "Nemo H2," which can carry about 87 people, is the first of its kind designed specifically to run on a fuel cell engine, in which hydrogen and oxygen are mixed to create electricity and water, without producing air-polluting gases. "That's important in a city like Amsterdam with over 125 canal trips per day," said project manager Alexander Overdiep.

The new boat cost more than double to build than a canal boat running on a diesel engine, and needs to visit a hydrogen dispensing station for a refill once a day, while normal boats only need a fuel top-up once a week. But developers of the 3 million euro project, which was partly government funded, said costs would decline as more boats followed this test phase, and if more advanced hydrogen distribution infrastructure emerged.

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Former Nazi SS member admits killing Dutch civilians

08 December 2009 From BBC News:

A former member of the Nazi SS being tried for murder has admitted in court that he killed three Dutch civilians in 1944, but said he was following orders. Heinrich Boere told the state court in Aachen he had killed a bicycle-shop owner, a pharmacist and a resistance member as part of an SS death squad. "I knew that if I didn't carry out my orders I would be breaking my oath and would be shot myself," Mr Boere said. The 88-year-old faces life in prison if convicted of three counts of murder. He admitted the killings to the Dutch authorities when he was in captivity after World War II, but managed to escape from his POW camp and returned to Germany, where he has since lived.

In a statement read out by his lawyer on Tuesday, Mr Boere admitted he had shot Fritz Bicknese, a chemist and father of 12; bicycle seller Teun de Groot, who helped Jews go into hiding; and Dutch resistance member Frans Kusters. He told the court that he and fellow members of the SS Silbertanne (Silver Pine) death squad had been informed by their superiors that the men were to be killed in retaliation for attacks by the resistance. "At no time in 1944 did I act with the feeling that I was committing a crime," he said. "Today, after 65 years, I naturally see things from a different perspective." In another development on Tuesday, the court rejected a defence motion arguing that the trial should be halted because it was not possible to be tried for the same crime twice in countries signed up to the European Schengen Agreement.

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San Francisco vs Amsterdam in green city rivalry

07 December 2009

From AFP:

San Francisco and Amsterdam set an online stage for an environmental rivalry regarding which city is more nature-friendly. Mayors of the major US and Dutch cities on Tuesday kicked off a green match-up while joining technology titan Cisco in a call for urban centers worldwide to rally to fight global warming and other environmental woes. "It is cities and regions that need to take leadership," San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom said from Bangalore during a Cisco-orchestrated teleconference with reporters on multiple continents. "We are laboratories of innovation; that is what cities are all about." Amsterdam launched an online Urban EcoMap that lets people see how kind they and their neighbors are being to the planet by recycling, conserving energy, and other actions. San Francisco's EcoMap went live on Earth Day in May of this year. "We wanted to create a competitive spirit," Newsom said.

The map lets people use the Internet to see how well their neighborhoods are doing as compared to others. With the launch of an Amsterdam EcoMap, there is an online tool to measure whether it or San Francisco is "greener." "I really hope that other cities will use it also so we can compare ourselves with them," Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen said while taking part in the teleconference from that city. EcoMaps also provide information on ways to live greener urban lifestyles. Data from the maps also shows city officials where they should better target services or policies, Newsom said. "Changing behavior is obviously one of the big challenges in climate change," said Cisco chief globalization officer Wim Elfrink. "Websites can set goals. We all know as business people that if you make things measurable, right away you get improvement." While voluntary measures such as those spurred by EcoMaps are important to greening cities, the need for regulation regarding recycling, composting and other green practices is unavoidable, according to Newsom.

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Church apologizes to native tribe, four centuries later

04 December 2009 From the Epoch Times:

It took 400 years, but an apology was made on Friday by the Collegiate Church community to the Lenape tribe for their suffering and dehumanization. “We consumed your resources, dehumanized your people, and disregarded your culture, along with your dreams, hopes and great love for this land … We the Collegiate Church recognize our part in your suffering,” said Reverend Robert Chase of the Collegiate Church at the reconciliation ceremony. The Collegiate Church was the first protestant church in New York, built in 1628 as part of the Dutch settlement located on the Southern tip of Manhattan called ‘New Amsterdam.’ Because at that time the church was the “conscience of the community,” Reverend Chase thought that the time had come for the church to acknowledge and apologize for the church's role. The long awaited apologies were made in front of the National Museum of the American Indian in Lower Manhattan, where the Collegiate church once stood.

Historical records show that the relations between the Dutch and Native Americans were initially good, but over the years, tensions over territory, farming and hunting grounds, unfair trade by the Dutch, and Dutch involvement in intra-tribal conflicts, led to violent conflicts and massacres of the Native Americans. As a direct descendant of Sarah Rapelje, the first Dutch woman born in what was then known as the New Netherlands—the Dutch settlement in the greater New York region, this is very personal for Reverend Chase. “It was my ancestors who did this to other peoples' ancestors." The Dutch West India trading company, at that time thought they had purchased Manhattan Island for 60 guilders, equal to two months salary of an average craftsman in Holland. It is believed that the Lenape, who did not have the concept of private property, did not think the Dutch were buying the land — but thought instead the Dutch were thanking them for aid given to the settlers.

“It’s a step, in the right direction. It’s a step for healing and friendship. And hopefully it will lead to other things, bigger and better things. It has been a long time coming,” said Chester Shadow Walker Robinson, Red Chief Anitsalagi Onselagi from New Jersey. As a symbol of reconciliation, an American girl and Lenape boy exchanged necklaces, one made in the traditional Dutch style and the other made in the traditional Lenape style.

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Amsterdam in winter

03 December 2009 A report at the Orange County Register:

Vijf, vier, drie, twee, een, Gelukkig nieuwjaar! Five, four, three, two, one, Happy New Year! Speaking Dutch seems impenetrable but the language of New Years in Amsterdam 2009 manifested itself it each and every person that stood in the city that night. The celebration of New Years varies from towns, to cities, to countries, but Amsterdam offers one that I would see again and again. Here is true freedom and energy so palpable that I can still taste it months after the fireworks have faded. As an American it is fairly easy to describe what image concocts in one's mind when they think of this city. Pot and prostitutes. A city full of shops where marijuana is sold legally and a street that is dedicated to the profit of sex, The Red Light District, where women advertise themselves in store windows, dressed in negligee. This image, however vulgar to many, is needless to say, true, but only partly. There are many Coffee Shops, but The Red Light District is only one street in the whole city. Also, the legality of pot and paid-for sex does not reel in any more criminal activity than your average large metropolitan area. In actuality, the stoners and men shopping for love in windows seem to make up the more demure population of the city, and more times than not, they are tourists. In fact, The U.S.A transcends Amsterdam in serious crime rates such as murder and rape. The city's most widely spread crime is simple pick pocketing. So holding on closely to your purses and wallets is the best defense, yet as simple as this sounds, it is an important rule of thumb when traveling anywhere.

Amsterdam is unlike any city I have ever been to. Its material world comes from a time so old and mysterious yet its energy is that of youth and a new age. Of course, it is not for everyone, especially those easily offended. Yet like in any travels, if the journeyer goes in with an humble mind and open heart it is extremely difficult to not get lost in the wonder. Even as summer approaches the snow flecked canals remain in the back of my mind, and my heart retains the energy of humanity that penetrates us all.

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