From US crisis back to Euro crisis. Warnings of another ’crisis’ of the insect-kind. Amsterdam gears up for Gay Pride, and the papers go a little gay too. And a flight round a church is remembered.

Euro crisis – part ?
Yesterday it was the budget crisis in the US, today we’re back to the single-currency crisis in Europe. It is, in any event, the front-page story for today’s de Volkskrant - under the headline “Euro crisis flares up again”.

Confidence in this single currency, used by many but not all of the European member states, is still far from firm. This time Spain and Italy are in the firing line, with - the paper tells us – investors dumping Spanish and Italian government bonds a mere “ten days after the leaders of the eurozone reached agreement on a ‘definitive’ rescue plan.”

Former Italian PM and European Commission president Romano Prodi is quoted in de Volkskrant telling Italian newspaper Il Messaggero that it’s all the result of “German egotism”, claiming that Deutsche Bank dumped eight billion euros’ worth of Spanish and Italian government bonds – a “sign of a great lack of confidence.”

Mr Prodi says the Italian government’s plans to make spending cuts of 48 billion euros have been rendered pointless by the massive increase in interest the country now has to pay on its debts.

De Telegraaf points out that investors “are worried the European stability fund doesn’t have enough cash in hand to keep these two countries on their feet”. The interest now due on their bonds stands at six percent and, the paper writes, seven percent is the critical level, i.e. “above that, a country is no longer able to finance itself.”

Meanwhile, as Trouw reports, the stock markets are not taking this well either: “The Amsterdam AEX index fell by almost 1.5 percent [on Tuesday] to its lowest point since September last year.”

Mosquito crisis
Closer to home in various respects, all today’s papers carry a story that RNW featured in its Dutch news yesterday: the looming threat of mosquitoes following a very wet July and a warm start to August.

Today’s free commuter daily Spits features a massive front-page photo of a mosquito head under a headline that reads “They’re coming!”, while Trouw takes a five-question-and-answer approach.

Q: “We had a hard winter, doesn’t that kill off a lot of mosquitoes?
A: “It only takes a few mosquitoes to survive for a plague to follow [...] each adult female lays about 300 eggs at one go. They hatch in 10 days, and each of the new females can produce another 300 eggs.”

Q: “Some people always get bitten, others never. Why?”
A: “Mosquitoes are attracted first by the CO2 you breathe out. Then by your body temperature, then the waste produced by bacteria on your body. These bacteria are more active on people who are warmer.”
Fascinating!

Gay capital again?
With Amsterdam’s Gay Pride week already well underway, several papers focus on homosexuality in general and Amsterdam’s one-time reputation for being a global Gay Capital, alongside San Francisco.

That reputation has been lost since the turn of the century, leaving Amsterdam not even a European gay capital anymore. With an increasing number of reports and cases of anti-gay violence and last year’s closure of many popular bars, the city seemed to have reached a lowpoint on the gay front.

So, what now? Well, a number of bars have recently opened or re-opened and there’s renew
ed optimism, writes de Volkskrant. The trend appears to be towards a more open atmosphere and one which is more welcoming of heterosexuals too. Tijn Elferink – co-owner of gay bar Havana – tells the paper that the famous Reguliersdwarsstraat where his bar is located “will certainly stay targeted at gays. But what I want to change is the [idea] that it’s only for gays.”

The paper also writes about the popular U.L.T.R.A.S.E.X.I parties at the city’s famous Paradiso venue. The parties have a strong ‘show and entertainment’ element and also welcome all ‘open-minded’ people. Co-organiser Ariza Gallego “More than ever, I think young gay people want to meet other cool people, whether or not they are gay too [...] How often have we not closed an U.L.T.R.A.S.E.X.I. party with all kinds of straight couples kissing in the corner. I think that’s a real compliment".

Homophobia
De Volkskrant devotes an entire 13 pages to gay-related issues, including a commentary by Chris Buur on homophobia. He claims that – Dutch – society is still ‘saturated’ in homophobia, though much of this is silent or seldom expressed. He argues that “just as we eat with a knife and have all agreed that we won’t defecate in the street [...], so should there also be an unspoken, social condemnation of people putting down gays - even when this appears to be harmless - as being something that is simply ‘not done’.”

“You’ll never be able to explain to people - be they or be they not young Moroccan ‘scum’ - that gays are okay if your society is still permeated with homophobia.”

A significant way to combat homophobia is for prominent people who are themselves homosexual to come out in public. As regards ‘Moroccan scum’ and their non-Moroccan counterparts, it’s even better if these people are folk they admire or respect, like athletes. Today’s De Telegraaf tells us that top Dutch gymnast Jeffrey Wammes is just such a celebrity who is ‘out’. He’ll be opening the Amsterdam Gay Pride festivities at the capital’s homo monument, and De Telegraaf reports that sports, including rowing, volley ball, rugby and tennis, are all on the programme for the event.

The paper also mentions and that Saturday afternoon’s colourful Canal Parade will be broadcast live to the world for the first time via www.youtube.com/weareproud – so now you know!

Flying round the church
A photo inside De Telegraaf seems to show the St Bavo church in Haarlem hit by a rather large kite, which has got stuck in a window. It turns out this is a replica of the original Spin (Spider) aircraft, which air transport pioneer Anthony Fokker flew over the city or, as the paper writes ‘around the church’ back on 31 August 1911.

The replica – itself antique, as it was built back in 1936 – has been fixed to the outside of the church, which is also holding an exhibition to mark the event. The name spider appears to be more than appropriate as the vehicle’s frame much resembles the ultra-thin legs of an arachnid - though this one has wings.