Prominent members of the Church of Scientology of Amsterdam have dived into a niche in the market: launching economic doomsday scenarios in conjunction with selling gold.

Two senior Scientology officials, Manuel Nugteren en Joop van der Linde, operate within an opaque organization that — via the internet — attempts to interest individuals in investing in gold. These potential investors are told that economic collapse is imminent, and that gold is the only safe investment.

The acting mayor of Amsterdam, Lodewijk Asscher, wants to look into the possibility of using so-called ‘decoy Jews’ to combat anti-Semitic violence.

The approach is in line with Asscher’s intention to look for unorthodox measures in the city’s fight against intolerance and violence toward gays and Jews, his spokesman said Monday.

Real Estate corporation Libra International has filed interim injunction procedures against the Church of Scientology in Amsterdam.

The organization is facing $103.000 in rent arrears.

“Sometimes it takes a while but until now they have always eventually paid up. The interim injunction is simply a ‘stick behind the door’,” Libra’s attorney says — referring to a Dutch idiom that suggests one has the means to compel someone into compliance.

If wearing a burqa prevents a woman from getting a job she should also not expect to receive benefits.

So says Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen in an interview with Dutch-language newspaper Trouw.

He is not calling for a ban on the burqa.

Amsterdam played host Sunday to a Christmas celebration for its gay community that featured a Nativity tableau with a man in drag playing the part of Mary.

Frank van Dalen, chairman of the advocacy group Pro Gay that organized the event, known as Pink Christmas, said that it sought to raise Amsterdam’s profile as a capital for gays.

In news forums, countless homosexuals condemned the display.

There has been wrangling over the mosque for years. This began shortly after a symbolic first brick was laid by the then Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner. He called the project a “symbol of integration” – but this statement rapidly turned out to be untenable.

The mosque is intended to be one of the biggest in Europe. The style is Ottoman, with high minarets and a large central dome. Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen has repeatedly said he hopes the mosque can eventually be built after all.

The City of Amsterdam and the COC — an advocacy group for LBGT men and women — are calling for an investigation by the Netherlands Health Care Inspectorate into healing rituals offered by Pentecostal churches for homosexuals and HIV patients.

The healing services can lead to HIV patients forsaking their medicines, and contribute to the stigmatization of homosexuals.

German police commandos grabbed two terrorist suspects from an Amsterdam-bound flight early Friday before the plane took off from Cologne, police said.

A suicide note was found in their apartment saying that they wanted to die for the “jihad” or “holy war.”

Dutch smokers are flocking to a religious movement known as “The Only and Universal Smokers Church of God” following a ban on tobacco smoking indoors.

Michiel Eijsbouts, founder and “Smokelighter” of the church he founded in 2001, has insisted that the Dutch smoking ban in place does not apply to members of his church under national and European human rights legislation.

The mosque in the Amsterdam suburb of Slotervaart wants to offer young people an alternative. Dutch will be the language used in the mosque, also for sermons, says Mr Cheppih. Plus, the form of Islam will be free of cultural influences from other countries.

The capital’s police authority reckons the new translation, designed to be accessible to the general Dutch public, will give officers more insight into Islam.