Amsterdam - Prices of Dutch residential real estate dropped by 1.8 per cent in 2008, the association of Dutch real estate brokers NVM said in its annual report published on Thursday.

An average Dutch home now costs 233,000 euros (306,930 dollars) compared with 246,000 euros (324,055 dollars) in the third quarter of 2008.

It is the first year since 1990 that the price of Dutch homes have dropped.

The NVM said prices fell by 2.5 per cent in the fourth quarter compared with the previous quarter.

The fall of Dutch home prices began in the third quarter (down 0.7 per cent compared with the second quarter).

Amsterdam - A Dutch-Danish proposal to deploy European Union observers at the Egypt-Gaza Strip border has been received positively, Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen told parliament Friday.

Verhagen said in a letter to the parliament that the EU, Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the US welcomed the proposal aimed at preventing arms-smuggling from Egypt to Hamas factions. Iran and Hamas had not responded to the proposal, he said.

Amsterdam - As temperatures plunge across Europe, many are cursing the cold. But not in the Netherlands. There, many are hoping for further frigid conditions.

It's been more than 10 years since the last Elfstedentocht, an ice-skating race across 11 cities in Friesland in northwestern Netherlands.

According to Harry Geurts of the Dutch Meteorological Institute KNMI, temperatures need to be at least minus 10 degrees Celsius at night "for several weeks" before the entire 200-kilometre-track will be sufficiently frozen to hold the race's 16,000 skaters.

Early on Tuesday the temperature dropped to minus 18 degrees Celsius in some parts of the Netherlands, marking the second week of extreme frost in the country.

Amsterdam - Moroccan-Dutch politician Ahmed Aboutaleb was sworn in on Monday as mayor of Rotterdam, the second largest city of the Netherlands.

The 47-year-old Labour politician is the first mayor of a Dutch city to be born and raised outside the Netherlands. He is also the first Muslim to become a mayor in the Netherlands.

Some 45 per cent of Rotterdam's half a million citizens were born outside the Netherlands or have foreign-born parents.

The city suffers from a broad range of socio-economic problems. Crime involving the migrant community is an ongoing issue that causes tension with Dutch-born citizens.

Amsterdam  - "Nothing is holy, except the love between two people" - that's the motto adopted by gay and lesbian groups to celebrate Amsterdam's first Pink Christmas this year.

Amsterdam  - A Belgian baby bought over the internet by a young Dutch couple in July has been handed over to Belgian authorities, the Dutch child protection service said Wednesday.

On November 27, a Dutch family court ruled that baby Jayden, as the now five-month-old child is known in the media, should be placed in foster care under Dutch state custody.

The court said the sale violated international adoption laws.

Baby Jayden was transferred from the Dutch couple to foster care in late November under the temporary custody ruling.

The Dutch child protection service and the Justice Ministry said in a joint statement that temporary custody would not be renewed because the child has a better future in his native Belgium.