Amsterdam - Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende says he would consider a possible US request for a new Dutch contribution to the International Security and Assistance Forces (ISAF) in Afghanistan.

Speaking in a late night Dutch television show on Thursday, Balkenende said US president-elect Barack Obama's advisors have given indications the US might ask the Dutch to maintain their military presence in Afghanistan after the current Dutch mission ends in August 2010.

Obama has already indicated on several occasions he will send more US troops to Afghanistan.

It is widely expected the US is going to request the European Union countries to strengthen their participation in ISAF as well.

Amsterdam - Women who are career-minded should only seek
employment with Royal Dutch Shell, electronics manufacturer Philips or
telecommunications company KPN - but the best treatment comes from the
Dutch government, according to a survey published Thursday.

A survey conducted by marketing research institute TNS NIPO among
1,096 Dutch managers of 150 companies showed the three multinationals
were the most women-friendly companies in the Dutch business sector.

The survey, published on Thursday in Management Team magazine, also
said civil-servant positions with national or local authorities were
considered most women-friendly.

Civil-servant jobs received 4,006 points from the managers

Amsterdam - The European parliament on Wednesday refused to allow the screening of an anti-Isla

Amsterdam - Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen should convince NATO to appoint an independent inspector-general to supervise Afghanistan's reconstruction, Dutch legislator Femke Halsema said in the Dutch parliament on Tuesday.

If the North Atlantic Treaty Organization does not want to appoint such an official in Afghanistan, then the Netherlands should appoint an inspector-general itself, Halsema said.

The leader of the Greens Party was speaking following the recent report in the US daily The New York Times citing a draft US federal government document as saying the

Amsterdam - Amsterdam's gays are planning special Christmas celebrations this year with their first "Pink Christmas" festival due to start on Thursday.

The ten-day festival organized by the Dutch ProGay Foundation includes a special Christmas fair on December 21, a manger stall with two live Josephs and two live Marys, as well as a gay church mass on Christmas day.

Most of the activities are located in and around the Reguliersdwarsstraat, known for its many gay venues, in the old city centre.

During the accompanying film festival - the Pink Film Nights - more than hundred films will be shown in several cinemas throughout the city.

Amsterdam  - Marijuana may still rank third on the list of most popular export Dutch products, but the liberal Dutch approach to drugs and sex seems to have ended in the Netherlands.

In a new attempt to curb crime seen as linked to the sex and drugs trade across the Netherland, several major Dutch cities decided dramatically to cut back their officially regulated local prostitution zones in 2008.

Dutch mayors joined forces to close down or replace their local 'coffee shops' - stores were so-called soft drugs are sold legally.

In addition, the Dutch parliament outlawed the sale of particular soft drugs, such as certain types of mushrooms, that had only been legalized a few years earlier.