Amsterdam - Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said on Thursday he was "extraordinarily excited" about the liberation of French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages by the Colombi

Amsterdam - The city of Amsterdam and the Dutch government plan to commemorate on Monday and Tuesday the abolition of slavery in the Netherlands 145 years ago.

Between 2,000 and 3,000 people were expected to attend the ceremony in Amsterdam on Monday.

On Tuesday, several thousand were expected to attend the national commemoration ceremony where Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen and Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende were also due to be present.

It is the first formal commemoration of the Dutch slavery epoch, that lasted until 1864 during the royal Dutch empire.

At the time the Dutch empire included, among others, the colonies of Surinam and the Antilles.

Amsterdam  - Amsterdam City Council voted in favour of a bill Friday to ban polluting cars like sports utility vehicles (SUVs) from entering the old city centre.

The opposition parties criticized the bill, which it called an "antisocial car plan, instead of a plan to improve the air quality in Amsterdam."

In several parts of Amsterdam city centre the air quality is below the acceptable level. Local politicians have been looking for ways to reduce car traffic.

By prohibiting polluting cars from entering the city, the air quality must improve within the next two years, the councillors said.

Amsterdam  - Dutch nationals and tourists visiting Amsterdam were warned that travel times in the Amsterdam metropolitan area would lengthen as maintenance is carried out this summer, a municipal spokesman told Dutch media Thursday.

The city is using the summertime, when traffic lessens, to execute multiple maintenance projects in and around the city, causing delays for people travelling by car or public transportation, he said.

On Friday, the IJ tunnel on Amsterdam's northbound ring road is to partially close until August 25 for maintenance.

The east-west road near the Central Station, which is undergoing a massive expansion and is not to be finished until 2011, is to also be closed for the summer.

Amsterdam  - Dutch Islam critic Geert Wilders praised Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen for taking Jordan's decision to charge Wilders with incitement against Islam seriously, news reports said Thursday.

"It speaks to his credit although I am not at all comfortable about the situation," the leader of the Dutch Freedom Party said Thursday, a day after talking with Verhagen.

Wilders had requested the meeting to discuss the consequences of a Jordan public prosecutor's decision to charge him over his 16-minute political film Fitna, released late March.

In the film, Wilders expressed his concern about what he called the Islamization of the Netherlands and the spreading of Muslim fundamentalism in Europe.

Abuja  - Royal Dutch Shell said Thursday it has shut down production at its main offshore oil field in Nigeria after a militant attack.

"I can confirm that the Bonga field in western Niger Delta was attacked early today," Shell spokesman Precious Okolobo said. "Production at the facility has been shut off, but we cannot confirm further details at the moment."

Militant attacks have cut production in Nigeria by almost a quarter since the beginning of the year, contributing to sky- rocketing global oil prices.