Amsterdam/Madrid - Dutch authorities have requested the extradition of a Colombian national from Madrid to the Netherlands, Dutch media reported on Friday.

Spanish police detained the 26-year-old in Madrid after he was suspected of robbing a jewellery shop at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport in August.

The man allegedly belongs to an international ring robbing banks and jewellery shops.

Last August six men and three women, all believed to be South Americans, seized booty worth 117,000 euros at Gassan Diamonds in Amsterdam.

They were believed to have flown in from Paris and committed the robbery during a 90-minute stopover before flying on to Istanbul.

Amsterdam - Controversial far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders claimed in an interview Thursday that a court had based its decision to prosecute him for discrimination and incitement to hatred on false quotes.

Wilders, famous for his anti-Islam film Itna and refused entry to Britain last month, confirmed he had filed an appeal with the High Court of Justice against a district court's decision to prosecute him.

In an interview with Dutch daily newspaper De Telegraaf, the leader of the Freedom Party (PVV) said the district court had based its decision on remarks attributed to him, but in reality originating from other people. In other instances he was simply misquoted, he said.

Ankara - Turkish Airlines Tuesday announced that it was prepared to immediately pay compensation to the families of those killed and all surviving passengers on board flight TK 1951 which crashed while approaching Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport last week.

Amsterdam - Former Bosnian-Serb president Radovan Karadzic declined Tuesday to enter a plea at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.

Karadzic was asked to enter his plea in response to the 11 counts in the revised indictment filed against him. Presiding judge Iain Bonomy ordered that the court record Karadzic pleaded "not guilty".

Amsterdam - Until now only well-off Beatles fans could afford to spend a night in the hotel suite used by John Lennon and Yoko Ono during their honeymoon.

But management at the Amsterdam Hilton are to allow members of the public to catch a glimpse of the famous suite where the newly-wed couple spent a week 40 years ago.

Beatles fans can visit the suite from March 21 to 29 when a number of events will be taking place including a photo exhibition about the "Bed-In for Peace."

Amsterdam - The main index of the Amsterdam stock exchange AEX on Monday dropped to 211.86 points as of mid-afternoon, down 3.6 per cent from Friday's close of 219.81 points and well below the psychological "red line" level of 218 points.

The value of Dutch insurer Aegon shares had dropped the most, plunging 11.43 per cent) and stood at 2.55 euros (3.22 dollars).