Amsterdam - The major organizations active in the Dutch residential real estate market want the government to take extra measures to boost home sales, Dutch media reported on Thursday.

The organizations sent a letter to Minister of Residential and Urban Affairs Eberhard van der Laan (Labour) requesting special measures to boost the home market.

On Wednesday the Central Bureau of Statistics said the number of home sales in November dropped by more than 50 per cent compared with the same month last year.

Amsterdam - Dutch Muslim organizations remained unimpressed by the 15-minute film An interview with Mohammed produced by Iranian- born Ehsan Jami and released on Tuesday.

Six organizations for Moroccan Muslims called the film "meaningless" and refrained from further comments.

The six organizations said Jami's film did not contribute to the debate about contemporary Islam.

"We wish Ehsan Jami much success in his further career as filmmaker," the organizations said in a joint statement.

Amsterdam - Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen on Tuesday called upon Muslim countries on to make sure the film An Interview with Mohammed, by Iranian-born Ehsan Jami, will not result in violence against Dutch nationals or Dutch companies.

Verhagen said he discussed the matter on Tuesday with ambassadors of Muslim countries in The Hague.

The foreign minister says he fears Muslim extremist groups might use the film as an excuse to commit violence against Dutch targets.

Amsterdam  - Can a soap opera educate people and stop ethnic violence? Dutch non-government organization Radio La Benevolencija thinks it can.

The organization produces radio shows and media campaigns in central Africa with the aim of helping locals understand the workings of political propaganda and withstand incitement to ethnic and racial violence.

La Benevolencija also plans to develop activities in the Netherlands, to help the Dutch cope with their own ethnic tensions.

"We are in the business of media education," says George Weiss, founder and director of the Amsterdam-based NGO. "We teach people to recognize incitement so that they can act against it."

Washington, Dec 9 : Research at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands has led to better understanding of the behavior of clouds, which would help to make reliable predictions on climate change.

The behaviour of clouds is the great unknown quantity in current climate models. To make reliable predictions on climate change, more knowledge about clouds is thus essential.

Delft researcher Thijs Heus has tackled this issue with a combination of detailed computer simulations and airplane measurements.

He charted data including cloud speed, temperature and the ''life span'' of clouds to arrive at new observations.

Amsterdam  - A young Dutch politician and founder of a group of former Muslims is due to present a 15-minute film criticizing Islam at a secret location on Tuesday.

Ehsan Jami, city council member for his one-man-party in Leidschendam-Voorburg near The Hague, is depicted in the English- language film as interviewing the prophet Mohammed who is played by an actor who remains unrecognizable.

Iranian-born Jami, 23, who announced that heresy and women's rights are central themes in the interview, says the production is not an anti-Islam film.

The film showing was set for a secret location for journalists only.

Jami has been living under heavy security protection since August 4, 2007.