Amsterdam - Dutch smokers, who want to smoke in a restaurant or cafe, can now click onto a new smokers restaurant database, according to the online publisher Tressis.

Smoking was recently banned in all Dutch restaurants, cafes and bars, except in places that have separate smokers' rooms or corners with ventilation facilities.

However, the places where smoking is allowed are in the minority and are hard to find.

By registering one's restaurant on the website www. hiermaghetwel. nl, cafes and restaurants can help smokers find them easily and quickly.

The database covers all of the Netherlands and an estimated 200 restaurants, cafes and bars have already registered.

Amsterdam - The global financial crisis has cost Dutch banks more than 16 billion euros (22.64 billion dollars) since August 2007, the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) wrote in its quarterly report releas

Amsterdam - Dutch nationals buying new cars are increasingly choosing diesel models, according to a report by the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) released on Wednesday.

The CBS said that in 2007, an unprecedented 30 per cent of new private cars were diesel cars.

Seventeen per cent of all Dutch cars run on diesel. This is below the European average of 50 per cent.

In the first six months of 2008, diesel sales in the Netherlands increased by 3.5 per cent compared with the same period in 2007.

By contrast, petrol sales decreased by 0.5 per cent.

Amsterdam - The main index of the Amsterdam stock exch

Amsterdam - Seducing a woman is an art that can be taught, and today's world and new gender roles require vigorous training. That is, at least, what David Kipping, press spokesman for the Real Man Conference, feels.

On September 20 and 21, some 500 men are due to convene in Amsterdam's RAI convention centre for a two-day-training in the art of seduction.

The so-called "Real Men Conference" is the largest and first international convention dedicated exclusively to the art of picking up women.

Among those to help the participants improve their dating skills are a total of 14 dating coaches, such as Dutch coach Tijn van Ewijk but also the internationally renowned Zan Perrion and Johnny Soporno.

The Hague  - Belarusian Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov should not be allowed a visa to visit the European Union headquarters in Brussels next Monday, Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen told the Dutch parliament Wednesday.

Should the Netherlands persist in its position, Martynov will be blocked from visiting Brussels on Monday.

The move follows a proposed invitation to visit EU headquarters in Brussels by EU commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, an advocate of easing visa restrictions for all Belarusians.

Belarus, regarded internationally as a dictatorship, recently released a number of political prisoners.