Six teenagers and a 51-year-old man have been jailed for their role in the death of a football linesman who was kicked by a mob after a youth game in Almere last December.

Merging the provinces of Noord-Holland, Utrecht and Flevoland into a single entity will save €70m a year, according to draft legislation published by home affairs minister Ronald Plasterk on Monday.

Tougher controls on the licenced sex industry are leading to a shift towards home-based prostitution, the acting chief of the Dutch national police force says in Monday’s Volkskrant.

Wednesday is going to be hot, hot, hot
Weather bureaus are warning of extreme temperatures on Wednesday, as hot air blows into the Netherlands from Spain and North Africa.

Scrap the €500 note, says influential foreign policy body
The €500 note should be abolished because it is mainly used in criminal circuits, according to the government's influential advisory council on international affairs AIV.

Three more arrested over school exam theft
Three more 18-year-olds have been arrested in connection with the theft of exam papers from a Rotterdam school.

House sales, new mortgages continue to decline
The number of housing transactions in May was down 18% on a year ago but up 27% on April, according to land registry office Kadaster on Monday.

The Netherlands tried to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians
The Netherlands spent at least a year trying to broker a breakthrough in the deadlocked peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, the NRC reports on Monday, quoting confidential sources.

Dutch environment policy is outdated and short-term, says agency
The Netherlands’ environmental policy needs a complete overhaul because it is out of date in many areas, according to the government’s environmental assessment agency PBL.

Dutch waste processer AVR in Chinese hands for nearly €1bn
Dutch waste processer and market leader AVR has been bought by a Chinese consortium for €944m.

Dutch pay thousands of euros to 'identify' failed asylum seekers
The Netherlands has paid at least 32 foreign delegations to organise identity papers for asylum seekers who have been refused permission to stay in the Netherlands but cannot be deported because they don't have valid ID.

Protecting activists, gay and women's rights central in Dutch foreign policy
Protecting human rights activists, supporting gay and transgender rights, and supporting women’s rights are to be a cornerstone of Dutch foreign policy, the cabinet agreed on Friday.

Tropical temperatures on their way - for two days
The temperature is expected to reach up to 30 Celsius in the south of the Netherlands on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the latest weather forecasts.

Schools ban too-short shorts
Girls have been sent home from at least two Dutch schools in recent weeks for wearing too-short skirts and shorts, according to the Volkskrant.

Basic executive pay rates rose an average 6% last year
Despite the crisis, executive pay rates began rising again last year after three years of decline, the Volkskrant reported at the weekend.

Dutch jihadists in Syria: we miss our mothers' cooking most of all
The Volkskrant carried a long email interview on Saturday with someone using the name Abu Fidaa, who claims to be a Dutch jihadist fighting with rebel forces in Syria.

One in five pupils at Protestant primary has measles
The number of reported cases of measles in the Bible Belt region has gone up to 67, the public health institute RIVM said on Friday.

Islands with no inhabitants to get proper address
Two uninhabited islands are due to get street names even though no-one lives on them because of council rules, local broadcaster RTV Noord reported on Friday.

Soldiers to practise conversation skills in multicultural Amsterdam
Dutch solders are to spend several days next week practising their conversational skills in the multicultural districts of West and Nieuw-West Amsterdam, the Parool reports on Friday.

Trade surplus declines by €400m in April as exports fall 2.7%
Dutch export volumes to the rest of the world fell 2.7% in April, the first time in 18 months that exports have declined, the national statistics office CBS said on Friday.

ProRail to fence off more railway tracks
Dutch railway operator ProRail is planning to install a further 600 km of fencing alongside some of the country’s railway tracks in an effort to keep people off the rails.

Dutch scientists develop light, portable artificial kidney
Researchers from the Dutch kidney foundation have developed an artificial kidney the size of an iPad which will allow patients to undergo dialysis where ever they like, RTL news reports on Friday.

Star of nude political party poster dies
The woman who starred in an iconic Dutch political party poster – naked with arms outstretched and in front of a cow – has died at the age of 68.

Senate leader quits over Wilders' role at new king's investiture
The leader of the senate has resigned over claims he kept anti-immigration MP Geert Wilders out of the official escort for king Willem-Alexander during his investiture in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam.

Key government forecaster puts deficit at 3.7%, cuts inevitable
The government’s key macro-economic forecasting agency CPB expects the Dutch budget deficit to reach 3.7% next year, well above the eurozone limit of 3%.

Cabinet will have to find savings of €6bn next year: VVD and PvdA
The cabinet will have to find structural savings to generate €6bn next year, according to the parliamentary Liberal and Labour parties on Thursday.