Holland’s prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende has warned a maverick politician of the risks to Dutch national interests if he presses ahead with a film criticising the Koran.

The Dutch parliament is holding crisis talks today after MPs passed a motion condemning its caretaker immigration minister for refusing to halt deportations of rejected asylum seekers until a new ruling coalition was formed.

Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s centre-right Christian Democrats won the most seats in Dutch elections, but results today showed a sharply divided nation with no alliance winning a clear mandate to govern.

Polls open this morning in the Netherlands as the Dutch vote for a new parliament.

Two months before Dutch elections, the conservative government suffered a setback today with the resignation of two ministers who accepted blame for safety faults in an airport jail that led to the deaths of 11 prisoners.

Netherlands’ caretaker Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende began forming a new minority Cabinet today, less than a week after his government collapsed.

The Dutch government quit today amid infighting over a failed attempt to strip a prominent Somali-born critic of Islam of her Dutch citizenship – setting the stage for elections likely to be dominated by immigration issues.

Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende tendered his Cabinet’s resignation to Queen Beatrix today, a move that will ultimately lead to new elections.

THE Dutch government resigned yesterday amid infighting over a failed attempt to strip a prominent Somali-born critic of Islam of her Dutch citizenship — setting the stage for elections likely to be dominated by immigration issues.

German chancellor Angela Merkel forecast negotiations on the EU’s future budget would prove difficult and said Germany would not push for a deal at any price.

Anthony Deutsch, The Hague

Chastened by the voters, Dutch MPs today abandoned plans to ratify the EU constitution as European leaders started preparing for a summit to deal with a deepening crisis.

European leaders may have to scrap the proposed EU constitution after Dutch voters rejected it by a massive margin, voicing their concern over dwindling national identity in a rapidly expanding union and increasingly powerful bureaucrats.

Nicola Boden, Amsterdam

Dutch voters today delivered their verdict on the proposed EU constitution, and polls indicated they would deepen the crisis over the future of the European Union by following France’s lead and rejecting the document.

The Dutch began voting in their first national referendum today, choosing whether to accept – or more likely, reject – a proposed European Union constitution.

As Dutch leaders made an 11th-hour plea for a “Yes” vote on the European Union constitution, polls suggested a disillusioned public will reject the charter in a referendum tomorrow by an even larger margin than the stunning “No” delivered by France.

Turkey and the EU moved closer today to resolving differences over Turkish recognition of Cyprus, the key dispute preventing Ankara from accepting an offer to open membership talks next October.

The start of the second day of the EU summit was delayed as leaders struggled to resolve a dispute with Turkey over how to begin membership talks .

Dutch police were laying siege to a house in The Hague today where an unknown number of terrorism suspects were holed up.

EU leaders defended their proposed constitution today against criticism that it will create a European superstate, and urged MEPs to do all they can to sell it to an increasingly sceptical public.

A teacher in the Netherlands, shot at point-blank range by a pupil, has died from his injuries.

A student in the Netherlands today walked into his school’s crowded cafeteria at lunch time and shot an economics teacher point-blank in the head, badly wounding him.

Dutch prince Johan Friso will marry human rights activist Mabel Wisse Smit without the endorsement of the Dutch parliament, effectively relinquishing his claim to the throne, the government said today.

The Dutch government said it will push for more European Union decisions to be taken by majority voting when the Netherlands take over the rotating six-month presidency of the EU in July 2004.

DUTCH politicians yesterday began what could be months of bargaining to form a coalition after elections that put centrist parties back in control and relegated an anti-immigration party to the far-right fringe.

The Dutch government collapsed today, undermined by friction among the coalition partners and a power struggle within one of the three parties.

Jan Peter Balkenende, a professor of Christian philosophy who brought youthful energy to his disunited party, emerged today as the favourite to become the Netherlands’ next prime minister.

Dutch voters appeared likely to upset their country’s well-oiled political order today with an election that could put an untested party without a leader into the ruling coalition.