Netherlands

BACKGROUND: Fatal plane crashes in the Netherlands

Fatal plane crashes in the Netherlands Amsterdam  - The Turkish Airlines plane that crashed near Schiphol airport on Wednesday, leaving nine dead and more than 50 injured, was the sixth major air crash in the Netherlands in the last 30 years.

On September 25, 1996, 32 people died when a Dakota DC3 PH-DDA from Schiphol crashed in the sea near Den Helder.

Just three months earlier, on July 15, 1996, a Lockheed C130 Hercules CH-06 belonging to the Belgian airforce crashed at the military airport at Eindhoven. Thirty-four people died.

Turkish Airlines plane crashes at Amsterdam''''s Schiphol airport

Turksh Airlines LogoAmsterdam, Feb 25 : A Turkish Airlines plane has crashed on landing at Amsterdam''''s Schiphol International Airport.

Airport officials said that the 737-800 aircraft, carrying 135 passengers on board, came down on farmland while on its approach to runway 18Left 36Right, and broke into three parts.

A survivor has claimed on a TV channel that at least one person has been killed and twenty injured. Reports added that at least 50 passengers escaped unhurt.

About twenty ambulances and fire engines have rushed to the site.

Airtricity to build Netherlands' largest wind turbine park

Netherlands MapAmsterdam - Airtricity is to build the Netherlands' largest wind turbine park on sea, the subsidiary of the British utility group, Scottish & Southern Energy Plc (SSE) announced on Wednesday.

The new wind farm, Breeveertien 2, would be built 55 kilometres from the coast near IJmuiden in the north-west Netherlands. It would have a capacity of 350 megawatts, providing electricity to 390,000 homes, Airtricity said.

Existing wind turbine parks in the Netherlands have a capacity of no more than 141 megawatts.

Philips takes over LED-light producer Ilti Luce

Amsterdam - Dutch electronics manufacturer Philips is taking over led-light producer Italian Ilti Luce, the Dutch company announced on Tuesday, without releasing financial details.

TomTom announces substantial Q4 loss

Amsterdam  - Dutch satellite-navigation-device manufacturer TomTom suffered a loss of 989 million euros (1.265 billion dollars) in the fourth quarter of 2008, the company announced on Tuesday.

TomTom had to write off more than 1 billion euros on the value of electronic mapmaker Tele Atlas, which it took over last year for 2.9 billion euros.

Reduced prices of TomTom's navigation products also contributed to the loss.

TomTom sold 44 million navigation systems in the fourth quarter of 2008, an increase of 4 per cent compared with the same period last year.

However, with sales prices for units being up to 100 euros lower than last year, total turnover dropped 17 per cent to 528 million euros in the fourth quarter.

Pro-Palestinian protesters throw shoes at Israeli army spokesman

Amsterdam  - Dutch police on Monday confirmed they had detained two men and a woman suspected of having thrown shoes at Israeli army spokesman Ron Edelheit.

Edelheit was hit on his legs by the shoes at a lecture in Amsterdam late Sunday evening entitled "After the Gaza war, what next?" which was picketed by pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

It was unclear if Edelheit had pressed charges after the incident or not.

Amsterdam police spokesman Charmene van Damme on Monday confirmed the Dutch police had detained two man and a woman, all three in their early twenties.

"They were taken to the police station and interrogated but sent home afterwards," she said.

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