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.

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.

Amsterdam - Swedish energy provider Vattenfall has made a bid of 8.5 billion euros (10.70 billion dollars) for Dutch energy provider Nuon, the Dutch company confirmed on Monday.

London, Feb. 20 : Dutch-born football coach Guus Hiddink has stressed that he will leave Chelsea in the summer but will give everything he has to win the Premier League title from Manchester United.

Addressing his first press conference since replacing Brazil's Luiz Felipe Scolari as coach at Stamford Bridge, Hiddink reiterated that he would return to his international duties with Russia when the season is over.

Hiddink faces a tough away trip to Aston Villa in his first match in charge on Saturday lunchtime. Villa would go five points clear of fourth-placed Chelsea if they can avenge a 2-0 loss at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season and Hiddink is eager to get his Chelsea tenure off to a winning start.

Amsterdam - The price of shares in Dutch bank and insurer ING Bank continued its free fall on Friday.

Half an hour after trading began at the Amsterdam stock exchange ING shares had lost 7.61 per cent and stood at 4.26 euros (5.41 dollars) per share.

The continued drop in share value was triggered following the publication of ING's final quarterly report on Wednesday.

The report said the bank had suffered a loss of 3.7 billion euros in 2008, compared with a profit of 2.4 billion euros in the same period in
2007.

ING's net loss for all of 2008 amounted to 729 million euros, compared with a net profit of 9.2 billion euros in 2007.

Amsterdam - Dutch ABN Amro/Fortis bank's new management board was presented by its chairman Gerrit Zalm to the media on Thursday.

Three of the seven new members originate from ABN Amro: Chris Vogelzang, Wietze Reehoorn and Johan van Hall. Jan van Rutte from Fortis was appointed financial director and deputy chairman.

The other two members are Joop Wijn, former top manager at Rabobank, and Caroline Prince from the Royal Bank of Scotland.