Netherlands

Fortis completes Artemis purchase

Amsterdam - The Belgian-Dutch insurer and banking giant Fortis has bought all shares of British Artemis Asset Management Ltd, Fortis said Wednesday.

The 397.2-million-euro (559.27-million-dollar) transaction was the last step in the integration of Artemis.

Artemis was already 67.1-per-cent owned by ABN Amro Asset Management, which was fully taken over by Fortis in April.

The last shares were purchased from the management, which, according to Fortis, would remain involved with Artemis.

Fortis said the purchase was part of an earlier agreement.

Human brain shifts into high gear on ‘alternative energy’ during exercise

Human brain shifts into high gear on ‘alternative energy’ during exerciseWashington, Oct 1: The brain, just like muscles, works harder during strenuous exercise and is fuelled by lactate, rather than glucose, according to a study by researchers from Denmark and The Netherlands.

According to the authors, not only does this finding help explain why the brain is able to work properly when the body's demands for fuel and oxygen are highest, but it goes a step further to show that the brain actually shifts into a higher gear in terms of activity.

Dutch parliament to convene emergency session over Fortis

Amsterdam - The Green Party has requested that the Dutch parliament convene an emergency session Tuesday afternoon to debate the financial crisis and government support for Belgian-Dutch insurer an

Another black day feared on Dutch stock exchange

Amsterdam  - Analysts feared another black day on the Dutch stock exchange on Tuesday after the US House of Representatives rejected a rescue plan for the US financial sector.

Speaking on Dutch television early Tuesday, Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos called the US rejection of the rescue plan a "heavy blow."

On Monday, Belgian-Dutch bank and insurance giant Fortis lost 23 per cent of its share value despite the takeover of 49 per cent of the bank by the governments of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Dutch insurer Aegon says it invested in failed US bank

Lehman Brothers Amsterdam - Dutch insurance company Aegon annou

Catching the whiff of death sends crop-destroying mites to sleep

London, September 29: In what may prove very helpful in dealing with the crop-destroying mites, University of Amsterdam scientists in the Netherlands have found that just the smell of nearby attacks from a different species sends spider mites straight to sleep.

Research leader Martijn Egas says that when the mites encounter predators, they go into hiding, and enter a dormant state called diapause, normally used during long periods of cold, drought or famine.

During the course of study, the researchers put the mites inside parallel wind tunnels that were infused with air from chambers containing other spider mites that were either peacefully munching on bean leaves, or suffering attacks from a predatory mite species.

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