The Hague - Top Dutch financial managers were due Wednesday to brief the government on the ongoing financial crisis during a special hearing in parliament.

The managers were expected to present their views about the possible consequences of the crisis for the Dutch economy in the coming year.

Chairmen Michel Tilmant of the ING Group, Sjoerd van Keulen of the SNS Reaal Group, and Bert Heemskerk of Rabobank were among those due to address the house.

Board chairmen Jan van Rutte and Jan Peter Schmittman would speak on behalf of the Dutch banking division of Fortis NV, comprising Fortis bank and ABN Amro bank.

Amsterdam, Nov 26 (ANI): New observations made by radio telescopes have revealed that the bizarre astronomical object known as “Hanny’s voorwerp”, which is a huge green irregular cloud of gas, is being generated by a massive black hole at the centre of a nearby galaxy.

The Voorwerp was discovered by Hanny van Arkel, a Dutch school teacher and an enthusiastic volunteer of the Galaxy Zoo project.

The Hague - Dutch Economy Minister Maria van der Hoeven will lobby her European colleagues to support the financing of a new climate satellite developed by the Dutch, a ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Dutch are hosting the triennial European Space Conference in The Hague.

The Dutch government has reserved 78 million euros (100.54 million dollars) to finance the 115-million-euro Tropospheric Ozone- Monitoring Instrument or Tropomi.

The Tropomi is a measuring instrument for ozone in the troposphere, the lowest part of the atmosphere containing 80 per cent of the world's air.

Amsterdam - Trading in shares of banking and insurance giant Fortis NV on the Amsterdam stock exchange will be halted temporary starting at 3:45 pm (1445 GMT), the Dutch financial watchdog AFM announced Monday.

The AFM said the move is necessary because an Amsterdam court is due to rule at 4 pm (1500 GMT) on the need for an investigation into possible mismanagement at Fortis.

The Dutch shareholders' association VEB demanded the investigation after the share value of the Belgian-Dutch bank and insurance giant collapsed earlier this autumn.

Amsterdam  - Huge black puppets in colourful colonial slave outfits are being pulled up and down in the air in Dutch quality department store Bijenkorf in Amsterdam.

The store smells of traditional Dutch sweets and pastries. In the background, festive children's songs are played. Toys are on display everywhere.

The Dutch are celebrating the arrival of Sinterklaas, the legendary Dutch bishop who later became the basis of the traditional Christmas-time Santa Claus in the United States.

London, Nov. 21: A think tank in The Netherlands has warned that the European Union is developing a military space policy that has the "potential for triggering an arms race in region".

According to the Transnational Institute: "EU-financed communication and spy satellites are slowly becoming reality and in the long term the inclusion of space-based missile defence and other more offensive uses of space are real options for an increasingly ambitious EU military space policy."

Ministers from all ESA member states are meeting in The Hague next week to implement a new European space policy that identifies military "security" as a priority, reports The Telegraph.