Amsterdam - The Netherlands late Thursday made available another 20 billion euros to shore up the liquidity of banks embattled by the global financial crisis, Finance Minister Wouter Bos said.

Dutch central bank chief Nout Wellink said the funds would be made available for all financial firms that need it, including insurance groups.

Amsterdam  - The AEX, the main index of the Amsterdam stock exchange, continued to circle around 300 Wednesday after previously dipping to its lowest point in more than five years.

Opening at 293.66, the index initially fell to 280.52, its lowest level in more than five years.

It is also less than 60 per cent of this year's highest level, 518.27, achieved January 2.

By 1:30 pm (1130 GMT), the AEX recovered slightly to 309.44, which was still a loss of 3.01 per cent from Tuesday.

Amsterdam- An Icelandic bank faces the confiscation of its Dutch assets if it cannot guarantee customers access to their accounts.

The bank, Icesave, is a subsidiary of Landsbanki, Iceland's second largest bank.

It began operations in the Netherlands in late May and has attracted 75,000 account holders with promises of unlimited deposits and withdrawals and interest rates significantly above the national average.

Amsterdam  - The main index on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, the AEX, on Tuesday posted a slight loss - down 0.54 per cent - at 11:30 am (0930 GMT), remaining volatile throughout the morning.

Opening with a gain of 2.4 per cent, the index slipped to a low of 306.78 points at 10:30 am, to recover slightly one hour later.

Bank and insurance company ING Group led the list of companies losing out most (down 5.78 per cent).

Trade in former Belgian-Dutch bank and insurance giant Fortis, that was taken over by the governments of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg and French bank BNP Paribas, remained suspended Tuesday.

London, Oct 6 : In a unique bid to encourage Dutch prostitutes to abandon their profession, the city council has offered them to award "credits" in return for good behaviour, according to reports.

Under the new scheme, the sex workers in the Dutch city of Eindhoven would receive so-called "street miles" that they can use to buy free designer clothes or furniture, if they agree to change their career for a safer lifestyle.

"We needed to come up with incentives that these women might latch on to," the Independent quoted Veronique Beurskens of Eindhoven council, who is leading a drive to rid the city of street prostitution, as saying.

Amsterdam  - The Dutch government has issued state bonds worth 8.64 billion euros (11.76 billion dollars), the government said in a statement on Monday.

Part of the issue will be used to help finance the takeover of the Dutch division of former Belgian-Dutch bank and insurance giant Fortis.

On Friday, the Dutch nationalized the entire Dutch Fortis division, paying some 16.8 billion euros.

On Monday, financial analysts from SNS Securities, Petercam and Dresdner Kleinwort calculated the stock value of Fortis at the Dutch exchanges around 8.225 billion euros.

If accurate, then each of the 2.35 billion shares is worth 3.5 euros per share.