Amsterdam - Dutch insurance company Aegon annou

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.

Amsterdam - Dutch finance minister Wouter Bos had an emergency meeting with the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) management in Amsterdam to discuss the future of Dutch-Belgian bank and insurance company Fortis, it was reported on Sunday.

Bos was seen leaving the DNB premises early Sunday morning. The meeting had started late Saturday.

On Saturday, Dutch financial daily Het Financieele Dablad reported ABN AMRO Bank Netherlands, which was formally taken over by Fortis in October 2007 but operates as an autonomous banking unit within Fortis until late 2009, may be sold.

Amsterdam - A group of Dutch nudists called off a special church service to be held in a nudist park after receiving threats, a spokesman for the group said Friday.

In June, the Christian Gan Eden nudists held their first church service at the Flevo-Natuur nudist park in Zeewolde in the eastern Netherlands and planned to hold a second service.

However, the group was hit by numerous emails and phone calls, many of them threatening, the Gan Eden spokesman said. The church service was called off and the group shut its website down.

Brussels - Belgian-Dutch banking giant Fortis was forced to deny rumours that it was experiencing liquidity problems as its shares took a battering for a fifth day in a row Friday.

"We underline the solid position of the bank," Fortis said in a statement released in Brussels and Utrecht.

"Fortis solvency is solid and well above the regulatory minimum," the bank said, adding that its core capital stood at the end of June at an above-target level of 4 billion euros (5.86 billion dollars).

London, September 25 : The bizarre Dutch policy of allowing smokers to puff away on pure cannabis but not tobacco has apparently perplexed police in the Netherlands, who have fined a man for mixing the two substances.

Zero tolerance to tobacco smoking in Dutch cafes and restaurants is being exercised since a ban came into force last July.

A spokesman for the Amsterdam Police has accepted that it is very difficult to understand the rule that allows cannabis smoking while fining tobacco users.

"For logic it is sometimes impossible to explain, even to the Dutch," the Telegraph quoted him as saying.