Washington, 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.

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

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.

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.