AMSTERDAM, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - Dutch publishing group Reed Elsevier reported on Thursday a 17-percent drop in first-half net profit to 384 million euros (642 million dollars) but operating profit rose 12 percent.

Revenue was also down four percent to 2.541 billion euros.

LONDON, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - OpenSkies, a new airline taking advantage of more flexible rules on carriers across the Atlantic, said Monday it was to launch a new daily service between Amsterdam and New York.

NAIROBI, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - Five Dutch women participating in a charity project in western Kenya were gang-raped and robbed of their valuables, police said Monday.

The women, aged between 17 and 26, were attacked last Thursday in a school in Kakamega, around 250 kilometres (155 miles) northwest of the capital Nairobi, Western Province police chief Francis Munyambu told AFP.

THE HAGUE, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - The Shell oil group said Monday it had decided to reduce some of its production running through a pipeline in southern Nigeria damaged in an attack claimed by MEND fighters.

THE HAGUE, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - The Shell oil group said Monday it had decided to reduce some of its production running through a pipeline in southern Nigeria damaged in an attack claimed by MEND fighters.

PARIS, July 28, 2008 (AFP) - The Dutch-British food to household products group Unilever said on Monday it was selling its detergents businesses in the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada to investment fund Vestar for 1.45 billion dollars.

Payment would be in the form of 1.075 billion dollars (917 million euros) in cash and 375 million dollars in shares, Unilever said.

FRANKFURT, July 25, 2008 (AFP) - The German industrial group MAN has won two big contracts to supply 635 buses which run on natural gas to Turkey and the Netherlands, MAN said on Friday.

The value of the two contracts was not specified, but the German firm put it in a range of 100 million to 999 million euros (157 million-1.57 billion dollars).

WASHINGTON, July 24, 2008 (AFP) - US regulators Thursday accused Dutch trading firm Optiver Holding and two of its units with manipulating the oil market in a scheme that netted about one million dollars.

SYDNEY, July 23, 2008 (AFP) - Australia's Commonwealth Bank said Wednesday it was in discussions to buy Dutch bank ABN Amro's assets in Australia and New Zealand.

The move comes after the rival National Australia Bank announced late Tuesday that it was withdrawing from talks about buying the assets without detailing any reasons.

THE HAGUE, July 22, 2008 (AFP) - Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen urged Serbia Tuesday to continue co-operating with the UN's Yugoslav war crimes tribunal, having arrested former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic.