Amsterdam rose to the 5th place on Swiss bank UBS's ranking of cities with the highest risk of a house price bubble. In these cities home prices rose so fast compared to inhabitants' incomes, that there is a good chance that the housing market will collapse, Het Parool reports.
Hong Kong is first on the ranking, followed by Munich, Toronto and Vancouver. Amsterdam rose from 8th place last year to 5th this year, passing Sydney, London and Stockholm.
Alternative taxi platform Uber has been using a secret computer program to block access to its systems whenever the authorities raided their offices for an inspection. This way important information was hidden from the authorities for several years, according to news agency Bloomberg.
An older couple was arrested in Gennep, Limburg in an Dutch-led international investigation into fraud and money laundering, the Public Prosecutor announced. The 81-year-old man and 61-year-old woman are accused of tax fraud, money laundering, forgery and illegal banking. According to the Prosecutor, the amount involved in the couple's crimes is estimated at over 41 million euros.
Nine people were injured when a KLM flight hit massive turbulence on its way from Amsterdam to Hong Kong on Sunday, according to local news site The Standard. The Boeing 747 went into what passengers describe as a "free fall" about half an hour before landing in the Chinese city, according to the site. Eight people - six passengers and two crew members - were taken to hospital after the plane landed.
The victims are four women and five men between the ages of 31 and 55 years. One sustained a minor head injury and refused to go to hospital afterwards.
The financing for famous Dutch space project Mars One is being scrutinized. According to Financieele Dagblad, it seems like the project may have been hijacked by investment fraudsters.
Mars One plans to send people to colonize, you guessed it, Mars and then make a global reality TV show of it. The main role players get a one way ticket to the red planet and then their lives will be followed and broadcast live for 15 years.
Chinese media is claiming that the Buddha statue containing a skeleton of a Chinese monk was stolen from a Chinese village in 1995, and the country wants it returned. The statue is currently owned by a Dutch private collector and was on display in Drents Museum in Assen until the recent return to its owner, newswire ANP writes.
Dutch intelligence services AIVD and MIVD walk on the leash of USA's National Security Agency (NSA) and are "extremely docile" and seen as "subordinates", says former NSA and CIA employee Edward Snowden in an interview to Volkskrant and Nieuwsuur.
ING has announced that it is brining its insurance branch to the Amsterdam stock exchange in an IPO move. This may take place within two months, the NOS reports.
Dutch technology company Philips is selling its audiovisual arm to the American company, Gibson Brands, for €135 million. Gibson is most notably known for making electric guitars.
The World Economic Forum has listed the Netherlands as the country with the third best accommodations for international trade. Singapore and Hong Kong repeated as the top two countries, with Holland advancing from 7th in the biannual Global Enabling Trade Report.
American multinational financial services corporation Citi is growing its liquidity management network by setting up a Notional Pooling in Amsterdam.
The Netherlands ranked no. 4 in the Global Innovation Index 2013 (GII).
Nearly three quarters of the Dutch think that the government should be able to tap communication by telephone and over the internet, if this prevents terrorism. Figures from investigation bureau peil.nl, from Maurice de Hond, show that 73 percent of respondents has no problem with wiretapping. The study was commissioned by the news site NUtech.nl.
Asia’s richest person, Li Ka-shing, is set to buy RAV Water Treatment I B.V. for €943.68 million, according to Reuters.
