Around 480 people were stranded on a high-speed train linking Amsterdam to Paris after a fire in its engine that hospitalized the train's driver, the rail company and emergency services said.

Some 20 high-speed TGV, Thalys and Eurostar cross-Channel trains have been diverted as a result of the incident, each suffering a delay of "around 30 minutes,” national rail operator SNCF said.

Airport police evacuated two terminals at Amsterdam's busy Schiphol Airport on Monday after receiving a bomb threat, a spokesman for the force said.

Officers evacuated two departure halls as they investigated the threat, said airport police spokesman Martijn Beelen. He gave no further details of the threat.

An elephant in Amsterdam's zoo has made history after being fitted with a jumbo-sized contact lens following an eye injury, a statement said Monday.

"Win Thida is the first elephant in Europe with a contact lens," the Artis zoo said on its website.

A placard reading "Bed Peace", which was made by former Beatle John Lennon during his peace-in with wife Yoko Ono at a Canadian hotel, has fetched almost £100,000 at a London auction.

The sign, sold at Christie's auction house on Tuesday, was bought by an anonymous telephone bidder for £97,250 ($153,835, 113,670 euros).

Dutch brewer Heineken published a one percent climb in net profit for the third quarter Wednesday, saying strong sales in Africa and elsewhere offset the impact of poor summer weather in Europe.

Net profit reached 525 million Euros (U$731 million) in the July-September period, while sales grew slightly by 0.6 percent from last year to 4.65 billion Euros, despite the disadvantage of a strong euro, the company said.

The Van Gogh Museum says it is shutting its doors for six months for renovations starting next year, the latest major Dutch museum to close for reconstruction.

Director Axel Rueger said Friday the museum's most important paintings will move to the Hermitage Amsterdam so they can still be viewed during the work, scheduled to last from October 2012 through March 2013.

Dutch airline KLM announced on Wednesday that it will use a biofuel generated from used cooking oil to power more than 200 commercial flights between Paris and Amsterdam starting in September.

"There will be 50 percent traditional kerosene and 50 percent biofuel extracted from used cooking oil," KLM spokesman Gedi Schrijver told Agence France Presse, adding that KLM is the first airline to use this type of fuel in commercial flights.

An Amsterdam court Thursday acquitted Dutch far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders on charges of hate speech and discrimination for statements he made attacking Islam.

"You are being acquitted on all the charges that were put against you," Judge Marcel van Oosten said, reiterating an argument last month by the prosecution that charges against Wilders should be dropped.

Art researchers at Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum said Tuesday they have "discovered" a work by Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh -- long thought to have been a self-portrait -- was in fact a picture of his younger brother Theo.

"According to current opinion, Vincent van Gogh never painted his brother Theo, on whom he was dependent," the Van Gogh Museum said in a statement.

British luxury handbag maker Mulberry said Thursday that annual profits more than quadrupled, as the group celebrated its 40th anniversary with stunning sales growth and eyed more global expansion.

Pre-tax earnings rocketed by a staggering 358 percent to £23.3 million ($37.6 million, 26.6 million Euros) in the 12 months to the end of March, Mulberry said in a results statement.