• Netherlands: Nanoscientists find long-sought Majorana particle
• Netherlands Antilles islands become self-governing

• Oil spill fouls Curacao shore, threatens flamingos

---

Positive Trends
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Netherlands: Nanoscientists find long-sought Majorana particle
12 April 2012 - Physicists at the Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, have achieved a milestone that might soon revolutionize the world of quantum computing, quantum physics, and shed new light on the mystery of the dark matter in our universe. Experimenting with nanoelectronics, a group led by nanoscientist Leo Kouwenhoven has succeeded in detecting the elusive Majorana fermion in the laboratory, without the need for a particle accelerator. (more)

Netherlands Antilles islands become self-governing
30 January 2006 - The five Caribbean islands known as The Netherlands Antilles, which have been a single member of the Netherlands Kingdom and under Dutch military protection, are set to become self-governing. Under a new structure, Curacao and St Maarten will become separate, autonomous members of the Kingdom, while Bonaire, Saba, and St Eustatius are due to become Kingdom Islands, a newly created status that has yet to be defined. (more)

---

Flops
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Oil spill fouls Curacao shore, threatens flamingos
27 August 2012 - An extensive fuel spill has fouled a stretch of shoreline and oiled pink flamingos and other wildlife in a nature preserve in Curacao, conservationists and residents of the tiny Dutch Caribbean island said Monday. 'This is probably the biggest (environmental) disaster in Curacao,' said Peter van Leeuwen of the Stichting SMOC group. 'The whole area of Jan Kok is black. The birds are black. The crabs are black. The plants are black. Everything is draped in oil.' Van Leeuwen said the spill started threatening wildlife sometime last week but cleanup efforts by the company only recently got under way at the nature reserve, no more than 1,000 metres away from big tanks where Petroleos de Venezuela SA stores thousands of gallons of crude oil. Curacao-based journalist Dick Drayer, who covers the Netherlands Antilles for Dutch television, estimated that the spill covers an area 'of around 30 soccer fields.' He added that three distinct oil slicks are floating offshore and are 'threatening the southern coast of Curacao.' (more)