Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Tuesday he is resolved to settle a longstanding territorial dispute with Russia at an annual rally calling for the return of all four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido in northern Japan, the Kyodo news agency reported. "We'll continue to make steady and determined efforts to move ahead with negotiations," Noda said, stressing the need to sign a peace treaty with Russia. The four islands - which Russia calls the Southern Kurils and Japan calls the Northern Territories - has been the subject of a territorial dispute between the two nations since the end of World War ...
Amanda Knox's Italian lawyer has filed an appeal of her slander conviction in Italy, a Knox family spokesman inSeattle said Monday. In October, an Italian appeals court overturned the young Seattle woman's murder conviction in the 2007 death of her British roommate in Perugia. But the same court upheld Knox's conviction for slander — for falsely accusing bar owner Diya "Patrick" Lumumba of involvement in the slaying. Lumumba was freed after two weeks in prison for lack of evidence. Knox later said she was "manipulated" during her lengthy police interrogation. An appeal of the slander conviction was filed Monday, Knox family spokesman Dave Marriott confirmed. He doesn't know when the Italian ...
The Dutch railway will remain 'vulnerable' during wintry weather but Dutch Rail (NS) and track operator ProRail did not help matters during the current cold snap by the late introduction of schedule adjustments to cope with the conditions, transport minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen told parliament in a briefing on Tuesday. The NS and ProRail assumed on Thursday of last week that there would be three to five centimetres of snow. When the forecast was increased on Friday morning to between 10 and 15 centimetres, it was too late to change the timetables automatically, Schultz van Haegen told parliament. Drivers and conductors ...
Greece can leave the eurozone without damaging monetary union, European digital affairs commissioner Neelie Kroes says in an interview with the Volkskrant on Tuesday. Kroes, a member of the Dutch ruling right-wing Liberal party VVD, is not a supporter of Greece exchanging the euro for the drachma, but says: 'It is absolutely not a case of man overboard if someone leaves the eurozone.' The commissioner is very critical of the new Greek government and says they are not fulfilling their promises. 'Too few spending cuts, too little restructuring,' she says. She says the Greeks should follow the example of Italy where the new ...
Mitt Romney hopes his presidential campaign hasn't ignored Rick Santorum's aggressive attacks for too long, as caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota on Tuesday could reshuffle the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Santorum largely bypassed Florida and Nevada to blanket the two caucus states with criticism of Romney and lay the groundwork among conservatives who have great sway in the process. RivalNewt Gingrich praised Santorum's strategy as shrewd even as he signaled he had no interest in exiting the four-way race, which also includes Ron Paul. "I think that Santorum's going to have a pretty good day," Gingrich told reporters on the eve of the caucuses. "He targeted differently than I ...
Glencore and Xstrata agreed an all-share merger worth $90 billion (56 billion pounds) on Tuesday in the industry's largest ever deal, creating a commodities powerhouse spanning mining, agriculture and trading. Glencore, the world's largest diversified commodities tradinghouse, will issue 2.8 new shares for each Xstrata share in a deal they said was a "merger of equals." The ratio is a 15.2 percent premium to Xstrata shareholders compared with its share price last Wednesday before word leaked out about the merger talks, a joint statement said. "A merger between Glencore and Xstrata offers a unique opportunity to create a new business model in our industry to respond to ...
US White House hopeful Mitt Romney aims for another big caucus win in Colorado on Tuesday, as his well-oiled campaign machine works to cement his position as the Republican front runner in the US presidential race. Polls suggest he should triumph easily in the western US state -- where he scored 60 percent in 2008 -- although there is a tighter race in Minnesota, where last-placed Rick Santorum is hoping to snatch a win. Romney's main rival, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, is battling to stay in the race after two heavy losses in a row to the former Massachusetts governor, who ...
As President Christian Wulff remains mired in allegations of impropriety, anti-corruption group Transparency International (TI) has called for politicians to use the case as a chance to open up German politics. “We are very concerned that people seem to be starting to think that all politicians behave like Wulff, and that would be fatal,” Christian Humborg, TI Germany’s managing director told The Local. “I think the Wulff affair is a wonderful opportunity for German politicians to react to the cynical attitude that this is normal, and improve things,” he said. He said the fact that the authorities were investigating whether Wulff and his ...
German Chancellor Angela Merkel threw her weight behind French President Nicolas Sarkozy in his tough re-election battle on Monday, saying the two right-wingers were from the same "political family". Despite accusations in both countries of interference, Merkel used a visit to Paris for a joint Franco-German cabinet session to make clear her support for Sarkozy, who has increasingly cited Germany as a model for France. "We belong to the same political family. He supported me and it is natural that I support him in his campaign," Merkel said during a joint television interview with Sarkozy to be broadcast later on French and ...
Swedish prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt thinks that Swedes need to be prepared to work a lot longer than they do today in order to keep the same living standard as when they were working. “The pensions scheme isn’t based on magic. It is a welfare ambition based on large-scale re-distribution and citizens’ own work. If people think that we can live longer and shorten our work life, then pensions will get lower,” Reinfeldt said in interview with daily Dagens Nyheter (DN). According to Reinfeldt, the expectation to retire at 65 is a problem in Sweden today. He thinks that Swedes may have to ...
SAN FRANCISCO – Google Inc. is determined to gain more influence over how the Web is used on mobile phones, even if the next step in the quest tramples some of the relationships forged during its two-year expansion into the wireless industry. The focus on Google‘s mobile ambitions is sharpening now that the Internet search leader is working on a new phone called “Nexus One.” The handset is being tested by Google’s... [more]
GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. – As a winter storm barreled towardMount Hood, rescuers raced to find two experienced climbers missing for four days on Oregon’s highest peak. A military Black Hawk helicopter spent Monday scanning the upper reaches of the mountain as ground teams fanned out below. But the desperate search ended for the day as darkness fell and the storm approached. “No sign at all,” said Monty Smith, a member... [more]
WASHINGTON – The end game at hand, Senate Democrats appeared ready to jettison a proposed Medicare expansion from sweeping health care legislation Monday in a bid to remove the largest remaining obstacle in the way of Christmas-week passage of the measure. “Democrats aren’t going to let the American people down. We all stand shoulder-to-shoulder,” Majority Leader Harry Reid said after a closed-door meeting called to... [more]
Google Caffeine is the name given to Google’s “Next Generation” search engine, which it will use to rank and index all the pages on the wonderful world wide web. According to all indications, this is not just another one of Google’s infamous Updates, but a major “Overhaul” of its index and algorithm, the complex formula and calculations Google uses to rank all web pages, including yours. If that doesn’t... [more]
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Aaron Rodgers threw touchdown passes to Jermichael Finley and Donald Driver, giving the Green Bay Packers a 17-0 lead over the Baltimore Ravens at halftime on a chilly Monday night. Rodgers, who went 16 of 24 for 147 yards and an interception in the first half, engineered two late scoring drives to turn a defensive slugfest into a comfortable lead. Inside of 2 minutes, Rodgers scrambled for 23 yards to put Green Bay... [more]
MOJAVE, Calif. – The sleek, bullet-shaped spacecraft is about the size of a large business jet — with wide windows and seats for six well-heeled passengers to take a thrill ride into space. It’s billed as the world’s first commercial spaceship, designed to be carried aloft by an exotic jet before firing its rocket engine to climb beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. In a Hollywood-style rollout, Virgin Galactic on Monday... [more]
SAN FRANCISCO – A consumer group that reported several of the holiday season’s must-have toys are unsafe wants to make a correction. Good Guide says it was wrong to claim in a Saturday statement that Zhu Zhu Pets robotic hamsters and International Playthings‘ My First Purse contained levels of the heavy metal antimony that exceed federal limits. It had also said too much of the chemical chromium was found in the Bakugan 7-in-1... [more]
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. – The nation’s highest-ranking military officer told soldiers and Marines on Monday that the insurgency inAfghanistan has grown in the last three years and he expects casualties to rise next year as additional U.S. troops pour into the war. “This is the most dangerous time I’ve seen growing up the last four decades in uniform,” Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told... [more]
WINDERMERE, Fla. – A Florida trooper who suspected Tiger Woodswas driving under the influence sought a subpoena for the golfer’s blood results from the hospital he was taken to after crashing his SUV, but prosecutors rejected the petition for insufficient information, according to a police report released Monday. A witness, who wasn’t identified in the report, told trooper Joshua Evans that Woods had been drinking alcohol... [more]
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Fresh information from blogs, news sites,Twitter and other popular hangouts will appear in Google‘s search results more quickly as the company aims to give people a more comprehensive look at what’s happening on the Web. The feature unveiled Monday represents Google Inc.‘s most significant step yet in the field of “real-time” search — a catch phrase for the torrent of information... [more]
