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 ...
British arms manufacturer BAE Systems said on Monday that it would writedown 592 million pounds (681 million euros, 929 million dollars) on 2009 earnings after failing to win a US military contract. BAE Systems, which publishes its annual results on Thursday, said it had lost an appeal against a US government decision last year not to award the group’s US unit Armor Holdings a follow-on contract to make military trucks. “With... [more]
BEIJING Olympian and former world cycling champion Mark Ian Jamieson has admitted to multiple child sex charges. The 25-year-old Tasmanian appeared before the South Australian District Court today and pleaded guilty to four counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and one count of indecent assault. He also pleaded not guilty to one count of gross indecency. The charges related to alleged conduct in Adelaide between November 2008 and January... [more]
Italy should avoid “ghettos” dominated by single ethnic groups, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said in an interview published Monday after deadly inter-ethnic violence in northern Milan. “We need to try to avoid the concentration of ethnicities in a same area, which could lead to the creation of ghettos,” Maroni told the leading daily Corriere della Sera. The stabbing death of an Egyptian youth blamed on Peruvian... [more]
Japanese Finance Minister Naoto Kan said he was open to debating sales tax reform, suggesting the government may consider raising the tax to help fund its spending programs focused on supporting households. Many analysts say the government will have no choice but to raise theconsumption tax, now at 5 percent, to make up for falling overall tax revenues and a likely rise in welfare spending due to the country’saging population. Prime... [more]
Reports from Belgium say at least 20 people have been killed in a head-on collision between two trains outside the capital, Brussels. Two rush-hour passenger trains have collided head-on in a suburban Brussels train station. There was no immediate word on the cause of Monday’s crash at the station of Buizingen, a town southwest of the Belgian capital. Belgian media said several people were injured in the collision in snowy conditions. Railway... [more]
NATION TOTAL United States 1 2 3 6 Germany 1 3 0 4 France 2 0 1 3 Canada 1 1 1 3 South Korea 1 1 0 2 Italy 0 0 2 2 Slovakia 1 0 0 1 Switzerland 1 0 0 1 Netherlands 1 0 0 1 Czech Republic 1 0 0 1 Poland 0 1 0 1 Norway 0 1 0 1 Australia 0 1 0 1 Russia 0 0 1 1 Croatia 0 0 1 1 Austria 0 0 1 1 Total 10 10 10 30 Share this: {lang: 'en-US'} function... [more]
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday that she feared Iran is moving “toward a military dictatorship,” with enterprises controlled by the Revolutionary Guard “supplanting” the government. The US chief diplomat told students in Qatar that the United States was not seeking to use military action against Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions but rather seeking to use international pressure through the UN... [more]
Kevin Smith has unleashed a tirade on Twitter after being told by Southwest Airlines that he was a ‘safety concern’ In the age of micro-blogging it will never be a wise move to bar an outspoken and popular filmmaker from a passenger aeroplane because of his size. Having done just that to Kevin Smith, who is the director of films such as Clerks and Chasing Amy, Southwest Airlines was forced into hasty public apology after he... [more]
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou will pay a working visit to Russia on Monday at the invitation of his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said. The sides are due to discuss a wide specter of bilateral cooperation issues, including the economy, energy, and military and technical matters. The Greek Foreign Ministry said Papandreou and Putin were also expected to discuss Russia’s relations with NATO, European Union... [more]
Move aside Madonna and watch out Barry White. The winner of the sexiest song of all time is – Olivia Newton-John with “Physical,” according to music publication Billboard. Billboard has come up with a list of the 50 most popular songs about sex in time for Valentine’s Day with each song given points according to its performance on the Billboard hot 100 chart from August 1958 until January this year. “Physical,”... [more]
