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 ...
Najaf’s airport was meant to be a symbol of Iraq getting back to business, and in many ways it’s been a success, creating jobs and spurring a construction craze in the Shiite shrine city. But an increasingly bitter dispute between local authorities and the Kuwaiti contractor brought in to run the facility is casting a cloud over one of Iraq’s proudest postwar accomplishments and prompting accusations of political meddling. The... [more]
A majority of Swiss people remain in favour of retaining the country’s long-cherished tradition of bank secrecy despite growing international pressure for greater transparency, a poll showed Sunday. “The Swiss are not ready to give up their banking secrecy,” the Matin Dimanche newspaper said as it published a survey showing 62 percent opposed to any change. In the 15-34 age group, those opposed rose to 68 percent, the newspaper... [more]
Opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych won Ukraine’s presidential election, the country’s Central Election Commission (CEC) officially declared Sunday. In line with the official results, the election’s second round on February 7 gave Yanukovych 48.95%, or 12,481,266 votes, while Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko garnered 45.47%, or 11,593,357 votes. A total of 4.36% voted against all. All CEC members, including five Tymoshenko... [more]
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Today is Sunday, Feb. 14, the 45th day of 2010. There are 320 days left in the year. This is Valentine’s Day. Today’s Highlight in History: On Feb. 14, 1920, the League of Women Voters was founded in Chicago; its first president was Maud Wood Park. On this date: In 1778, the American ship Ranger carried the recently adopted Stars and Stripes to a foreign port for the first time as it arrived in France. In 1859, Oregon was... [more]
Gareth Wigan, a London-born talent agent, film producer and studio executive credited with steering the success of such films as “Star Wars,” died on Saturday in his home at Los Angeles at the age of 78 after a brief illness. Tributes from Hollywood heavyweights from Barbra Streisand to George Lucas and Martin Scorsese poured in for the Oxford graduate, who began his career as an agent in the United Kingdom in the late 1950s... [more]
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday his government was in talks with French retailer Casino to buy 80 percent of the company’s assets in the country. Share this: {lang: 'en-US'} function open_win(url,id) { var win = window.open(url, 'popup','width=600,height=300,status=0,toolbar=0'); var tpopup = setInterval(function() { if(win.closed) { reload_to(); } }, 1000); return false; } function... [more]
Dutch long-distance star Sven Kramer and US sprint standout Shani Davis figure to be the men to catch for gold at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games while Canadian stars are among the women’s favorites. Kramer is a three-time reigning world champion at 5,000m and 10,000m as well as with the Dutch squad in team pursuit. After taking 5,000 silver at the 2006 Torino Games, the four-time European all-round champion eyes gold in Vancouver. “I... [more]
Terror struck Pune this evening when a powerful bomb ripped apart a popular bakery near a Jewish prayer house, killing eight people, including a foreigner, and injuring nearly 40 in the first major attack since 26/11 carnage. The improvised explosive device, kept in an unattended packet outside the kitchen of the German bakery, exploded at around 7.30 pm when a waiter attempted to open it. “It is most probably a terror attack. Forensic... [more]
Lindsey Vonn Alpine Skiing United States She picks up speed and holds it the way a clothes dryer holds lint. “What defines me as a downhiller is my determination and my need for speed. I love going fast,” says Vonn, the favorite in the women’s downhill, super-G and super combined. A skier’s ability to maintain speed through the turns is the difference between Vonn’s ending up on the podium or her posterior.... [more]
Today is Saturday, Feb. 13, the 44th day of 2010. There are 321 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Feb. 13th, 1935, a jury in Flemington, N.J. found Bruno Richard Hauptmann guilty of first-degree murder in the kidnap-slaying of the son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. (Hauptmann was later executed.) On this date: In 1542, the fifth wife of England’s King Henry VIII, Catherine Howard, was executed for adultery. In... [more]
