Eurozone finance ministers were to confer by telephone on Saturday after 12 hours of talks in Athens failed to produce a breakthrough on a deal to bail out Greece, the Greek finance minister said. Evangelos Venizelos added that a planned meeting by eurozone ministers on Greece originally scheduled for Monday would now be held on Wednesday. "I will participate in a Eurogroup telephone conference at 1230 GMT" to discuss details of a rescue deal for Greece worth 130 billion euros ($171 billion) which officials have been trying to seal since October, the minister said in a statement. "Critical issues pertaining to the country's ...
Australia's flood crisis deepened Saturday as authorities braced for waters to peak in Queensland where one woman is missing after being swept away while elsewhere thousands remain stranded by the surge. Prime Minister Julia Gillard said eight military helicopters would help in search, evacuation and resupply missions in the eastern state, where days of heavy rainfall have prompted hundreds of evacuations and dozens of rescues. "The helicopters will be available to assist in rescue operations as required until the immediate crisis has passed," Gillard said in a statement. In the inland Queensland town of Charleville authorities are on alert amid fears a temporary ...
Tens of thousands people are braving the bitter cold at two major rallies in downtown Moscow on Saturday as a power play between champions of political liberalization and supporters of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin continues to unfold. The first demonstration demands fair elections at the March 4 presidential polls, at which Putin is expected to secure a third term in the Kremlin. It also calls on Russians “not to give a single vote” to Putin. The opposition rally is widely seen by analysts as a litmus test of protesters’ ability to maintain momentum after two earlier protests against alleged vote fraud in favor of ...
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday wrapped up a visit to China where she tried to reassure her hosts on the strength of the euro and Europe's ability to overcome its debt crisis. During her three-day trip to the world's second largest economy, Merkel praised the advantages of the single currency and urged China to put pressure on Iran and to condemn Syria at the United Nations. Merkel, who was prevented from meeting journalists and a human rights lawyers, ended her official visit in the southern city of Guangzhou, Xinhua news agency reported. Merkel, who held talks with Premier Wen Jiabao and President ...
Norway’s government has said it wants non-European immigrants to carry residency cards equipped with data chips bearing their fingerprints. In a proposal presented on Friday, the justice ministry said the new identity cards would help tackle illegal immigration. “The residency card system will increase security surrounding residency permit documentation, thereby contributing to the prevention of illegal immigration and illegal residency,” said Justice Minister Grete Faremo (Labour Party) in a statement. The move follows pressure from the European Union to ensure that immigrants from outside the European Economic Area, of which Norway is a member, are provided with residency cards that include fingerprint details. Faremo ...
Greece expects its 2011 budget deficit will be smaller than expected at between 9.1 and 9.4 percent of GDP, thanks to an emergency property tax, a finance ministry official said on Friday, a development that could help Athens in its bailout talks with the EU and IMF. Greece, which is racing to complete talks with the EU and the IMF on a second bailout worth 130 billion euros, had previously estimated that the deficit would be above 9.5 percent of GDP. "The numbers aren't final yet but we believe the deficit will come in at between 9.1 and 9.4 percent (of GDP)," ...
China has rejected Japanese protests over alleged improper exploration of gas deposits in the East China Sea. The Foreign Ministry said Friday the recent activity had taken place within Chinese-controlled waters and was completely normal. A ministry statement said China was strongly dissatisfied with recent comments from Japanese officials. Japan's chief Cabinet secretary on Wednesday said Japan protested to China after a flare was seen a day earlier at a Chinese structure at an undersea gas deposit. The deposit, known as Kashi in Japan and Tianwaitian in China, sits near a median line in the countries' overlapping exclusive economic zones. Japan and China agreed ...
The leader of Russia's Islamist rebels ordered a halt to attacks on civilians, saying mass opposition protests showed the public no longer supported Vladimir Putin, according to a video posted Friday. Doku Umarov, whose Caucasus Emirate group claimed atrocities including a deadly Moscow airport bombing in 2011 and a metro attack in 2010, said from now only security objects and officials would be targeted. "I order all special groups that are carrying out or plan to carry out special operations in Russia to put a halt to these operations that could hurt the peaceful population," Doku Umarov said in a video address ...
China's Premier Wen Jiabao said Friday the Asian giant had neither the ability nor the intention to "buy Europe", amid concerns over growing Chinese investment in debt-stricken eurozone economies. China is "willing to cooperate with Europe to fight the current crisis. Some people say this means China wants to buy Europe", Wen told a German-China business forum in the southern city of Guangzhou. "This a concern and doesn't fit reality. China doesn't have this intention and doesn't have this ability." German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in China for a three-day visit to boost her host's confidence in Europe, also attended the forum along with ...
Energy Secretary Chris Huhne is to resign from the Government after it emerged he is to face prosecution over allegations that he asked his ex-wife to take a speeding penalty for him. The Liberal Democrat MP has been charged with perverting the course of justice after an investigation into the 2003 incident by Essex Police. His former wife, the economist Vicky Pryce is also facing charges of perverting the course of justice. They are due to appear before Westminster Magistrates' Court on February 16. The maximum sentence for perverting the course of justice is life in prison, the CPS and the Sentencing ...
The tax break which couples can claim if one partner does not work should be scrapped and replaced by a legal entitlement to flexible working hours, a government commission recommended on Tuesday. The part time work commission was set up two years ago to look at ways to stimulate more women to work. Seven out of 10 Dutch women have some sort of paid employment, but half of them work fewer than 25 hours a week. ‘There is a lot of talk... [more]
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is highly likely to visit China soon, South Korea’s presidential office said Wednesday, a move that could signal his country’s return to nuclear disarmament talks. “There is a high level of possibility that Kim Jong-Il will pay a visit to China. We are closely monitoring the situation,” presidential spokeswoman Kim Eun-Hye told a briefing, declining to elaborate. Yonhap news agency... [more]
Two blasts, one set off by a suicide bomber, rocked Kizlyar in Russia’s Dagestan region on Wednesday, killing at least 11 people just two days after twin bombs hit Moscow, officials told. Investigators said a suicide bomber dressed in a police uniform set off the second of the blasts in Dagestan, which followed the two bombings in Moscow that killed 39 people and which authorities blamed on female suicide attackers with links to insurgents... [more]
Leftist FARC rebels have released one of their longest held captives, a soldier kidnapped 12 years ago, the Red Cross said after receiving the hostage in the Colombian jungle. It was a “successful operation,” a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross said Tuesday after sergeant Pablo Emilio Moncayo was turned over by rebels at a jungle clearing and flown by helicopter to his awaiting family in Florencia. “You... [more]
Google said that a deeper look at trouble with results at its Chinese-language search engine indicated the cause was “The Great Firewall of China” erected by censors there. The US Internet giant had initially thought that recent changes to its search software had misled China censors into thinking queries were for Radio Free Asia. Google backed off that conclusion after it realized that it had upgraded its search parameters... [more]
EU fisheries subsidies have encouraged overfishing over the years and helped maintain an over-capacity in the industry, according to a study published Wednesday. The study was carried out in 10 European countries — including Britain, Denmark, France and Spain — which accounted for almost all of the 4.9 billion euros of fishing subsidies handed out by Brussels from 2000-2006. “EU fisheries subsidies and the overfishing of... [more]
Today is Wednesday, March 31, the 90th day of 2010. There are 275 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On March 31, 1968, at the conclusion of a nationally broadcast address on Vietnam, President Lyndon B. Johnson stunned his audience by declaring, “I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.” On this date: In 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella... [more]
Vandals in Germany have sabotaged a Google ”Street View” car, police said Tuesday, an apparent act of protest against the navigation servicethat is controversial in the country amid privacy concerns. A Google employee left his specially-modified black Opel with eight mounted cameras parked overnight in the northern city of Oldenburg, but returned to find the tyres let down and the camera cables slashed, police told the... [more]
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble called for greater integration among European Union member states eventually leading to an “economic government” following the Greek debt-crisis. In the wake of the EU’s conflicted response to Greece’s precarious fiscal situation that has pressured the euro, Schäuble said Europe must develop a political counterpart to monetary union. “We need better instruments to enforce the stability... [more]
The International Criminal Court in The Hague has no room to try former president of Liberia Charles Taylor. The trial will probably be moved to the Hariri Tribunal in the Dutch town of Leidschendam. The Taylor case falls under the Special Court for Sierra Leone, but the case was handed over to the Netherlands in 2006 for security reasons. At the time, the ICC had enough time to hear the case, but now that has changed. The trial against... [more]
