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 ...
SOUTH Korean President Lee Myung-Bak has said the door for inter-Korea dialogue is “still open” despite high tensions on the peninsula, holding out the offer of closer economic ties with the North. In his New Year policy address, Mr Lee has also urged Pyongyang to abandon its “military adventurism”, pledging that another threat against “an inch of our territory” will be meet with a strong response. Relations... [more]
Three Russian opposition leaders received short jail terms Sunday for “disobedience towards police” after a rally, a party spokesman said, a sign of a new crackdown on critics of the Kremlin. Boris Nemtsov, a Solidarity leader and Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister in 1997-1998, was sentenced to 15 days in jail, another opposition leader, Konstantin Kosyakin, was given ten days and a third, Ilya Yashin, got five days under... [more]
Investigators in Russia say they have found the “black box” recorders from a passenger jet that caught fire and exploded as it taxied for takeoff in Siberia, killing three people. The Interstate Aviation Committee, which oversees civil aviation in much of the former Soviet Union, said in a statement Sunday that the data and voice recorders from the Tu-154 had been recovered at the accident site in Surgut. The plane belonging... [more]
North Korea began 2011 with calls for improved relations with South Korea after a year of tensions marked by the first deadly attack on a civilian area since the war. “Confrontation between North and South should be defused as early as possible,” a joint New Year editorial of three leading North Korean state newspapers said on Saturday. “Dialogue and cooperation should be promoted proactively,” it said. Relations... [more]
China’s Premier Wen Jiabao is travelling to the country’s northwest where landslides triggered by heavy rain have left over 80 people dead and more than 2,000 missing, state media said Sunday. More than 70 were injured in the landslides in a mainly Tibetan region of Gansu province late Saturday night, state television said. A total of 20,000 people living in Zhouqu county have been evacuated, the report said. Wen has left Beijing... [more]
The Pakistani government on Monday summoned Britain’s high commissioner to Islamabad over remarks made by the British prime minister on the export of terror that sparked a diplomatic row, officials said. Top envoy Adam Thomson went into talks with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at around 11:30 am (0630 GMT). “The British high commissioner was summoned to foreign office today. He is in a meeting with the foreign... [more]
The Norwegian Defence Command fears that the documents published by Wikileaks may pose a danger to Norwegian forces in Afghanistan by revealing how the troops plan and carry out their missions. Wikileaks on Monday published online 92,000 classified military records, detailing the war in Afghanistan in the period from 2004 to 2010, including previously unreported civilian deaths. The reports reveal concerns within Nato that Pakistani intelligence... [more]
EU foreign ministers approved tighter sanctions on Iran over its disputed nuclear programme on Monday, with steps to block oil and gas investment and curtail Tehran’s refining and natural gas capability. The measures go well beyond sanctions imposed by the United Nations last month and mirror steps taken by the United States in recent weeks to apply extra pressure on Tehran to return to negotiations over its uranium enrichment programme. As... [more]
Angelina Jolie whipped up Soviet-era nostalgia and patriotism for Mother Russia at the Moscow premiere of her spy thriller “Salt.” Clad in a floor-length Versace gown she described as “Russian Red,” Jolie blew kisses to thousands of fans who came to watch her play a suspected Russian double agent in the blockbuster, which opened at No. 2 in the U.S. at $36.5 million (23.5 million pounds). “I think this film... [more]
US and South Korean warships staged anti-submarine drills Monday as part of a major naval exercise intended to send a warning to North Korea despite its threats of nuclear retaliation. The two allies, who accuse the North of sending a submarine to torpedo a South Korean warship, have assembled about 20 ships including the 97,000-ton carrier USS George Washington, 200 aircraft and 8,000 personnel. Four F-22 Raptor stealth fighters are flying... [more]
