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 ...
Asian stock markets rose Friday, driven higher by a successful bond issue inEurope that eased worries over the continent’s sovereign debt crisis. Benchmark oil rose to nearly $100 per barrel and the dollar fell against the euro but was steady against the yen. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gained 1.1 percent to 8,479.24 and South Korea’s Kospi index edged up 0.2 percent at 1,867.17. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 was 0.4... [more]
U.S. allies in Asia and Europe voiced support for Washington’s drive to cut Iran’s oil exports, although fear of self-inflicted pain is curbing enthusiasm for an embargo thatTehran says will not halt its nuclear program. The speaker of Iran’s parliament, Ali Larijani, said on Thursday that the nuclear program was also too strong to be derailed by assassinations of nuclear scientists, a day after the fourth such killing. As... [more]
North Korea fired three short-range missiles this week in an apparent routine test of its technology, a South Korean official said Friday. The North fired the KN-02 missiles, which are usually deployed against ground targets and have a range of about 75 miles (120 kilometers), into its eastern waters on Wednesday, a Defense Ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of ministry policy. Japan’s Sankei Shimbun... [more]
Australian carrier Qantas and Singapore Airlines Friday reassured passengers there was no risk to safety after cracks were found on the wings of several A380 superjumbos, including some in their fleets. Airbus revealed Thursday that “minor cracks” had been found on some jets, but the European planemaker said they posed no safety problem and recommended a way they could be fixed. Qantas said the cracks had been found on one of... [more]
A Chinese billionaire is dead after apparently ingesting some slow-boiled cat meat stew — though it wasn’t the cat meat that killed him. Police in southern China have detained a local official on suspicionof poisoning the stew at the restaurant where the two were eating in Guangdong province on Dec. 23. Agriculture official Huang Guang, billionaire Long Liyuan and a third diner were sharing a cat meat hot pot — a local delicacy... [more]
A MAN who has a 90kg tumour on his leg will today undergo surgery on the massive growth. Dr McKay McKinnon, who has successfully treated similar tumour cases, is scheduled to operate on Vietnamese man Nguyen Duy Hai today. The operation has a 50 per cent success rate. “It’s common for people to fear death, and I’m no exception. But when I heard that Dr McKinnon had decided to come back to Vietnam one more time to give me a new... [more]
SOUTH Korea said it would set up a fund this year to prepare for eventual reunification with North Korea, as the death of the North’s longtime leader Kim Jong-Il refocused attention on the issue. The unification ministry, which handles cross-border relations, said one of its policy priorities this year was practical preparations for reunification including the fund. In a policy document it also vowed actively to engage in “reunification... [more]
Chinese airlines will not pay a charge on carbon emissions imposed by the European Union from January 1, a national aviation industry group said Thursday. The cap-and-trade scheme, which has angered the US and Chinese governments and airlines worldwide, came into force on Sunday after the European Union’s highest court rejected a challenge brought by US carriers last month. “China, of course, will not cooperate with the... [more]
The businessman has published his presidential pre-election program. Mikhail Prokhorov has become the first presidential candidate to publish his pre-election program. It is entitled “The Present and the Future”. In it, he compares his views with the policies conducted by Vladimir Putin, promising radical changes and reassessment of the relationship between the people and the government. The candidate calls on voters not to wait for... [more]
A single, reunified Korea has long been a cherished dream of people on both sides of the world’s most heavily fortified border. South Korea even has a Cabinet-level ministry preparing for the day. And while Kim Jong Il’s death last month has raised those hopes higher among some in Seoul, few are eager to talk about the cold reality: Sudden reunification could be traumatic for both countries. Any North Korean collapse and... [more]
