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 ...
Prince William and bride-to-be Kate Middleton have visited the grave of Princess Diana ahead of next week’s royal wedding, according to reports. The couple are believed to have laid flowers at Diana’s final resting place at the Althorp Estate in Northamptonshire. The revelation comes after Miss Middleton’s parents, Michael and Carole, had lunch with the Queen in what is believed to be the first time the monarch has met... [more]
Greek authorities were saying that Swedish women were out to cash in on fake rape claims as early as 2002. Another Swedish woman has come forward telling the story of how she was mistreated after reporting a rape on the island of Kos in 2002. Last week the case of ‘Anna’, who was told she was trying to cash in on a special Swedish ‘rape insurance’ after reporting a rape in 2008, kicked off a media storm in Sweden. The second woman,... [more]
Portugal, negotiating a debt rescue with the EU and IMF, raised one billion euros ($695 million) on Wednesday but had to pay sharply increased interest rates as markets demanded record returns. Even as Lisbon raised short-term funds, sceptical investors were adding to the pressure on the government by pushing 10-year bond yields to record highs, reflecting their doubts that Portugal’s public finances can be stabilised. In midday trading,... [more]
Spanish police said on Wednesday they had arrested Sicilian mafia fugitive Claudio Adriano Giusto after 13 years on the run for murder and robbery. Giusto, who had been sentenced to 28 years in Italy for shooting dead a man in 1998, was arrested in the northeastern Spanish town of Alcarras by police working with their Italian colleagues and Interpol. “After a search of more than 13 years he was arrested in the Lerida town of Alcarras... [more]
Sila Sahin, a Turkish-German TV actress, has caused a stir by posing nude for the German edition of Playboy. Family members are no longer talking with her but her German boyfriend is defending her decision to bare all. “Sila is a great woman with a fantastic body,“ Jörn Schlönvoigt, 24, told the BZtabloid this week. “It would almost be a shame to deprive other people visually. I find the images beautiful and very well done.” The... [more]
Dutch Crown Prince Willem-Alexander will be camping on an ice cap in Greenland in May. His stay is at the invitation of the World Wildlife Fund. He will be accompanied by polar travellers Philip de Roo and Marc Cornelissen who will help him prepare for the experience. The prince will visit researchers from the European Space Agency, who process the data from the Cryosat satellite from a base in Greenland. Cryosat works out the precise extent... [more]
American internet giant Google has been intercepting private information in the Netherlands via people’s insecure wireless networks, says the Dutch Data Protection Authority (CBP). Google has destroyed the information: the company was threatened with damages imposed on a daily basis in case of non-compliance. The privacy watchdog says Google vehicles, which were taking photographs of Dutch streets for its Street View service, collected... [more]
Sweden’s Prince Carl Philip has been named at the head of list of “the top ten most beautiful royal men”, while his sister Madeleine had to settle for seventh on the female equivalent. The website BeautifulPeople.com describes itself as “an exclusively beautiful community” and promises that they wont be ”filtering through unattractive people” on their pages. The site argues that it is “fair and democratic”,... [more]
Volkswagen unveiled a new “bolder, more dynamic and masculine” model of its iconic Beetle this week – the third generation of the classic German car of which more than 20 million have been sold. The 2012 Beetle “breaks free of the geometry of the previous model” and aims to be more sporty and macho, the Wolfsburg-based carmaker said in a statement released on Monday evening. “The Beetle is now characterised by a clean, self-confident... [more]
The second edition of Mobile Convention Amsterdam kicked off Thursday, welcoming nearly 800 industry professionals from Northern Europe to the Beurs van Berlage. The one-day convention explores the possibilities, challenges and lessons learned in mobile marketing. The event boasts an impressive line-up of speakers addressing brand marketing, media and publishing, business and implementation. Major mobile players scheduled to present include... [more]
