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 ...
Queen Beatrix is right to say Geert Wilders is talking nonsense by describing Muslim headscarves as a symbol of female oppression, prime minister Mark Rutte said on Friday after the weekly cabinet meeting. ‘There are an awful lot of women who wear headscarves and they are not all oppressed,’ Rutte said. On Thursday, the queen, who was on a state visit to Oman, told reporters Wilders was talking nonsense for criticising her decision... [more]
The anti-Islam PVV in Limburg has sacked one of its provincial councillors for describing a Labour party colleague as ‘a piece of sicked-up halal meat made from a Turkish pig’. The comment was made a year ago by PVV number two Cor Bosman in an email to 20 supporters after Labour councillor Selçuk Öztürk gave an interview to a local magazine. The decision to sack Bosman was taken at an emergency meeting on Friday morning after news... [more]
First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy says she is ready to hit the campaign trail for her husband President Nicolas Sarkozy. “If my husband is candidate for the presidential elections, I will take part as much as possible,” Bruni-Sarkozy told Le Parisien. Sarkozy has not yet officially confirmed that he will run in this year’s presidential elections, but in reality there is little doubt in France that he will. Bruni-Sarkozy... [more]
SStandard & Poor’s has decided to downgrade France’s top-notch credit rating but will spare Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, an EU government source told AFP on Friday. “France loses its triple-A rating,” the source said on condition of anonymity. Standard and Poor’s Corp earlier on Friday declined to comment on rumours on the markets that it was about to downgrade several eurozone... [more]
Today is Friday, Jan. 13, the 13th day of 2012. There are 353 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Jan. 13, 1982, an Air Florida 737 crashed into Washington, D.C.’s 14th Street Bridge and fell into the Potomac River after taking off during a snowstorm, killing a total of 78 people; four passengers and a flight attendant survived. (Half an hour after the Air Florida crash, a Washington Metro train... [more]
Eleven employees of a Neo-Nazi internet radio station were handed suspended sentences in the western German town of Koblenz Thursday. A twelfth worker was imprisoned for two years because he carried previous offences. The judge found all twelve accused guilty of supporting a criminal organization and inciting racial hatred. The station was found to have called on listeners to commit criminal acts. All of the accused admitted to working as... [more]
When Russell Brand announced on December 30 that he was divorcing Katy Perry, it wasn’t just their fans that were caught off guard. “I was shocked when I found out,” a source who knows the couple tells PEOPLE. “I was really surprised that Russell filed for divorce so quickly — especially at Christmas time.” Continues the source: “I thought they would be together for a long time. Maybe not forever... [more]
ARGENTINA’s President Cristina Kirchner underwent surgery for thyroid cancer and emerged “without any problem,” her spokesman said. Kirchner had the surgery on Wednesday to remove her thyroid gland in the city of Pilar, 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Buenos Aires. “The operation was performed on the president without any problem or complication,” spokesman Alfredo Scoccimarro said in front of Hospital Austral,... [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]
Early results in the Iowa caucuses show that Mitt Romney has won the contest, with social conservative Rick Santorum coming a close second. The former Massachusetts governor edged out a win in the first caucus of the Republican race with 30,015 votes, as ex Pennsylvania senator Santorum came just eight votes behind with 30,007. As the count nears its end, results show Ron Paul finishing in third place and veteran firebrand Newt Gingrich... [more]
