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 ...
Terrorism, global health, the environment, the financial crisis and peace keeping efforts were main themes in Prime Minister Jens Stolteberg’s address to the Nation on New Year’s Day. Many people were deeply affected by the events of 22 July last year, Stoltenberg said. Fathers, mothers, siblings and grandparents had to follow their loved ones to their graves. - It was heartbreaking. I have thought of the survivors and the... [more]
Embattled German President Christian Wulff has been accused of trying to block the first reports of his financial affairs by threatening criminal charges against journalists working on the story – leaving a furious rant on an answer machine. When he realised that the country’s biggest-selling newspaper Bild was about to publish details of a €500,000 load he got from the wife of a businessman friend but had not declared, Wulff apparently... [more]
Greece is already seeing its first strike of the year, with pharmacists and doctors walking off the job to protest health sector reforms that include cuts in drug prices. Pharmacists across the country began a 48-hour strike Monday to protest government plans to trim their profits by cutting the retail prices of drugs. They are also demanding payment of hundreds of thousands of euros owed by social insurance funds. State hospital doctors... [more]
From Spain’s “indignados” protesters to Occupy Wall Street, 2011 was the year when people power, fueled by frustration at a deepening financial crisis, confronted the Western world’s elites. Initially it was the drama in North Africa that gripped the world, starting with Tunisians ousting president-for-life Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, then sweeping unstoppably — and increasingly bloodily — through Egypt,... [more]
An unholy row erupted between Greek Orthodox and Armenian clergy over the cleaning of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, an AFP correspondent said. Following Christmas celebrations, dozens of black-clad clerics from both churches, armed with brooms and cleaning materials, began to work on different parts of the church, built over the site where Jesus Christ is believed to have been born. But an Armenian priest supervising the work... [more]
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Wednesday rejected calls to hold talks with opposition leaders who have brought tens of thousands of Russians into the streets to demand an end to his 12-year rule, saying he doesn’t know what the demonstrators want or who he would talk to. Putin has belittled the opposition even as his government has rolled out a set of proposed reforms in response to outrage over the Dec. 4 election for parliament,... [more]
Prince Philip may have missed the royal family’s traditional Christmas celebrations, but he will be home in time to ring in the New Year. The 90-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth II was released from Papworth Hospital in Cambridge early today after spending four nights there to undergo treatment for a blocked coronary artery. Philip was seen smiling and waving to bystanders as he was driven away from the hospital to begin the... [more]
ARGENTINE President Cristina Kirchner has thanked her Latin American peers for their support in her first public appearance since she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. “I am going to continue working with the greatest commitment,” she said as she met the country’s governors at her presidential palace today, one day after her spokesman announced that she would have surgery next week. She said Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez,... [more]
The funeral of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il unfolded across the snow-laden streets of Pyongyang on Wednesday, with the secretive regime displaying its ability to choreograph elaborate state ceremonies. A North Korean state television broadcast of the services showed a tearful Kim Jong Un, the son and chosen successor of Kim Jong Il, trudging through the snow alongside a black car, which carried a giant portrait of a smiling Kim. Other... [more]
THE most admired man and woman in America are US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to an annual USA Today/Gallup Poll released Tuesday. The poll, which surveyed 1019 US adults between December 15-18, showed a raft of familiar names in the Top Ten list, along with some unexpected ties. Finishing behind Obama on the men’s list were former President George W. Bush at number two, former President... [more]
