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 ...
TNT Express in Milan has been infiltrated by the mafia. The Italian justice ministry has intervened and will be at the helm of the packages delivery company for the coming six months. It appears that dozens of smaller courier companies that work for TNT are run by the ‘Ndrangheta, the Calabrian branch of the mafia. TNT was under the impression that they were independent companies but it has transpired the couriers were a cover for organised... [more]
The European Commission will allocate an extra 110 million euros (96.5 million pounds) towards the cost of building a new shelter over the Chernobyl nuclear reactor which blew up in 1986, commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said on Monday. “Tomorrow I will be ready to declare extra money put forward by the European Commission of the order of 110 million euros,” Barroso told Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, Interfax... [more]
European and IMF officials went into tough talks with Portugal Monday on the terms and conditions of a bailout as a Finnish anti-EU party’s election success cast doubt on its viability. Negotiations on a deal expected to be worth up to 80 billion euros ($115 billion) follow a technical mission last week to Lisbon by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The government of Prime Minister... [more]
Ex-Ukrainian premier Yulia Tymoshenko signed the 2009 gas deal with Russia without consent from her cabinet, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka said. “Tymoshenko made this decision, which was economically unfavorable for the state, single-handedly, without coordinating it with the government,” Pshonka told the Inter TV channel on Sunday. Last week, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s office launched a criminal... [more]
Toyota Motor Corp. resumed car production at all of its plants in Japan Monday for the first time since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, but said the factories will run at half capacity due to parts shortages. The world’s No. 1 automaker said it was still struggling to secure around 150 types of auto parts. The magnitude-9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami destroyed parts factories in northeastern Japan, causing severe shortages... [more]
Would you spend more than $12,000 on a Pez dispenser commemorating the upcoming royal wedding? Would you do it for charity? It appears someone is prepared to fork over that kind of cash for a plastic wedding memento, as an auction for a special edition set of William and Kate Pez dispensers closed Sunday evening with an official winning bid of 8,200 pounds. That’s $12,869.90 in Canadian funds, according to the Bank of Canada’s... [more]
A Swedish woman accused of trumping up rape accusations while on holiday in Greece exemplifies a persistant view in the Mediterranean country that Swedish women bring false rape complaints to get payouts from special ‘rape insurance’. In 2008, Swedish ‘Anna’ went on holiday to the Greek island of Samos. On her last night she claimed to have been brutally raped and beaten, according to Sweden’s TV4. After reporting... [more]
Swiss food giant Nestle said Friday its first quarter sales fell 9.3 percent, hit by the strong Swiss franc and costs arising from its sale of eyecare group Alcon. Sales for the period fell to 20.3 billion francs (€15.7 billion). “Sales were impacted by -9.8 percent from foreign exchange and by -5.9 percent from divestitures net of acquisitions,” the group said in a statement. The world’s biggest food company also... [more]
Greece on Friday unveiled plans for a massive sale of state assets, designed to raise some 15 billion euros ($22 billion) by 2013 in order to reduce its huge debt and put its struggling recovery on track. The government said it would privatise the country’s main electricity provider PPC — previously a sacred cow whose sale had been resisted — and would further reduce its 20-percent stake in main telecoms operator OTE. “In... [more]
The Iran Committee wants Dutch businesses to boycott the Iran Oil Show which is scheduled to be held from 16 to 19 April in Tehran. The Committee says their participation would undermine EU sanctions against the Iranian regime. The Iran Committee is a foundation created by Dutch citizens concerned about the government’s Iran policy. At the Oil Show, business in the energy sector will be given an opportunity to present themselves and gain... [more]
