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 ...
There are now 47,600 registered farmers in Norway. This is 5,000 fewer than five years ago. This is shown by official figures from the Norwegian Agricultural Authority. - I am much concerned over the fact that the reduction is this high, says head of the Norwegian Farmers’ Association (Norges Bondelag) to the newspaper Nationen. In the same period the farm land in production has been reduced by 35,000 acres, NRK reports. Share this:... [more]
All TNT postal delivery workers who work more than 25 hours a week are to lose their jobs, the Telegraaf reports on Saturday. Delivery staff who work more than 15 hours may also be out of work, depending on the fine-tuning of the reorganisation, the paper says. It is not known how many workers will be affected by the mass redundancy programme. At the beginning of this year, TNT employed some 15,000 full time delivery workers, the paper says. Unions ‘The... [more]
Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed Wednesday night to stick to the government‘s tough savings programme and hit back at criticism fromWashington that austerity by Europe’s biggest economy could put world growth at risk. In the wake of US President Barack Obama’s show of concern that Germany’s belt-tightening could put the brakes on the global recovery, a defiant Merkel said her government would not back away from its plan to slash... [more]
The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy has announced the 21st Licensing Round, comprising 94 blocks or parts of blocks in the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea, 6 fewer than first planned. This announcement will provide a basis for awards to oil companies during spring of 2011. Among the six blocks left out are several blocks near Lofoten and Vesterålen, important spawning grounds for vulnerable fish stocks. However, critics point out... [more]
The city of Bergen’s new Light Rail transport system (Bybanen) was opened Tuesday. The first stage is 9.8 km long and runs from the city center to Nestun, with 15 stops in all. Among the passengers on the inauguration run was Queen Sonja. The old Bergen street car system was closed down in 1965, after the narrow streets filled with parked cars made it impossible for the tramway to operate. Work was started in the 1970s on plans for... [more]
Russia cut natural gas supplies to Belarus on Monday after Minsk failed to settle 200 million dollars in arrears, Gazprom’s chief said, brandishing again the country’s energy clout and raising the spectre of supply disruption to Europe. “The debt has not been paid,” Alexei Miller said in televised remarks. “From 10 am Moscow time on 21 June 2010 we are introducing a regime of limiting supplies of Russian gas... [more]
European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet has blamed Germanyand France for helping to pave the way to the current debt crisis in the eurozone by setting a poor fiscal example. In remarks published on Sunday in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Trichet said that by compromising the European Union’s Stability and Growth Pact in 2004, the powerhouses had allowed budgetary discipline to slacken. “I wish the German public... [more]
The week-long nationwide strike by 2500 security guards is over, after the two sides reached a new wage agreement in the early hours of Sunday morning. Closed airports will be re-opened shortly. Arbitration started 10 am on Saturday. The guards will get a general salary increase of NOK 7.2 an hour. In addition, the rates for working nights and on weekends have been adjusted. The striking guards will return to work as soon as possible, and... [more]
German Chancellor Angela Merkel directly contradicted US PresidentBarack Obama on Saturday, saying spending cutbacks were now needed following the spate of throwing money at the global economic crisis. Referring to the G20 summit in Canada next weekend, Merkel said in a videotaped message that “we are going to discuss when to quit the phase of short-term measures and go on to lasting budget consolidation.” Such a move... [more]
Norway’s Minister of Oil and Energy, Terje Riis-Johansen, survived a vote of no-confidence put forward by the unified opposition in Parliament on Friday, thanks to the equally unified government coalition. The opposition claimed that Riis-Johansen had intentionally withheld information about the prospects for the CO2 recapture project at Statoil’s Mongstad plant. They said he had even cheated the voters, since the carbon recapture... [more]
