Eurozone finance ministers were to confer by telephone on Saturday after 12 hours of talks in Athens failed to produce a breakthrough on a deal to bail out Greece, the Greek finance minister said. Evangelos Venizelos added that a planned meeting by eurozone ministers on Greece originally scheduled for Monday would now be held on Wednesday. "I will participate in a Eurogroup telephone conference at 1230 GMT" to discuss details of a rescue deal for Greece worth 130 billion euros ($171 billion) which officials have been trying to seal since October, the minister said in a statement. "Critical issues pertaining to the country's ...
Australia's flood crisis deepened Saturday as authorities braced for waters to peak in Queensland where one woman is missing after being swept away while elsewhere thousands remain stranded by the surge. Prime Minister Julia Gillard said eight military helicopters would help in search, evacuation and resupply missions in the eastern state, where days of heavy rainfall have prompted hundreds of evacuations and dozens of rescues. "The helicopters will be available to assist in rescue operations as required until the immediate crisis has passed," Gillard said in a statement. In the inland Queensland town of Charleville authorities are on alert amid fears a temporary ...
Tens of thousands people are braving the bitter cold at two major rallies in downtown Moscow on Saturday as a power play between champions of political liberalization and supporters of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin continues to unfold. The first demonstration demands fair elections at the March 4 presidential polls, at which Putin is expected to secure a third term in the Kremlin. It also calls on Russians “not to give a single vote” to Putin. The opposition rally is widely seen by analysts as a litmus test of protesters’ ability to maintain momentum after two earlier protests against alleged vote fraud in favor of ...
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday wrapped up a visit to China where she tried to reassure her hosts on the strength of the euro and Europe's ability to overcome its debt crisis. During her three-day trip to the world's second largest economy, Merkel praised the advantages of the single currency and urged China to put pressure on Iran and to condemn Syria at the United Nations. Merkel, who was prevented from meeting journalists and a human rights lawyers, ended her official visit in the southern city of Guangzhou, Xinhua news agency reported. Merkel, who held talks with Premier Wen Jiabao and President ...
Norway’s government has said it wants non-European immigrants to carry residency cards equipped with data chips bearing their fingerprints. In a proposal presented on Friday, the justice ministry said the new identity cards would help tackle illegal immigration. “The residency card system will increase security surrounding residency permit documentation, thereby contributing to the prevention of illegal immigration and illegal residency,” said Justice Minister Grete Faremo (Labour Party) in a statement. The move follows pressure from the European Union to ensure that immigrants from outside the European Economic Area, of which Norway is a member, are provided with residency cards that include fingerprint details. Faremo ...
Greece expects its 2011 budget deficit will be smaller than expected at between 9.1 and 9.4 percent of GDP, thanks to an emergency property tax, a finance ministry official said on Friday, a development that could help Athens in its bailout talks with the EU and IMF. Greece, which is racing to complete talks with the EU and the IMF on a second bailout worth 130 billion euros, had previously estimated that the deficit would be above 9.5 percent of GDP. "The numbers aren't final yet but we believe the deficit will come in at between 9.1 and 9.4 percent (of GDP)," ...
China has rejected Japanese protests over alleged improper exploration of gas deposits in the East China Sea. The Foreign Ministry said Friday the recent activity had taken place within Chinese-controlled waters and was completely normal. A ministry statement said China was strongly dissatisfied with recent comments from Japanese officials. Japan's chief Cabinet secretary on Wednesday said Japan protested to China after a flare was seen a day earlier at a Chinese structure at an undersea gas deposit. The deposit, known as Kashi in Japan and Tianwaitian in China, sits near a median line in the countries' overlapping exclusive economic zones. Japan and China agreed ...
The leader of Russia's Islamist rebels ordered a halt to attacks on civilians, saying mass opposition protests showed the public no longer supported Vladimir Putin, according to a video posted Friday. Doku Umarov, whose Caucasus Emirate group claimed atrocities including a deadly Moscow airport bombing in 2011 and a metro attack in 2010, said from now only security objects and officials would be targeted. "I order all special groups that are carrying out or plan to carry out special operations in Russia to put a halt to these operations that could hurt the peaceful population," Doku Umarov said in a video address ...
China's Premier Wen Jiabao said Friday the Asian giant had neither the ability nor the intention to "buy Europe", amid concerns over growing Chinese investment in debt-stricken eurozone economies. China is "willing to cooperate with Europe to fight the current crisis. Some people say this means China wants to buy Europe", Wen told a German-China business forum in the southern city of Guangzhou. "This a concern and doesn't fit reality. China doesn't have this intention and doesn't have this ability." German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in China for a three-day visit to boost her host's confidence in Europe, also attended the forum along with ...
Energy Secretary Chris Huhne is to resign from the Government after it emerged he is to face prosecution over allegations that he asked his ex-wife to take a speeding penalty for him. The Liberal Democrat MP has been charged with perverting the course of justice after an investigation into the 2003 incident by Essex Police. His former wife, the economist Vicky Pryce is also facing charges of perverting the course of justice. They are due to appear before Westminster Magistrates' Court on February 16. The maximum sentence for perverting the course of justice is life in prison, the CPS and the Sentencing ...
France — home to Europe’s biggest Muslim population — on Monday officially banned women from wearing full-face veils in public places. Other European countries have drawn up bans on the burqa and the niqab but France is the first to risk stirring social tensions by putting one into practice. The law comes into effect at an already fraught moment in relations between the state and France’s Muslim minority, with President... [more]
The European Central Bank raised its main interest rate on Thursday for the first time since July 2008 just as Portugal became the latest victim of the eurozone’s deficit and debt crisis. The increase in the ECB’s benchmark refinancing or “refi” rate to 1.25 percent also marked the first change in either direction since it was cut to a record low of 1.0 percent in May 2009. With higher inflation and core eurozone... [more]
French President Nicolas Sarkozy called on Thursday for the creation of new global nuclear regulations by the end of 2011 during a first visit by a foreign leader to Japan since the earthquake and tsunami that triggered its atomic disaster. Group of 20 chairman Sarkozy said France wanted to host a meeting of the bloc’s nuclear officials in May to fix new norms in the wake of the crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant. “We... [more]
Nissan Motor on Thursday denied a report that France’s Renault SA and the Japanese automaker were considering a holding company to put the two firms and several of their interests under a single umbrella. The Japanese business daily Nikkei, citing an interview with Nissan president Carlos Ghosn, said Russia’s leading auto maker AvtoVaz, which is 25 percent owned by Renault, would be incorporated in the proposed company. Romania’s... [more]
British Prime Minister David Cameron Thursday warned the European Union that it could be “left behind” by emerging economies unless it reformed its business policies. “It is clear that there is a growing urgency and need for action to secure long term sustainable growth in Europe,” the British leader said in a pamphlet released Thursday. “We need to take collective action to unleash the forces of enterprise... [more]
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Thursday called for more flexible exchange rate policies at a Group of 20 meeting in China, saying it was crucial to global monetary system reform. Geithner did not explicitly single out China in his remarks at a G20 seminar on international monetary reform attended by ministers and central bankers, but hinted that Beijing needed to loosen its grip on the yuan. He said that to better manage sweeping... [more]
French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in China on Wednesday at the start of an Asian mini-tour that will include a G20 seminar on the world monetary system and a stop in disaster-struck Japan. The French leader landed in Beijing at 3:00 pm (0700 GMT) and was later due to hold a working dinner with Chinese President Hu Jintao. Aides to Sarkozy said those talks would touch on key bilateral concerns but also hot-button global issues —... [more]
France, as current head of the Group of 20 countries, will help the transition to a global financial system based on “several international currencies,” French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said on Monday. Lagarde, speaking ahead of a G20 finance ministers meeting here on Friday and Saturday, said the world had to move on from the “non-monetary system” it now has to one “based on several international... [more]
Police said they recovered four paintings by 19th-century born French artists that had been stolen from an Argentine collector in 1999. The paintings are “La maison de Yerres” by Claude Monet (1840-1926), “Nu dans un atelier d’ami” by Albert Marquet (1875-1947), “Gelee blanche en Ile de France” by Jean-Baptiste Guillaumin (1841-1927), and “Antibes les fortifications,” by Eugene Boudin... [more]
French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday ordered his ministers to stay in France on holiday to avoid diplomatic gaffes after scandals over hospitality from authoritarian North African leaders. Sarkozy bowed to criticism from rivals after embarrassing revelations that his prime minister and foreign minister accepted free holiday flights in Egypt and Tunisia, shortly before popular uprisings in both countries. “From now on, members... [more]
