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 ...
Europe strove to reach agreement Monday on boosting the capacity of bailout funding for failing eurozone states in order to soothe market fears that after Greece and Ireland, others might need rescue. As eurozone finance ministers began two-day talks in Brussels under pressure to find common ground on the size and scope of an overhaul of its 750-billion-euro ($1.0 trillion) safety net, divisions remained on the timing. Germany, the fund’s... [more]
As the scope of the dioxin animal feed scandal spreads, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has stepped in to settle bickering over the issue between Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner and Lower Saxony state premier David McAllister, a media report said Monday. Merkel spoke with both politicians, who belong to her conservatives, in an attempt to reach “peace,” daily Bild reported. The Chancellor persuaded Aigner to retract angry calls... [more]
German farmers reckon the dioxin food poisoning scandal is going to cost them around €100 million from reduce consumption and lower prices on eggs and pork. “The damage from the disruption in the market will be many times the direct damage,” said Gerd Sonnleitner, president of the German Farmers’ Association (DVB) on Saturday. He said the price producers get for pork had dropped from between €1.40 to €1.50 a kilo down to €1.12... [more]
As the dioxin scare continues in Germany, consumers are storming organic supermarkets, clearing the shelves of eggs and pork products. But experts say the country’s organic food sector is unlikely to keep up with the new demand. At the popular Bio Company store in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district, the shelves are virtually bare, as demand for organic meat and eggs spikes amid a dioxin crisis that has shaken Germans’ faith in food. “Dioxin:... [more]
German authorities Tuesday ordered the slaughter of hundreds of pigs after finding high levels of dioxin in pork for the first time since shutting down thousands of farms for tests last week. “A test on the meat has shown high levels of dioxin content,” Gert Hahne, a spokesman for the Agriculture Ministry in the state of Lower Saxony, told news agency AFP. “The animals must be slaughtered and will then be incinerated.” Previous... [more]
An international passenger train carrying 146 people toward Germany collided with a freight train in the eastern Netherlands on Tuesday. Police and local authorities said there were no injuries. Babet Verstappen, a spokeswoman for Dutch rail network organization Prorail, said part of the passenger train derailed after the collision just after noon (1100 GMT) near the town of Zevenaar, 115 kilometers (70 miles) southeast of Amsterdam. Police... [more]
Europe’s major stock exchange indexes lost ground on Monday morning. Investors appear to be honing in on the EU’s debt crisis again, now that Portugal is under pressure to ask Brussels for a bailout. Amsterdam’s AEX index dropped 0.6 percent within the first 45 minutes of trading, while the MidKap index fell 0.3 percent. The exchanges in Paris, Frankfurt and London saw losses of up to 1.2 percent. Both Germany and France are reported... [more]
As Germany’s robust economic recovery continues, the country’s companies are finding it increasingly hard to find enough skilled workers. Kyle James reports on the impending labour shortage. A recent study by the German Chamber of Commerce found that Europe’s largest economy lacks about 400,000 skilled workers. The need is especially acute in the engineering, high-tech and health care sectors. “If you don’t have the... [more]
French President Nicolas Sarkozy takes his campaign for greater global food price and currency stability to Washington this week when he seeks Barack Obama’s support for France’s goals as head of the Group of 20 powers. Soaring food prices and riots in places such as Algeria offer Sarkozy ammunition to press for more coordination between G20 governments to combat wild swings in vital commodity prices as well as exchange rates... [more]
Germany on Sunday denied a report saying it plans, together with France, to press Portugal to seek a bailout in order to stop Spain and Belgium from becoming the next euro crisis casualties. “It is not the German government’s strategy to force Portugal to call for Europe’s rescue fund,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert told the Handelsblatt daily, refuting an earlier report by German weekly Spiegel. Spiegel had... [more]
