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 ...
The European Central Bank put an end Tuesday to a bitter battle between France and Germany over a key post within the bank by naming a Belgian to the highly coveted position of chief economist. The ECB said executive board member Peter Praet of Belgium would be taking over as the head of its economics department, succeeding Jürgen Stark of Germany, who stepped down at the end of 2011. Praet, who turns 63 later this month and has been a... [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]
European stocks mostly fell Thursday and the euro struggled to recover from an 11-month dollar low, with investor sentiment extremely fragile before another key Italian bond auction, dealers said. In morning deals, London’s FTSE 100 slid 0.11 percent to 5,501.36 points, the Paris CAC 40 dipped 0.11 percent to 3,067.79 points, while Frankfurt’s DAX 30 added 0.20 percent to 5,782.16 points. Milan’s FTSE Mib benchmark index... [more]
One in four people in Germany who lose their jobs have paid so little into the generous social security system that they go straight onto the lowest possible level of support. A new analysis from the Labour Office (BA) shows that the number of people who go directly onto the most basic level of support – known as Hartz IV – has risen since 2008, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Thursday. The rules say that a person who pays into... [more]
THE Australian dollar fell almost one US cent on growing concerns around the eurozone. At 12pm AEDT today, the local currency was at 100.55 US cents, down from 101.50 yesterday afternoon. IG Markets institutional trader Chris Weston said the Australian dollar was shaped by a drop in other currencies due to growing eurozone uncertainty. “Price action on the Aussie dollar is just mirroring what we’re seeing with the euro, which... [more]
Most Germans do not want President Christian Wulff to resign despite the continuing scandal over his business dealings, although roughly half have lost confidence in the head of state, according to a new poll. While 50 percent believe that Wulff used his public position to help friends and 48 percent have little or no confidence in him, 73 percent do not think he should resign, according to the poll conducted for the Bild newspaper. A... [more]
Ten years after the introduction of the euro, and in the midst of its biggest crisis to date, the AFP’s Celine Le Prioux says there are many reasons Europe’s biggest economy has benefited from the single currency. Chancellor Angela Merkel has made no bones about the advantages for Germany of the euro, which went into circulation as banknotes and coins on January 1, 2002, and whose future she has been grimly racing to shore up. “As... [more]
Chancellor George Osborne has refused to contribute to the IMF’s bailout fund for the EU, Sky News has learned. Mr Osborne told his EU colleagues he will not provide any cash to boost the 200bn euro fund, which is specifically aimed at the troubled eurozone. The conference call with 26 other EU finance ministers lasted three hours but ended without Britain’s agreement to put in up to 50bn euros. Mr Osborne insisted that while... [more]
The euro zone will tackle its debt crisis this week by offering more cash to the IMF and long-term liquidity to banks, while moving toward tighter fiscal rules, after ratings agency Fitch cast doubt on its capacity to respond decisively. “We all know that Europe has not been able to convince markets that its governance set-up and its measures against the crisis were enough,” Italian Deputy Economy Minister Vittorio Grilli said... [more]
For over a century, a German sparkling wine named after a fairytale character has been used to toast personal milestones and the highlights of the country’s turbulent history. But “Rotkaeppchen”, or “Little Red Riding Hood”, also represents a rare success story — it is the only product from the former communist East Germany to have conquered the West. With its iconic red foil tops, the sparkling wine dubbed... [more]
