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 ...
Google has taken the rare step of asking a California judge to declare that by linking to copyright-infringing works on Rapidshare, the search giant is not facilitating the illegal distribution of copyrighted songs. Last year, Blue Destiny Records, a small blues-oriented music label, sued Google, Microsoft and Rapidshare in Florida. The label claimed that Rapidshare was running “a distribution center for unlawful copies of copyrighted... [more]
Google has announced the latest beta of its Chrome browser, claiming it to be the fastest release yet. The company said that the new release includes one of the “most significant speed and performance increases to date”, and quoted benchmarking improvements using V8 and SunSpider of between 30 and 35 per cent. Much of this acceleration is down to improvements in the V8 JavaScript engine, the firm explained. “Chrome’s... [more]
A federal judge has dismissed a trademark infringement lawsuit filed by language software maker Rosetta Stone Inc against Google Inc. The ruling has broad implications for trademark ownership in the digital age, and Rosetta has vowed to keep pursuing the case. In a suit first filed in 2009, Rosetta claimed Google profits by allowing rivals that pirate its technology to buy the top “sponsored link” ad on search results pages. Consumers... [more]
Google has added the mapping features of its standalone Google Earth application into its web-based Maps service. The company said that it will add a new ‘Earth’ view to Maps which will recreate many of the view options and features of Google Earth. Among the features will be the ability to view terrain in 3D, and move between locations and adjust views in the same way that Google Earth allows. Additionally, the Earth view will... [more]
Google has published a map showing how often governments around the world have asked the firm for data on users or for information to be removed from search results. The interactive Government Requests map was unveiled by Google’s chief legal officer, David Drummond, and shows government requests from July to December 2009. “As part of our commitment to the Global Network Initiative, we have already agreed to principles and practices... [more]
Google Inc was sued by photographers, illustrators and other visual artists who claim the Web search company is scanning and displaying their work online without paying them. Wednesday’s lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court by the American Society of Media Photographers and others who were not permitted to join a $125 million class-action settlement over digitized books, which is pending in the same court. The new lawsuit... [more]
Vietnam has dismissed what it called “groundless” accusations from Google and McAfee that the communist country had apparently used malicious computer programs to hack websites and spy on political opponents. Google said Vietnam had apparently used software known as “malware” to snoop on opponents of a controversial bauxite mine planned for Vietnam’s Central Highlands. It said the cyber attacks had targeted... [more]
Google will today announce a new confirmation page for its controversial Buzz social networking tool designed to assuage the widespread concerns that have arisen over privacy, according to widespread reports. The web giant launched the new functionality for its Gmail service in February, allowing users to post messages and share photos and other information with other users. However, it soon received a storm of complaints from users who... [more]
It was a busy week this week for both Apple and Microsoft, after the two tech giants were forced to patch critical flaws in their products, while Googles spat with China continued and social networks were found wanting once again. First, Microsofts Internet Explorer product was found wanting again, with the firm forced to issue an out-of-cycle patch for IE6 and IE7, the second time this year Redmond has had to release a patch outside its... [more]
Gmail users will soon be able to grant third-party developers secure access to their email accounts, in a move likely to precipitate an increase in productivity enhancing services available for the popular email app, according to a new post on Google’s code blog. The ultimate aim is to give Gmail users similar benefits to those enjoyed by Twitter users who are able to use a range of third-party applications. As is the case with Twitter,... [more]
