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 ...
Greece’s main opposition leader bluntly refused Monday to back new austerity measures designed to tackle the crippling debt crisis, arguing they would only bring further recession, despite the European Union’s insistence for cross-party support. Top EU finance officials have argued that Greece, which is struggling to meet the terms of an international euro110 billion ($154 billion) bailout and could require more help, needs all... [more]
European governments wrangled over how best to keep Greece from defaulting on its mountain of debt, with one of them acknowledging for the first time that they had discussed a restructuring — a risky move to delay or cut debt repayments. Monday’s meeting was meant to focus on getting final approval for a euro78 billion ($110 billion) bailout for Portugal, but growing concern over Greece — and the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn,... [more]
A majority of the Dutch (58 percent) want the government to stop giving financial aid to Greece and a slim majority (51 percent) want Greece expelled from the eurozone. Some 72 percent of those surveyed in a poll conducted by Maurice de Hond expect Greece will never be able to repay its debts. The view is particularly strong among voters of the Freedom Party (90 percent), which backs the government in parliament, and the opposition Socialist... [more]
The Netherlands may decide to block payment of the next instalment of the loans that were earlier pledged to the Greek government. Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager made his remarks after Friday’s cabinet meeting. “The ball is now in the Greek court, they must simply implement the IMF programme. If they don’t, then that’s the end. I don’t care whether there is political opposition in Greece or not, there is no more time for obstruction.” The... [more]
Riot police made heavy use of tear gas and stun grenades to disperse youths throwing stones and petrol bombs at a large march through central Athens Wednesday to protest the Greek government’s harsh austerity measures. The clashes came during a 24-hour general strike that brought most public services to a halt, idled all trains and island ferries, grounded flights for four hours and disrupted public transport. The unions, like many... [more]
Greece came to a standstill on Wednesday as a general strike took effect against new austerity measures by a government seeking to get a new package of help and avoid a damaging debt overhaul. The strike, the second this year called by the country’s main unions, paralysed maritime and intercity train traffic, shut down state services and temporarily halted flights through the country, respective operators said. A four-hour stoppage... [more]
Europe faced the spectre of Greek calls for new financial aid Saturday as Athens’ “catastrophic” finances returned to haunt stressed eurozone states. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou urged “the EU in particular, to leave Greece in peace to do its job”, but Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou later warned that Athens may need more hard cash support. “We need to plan our next steps for 2012... [more]
Eurozone members are debating milder recovery terms for debt-hitGreece as it struggles to stick to a harsh austerity plan, Greek media said Saturday after emergency talks in Luxembourg. The reports said Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou had flown to a “secret” meeting among G20 eurozone states that debated giving Athens more time to repay a 110-billion-euro ($157 billion) EU-IMF loan and easier deficit reduction targets. The... [more]
Greek authorities were saying that Swedish women were out to cash in on fake rape claims as early as 2002. Another Swedish woman has come forward telling the story of how she was mistreated after reporting a rape on the island of Kos in 2002. Last week the case of ‘Anna’, who was told she was trying to cash in on a special Swedish ‘rape insurance’ after reporting a rape in 2008, kicked off a media storm in Sweden. The second woman,... [more]
A Swedish woman accused of trumping up rape accusations while on holiday in Greece exemplifies a persistant view in the Mediterranean country that Swedish women bring false rape complaints to get payouts from special ‘rape insurance’. In 2008, Swedish ‘Anna’ went on holiday to the Greek island of Samos. On her last night she claimed to have been brutally raped and beaten, according to Sweden’s TV4. After reporting... [more]
