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 prime ministers of Turkey and Greece Friday traded criticism over long-standing bilateral tensions, but pledged to build on a significant thaw in ties to resolve their disputes. Following talks in the eastern Turkish city of Erzurum, the two leaders also vowed to step up cooperation to stem illegal immigration to the European Union as Turkey’s premier expressed understanding for Greece’s plans to build a barrier on parts... [more]
European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet has blamed Germanyand France for helping to pave the way to the current debt crisis in the eurozone by setting a poor fiscal example. In remarks published on Sunday in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Trichet said that by compromising the European Union’s Stability and Growth Pact in 2004, the powerhouses had allowed budgetary discipline to slacken. “I wish the German public... [more]
Finance ministers from the debt-stricken euro zone sought to restore financial markets’ confidence on Monday by agreeing how to deploy a vast anti-contagion programme if needed by struggling members. Germany’s coalition government agreed in parallel to budget cuts and taxes worth 11.2 billion euros next year — and more than 80 billion euros by the end of 2014 — in the latest of a series of austerity plans being hatched... [more]
European austerity measures to tackle the soaring debt crisis have sparked “despair” and will cut too deep, a senior trade union official warned Friday, as he announced a protest action day. John Monks, head of the European Trade Union Confederation, who met EU and employers’ officials in Brussels, said there was “despair and alarm at the prospects of growth in Europe as all countries, not just those in distress,... [more]
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, in an apparent criticism of Germany, called for a “carefully designed global approach” to financial reform on Wednesday as he arrived in Europe for talks on a euro zone debt crisis that is shaking world markets. European shares rallied from nine-month lows but the euro remained under pressure amid continuing signs of banks’ reluctance to lend to euro zone counterparts exposed to... [more]
The president of Chinese port firm Cosco addresses reporters after his talks with Prime Minister George Papandreou. Captain Wei Jiafu said he had received three proposals for new investments in Greece during his three-day visit. The president and chief executive officer of the China Ocean Shipping Company (Cosco), which took over the operation of the two main container terminals at Piraeus in January, said yesterday that he was “satisfied”... [more]
Greek workers held a general strike against the government’s austerity measures Thursday, two weeks after the previous day of protests deteriorated into rioting in which three people died in a burning bank. Ferries stayed tied up at port, buses, the Athens metro and trains suspended services, and many banks were closed. Schools shut down while public hospitals were working with emergency staffing levels. Demonstrators are protesting... [more]
Improving relations between Greece and Turkey could lead to arms reduction in both countries, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an interview published Saturday as he wrapped up an Athens visit. “The development of relations between Greece and Turkey will boost the climate of trust and stability (and) ultimately the natural consequence could be arms reduction,” Erdogan told Greek newspaper Ta Nea. Calls to reduce... [more]
The European Central Bank has not started “printing money” in response to the continent’s debt crisis, its chief Jean-Claude Trichet insisted Wednesday. “We haven’t changed monetary policy,” the ECB president told Europe 1 radio in France, promising that the bank would not abandon its inflation target or let the euro collapse. “I am more confident than ever in the future of the euro,” he said,... [more]
Greece on Tuesday will ask the European Union and International Monetary Fund for a first tranche of debt aid worth 20 billion euros (26 billion dollars), a finance ministry source told AFP. A first instalment of the emergency loan package amounting to 14.5 billion euros from the EU and 5.5 billion euros from the IMF “should be available, possibly within the day,” the ministry source said. The ministry will send a letter... [more]
