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 ...
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that the United States used the 9/11 attacks as a “game and pretext” to wage wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. “September 11 was actually a game designed to influence the emotions of the human community, in order to find a pretext for attacking Islamic regions and invading Iraq and Afghanistan,” he was quoted as saying on the website of his office on the 10th anniversary... [more]
Police in Gothenburg, on the west coast of Sweden, arrested four people during the early hours of Sunday on probable cause suspected of preparing terrorist crime, confirmed Sara Kvarnström, press officer of the Swedish Security Services (Säpo), to news agency TT. “The arrest was made with the help of the National Task Force and Gothenburg’s police force,” she said. The National Task Force (Nationella insatsstyrkan) is... [more]
Thousands of people remained stranded in western Japan Tuesday after the death toll from a fierce typhoon rose to 41, heaping more misery on a nation recovering from the March earthquake and tsunami. Torrential rain brought by powerful Typhoon Talas, which made landfall Saturday and was the deadliest in seven years, caused rivers to swell and triggered floods and landslides that swept away buildings, homes and roads. More than 50 people... [more]
A man who claims he has a bomb is holding a girl hostage at a family court in Sydney. Australian media are reporting a hostage situation at a court complex in the Parramatta district of west Sydney. Police have confirmed an operation is under way but have given no details. Sources have told Australian media that the hostage-taker entered the court with an 11-year-old girl, wearing a lawyer’s wig. An ambulance spokeswoman said four... [more]
Around 1,000 potential Islamist terrorists live in Germany, 128 of whom could be classed as capable of carrying out attacks, Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said Monday. “We have almost 1,000 people who could be described as possible Islamist terrorists,” he told the Bild daily, adding that 128 could be considered ‘dangerous” and capable of committing attacks. He said that around 20 of those had received... [more]
A typhoon that pummelled western Japan left at least 17 people dead and 43 missing on Sunday after swollen rivers swept away buildings and landslides crushed houses. One of the victims drowned to death after flood waters gushed into his car, and streets were submerged in scenes that rekindled memories of the March 11 tsunami disaster. Typhoon Talas, which made landfall on Saturday, packed gusts of up to 108 kilometres (68 miles) per hour... [more]
More than 1,000 South Korean riot police dispersed or arrested scores of protesters who for months have blocked construction of a naval base on a scenic holiday island. Navy engineers resumed work after police evicted about 130 protesters who have occupied the site at Gangjeong on the coast of southern Jeju island since June. Military officials say the $970 million project is vital for national security. But village residents and activists... [more]
The number of people in the Netherlands who can’t pay for their health insurance is continuing to rise. Every day, hundreds of customers ask their insurance companies for help in paying their health insurance premiums. Insurers are usually flexible with people in difficulties but, if arrears continue for six months, customers are referred to the CVZ college of health insurers. Then the arrears are recovered directly from wages or benefits. At... [more]
An early warning radar system will be deployed in Turkey within the NATO missile defense program, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal said on Friday. “The deployment of this [missile defense] element in Turkey will constitute our contribution to the defense system being developed within the new NATO [defense] strategy and will strengthen the defense potential of NATO as well as our national defense system,” Unal said. Talks... [more]
The U.S. economy is on the brink of a new wave of recession which is likely be suffused with a fresh wave of liquidity as the nation seeks to depreciate its crushing debt with the aid of inflation, analysts say. The U.S. Federal Reserve made two liquidity injections known as Quantitative Easing 1 and 2, following the financial crisis of 2008 which began in the U.S., the world’s largest economy. The lowering of the U.S. top credit rating... [more]
