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 ...
Residents of the town around Japan’s radiation-leaking nuclear plant donned protective suits and briefly returned home to collect belongings Thursday for the first time since the complex went into crisis in March. Futaba’s 8,000 residents were evacuated soon after Japan’s massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami flooded the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex and set off radiation leaks. Local officials and nuclear experts... [more]
A team of experts from the UN atomic watchdog flew out to Tokyo from Vienna on Sunday to team up with other international experts investigating Japan’s nuclear crisis. Six experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency boarded a Tokyo-bound flight from Vienna at around midday on Sunday in preparation for a fact-finding mission from May 24-June 2. Jim Lyons, director of the IAEA’s division of nuclear installation safety,... [more]
The operator of Japan’s tsunami-wrecked nuclear power plant says a contract worker in his 60s has died after collapsing at the facility’s waste disposal building. Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Naoyuki Matsumoto says the man was carrying equipment at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant when he collapsed Saturday. Matsumoto says they do not know the cause of the worker’s death. He says no radioactivity at harmful levels... [more]
The operator of Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear plant reported new problems Thursday, including a water leak from a reactor vessel and another spill of contaminated water into the ocean. The update by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) came as emergency crews have been battling to bring the tsunami-hit and radiation-leaking plant into stable “cold shutdown” some time between October and January. The giant ocean wave... [more]
Japan and Germany are limiting or phasing out reliance on nuclear power after the Fukushima accident — moves that could raise petroleum prices — but most of the rest of the world is undaunted in its pursuit of nuclear energy. Energy-hungry developing nations such as China, India, Mexico and Iran are moving forward on plans to build more nuclear plants, even as authorities around the world intensify safety inspections of existing plants... [more]
A top Japanese official said Sunday that Japan would maintain atomic power as a major part of its energy policy despite the country’s ongoing nuclear crisis. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku also said the government has no plans to halt nuclear reactors other than three at the Hamaoka power plant in central Japan. The plant was asked last week to halt the units until a seawall is built and backup systems are improved. “Our... [more]
Japan’s Iwate prefecture, whose coastline was hard hit by the March 11 tsunami, on Saturday won endorsement for its historic Hiraizumi area to be listed as a World Heritage site, the government said. Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs announced that an International Council on Monuments and Sites panel recommended that the Buddhist architecture, gardens and archaeological sites in Hiraizumi be listed. UNESCO’s World Heritage... [more]
Markets in Japan and South Korea rose Monday amid holiday-thinned trading in Asia after U.S. stocks gained on positive earnings to round out their best month since the end of last year. The dollar rose and oil prices extended declines after news of the death of Osama bin Laden. Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.5 percent to 9,997.91. Asia’s largest market will be closed Tuesday through Thursday amid Japan’s annual Golden Week... [more]
Criticism of the Japanese government’s handling of the crisis at a radiation-spewing nuclear power plant has increased after an adviser quit to protest what he lambasted as unsafe, slipshod measures. Toshiso Kosako, a professor at the University of Tokyo’s graduate school and an expert on radiation exposure, announced late Friday that he was stepping down as a government adviser. Prime Minister Naoto Kan appointed Kosako after... [more]
More than 200 farmers brought two cows to Tokyo where they shouted and punched the air Tuesday in a protest to demand compensation for products contaminated by radiation spewing from Japan’s crippled nuclear plant. The farmers from northeastern Japan wore green bandanas and held signs saying “Nuclear disaster is human disaster” and “Stop nuclear energy” outside the headquarters of Tokyo Electric Power Co., the... [more]
