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 ...
Japanese media have largely misinterpreted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s statement on the referendum over the disputed Kuril Islands, a Russian diplomatic source said on Tuesday. Japan’s national broadcaster NHK cited Lavrov on Sunday as saying that the fate of the disputed Kuril islands in the Pacific Ocean should be decided in a national referendum. “It is a blatant distortion of the minister’s words,”... [more]
The eurozone financial crisis has had only a limited impact on Asia, and in fact has created opportunities for Asian banks, according to a top IMF official. Anoop Singh, the International Monetary Fund’s Asia director, said that if the eurozone plunged into recession, it would definitely hurt Asia, where exports to Europe are an important driver of growth. “In India as in other economies demand for exports would certainly be... [more]
Some of the euro zone’s biggest banks have told the Financial Times that they are preparing to tap the European Central Bank’s emergency funding scheme for up to twice as much as the ECB supplied in its December auction. The banks told the FT that they may double or triple their request for funds in the ECB’s three-year money auction on Feb 29, a further sign of the liquidity squeeze faced by the banks, the paper... [more]
The ECB all but halted its purchases of government bonds last week despite fresh financial market pressure on Portugal and as calls intensified for the bank to take losses on its Greek debt. Controversy surrounding the ECB’s bond buying programme has escalated in recent weeks. The IMF and private sector have urged it to write down its holdings of Greek bonds, or at least forgo profits, as part of a deal to stabilise the country’s... [more]
EU leaders reached agreement at a summit on Monday on the introduction of a permanent euro zone bailout mechanism from July 2012, with a treaty governing the fund to be signed at a later date, three EU officials told Reuters. The European Stability Mechanism, which will have a lending capacity of 500 billion euros, will take over from the European Financial Stability Facility, a temporary mechanism that has so far been used to bail out Ireland... [more]
European leaders faced a damaging split Monday as a German plan to strip Greece of budget sovereignty overshadowed EU plans to focus on a deal on deficits and talk about jobs. The idea, floated by Berlin, to strip the government in Athens of its sovereignty and give the power to make decisions on finances to a special EU commissioner, opened up clear fault-lines both within and outside the eurozone. It could ultimately place in doubt... [more]
European leaders bid Monday to move away from the debt crisis and focus on much-needed growth as a new battle erupted over putting the eurozone’s Achilles heel, Greece, under EU supervision. European Union heads of state and government hold their first summit of the year from 1400 GMT to finalise a new German-driven pact to toughen budget discipline. They do so amid a general strike in Belgium over deepening austerity in their own... [more]
Chancellor Angela Merkel sought Monday to placate critics of a German proposal to put Greece under the supervision of an EU budget tsar, saying Europe must help Athens enact economic reforms. The debate must be on “how Europe can help Greece accomplish the tasks given to it,” Merkel said on arrival at an EU summit after Greek officials and some European leaders rejected the proposal. “But all of this will only work if Greece... [more]
Russia’s opposition should hold a dialogue with the Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the nation needs more political cooperation, rather than the existing vertical power structure, jailed former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky said in an article in The New Times magazine, published on Monday. “The country needs a new political philosophy of cooperation instead of the vertical power structure,” Khodorkovsky told The New Times. Widespread... [more]
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is running for the Russian presidency, on Monday called for the country’s economic diversification away from oil and gas to high-tech products to ensure future prosperity. Five weeks before the presidential election, he is expanding on crucial points of his campaign programs in weekly articles in the Russian press. Putin, who was Russia’s president from 2000 to 2008, could occupy the top... [more]
