Yahoo Inc Chairman Roy Bostock and three other directors will step down as the struggling company ploughs ahead with an internal overhaul, including discussions on dealing with its stakes in China's Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan. The corporation - once a Web powerhouse but now agonizing over a range of options to revive flagging growth - on Tuesday said it appointed former Rovi Corp CEO and International Business Machines Corp veteran Alfred Amoroso and ex-eBay COO Maynard Webb as independent directors. Yahoo's board has come under fire from investors impatient with the company's persistent inability to effect a turnaround, and frustrated with the apparent indecisiveness of stakeholders over ...
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has vowed to fight an "anti-business culture" in Britain, warning that a row overexecutive pay and bonuses threatens the country's fragile economic recovery. "Let me say something about the row over bonuses and pay," Osborne said in a speech to the Federation of Small Businesses. "Of course rewards for failure are unacceptable -- and those who believe in the free market are the first to say so. But a strong, free market economy must be built on rewards for success." The Labour Party has heaped pressure on the ruling coalition to curb excessive pay for top executives, using a House of Commons debate to demand the return ...
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 ...
Germany’s ruling coalition has agreed new regulations for open-ended real estate funds, which have suffered from volatile investor behaviour, financial experts involved in talks told Reuters on Monday. From 2013, the cancellation period for investors will be 12 months and new investors will be subjected to a holding period of a minimum of two years, the sources said. Up to now, there had been no regulation on holding and cancellation... [more]
International Airlines Group, formed via the merger of British Airways and Iberia of Spain, made its stock market debut on Monday at a valuation of £6.1 billion. IAG’s shares traded at 285.1 pence shortly after the start of trading on London’s FTSE 100 index. IAG was up slightly compared with BA’s final price of 282.5 pence. The giant merger had completed on Friday, creating Europe’s second biggest airline by... [more]
OPEC members could increase their production to meet 2011 demand which could rise by two percent, while oil prices are expected to maintain last year’s levels, Saudi’s oil minister said on Monday. As non-OPEC oil producers are expected to increase their production, OPEC countries too will have the opportunity “to boost their supplies to the global market to meet the rising global demand,” said Petroleum and Mineral... [more]
Legal threats loomed over Haiti’s ex-dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier Monday after the current president said he must face justice for crimes during his 1971-1986 reign. President Rene Preval, in comments during a visit to the neighboring Dominican Republic, said “everyone is responsible before justice for their crimes” under Haiti’s constitution. “The government has done all it can do and... [more]
The top share index eased in Monday morning trade as weaker banks, hit by worries over further capital constraints and stability in the euro zone, more than offset gains in defensives. By 9:12 a.m., the FTSE 100 index was down 6.01 points, or 0.1 percent, at 5,890.24, having risen 0.5 percent on Friday. Banks were the biggest fallers on fears they could face greater balance sheet strains under proposals from a government-backed commission... [more]
Three major newspapers in northern Europe will join forces with a Norwegian paper to comb through about 250,000 cables originally exclusively handled by WikiLeaks’ media partners, newspaper Svenska Dagbladet told AFP on Sunday. Norwegian daily Aftenposten will share its findings with three major media outlets in Denmark, Germany and Sweden, Martin Jönsson, the executive director of Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet, said on Sunday.... [more]
QUEENSLAND’S recent floods will rank as one of the most costly natural disasters in Australia’s history, federal treasurer Wayne Swan says. In his weekly economic note, Mr Swan said the economic toll of the ongoing catastrophe would be worse than that of Cyclone Tracy or the Victorian bushfires. And while water levels in Brisbane didn’t reach the same peaks they did in 1974, as had been feared, they have affected so many... [more]
EU Agriculture Commissioner Bacian Ciolos said Saturday that Brussels was ready to step in to aid pork farmers hit by a slump in prices sparked by a German contamination scare. “If in the next few days the pork market continues in the same direction, we must be ready to take the measures available to us to avoid a fall in prices,” he said at Berlin agriculture fair. The discovery of high levels of toxic dioxin in pork from German... [more]
China says its president’s recently concluded state visit to the United States was “fruitful” but the two countries need to work on trust so that sensitive issues do not create misgivings. Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said in comments published in Sunday’s People’s Daily newspaper that the visit by President Hu Jintao came at a time when the world is undergoing “profound and complicated changes.” Yang... [more]
U.S. President Barack Obama pressed Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday to let the value of China’s currency rise and sought cooperation in dealing with nuclear standoffs with North Korea and Iran Obama, speaking at a news conference with Hu, touted the mutual benefits of the U.S.-China partnership after the two countries unveiled $45 billion (28 billion pounds) in export deals that seemed to be aimed at papering over deep rifts... [more]
