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 ...
Chinese President Hu Jintao on Tuesday flew to the United States for a state visit buffeted before he even lands by senior U.S. senators demanding tough action against China for “manipulating” its currency. Hu said earlier this week he would not accept U.S. arguments the yuan was undervalued. The latest sparring over the currency underlines tensions over trade that will likely dominate Wednesday’s summit in Washington between... [more]
The Netherlands has stopped its opposition to the expansion of a European emergency fund to bail out countries which get into financial trouble on condition countries get their finances in order. The financial stability fund can borrow up to €440bn and is central to the €750bn eurozone bail-out system. But in order to maintain a good credit rating, it can actually only lend countries around €250bn. Finance minister Jan Kees de Jager... [more]
Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner on Tuesday urged state officials to implement a federal action plan that aims to prevent future food contamination ahead of special government summit on the dioxin animal feed scandal. “I expect that the states will stand behind this plan and do their part to increase quality and monitoring, and improve inspection practices,” Aigner told dailyHamburger Abendblatt. The minister said she was confident... [more]
The Norwegian firm Clear Ocean has purchased the former Norwegian frigate “Horten” from the Defence Department, with the aim to set up a fishery protection agency in Somalia. The plan is to buy another five to six vessels, six helicopters and one surveillance plane, and to hire a crew of 150 to operate the ships. The company will carry out inspection of the fisheries zone off the Somali coast and also protect vessels against... [more]
Europe closed ranks around the euro as its richest nations strived to reach a deal Tuesday to boost the capacity of its bailout fund for fragile eurozone states. As European Union finance ministers prepared for a second and final day of talks in Brussels, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the 17-nation Eurogroup, said members were rallying to stave off market attacks on weaker members. They achieved a “very... [more]
U.S. senators pressed Congress to get tough with China over “manipulating” its currency in a riposte to Chinese President Hu Jintao, who said this week he would not accept U.S. arguments the yuan was undervalued. The latest sparring over the yuan underlines tensions over trade before Hu arrives in Washington on Tuesday for talks expected to focus on a host of thorny issues, from rebalancing the global economy to dealing with... [more]
Canada moved on Monday to tighten its mortgage rules for the second time in less than a year, citing the need to prevent the kind of housing market problems that led other countries into financial crisis. The new rules, designed to ensure Canadians don’t take on more debt than they can handle, took aim at mortgage amortization, refinancing and the use of lines of credit secured by homes. Many U.S. homeowners borrowed against the... [more]
Europe strove to reach agreement Monday on boosting the capacity of bailout funding for failing eurozone states in order to soothe market fears that after Greece and Ireland, others might need rescue. As eurozone finance ministers began two-day talks in Brussels under pressure to find common ground on the size and scope of an overhaul of its 750-billion-euro ($1.0 trillion) safety net, divisions remained on the timing. Germany, the fund’s... [more]
As the scope of the dioxin animal feed scandal spreads, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has stepped in to settle bickering over the issue between Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner and Lower Saxony state premier David McAllister, a media report said Monday. Merkel spoke with both politicians, who belong to her conservatives, in an attempt to reach “peace,” daily Bild reported. The Chancellor persuaded Aigner to retract angry calls... [more]
Floods devastating huge areas of Australia’s eastern seaboard, including the nation’s third-largest city, look set to be the costliest natural disaster ever in a country known for climatic extremes, Treasurer Wayne Swan said on Monday. The floods in the major resource state of Queensland, which have swept through an area the size of South Africa, and overnight in 46 towns in Victoria state would not delay a promised return to... [more]
