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 ...
Europe is working up plans for a revamped eurozone crisis fund that could help Greece wipe away part of its debt mountain, an albatross of some 300 billion euros. European Union officials acknowledged on Friday long-denied rumours of a scheme that would allow Athens to reduce the debts, as crippling austerity and economic contraction threaten to blow repayments way off schedule. Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou, speaking in... [more]
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Friday defended her plan for a one-off tax to pay for the flood disaster, insisting there was no “big pile of money” to pay for the rebuilding. Gillard, who has been prime minister for seven months, has ordered a levy on middle and high-earning tax payers to help fund the recovery after deadly floods that devastated the northeast state of Queensland. Conservatives have criticised the... [more]
Australian taxpayers will be hit with a one-off levy to pay for the massive cost of cleaning up and rebuilding after devastating floods that hit the country in recent months. Prime minister Julia Gillard said the floods were a national tragedy and may be the most expensive natural disaster ever to hit the country. She said the cost of rebuilding damaged infrastructure and providing grants to those affected would be as much as 5.6bn Australian... [more]
The EU extended a freeze Thursday on trading in carbon credits ordered after hackers broke into national trading registries and stole and then sold millions of euros worth of polluting rights. “Security comes before trading,” said Maria Kokkonen, spokeswoman for European Union climate action commissioner Connie Hedegaard. “It’s going to take time,” she told AFP, with only internal trading in the best-protected... [more]
Europe’s debt crisis, and its effect on the euro, has been acute in recent months, though the continent’s leadership was lauded for doing what it could to get through he financial crisis. Speaking Thursday on the second day of the World Economic Forum, JPMorgan chief executive James Dimon, said governments were right to act swiftly on government debt restructuring, rather than risk a run on the continent’s banks. Europe... [more]
Consumers face a wave of rising prices with leading economists predicting on Wednesday that the inflation rate in Germany could hit 4 percent in coming years. With Europe’s biggest economy humming along and the European Central Bank (ECB) pumping billions of euros into the market to tackle the eurozone crisis, experts are worried that inflation could soar. Thomas Mayer, chief economist at Deutsche Bank, told daily Bild, “a rise in the... [more]
Toyota is to recall nearly 19,000 cars in the UK due to potential problems with fuel systems. The car manufacturer said hundreds of Toyota Avensis and Lexus IS 250 models could be at risk of fuel leaks if they are not modified by mechanics. The company confirmed there were no known accidents related to the defect. However, the faults are the latest in a series of quality control problems to have hit the manufacturer, which has recalled nearly... [more]
US President Barack Obama has given an optimistic assessment of the country’s well-being in a State of the Union address focusing on economic recovery. The speech – which marks the halfway point of the leader’s term in office – contained an emphasis on efforts to create jobs and cut the national debt. Sections of the address also urged the two main political parties to work together in order to ensure economic recovery. “At... [more]
The European Financial Stability Facility staged Tuesday a landmark five-year bond auction worth five billion euros ($6.8 billion) to raise funds for Ireland and help calm financial markets. Asian bidders snapped up more than one third of the total in what EFSF head Klaus Regling said demonstrated market confidence in the 17-nation eurozone, after the turmoil of massive bailouts for Greece and Ireland last year. “This must be seen... [more]
An unexpected downturn in the British economy shocked investors on Tuesday, prompting a sharp drop in the pound and reigniting debate about the government’s plans to slash spending and raise taxes to reduce public debt. The figures showing a 0.5 percent GDP drop in the last three months of 2010 fueled speculation that the British economy was heading back into recession — defined as two quarters of negative growth — and reined... [more]
