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 ...
The Pakistani government on Monday summoned Britain’s high commissioner to Islamabad over remarks made by the British prime minister on the export of terror that sparked a diplomatic row, officials said. Top envoy Adam Thomson went into talks with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at around 11:30 am (0630 GMT). “The British high commissioner was summoned to foreign office today. He is in a meeting with the foreign... [more]
Liberal VVD leader Mark Rutte is only willing to enter talks on forming a right-wing government with the CDA, he said in an interview with the Telegraaf on Monday. ‘I am no longer available for any other variants,’ Rutte said, effectively slamming the door on anything but a minority VVD CDA government with PVV support in parliament. Rutte said it is incomprehensible that Labour leader Job Cohen is now crying ‘crocodile... [more]
A new global treaty banning cluster munitions came into force on Sunday August 1st, – 20 months after the treaty was signed in the Oslo City Hall in December 2008. The treaty, which the Norwegian government took the initiative to in 2006, has now been adopted by 107 states, of which 38 have ratified it. However, many of the world’s major military powers – including the US, Russia and China have not signed the treaty.... [more]
The United States has closed indefinitely its consulate in the violence-hit Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez while it carries out a “security review,” officials said Friday. “The US consulate general in Ciudad Juarez has closed to review its security posture,” said a statement released by the US embassy in Mexico City. “The facility will be closed all day on Friday, July 30, and remain closed until the security... [more]
Norway is critical to what it calls irresponsible fishing for mackerel by Iceland and the Faroe Islands, and underlines the ban on landings of mackerel in Norway by vessels from the two nations. - The irresponsible fishing for mackerel which Iceland and the Faroe Islands have initiated as an attempt to secure future quota shares is a serious threat to the mackerel stock, and undermines the cooperation to secure the necessary conservation... [more]
The chance is increasing that the Netherlands will have its first post war minority government, the Volkskrant reports on Friday, quoting sources close to the formation talks. The paper says ‘a serious option’ to come out of this week’s informal talks is a decision to proceed with a VVD CDA cabinet which has the formal support of the anti-Islam PVV in parliament. This will allow the CDA to get round objections to ruling... [more]
With Germany industry facing a looming skills shortage, Economy Minister Rainer Brüderle revealed on Friday he was planning a major recruitment drive to attract skilled migrants. That included encouraging German firms to pay cash incentives to lure foreign workers, he told daily Handelsblatt. “The question of how Germany becomes lastingly attractive to skilled migrants is right at the top of my agenda,” he said. That included encouraging... [more]
Kate Hudson and Muse frontman Matt Bellamy are house-hunting together. The ‘Fool’s Gold’ actress and the British rock star are looking for a property in New York after dating for just four months. The couple have been inseparable since meeting at the Coachella Festival in California earlier this year and believe the time is right to set up home. A source told The Sun newspaper: “They’re very loved-up, they just... [more]
The Norwegian Defence Command fears that the documents published by Wikileaks may pose a danger to Norwegian forces in Afghanistan by revealing how the troops plan and carry out their missions. Wikileaks on Monday published online 92,000 classified military records, detailing the war in Afghanistan in the period from 2004 to 2010, including previously unreported civilian deaths. The reports reveal concerns within Nato that Pakistani intelligence... [more]
Germany’s 20 million pensioners face an income drop under a push by government MPs to abolish the “pension guarantee,” reports said Tuesday. Despite Chancellor Angela Merkel’s stated opposition to the idea, many conservative Christian Democrats are joining Economy Minister Rainer Brüderle’s call for the guarantee – which ensures pensions can never actually fall – to be scrapped. While Germany’s pension is indexed to... [more]
