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 ...
European and IMF officials went into tough talks with Portugal Monday on the terms and conditions of a bailout as a Finnish anti-EU party’s election success cast doubt on its viability. Negotiations on a deal expected to be worth up to 80 billion euros ($115 billion) follow a technical mission last week to Lisbon by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The government of Prime Minister... [more]
David Cameron is to break with tradition by wearing a lounge suit when he attends the royal wedding. Aides to the Prime Minister confirmed that he would be foregoing a formal morning suit in favour of his normal business attire. It is expected that other politicians attending next week’s ceremony at Westminster Abbey – including Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Labour leader Ed Miliband – will make a similar choice. In... [more]
Russia has failed to make progress in fighting a growing drug epidemic that cuts economic growth by up to three percent every year, President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday. Russia has the world’s third-largest heroin abuse rate and accounts for a third of all heroin deaths worldwide, feeding into a demographic disaster that experts say will drain one million people from the workforce every year until 2017. “In spite of the fact... [more]
The Hague council on Thursday rejected a Freedom Party proposal to ban the construction of new mosques in the city. All parties fiercely rejected the proposal which they branded as discriminatory because the Freedom Party is not opposed to the construction of new places of worship of other religions. Green Left leader Inge Vianen said “They are guilty of discrimination when they suggest that the council should assist all religious people... [more]
UN chief Ban Ki-moon came out all diplomatic and political guns blazing to defend protesters in the Arab world and civilians in Ivory Coast, but on a new wave of arrests in China: silence. The former South Korean foreign minister has, through his first term as UN secretary general, stressed the role of “quiet diplomacy” for some prickly cases. But the disappearance of dozens of artists, intellectuals and dissidents in China in... [more]
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday accused Tehran’s arch-foe the United States of wanting to create tension between Iran and Arabs, adding that the attempt would fail. “America is trying to sow discord among Shiites and Sunnis … they want to create tension between Iran and Arabs … but their plan will fail,” the hardliner said at Iran’s annual Army Day parade, where the military displayed a range of... [more]
Train drivers at five major private rail operators will again go on strike Monday afternoon and will not return to work until Thursday. Rail union GDL announced the strike, which will run from 2 pm Monday to 2 am Thursday. Only last week, drivers from the five firms walked off the job for 48 hours over better pay. In total, the drivers have been on strike for 119 hours since March. They are demanding a single wage scale for all train drivers... [more]
Ex-Ukrainian premier Yulia Tymoshenko signed the 2009 gas deal with Russia without consent from her cabinet, Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka said. “Tymoshenko made this decision, which was economically unfavorable for the state, single-handedly, without coordinating it with the government,” Pshonka told the Inter TV channel on Sunday. Last week, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s office launched a criminal... [more]
Hungary’s parliament was set to approve a new constitution Monday, which critics slam as an “ultimatum” by Prime Minister Viktor Orban that will only enhance his power and that of his Fidesz party. With references to God, Christianity, the Holy Crown of Hungary, the fatherland and traditional family values, the text — which is almost assured of going through parliament thanks to Fidesz’s two-thirds majority... [more]
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev held talks Sunday with Hong Kong’s leader on a visit aimed at improving business ties and harnessing the territory’s financial expertise to modernise Russia. Welcoming the first Kremlin chief to visit Hong Kong, Chief Executive Donald Tsang said that bilateral trade grew by a “remarkable” 63 percent last year. “I came to visit you as I have promised, and I think that this sufficiently... [more]
