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 ...
Discovery’s astronauts are surveying their ship for signs of launch damage, but the job is being complicated by the failure of the space shuttle’s big dish antenna. The antenna failed to operate after Discovery blasted into orbit on Monday. That left the seven astronauts with no way to send or receive big packages of information, like the laser images of the shuttle’s wings and nose being collected early on Tuesday morning. Normally,... [more]
Vietnam has dismissed what it called “groundless” accusations from Google and McAfee that the communist country had apparently used malicious computer programs to hack websites and spy on political opponents. Google said Vietnam had apparently used software known as “malware” to snoop on opponents of a controversial bauxite mine planned for Vietnam’s Central Highlands. It said the cyber attacks had targeted... [more]
The Transportation Department says it’s seeking themaximum penalty, more than $16 million, against Toyota for failing to promptly notify the government about defective gas pedals among its vehicles. The fine would be the largest civil penalty ever issued to an automaker by the government. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says evidence shows that Toyota knew of the problem with sticking gas pedals in late September but did not... [more]
Apple Inc said it sold more than 300,000 iPads on the tablet computer’s first day in stores, a strong showing that roughly matched Wall Street forecasts and mirrored the iPhone’s debut in 2007. Despite a solid opening weekend, which prompted several investment banks to raise their earnings and revenue forecasts, the bigger test will come later this year, as consumers outside the company’s core fan base size up the iPad. Questions... [more]
Google will today announce a new confirmation page for its controversial Buzz social networking tool designed to assuage the widespread concerns that have arisen over privacy, according to widespread reports. The web giant launched the new functionality for its Gmail service in February, allowing users to post messages and share photos and other information with other users. However, it soon received a storm of complaints from users who... [more]
Discovery’s astronauts waved and gave thumbs-up as they headed to the launch pad early Monday for a pre-dawn launch to the International Space Station, one of the last few shuttle flights. Discovery was scheduled to blast off at 6:21 a.m., nearly an hour before sunrise. The shuttle and its crew of seven will deliver spare parts and science experiments to the nearly completed space station. There were screams of excitement for Japanese... [more]
It was a busy week this week for both Apple and Microsoft, after the two tech giants were forced to patch critical flaws in their products, while Googles spat with China continued and social networks were found wanting once again. First, Microsofts Internet Explorer product was found wanting again, with the firm forced to issue an out-of-cycle patch for IE6 and IE7, the second time this year Redmond has had to release a patch outside its... [more]
Scientists at Larpa Labs in Taiwan claim to have built the world’s first carbon negative processor, which uses nanotechnology to capture carbon atoms and bind them to the processing core to extend memory and add power. The company explained that the chip could help to reduce the carbon footprint of datacentres around the world. “Nanotubes are already part of the computing culture and this development will see them taken mainstream,”... [more]
Gmail users will soon be able to grant third-party developers secure access to their email accounts, in a move likely to precipitate an increase in productivity enhancing services available for the popular email app, according to a new post on Google’s code blog. The ultimate aim is to give Gmail users similar benefits to those enjoyed by Twitter users who are able to use a range of third-party applications. As is the case with Twitter,... [more]
The BBC has postponed plans to release free iPhone news applications after concerns about an unfair market advantage. A report on BBC News said that the BBC Trust had decided to halt the planned April release of news and sports applications for the Apple handsets, after newspaper publishers claimed that the BBC would unfairly influence the market for news apps. The BBC Trust will review the plans, and decide whether the apps would violate... [more]
