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 founder and three employees of the Megaupload file-sharing website have appeared in court in New Zealand after being arrested in police raids. New Zealand police also seized guns, artwork, more than £5 million in cash and luxury cars valued at nearly £3 million after serving 10 search warrants at several businesses and homes around the city of Auckland. The Megaupload site was shut down on Thursday over US accusations that it facilitated... [more]
Sweden should take steps to increase security against attacks at its nuclear plants, including introducing armed guards, according to a new government-sponsored report, published on Thursday. “A terror attack against a nuclear power plant can have the same consequences for the surroundings as a nuclear power plant accident,” the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (Strålsäkerhetsmyndigheten) said in a statement. The authority,... [more]
Wikipedia has blacked out its English-language site for 24 hours to seek support against proposed US anti-piracy legislation it says threatens the future of the internet. The English version of the online encyclopedia receives an average of more than 25 million daily visitors globally, according to comScore research data. It is the highest profile name to join a growing campaign to black out pages so visitors only see information criticising... [more]
A Russian government commission inquiring into why the Phobos-Grunt Mars probe crashed this week is to test whether it was affected after launch by U.S. radars on its second orbit around the Earth, the commission said on Tuesday. The investigators said that they would stage an experiment where a model Phobos will be subjected to radiation similar to that from U.S. radars. “The results of the experiment will allow us to prove or dismiss... [more]
Google, Yahoo, Facebook and other websites are facing prosecution in Indian courts for refusing to censor themselves and remove contents considered insulting to Indian leaders and major religious figures. Government officials are upset about web pages that are insulting to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, ruling Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi and major religious figures. Some illustrations have shown Mr Singh and Ms Gandhi in compromising... [more]
GOOGLE says its Google Map system is not infallible and NSW drivers should not follow its directions “blindly”. The admission comes after GPS devices that use Google Maps began to incorrectly indicate that large parts of the Pacific Highway were closed. For example Google Maps currently recommends that drivers travelling between Sydney and Byron Bay take an inland diversion through Armidale and Glen Innes. A Google spokesman... [more]
A month ago, Google’s three-year effort to push its Web browser, Chrome, took a major step when analysts said it had passed Mozilla’s Firefox to become the second-most popular tool of its kind on the Internet. Today, that climb continues and has some tech observers wondering whether Chrome could do the unthinkable and topple perennial leader Internet Explorer from atop the browser rankings. According to Web analytics firm StatCounter, the... [more]
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics will this year focus on developing new products and tapping into new businesses to get ahead of competitors amid the global economic slowdown, its chairman said Monday. Lee Kun-Hee, in a New Year’s speech to employees, said existing businesses would experience a stagnation in growth, and that new start-ups would provide the best opportunities even although they will find it increasingly competitive... [more]
End of the year sales are still going strong, and in this environment it’s difficult to imagine not being able to find an excellent deal on the necessities. But sales end and economic trends change, and sometimes even minor shifts can spell big price hikes. It’s inevitable that as the new year creeps closer, we begin to muse about what’s to come in the next 12 months. So dealnews is taking a look at what price adjustments... [more]
Alibaba Group has hired Washington lobbying firmDuberstein Group Inc, in a sign that the Chinese company would be willing to make a bid for all of Yahoo Inc if talks for buying backYahoo’s Asian assets do not succeed. Japan’s Softbank Corp is also listed as an Alibaba affiliate in the lobbying firm’s disclosure. Alibaba declined to comment. Alibaba, which has been interested in buying back most of the 40 percent... [more]
