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 ...
Survivors of mudslides that killed more than 500 people are growing frustrated, saying Brazil’s government has fallen short in rescuing victims still stranded on remote hillsides and finding the bodies of the dead. On the fourth night since torrential rains sent avalanches of mud and boulders smashing through communities in the lush mountains outside Rio de Janeiro, many people were still begging officials for aid late Friday. Many... [more]
An army of volunteers has turned out to clean up Australia’s third-largest city Brisbane after epic floods, as towns were evacuated in the country’s south amid the rolling disaster. Just as stricken areas in and around the eastern hub of Brisbane began the mammoth task of recovering from floods that killed at least 16, thousands of residents of southern Victoria state were forced to flee fast-rising waters. Prime Minister Julia... [more]
Tunisia’s president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali has fled to Saudi Arabia after being driven from power by violent protests over soaring unemployment and corruption. The office of Saudi King Abdullah confirmed the leader and his family had arrived in the kingdom, after several hours of mystery over his whereabouts. In a statement, it said: “The kingdom states its complete support for the Tunisian people and hopes all Tunisians stand... [more]
Australia’s third-largest city Brisbane resembled a “war zone” Thursday with whole suburbs under water and infrastructure smashed as the worst flood in decades hit 30,000 properties. Shocked evacuees surveyed the damage after floods that have swept eastern Australia peaked about a metre (three feet) below feared levels around dawn, sparing thousands more properties in the besieged river city. Queensland’s tearful... [more]
At least 356 people have died and dozens are missing after floods and landslides swept through mountain towns in southeastern Brazil. Many homes were washed away as torrents of water and mud rushed down hillsides. The Serrana mountain region, north of Rio, has seen a month’s rain in a month. Worst hit is the town of Teresopolis, 40 miles north of Rio, where reports say at least 152 people have died in 24 hours. Images from the town,... [more]
Psychological pressure on the crew of a plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski to a ceremony in Russia may have led to the April crash that killed him and 95 others, Russian aviation officials said on Wednesday. “He’ll get mad,” one of the plane’s crew members said, according to a flight recording excerpt aired during a press conference by Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) on the probe into... [more]
China invited U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates inside its nuclear warfare headquarters on Wednesday, giving him a rare glimpse into control of weapons that could one day be launched at the United States. Both the U.S. and China have long-range missiles that could reach the other’s shores. Both nations say they have no intention of using the weapons that way. “There was a discussion of nuclear strategy and their overall approach... [more]
Authorities in Brisbane have warned the city it is facing its worst flooding in more than 100 years, as up to 20,000 homes face being destroyed. The sun emerged after a week of monsoon rain over Queensland’s capital – but locals were told it was a false dawn. “Don’t take any comfort from the fact that we have blue sky,” said the state’s premier, Anna Bligh, on Wednesday. Unprecedented rainfall over much... [more]
China may be the largest market for Volvo Cars by the end of 2011, as the company looks to increase sales in China six-fold by 2015, according to the head of Volvo’s China operations. “I would say (China will be the No. 1 market) in the next couple of years — hopefully one year,” Volvo Car China chairman Freeman Shen told the Reuters news agency from the Detroit auto show. Last week, Volvo announced that global sales... [more]
Airbus on Tuesday announced what it called the biggest jet order in commercial aviation history, a $15.6 billion (£10 billion) deal to sell 180 planes to Indian budget carrier IndiGo that includes the first orders for a revamped model. The deal comes as the European planemaker tallies its plane orders for 2010, but will not enter the order book in time to decide whether Airbus will come from behind to win a fiercely contested annual battle... [more]
