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 pop star – who flew out to Los Angeles on Friday (31.07.10) after overcoming malaria – is looking for a property in Los Angeles with the help of rumoured boyfriend Derek Hough because she wants to launch her career in the US. According to the Daily Star newspaper, Cheryl has already line-up a “string of meetings with top estate agents to find her perfect pad”. The pair are currently staying in a villa at the Sunset... [more]
More than 120 Deutsche Bahn passengers were forced to disembark from a train in Osnabrück on Sunday that was filled to up to double its capacity and could not go on, the national rail provider said. On the last weekend of school vacation in the state of Lower Saxony, so many people were headed home that the Intercity regional train was already crammed with people. When scores of people boarded the train at the city’s main train... [more]
Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel have returned home after their six week long honeymoon, arriving at Stockholm’s Bromma airport on Sunday evening. The royal couple arrived in Sweden at 8.49pm in a private jet which departedBedford, near Boston earlier in the afternoon, according to the Aftonbladettabloid. The couple spent the first part of their honeymoon in the south pacific before travelling to... [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]
Angelina Jolie whipped up Soviet-era nostalgia and patriotism for Mother Russia at the Moscow premiere of her spy thriller “Salt.” Clad in a floor-length Versace gown she described as “Russian Red,” Jolie blew kisses to thousands of fans who came to watch her play a suspected Russian double agent in the blockbuster, which opened at No. 2 in the U.S. at $36.5 million (23.5 million pounds). “I think this film... [more]
The dead child found near a lake in a mountainous area of Spain has been identified as a missing five-year-old German boy, a government official confirmed in Berlin on Saturday. The boy’s father travelled to the Cordoba region from Dortmund to identify his son, whose body will now be examined in a post-mortem to find out how he died. Local media reports suggest there is no sign of violence, and that it is expected that the boy,... [more]
French football bosses have banned all 23 players involved in the country’s World Cup disaster from playing in the friendly against Norway next month. The French Football Federation took the decision on the advice of new coach Laurent Blanc. The country’s World Cup campaign lurched from one disaster to another in South Africa. On the pitch, the 2006 losing finalists failed to progress from the group stages after being unable... [more]
Tropical Storm Bonnie took aim at the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, moving on a track expected to take it over the site of BP Plc’s deepwater oil spill after a soggy trek across south Florida. At 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), the centre of the fast-moving storm was located about 55 miles east-southeast of Naples, Florida, and it was due to head out over the Gulf sometime early Friday evening, the U.S. National Hurricane Centre said. Oil and natural... [more]
Three German teenagers have confessed to having sexually abused a number of younger children when they were on holiday together on the Dutch island of Ameland . The abusers and their victims, who are all minors, shared a dormitory at a holiday camp for two weeks in June and July. Six children from Osnabrück, aged 13, told police they were dragged from their beds at night and sexually assaulted by the teenagers. They alerted supervisors... [more]
