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 ...
Thousands of people remained stranded in western Japan Tuesday after the death toll from a fierce typhoon rose to 41, heaping more misery on a nation recovering from the March earthquake and tsunami. Torrential rain brought by powerful Typhoon Talas, which made landfall Saturday and was the deadliest in seven years, caused rivers to swell and triggered floods and landslides that swept away buildings, homes and roads. More than 50 people... [more]
A man who claims he has a bomb is holding a girl hostage at a family court in Sydney. Australian media are reporting a hostage situation at a court complex in the Parramatta district of west Sydney. Police have confirmed an operation is under way but have given no details. Sources have told Australian media that the hostage-taker entered the court with an 11-year-old girl, wearing a lawyer’s wig. An ambulance spokeswoman said four... [more]
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to visit Palestine’s city of Gaza in September 13 or 14 to put an end to an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, country’s Haberturk newspaper said on Sunday, quoting sources in the government. The sources told the paper that the prime minister would get to Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah Border Crossing as new Egyptian authorities gave their approval for that. Israel... [more]
A typhoon that pummelled western Japan left at least 17 people dead and 43 missing on Sunday after swollen rivers swept away buildings and landslides crushed houses. One of the victims drowned to death after flood waters gushed into his car, and streets were submerged in scenes that rekindled memories of the March 11 tsunami disaster. Typhoon Talas, which made landfall on Saturday, packed gusts of up to 108 kilometres (68 miles) per hour... [more]
TRAVEL review website TripAdvisor under investigation by Britain’s advertising watchdog following allegations that its claim to provide trustworthy and genuine reviews from real travelers is false. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has opened a formal investigation into the company after receiving a complaint that fake and misleading reviews have reached “epidemic levels,” The Times reported. TripAdvisor, which... [more]
Tens of thousands of travellers were left stranded Monday after ash from Chile’s volcanic eruptions prompted Australian airlines to ground some domestic services and flights to New Zealand. Strong winds have carried the ash more than half way around the world, over the southern Atlantic and southern Indian Oceans to Australia and New Zealand since Chile’s Puyehue volcano erupted more than a week ago. Australian airline Qantas... [more]
Students of The Hague University of Applied Sciences have won a prize for Europe’s most efficient fuel-efficient city car. The car, which won the first prize at the European Shell Eco-marathon, runs on hydrogen and uses 14 times less energy than the average electrical car. In all, 183 groups from across Europe, including 11 from the Netherlands, entered the contest, which took place in the German town of Lausitz. Share this: ... [more]
Residents of the town around Japan’s radiation-leaking nuclear plant donned protective suits and briefly returned home to collect belongings Thursday for the first time since the complex went into crisis in March. Futaba’s 8,000 residents were evacuated soon after Japan’s massive March 11 earthquake and tsunami flooded the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex and set off radiation leaks. Local officials and nuclear experts... [more]
In the heart of the Polish countryside, about 500 Chinese workers toil frenetically on a new stretch of the A2 motorway connecting Berlin and Warsaw — an unprecedented sight both here and across the EU. Poland has become the first country in the 27-member bloc to open its doors to a Chinese company on a public works contract, thanks to the firm’s controversial low bid that beat out several European competitors. In a place where... [more]
A cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland that has caused headaches for air travelers spread to Germany on Wednesday, forcing the closure of Berlin’s airports and disrupting hundreds of flights, but experts said the eruption appeared be winding down. European air traffic controllers said they expect about 700 flights to be canceled on Wednesday, but Eurocontrol added that activity from Iceland’s Grimsvotn volcano has declined sharply... [more]
