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 ...
A massive cyclone roaring towards Australia has strengthened to the most dangerous threat level, as officials are warning it could be the strongest storm in generations. As the winds that heralded Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi’s arrival began battering hundreds of kilometres (miles) of Queensland coast, officials told residents it was now too late to escape the monster storm. “The time for movement and evacuation has now passed,”... [more]
Thousands of Australians are fleeing their homes as a “monster cyclone” bears down on the east of the country. Yasi is being described as the most powerful cyclone to hit Australia and follows the devastating floods that hit the east of the country last month. The storm has been upgraded to a maximum-strength category five storm. Its strength is on a par with Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005. “We... [more]
A volcano in southern Japan – which featured in a James Bond film – has erupted again, damaging homes in surrounding towns. After the latest eruption at Shinmoe Peak, the Japan Meteorological Agency has extended the exclusion zone around the crater to 4km (2.4 miles). Experts fear lava could now spill out of the crater as pressure increases from within the the volcano’s lava dome, leading to further blasts. A 92-year-old... [more]
A strong tropical cyclone roared toward Australia’s flood-ravaged northeast on Monday, prompting evacuations and warnings from officials that the storm could be the worst the already-swamped region has ever seen. Cyclone Yasi’s winds strengthened to 63 mph (102 kph) Monday. It was expected to hit the Queensland state coast on Wednesday or Thursday as a fierce Category 4 storm with wind gusts up to 162 mph (260 kph). The storm... [more]
Ten people have been killed and many others injured in a head-on train crash in eastern Germany. A passenger train smashed into a cargo train close to Saxony-Anhalt’s state capital Magdeburg. Several cars of the train carrying around 45 passengers derailed and overturned late on Saturday. The death toll is expected to rise after the accident near the village of Hordorf. Eight bodies were retrieved from the train. Two others are known... [more]
Flood warnings have been issued for South Eastern Norway this weekend. Heavy rainfall has caused local rivers and lakes to overflow their banks in many places. The floodwaters are expected to peak on Sunday, and people are warned to look out for flooding in basements. Roger Melby of the Oslo Fire and Rescue Squad says to Aftenposten that they are on high alert, and Frode Sandersen of the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute says they are considering... [more]
QUEENSLAND Premier Anna Bligh has reactivated the state disaster management group as two possible cyclones threaten to hit within days of each other. Cyclone Anthony could intensify from a category one to a category three storm and hit the Burdekin Coast, between Cardwell and Bowen, on Monday, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) says. Meanwhile, it’s feared a tropical low about 1500km northeast of Vanuatu could build into a category four... [more]
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Friday defended her plan for a one-off tax to pay for the flood disaster, insisting there was no “big pile of money” to pay for the rebuilding. Gillard, who has been prime minister for seven months, has ordered a levy on middle and high-earning tax payers to help fund the recovery after deadly floods that devastated the northeast state of Queensland. Conservatives have criticised the... [more]
Australian taxpayers will be hit with a one-off levy to pay for the massive cost of cleaning up and rebuilding after devastating floods that hit the country in recent months. Prime minister Julia Gillard said the floods were a national tragedy and may be the most expensive natural disaster ever to hit the country. She said the cost of rebuilding damaged infrastructure and providing grants to those affected would be as much as 5.6bn Australian... [more]
A total of 18 roads were closed Thursday morning due to avalanches or threats of rock or snow slides in the northern counties of Troms and Finnmark, according to the Highway Department. In Troms 12 roads were closed, while six were closed in Finnmark. Many otrher Finnmark roads, particularly on mountain passes, are open only to cars driving in convoys. Share this: {lang: 'en-US'} function open_win(url,id)... [more]
