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 ...
Leaders of five of the world’s major emerging powers said Thursday the use of force in Libya and the Arab world should be avoided, at a summit intended to showcase their growing global clout. The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa also warned volatile commodity prices could slow the global recovery and that huge capital flows could hurt developing countries, according to a draft summit communique. Chinese President... [more]
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is studying a report by experts into thousands of deaths during Sri Lanka’s 2009 military drive against Tamil separatists, amid growing calls for an international investigation. Ban has given himself just days to decide on recommendations made by a panel of experts, that Sri Lanka publicly rejected, who handed their report on alleged war crimes to the UN leader on Tuesday. The United Nations said the... [more]
Tens of thousands of anti-government “Red Shirts” are expected to gather in Bangkok on Sunday to mark a year since deadly clashes between troops and protesters during their mass rally in the capital. Police have predicted up to 50,000 people could attend the gathering, which is set to be addressed by fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, a hero for many of the red-shirted demonstrators, via video link. Thailand, which is... [more]
North Korea has ordered its citizens in Libya not to return home in an apparent bid to block news of civil uprisings in the Arab World from reaching the isolated communist state, a report said Sunday. Pyongyang, in a message sent to its embassy in Libya, told some 200 North Korean workers not to return and to follow local authorities’ advice, Yonhap news agency said, citing a source familiar with North Korean affairs. “(The North)... [more]
Prime Minister Naoto Kan pledged Sunday he would “never abandon” survivors of Japan’s tsunami as he tried to focus attention on the future, despite a high-stakes battle at a nuclear plant. Kan, in only his second trip to the disaster zone in the month since the March 11 tragedy, was due to visit survivors to hear directly from victims to help shape policy in the weeks and months ahead, the government said. He will also... [more]
THE Russian security service denied it had plans to ban Skype and Gmail after one of its top officials said such services posed a serious security risk. The information and special communications director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) told a Cabinet meeting on Friday that he was growing “increasingly concerned” by the use of services with foreign-made encryption technology. The comments sparked an immediate furor in... [more]
Electronics and auto makers in China are facing a severe shortage of components after Japan’s twin disasters disrupted production, but the full impact will not be felt for weeks, analysts say. The earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan’s northeastern coast on March 11 shattered infrastructure, caused power outages and forced temporary factory shutdowns — meaning shipments of key parts to China also stopped. “As... [more]
Japan’s industry minister has met workers battling to cool overheating reactors and plug radioactive leaks in the first government visit to the country’s tsunami-crippled nuclear plant. The visit came as one of the country’s top nuclear officials called for a sweeping review of safety standards in the industry and Tokyo warned the crisis at the plant was far from over. Industry minister Banri Kaieda donned full protective... [more]
The Japanese and U.S. militaries launched another all-out search for the bodies of earthquake and tsunami victims Sunday along Japan’s ravaged northeast coast. About 22,000 Japanese troops, along with 110 from the U.S., searched by land, air and sea. Television news footage showed them using heavy equipment to lift a boat washed inland by the tsunami so they could search a crushed car underneath. No one was inside the car. The troops... [more]
Russia on Friday revealed newly declassified documents on Yuri Gagarin’s mysterious death in a plane crash, saying he was likely killed as his jet manoeuvred sharply to avoid a weather balloon. Top Kremlin archives official Alexander Stepanov told a news conference that a Soviet-era commission — whose conclusions had until now been classified — has concluded that this was the most likely cause of his death. “The conclusions... [more]
