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 ...
HSBC launched deep cost cuts on Wednesday to save US$2.5-3.5 billion (1.7-2.4 billion euros) by 2013, in order to redeploy capital into fast-growing markets around the world. The banking giant revealed the news in a strategic review published ahead of an investor day in central London, and just two days after it unveiled mixed first-quarter results. “We have launched a programme to target US$2.5-3.5 billion of cost saves” over... [more]
British authorities say the country’s police and military carried out a three-day drill to simulate a terrorist attack on next summer’s Olympic Games in London. London police say that the exercise was held inside the Olympic village — the cluster of arenas and training facilities constructed to host the sporting event starting next July. In a statement, police said Wednesday that Britain’s defense ministry and emergency... [more]
A German court says an 88-year-old convicted over 60 years ago by a Dutch court of complicity in 22 murders during the Nazis’ World War II occupation will not be extradited to the Netherlands. Ingolstadt court spokesman Jochen Boesl said Wednesday Klaas Carel Faber has objected to being extradited — and the suspect’s consent would be mandatory in this case because he is a German citizen. Dutch prosecutors say Faber was convicted... [more]
Police will be able to hand out on-the-spot fines for careless driving under a new strategy being launched to to make Britain’s roads safer. Motorists who tailgate, undertake or cut up other drivers could be handed an immediate fine – reportedly up to £100 – rather than being taken to court. There will be a new crackdown on drug-driving and loopholes which allow people to get off drink-driving charges will be closed,... [more]
Sarah Ferguson, the former wife of Prince Andrew, says it was “difficult” that she wasn’t invited to last month’s royal wedding, but blamed herself for the snub. In an interview with US chat show host Oprah Winfrey, she said it was all the more painful because of memories of her own wedding in Westminster Abbey, where Prince William and Kate Middleton wed on April 29. “I was not invited, and I chose to go and... [more]
EasyJet’s net losses widened to £114 million (131 million euros, $187 million) in the first-half on soaring jet fuel costs and higher taxes, the British no-frills airline said on Tuesday. Losses after tax for the six months to March 31 compared with a net loss of £59 million during the group’s first half in 2009/10, easyJet said in a results statement. “The past six months has been tough with sharply rising fuel costs... [more]
An ex-car racing boss who sued a tabloid over a story about his sadomasochistic orgy with a handful of dominatrixes lost his privacy case in the European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday — a ruling applauded by free speech advocates. Max Mosley won a suit against Britain’s News of the World for its 2008 front-page story claiming the then-president of the governing body overseeing Formula One racing had an hours-long Nazi-themed orgy... [more]
Iran has accepted the European Union’s proposal for more talks about the country’s controversial nuclear program. A round of talks in Istanbul in January collapsed after Iran said it wouldn’t freeze uranium enrichment. EU’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said at the time that no new talks were planned but that world powers remained open to more discussions. Iran’s state TV says top nuclear negotiator... [more]
Far-right Freedom Party (PVV) local councillors in The Hague have demanded apology from writer Karel Kanits for comparing their party’s leader Geert Wilders to Adolf Hitler. During Thursday’s Liberation Day festivities Mr Kanits described Mr Wilders as a “bleached Führer” – a reference to the anti-Islam MP’s trademark bleached hair. “We are firm advocates of free speech,” said Freedom Party councillor Richard de Mos on Sunday.... [more]
Ireland’s government expects the country’s debts will be restructured within the next three years, The Irish Mail on Sunday reported, citing an unnamed senior minister. The newspaper said the Irish government was hoping a possible restructuring deal for fellow euro zone struggler Greece would pave the way for a rethink about Ireland, which entered into an 85 billion euros ($123.5 billion) bailout package with the EU and IMF last... [more]
