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 ...
Finance ministers from the debt-stricken euro zone sought to restore financial markets’ confidence on Monday by agreeing how to deploy a vast anti-contagion programme if needed by struggling members. Germany’s coalition government agreed in parallel to budget cuts and taxes worth 11.2 billion euros next year — and more than 80 billion euros by the end of 2014 — in the latest of a series of austerity plans being hatched... [more]
JORAN van der Sloot has confessed to the May 30 murder of Lima woman Stephany Flores Ramirez. A high-ranking Peruvian government official told NBC News that van der Sloot had confessed, following reports in the La Republica newspaper that said he broke Flores’ neck after she used his laptop without his permission and found out he was involved in the murder of the American. According to the newspaper the Dutchman, who is also the prime... [more]
VVD leader Mark Rutte, tipped to win the June 9 general election, said on Sunday night he wants a new cabinet in place by July 1. Forming a coalition in the Netherlands traditionally takes months, not days, and involves a detailed agreement. However Rutte said he wanted a coalition agreement of some 10 A4 pages, including the main reforms the new government plans to implement and their financial implications, he said. Budget And, he said,... [more]
Russia urged NATO forces in Afghanistan on Sunday to crack down harder on drug production and smuggling, and offered to help put a security ring around the country. The international community should classify Afghan drugs as a threat to peace and security because they have become an important source of funds for the Taliban and other insurgent groups, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said in a speech. Insurgents and international... [more]
The election campaign has entered its final week and Dutch voters are being bombarded by campaign issues. The economy, foreigners, tax-relief on mortgage interest, health care; opinions flood in from all corners and there’s no escape from politicians or pundits. But what really annoys Dutch voters? According to three average Dutch people, bureaucracy is public enemy number one. Gerda de Birk considers herself a happy person. Her husband... [more]
European austerity measures to tackle the soaring debt crisis have sparked “despair” and will cut too deep, a senior trade union official warned Friday, as he announced a protest action day. John Monks, head of the European Trade Union Confederation, who met EU and employers’ officials in Brussels, said there was “despair and alarm at the prospects of growth in Europe as all countries, not just those in distress,... [more]
The European court of justice said on Thursday that the Netherlands is within its rights to ban internet gambling if the Dutch courts are satisfied the aim of the ban is to reduce crime and to discourage people from gambling. The Dutch high court had asked the EU court for its opinion because British gambling groups are trying to enter the Dutch market, which is in the hands of the state-owned Lotto group. ‘Such a restriction may be... [more]
A Dutch man suspected in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba was charged Thursday in Alabama with trying to extort $250,000 in return for disclosing the location of her body. A criminal complaint by the U.S. Attorney in federal court in Birmingham also accused Joran van der Sloot in May 2010 of promising to describe the circumstances of Holloway’s death in return for the money. According to a sworn statement, van... [more]
Norway’s Statnett has submitted plans to the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) for a second power cable between Norway and the Netherlands (NorNed2). Statnett is preparing to install the cable in cooperation with the Dutch Transmission System Operator (TSO) TenneT. A comprehensive concession/planning process was carried out prior to the first NorNed cable between Norway and the Netherlands, built in 2008. NorNed2... [more]
An American woman who accuses former Dutch prime minister turned UN diplomat Ruud Lubbers of sexual intimidation is asking the US courts to lift Lubbers’ diplomatic immunity so he can face charges. Cynthia Brzak claims she was subjected to unwanted physical contact with Lubbers at a UN meeting in 2003. Lubbers was the UN’s high commissioner for refugees at the time. An internal UN report published in 2004 did find in her favour... [more]
