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 ...
European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said he is confident the euro will survive and that the European Union will emerge stronger from the current economic crisis. Speaking as European markets tumbled on renewed fears over the risk of recession and eurozone debt, Barroso expressed confidence that the fiscal consolidation and structural reform efforts underway would work. “I think Europe will get out of this crisis stronger... [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]
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key on Monday shrugged off support for Fiji’s military dictatorship from nine of the 16 nations attending this week’s Pacific Islands Forum in Auckland. Key and his Australian counterpart Julia Gillard have worked hard in recent years to make Fiji a pariah state in the Pacific over the military’s refusal in the wake of a 2006 coup to hold democratic elections until 2014. However, 11 leaders... [more]
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard dismissed mounting speculation about her future, vowing to stay in the job despite a crushing court blow to the government’s asylum-seeker policy. The nation’s highest court on Wednesday scuttled Canberra’s proposal to send 800 boat people to Malaysia, in a huge embarrassment for Gillard and her fragile Labor government, sparking fevered talk that her days are numbered. The Sydney... [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]
An Internet craze known as “planking” has come under fire from authorities in Australia after the arrest of a man for sprawling on a police car. Planking involves someone lying flat on their stomach in unusual and sometimes dangerous situations, with photographs of their exploits shared through social media sites. Facebook page Planking Australia currently has almost 10,000 fans and hundreds of photos of people lying on train... [more]
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was Wednesday awarded the Sydney Peace Foundation’s top honour for “exceptional courage in pursuit of human rights”, joining the likes of Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama. Assange, an Australian former computer hacker who is fighting extradition from Britain to Sweden over alleged sex crimes, was praised and rewarded with the Sydney Peace Prize’s Gold Medal. Although the Peace Prize... [more]
Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced Saturday that Malaysia has agreed to take hundreds of asylum seekers who land in Australia illegally, in a move described as a “big blow” to people smugglers. Under the bilateral agreement, up to 800 boat people who try to reach Australia will be taken immediately to Malaysia instead, with their claims processed there by the United Nations. In return, Australia has agreed to accept and resettle,... [more]
THE death of Osama bin Laden was a “small measure of justice” for Australians still mourning the loss of friends and family to terrorist atrocities, Julia Gillard said today. “Osama bin Laden declared war on innocent people and today he has paid the price for that declaration,” the Prime Minister said. She revealed the Department of Foreign Affairs had issued bulletins urging “enhanced vigilance” by... [more]
Press freedom advocates on Saturday slammed the axing of a satirical Australian programme about the royal wedding on official request as a troubling example for authoritarian regimes. Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said it “deplored” the BBC and Associated Press Television News (APTN) for “censoring satirical coverage” of the nuptials by Australian comedy group The Chaser. Notorious for breaching security... [more]
