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 ...
The U.S. economy is on the brink of a new wave of recession which is likely be suffused with a fresh wave of liquidity as the nation seeks to depreciate its crushing debt with the aid of inflation, analysts say. The U.S. Federal Reserve made two liquidity injections known as Quantitative Easing 1 and 2, following the financial crisis of 2008 which began in the U.S., the world’s largest economy. The lowering of the U.S. top credit rating... [more]
Scrapping the euro and closing the Dutch borders, as called for by right wing populist MP Geert Wilders, will lead to more unemployment in the Netherlands, deputy prime minister Maxime Verhagen says in an interview with website nu.nl. Wilders’ anti-Islam PVV has a formal alliance with the ruling minority coalition, made up of the VVD Liberals and Christian Democrats. ‘What Wilders says sounds very reasonable – ‘What... [more]
Dutch police have uncovered huge caches of child pornography on “hidden” websites, including four based in the United States, prosecutors announced Wednesday. The discovery was made as part of the far-reaching investigation into a suspected pedophile identified only as Robert M. who was arrested in Amsterdam last year. He is accused of abusing dozens of young children while he worked in at least two Amsterdam preschools. The... [more]
Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, an advocate of a higher sales tax to fix state finances, emerged on Thursday as a possible frontrunner to replace Naoto Kan as premier after a newspaper said ruling party executives would back his candidacy. But whether the 54-year-old Noda has the political skills to manage a possible “grand coalition” to break a parliamentary deadlock as Japan struggles with a nuclear disaster and huge... [more]
The Metropolitan Police is looking at whether to widen the scope of its phone-hacking investigation amid claims the Duchess of Cambridge and Tony Blair were victims. Labour MP Tom Watson alleged the former prime minister was targeted by private detective Jonathan Rees. Mr Watson also claimed Mr Rees, a contractor to News International, targeted “at least one former home secretary”. The MP spoke following a statement by the Home... [more]
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said on Sunday she plans to visit India and China and some African countries as well as Brazil to drum up support for her bid to lead the International Monetary Fund. “I have proposed to Brazil, China, India and certain African countries” to pay them a visit, she told Europe 1 radio, adding that the would travel on Monday to Brazil because it was the first state to respond to her proposal. Brazilian... [more]
A large-scale plan of the Titanic, prepared for the official inquiry into the ship’s sinking, has fetched 220,000 pounds ($363,000) in a British auction. The sale price beat expectations for the 32.5-foot-long (9.9-meter) cross-section of the ship. Henry Aldridge & Son auctioneers had estimated it could fetch between 100,000 and 150,00 pounds at the sale in Devizes in southern England on Saturday. The auction house said Sunday... [more]
In the heart of the Polish countryside, about 500 Chinese workers toil frenetically on a new stretch of the A2 motorway connecting Berlin and Warsaw — an unprecedented sight both here and across the EU. Poland has become the first country in the 27-member bloc to open its doors to a Chinese company on a public works contract, thanks to the firm’s controversial low bid that beat out several European competitors. In a place where... [more]
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde announced Wednesday that she will seek the top job at the International Monetary Fund, a candidacy that has widespread support across Europe. Lagarde had remained silent about whether she wanted the job, and said she came to the decision after “mature reflection” and consultating with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. “If I’m elected I’ll bring all my expertise as a... [more]
Greece’s main opposition leader bluntly refused Monday to back new austerity measures designed to tackle the crippling debt crisis, arguing they would only bring further recession, despite the European Union’s insistence for cross-party support. Top EU finance officials have argued that Greece, which is struggling to meet the terms of an international euro110 billion ($154 billion) bailout and could require more help, needs all... [more]
