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 ...
Germany is ready to back Italy’s central bank chief Mario Draghi to take over as European Central Bank president, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday. “Germany could support his candidacy for the position of ECB president,” she told Die Zeit weekly in an interview. Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has previously also suggested he would like to see Draghi as the next head of the ECB when Frenchman... [more]
Greece came to a standstill on Wednesday as a general strike took effect against new austerity measures by a government seeking to get a new package of help and avoid a damaging debt overhaul. The strike, the second this year called by the country’s main unions, paralysed maritime and intercity train traffic, shut down state services and temporarily halted flights through the country, respective operators said. A four-hour stoppage... [more]
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]
Google Inc.’s lucrative online advertising system is facing a U.S. Justice Department investigation that is expected to cost the Internet search leader at least $500 million. The disclosure made by Google on Tuesday in a quarterly report to the Securities and Exchange Commission serves as the latest reminder of the intensifying regulatory scrutiny facing the Internet’s most powerful company. European regulators have opened a... [more]
China on Tuesday pledged easier access for U.S. companies to key sectors of its economy by removing barriers to its huge market in government contracts and offering a foothold to U.S. mutual funds. The pledges were made in two days of talks between the world’s two biggest economies which ended with both sides hailing progress in their often tense relationship. “We are seeing very promising shifts in the direction of Chinese economic... [more]
Deals by cash-rich corporations and strong earnings out of the U.S. helped propel Asian markets mostly higher Wednesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.5 percent to 9,868.20 amid a weakening yen, which makes products by the country’s powerhouse export sector more attractive to overseas customers. Honda Motor Co. Ltd. jumped 2.3 percent, Sharp Corp. rose 1.5 percent and Canon Inc. was 0.3 percent higher. Toyota Motor Corp. rose 1.3... [more]
US computer security firm Symantec says Facebook accidentally left a door open for advertisers to access profiles, pictures, chat and other private data at the social network. Symantec discovered that certain Facebook applications leaked tokens that act essentially as “spare keys” for accessing profiles, reading messages, posting to walls or other actions. Facebook applications are web software programs that are integrated... [more]
Plans were unveiled for a nationwide system that will deliver text-like emergency messages from President Barack Obama and key government agencies to mobile phone users. The free service, called the Personal Localized Alerting Network or “PLAN,” is scheduled to be available in New York by the end of this year and throughout the United States by April 2012. Urgent messages about terrorist threats, natural disasters, and other... [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]
Microsoft is set to buy internet firm Skype for 6bn Euros. The deal, one of the biggest in Microsoft’s history, gives it a foothold in the internet market, where it has lagged behind rivals Google and Apple. It is understood the takeover will be announced later on Tuesday. Microsoft has struggled to hold an internet presence in recent years. It invested heavily in marketing and improving the technology of its Bing search engine. While... [more]
