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 ...
A summit of the world’s biggest emerging economies has highlighted a shift in power away from the US and Europe. The populations of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa account for 40% of the world’s people. And those countries are experiencing the kind of economic growth that most in the West can only dream about. Today’s summit meeting of leaders from the five nations in the Chinese resort of Sanya will try... [more]
Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever was fined 104 million euros on Wednesday for fixing washing powder prices in eight EU countries. US-based Procter & Gamble Co. has to pay 211.2 million euros in EU fines. Germany’s Henkel, which alerted the European Commission to the cartel in laundry detergent, was not fined. The P&G/Unilever cartel operated Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands... [more]
Leaders of five of the world’s major emerging powers said Thursday the use of force in Libya and the Arab world should be avoided, at a summit intended to showcase their growing global clout. The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa also warned volatile commodity prices could slow the global recovery and that huge capital flows could hurt developing countries, according to a draft summit communique. Chinese President... [more]
Electricity prices will rise only slightly under the government’s plan to hasten the shift to renewable energy, Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen has said in an effort to bolster his case for green power. Daily Passauer Neue Presse reported Wednesday that Röttgen had told a gathering of conservative MPs that the price per kilowatt-hour would rise only by about 0.1 to 0.9 cents over the next decade under the government’s plan. The... [more]
Applications for asylum in Switzerland rose 18.1 percent in the first quarter of 2011, official figures have shown. The new statistics published by the Swiss Federal Migration Office show that 4,371 applications were registered in the first quarter – 671 more than the first quarter a year before. The month of March, during which weather conditions were good, saw a peak of 1,874 requests, 612 more than the previous month. The mild... [more]
Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen has urged IT businesses not to supply internet content filters to all countries. According to the minister, IT businesses should first make sure that content filters will not be used to limit the freedom of speech. Mr Verhagen said IT companies should take into consideration that repressive regimes could abuse content filters. The minister will meet with the companies involved soon. He mentioned China... [more]
Britain and The Netherlands have said they will return to the courts to get Iceland to refund them billions of euros after voters there said “no” in a referendum to the reimbursement plan. Iceland’s government insisted it could pay back more than 90 percent of the money lost, despite most voters having rejected a deal to refund 3.9 billion euros ($5.6 billion) to the two countries, according to partial results. “The... [more]
The Swedish government has proposed a number of changes to its reforms of the country’s health insurance system, admitting its current efforts have left some people in a jam. Sweden’s new, tougher health insurance rules, which were adopted several years ago, have been the subject of near constant criticism and in response, the government launched a review of its reform efforts last autumn. A memo is set to be circulated for... [more]
Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer on Monday slapped down a European Union plan to raise the tax on diesel. “The regulatory frenzy from Brussels must have an end. That means hands off the diesel tax,” Ramsauer told Monday’s edition of daily Bild. President of Germany’s largest automobile club, ADAC, told the same paper that ever more “gouging-ideas” were driving motorists to ruin. “Relief through a hike in commuter tax breaks... [more]
Voters in Iceland rejected a second plan to repay debts to Britain and the Netherlands from a bank crash, partial referendum results showed Sunday, and the prime minister said economic and political chaos could follow. “The worst option was chosen. The vote has split the nation in two,” Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir told state television, saying it was fairly clear the “no” side had won. With around 85,000... [more]
