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 Russian security service denied it had plans to ban Skype and Gmail after one of its top officials said such services posed a serious security risk. The information and special communications director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) told a Cabinet meeting on Friday that he was growing “increasingly concerned” by the use of services with foreign-made encryption technology. The comments sparked an immediate furor in... [more]
Electronics and auto makers in China are facing a severe shortage of components after Japan’s twin disasters disrupted production, but the full impact will not be felt for weeks, analysts say. The earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan’s northeastern coast on March 11 shattered infrastructure, caused power outages and forced temporary factory shutdowns — meaning shipments of key parts to China also stopped. “As... [more]
The European Central Bank raised its main interest rate on Thursday for the first time since July 2008 just as Portugal became the latest victim of the eurozone’s deficit and debt crisis. The increase in the ECB’s benchmark refinancing or “refi” rate to 1.25 percent also marked the first change in either direction since it was cut to a record low of 1.0 percent in May 2009. With higher inflation and core eurozone... [more]
Most Germans fear gravely for the future of their cherished welfare state, believing they will pay more taxes yet receive fewer benefits in the coming decade, a major survey has found. Four out of five people believed the state would demand more of their money in 10 years’ time than it does today. Yet 63 percent believed welfare for the elderly would shrink and nearly as many were prepared for cuts to public health, though only about one... [more]
A year after a public spat with Beijing over censorship, Google Inc. says its business with Chinese advertisers is growing even as the Internet giant’s share of online searches in China plunges. A major Chinese portal announced last week it would no longer use Google for search, compounding its rapid loss of market share since March last year when it closed its local search engine. The future of a Google map service that is a key part... [more]
Nissan Motor on Thursday denied a report that France’s Renault SA and the Japanese automaker were considering a holding company to put the two firms and several of their interests under a single umbrella. The Japanese business daily Nikkei, citing an interview with Nissan president Carlos Ghosn, said Russia’s leading auto maker AvtoVaz, which is 25 percent owned by Renault, would be incorporated in the proposed company. Romania’s... [more]
British Prime Minister David Cameron Thursday warned the European Union that it could be “left behind” by emerging economies unless it reformed its business policies. “It is clear that there is a growing urgency and need for action to secure long term sustainable growth in Europe,” the British leader said in a pamphlet released Thursday. “We need to take collective action to unleash the forces of enterprise... [more]
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Thursday called for more flexible exchange rate policies at a Group of 20 meeting in China, saying it was crucial to global monetary system reform. Geithner did not explicitly single out China in his remarks at a G20 seminar on international monetary reform attended by ministers and central bankers, but hinted that Beijing needed to loosen its grip on the yuan. He said that to better manage sweeping... [more]
Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne told shareholders Wednesday that the two automakers potentially could generate combined revenues of euro100 billion ($141 billion) by 2014. Marchionne expects Fiat’s revenues alone to nearly double from euro35.8 billion 2010 to euro64 billion, a target previously announced. That would leave the once-bankrupt Chrysler to contribute more than euro36 billion. Fiat SpA, which took over Chrysler LCC... [more]
Saab Automobile was forced to halt production at its factory in Trollhättan in western Sweden on Tuesday due to problems paying certain suppliers. At least one frustrated supplier stopped delivering components to the Swedish automaker, bringing production to a standstill on Tuesday, according to several sources. But the company refused to elaborate on the alleged payment problems or a stoppage on the assembly line. “We have 800 suppliers... [more]
