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 ...
IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn Tuesday dismissed fears the strains on the euro would lead to the collapse of the eurozone despite a sharp fall in stocks and a race to the safe-haven dollar. “I think there’s no threat to the euro system,” Strauss-Khan told reporters in Brazil when asked whether the eurozone risked a domino effect from Greece putting the euro in peril. “It’s difficult for the Greeks to do what... [more]
Thirty-one people, 28 of them civilians, have been killed in three days of violence in Jamaica triggered by government moves to extradite an alleged drug lord to the United States, police said Tuesday. Police Director of Communications Karl Angell said 26 civilians were killed and 25 injured in the teeming Tivoli Gardens slum of West Kingston, which heavily armed soldiers and police assaulted Monday hunting for the wanted man, Christopher... [more]
Parliamentary reform, more freedom for teachers and a “strong and fair society” are on the agenda for MPs this coming year. In her speech marking the opening of Parliament, the Queen announced 22 new pieces of legislation and one draft bill. Her Majesty said the new Government’s programme would be based on “freedom, fairness and responsibility”. She restated the coalition agreement’s promise to make cutting... [more]
World stock markets and the euro tumbled Tuesday on fears Europe’s debt crisis will cause a prolonged slump in the region and weaken the outlook for global growth. Asian markets were also hit hard by reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il ordered his military to be on combat alert amid rising tensions on the peninsula. In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 2.5 percent to 4,942.58, Germany’s DAX index dropped 2.5... [more]
Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) was finally poised for “lights, cameras and action” on Tuesday, with the first of two semifinals in the Eurovision Song Contest due to air live at 9pm on NRK1. It’s the biggest TV spectacle to be produced in Norway since the Winter Olympics at Lillehammer in 1994. That went well, and NRK officials seemed confident they’d pull Eurovision off as well. “There are a million things we can worry about,”... [more]
The week-long strike by transport workers and workers in the cleaning industry was extended from Monday morning. This will mean fewer supplies on the shelves and more uncleaned offices. The strike at freight terminals has so far only affected the Oslo region, but from now on the rest of the country will also be hit, when another 800 members of the Transportworkers’ Union walk out. In addition to the non-food supplies at the grocery... [more]
Australia’s communications minister has calledGoogle’s privacy policy “a bit creepy” in personal attacks against the head of the company and fellow Web giant Facebook in an Internet filtering row. Stephen Conroy said Google had committed the “single greatest breach in the history of privacy” by collecting private wireless data while taking pictures for its “Street View” mapping service,... [more]
Venezuela’s socialist president is threatening to “go after” the country’s biggest food producer, and the corporation’s workers are not happy about it. Union leader Richard Prieto says employees of Empresas Polar held meetings Monday and agreed to “defend our jobs throughout the country.” Chavez on Sunday called for authorities to investigate whether the company has been hoarding food, saying... [more]
Dolly Parton — who plays Miley Cyrus’ aunt on “Hannah Montana” — says the final season of the show mirrors Cyrus’ real life, down to the backlash against her. According to Parton, Cyrus’ character takes off her blond “HannahMontana” wig and reveals her true identity as Miley Stewart. Parton says the media were then saying bad things about Miley — “just the same way they’re doing... [more]
The world’s top mobile phone maker Nokia said Monday it had teamed up with US Internet search engine Yahoo! for mobile and PC web services that would be available starting from the second half of 2010. “Building on more than five years of collaboration, Nokia and Yahoo! will leverage each others’ strengths in e-mail, instant messaging and maps and navigation services,” Nokia said in a statement. The companies... [more]
