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 ...
Three major newspapers in northern Europe will join forces with a Norwegian paper to comb through about 250,000 cables originally exclusively handled by WikiLeaks’ media partners, newspaper Svenska Dagbladet told AFP on Sunday. Norwegian daily Aftenposten will share its findings with three major media outlets in Denmark, Germany and Sweden, Martin Jönsson, the executive director of Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet, said on Sunday.... [more]
Emma Bunton has announced her engagement to long-term boyfriend Jade Jones live on ITV’s Dancing On Ice. The former Spice Girl and skating show judge, who is expecting her second child, declared “I’m a very happy lady” as she shared the good news and revealed the sparkling ring on her finger. The singer told fans in November last year she was pregnant via micro-blogging website Twitter. She wrote: “So our family... [more]
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has refused to appear in court to answer questions about alleged sexual misconduct. Mr Berlusconi and three associates are being investigated by prosecutors over claims he paid for sex with a 17-year-old girl and several prostitutes during parties at his Milan home. The girl, nicknamed Ruby – who is now 18 – has denied the claims and said they were nothing more than friends. Wiretapped... [more]
Rapper Eminem is inadvertently helping to feed the needy in Michigan after a deer became impaled on a fence on his property. Local authorities were called out to the Not Afraid star’s gated home in Clinton Township on Wednesday after his security system was set off, sparking suspicion of a possible intruder. Cops failed to find any indication of a break-in and dismissed the incident as a false alarm. However, it later emerged a deer... [more]
John Lennon’s letters are to be published after his widow Yoko Ono agreed to hand them over to a book company for a reported £333,300. Publishers at Orion Books in London now own the intellectual property rights and they plan to release the tragic Beatle’s musings next year. Alan Samson of Orion Books says, “For the most part they have never been seen before… They’re full of wonderful drawings. They are funny,... [more]
A beauty salon boss accused of scamming A-list clients including Liv Tyler and Jennifer Aniston out of thousands of dollars has pleaded guilty to a charge of fraud as part of a plea deal. Maria Hashemipour was arrested in August on federal fraud charges for allegedly stealing her clients’ credit card information and making fraudulent purchases on their behalf. Hashemipour, owner of the exclusive Beverly Hills Chez Gabriela Studio,... [more]
Voting started Sunday in Portugal’s presidential election, with polls predicting centre-right incumbent Anibal Cavaco Silva will win on the first round amid a serious debt crisis. The country’s 9.6 million voters are called upon to cast their ballot between 8 am (and GMT) and 7 pm for one of six candidates competing for the presidency, with first results expected an hour after polling stations close. Record abstention rates are... [more]
Iran is open to holding further talks with six world powers over its nuclear programme, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday, a day after the failure of the latest round of dialogue in Istanbul. “They have talked for a few rounds, but we never expected that issues would be resolved during these few sessions because of the record and mentality of the other parties,” the hardliner said in a speech aired live on state television... [more]
Norway’s red/green government coalition is losing ground according to the latest poll from Infact. The poll, made for VG, shows that the coalition now has the support of 35.8 per cent of the voters. In the 2009 election, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s Labour Party alone received 35.4 per cent of the votes. According to the poll, Labour is now supported by only 26.3 per cent. Coalition partner Senterpartiet (Agrarians) drops... [more]
The BBC has apologised to Japanese viewers after the country’s embassy complained to the corporation over jokes broadcast on quiz show QI. In an episode of the programme screened before Christmas, panellists joked about the experience of Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who survived both of the atomic bomb strikes towards the end of the Second World War. Presenter Stephen Fry described Mr Yamaguchi, who survived the bombing of Hiroshima on August... [more]
