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 ...
Today is Saturday, July 24, the 205th day of 2010. There are 160 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On July 24th, 1959, during a visit to Moscow, Vice President Richard Nixon engaged in his famous “Kitchen Debate” with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. On this date: In 1783, Latin American revolutionary Simon Bolivar (see-MOHN’ boh-LEE’-vahr) was born in Caracas. In 1847, Mormon leader Brigham Young... [more]
French football bosses have banned all 23 players involved in the country’s World Cup disaster from playing in the friendly against Norway next month. The French Football Federation took the decision on the advice of new coach Laurent Blanc. The country’s World Cup campaign lurched from one disaster to another in South Africa. On the pitch, the 2006 losing finalists failed to progress from the group stages after being unable... [more]
Today is Friday, July 23, the 204th day of 2010. There are 161 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On July 23, 1885, Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president of the United States, died in Mount McGregor, N.Y. at age 63. On this date: In 1892, Emperor Haile Selassie (HY’-lee suh-LAH’-see) of Ethiopia was born. In 1914, Austria-Hungary issued a list of demands to Serbia following the killing of Archduke Franz... [more]
Today is Thursday, July 22, the 203rd day of 2010. There are 162 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On July 22, 1934, bank robber John Dillinger was shot to death by federal agents outside Chicago’s Biograph Theater, where he had just seen the Clark Gable movie “Manhattan Melodrama.” On this date: In 1587, an English colony fated to vanish under mysterious circumstances was established on Roanoke... [more]
Instruments used in Elvis Presley’s autopsy and embalming are going up for auction in Chicago. The items going under the hammer include the ‘John Doe’ toe tag used after the original was stolen amid the chaos at the hospital following the singer’s death. Leslie Hindman Auctioneers will hold the auction on August 12, four days before the 33rd anniversary of Elvis’s death. The auction house said all of the items... [more]
Support for Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right coalition government has reached catastrophic levels, dipping on Wednesday to the lowest level ever measured for a poll that has been conducted for more than 20 years. As Berlin’s politicians began their summer break this week, news magazineStern found that Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and their junior coalition partners the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP)... [more]
Lindsay Lohan will serve just two weeks behind bars if she’s a good girl. The actress surrendered to authorities and began a 90-day sentence for violating parole at Lynwood Correctional Facility on Tuesday morning, but Los Angeles Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore has revealed she could just serve 13 days. He maintains that it’s the policy of the County jail system to release non-violent misdemeanour offenders early due... [more]
David Warren, an Australian scientist who invented the “black box” flight data recorder, has died, defence officials said. He was 85. Warren, who died on Monday, came up with the idea for the cockpit voice recorder after investigating the crash of the world’s first commercial jet airliner, the Comet, in 1953, the Department of Defence said in a statement. He thought it would be helpful for airline accident investigators... [more]
Today’s Highlight in History: On July 21, 1930, President Herbert Hoover signed an executive order establishing the Veterans Administration (later the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs). On this date: In 1861, the first Battle of Bull Run was fought at Manassas, Va., resulting in a Confederate victory. In 1925, the so-called “Monkey Trial” ended in Dayton, Tenn., with John T. Scopes convicted of violating state law for... [more]
Lindsay Lohan has begun a 90-day prison sentence that she will probably serve in isolation. Wearing dark denim jeans, a grey top, black corset belt and black jacket, the 24-year-old actress had arrived at a Beverly Hills court about 10 minutes late. After a short hearing, she was handcuffed behind her back to serve her time for a probation violation. Lohan was accompanied to court by her mother Dina and younger sister Ali, who wiped away... [more]
