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 ...
Thieves stole five pictures, including one by Spanish master Pablo Picasso, from the home in southern France of an art collector who was beaten up during the robbery, a police source said on Saturday. The most important work in Friday’s robbery was a lithograph representing a woman’s face painted byPicasso, while the other works were by less renowned artists, the source said, without identifying the other artists. The robbery... [more]
The dancer at the centre of Boyzone star Ronan Keating’s marriage break-up is Francine Cornell, 26. Miss Cornell – who is believed to hail originally from Leeds - bears an uncanny resemblance to his estranged wife. However, blonde Miss Cornell, who has striking green eyes, is 10 years than Yvonne A source revealed: ‘She’s a really beautiful girl.’ The pair became close during the Boyzone tour last May and June. Their burgeoning... [more]
Louis Walsh was left stunned when Irish singer Ronan Keating announced he is separating from his wife of 12 years – because he was convinced the couple “would never break up”. The Boyzone singer and his model wife Yvonne, who have three children, announced the split on Thursday, describing the break-up as “amicable”. A new report suggests their union was destroyed by Keating’s alleged infidelity while... [more]
Sir Paul McCartney is set for a private audience with US President Barack Obama after hinting he’s getting ready for a trip to the White House in an online video conference. McCartney treated fans to a 30-minute webchat on Thursday, during which he talked about upcoming Wings remasters and answered questions posted by followers. But it was a coy comment as he signed off that had watchers scratching their heads. He said, “There’s... [more]
The International Monetary Fund said on Saturday it had suggested tax increases to curb Romania’s rising public deficit but that the government chose to slash wages and pensions, which sparked massive protests this week. “The authorities and the IMF are in full agreement that urgent corrective action is required to address the serious economic situation facing Romania,” the IMF mission chief for Romania, Jeffrey Franks,... [more]
The bank of Spain says it has stepped in to bail out a regional savings bank after merger talks with another similar entity broke down. Bank of Spain director Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez said early Saturday that the step had been taken to guarantee Cajasur, an Andalucian savings bank based in the southern city of Cordoba and run largely by the Catholic church, could continue operating as normal. Fernandez said the bailout came after Cajasur... [more]
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao will visit South Korea, Japan, Mongolia and Myanmar on a four-nation Asian trip starting later this month, the foreign ministry has confirmed. Wen will attend a three-nation summit with South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on the island of Jeju in South Korea, ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoyu said in a statement late Friday. The summit, on May 29 and 30, will... [more]
Today is Saturday, May 22, the 142nd day of 2010. There are 223 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On May 22, 1960, an earthquake of magnitude 9.5, the strongest on record, struck southern Chile. According to the U.S. Geological Survey website, the quake claimed approximately 1,655 lives, injured 3,000 people, left 2 million homeless and caused $550 million worth of damage. On this date: In 1860, the United States... [more]
Naomi Watts has admitted she nearly quit acting as she struggled to make a breakthrough. The King Kong actress, who is at the Cannes Film Festival promoting Fair Game and You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, said she often considered packing it all in. She said: “Several times, literally and metaphorically speaking, I packed my bags. Many, many times, and every time, there’d be some little thing that would lure me back.” She... [more]
Federal regulators are clearing the way for Google to buy a mobile ad service called AdMob. Regulators concluded that the $750 million deal is unlikely to harm competition in the emerging market for advertising on wireless devices. The Federal Trade Commission says that while the deal raises serious antitrust issues, those concerns are overshadowed by Apple Inc.’s push into the market, too. Apple bought another online mobile... [more]
