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 ...
There is no question of European commissioner and VVD supporter Neelie Kroes becoming prime minister if the Liberals emerge as the biggest party after the June 9 general election, according to party elders in the AD on Tuesday. It is only hypothetical in the case of a minority cabinet, Liberal MP Stef Blok was quoted as saying. ‘But we are not considering that to be an option,’ Blok said. Kroes’s name has been mentioned... [more]
The United States suggested Europe’s debt crisis would have minimal impact on global growth, but China took a more pessimistic view, warning it would impact demand for its exports and other regions would suffer too. The two countries, meeting in Beijing for high-level talks, set the differing tones as eurozone leaders sought to conquer doubts that they can cut fiscal deficits and stimulate growth to overcome the crisis. Global markets... [more]
The number of visitors at the Shanghai World Expo has reached 5 million, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday. Xinhua said the 5-millionth guest visited the Expo on Sunday evening. Experts say tourists have become interested in the exhibits, estimating the number of visitors to reach at least 70 million over the following six months. Russia’s pavilion at the Shanghai 2010 World Expo welcomed its 500,000th visitor on Sunday, a 22-year-old... [more]
The two Dutchmen, aged 44 and 17, who were arrested in Thailand for throwing stones during last week’s riots in the northern city of Chiang Mai, have been released with a warning. Salient detail: they were taking part in a rehabilitation project for people addicted to drugs or other substances. Ron Gerrits from the Creating Balance Thailand addiction clinic is really angry with his two clients. On the one hand because they haven’t done... [more]
A majority of 79 Dutch MPs have voted in favour of opting out of the Joint Strike Fighter jet project. A motion proposed by the Labour Party (PvdA) was supported by the Socialist Party, Green Left, the democrat party D66, the rightwing Freedom Party and the Party for the Animals. Yesterday, the Labour Party announced that it was dropping its support for the JSF project and would vote against Dutch involvement in the test phase. Last year,... [more]
A majority of MPs has called on the government to follow Germany and introduce a ban on the form of speculative share trading known as ‘naked short selling’. Naked short selling is the practice of selling shares without owning them, borrowing them, or ensuring that they can be borrowed in the future. Earlier this week, the Dutch financial services regulator AFM said it did not support a ban. Nor does acting finance minister... [more]
Political parties in The Hague are eagerly awaiting the independent verdict on their election manifestos, to be published on Thursday by the Dutch Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB). Its ‘what-if’ scenarios outline the likely economic impact on The Netherlands, should election manifestos be fully implemented by the winning party. It is expected that the CPB statement will play a prominent role in the campaign leading... [more]
The decision to close parts of Dutch airspace for eight hours on Monday was ‘wrong’ and an ‘over reaction,’ says KLM CEO Peter Hartman. Speaking at celebrations to mark 10 years of the Dutch Aviation Group, Hartman said airlines themselves should be allowed to take the decision whether or not to fly. ‘Officially it is airlines which decide when and where they will fly on the basis of information from the government... [more]
Labour inspectors found 2,500 workers without permits in spot checks on companies last year, a 25% increase on 2008, Nos tv reports on Tuesday, quoting from the inspectorate’s annual report. Almost one third came from Bulgaria and Romania, Nos said. Even though both countries are members of the EU, their nationals still need permits to work in the Netherlands. The rise in illegal employment was strongest in the construction sector.... [more]
City council officials in Amsterdam and Utrecht expect it will take several more days before the streets are once again free of rubbish, following the end of the bin men’s strike this weekend. The strike, in support of a 2.75% pay deal over two years, began at the end of April. The deal – which covers all 200,000 local authority civil servants – was reached between unions and employers late on Saturday. The agreement gives... [more]
