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 ...
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed Sunday in a firefight with U.S. forces in Pakistan and his body was recovered, President Barack Obama announced Sunday. “Justice has been done,” Obama said in a dramatic, late-night White House speech announcing the death of the elusive mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the New York and Washington. Obama said U.S. forces led the operation that killed bin Laden. No Americans... [more]
President Barack Obama has met victims of the devastating storms and tornadoes that struck southern US states, killing more than 300 people. Mr Obama toured some of the worst-effected areas in Alabama, saying: “I’ve never seen devastation like this.” He also pledged: “We’re going to make sure you’re not forgotten.” Survivors have tried to recover what was left of their belongings as the death toll... [more]
Norway has together with Spain been elected to the UN Commission on Population and Development. Three countries – Norway, Spain and Malta – were competing for two places.(Photo: Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre) The voting took place in the United Nations Economic and Social Council, and following a secret ballot, Spain and Norway both won seats on the Commission. Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre commented,... [more]
Venezuela’s foreign minister Nicolás Maduro is counterattacking Sweden in the Venezuelan press over the arrest and deportation of a Swedish citizen to Colombia. The Swedish Foreign Ministry asked Venezuela in a note why they did not inform Sweden that they had arrested the 54-year-old Swede when he landed at Caracas International Airport last Saturday. News agency TT reports that Maduro, in the Venezuelan newspaper El Universal,... [more]
Criticism of the Japanese government’s handling of the crisis at a radiation-spewing nuclear power plant has increased after an adviser quit to protest what he lambasted as unsafe, slipshod measures. Toshiso Kosako, a professor at the University of Tokyo’s graduate school and an expert on radiation exposure, announced late Friday that he was stepping down as a government adviser. Prime Minister Naoto Kan appointed Kosako after... [more]
Press freedom advocates on Saturday slammed the axing of a satirical Australian programme about the royal wedding on official request as a troubling example for authoritarian regimes. Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said it “deplored” the BBC and Associated Press Television News (APTN) for “censoring satirical coverage” of the nuptials by Australian comedy group The Chaser. Notorious for breaching security... [more]
Mining giant Rio Tinto weighed into the debate over Australia’s proposed carbon emissions tax Saturday, urging Canberra not to rush into a decision while major polluters such as China and the United States held back. Prime Minister Julia Gillard wants to charge polluters from July 2012 under a fixed-price scheme that would move to a full cap-and-trade model linked to international carbon markets within five years. But she faces stiff... [more]
Rescuers in the tornado-ravaged U.S. South searched through debris for survivors and bodies on Friday ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama to the state worst hit by the disaster that killed 310 people. Obama will view the destruction in Alabama, the hardest hit of seven states that were blasted this week by twisters and violent storms that flattened whole neighbourhoods in the worst U.S. natural catastrophe since Hurricane Katrina... [more]
A Swedish woman, Monica Danielsson, 78, may have provided the last piece in a the puzzle on where US president Barack Obama was born, when CNN recently went to Hawaii finally lay the matter to rest. “Obama was lying there next to my Stig in the bassinet and I remember him because he was the only black child there and I thought he was very cute, “ she said to Swedish daily Expressen. CNN recently sent reporter Gary Tuchman from the show... [more]
The UN human rights chief said Tuesday that an international inquiry was needed after a damning UN report on the killings of thousands of civilians during Sri Lanka’s 2009 final assault on Tamil separatists. “The eyewitness accounts and credible information contained in this report demand a full, impartial, independent and transparent investigation,” said Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. “Unless... [more]
