Legendary pop singer Whitney Houston was found dead Saturday at a Beverly Hills, California, hotel, officials said. She was 48. The entertainer, whose incredible talent was discovered at an early age, was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. (6:55 p.m. ET) at the Beverly Hilton hotel despite resuscitation efforts, a police spokesman said. Beverly Hills Police Lt. Mark Rosen said there were "no obvious signs of criminal intent" and that the cause of her death is being investigated. Houston's bodyguard found her body, said Courtney Barnes, publicist for hip-hop artist Ray J, who was dating the pop diva. According to her official website, Houston sold ...
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 ...
A group of evangelical researchers claim they have found the remains of Noah’s Ark thousands of feet up Mount Ararat, its biblical resting place, in Turkey. The exact location of the find has not been disclosed, but carbon dating conducted on wood and stone from the site has revealed their age as 4,800 years old, according to the scientists. Further tests will be conducted on the items but one researcher claimed they were “99.9... [more]
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that talks betweenGreece, the International Monetary Fund and the European Union on a bailout package for Athens must be speed up. “It is perfectly clear that the negotiations with the Greek government, theEuropean Commission and the IMF need to be accelerated,” she told reporters after talks with visiting IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn. “We hope they can be... [more]
Swiss authorities are investigating a macabre discovery: Dozens of urns filled with human ashes buried in the mud of Lake Zurich. The disposals are illegal without a permit and are drawing attention to the practice of assisted suicide, which is permitted in Switzerland but is coming under increasing public scrutiny. Police won’t say if they have evidence directly connecting the urns to the Zurich group Dignitas, which has helped... [more]
Germany could have its contribution to a financial aid package for Greece approved by the end of next week if Athenssuccessfully finalizes the talks about new austerity measures by this weekend, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Wednesday. The comments came as markets continued to react violently to the uncertainty over the growing debt crisis in Greece. “The stability of the euro is at stake. And we’re determined... [more]
Greece’s debt hit near-pariah status Wednesday as fears of a default jolted markets and global finance leaders sought to press key governments to join a rescue operation. The European Union called a crisis summit as the mounting debt emergency threatened to suck in Portugal and other high-deficit nations. Discontent grew in Greece with new strikes erupting and protesters blocking tourists on one cruise ship. Greece acted to stop speculators... [more]
France and China Wednesday pledged to draw a line under past tensions over Tibet and breathe new life into their relationship by working together on issues from global monetary policy to Iran. President Nicolas Sarkozy and his host Hu Jintao made the comments following talks in Beijing that signalled they had moved past the Tibet row, which peaked when Sarkozy met the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, in 2008. “President... [more]
A court in The Hague has ruled that the street cleaners in The Hague can go on strike on Thursday and Friday. The city council had applied for a temporary injunction against the cleaners’ trade unions AbvaKabo FNV and CNV Publieke Zaak. The cleaners are striking for better working conditions, but the city council says the timing of the strike is “irresponsible”. Friday is Koninginnedag or Queen’s Day. 30 April is... [more]
Yesterday, Yahoo! News spoke to Ivor van Heerden, an internationally acclaimed coastal scientist based in Louisiana, who told us that the environmental damage created by the April 20th oil platform explosion has the potential “to be just as devastating as the Exxon Valdezcatastrophe.” In an effort to protect the delicate ecosystem of Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, the Coast Guard is considering setting the massive... [more]
The European Union’s president said Wednesday he is fully confident that debt-laden Greece will receive the financial assistance it needs in time to address its debt problems and to preserve eurozone stability. Negotiations on a euro 45 billion rescue package are “on track” among the EU, European Central Bank, IMF and the Greek government, and an agreement should be reached by early May, Herman Van Rompuysaid. He also... [more]
Pope Benedict XVI may issue a mea culpa for clerical sex abuse at a June meeting of the world’s priests at the Vatican. The June 9-11 summit, initially called to mark the end of the Vatican’s year of the priest, had already morphed into a pep rally for the pope as he came under fire amid a new wave of reports on sex abuse by clerics. Now, according to the top Vatican official dealing with abuse, it’s possible that Benedict... [more]
