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 new set of common EU policies forged by Sweden’s three-party opposition coalition has seen the Left Party and the Green Party sacrifice several of their traditional anti-EU stances. The Red-Green coalition will stand for election on a largely EU-friendly platform, according to the terms of an agreement viewed by newspaper Dagens Nyheter. “Our foreign policy direction will lie to the left of [foreign minister] Carl Bildt.... [more]
Queen Beatrix has appointed the vice-president of the Council of State, Herman Tjeenk Willink, as the new coalition negotiator to replace Senator Uri Rosenthal. In choosing the country’s top civil servant, the queen has ignored Senator Rosenthal’s advice to appoint two negotiators, one from the conservative VVD and one from the Labour party. Mr Rosenthal’s advice was welcomed by the VVD, Labour, the Christian Democrats... [more]
The leaders of Britain and Germany may put aside historic rivalries and watch the crunch World Cup football match between England and Germany together at a G8 summit in Toronto, Canada, they said Friday. British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkelwant to talk about tuning in to Sunday’s last 16 clash – and Cameron has joked he will “try not to wrestle her to the ground during penalties.” The... [more]
There are now 47,600 registered farmers in Norway. This is 5,000 fewer than five years ago. This is shown by official figures from the Norwegian Agricultural Authority. - I am much concerned over the fact that the reduction is this high, says head of the Norwegian Farmers’ Association (Norges Bondelag) to the newspaper Nationen. In the same period the farm land in production has been reduced by 35,000 acres, NRK reports. Share this:... [more]
All TNT postal delivery workers who work more than 25 hours a week are to lose their jobs, the Telegraaf reports on Saturday. Delivery staff who work more than 15 hours may also be out of work, depending on the fine-tuning of the reorganisation, the paper says. It is not known how many workers will be affected by the mass redundancy programme. At the beginning of this year, TNT employed some 15,000 full time delivery workers, the paper says. Unions ‘The... [more]
The leaders of the world’s most powerful countries were to pursue talks Sunday on settling their differences over how to nurse the fragile world economy back to health. The G20 nations convened in the eastern Canadian city of Toronto on the heels of a tough-talking G8 summit, in which the world’s major industrialized powers laid down the law to rogue operators Iran and North Korea. US officials called on leading economies... [more]
Today is Sunday, June 27, the 178th day of 2010. There are 187 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On June 27, 1950, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution calling on member nations to help South Korea repel an invasion from the North and to “restore international peace and security in the area.” On this date: In 1844, Mormon leader Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum, were killed by a mob in... [more]
Today is Saturday, June 26, the 177th day of 2010. There are 188 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On June 26, 1963, President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin, where he expressed solidarity with the city’s residents by declaring: “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a Berliner). On this date: In 1870, the first section of Atlantic City, N.J.’s Boardwalk was opened to the public. In 1919, the New York Daily News... [more]
David and Victoria Beckham have released a public statement denying they are to split following internet rumours. Share this: {lang: 'en-US'} function open_win(url,id) { var win = window.open(url, 'popup','width=600,height=300,status=0,toolbar=0'); var tpopup = setInterval(function() { if(win.closed) { reload_to(); } }, 1000); return false; } function debugEvent() { reload_to(); } twttr.events.bind('tweet',debugEvent); window.fbAsyncInit... [more]
Twilight star Kristen Stewart is struggling to get a pet movie project her mother wrote made – because producers can’t see her as a boy in the film. The actress admits her success in Twilight means she has more power over getting certain favourite films made and landing roles she wants – but she still can’t get one project off the ground. She tells Entertainment Weekly magazine, “I still can’t get K-11... [more]
