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 ...
Thousands of Australians are fleeing their homes as a “monster cyclone” bears down on the east of the country. Yasi is being described as the most powerful cyclone to hit Australia and follows the devastating floods that hit the east of the country last month. The storm has been upgraded to a maximum-strength category five storm. Its strength is on a par with Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005. “We... [more]
Protesters in Egypt are continuing their call for President Hosni Mubarak to stand down immediately. Egypt’s president of 30 years announced last night he would quit at the next election in September following days of mass demonstrations against his rule. Although the decision was greeted with jubilation, many protesters are calling for Mr Mubarak to leave now and have vowed to continue their demonstrations. President Obama said he... [more]
Looters have done severe damage to Dutch archaeological digs in Egypt, says Maarten Raven, Egyptologist at the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities. He was due to visit one of the digs this week, but was forced to cancel his trip due to the massive political upheaval in Egypt. The disrupted digs are in Saqqara, not far from Cairo, where the Dutch museum has been overseeing an archaeological project since 1975. The site, where people were... [more]
Pop starlet Lena Meyer-Landrut kicked off her campaign to keep the Eurovision crown in German hands on Monday night, with the first of two televised showcases to pick a song for this years’ Song Contest. Some 2.56 million viewers tuned in to watch the first round of the semi-finals on channel ProSieben, where the 19-year-old winner of last years’ Eurovision Song Contest performed six potential entries for the 2011 competition, to... [more]
A 54-year-old man has admitted sexually abusing more than 100 mentally disabled children and adults in care homes in Switzerland and Germany during almost three decades, in what Swiss police described Tuesday as an unprecedented case. The abuse took place in nine different institutions where the unidentified man had worked as a therapist since 1982, police in the canton (state) of Bern said. Authorities have identified 122 of the victims,... [more]
Reality television star, Kim Kardashian, has said that she would like to play a Bond girl, according to reports. Speaking to E! Online, the socialite said: “I would love to be in a Bond film – a Bond girl – that would be the ultimate.” Reports are also suggesting that Oscar winner Javier Bardem is being lined up to play 007′s latest enemy in Bond 23. Bardem is not the only potential villain on the cast list,... [more]
A volcano in southern Japan – which featured in a James Bond film – has erupted again, damaging homes in surrounding towns. After the latest eruption at Shinmoe Peak, the Japan Meteorological Agency has extended the exclusion zone around the crater to 4km (2.4 miles). Experts fear lava could now spill out of the crater as pressure increases from within the the volcano’s lava dome, leading to further blasts. A 92-year-old... [more]
Haiti ex-dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier’s Swiss millions have been blocked under new legislation that came into force on Tuesday to ease their return, the Swiss government said. The Swiss Foreign Ministry confirmed the entry into force of the new law on the restitution of assets of politically exposed persons on its website. “The Duvalier finds were then blocked under article 14,” setting in motion... [more]
