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 ...
Four years ago, Matthew McConaughey’s relationship with Brazilian model Camila Alves was revealed to PEOPLE in a 2007 cover story. “She likes roughing it,” a source said at the time. “She doesn’t complain when they go hiking for 10 days without clean clothes or a shower.” On Christmas Day, McConaughey’s longtime love — and mother of his two children, Levi, 3, and Vida, who turns 2 in January... [more]
The funeral of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Il unfolded across the snow-laden streets of Pyongyang on Wednesday, with the secretive regime displaying its ability to choreograph elaborate state ceremonies. A North Korean state television broadcast of the services showed a tearful Kim Jong Un, the son and chosen successor of Kim Jong Il, trudging through the snow alongside a black car, which carried a giant portrait of a smiling Kim. Other... [more]
EARLY elections will be held in Greece in late April, the finance minister said, adding that the country’s future would be decided in a debt rollover plan unfolding over the next month. “Elections will be held after Easter, in late April,” Evangelos Venizelos told a meeting on Tuesday (local time) of the socialist Pasok party, one of the three partners supporting the coalition government of caretaker Prime Minister Lucas... [more]
THE most admired man and woman in America are US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to an annual USA Today/Gallup Poll released Tuesday. The poll, which surveyed 1019 US adults between December 15-18, showed a raft of familiar names in the Top Ten list, along with some unexpected ties. Finishing behind Obama on the men’s list were former President George W. Bush at number two, former President... [more]
ARGENTINA’S President Cristina Kirchner has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and will undergo surgery on January 4, her spokesman says. Ms Kirchner, who was sworn in for a second four-year term earlier this month, was found to have cancer “on the right lobe of the thyroid gland” during a routine medical examination on December 22, said spokesman Alfredo Scoccimarro yesterday (today AEDT). “The illness has been contained,”... [more]
London 2012 Olympics chief Sebastian Coe has vowed the capital will not become a “siege city” in 2012 despite plans to deploy large numbers of weapons and soldiers, in comments published in the Guardian. The government announced this month it would have 13,500 troops on duty for the 2012 Games, more than the 7,000 widely expected. Two navy ships, warplanes and ground-to-air missiles would also be deployed to provide security,... [more]
French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s re-election hopes have been hit by new figures showing unemployment at a 12-year high amid an austerity drive that leaves him little room to manoeuvre. The figures issued on Monday showed the number of registered jobseekers in France rising by 29,900 in November to reach 2.84 million, the highest level since November 1999. Before his election in 2007, Sarkozy vowed to lower joblessness to five percent,... [more]
A new subway station, the world’s deepest, will be unveiled on Wednesday in downtown St. Petersburg, the northwest Russian city’s administration reported. The Admiralteiskaya station lies over 100 m (330ft) below the surface. Its opening will decrease the load on other metro stations in the city. A total of 10.2 billion rubles ($325 mln) has been allocated from the city budget to the construction of stations and tunnels in 2011. Share... [more]
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pushed ahead with his far-reaching plan for political reform on Wednesday, outlining the time frame for his proposals to go before parliament. A draft law to reinstate direct elections for regional governors and to have half the MPs in the lower house, the State Duma, elected directly rather than by means of party lists should be introduced to the State Duma by February 15, the Kremlin said. Another bill,... [more]
Wailing and clutching at their hearts, tens of thousands of North Koreans lined the snowy streets of Pyongyang on Wednesday as the hearse carrying late leader Kim Jong Il’s body wound its way through the capital for a final farewell. Son and successor Kim Jong Un led the procession, his head bowed against the wind and right arm raised in a salute, from Kumsusan Memorial Palace where his father’s body had lain in state. Top... [more]
