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 ...
European governments were set to nail down on Sunday the terms for possible emergency loans for debt-stricken Greece in an effort to calm investor fears that have caused the euro to plunge. Finance ministers from the 16-nation eurozone grappled with Greece’s debt crisis in a conference call starting at 2:00 pm (1200 GMT) with the aim of “finalising aid mechanisms for Greece,” a Spanish official said. Sunday’s talks... [more]
Ousted Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev on Sunday appealed to the United Nations to send peacekeepers to help secure order in the Central Asian state, Russian news agency RIA-Novosti reported. Bakiyev, who fled the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek amid a wave of violent protests against corruption and rising utility prices last week, said outside forces were needed to prevent further bloodshed in the volatile country. “The police are paralysed.... [more]
Liv Signe Navarsete, leader of the Agrarian Party (Senterpartiet), one of three Government coalition partners, has presented her own Government with an ultimatum over the planned hospital reform, NRK reports. Navarsete says her party (SP) cannot be part of a government which is closing down local hospitals which are providing important emergency medical services, unless equivalent services are provided close by. Navarsete points to the... [more]
Defiant “Red Shirt” Thai protesters vowed Sunday to keep up their bid to topple the government, after the country’s worst political violence in almost two decades left 20 dead and over 800 injured. Protest leaders, who have promised to maintain their campaign until the government dissolves parliament and calls fresh elections, demanded Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva step down and leave the country. Sixteen civilians,... [more]
Afghan security forces were on Sunday questioning nine medical workers, including three Italians, after what officials said was a plot to kill a provincial governor. The men were detained on Saturday after suicide vests, home-made bombs, guns and ammunition were found in a storeroom at a hospital in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, run by the Italian charity Emergency. The three Italians held were said to be Emergency’s medical coordinator... [more]
Euro zone finance ministers, the European Central Bank and the European Commission will hold a teleconference on Sunday to further detail how a safety net for debt-stricken Greece would work, European officials said on Saturday. Greece has not asked to trigger the EU/IMF aid mechanism agreed last month to help it as a last resort if needed, but the talks will aim for the safety net to be ready if required, officials said. Markets pounded... [more]
Japan’s former finance minister Kaoru Yosano and four other political veterans on Saturday launched a new party ahead of July polls as their conservative opposition camp struggles to regain power. Former trade minister Takeo Hiranuma assumed head of the party, named “Stand up Japan” and consisting of former members of theLiberal Democratic Party (LDP), which lost its half-century grip on power in last year’s... [more]
The father of England footballer John Terry has been charged with dealing cocaine, sources said. Ted Terry, 55, is due to appear in court next month accused of supplying a class A drug. An Essex police spokeswoman said: “A 55-year-old man from Chafford Hundred has been charged with supply of cocaine, a class A drug, and has been bailed to appear before Basildon magistrates on May 13.” Terry was arrested following an alleged incident... [more]
Scores of Thai anti-government protesters tried to force their way into an army base in Bangkok on Saturday but were repelled by water cannon, as their leaders vowed to carry on their fight for new elections. Hundreds more “red shirt” supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra gathered at a satellite earth station north of Bangkok after Thai authorities again blocked transmission of an opposition TV station they said... [more]
The US military has suspended troop flights out of its base in Kyrgyzstan and will instead transport forces to and from Afghanistan via Kuwait. The move follows the political upheaval in the strategic Central Asian nation. US commanders at the Manas air base north of the capital Bishkek say only some cargo flights will go ahead. On Wednesday, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev fled to the south of the country following mass protests against his... [more]
