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 ...
Nine members of a radical Christian militia were charged with plotting to kill police in Michigan and wage war on the US government, an indictment said. Prosecutors say the Hutaree militia considered law enforcement to be “foot soldiers” of the federal government and counted among their enemies anyone who did not share their beliefs or was participating in the “new world order.” The Hutaree website says it is “preparing... [more]
Rescuers searching for a brother of the United Arab Emirates president, whose glider has crashed in Morocco, dived deep into a lake on Monday to look for his body, officials said. The missing man, Sheikh Ahmed bin Zayed al-Nahayan, is managing director of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, considered the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund with assets estimated at more than 600 billion dollars (445 billion euros). “The body... [more]
Greece raced to raise billions of euros on Monday with a seven-year bond issue on the back of a European Union financial lifeline to contain a debt crisis which has weakened the euro. The issue attracted offers worth 6.5 billion euros (8.7 billion dollars) at a yield, or rate, of 6.0 percent and the state is expected to settle for five billion euros, financial website euro2day.gr reported with finance ministry sources. That rate is about... [more]
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has no doubts that the organizers of the deadly blasts in the Moscow subway carried out on Monday morning will be punished. “It is well known that today a terrible crime against civilians in its effects and disgusting in its character was carried out,” the prime minister said. “Dozens of people died in the subway.” “I am sure that police will do their best to find and punish... [more]
The current tax break on mortgages, which allows home owners to deduct all their mortgage interest payments from tax, remains untouched in the Christian Democrats’ election manifesto, the Telegraaf reports on Monday. The tax break is said to cost the treasury some €11bn a year and is one of the most generous in Europe. The CDA is now the third party to state the tax break is not under threat – the VVD Liberals and Geert Wilders’... [more]
Myanmar’s biggest opposition party said Monday it would not register for this year’s election, meaning the party of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi will not be allowed any role in the military-led political process. “After a vote of the committee of members, the NLD party has decided not to register as a political party because the election laws are unjust,” National League for Democracy (NLD) spokesman Nyan... [more]
Israel on Monday restricted access to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound amid concerns of fresh violence at the flashpoint site as Jews celebrate the week-long Passover holiday. Police said that Muslim men under the age of 50 and all non-Muslims will be barred from entering the compound — which is sacred to both Muslims and Jews. Police did not say when the restrictions would be lifted. Authorities have also tightened restrictions... [more]
A Shanghai court on Monday sentenced a Chinese-Australian executive of Rio Tinto to 7 years in prison on Monday on charges of accepting bribes and 5 years on charges of stealing commercial secrets. The Shanghai Intermediate People’s Court said Stern Hu, who headed Rio Tinto’s iron ore operations in China, will serve 10 years. Hu had pleaded guilty to accepting bribes but disputed the amount of 6.46 million yuan ($946,300)... [more]
The United States has raised concerns with Australia about the impact of a proposed Internet filter that would place restrictions on Web content, an official said Monday. The concerns of Australia’s most important security ally further undermine plans that would make Australia one of the strictest Internet regulators among the world’s democracies. “Our main message of course is that we remain committed to advancing the... [more]
At least 37 people died as two suspected terrorist bombs ripped through the central Moscow metro system during Monday morning’s rush hour, the emergencies ministry said. The first blast occurred at around 8:00 a.m. (05:00 GMT), killing at least 23 people and injuring 18, many of them seriously. A RIA Novosti employee who was on the train said the blast occurred between the Lubyanka and Okhotny Ryad metro stations close to the Kremlin. The... [more]
