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 ...
ICELAND’S former prime minister Geir Haarde has become the first political leader to be tried over the global financial crisis, as proceedings begin to decide if he can be held accountable for his country’s banking sector collapse. Haarde, 60, who arrived minutes before proceedings began at today looking cheerful and accompanied by his wife, asked the court for a third time to dismiss the charges, which he has called a “farce.” Haarde... [more]
Former Slovenian prime minister Janez Jansa and four others went on trial on Monday over alleged bribery in the former Yugoslav republic’s biggest ever defence deal. “All together it is just a farce,” Jansa, prime minister from 2004-8 and now head of the main centre-right opposition Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), told journalists as he arrived at Ljubljana’s municipal court. Jansa, 52, has been charged with “complicity... [more]
The embezzlement trail of former French president Jacques Chirac is due to open Monday, despite his lawyers’ claims that he is medically unfit to attend. Chirac is also accused of breach of trust and using public funds to pay his campaign workers. Jacques Chirac’s embezzlement trial opens Monday with his lawyers arguing that the French former president is too unwell to attend but insisting that the case must still go ahead. The... [more]
US authorities have given Switzerland until Tuesday to transmit data from tax evaders in the United States who have stashed assets away in Swiss banks, the SonntagsZeitung reported on Sunday. The United States has asked for detailed information on US nationals who have hidden their money in Switzerland, the paper said, basing its report on a three-page letter from the US deputy attorney general James Cole, dated August 31, addressed to the... [more]
Israel’s prime minister has refused to apologise to Turkey for last year’s deadly military raid on a Turkish-lead flotilla heading for Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu said actions by naval commandos, which left nine Turkish nationals dead, were carried out in self-defence to prevent arms from reaching the Palestinian strip. In his first public remarks since Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador on Friday, Mr Netanyahu expressed regret... [more]
More than 1,000 South Korean riot police dispersed or arrested scores of protesters who for months have blocked construction of a naval base on a scenic holiday island. Navy engineers resumed work after police evicted about 130 protesters who have occupied the site at Gangjeong on the coast of southern Jeju island since June. Military officials say the $970 million project is vital for national security. But village residents and activists... [more]
The dynamics of Greece’s huge foreign debt has run “out of control,” and government efforts to repair the country’s crippled economy have proved unsuccessful, the Greek parliamentary budget committee said in its report issued on Wednesday. “The steep debt rise, high primary deficit … have exacerbated to the maximum the dynamics of debt, which is out of control,” the report said. “It is clear... [more]
Scrapping the euro and closing the Dutch borders, as called for by right wing populist MP Geert Wilders, will lead to more unemployment in the Netherlands, deputy prime minister Maxime Verhagen says in an interview with website nu.nl. Wilders’ anti-Islam PVV has a formal alliance with the ruling minority coalition, made up of the VVD Liberals and Christian Democrats. ‘What Wilders says sounds very reasonable – ‘What... [more]
Russia on Thursday officially recognised Libya’s rebels as the governing authority in the country, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “The Russian Federation recognises Libya’s National Transitional Council as the ruling authority and notes its reform programme that includes the development of a new constitution, holding general elections and forming the government,” it said. “Our country has established... [more]
David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy are jointly hosting a high-level summit in Paris to welcome Libya’s National Transitional Council into the diplomatic fold The event represents an enormous coalition of global powers: 60 countries and international organisations including the Arab League, United Nations and African Union have been invited. The meeting has two goals: firstly, to secure diplomatic and financial support for Libya. Secondly,... [more]
