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 ...
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet agreed Monday on a bill to give Greece euro22.4 billion ($29.6 billion) over three years as part of a wider bailout, as the German government realized that letting Greecego bankrupt could send the euro into a tailspin and hurt Germany’s own economy. Merkel said the money would not only help Greece, which has been battered by the bond markets, but would help the “stabilization of the... [more]
Finance Minister Giorgos Papaconstantinou prepares to announce the latest austerity measures to cut Greece’s public deficit and trigger the release of up to 45 billion euros of loans this year from the International Monetary Fund and the other 15 countries in the eurozone. Greece could receive another 65 billion euros over the next two years. In return for receiving emergency loans of 110 billion euros from the International Monetary Fund... [more]
The former head of the Netherlands Police Union (NPB) says both hard and soft drugs should be fully legalised. Speaking on the programme Goedemorgen Nederland on Monday morning, Hans van Duijn said “the ban on drugs that we have is completely ineffective and costs 100 euro per person per year to enforce. We’re just making work for criminals.” Rejecting arguments that legalisation would lead to more drug abuse and dependency, he... [more]
The Netherlands’ share of the €110bn rescue package for Greece worked out by the EU and IMF will amount to around €5.5bn, ‘possibly a little less’, finance minister Jan Kees de Jager told reporters on Sunday. Eurozone members and the IMF finalised the three-year bail-out package to rescue Greece’s struggling economy at the weekend. The EU will provide €80bn in funding. De Jager said it was vital that Greece... [more]
France and The Netherlands called on Monday for extra rigour in the EU’s Stability Pact after the Greek debt debacle, with France targeting financial stability and the Dutch attacking slack budgets. Finance Minister Christine Lagarde told Le Monde newspaper that advance warning systems were needed to prevent a repetition of the Greek crisis and that new criteria must be decided to monitor the eurozone’s 16 members. “We... [more]
A German official says Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet has approved legislation to provide Greece with billions in aid as part of an EU bailout plan. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the formal announcement was to be made later Monday, told The Associated Press the Cabinet approved the plan but gave no further details. Germany’s contribution was to be euro8.4 billion ($11.14 billion) for the first... [more]
Dutch brewer Heineken says it has completed the acquisition of Mexican beer maker FEMSA, adding Dos Equis and Sol to its long list of labels. The deal has been approved by all relevant anti-trust authorities and shareholders of Heineken and FEMSA, Europe’s biggest brewer says in a statement. “Today represents the start of a new era for Heineken,” Heineken CEO Jean-Francois van Boxmeer said. In January Heineken valued FEMSA... [more]
More than 100 Swedes were ejected from Helsingør in Denmark on Friday for starting fights, with the trouble continuing on the ferry back to Sweden. “Between 100 and 200 Swedes, most of them men, behaved in a rowdy manner in Helsingør and were sent away. The rowdiness continued on the ferry,” said police spokesman Mikael Persson. Police said there were a lot of young people on board the vessel for theWalpurgis Night journey... [more]
In the night before May Day, clashes between police and leftist demonstrators in Hamburg left 14 people injured. In Berlin, however, the feared violence did not materialize. Friday night’s violence in Hamburg was centred around the city’s Schanzenviertelneighborhood, where according to police some 150 left-wing demonstrators set fires in a street outside a youth centre, threw bottles and stones at police, and damaged a... [more]
George Papandreou, Greek prime minister, told parliament on Friday that adoption of a rigorous three-year austerity programme being drawn up by the European Union and International Monetary Fund was “necessary… for the country’s survival.” Mr Papandreou was defending his socialist government’s decision to seek a multibillion-euro rescue package from its eurozone partners and the IMF against strong opposition... [more]
