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 ...
Actor-turned-moviemaker Clint Eastwood has signed up to direct a remake of movie classic A Star Is Born. The 1937 original, starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, has already been remade twice – with Judy Garland in 1954 and with Barbra Streisand in 1976 in the lead role of a rising artist who marries a fading star. Russell Crowe confirmed last year he was in talks to tackle the older, male role, while Beyonce, who reportedly quit... [more]
Former prime minister Tony Blair is due to make a much-anticipated second appearance before the Iraq war inquiry. He has been recalled to explain possible gaps and inconsistencies almost a year on from his last session before Sir John Chilcot and his panel. Since then, the inquiry has heard from scores more witnesses and it is thought that some provided evidence which contradicted that given by Mr Blair. Sir John and his team have now... [more]
US President Barack Obama has hailed the inspiration of the “sober but soaring” idealism of John F Kennedy exactly 50 years after the assassinated president John F Kennedy was sworn-in. Obama told a packed crowd at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington that Kennedy’s lessons endured for people both at home and abroad. “But we cannot forget: we are the heirs of this president who showed us what... [more]
Tony Blair played the “anti-French card” by falsely blaming then-president Jacques Chirac for the collapse of talks at the United Nations on the 2003 invasion of Iraq, an aide told Britain’s war inquiry Wednesday. Stephen Wall, Blair’s former EU adviser, said the ex-prime minister ordered his media chief Alastair Campbell to tell journalists that Chirac had threatened to veto any Security Council resolution —... [more]
President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao have agreed to a ‘dialogue’ on human rights, following a day of high-profile meetings. The US president told a news conference at the White House that the US will continue to push for freedom of speech, assembly and religion for the Chinese people. President Hu also called for greater cooperation between the Chinese and US militaries in order to build trust. President Hu’s... [more]
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi charged Wednesday that an enquiry launched by Milan magistrates into his relationship with an underage girl was politically motivated. “There’s been no graft, no incitement to prostitution, not even of a minor,” Berlusconi said in a television address on SKY Italia. The prime minister’s comments came as Milan magistrates launched an enquiry into allegations Berlusconi hooked... [more]
U.S. President Barack Obama pressed Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday to let the value of China’s currency rise and sought cooperation in dealing with nuclear standoffs with North Korea and Iran Obama, speaking at a news conference with Hu, touted the mutual benefits of the U.S.-China partnership after the two countries unveiled $45 billion (28 billion pounds) in export deals that seemed to be aimed at papering over deep rifts... [more]
Hong Kong said Wednesday it was “striving” to pass legislation to comply with UN sanctions against Iran, after 20 shipping firms in the city were accused of being linked to Tehran’s weapons buildup. Last week, the US Treasury Department slapped sanctions on 24 shipping companies, including four in Britain’s Isle of Man, accused of being fronts for Iranian businesses involved in Iran’s missile programmes. The... [more]
It’s the kung fu classic that launched the career of a then little-known 17-year-old Chinese martial arts champion called Jet Li. Nearly three decades later, “The Shaolin Temple” has received a blockbuster update, with the backing of the famous center of fighting monks of the title and the setting of the 1982 release. Veteran Hong Kong action director Benny Chan has written a new story and cast some of the biggest names... [more]
Authorities told townspeople in Australia’s southeast to flee homes with three days of supplies Wednesday as a surging river threatened another community in a flooding crisis that has devastated the country’s mining industry. Up to 1,500 homes in Kerang, in the north of Victoria state, could be affected if the Lodden River rises any further. The flooding in Victoria follows weeks of massive flooding in northeastern Queensland,... [more]
