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 ...
Toyota unveiled new siblings for its popular Prius hybrid Monday, introducing a brand new midsized wagon, a plug-in, and a compact Prius to journalists at the Detroit auto show. The family was launched as Toyota struggles to rebuild its once-stellar reputation after it was rocked by a series of mass recalls and its top executives were raked over the coals at congressional hearings for failing to report the deadly defects sooner. Akio Toyoda,... [more]
Interpol said Monday that it placed 47 Saudis on its most-wanted list after Saudi Arabia accused them of involvement in the al-Qaida terror network. The publication by the international police body means all 188 member countries have received details about the suspects so national police forces can help track them down. Over the weekend, Saudi Arabia asked Interpol for its help in tracking the suspects beyond its borders. Saudi officials... [more]
Police in the US have charged a Portuguese male model for the gruesome New York hotel room murder of a television celebrity and gay rights activist from his home country, said to be his lover. Renato Seabra, 21, was arrested and charged today with second-degree murder of television reporter Carlos Castro, 65, New York police say. According to local news reports, Castro’s naked body was found beaten and castrated on Friday in a room... [more]
The Conservative Party (Høyre) has appealed to the other political parties to join forces in an effort to speed up the work to improve safety on the Norwegian roads with highest accident rate. The move comes in the wake of the tragic accident in Troms on Friday, in which five people died in a collision between a bus and two cars. The proposal from Høyre includes a speeding up of the national plan to construct a centre barrier along 750km... [more]
As Germany’s robust economic recovery continues, the country’s companies are finding it increasingly hard to find enough skilled workers. Kyle James reports on the impending labour shortage. A recent study by the German Chamber of Commerce found that Europe’s largest economy lacks about 400,000 skilled workers. The need is especially acute in the engineering, high-tech and health care sectors. “If you don’t have the... [more]
Argentina forward Lionel Messi was named World Player of the Year on Monday, beating Barcelona team mates Andres Iniesta and Xavi to win the award for the second time in a row. more to follow…. Share this: {lang: 'en-US'} function open_win(url,id) { var win = window.open(url, 'popup','width=600,height=300,status=0,toolbar=0'); var tpopup = setInterval(function() { if(win.closed) { reload_to(); } },... [more]
Europe’s debt crisis flared up once again Monday, as Portugal’s borrowing rates briefly spiked to euro-era highs amid reports Germany and France are pushing it to accept outside help to avoid contagion to other countries. The yield on Portuguese 10-year bonds — a key gauge of investor sentiment — touched a potentially unsustainable 7.18 percent at one stage Monday. It then fell back to 6.94 percent on speculation that... [more]
Britain has signed an historic agreement with China to bring two giant pandas to Edinburgh Zoo. Tian Tian and Yangguang, a breeding pair born in 2003, will be the first to live in the UK for 17 years. Zoo chief executive officer David Windmill said: “This…represents the beginning of a programme of research, education and partnership and the project has huge benefit for the UK and Scotland, both in supporting giant panda conservation... [more]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying Jews have a right to live anywhere in Jerusalem, defended on Monday a settlement project that drew criticism from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Israeli bulldozers cleared the way for 20 new homes for Jews in East Jerusalem, an area captured by Israel in a 1967 war and which Palestinian want as the capital of a future state, by demolishing a derelict hotel on Sunday. Clinton, in... [more]
French President Nicolas Sarkozy takes his campaign for greater global food price and currency stability to Washington this week when he seeks Barack Obama’s support for France’s goals as head of the Group of 20 powers. Soaring food prices and riots in places such as Algeria offer Sarkozy ammunition to press for more coordination between G20 governments to combat wild swings in vital commodity prices as well as exchange rates... [more]
