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 ...
The Discovery crew began to deliver supplies to the International Space Station on Thursday and prepared for the mission’s first spacewalk a day after the US space shuttle docked with the orbiting station. Discovery astronauts opened the hatch to unload the Italian-made Leonardo Multi Purpose Logistics Module to start the transfer some eight tonnes of science racks and other supplies into the space station, a job that will take several... [more]
State-owned railway company NS is planning to increase its activities abroad considerably by moving into Scandinavia and southern Europe, the Volkskrant reports on Thursday. The company already runs rail services in England, Germany and the Czech Republic. NS’s foreign investments are largely paid for by cash earned in the Netherlands, the paper says. NS claims profits earned abroad are also used to finance foreign activities but... [more]
Prince Charles’ wife, Camilla, plans to keep up all her scheduled engagements despite breaking a leg while hillwalking in Scotland, a royal spokeswoman said Thursday. “While hillwalking in slippery conditions in Scotland, the Duchess of Cornwall took a tumble and hurt her leg,” a spokeswoman for Clarence House said, noting that the mishap occurred on Wednesday. Following doctor’s advice on Thursday, Camilla —... [more]
Markets pounded Greek bonds and banking stocks on Thursday, driving the debt-stricken euro zone member’s borrowing costs to new highs and pushing it closer to tapping a last resort EU/IMF safety net. The government struggled to reassure markets it can stay solvent after the premium investors demand to buy Greek rather than the benchmark German government debt surged for the third day in a row to a record high since Greece joined the... [more]
Roman Polanski’s lawyers filed a last legal volley in a California appeals court, saying that the 33-year-old sex case and its lengthy delays were an assault on the state’s judicial system. The attorneys said in papers that the court should order an investigation of judicial misconduct in Polanski’s original case and that the Oscar-winning filmmaker should not have to pay for it – an indication that he is running... [more]
British Airways and Spanish carrier Iberia signed a merger agreement on Thursday, sealing a long-awaited deal to create Europe’s second largest airline by passenger kilometres. The deal, which creates a group with a combined market value of around $7.8 billion (5 billion pounds), ends the flag carrier’s long pursuit of Iberia, and will allow it to emulate rivals Lufthansa and Air France who have successfully acquired smaller... [more]
Somali pirates warned a South Koreandestroyer chasing a hijacked supertanker with 24 sailors on board not to get any closer or else risk endangering the crew, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday. All crew members of the South Korean-operted, Marshall Island-flagged Samho Dream are safe, the pirates said by phone Wednesday through the tanker’s captain in the first contact since the hijacking Sunday in the Indian Ocean. However,... [more]
Today is Thursday, April 8, the 98th day of 2010. There are 267 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On April 8, 1974, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hit his 715th career home run in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, breaking Babe Ruth’s record. On this date: In 1513, explorer Juan Ponce de Leon and his expedition began exploring the Florida coastline. In 1913, the 17th Amendment to the Constitution,... [more]
Manchester United have been knocked out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich despite winning 3-2 at Old Trafford. Bayern advance to the semis on the away goals rule. They will meet Lyon Wayne Rooney was sensationally named in Manchester United’s starting line-up to face Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals at Old Trafford tonight. Rooney’s fitness has been the subject of intense speculation ever since he... [more]
Google Inc was sued by photographers, illustrators and other visual artists who claim the Web search company is scanning and displaying their work online without paying them. Wednesday’s lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court by the American Society of Media Photographers and others who were not permitted to join a $125 million class-action settlement over digitized books, which is pending in the same court. The new lawsuit... [more]
