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 ...
ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Even as he trumpeted a slowdown in the nation’s job losses Friday, President Barack Obama put finishing touches on a proposal he’ll unveil next week to “jump-start” business hiring across America. In a speech from Washington on Tuesday, Obama plans to send Congress an initial list of ideas he supports for a new jobs bill. Among the ideas he will likely endorse is the expansion of a program that... [more]
MINNEAPOLIS – With Minnesota businessman Tom Petters’ planning to appeal his convictions in a Ponzi scheme that cost investors more than $3.5 billion, the fight over his future and how to compensate victims of the fraud will likely drag on for years. Petters’ defense team announced Thursday it planned to appeal his conviction on 20 counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. Efforts to recover money... [more]
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Cisco Systems Inc. says it is waiving its condition that 90 percent of shareholders of Norwegian videoconferencing equipment firm Tandberg ASA back its $3.4 billion takeover offer and will close the deal as soon as possible. Cisco, the world’s largest computer networking equipment maker, said holders of 89 percent of Tandberg shares have agreed to the company’s $30.32-per-share offer as of Thursday, when... [more]
TORONTO – Buffalo’s Rian Lindell and New York’s Jay Feely tradedfield goals, and the Bills and Jets were tied 3-3 after the first quarter on Thursday night. The Bills picked up where they left off on Sunday when they scored 24 unanswered points in the fourth quarter in their win over Miami, scoring on their opening drive when Lindell capped a 52-yard drive with a 49-yard field goal. On that drive, Buffalo quarterback Ryan... [more]
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – Almost everywhere you look at Universal Studios Hollywood, there are signs flaunting the 5-year-old marriage ofNBC and Universal. There’s the billboard of Conan O’Brien from NBC’s “The Tonight Show” smiling down at visitors on their way to the ride based on Universal Pictures’ “Jurassic Park,” and those cutouts of the bubbly hosts from the NBC-owned entertainment... [more]
BRUSSELS – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, arriving Friday at NATO headquarters, welcomed an expected series of announcements by allied nations of additional military, civilian and financial support for the war effort in Afghanistan. Clinton was attending a string of meetings here with allied foreign ministers and with representatives of non-NATO countries that have troops in Afghanistan, plus Russia. She sought to... [more]
With the world losing the battle against global warming so far, experts are warning that humans need to follow nature’s example: Adapt or die. That means elevating buildings, making taller and stronger dams and seawalls, rerouting water systems, restricting certain developments, changing farming practices and ultimately moving people, plants and animals out of harm’s way. Adapting to rising seas and higher temperatures is expected... [more]
BURBANK — Professional travelers know to avoid airports, bus stations, train stations or freeways during Thanksgiving. Planes, trains or automobiles, it’s bedlam. But not this year. While Thanksgiving travel was expected to be up across the nation from last year, travelers arriving at Bob Hope Airport said their holiday jaunts were easy, security lines no problem, and congestion on the runways obsolete. {lang: 'en-US'} function... [more]
Taylor Swift has won just about every top music award there is this year, but the possibility of winning not just one, but eight Grammys, had the 19-year-old screaming for joy as the nominations were announced. “I started freaking out and jumping up and down,” Swift said in a telephone interview Wednesday night after learning of her nominations, which included album of the year for her sophomore CD “Fearless” and... [more]
PHILADELPHIA - After months of negotiations, Comcast Corp. is finally about to seal its deal for a majority stake in NBC Universal, turning the nation’s largest cable TV provider into one of its most powerful media companies. Comcast Corp. is expected to announce early Thursday that it will pay $13.75 billion in cash and assets to gain control of NBC Universal from General Electric Co. People familiar with the transaction described... [more]
