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 ...
Today is Monday, Jan. 4, the fourth day of 2010. There are 361 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: Isaac Newton was born on 4 January 1643 : Newton’s laws of motion, theory of gravitation, On Jan. 4, 1960, Algerian-born French author and philosopher Albert Camus died in an automobile accident in Villeblevin, France at age 46. On this date: In 1809, Louis Braille, inventor of the Braille raised-dot reading... [more]
ADELAIDE, Australia – Remains of the first airplane ever taken toAntarctica, in 1912, have been found by Australian researchers, the team announced. The Mawson’s Huts Foundation had been searching for the plane for three summers before stumbling upon metal pieces of it on New Year’s Day. “The biggest news of the day is that we’ve found the air tractor, or at least parts of it!” team member Tony Stewart wrote... [more]
Today is Sunday, Jan. 3, the third day of 2010. There are 362 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Jan. 3, 1959, Alaska became the 49th state as President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a proclamation. On this date: In 1521, Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Leo X. In 1777, Gen. George Washington’s army routed the British in the Battle of Princeton, N.J. In 1868, the Meiji... [more]
Today is Friday, Jan. 1, the 1st day of 2010. There are 364 days left in the year. Today is New Year’s Day. Today’s Highlight in History: On Jan. 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that slaves in rebel states were free. On this date: In 1760, the first two volumes of Laurence Sterne’s novel “The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman” were published... [more]
An artwork by Impressionist artist Edgar Degas has been stolen from a Marseilles museum, police have said. Les Choristes (The Chorus) was missing when staff at the Catini Museum opened the premises on Thursday morning. There were no signs of a break-in, said Jacques Dallest, the French city’s public prosecutor. Local police originally said that its value was £26m, but France’s national museum service subsequently put its worth... [more]
Today is Thursday, Dec. 31, the 365th and final day of 2009. Today is New Year’s Eve. Today’s Highlight in History: On Dec. 31, 1909, the Manhattan Bridge, spanning the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn, was officially opened to vehicular traffic by New York City Mayor George B. McClellan Jr. on his last day in office. On this date: In 1759, Arthur Guinness founded his famous brewery at St. James’s Gate... [more]
Today is Wednesday, Dec. 30, the 364th day of 2009. There is 1 day left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Dec. 30, 1853, the United States and Mexico signed a treaty under which the U.S. agreed to buy some 45,000 square miles of land from Mexico for $10 million in a deal known as the Gadsden Purchase. On this date: In 1813, the British burned Buffalo, N.Y., during the War of 1812. In 1903, about 600 people died when... [more]
Today is Tuesday, Dec. 29, the 363rd day of 2009. There are 2 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On Dec. 29, 1170, Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by knights loyal to King Henry II. On this date: In 1808, the 17th president of the United States, Andrew Johnson, was born in Raleigh, N.C. In 1845, Texas was admitted as the 28th state. In 1851, the first YMCA... [more]
