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 ...
France — home to Europe’s biggest Muslim population — on Monday officially banned women from wearing full-face veils in public places. Other European countries have drawn up bans on the burqa and the niqab but France is the first to risk stirring social tensions by putting one into practice. The law comes into effect at an already fraught moment in relations between the state and France’s Muslim minority, with President... [more]
Tens of thousands of anti-government “Red Shirts” are expected to gather in Bangkok on Sunday to mark a year since deadly clashes between troops and protesters during their mass rally in the capital. Police have predicted up to 50,000 people could attend the gathering, which is set to be addressed by fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, a hero for many of the red-shirted demonstrators, via video link. Thailand, which is... [more]
THE Russian security service denied it had plans to ban Skype and Gmail after one of its top officials said such services posed a serious security risk. The information and special communications director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) told a Cabinet meeting on Friday that he was growing “increasingly concerned” by the use of services with foreign-made encryption technology. The comments sparked an immediate furor in... [more]
POLICE have uncovered an illicit chemical lab and seized drugs and guns in a raid on the suburban home of X Factor winner Altiyan Childs. The flamboyant star’s personal manager, Steve Gold, was arrested in his underpants during the early morning bust last Monday and was later charged over the illegal weapons, which included rifles, pellet guns and a Taser. The Sony Music-signed singer had lived at the Ramsgate home – known... [more]
One of Europe’s first countries to allow Jews to practice their religion openly may soon pass a law banning centuries-old Jewish and Muslim traditions on the ritual slaughter of animals. In the Netherlands, an unlikely alliance of an animal rights party and the xenophobic Freedom Party is spearheading support for the ban on kosher and halal slaughter methods that critics say inflict unacceptable suffering on animals. The far right’s... [more]
Six months after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, Norway is still feeling Beijing’s fury, though a series of retaliatory moves has largely spared flourishing bilateral trade. In December, China blocked Liu from attending the prize ceremony in the Norwegian capital Oslo, where an empty chair on the podium marked his absence. Liu, a former professor who was at the forefront of the 1989 Tiananmen Square... [more]
North Korea has intensified submarine drills near the tense Yellow Sea border with South Korea, putting Seoul defence officials on alert, a report said Thursday. JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, citing a Seoul military source, said the North had been staging exercises involving five or six submarines at the Bipagot submarine base on its west coast since last month. They feature the signature 325-tonne submarines as well as the new and bigger Shark-class... [more]
Manchester United and England footballer Rio Ferdinand has appealed for witnesses to come forward to help police find the killer of the innocent victim of a drive-by shooting. “I remember what it was like when I was young, growing up in Peckham, having my whole future in front of me,” Ferdinand said in the appeal posted on Youtube. “A promising young footballer, Rio McParlane was a lot like myself. On September 6 last year... [more]
President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai deplored the burning of the Koran by a fundamentalist U.S. pastor in an hour-long video teleconference on Wednesday and condemned deadly violence sparked by the incident, the White House said. Karzai and Obama discussed a range of topics in the call, including the gradual handover of security in Afghanistan from U.S. and NATO troops to Afghan control. “The two leaders agreed... [more]
Illegal aliens in the Netherlands are sometimes offered money to leave the country. According to a report published in newspaper de Volkskrant, the money allows illegal aliens – many of them failed asylum seekers – to build a new existence in their country of origin. Offering money is often cheaper – as well as more effective – than providing several months’ worth of shelter or locking people up in detention centres.... [more]
