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 ...
German Chancellor Angela Merkel directly contradicted US PresidentBarack Obama on Saturday, saying spending cutbacks were now needed following the spate of throwing money at the global economic crisis. Referring to the G20 summit in Canada next weekend, Merkel said in a videotaped message that “we are going to discuss when to quit the phase of short-term measures and go on to lasting budget consolidation.” Such a move... [more]
Angelina Jolie travelled on rutted jungle roads to a village on Ecuador’s border with Colombia to highlight the abuses suffered by women and children refugees. The actress and UN human rights goodwill ambassador returned for the first time in eight years to a turbulent region where thousands of Colombian refugees live. She ended her two-day visit with a meeting in Shushufindi with President Rafael Correa and other senior government... [more]
China told the rest of the world on Friday not to meddle with the way it manages the yuan, setting the stage for a clash with its biggest trading partners at next week’s G20 summit. U.S. President Barack Obama released a letter to his Group of 20 colleagues that zeroed in on prickly policy differences over China’s currency stance and debt-wary Europe’s rush to rein in bulging budget deficits. World leaders gathering in... [more]
The strike by 2500 security guards is increasingly affecting daily life for Norwegians, and for tourists as well. On Thursday visitors found the Munch Museum closed, due to a shortage of security personnel. Altogether 12 Norwegian airports are now affected by the strike, and several are closed. Passengers are transported by bus to the nearest operative airport. Oslo Airport Gardermoen has up to now been able to operate at normal capacity,... [more]
The Spanish Treasury successfully borrowed 3.479 billion euros (4.305 billion dollars) by selling bonds on Thursday but at higher rates as investors sought more reward for lending after recent debt scares. The treasury issued 3.0 billion euros in 10-year bonds and 479 million euros of 30-year bonds, for a total at the top end of its expectations of 2.5 billion to 3.5 billion. Despite strong demand for the two issues, Spain had to offer higher... [more]
Talks on forming a right-wing coalition appear to have stalled after PVV leader Geert Wilders said he saw no point in continuing talks with the Liberals without the Christian Democrats, and the CDA said it would not join in until the PVV and Liberals had sorted out their differences. CDA leader Maxime Verhagen has reportedly said he wants to be sure that Liberal leader Mark Rutte and Wilders have agreed what to do about the economy and how... [more]
Norwegians are now being encouraged to bring small change with them when they go shopping. Stores are quickly running out of change, due to the ongoing striike by security guards. Cards are soon the only way to pay your bills at the cashier, since money transports are also affected by the security guard strike. For the same reason, more and more cash points are also closing down, as they are no longer being refilled Share this: ... [more]
The French government will raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 by 2018,Labour Minister Eric Woerth announced Wednesday as he unveiled a sweeping overhaul of the pensions system. “It is imperative that we salvage our pensions system,” Woerth told a news conference. “Working longer is inevitable. There is no magical solution.” Talk of raising the retirement age has been taboo in France where the right to a pension... [more]
BARCELONA plans to be the first large city in Spain to ban the use of the full-face Islamic veil in public buildings, its mayor says. Jordi Hereu says he will sign a decree which will apply in all public spaces such as the city hall and municipal covered markets and creches. “It should not be possible that someone enters into a place without being identified,” the Socialist mayor said yesterdatyy. He said the measure is not aimed... [more]
The Conservative Party (Høyre) wants foreign criminals convicted in Norway to serve their sentence in special prison blocks, with limited facilities and without the usual on-the-job training. Conservative Party leader Erna Solberg said this as she presented the party’s own plan for combating crime to the party’s Central Committee. The plan calls for an extra 2000 police officers in place before 2015, and an average of two... [more]
