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 ...
President Barack Obama said Thursday he was “100 percent committed” to NASA’s mission as he sought to set a new course for the future of US space travel. The US president was making a whirlwind trip to the heart of the US space industry to unveil a new plan for the future of the US space agency, after he was hit with stinging criticism for dropping the costly Constellation project. “As president, I believe that space... [more]
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has announced that Norway will contribute a total of NOK 20 million to the Nuclear Security Fund of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Stoltenberg made the announcement at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington on Tuesday. The increased means will be spent on nuclear security efforts in developing countries in the years ahead. ”The Nuclear Security Summit has passed a declaration and... [more]
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for better legal instruments to ensure the security of nuclear materials and prevent the construction of so-called dirty bombs at a summit in Washington, DC on Monday night. “International legal security” is imperative, said the chancellor at the end of the first day of high-profile international gathering. She also took a moment to praise host US President Barack Obama for his work toward... [more]
The world needs to set up a new tribunal to try people who pass nuclear secrets and supplies to terrorists or who break international treaties on nuclear security, prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende suggested during a meeting of the world’s major nuclear powers in Washington. A tribunal would be ‘in line with president Barack Obamba’s proposal to take concrete steps’ Balkenende told reporters after a working dinner... [more]
U.S. President Barack Obama’s drive for new sanctions on Iran picked up momentum on Monday in talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao that included a wide-ranging discussion of U.S.-Chinese economic differences. Their face-to-face session came at the start of a two-day nuclear security summit of nearly 50 countries aimed at finding ways to prevent terrorists from gaining access to nuclear materials. Ukraine provided the first example... [more]
Most popular notions about the male brain are based on studies of men ages 18 to 22 – undergrads subjecting themselves to experiments for beer money or course credit. But a man’s brain varies tremendously over his life span, quickly contradicting the image of the single-minded sex addict that circulates in mainstream consciousness. From his wandering eye to his desire to mate for life, here’s what you need to know about guys’... [more]
The top U.N. climate official says negotiators are likely to hold at least four conferences this year, but without much expectation of concluding a binding agreement on global warming. Yvo de Boer says the main elements of a deal should be in place by the yearend conference in Mexico, but technical issues may wait until 2011. The goal is an agreement to control greenhouse gases and protect poor countries from the impacts of climate... [more]
“Team Germany” from Leipzig has won the US Space Administration’s “Great Moonbuggy Race,” where student design, build and race vehicles that tackle challenges faced by engineers of the lunar rover. The four-person German team, from the Leipzig-based International Space Education Institute (ISEI), won first prize in the high-school division after a decisive race in Huntsville, Alabama on Saturday, NASA... [more]
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi are to preside over an extension of Franco-Italian nuclear cooperation during a bilateral summit in Paris on Friday. The leaders of France and Italy will enhance their growing cooperation in the nuclear sector at a meeting on Friday where they are also due to discuss the mounting debt crisis hanging over the euro zone. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian... [more]
EU rules do not stop national authorities carrying out language tests on foreign doctors working in the UK, the European Commission said. A spokesman was responding to a House of Commons report calling for tighter vetting of foreign doctors and urging ministers to press for EU rule changes to allow checks by the General Medical Council. The report followed fears about the risk of patients being treated by doctors lacking the right qualifications... [more]
