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 ...
North Korea fired three short-range missiles this week in an apparent routine test of its technology, a South Korean official said Friday. The North fired the KN-02 missiles, which are usually deployed against ground targets and have a range of about 75 miles (120 kilometers), into its eastern waters on Wednesday, a Defense Ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of ministry policy. Japan’s Sankei Shimbun... [more]
SOUTH Korea said it would set up a fund this year to prepare for eventual reunification with North Korea, as the death of the North’s longtime leader Kim Jong-Il refocused attention on the issue. The unification ministry, which handles cross-border relations, said one of its policy priorities this year was practical preparations for reunification including the fund. In a policy document it also vowed actively to engage in “reunification... [more]
A single, reunified Korea has long been a cherished dream of people on both sides of the world’s most heavily fortified border. South Korea even has a Cabinet-level ministry preparing for the day. And while Kim Jong Il’s death last month has raised those hopes higher among some in Seoul, few are eager to talk about the cold reality: Sudden reunification could be traumatic for both countries. Any North Korean collapse and... [more]
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics will this year focus on developing new products and tapping into new businesses to get ahead of competitors amid the global economic slowdown, its chairman said Monday. Lee Kun-Hee, in a New Year’s speech to employees, said existing businesses would experience a stagnation in growth, and that new start-ups would provide the best opportunities even although they will find it increasingly competitive... [more]
Despite growth that has propelled South Koreato become the world’s 13th largest economy, a powerhouse that makes computers, mobile telephones and cars, there are some in the capital of Seoul who believe life is better in the impoverished North. As the world watched Wednesday’s funeral of dictator Kim Jong-il, who presided over famine, a nuclear arms push and military skirmishes with the South, Choi Dong Jin, 48, told Reuters... [more]
South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak urged Japan to have the “courage” to compensate ageing wartime sex slaves before it is too late and let the two nations’ relationship progress. Lee on Sunday told Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto that the issue had prevented their countries from becoming “true partners” in the years since World War II. Japan, which insists the issue... [more]
The South Korean ministry handling relations with North Korea said Sunday it would start producing Internet television and radio broadcasts to try to raise public interest in unification. The unification ministry said an Internet broadcasting channel would begin operating around September 26. The ministry will produce video content, weekly news reports and other material which will be aired onhttp://unitv.unikorea.go.kr, Yonhap news agency... [more]
More than 1,000 South Korean riot police dispersed or arrested scores of protesters who for months have blocked construction of a naval base on a scenic holiday island. Navy engineers resumed work after police evicted about 130 protesters who have occupied the site at Gangjeong on the coast of southern Jeju island since June. Military officials say the $970 million project is vital for national security. But village residents and activists... [more]
South Korean and US marines are planning their first joint exercise on a frontline island, officials said Thursday, in an apparent show of force to North Korea following deadly border incidents. “The two allies are discussing details of such a joint marine exercise,” a defence ministry spokesman told AFP. Yonhap news agency said the drill was likely to take place in July on Baengnyeong island in the Yellow Sea, before annual... [more]
North Korea has dismissed as “ridiculous” South Korea’s hosting of an international nuclear summit next year, barely two days after the North’s leader Kim Jong-il was conditionally invited to join 50 world leaders at the event in Seoul. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said on Monday he was ready to invite Kim to the summit in Seoul next March if the reclusive North agreed to renounce nuclear weapons, and apologized... [more]
