NEW YORK – General Motors Corp. (GM) Monday said it agreed to sell a 51 percent stake in its financing arm, General Motors Acceptance Corp., to a consortium led by hedge fund Cerberus Capital Management LP in a deal worth $14 billion. The long-awaited sale would generate much-needed cash for …
Read More »
COOPER SPUR, Ore. – One of three stranded climbers lost somewhere amid ice, billowing snow and gale-force winds on Mount Hood has been turning off and on his cell phone, authorities said Thursday, raising hopes for his rescue. T-Mobile received a signal from Kelly James‘ cell phone late Tuesday night, …
Read More »
LAS VEGAS – After suffering embarrassing security exploits over the past several years, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is trying a new tactic: inviting some of the world’s best-known computer experts to try to poke holes in Vista, the next generation of its Windows operating system. Microsoft made a test version of …
Read More »
BOULDER, Colo. – A former schoolteacher was arrested Wednesday in Thailand in the slaying of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey — a surprise breakthrough in a lurid, decade-old murder mystery that had cast a cloud of suspicion over her parents. Ramsey family attorney Lin Wood identified the suspect as John …
Read More »
– Proposed rules of engagement for an expanded U.N. force in southern Lebanon would allow troops to open fire in self-defense, protect civilians and back up the Lebanese army in preventing foreign forces or arms from crossing the border, according to a U.N. document obtained Tuesday. The 20-page draft was …
Read More »
BEIJING – China’s death toll from tropical storm Bilis more than doubled to 482 on Friday after a hard-hit province reported a sharp rise in fatalities, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Authorities in inland Hunan province said 346 people died in floods triggered by Bilis, while 89 others were …
Read More »
WASHINGTON – President Bush declined Thursday to criticize Israel’s tactics in its continuing offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon, and gave a sharp condemnation of Iran’s role in the bloody fighting. “Hezbollah attacked Israel. I know Hezbollah is connected to Iran,” Bush said tersely at the end of Oval …
Read More »
ROCKVILLE, Maryland – Government health advisers debated Thursday what should be done with data and other material generated by a 24-year federal study of the health effects of exposure to Agent Orange. The study involving veterans who served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War is set to end …
Read More »
LOS ANGELES – Federal regulators dismissed a complaint Thursday that accused “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” of playing favorites when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared as a guest on the show this month. The Federal Communications Commission complaint, filed on behalf of Democratic gubernatorial challenger Phil Angelides, argued that the …
Read More »
BERLIN – A shortage of electricity in Europe’s power grid caused blackouts across the continent, halting trains, trapping people in lifts and plunging millions of homes into darkness. Swathes of Germany and France were badly hit by the cuts late Saturday. Austria, Belgium, Italy and Spain were also affected. A …
Read More »