Amy Winehouse in court over assault claim

Singer Amy Winehouse appeared in court Tuesday, charged with common assault over an incident late last year. Winehouse arrived at London’s City of Westminster Magistrates Court wearing her signature black beehive hairdo and a low-cut multicolored tank top. Accompanied by her father, Mitch Winehouse, she made brief comments to a throng of photographers before disappearing inside the building

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Obama’s Challenge: Containing the AIG Bonus Outrage

The White House scrambled on Monday to get ahead of the latest outrage stemming from the bailout of failed corporate behemoth American International Group : $165 million in bonus pay for executives in one part of the firm, which is now 80% controlled by American taxpayers. President Barack Obama took to the podium in the East Room to tag AIG by name, calling its financial predicament a product of “recklessness and greed.” The President said he has asked Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to “block these bonuses and make the American taxpayers whole,” adding, “This isn’t just a matter of dollars and cents

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While the Giants Reel, Many Small Banks Are Thriving

Last fall, soon after congress decided it would spend $700 billion to shore up the nation’s flailing financial system, about 100 shareholders of Reunion Bank of Florida gathered for a party. Over crab fondue and London broil, they toasted the start of their spanking new bank

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Treasury pressure leads to AIG scaling back bonuses

Under pressure from the Treasury Department, insurance giant AIG plans to scale back bonuses and compensation for some of its top-earning employees. CNN obtained a letter Saturday from AIG Chairman and CEO Edward Liddy to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, in which Liddy pledges in the letter to reduce 2009 bonus payments, which AIG refers to as “retention payments,” by at least 30 percent. Liddy also addresses steps to limit compensation in AIG Financial Products, the London-based unit responsible for issuing the risky credit default swaps, which on several occasions has brought the company to the brink of collapse

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Laid Off in Singapore: Ex-Pats Have to Downsize

On the northern fringe of Singapore, overlooking the slate gray waters of the Johore Strait, the public-housing project where Anthony Fulwood lives is so far from the city’s affluent expatriate enclaves that cabdrivers are stunned when he announces his address. ” ‘For God’s sake, why do you live there?’ they regularly ask me,” says Fulwood. ” ‘You’re white!’ ” Fulwood isn’t the only Western expatriate to take up residence in the cheaper peripheries of this Southeast Asian city.

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Prince William: Mummy is a hollow word for me

Prince William has spoken in depth in public for the first time about death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, 12 years ago, saying "mummy" is now a hollow word "evoking only memories." Prince William was only 15 and his brother Prince Harry 12 when Diana died in a Paris car crash along with Dodi Fayed in 1997. The Prince made the comment Thursday during a speech to mark his new role as patron of Britain’s Child Bereavement Charity — a group his mother was once involved with. The British Press Association reported that he told the launch of the charity’s Mother’s Day campaign: “My mother Diana was present at your launch 15 years ago, and I am incredibly proud to be able to continue her support for your fantastic charity, by becoming your royal patron

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Europe’s Message on Economic Stimulus: Enough Already!

As the economic tsunami continues to rage across the planet, the near universal refrain has been that joint action is needed to pull us out of the crisis. But when it comes to stimulus spending, the United States and Europe have taken different paths, jeopardizing hopes of a united front to combat the downturn. President Barack Obama this week urged the world’s top economies to adopt aggressive, American-sized spending programs.

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At the Madoff Hearing: A Guilty Plea, but No Catharsis

If the victims of Bernard Madoff were looking for catharsis in the court of U.S. District Judge Denny Chin, they got nothing close to it. Several of them had gathered in the large, packed courtroom in Lower Manhattan for Madoff’s hearing Thursday morning, but Chin issued instructions that victims could speak only if they wanted to object to Madoff’s pleading guilty to 11 counts of fraud

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The addictive world of ‘Football Manager’

It’s the phenomenally popular virtual football game that has been accused of taking over players’ lives — even reportedly wrecking relationships and careers. The simple premise behind “Football Manager” is to give armchair fans a chance to play real-life managers at their own game.

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