American convicted in Hong Kong 'milkshake murder'

HONG KONG (AP) — An American who drugged her investment banker-husband with a milkshake and bludgeoned him to death more than seven years ago was convicted of murder at her second trial in a case that grabbed world attention with lurid details on the breakdown of a wealthy expatriate marriage in Hong Kong.

The unanimous jury verdict Friday and automatic life sentence match the outcome of the first trial against Nancy Kissel, whose lawyers argued she was a battered, clinically depressed wife acting under diminished responsibility when her husband provoked her attack.

Prosecutors argued Robert Kissel's death in November 2003 was a carefully planned murder Nancy Kissel tried to …

Heineken 1H profit rises on one-time gain

The Dutch brewer Heineken NV said Wednesday its first-half net profit rose by 42 percent on a mix of factors including cost cutting, positive currency effects and one-time gains.

Net profit was (EURO)695 million ($881 million), up from (EURO)489 million in the same period a year earlier. This year's figures include a net (EURO)121 million in exceptional gains, mostly due to the sale of Heineken's 68.5-percent stake in an Indonesian subsidiary to Asia Pacific Breweries for (EURO)157 million.

Heineken's revenue rose 5.2 percent to (EURO)7.52 billion, mostly due to its $7.8 billion acquisition in April of Mexico's Femsa, which includes brands such as Dos …

Tracy Sherrod Literary Services

Tracy Sherrod Literary Services

After 17 years in publishing, Tracy Sherrod has formed Tracy Sherrod Literary Services. Sherrod pondered the idea for more than a year before leaving her post as senior editor for Simon & Schuster's Pocket Books imprint this past February. Along with partners Beverly Williams, formerly of the Avon 3Day Breast Cancer Walk Foundation, and Tony Clark, formerly in marketing at Holt, Sherrod offers clients everything from marketing to author career counseling. A unique feature of the agency is the on-call, temporary personal assistant service. This division provides clients with typing, editing, transcribing, delivery and inputting services. The …

Groundhog sees shadow in Pennsylvania, a prediction of more winter in northern US

Brace yourself for more wintry weather.

A groundhog called Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow Saturday _ a sign in the U.S. that there are six more weeks of winter.

The rodent was pulled from his stump by members of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Inner Circle, top-hat- and tuxedo-wearing businessmen who carry out the tradition.

Each Feb. 2, thousands of people descend on Punxsutawney, a town of about 6,100 people some 65 miles (105 kilometers) northeast of Pittsburgh, to celebrate what …

Fergie to perform at Final Four weekend in Detroit

Fergie, the Pussycat Dolls and Staind are among the musical acts scheduled to perform during three days of free music concerts tied to the Final Four in Detroit.

The NCAA and the local organizing committee on Monday announced the first part of the musical lineup for the event, which …

`One more chance' // McMichael set to reopen talks

Steve McMichael and his agent, Larry Bales, were makingarrangements Thursday for a Sunday visit with "Ted Phillips orMichael McCaskey or whoever it takes to get these stallednegotiations moving," Bales said.

Phillips, the Bears' finance director, was happy to hear of theplans and said he would "welcome the opportunity to meet personally"with the holdout defensive tackle. Unless Bales or McMichael callsbefore then to make an appointment, Sunday will be Phillips' firstconversation with either of them in 20 days.

"Our position has not changed," Phillips said of the Bears'insistence that McMichael play under the terms of his $500,000contract, but he indicated that …

Empty chair left for jailed Chinese Nobel laureate

OSLO, Norway (AP) — When ambassadors, royalty and other VIPs take their seats in Oslo's modernist City Hall on Friday for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, there will be one chair left empty — for this year's winner.

Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, a democracy activist, is serving an 11-year prison sentence in China on subversion charges brought after he co-authored a bold call for sweeping changes to Beijing's one-party communist political system.

Chinese authorities have placed Liu's supporters, including his wife Liu Xia, under house arrest to prevent anyone from picking up his prize.

China was infuriated when the prestigious $1.4 million prize was awarded to the 54-year-old …