U.S.-Mexican singer Jenni Rivera dies in plane crash

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera died in a plane crash after the small jet she was travelling in went down in northern Mexico, her father said on Sunday.

A spokesman for the state government of Nuevo Leon said investigators had found the remains of Rivera's Learjet, which disappeared from the radar 62 miles from the northern city of Monterrey at about 3:30 a.m. local time/4.30 a.m. EST.

Speaking after the wreckage was discovered, the singer's father, Pedro Rivera, told Telemundo television all seven of the people on board the plane, including two pilots, had died.

"Everyone was lost," Rivera said, flanked by two sons.

Investigators are still searching the crash site in the municipality of Iturbide, south of Monterrey. The transportation and communications ministry said the wreckage was strewn so far and wide that it was hard to recognize anything.

It was not clear what caused the crash.

Rivera, 43, was heading for the city of Toluca in central Mexico after a concert in Monterrey on Saturday night.

Born in Long Beach, California, to Mexican immigrants, Rivera sold some 15 million records in her career, won several awards and received Grammy nominations, her website said.

A mother of five, Rivera was a renowned performer of the Nortena and Banda musical styles.

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Plane carrying U.S.-Mexican singer Jenni Rivera is missing

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera is missing after the plane she was travel ling in disappeared shortly after leaving the northern Mexican city of Monterrey early on Sunday.

The Mexican transportation and communications ministry said Rivera's Learjet went off the radar about 62 miles from Monterrey after taking off at 3:15 a.m. local time/0900 GMT.

Rivera was heading for the city of Toluca in central Mexico after a concert in Monterrey on Saturday night. The singer, two pilots and four other passengers are all missing, the ministry said. A search is continuing for the aircraft.

Born in Long Beach, California, to Mexican immigrant parents, Rivera has sold some 15 million records in her career and won several awards and Grammy nominations, her website said.

A mother of five renowned as an exponent of the Nortena and banda musical styles, Rivera turned 43 in July, according to Mexican media reports.

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Springsteen, Alabama Shakes top Rolling Stone's 2012 best music

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Veteran rocker Bruce Springsteen and newcomer blues-rock band Alabama Shakes landed the top awards in Rolling Stone magazine's annual list of the year's best music on Friday, which featured many of next year's leading Grammy nominees.

Springsteen's 17th studio album "Wrecking Ball" topped the magazine's list of best albums, with the magazine calling it "rock's most pointed response to the Great Recession."

Springsteen, 63, came in ahead of hip hop artist Frank Ocean's debut "Channel Orange" at No. 2 and former White Stripes front man Jack White's debut solo effort, "Blunderbuss" at No. 3, in the annual list selected and compiled by Rolling Stone editors.

Springsteen, Ocean and White all landed Grammy nods, which were announced earlier this week.

The rest of the top ten albums included Bob Dylan's "Tempest," Green Day's "¡Uno!," Neil Young and Crazy Horse's "Psychedelic Pill," Kendrick Lamar's "good kid, m.A.A.d city" and Fiona Apple's "The Idler Wheel is Wiser..."

"Hold On" by newcomer blues-rockers Alabama Shakes was named the top song of the year, beating off popular tracks by Ocean, White, Springsteen, Dylan and Kanye West in the top 10.

While both the albums and songs lists were dominated by rock and rap artists both old and new, country-pop star Taylor Swift was a surprising entry at No. 2 on the best songs list with her infectious chart-topping hit song "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together."

Rolling Stone described the song, which landed a Grammy nod for record of the year, "a perfect three-minute teen tantrum about country girls getting mad at high-strung indie boys."

Pop-rockers Passion Pit's "Take a Walk," Ocean's "Thinkin Bout You" and Young and Crazy Horse's "Ramada Inn" rounded out the top five songs.

Rolling Stone's full list of 2012's 50 best albums can be viewed at http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/50-best-albums-of-2012-20121205 and the 50 best songs at http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/50-best-songs-of-2012-20121205

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Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck dead at 91

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, whose choice of novel rhythms, classical structures and brilliant sidemen made him a towering figure in modern jazz, has died at the age of 91, his longtime manager and producer Russell Gloyd said on Wednesday.

Brubeck died of heart failure on Wednesday morning after he fell ill on his way to a regular medical exam at Norwalk Hospital, in Norwalk, Conn., a day short of his 92nd birthday, Gloyd said.

His Dave Brubeck Quartet put out one of the best selling jazz songs of all time: "Take Five," composed by alto saxophonist Paul Desmond. Like many of the group's works, it had an unusual beat -- 5/4 time as opposed to the usual 4/4.

"We play it differently every time we play it," Brubeck told The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2005. "So I never get tired of playing it. That's the beauty of jazz."

"Take Five" was the first million-selling jazz single.

Dressed in a suit and horn-rimmed glasses and living a clean-cut lifestyle in the 1950s, Brubeck did not fit the stereotype of a hipster jazzman and his music was not nearly as brooding as that coming from East Coast be-bop players.

Despite his innovative approach, some critics interpreted Brubeck's popularity as a sign of un-coolness, but his fans were undeterred.

Brubeck was born in Concord, California, on December 6, 1920. His father was a rancher and as a teenager Brubeck was a skilled cowboy. But his mother, a music teacher who had five pianos in the house, saw that he took up piano at age 5.

At the College of the Pacific in Stockton, California, he planned to be a veterinarian, but within a year he was majoring in music and playing jazz in nightclubs.

"After my first year in veterinary pre-med I switched to the music department ... and that was at the advice of my zoology teacher," Brubeck said in a Reuters interview. "He said 'Brubeck, your mind is not here, with these frogs and formaldehyde. Your mind is across the lawn at the conservatory. Will you please go over there.'"

Brubeck later met the co-director of a weekly campus radio show, Iola Marie Whitlock, and they eventually married.

After graduation, Brubeck studied under French composer Darius Milhaud and played in a U.S. Army jazz band during World War Two.

In the late 1940s, he moved to the San Francisco Bay area, where he headed an experimental jazz octet. He formed a trio in 1950 and the following year expanded to a quartet with Desmond, who he had known since the war.

Brubeck injected classical counterpoint, atonal harmonies and modern dissonance into his music, hinting at composers such as Debussy, Bartok, Stravinsky and Bach.

The group built an enduring fan base by taking its subdued bluesy brand of classically influenced jazz to colleges.

As a leading figure in the West Coast jazz scene, which also included Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker, Brubeck was featured in a Time magazine cover story in 1954. Some critics and black musicians, who felt jazz was a central part of black culture, resented the story about the prominence of a white artist.

In the article Brubeck said Milhaud had told him "if I didn't stick to jazz, I'd be working out of my own field and not taking advantage of my American heritage."

Brubeck disbanded the quartet in 1967 after nearly 17 years to concentrate on composing. He wrote several choral works, all religiously influenced.

He later began performing jazz regularly again and appeared with his sons, Darius, a composer and pianist; Chris, who played electric bass and trombone; and drummer Danny. They were billed as Two Generations of Brubeck.

In February 1989 Brubeck, who had a history of heart problems, underwent triple-bypass surgery but kept playing. Well into his 80s, he still put on some 80 shows a year. He had a pacemaker implanted in October 2010.

Actor-director Clint Eastwood, a jazz fan, announced plans to make a documentary on Brubeck in 2007. Eastwood also was named chairman of the Brubeck Institute at the University of the Pacific, designated as the home of his papers, private recordings and other memorabilia.

Brubeck and his wife, who also was his agent and lyricist, had two other sons, Matthew, a cellist, and Michael, and a daughter, Catherine. The couple lived in Wilton, Connecticut.

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Rihanna to star in own U.S. fashion reality show

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Chart-topping R&B star Rihanna is delving into the world of fashion, starring in a reality television show competition that will challenge designers to make outfits for a handful of celebrities, U.S. cable channel Style Network said on Wednesday.

"Styled to Rock," set to premiere in the latter half of 2013, will feature 12 young designers handpicked by the Barbadian Grammy-winning singer.

The designers will be tasked with styling a celebrity guest on each episode, and the guest will help determine which designer moves on to the next round of the competition.

"Fashion has always played an integral part in my life and career. I am so excited to partner with Style Network and share my creative insight with these 12 designers and give them this opportunity to showcase their work," Rihanna, 24, said in a statement.

The singer will also serve as an executive producer under her given name, Robyn Rihanna Fenty. Style Network has yet to announce which celebrities will guest host or the fashion experts who will serve as mentors to contestants.

The series will piggyback on a British show of the same name in which Rihanna appeared over the summer.

The "Diamonds" singer recently concluded a seven-date globe-trotting tour in support of her new album "Unapologetic," which debuted atop the Billboard 200 album chart last week.

Style Network is a unit of Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal.

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Italy tax police check Facebook's books

MILAN (AP) -- Italian tax police have visited Facebook's Milan offices to check the books of the social networking site, part of the country's crackdown on tax evasion that has targeted Google's Italian operations as well.

Facebook Italy issued a statement Friday saying it pays taxes in Italy and takes its tax obligations here "very seriously." It added it works "closely with tax authorities in every country to ensure we are compliant with the local law" and pledged to cooperate "with the investigation of the Italian tax authority."

Last week, the Italian Treasury said Google had had undeclared earnings of €240 million ($311 million) from 2002-2006, as well as unpaid value added tax of €96 million. Google says it's working with Italian authorities on the audit.

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Italian tax police visit Facebook's Milan offices

MILAN (Reuters) - Italian police have been carrying out checks at the Milan offices of Facebook to assess whether it regularly declared its income in Italy, an investigative source and the U.S. company said on Friday.

Italian officials have stepped up their efforts to collect taxes in recent months and have already targeted other big corporate names such as Google to check whether they are paying their dues.

The investigative source said tax officials first went to the offices of Facebook in Milan nearly a month ago to collect documents.

"Facebook pays taxes in Italy as part of its business activity in the country and strictly complies with Italy's fiscal rules," Facebook said in an emailed statement.

"Facebook has fully cooperated with tax police during the investigation and intends to continue to do that."

Italian police opened a new tax probe into Google Italy last week, five years after an earlier investigation into transfer pricing.

Google has said it complies with the tax laws in every country in which it operates.

($1=0.7700 euros)

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Netflix gets SEC notice over CEO's Facebook post

NEW YORK (AP) — Netflix Inc. is facing scrutiny from government regulators for a Facebook post by its CEO in July that may have boosted the online video company's stock price.

Neflix said Thursday that the Securities and Exchange Commission informed it that its staff is recommending civil action be brought against the company and CEO Reed Hastings. The reason: Hastings' July 3 post in which he said Netflix's online video viewing "exceeded 1 billion hours for the first time ever in June."

The SEC says posting on Facebook doesn't amount to fair public disclosure of information that is material to investors.

Shares in Netflix, which is based in Los Gatos, Calif., rose more than 6 percent on the day of Hastings' Facebook post. On the first day of trading following the July 4 holiday, its shares rose another 13 percent.

Hastings used Facebook again Thursday to comment on the investigation, which he called a "fascinating social media story." He argued that the information was not material to the stock price, had been disclosed and reported on earlier and that because he had 200,000 followers at the time, it was widely disseminated.

Hastings has been on the board of directors of Facebook Inc. since June 2011 and as of Nov. 14 owned 72,639 Facebook shares.

"We think posting to over 200,000 people is very public, especially because many of my subscribers are reporters and bloggers," he said in his post Thursday.

The SEC says Hastings' July post contained material investor information that must be disclosed in a regulatory filing or news release.

But Hastings said similar information was disclosed on the company blog in June.

On June 4, the blog states that Netflix's online customers were "enjoying nearly a billion hours per month" of streaming video. That announcement also was not put in a press release or an SEC filing.

It's not the first time a CEO from an Internet company has run into trouble with securities authorities for promoting their company through digital means.

In August 2011, Groupon Inc. CEO Andrew Mason got in hot water for sending a long email to thousands of employees explaining "why I'm so excited" about the company's then-upcoming initial public offering of stock, including a discussion of the company's use of controversial financial metrics.

Mason's email went out after the company had already filed IPO papers with the SEC, after which executives are not allowed to further promote the stock to investors. That episode was resolved and Groupon stock began trading publicly on Nov. 4, 2011.

Netflix shares rose $2.80, or 3.4 percent, to $86.17 on Thursday, a day after the company announced a multi-year licensing deal with Disney. The stock fell $1.06, or 1.2 percent, to $85.11 in after-hours trading.

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U.S. judge names lead plaintiffs in Facebook litigation

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A group of investors including state pension funds in North Carolina and Arkansas will be the lead plaintiffs in securities lawsuits arising out of Facebook Inc's $16 billion initial public offering, a U.S. judge ruled on Thursday.

The investors, in a proposed class-action case, have accused Facebook of misrepresenting its financial condition in the run-up to the May stock offering. They are represented by law firms Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann and Labaton Sucharow.

The ruling helps set a structure for the Facebook IPO litigation, a headache for the social media company and a nagging reminder of the technical glitches in the highly anticipated stock market debut.

U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet in Manhattan also named lead plaintiffs for lawsuits against NASDAQ OMX Group Inc stemming from the IPO. NASDAQ was sued over allegations that orders to buy and sell Facebook were not properly executed on the first day of trading.

Facebook, which has defended its pre-IPO disclosures, declined to comment on Thursday. A spokesman for NASDAQ declined to comment on the litigation.

Facebook shares made their debut at $38 per share, and later fell as much as 50 percent. On Thursday, they closed at $26.90, down 2.6 percent.

Sweet consolidated the cases and picked lead plaintiffs to head up most of the 42 lawsuits before him arising out of the IPO.

Under a federal law governing securities lawsuits, courts routinely select a lead plaintiff in class actions. The lead plaintiff typically is the shareholder with the biggest losses, though judges have discretion to pick a different investor.

The plaintiff group picked to lead 31 cases alleging securities violations against Facebook includes the North Carolina Retirement Systems, Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, the Fresno County Employees' Retirement Association and Banyan Capital Master Fund Ltd.

The group has collectively claimed a combined $7.1 million in losses.

"Its members are large, institutional investors with experience representing shareholder classes in similar litigation with the resources to pursue the action," Sweet said.

In the securities lawsuits against NASDAQ, the judge said First New York Securities LLC, T3 Trading Group LLC, and Avatar Securities LLC would act as co-lead plaintiffs. The group traded a combined $316 million in Facebook shares the day of the IPO, the decision said.

The case is In re Facebook, Inc, IPO Securities and Derivative Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, MDL No. 12-2389.

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Facebook might buy Microsoft’s Atlas Ad platform to compete with Google

Is Facebook (FB) preparing to compete with Google (GOOG) in online advertising? According to AllThingsD and BusinessInsider’s sources Facebook might be taking steps to build its own advertising network for online websites. AllThingsD says that rather than build a new advertising network from scratch, Facebook could just buy Microsoft’s (MSFT) Atlas Solutions platform “that already delivers billions of ad impressions a day.”

BusinessInsider reports that Facebook will reportedly pay a lower price than the $6 billion that Microsoft paid for aQuantive in 2007 that included Atlas Solutions. It’s estimated that Atlas is worth more than $30 million — a small price to pay to compete with Google’s DoubleClick ad network.

So why is Facebook interested in advertising now? Well, it’s got over 1 billion active users with emails, phone numbers, and unprecedented amounts of “likes.” As BusinessInsider puts it, Facebook has so much data it could “tell marketers whether or not a Facebook user saw, on Facebook.com, an ad for a product before going to the store and buying it.”

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