Names and faces

— U.S. aviation authorities confirmed Monday that Latin-music star JenniRivera died Sunday in a plane crash in Mexico’s mountainous terrain. The National Transportation Safety Board issued a statement that all seven people aboard the small plane “were fatally injured including Latin singer Jenni Rivera.” The safety board is sending investigators to Mexico to assist with the investigation, the agency said. On Sunday, Mexico’s transportation ministry said she had been aboard the plane and that no one had survived the crash, but did not confirm her death outright. Rivera had performed a concert in Monterrey, Mexico, on Saturday night. Transportation and Communications Minister Gerardo Ruiz Esparza said “everything points toward” the wreckage belonging to the plane carrying Rivera and six other people to Toluca, outside Mexico City, from Monterrey. “There is nothing recognizable, neither material nor human” in the wreckage found in the state of Nuevo Leon, RuizEsparza said. A mangled California driver’s license with Rivera’s name and picture was found in the crashsite debris. No cause was given for the plane’s crash. Born in Long Beach, Calif., Rivera was at the peak of her career as perhaps the most successful female singer in grupero, a male-dominated regional style influenced by the norteno, banda and ranchero styles. A 43-yearold mother of five children and grandmother of two, the woman known as the “Diva de la Banda” was known for frank talk about her struggles to give a good life to her children despite a series of setbacks.

A Belgian mayor said famed French actor GerardDepardieu has bought a home and set up legal residence in his small town, attracted by the food, the people, the lifestyle- and lower tax rates than back home. The Socialist government under French President Francois Hollande has infuriated many ultrarich in France by presenting a 2013 budget that would tax top earners at 75 percent over the first $1.29 million of annual income. Belgium’s top rate is 50 percent. Mayor Daniel Senesael of Nechin, less than a mile inside Belgium near the French city of Lille, said that “in our conversation, his reasons were also other than those about taxes,” RTL radio reported. Depardieu’s talent agent didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Front Section, Pages 2 on 12/11/2012

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