England v West Indies: Hosts cruise home in Lord's Test
England wrapped up a five-wicket victory in the first Test as a stand of 132 between Alastair Cook and Ian Bell saw off an early West Indies charge.
When Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen both went cheaply inside the first hour on the fifth day, a further 134 were needed and there was a genuine sense that an almighty upset might just come off.
But Cook's classy, unhurried 79 and Bell's 63 not out blunted the attack and then brought the target of 191 rapidly within reach as the shine went off the new ball.
Cook fell with just two needed but Bell punched away the winning runs alongside debutant Jonny Bairstow to seal victory midway through the afternoon session.
England will now take a 1-0 series lead into the second Test at Trent Bridge on Friday having been made to work far harder for the honour than almost all had expected.
With England resuming on 10-2 this morning - still 181 short of victory - West Indies came out in search of an early breakthrough, and found one when Trott pushed nervously at Kemar Roach and was caught at second slip for 13.
Pietersen marched in swinging his arms and began aggressively while Cook dropped anchor, the opener going 27 deliveries with just one scoring shot.
Pietersen pulled Shannon Gabriel through midwicket for four, but then tried to do the same to a fuller one next ball and succeeded only in edging behind for an inauspicious 13.
It left England 57-4 and thoughts began to turn to a similar run-chase at Lord's 12 years ago when England, needing 188 to beat a more illustrious West Indies side, had sunk deep into the mire before squeaking home by two wickets.
The difference here was the quality of the bowling. While that England line-up had to face Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose, the current Caribbean quicks had neither the accuracy nor menace of their predecessors.
Runs came at pace, the pitch as flat as it had been all match and the ball doing nothing through the air once the shine had been dulled.
Marlon Samuels's gentle spin and Darren Sammy's medium pace could not match the threat of Roach's opening spell, and Cook and Bell were able to accumulate with increasing ease.
England scored 121 runs in the morning session, and with every boundary the initial pressure lifted a little more.
Cook was happy to cut and drive, while Bell displayed his usual extensive range of shots as they closed in rapidly after lunch.
Cook was disappointed to fall just short of the finishing line, looking to slap Sammy away for the match-winning boundary but edging to Kirk Edwards at gully.
It changed nothing. Bell clipped Samuels through midwicket for four and England were home.
To compound West Indies' misery, captain Sammy was fined 80% of his match fee for a slow over-rate and each of his players 40%.
Sharks wins two out of five m
A top score of 84 runs by Errion Charles helped the Sharks to win the second game of the five match KARE BBQ Joint (Restaurant) Sponsored Grand Turk Cricket Association Cricket series, which was played at the Parade Ground in Grand Turk on Saturday May 19th 2012. He got support from Darren Vaswani who contributed 40 to this score. In his attacking knock Charles hit four fours off Henry Saunders’s 3rd over out of a total of 13 fours and 2 sixes. These knocks took the Sharks to a total of 206 for 6 from 20 overs. Peter Quelch was the other leading contributor with 25 and Rohan Ash 17.
Saunders was the leading wicket taker with 2 wickets for 39 runs from his allotted 4 overs. Roxberg Simpson and Fergusson Williams took 1 wicket each.
In their chase the Dolphins could only manage 142 all out from 18 overs to lose by 67 runs. Earl Henry top scored with 28 runs batting at #11. Other leading contributors to this total were Harry Chawandi who scored 33, Jay Seecharam who with 24 and Sidney Garland 16 which included four boundaries. Captain of the Dolphins Rohan Ash took four wickets for 17 runs, Curtis Simmons 2 for 47 from 4 overs and Carlton Saunders 2 for 25 from 4 overs.
Both teams are now equal on 8 points each. The series continues on Sunday May 27th at the same venue. This is as a result of the Jags McCartney athletics which are set to take place on Saturday May 26th. All supporters are encouraged to come out and support the game.
Scores:
Sharks innings (20 overs max)
R. Ash LBW H. Saunders 17
M. Baptiste LBW H. Saunders 00
C. Simmons LBW b Simpson 10
D. Vaswani Not Out 40
C. Saunders Run Out 08
E. Charles LBW 84
S Matthews 02
J. Brooks 00
P. Quelch Not Out 25
Extras 20
Total for 6 wkts 206
Bowling O M R W
H. Saunders 4 0 33 2
R. Simpson 4 0 37 1
H Chandwani 4 0 40 1
J. Seecharam 3 0 36 0
A. Ogarro 3 0 42 0
F. Williams 2 0 18 1
Dolphins Innings
S Garland C Wk b. C. Simmons 16
A. Ogarro C C. Simmons b P Quelch 01
H. Chandwani C C. Simmons b C Saunders 22
H. Saunders C b C. Simmons 08
J. Seecharam LBW C. Saunders 24
R. Simpson b R. Ash 01
F Williams c & b Ash 05
J. Godet c W Quelch b Ash 00
J. Fraser b Ash 00
A. Hepburn c W. Quelch b Ash 01
E Henry Not Out 28
Extras 36
Total for 10 wkts 142
Bowling O M R W
C Simmons 4` 0 41 2
P Quelch 4 0 11 1
C Saunders 4 0 30 2
R. Ash 4 0 19 47
S. Matthews 1 0 11 0
E. Charles 1 0 11 1
Trinidad, OECS to talk CLICO
Prime Minister of St Kitts-Nevis Dr Denzil Douglas is hoping to meet with his Trinidad and Tobago counterpart next month to thrash out details of an agreement in relation to the CLICO debacle.
Douglas said he and other leaders in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) had met with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar at the Summit of the Americas in Colombia and had agreed that Trinidad would “definitely meet the commitments that were previously identified when Patrick Manning was in office”.
He said this needed to be clarified to some extent and consolidated.
The Manning administration had made efforts to establish a new insurance company, Newco, which was supposed to have brought together several investors, including Trinidad and Tobago with an investment of US$100 million and Barbados investing US$5 million, but that hit a snag following the change of government in Trinidad and Tobago in 2011.
Weak euro affects investments in China
While EU members are debating whether Greece will need to exit the eurozone or not, the impact of the weak euro has spread to Asian countries including China. People are starting to feel the volatility of forex markets both in investments as well as daily life.
One euro stood at about 8.075 yuan at a mid rate on May 21th, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System, part of China’s central bank. Although it had increased 487 basis points compared to the previous trading day, analysts said it was still far lower than the highest level of 8.300 seen at the beginning of May, which caused losses of financial products related to the euro.
Zhao Dapeng, analyst of Department of Financial Market of Huaxia Bank, said, "If the financial products are linked to European stocks, their risks are higher at present. I don’t think it’s a rational choice to buy such products now."
For investors involved in those products, they can’t expect too many returns these days. Data shows that most euro-related financial products due within the first half of the year won’t achieve the promised annualized rate of return. Some of them even had a zero yield rate so far.
Tan Yaling, head of China Forex Investment Research Institute said, "Forex financial products have different features compared to domestic products. For domestic products, we mainly focus on government policies. But forex financial products are more influenced by economic factors, as well as political and other factors."
The euro’s volatility however doesn’t only have unwelcome results. For Chinese consumers in Europe, their purchasing power has increased and they get offered some real discounts.
Meanwhile, analysts said the currency still stands a chance to regain its steam, and investors should be monitoring closely its moves in the coming months to look out for some real value.
Facebook shares close 11% below flotation price
Shares in Facebook closed well below the price at which they were floated amid doubts that the newly-listed company can live up to expectations.
The shares debuted on the Nasdaq stock exchange at $38 each on Friday, but ended 11% down on Monday.
Some analysts said the shares would have fallen on Friday had not underwriters stepped in to buy stock.
Critics say Facebook's advisers have set the price too high, although others argue that it is too early to tell.
The company's shares fell about 12% immediately the Nasdaq opened, and hovered around 9%-10% down for most of the day until a late bout of selling.
Facebook's offer price on Friday valued the social network at $104bn (£66bn).
One US-based analyst told the BBC that this valuation was too high. "The market is just not valuing what Facebook has to bring to the table," said Patrick Moorhead, analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy.
However, BTIG, the US-based global stockbroker, said it was too early to judge Facebook. "Valuing Facebook is more art than science at this stage of its development and the current state of both social and mobile advertising," the firm said in a statement.
The firm said it had confidence in Facebook's long-term advertising prospects, forecasting that advertising revenues will rise to $8 billion in 2015 compared with an estimated $4bn for 2012.
Mixed fortunes
Strong demand in the run-up to the flotation had led the company to increase both the price and the number of shares available for sale.
Mr Moorhead said that meant the Initial Public Offering (IPO) had been a success for Facebook's founders and early investors. Some of them managed to sell parts of their stakes for hundreds of millions of dollars.
But he said the share price fall could have long-term consequences for the world's biggest social network.
"The challenge is this will sully the long-term brand of Facebook, and in five years time people will look back on the IPO and have a negative connotation and none of that is good for the Facebook brand and the Facebook service itself," Mr Moorhead told BBC World.
Other internet companies have had mixed experiences recently when they have started selling shares.
Shares in business networking site LinkedIn more than doubled from their $45 offer price on their debut in May 2011. They peaked at $117 and are now trading around the $100 level.
Discount voucher firm Groupon's shares jumped 30% on their debut in November. But they are now at about $12, well below their $20 flotation price.
Online games maker Zynga's shares fell 5% on their first day of trading in December 2011. They are currently around $7, below their $10 offer price.
Google, however, is the star performer of the technology IPOs. Launched in 2004 at $85 a share, it is now trading above $600. It has yet to regain its pre-financial crisis peak of over $740, hit in 2007.
Sticky start
The start of trading in Facebook shares on Friday, one of the most high profile stock market IPOs in recent years, was delayed by technical problems on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
Nasdaq boss Robert Greifeld said he was "humbly embarrassed" by the glitch.
Trading was delayed by about 30 minutes due to late order cancellations, and the shares closed on Friday at $38.23, having hit $45 earlier in the day.
"This was not our finest hour," said Mr Greifeld. As a result of the glitch, a number of investors were unsure whether their buy and sell orders had actually gone through.
However, Mr Greifeld said that once the glitch had been fixed, trading had been "successful".
More than 566 million shares in the company changed hands, a record volume for US market debuts.
BBC
JPMorgan suspends share buy-back
JPMorgan Chase has suspended its share buy-back programme, following a recent $2bn (£1.2bn) trading blunder.
But the bank's chief executive, Jamie Dimon, said at a conference in New York that it would keep paying a dividend.
JPMorgan was scheduled to buy back $15bn of shares over the next year, but it now needs the cash to meet new rules on the capital banks must hold.
The news came as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission confirmed that it would investigate the trading losses.
The Securities and Exchange Commission and the FBI have already said that they would be probing the losses made at the largest U.S. bank.
Mr Dimon said that the buy-back was suspended because the bank needed the cash to meet stricter international bank capital rules that are due to come into force soon.
Shares in JPMorgan fell 1.3% on Monday.
'Box this thing'
Explaining the suspension of the buy-back, Mr Dimon said: "Obviously, we're not going to make as much money."
"We intend to restart it, but we need to box this thing first," he added.
By that, he means deal with the fallout of the shock loss.
"We made a commitment to ourselves and to regulators," he said. "They were quite clear that companies like us have to pass a stress test, which we did."
The trading loss on derivatives - made by its chief investment office - won't hurt the bank's balance sheet, Mr Dimon said.
Last week, the Wall Street firm said Ina Drew, who oversaw the London-based division responsible for the trading mistake, will leave after more than 30 years.
The losses were made at a small trading unit in London.
Reports suggest that other members of the desk may also resign and the size of the bank's eventual loss could increase.
The trading loss was revealed in a regulatory filing, and will dent the company's profits, although it still expects to make about $4bn this quarter.
News of the losses shocked Wall Street and sparked more debate about the regulation of the financial sector.
Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, told journalists at a financial conference that the investigation is "related to credit derivatives products as traded by the chief investment office of JPMorgan Chase." He declined to give any details.
Google must answer EU antitrust concerns over search
Google has "a matter of weeks" to allay concerns it is abusing its dominant position in the search engine market, the European Commission has said.
An investigation by Europe's antitrust head Joaquin Almunia looked at whether Google gave preferential treatment to its own services in its search results.
Mr Almunia said the company must now "offer remedies" swiftly.
A Google spokesman said the company disagreed with the conclusions, but would work to resolve the matter.
"We're happy to discuss any concerns they might have," Google spokesman Al Verney said.
"Competition on the web has increased dramatically in the last two years since the commission started looking at this and the competitive pressures Google faces are tremendous."
Formal proceedings
The commission had been investigating Google since November 2010 following complaints from several rivals.
In a statement, Mr Almunia said Google had the chance to outline steps to address the claims, rather than face formal action.
"Should this process fail to deliver a satisfactory set of remedies, the ongoing formal proceedings will of course continue," he said.
The investigation outlined four areas where Google's practices "may be considered as abuses of dominance", Mr Almunia said. They are:
- The manner in which Google displays "its own vertical search services differently" from other, competing products.
- How Google "copies content" from other websites - such as restaurant reviews - to include within their own services.
- The "exclusivity" Google has to sell advertising around search terms people use.
- Restrictions surrounding portability of advertising content which prevents "seamless transfer" to other non-Google platforms.
Mr Almunia said he had outlined these concerns in a letter to Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt.
Russian PM outlines major tasks for new government
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has set up major tasks for the newly-unveiled government.
During the first cabinet meeting, Medvedev outlined seven priorities for the new government. Among them are pushing forward basic socio-economic development programs, submitting budget plans of next three years, raising wages of workers from certain social fields, as well as improving investment climate, reforming public service, privatizing state companies and fostering the " open government" mechanism.
He said the development of the country, the well-being of its people and the solutions to the economy "depend on the government’s coordinated and efficient effort." Russia’s cabinet is comprised of one first deputy prime minister, seven deputies and 21 ministers.
China fake parts 'used in US military equipment'
Vast numbers of counterfeit Chinese electronic parts are being used in US military equipment, a key Senate committee has reported.
A year-long probe found 1,800 cases of fake parts in US military aircraft, the Senate Armed Services Committee found.
More than 70% of an estimated one million suspect parts were traced back to China, the report said.
It blamed weaknesses in the US supply chain, and China's failure to curb the counterfeit market.
The failure of a key part could pose safety and national security risks and lead to higher costs for the Pentagon, the committee said.
US servicemen rely on a variety of "small, incredibly sophisticated electronic components" found in night vision systems, radios and GPS devices and the failure of a single part could put a soldier at risk, the report said.
It highlighted suspect counterfeit parts in SH-60B helicopters used by the Navy, in C-130J and C-27J cargo planes and in the Navy's P-8A Poseidon plane.
After China, the UK and Canada were found to be the next-largest source countries for fake parts.
Avoiding scrutiny'
The committee criticised China for failing to shut down counterfeit manufacturers and said that committee staff wanting to travel to China for the investigation had not been granted visas.
"Counterfeit electronic parts are sold openly in public markets in China," the report said.
"Rather than acknowledging the problem and moving aggressively to shut down counterfeiters, the Chinese government has tried to avoid scrutiny," it added.
But the report said that use of Department of Defense programmes such as the Government-Industry Data Exchange Program (GIDEP), designed to log suspected fake parts, were "woefully lacking".
Between 2009 and 2010 the GIDEP only received 217 reports relating to suspected fake counterfeit components, the majority of which were filed by just six companies, it said. Only 13 reports came from government agencies.
The report also said that in some cases the US defence department had reimbursed contractors for the costs they incurred as a result of their failure to spot fake components in their own supply chain - giving companies no incentive to weed out counterfeits themselves.
But it praised the National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law on 31 December 2011 by President Barack Obama, which aims to stop counterfeit parts from entering the country and would cut down on sourcing components from unknown suppliers.
The report's focus on China comes as the US is beginning the task of "pivoting" its defence strategy towards the Asia-Pacific region.
The Pentagon is also preparing to absorb about $450bn (£285bn) of cuts over the next decade.
But it could face cutbacks of a further $500bn if mandatory across-the-board spending cuts come into effect at the end of 2012, after Congress failed to reach a deficit reduction plan last year.
Mali Interim President Attacked, Taken to Hospital
Protesters who broke into Mali's presidential palace attacked the country's interim leader, who was rushed to a hospital in the capital, Bamako.
Hospital workers said Mali's interim president, Dioncounda Traore, was released after emergency treatment.
The president's chief of staff told the VOA correspondent in Bamako that Mr. Traore's life is not in danger. However, the full extent of his injuries is unknown.
Mr. Traore was accosted and beaten Monday, a day after the West African regional bloc ECOWAS and Mali's military junta had agreed he would continue serving as interim president past Tuesday, when his mandate had been scheduled to end.
Protesters came to the presidential palace Monday to demand Mr. Traore's resignation. His chief of staff, Souleymane Niafo, told VOA the intruders overpowered guards and forced their way into the palace, where they attacked Mr. Traore in his office.
Monday's confrontation followed a protest march through the streets of Bamako by thousands of people.
Mali has suffered through weeks of political turmoil since military officers seized power in a coup March 22 and deposed the country's longtime president, Amadou Toumani Toure.
Under pressure from ECOWAS to restore constitutional order, the coup's military leaders installed Mr. Traore as interim president last month. The deal the two sides reached on Sunday called for Mr. Traore to remain in office until the country holds elections and restores full civilian rule.
Under terms of the accord, ECOWAS agreed to recognize the coup's military leader, Captain Amadou Sanogo, as a former head of state. A spokesman for the interim government, Hamadoune Toure, told VOA Monday such benefits and privileges for the junta leader do not mean he would be able to influence the transition process.
“It's not recognizing him to have a say, but they [ECOWAS] said he will have advantages recognized to all former heads of state. They invited him to work as a team with the president and with the prime minister for the supreme interests of Mali.”
The soldiers who seized power in Mali two months ago said they acted because authorities in Bamako were ineffectual in their handling of a Tuareg rebellion in the north. The rebels and Islamist groups fighting with them made territorial gains during the turmoil following the coup, and they now control more than half the country.