Spurs rout Suns to dampen Phoenix's playoff chase
The San Antonio Spurs insist that being the No. 1 seed in the West isn't important to them. They still might wind up with it.
Simply making the playoffs is important to Phoenix. And this blowout won't help.
Tim Duncan had 19 points and 10 rebounds and Tony Parker scored 14 before calling it an early night, and the Spurs made the Suns' playoff pursuit that much harder with six games to go, coasting past Phoenix 105-91 on Saturday night.
The Spurs officially clinched the Southwest Division, but more importantly, stayed neck-and-neck with Oklahoma City for the No. 1 playoff seed in the Western Conference. San Antonio remains a game behind the Thunder with eight games remaining.
"It doesn't matter what we do. We're going to end up where we end up. There's no reason to sit there and study it," Duncan said. "We're going to play these games as best as we can. Win or lose, we're going to end up where. We're in a great position right now. Hopefully we can end on top. If we don't, hopefully we're number two and we're happy with that."
Sebastian Telfair scored 21 points for Phoenix, which simply wants to make the postseason. Yet the Suns never looked ready to play from the start and slipped 1 1-2 games behind Denver and Houston for the West's eighth and final playoff spot.
Phoenix trailed by 17 before the first quarter was even halfway finished, and Steve Nash and Grant Hill sat out the entire second half. Nash said he irritated his right hip socket in a loss to Memphis on Wednesday, and despite fighting through it in Friday's win at Houston, he only lasted the first 6 minutes.
Yet even that early, it was clear it wasn't going to be the Suns' night.
"It was a situation where, one, I wasn't going to be effective and two, I didn't want to miss the last six games," Nash said. "Lucky to get out, I think, when I did."
Nash said he hopes to be OK for Monday's game against Portland.
The Spurs also didn't needlessly wear out their stars in this blowout. Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili all sat out the fourth quarter and most of the second half, giving coach Gregg Popovich some bonus rest for his Big Three after he began the week by not even letting them on the plane to Utah.
Duncan got the rout going by hitting his first five shots, and quickly racked up 11 points and five rebounds by the time the stunned Suns found themselves down 21-4 just 6 minutes into the game.
That's when Nash called it a night. The 38 year old played 34 minutes the night before in Houston, where the Suns squeaked out a big road win against one of the teams in front of them for the No. 8 seed.
Hill was coming off a long night, too. Houston was the 39-year-old veteran's first game since undergoing surgery March 30 to repair a medial meniscus tear in his right knee, and Suns coach Alvin Gentry admitted the 25 minutes Hill played was probably more than ideal. Hill wound up playing eight minutes against the Spurs, scoring four points.
"We've been on the road a lot. We get a chance to be at home and try to finish," Hill said. "It's a tough loss, it's embarrassing, but we're still in the hunt. "
Rookie Kawhi Leonard added 14 points for the Spurs and DeJuan Blair had 10.
Phoenix's starters combined for just 20 points. Michael Redd scored 13 and Markieff Morris had 10 in a game that was hardly as close as the final score indicated. Phoenix trailed by as much as 28.
Phoenix has six games left and the good news is that five of them are at home - where the Suns are 10-2 since the All-Star break - including hosting the Nuggets on Saturday.
But the Suns must also face the Thunder and finish the season against the Spurs. Popovich, however, will give serious thought to playing his stars in the final game even if the No. 1 seed is still on the line, especially after Ginobili got hurt in that very same situation last season.
Newcomer Stephen Jackson, who the Spurs acquired at the trade deadline, isn't predicting how Popovich will manage minutes in the final two weeks.
"You never know what Obi-Wan is going to do," Jackson said.
Magic C Dwight Howard May Be Out For Season
Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard has been sidelined with a herniated disk in his back, and reports now state that he will be out at least 10-14 days, according to ESPN.com. Some reports suggest he could miss the remainder of the regular season.
The ESPN report states that surgery remains a possibility, and there is no guarantee that he will return at full strength. The Magic are currently 6th in the Eastern Conference, with the playoffs beginning April 28.
The Magic are currently 1-4 without Howard, who averages 20.6 points and 14.5 rebounds per game.
“Are you kidding me?” Glen Davis told the Orlando Sentinel. “It’s going to be tough without him next couple weeks. A herniated disk? That’s crazy. Dwight isn’t playing, everybody has to step up. Everybody.”
Tevez's hat-trick helped Manchester City beat Norwich
Carlos Tevez's hat-trick helped Manchester City beat Norwich to reduce Manchester United's lead to two points at the Premier League summit.
Tevez's swerving effort beat John Ruddy before he set up Sergio Aguero.
Norwich replied when Andrew Surman blasted in after Joe Hart's punch.
But Tevez boosted the lead with a header and Aguero's solo effort added the gloss before Tevez rounded Ruddy to complete his hat-trick and Adam Johnson slotted in from close range.
The Argentine celebrated his third strike with a golf swing, perhaps mocking those who questioned his desire during his unauthorised leave of absence in his home country where he was pictured on the golf course.
But after a fractious period in his Manchester City career, his performance and the result showed that his team's title challenge was back on track.
For all boss Roberto Mancini's claims that his team have no chance of overtaking rivals United, who host Aston Villa on Sunday, the Italian's players showed they have not given up.
Aguero, who was also a menace and scored two fine goals, came inches away from matching his countryman's tally when he hit the post late on.
It was a deadly exhibition of finishing from the front two, and City look to have recovered their former fluency, but the scoreline was harsh on Norwich, who pressured the visitors early on, and tested them again after reducing the deficit to 2-1.
Four goals in the last 17 minutes swept their challenge aside to give Manchester City their first away league win since 12 February but before the visitors could take control, they had to withstand an early barrage from the in-form Canaries.
Paul Lambert's side almost led when Joleon Lescott cleared Grant Holt's header off the line following a corner, the visiting defenders protesting as Anthony Pilkington appeared to block Hart.
The Manchester City players had already made their feelings known to referee Chris Foy when Tevez was booked for diving, after he appeared to be caught by Ryan Bennett.
But soon after, Tevez's recent rehabilitation continued when he was fed down the right by a re-energised David Silva and struck a swerving shot that beat Ruddy at his near post.
The second goal was a gem as Aguero supplied Tevez in the inside left channel and then picked up his fellow countryman's backheel to fire past Ruddy.
That strike knocked the wind out of Norwich, with Grant Holt's effort on the half-turn the only significant return before the break.
In 2005, Norwich director Delia Smith issued her infamous "Let's be 'aving you" rallying cry during the interval in a Premiership game between these two teams. But the Canaries - who had won seven of their previous eight home league games - are a different proposition under Lambert, and the Scot settled for a double substitution to rouse his side.
The move quickly brought reward when one of the replacements, Surman, steered the ball in after Hart had punched Adam Drury's cross clear.
And the other replacement, Wes Hoolahan, helped improve Norwich's midfield as they supported the advanced Aaron Wilbraham.
But as Norwich pressed, the visitors almost caught them on the break twice and Yaya Toure's arrival from the bench proved pivotal as three goals then flew in during the space of seven minutes.
It fell to another substitute Johnson to complete the rout after a sweeping move, and with City to face bottom-of-the-table Wolves before they travel to Old Trafford on 30 April, their confidence could by then be sky high.
Norwich boss Paul Lambert: "I think for 70-odd minutes we were well in the game. At 2-1 we looked really good and in the second half we played really well but if you're losing four goals in that space of time it was poor from our point of view. The effort was there in abundance, as it always is, but maybe the scoreline was severe.
"You can't legislate for losing three goals in seven minutes, and we'll learn from it. You take your medicine and you bounce back. Their strike force is incredible, the first two goals were world class. [Our] team have done brilliant, I can't be too harsh on them."
Obama: 'Drug legalisation not the answer to drug war'
US President Barack Obama has said that legalising drugs is not the answer to the problems caused by the trafficking of illegal narcotics in the Americas.
Mr Obama told a gathering of leading executives in Colombia ahead of the Summit of the Americas that legalisation could worsen the problem.
But he said that he was open to a debate about the issue.
The US president was responding to demands by regional leaders for a new drug war strategy.
On Friday, Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina told BBC Mundo that the current strategies against drug trafficking were making the war on drugs unwinnable.
"We call for a responsible, serious dialogue in which we scientifically analyse what is happening with the war on drugs", he said.
Divisive issue
President Obama said the answer to the increasing power of drug cartels in the hemisphere was to encourage societies with strong economics, rule of law, and a sound law enforcement infrastructure.
"I personally and my administration's position is that legalisation is not the answer, that in fact if you think about how it would end up operating, the capacity of a large-scale drug trade to dominate certain countries, if they were allowed to operate legally without any constraint could be just as corrupting, if not more corrupting than the status quo," he said.
He was speaking hours before the leaders of more than 30 countries in the Western Hemisphere met at the Convention Centre in Cartagena, Colombia, for the Americas Summit.
The summit's official theme is "connecting the Americas" but the host, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, and other regional leaders have expressed their desire to discuss a new strategy in the war on drugs.
President Obama's arrival in Cartagena on Friday was overshadowed by news that around a dozen US Secret Service agents had been recalled from the city amid allegations of misconduct, with reports suggesting accusations of prostitution had been levelled against at least one of the agents.
On Saturday, the US military confirmed five of its members staying at the same hotel in Colombia may have been involved in misconduct as well.
Cardi to revive Haiti’s agricultural sector
The Caribbean Agriculture and Research Development Institute (Cardi), through donor funding from Caricom, Australia, the Common Fund for Commodities and the European Union, has pledged to resuscitate Haiti’s struggling agriculture sector. The resuscitation comes in the form of three projects, which Cardi will use to rebuild the sector which was ravaged by the January 12, 2010, catastrophic 7.0 earthquake.
Cardi’s aim is to not only revive agriculture but to assist in the development of a sustainable sector to get the impoverished nation back on its feet. The three projects are being executed in collaboration with the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture, with support and active participation from Haiti’s Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development, said Cardi’s executive director Dr Arlington Chesney.
Chesney explained that in 2010 a mandate was given by the 33rd Special Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development in Suriname for Cardi to embark on a US$ 1.6 million initiative with donor funding from Caricom, Australia, the Common Fund for Commodities and European Union.
Project One involves the support for re-vegetation, a key component of the resuscitation of agriculture in Haiti. Last July, Cardi sent its first shipment of 16,000 kilogrammes of red kidney beans, corn and black peas to Haiti. The first beneficiaries were farmers in the Leogane area near the epicentre of the 2010 earthquake. The second shipment of 25,000 kilogrammes of yellow corn arrived in February.
The second project, Chesney said, will increase Caribbean production of roots and tuber crops through the introduction of improved marketing and production technologies. Particular focus will be on training interventions in sweet potato and yam production. The third project is geared toward increased production of vegetables and herbs through use of protected agriculture. To assist Haitian farmers, Chesney said a protected agriculture training plan had been developed, with the hosting of a workshop last August 2011 and establishment of a cluster embryo. This was followed by a conference on protected agriculture last December.
“This project will seek to demonstrate the economic advantages commensurate with use of protected agriculture systems in vegetable and herb production,” Chesney explained. Ultimately, one of the objectives, he said is to create transparent business linkages with benefits for smallholders, producer groups and co-operatives involved in protected agriculture. It is expected that activities in projects two and three will be accelerated this year. Chesney said this support shows the region’s helping hand to Haiti.
Peru troops free Shining Path hostages
The Peruvian government says a group of gas workers kidnapped by Shining Path rebels on Monday has been freed.
Officials said hundreds of troops surrounded the rebels, forcing them into a hasty retreat, during which they left their captives behind.
The government said all 36 hostages were safe.
There had been conflicting reports about the number of workers abducted, with some reports putting the number as high as 43, and others as low as 7.
"As a result of the energetic pressure and the tactical and intelligence operations carried out by the Armed Forces and the National Police, the criminal narco-terrorists were surrounded and forced to flee, freeing their hostages in the process," a statement by the Ministry of Defence said.
The government said it had not paid any ransom for the hostages' release.
No negotiation
The rebels had reportedly demanded a one-off payment of $10m plus an annual "war contribution" of $1.2m, as well as explosives.
But Justice Minister Juan Jimenez told a local TV station on Thursday that the government did "not negotiate with terrorists, the government acts within the law".
The authorities sent 1,500 troops to the area.
A policewoman was killed on Thursday during the search for the rebels, when the helicopter she co-piloted came under fire by alleged rebels.
Two other crew members were injured.
The workers were abducted on Monday morning in the Apurimac and Ene valleys, the last remaining stronghold of the Shining Path rebels.
'Totally defeated'
The Maoist group posed a major challenge to the Peruvian state in the 1980s and early 1990s, but is now reduced to small gangs involved in cocaine trafficking.
Last week, Peruvian President Ollanta Humala said the Shining Path had been "totally defeated" in the Alto Huallaga Valley, once one of its key regions.
The hostages were building a new plant for gas from the huge Camisea field.
Peruvian President Ollanta Humala, who is attending the Summit of the Americas in Colombia, said he would fly to the area to meet the released hostages as soon as he returned to Peru.
Venezuela's Chavez set for more Cuba cancer treatment
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has given a speech from the presidential palace in Caracas, the first since his latest round of treatment in Cuba for a malignant tumour.
Mr Chavez, who was more than two hours late, told thousands of supporters that he was "doing well".
But he also said he would return to Cuba on Saturday for more radiotherapy.
Mr Chavez said he did not know if he would be able to attend the Summit of the Americas in Colombia this weekend.
The president had returned to Caracas late on Wednesday after the third round of radiotherapy for a malignant tumour in his pelvic region.
At the time, the presidential office had announced Mr Chavez would have two more rounds of radiotherapy in Cuba, but he had been expected to do so after a brief visit to the Summit of the Americas in the Colombian port city of Cartagena.
Fighting talk
Colombian police said he had been scheduled to land in Cartagena on Friday at 14:25 local time (19:25 GMT), in order to attend the official summit dinner and a brief meeting on Saturday.
Instead, Mr Chavez gave a speech from the presidential palace in Caracas marking the 10th anniversary of his return to power after a failed coup.
Shouting "Viva Venezuela!", Mr Chavez stepped onto the balcony of the Miraflores Palace more than two hours after the scheduled time for the speech.
He told thousands of cheering supporters that while the radiotherapy had "had an impact" on his health, he was "doing well".
He then put his trip to the Americas Summit to a popular vote, asking his supporters for a show of hands as to how many of them thought he should be attending the meeting.
After an overwhelming vote for Mr Chavez to stay in Caracas, he broke into song and performed an impromptu dance with his daughter.
He later announced he would be returning to Cuba on Saturday and that he "didn't know whether he would go the Americas Summit".
Mr Chavez, who has been in power since 1999, has said that despite his health problems he is determined to win October's presidential election.
Colombia's Jose Antonio Ocampo exits World Bank race
Colombia's Jose Antonio Ocampo has pulled out of the race to be the next president of the World Bank.
"It is clear that this is not based on the merits of the candidates but is a political exercise," he said.
His comments referred to the likelihood that an American would be chosen given the US has the most votes at the Bank.
His withdrawal leaves just two candidates - Nigeria's Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Korean-American Jim Yong Kim, who is the favourite for the job.
Mr Ocampo, who is a professor at Columbia University, also said he was at a disadvantage given the lack of support from his own government.
He said he would now support Mrs Okonjo-Iweala "to facilitate the desired unity of the emerging and developing economies around one candidate".
Mrs Okonjo-Iweala thanked Mr Ocampo for his "unselfish decision" to withdraw.
The World Bank is expected to name its new president on Monday. The successful candidate will replace Robert Zoellick who has been in the role since 2007.
The US has always held the top job at the World Bank while a European has always led its sister organisation, the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Goldman Sachs fined $22m over flaws at weekly 'huddles'
Goldman Sachs has been fined $22m (£13.8m) by US regulators to settle charges that some "top clients" may have been tipped off about stocks.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that the bank lacked policies to prevent leaks from their weekly "huddles" on equity research.
That sort of information includes an analyst's recommendation on whether to buy or sell stocks.
As part of the deal, Goldman neither admitted nor denied the charges.
The SEC has been criticised over its continued use of settlements where banks do not admit liability in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
"Despite being on notice from the SEC about the importance of such controls, Goldman failed to implement policies and procedures that adequately controlled the risk that research analysts could preview upcoming ratings changes with select traders and clients," said Robert Khuzami, the SEC's head of enforcement.
The SEC also said these risks were increased by the fact that many of the clients and traders engaged in high-volume trading - where trading algorithms are used to place bets on stocks.
Goldman has been the subject of vocal criticism recently.
Greg Smith, who headed Goldman's equity derivatives business in Europe, quit the bank in a scathing editorial for the New York Times, saying its environment was "toxic and destructive".
Goldman has been criticised over its role in the global financial crisis, including the US housing market slump and the Greek government's debt problems.
But Goldman's boss, Lloyd Blankfein, rejected these claims and said the attacks did not reflect the banking giant's values.
People such as New York mayor Mike Bloomberg and current employees have expressed support for the bank.
'Vampire squid'
Rolling Stone magazine notoriously likened the bank to "a vampire squid wrapped round the face of humanity".
Mr Blankfein once told the Sunday Times that banks were "doing God's work", a phrase which made headlines around the world - but was meant as a joke.
The SEC opened a fraud investigation in 2010 over the marketing of mortgage investments as the US housing market faltered.
These featured e-mails from trader Fabrice Tourre saying that "the entire system is about to crumble any moment" in 2007.
Goldman agreed to pay $550m to settle civil fraud charges of misleading investors in 2010 - the biggest fine for a bank in the SEC's history.
Goldman was also fined £17.5m by the UK's financial regulator, the Financial Services Authority, for failing to tell it that the bank was being investigated by the SEC.
Standard & Poor's reaffirms UK's AAA credit rating
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's has reaffirmed its AAA credit rating for the UK, saying it believes the economy is "wealthy, open and diversified".
S&P also confirmed a stable outlook, as it expects the government to implement the bulk of its austerity measures.
The other two major ratings agencies, Fitch and Moody's, have placed the UK's top rating on "negative outlook", warning that it could be downgraded.
They have cited concerns about growth prospects and public-debt levels.
A credit rating in theory determines a country's borrowing costs.
'Weathering the storm'
S&P said in a statement: "In our view, the UK has a wealthy, open, and diversified economy, supported by a well-established political system and macroeconomic policy framework, which can react quickly to economic challenges.
"We expect economic policy to focus on closing the fiscal gap, and we forecast the government's net debt burden to peak in 2013 [at about 87% of GDP]."
Chancellor George Osborne said: "This is a reminder that Britain is weathering the international debt storms because of the policies we have adopted and stuck to in tough times."