PGA Tour could fine Tiger Woods for club kicking at the Masters
Tiger Woods is subject to discipline by the PGA Tour for kicking his golf club after a poor shot at the Masters.
Whether he is fined is not likely to be known. The PGA Tour doesn't comment on discipline.
Woods, after a bad miss with a 4-iron into the par-5 15th hole on Friday, hit a poor tee shot with a 9-iron on the par-3 16th. He let the club fall from his hands, then turned in anger and kicked it some 15 yards.
The tantrum received plenty of attention at Augusta National, and it prompted CBS Sports analyst Nick Faldo to say that Woods had "lost his game ... and lost his mind."
According to tour policy, players can be disciplined for conduct unbecoming a professional even at tournaments that are co-sponsored or approved by the PGA Tour, such as the major championships.
A person close to club operations said no one from the tournament had talked to Woods about his behavior in the second round. He spoke on condition of anonymity because club matters are private.
After finishing his round Saturday with an even-par 72, Woods said he was sorry when asked about the incident.
"I apologize if I offend anybody by that but I've hit some bad shots. It's certainly frustrating at times not to hit the ball where you need to hit it," he said. "I certainly heard that people didn't like me kicking the club. But I didn't like it, either. I hit it right in the bunker. Didn't feel good on my toe, either."
The PGA Tour has been criticized over the years for not saying when or if they discipline players.
John Daly told The Associated Press in December 2008 that he had been suspended for sixth months. Even then, the tour would not confirm it. Last year, the tour would not discuss whether Rory Sabbatini was suspended for his treatment of a teenage volunteer at Riviera and for getting into an argument on the golf course with Sean O'Hair.
A person close to Sabbatini later told the AP he had been suspended.
The tour has three categories of penalties - minor (fines not more than $10,000); intermediate (fines between $10,001 and $20,000); major (in excess of $20,000).
Barcelona's Lionel Messi goes past 60-goal mark for the season
Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has become the first European top-flight player in almost 40 years to score 60 goals in a season.
The Argentine scored two goals in the 4-1 La Liga win over Real Zaragoza on Saturday, as they cut the gap on table topping Real Madrid to three points.
The 24-year-old is now seven goals behind Gerd Muller's all-time record for goals in a season.
The German legend netted 67 times for Bayern Munich in the 1972-73 campaign.
Barcelona were given an early scare at La Romareda, when the Aragonese side took the lead on the half-hour mark through Carlos Aranda's goal.
However, after Carles Puyol levelled matters in the 36th minute, Messi made it 2-1 to Barcelona three minutes later with a finish from 15 yards from an Alexis Sanchez pass.
His second came from the penalty spot with four minutes of the game remaining, and Pedro completed the scoring for Barcelona with a fourth goal in the final minute.
Messi has scored 38 goals in La Liga this season, and a further 14 in the Champions League, including five in the last 16 second leg win over Bayer Leverkusen in March.
Messi has also netted twice in the Copa del Rey, three times in the Supercopa, one in the Uefa Super Cup and two in the Club World Cup.
Peter Hanson leads from Phil Mickelson at Augusta
Sweden's Peter Hanson made a late surge to take a one-shot lead over Phil Mickelson into the final round of the Masters on Sunday.
The 34-year-old soared to nine under with a stunning 65, the best round of the week, as he seeks his maiden major title in only his second appearance at Augusta.
Mickelson, 41, fired a back nine of 30 for a 66 to join Hanson in the final group as he pursues a fourth Green Jacket in nine years.
South Africa's 2010 Open champion Louis Oosthuizen (69) is one adrift with Americans Bubba Watson (70) and Matt Kuchar (70) six and five under respectively.
England's Lee Westwood (72) is in a group on four under alongside America's Hunter Mahan (68), Ireland's Padraig Harrington (68) and Sweden's Henrik Stenson (70).
Tiger Woods will begin the final round 12 shots back after treading water at three over with a level-par 72.
Rory McIlroy slumped to a 77 to end one over and world number one Luke Donald took 75 to end seven over.
Halfway leaders Fred Couples and Jason Dufner fell away on Saturday with rounds of 75 to end two under in a goup which includes England's Ian Poulter, who carded 70. Scot Paul Lawrie has sole possession of 10th place on three under after a 72.
Eight players held at least a share of the lead at some stage on an absorbing day in the Augusta sun.
Despite favourable scoring conditions, no-one was able to escape from the pack until Mickelson sank a 25ft eagle putt on the 13th to join Kuchar and Oosthuizen in the lead at six under.
That seemed to inspire Hanson, who was playing up the 14th, and the 2010 European Ryder Cup player made four birdies in his last four holes.
Mickelson, who made his first birdie at the 10th and added another at the short 12th, was energised, too.
He fired further birdies at the par-five 15th, courtesy of an outrageous, high-risk high pitch from off the green to a few feet, and a birdie for a third day in a row at 18 after hooking his second shot around trees onto the green.
Mickelson credited Thursday's fightback from four over after 10 holes to end with a two-over 74 as the foundation for his bid to equal Woods and Arnold Palmer's record at Augusta.
"When I look back at this tournament I'll look at Thursday," said the Californian, who has won all of his previous four major titles from the last pair.
"At some point I'm going to get hot here but I've got to be in a position to move up the leaderboard, not just get into the weekend. The way I fought back Thursday made that possible."
"It's going to be tough. It's a new situation to me," said the Swede, who lost 4&2 to Mickelson in the 2010 Ryder Cup singles at Celtic Manor.
"I'll try to do the normal stuff. I've got my two kids here and my wife, so just try to stay in the house and cook in, and like I said, I probably won't be watching a lot of Golf Channel or stuff. Just trying to stay away from all that and try to get as much sleep as I can and try to be ready."
Oosthuizen, who has struggled with injury since his Open triumph at St Andrews, joined Mickelson on eight under on the 17th but a wayward approach into the crowd handed it back on 18.
Four-time champion Woods, who apologised for Friday's club-throwing and kicking histrionics after struggling with his swing, looked briefly back on track and set to make a charge similar to his final-day assault last year.
He fired birdies at the par-four third and the short fourth but soon dropped a shot at the par-three sixth courtesy of a three putt and again at the par-five eighth and was unable to take advantage of any of the holes coming in.
"It's so frustrating because I am so close to putting it together," said the former world number one. "I unfortunately did not play the par fives very well. I just didn't take care of the opportunities when I had them.
"I would just hit a couple of good shots in a row and compound the problem with a bad shot in the wrong spot."
McIlroy began the day one back and looking to atone for a final-round 80 last year, but he went out in 42.
The 22-year-old and playing partner Sergio Garcia, who shot 75 to end one under, acknowledged their shared struggles with a hug on the 12th green after both making their first birdies of the round.
"It was a congratulatory hug," said McIlroy. "We couldn't feed off each other's good energy because there wasn't any," added Garcia. "Our bad holes were really bad and our good holes were bad."
Westwood, who was second to Mickelson in 2010, birdied the second to edge to five under for a share of the lead but dropped back to two under after 13 before clawing his wasy back into a tie for sixth with birdies at 14 and 15.
Hanson and Mickelson will go out in the final group at 1440 (1940 BST) on Sunday as the 76th Masters nears its conclusion.
Davis Cup: Great Britain doubles close gap on Belgium
Great Britain trail Belgium 2-1 after the second day of their Europe/Africa Zone Group 1 Davis Cup match.
British doubles pairing of Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins overcame Ruben Bemelmans and David Goffin in four sets 4-6 7-5 6-3 6-4 in Glasgow.
The last time Great Britain came from 2-0 down to win a Davis Cup match was against Germany in 1930.
Josh Goodall faces Olivier Rochus and Dan Evans meets Steve Darcis in Sunday's singles rubbers.
Fleming and Hutchins had been given the task of keeping alive Great Britain's hopes of a Davis Cup victory following Goodall and Evans's singles defeats on Friday.
But it was Belgium who made the break in only the third game, thanks in part to the huge left-handed serves of Bemelmans.
With expectations suggesting a comfortable win, the British duo looked nervous and the Belgians held serve to take the first set.
Despite Hutchins's first double fault of the match in the opening game of the second set, GB went on to secure the first game.
Fleming halted Bemelmans's bombardment of 100mph serves in the sixth, and despite the Belgians breaking back in the ninth, Britain break again to take the set.
The third went with serve until the sixth game when a fantastic cross-court backhand from Hutchins left Goffin at a standstill for GB to make a key break, before serving out the set.
Great Britain broke in the ninth game of the fourth set, with Hutchins volleying a winner at the net on break point after Fleming had brilliantly returned Goffin's deep serve.
Hutchins then held serve, finishing with an 112mph ace down the centre, to keep the tie alive.
Goodall, ranked 253, faces Rochus, who has been in the top 100 for most of the last 12 years, in Sunday's first game, then Evans meets Darcis, who is ranked 276 places above him.
However, Hutchins thinks that both British players are capable of causing a shock, after creditable performances in their first singles rubbers on Friday.
"I thought yesterday's tennis was of an unbelievable standard, both from our boys and theirs," he said.
"If they bring that same level tomorrow, which I have no doubt that they can, we can win this tie 3-2.
"The boys are going to go for it."
US adds 120,000 jobs in March, lower than predicted
The US economy added 120,000 jobs during March, lower than estimates suggested, while the unemployment rate fell slightly to 8.2%.
Analysts had predicted a fourth straight month with job growth of more than 200,000.
President Barack Obama's electoral prospects are widely seen as linked to the economy and the jobs market.
Employment has been rising for the past six months, but the jobless rate has been stuck above 8% since early 2009.
The Department of Labor's data shows the smallest growth in employment since October 2011.
'Weak and troubling'
Manufacturing, the food and beverage industry and healthcare showed gains in March, but retail was down.
Analysts say the slow-down in March hiring comes as the US emerges from an unseasonably mild winter that spurred job numbers.
Many experts had expected that the unemployment rate would hold at 8.3%.
But joblessness dropped by one-tenth of a percent as the number of people actively looking for work went down.
The participation rate, which measures the proportion of the working-age population making up the labour force, ticked down slightly to 63.8% in March from 63.9% the month before.
In response to the figures, the White House said that there was "more work to be done". But it said the report provided "further evidence that the economy is continuing to recover".
Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney called the report "weak and very troubling", adding that it was increasingly clear that "the Obama economy is not working".
The US saw two consecutive months of robust jobs growth in January and February, with increases of well over 200,000 jobs in both months.
The BBC's Caroline Hepker says that while US companies have hired 850,000 new workers since December - the best run in two years - the sustainability of the recovery still remains a concern.
But Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, has recently warned that the pace of growth seen in recent months would need sustained consumer spending in order to continue.
Mr Bernanke has not ruled out the possibility of using monetary policy to support the economy if unemployment remains high.
The employment figures come as several stock markets around the world are closed for Good Friday.
But US stock futures declined after publication of the report.
BBC
CFTC sues RBC over alleged Caribbean operations
The United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a legal suit against Canada’s biggest bank by assets, accusing it of carrying out hundreds of millions of dollars of “wash trades” in the Caribbean, among other offices, in a bid to claim dividend tax credits from Canada’s Revenue Agency (CRA).
The CFTC claims that the “wash trading scheme” took place over several years, from at least 2007 to 2010, during which Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) affiliates in the Cayman Islands, Toronto, Luxembourg and London traded futures contracts between themselves, “so that prices were essentially set by the bank rather than the market”.
The CFTC charged that RBC “wilfully concealed, and made false statements” about its trades. In addition, it charged that the trades were “designed and controlled by a small group of senior RBC personnel acting on RBC’s behalf”. The CFTC identified an RBC executive in the lawsuit as “CFG Member 1”, describing him as head of global arbitrage and trading for RBC’s Caribbean branches and co-head of the Central Funding Group, which offers “secured balance sheet funding solutions” to clients.
In denying the allegations as “absurd,” RBC said the US regulators were kept abreast of what RBC’s actions, adding that it had approved the strategy. “This lawsuit is meritless, and we will rigorously defend ourselves against such baseless allegations,” said RBC in a statement.
The CRA declined to comment on the matter, saying that confidentiality laws prevent it from talking about individual cases. Canada’s banking regulator, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, said it is “following the situation”. Observers say the CFTC rarely goes after big banks, typically preferring smaller game, such as brokerages and hedge funds.
“This is a bit unusual,” said Dan Waldman, a lawyer at the Washington-based law firm, Arnold & Porter. “Usually someone does a (questionable) trade, and it’s uncovered by the regulator and that’s that,” he added. “But, obviously, this (alleged scheme) has been going for some time. People inquired about it, assumptions were made about what kinds of trades were made,” Waldman continued. “It was a whole dialogue with regulators, [and it] took place over a period of time.”
Alan Mak, a principal at the Toronto-based forensic accounting firm, Rosen & Associates, said he doesn’t think RBC will take this laying down. “As a player with global ambitions, it has little choice but to fight the allegations to protect its reputation,” he told reporters, adding “I think when challenging integrity of the bank, the bank will have to clear its name”.
CMC
Google and Viacom: YouTube copyright lawsuit back on
A lawsuit by media giant Viacom against Google over copyrighted videos on YouTube can be heard in court again.
Viacom has accused Google of "massive intentional copyright infringement".
In 2010, a lower court dismissed Viacom's $1bn (£630m) case against Google, which owns YouTube.
But a court of appeals said the dismissal was based on a mistake, as a jury could have reasonably found that YouTube knew of specific copyright infringements.
Google took over YouTube for $1.76bn in 2006.
Viacom owns popular cable channels such as MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon.
Viacom had claimed that "tens of thousands of videos" based on its copyrighted works had been posted on YouTube, and that both YouTube and its owner Google had known about it but had done nothing about it.
Google and YouTube had argued that they were entitled to "safe harbour" protection under digital copyright law because they had insufficient notice of particular alleged offences.
The court in Manhattan in 2010 agreed with this.
But the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals has now reinstated the case.
Samsung expects profits to double from smartphone boost
Samsung Electronics has said it expects its profit for the first three months of the year to almost double as its smartphone sales continue to grow.
The company said it expects an operating profit 5.8tn won ($5.1bn; £3.2bn) for the period.
The success of Samsung's Galaxy range has seen it become the world's biggest-selling smartphone maker.
Analysts said the firm had benefited from keeping its margins healthy, despite growing competition.
"There was a big surprise in profit, while revenue was in line, which suggests a stronger-than-expected profit margin from the handset division thanks to robust sales of high-end models like the Galaxy S and Note," said Choi D-Yeon of LIG Investment & Securities.
"Handset margins are estimated to have topped 20% and profits from the division also topped 4tn won."
The company will release its full earnings report on 27 April.
Further growth?
While Samsung's phone unit has prospered, other divisions, including memory chip manufacturing, have been going through a tough time.
Prices for memory chips have been falling globally, not least due to oversupply.
Analysts said that natural disasters last year in Japan and Thailand had resulted in a fall in production of various electronics products, which use these chips, resulting in high inventory levels putting pressure on prices.
At the same time, slowing demand from key markets such as the US and Europe hurt chipmakers.
However, analysts said that as the global economy recovers and supply chains in the region get back on track, chip prices were likely to recover, boosting Samsung's profits further.
"With memory chip prices rising, chips will play a big part in second quarter profits," said Kim Sung-in, a chip analyst with Kiwoom Securities.
"Expectations for operating profit will reach somewhere between 6.5tn to 7.5tn won."
Challenges
While the company is expected to grow further, analysts warned that Samsung will have to overcome potential hurdles on the way.
To begin with, it will have to fend off competition from its biggest rival Apple, they said.
"Samsung and Apple are expected to launch the new Galaxy S and iPhone in the second quarter, and they will engage in full-fledged war," said Lee Ka-keun of Hana Daetoo Securities.
The fear is that increased competition may force Samsung to lower its prices in a bid to attract customers, a move which, if implemented, would impact on its profit.
At the same time, Samsung is also involved in a legal battle with Apple over patents involving technology it uses in its smartphones and tablet PCs.
The outcome of those cases will have an impact on its growth going forward.
US freezes pay for bailout CEOs
Pay for the chief executives of AIG, Ally Financial and General Motors will remain frozen this year, the US Treasury said, after the bailed-out companies failed to sufficiently repay US taxpayers. The companies are the last of seven that received exceptional assistance at the height of the financial crisis.
While the other four—Bank of America, Citigroup, Chrysler Financial and Chrysler—have repaid their money AIG, Ally and GM have struggled to earn their way out of the government’s safety net.
As a result, remuneration for the top 25 executives at the three companies is subject to scrutiny by the US Treasury. GM, for example, had some of its requested pay increases rejected. The Treasury said that for certain executives the proposed increases “was not justified”.
The 2012 salary bill for the 69 top executives who remain at the three companies fell ten per cent from last year’s levels. The reduction is largely due to staff leaving and being replaced by people earning less rather than pay cuts. Twenty-one of the 69 are newcomers to the companies whose pay is 30 per cent lower than the 2011 remuneration of those who left.
At AIG, for instance, ten of the 25 highest-paid employees in 2011 have left the company. The companies each have said that the pay restrictions limited their ability to recruit and retain talent. The government pumped $68bn into AIG from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or Tarp, and invested $50bn in GM and $17bn in Ally Financial to save them from collapse during the 2007-2009 crisis.
AIG owes the US Treasury $35.9bn, not including $3.9bn in losses the Treasury has already recorded. Ally owes $13.8bn. GM owes $23.4bn, excluding $3.9bn in realised Treasury losses, according to a Treasury statement dated Friday. Public anger over high pay and huge bonuses at bailed-out firms was so high that the Obama administration created a “special master’s office” to monitor pay practices.
The Treasury said on Friday that all three were making progress at repaying the taxpayer funds given to them to keep them from collapsing during the 2007-2009 financial crisis but their pay practices remain under scrutiny of a “special master” until they pay it back.
“Although there has been some modification in the mix of stock, salary and long-term restricted stock for the CEO group, the overall amount of CEO compensation is frozen at 2011 levels,” Treasury said. The Treasury report on Friday does not name any of the executives but it is evident the three CEOs still get pay that puts them among the elite of American income earners.
The top executive at AIG will receive total direct compensation, which includes cash, stock and future stock options worth $10.5 million, while Ally Financial’s leader will get $9.5 million and GM’s chief executive $9 million, according to documents distributed by the Treasury.
The chief executive officer of AIG is Robert Benmosche, GM’s CEO is Daniel Akerson and Ally Financial’s is Michael Carpenter, although their names do not appear in any of the documents that Treasury released. A spokesperson for Ally Financial said its executive pay “continues to be in line with the stated guidelines for Tarp companies” and said its management team was focused on repaying the remaining Tarp funds to Treasury.
Obama to Host Brazil’s Rousseff Monday
President Barack Obama is scheduled to meet with Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff at the White House on Monday, several days before both leaders go to Colombia for the Summit of the Americas. The White House meeting will be between the leaders of the world’s largest economy and one of the fastest growing economies.
Brazil has the world’s sixth-largest economy, a large and growing middle class and an expanding leadership role in world affairs.
Analysts say a likely goal for President Rousseff, on her first official visit to Washington, is to make the most of her country’s international standing.
Another likely priority is to further strengthen Brazil’s relationship with the United States, which Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas, says is already strong, healthy and diverse.
“I think what you are going to see on April 9 with President Obama and President Rousseff is going to be two leaders of the two largest democratic countries in the Western Hemisphere embracing, perhaps literally, but certainly figuratively, and looking for ways to continue to build out a common agenda," he said.
That agenda is expected to include economic issues, such as trade. A free trade agreement between the two countries has stalled, with some analysts in Washington accusing Brazil of protectionism.
President Obama’s visit to Brazil last year produced new economic and commercial agreements, which might lead to more cooperation on international issues.
Brazil is seeking U.S. support in its bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council. Washington has backed India’s quest for a seat, but has not done so with Brazil.
Meanwhile, Mr. Obama might ask Ms. Rousseff to support tougher sanctions against Iran and Syria.
Nonetheless, Eric Farnsworth says the two countries are in agreement on most issues.
“The areas of disagreement, for example, Iran’s nuclear program or some trade disputes or what have you, are always going to capture people’s attention and news reports, et cetera. But the reality is [that] the fabric of cooperation the United States has with Brazil is very deep. It is very strong. And I do not anticipate that this meeting is going to do anything except strengthen that," he said.
Energy is one of the main areas of expected cooperation between the two countries. Brazil has some of the world’s largest oil reserves, and it has made wide use of biofuels and other alternative forms of energy, an area of interest to President Obama.
Other possible agenda items include education, Brazil’s work with other Andean nations to fight the illegal drug trade and cooperation on rebuilding Haiti.
Brazil is also in the process of deciding whether to buy $30 billion worth of jet fighters from France or the United States.