James, Heat hold back Raptors, 95-89
LeBron James took a hard foul and clearly was not happy. So the next time he saw the ball, he made sure no Toronto player could reach him.
James' steal and dunk with just more than two minutes left gave Miami some breathing room, and the Heat held on to defeat the Toronto Raptors 95-89 on Sunday. James finished with 30 points and Dwyane Wade added 25 for the Heat (18-6), who won for the 10th time in its last 12 games and moved within one game of Chicago (20-6) for the best record in the Eastern Conference.
"We stuck with our principles," James said. "And that's to defend."
Chris Bosh scored 12 points against his former team, which saw a 15-point edge trimmed to three in the final minutes but never surrendered the lead. Mario Chalmers added 11 for Miami.
DeMar DeRozan scored 25 for the Raptors, who got 17 apiece from Jerryd Bayless and Linas Kleiza.
"I liked our disposition," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "I liked the way we approached it. I liked the way we competed."
Kleiza's 3-pointer with just under five minutes left got Toronto within eight, and another 3 from Bayless as the shot clock expired on the next Raptors' possession cut the Miami lead to 85-80 - the closest the game had been since early in the third quarter.
Bayless scored again to get the Raptors within three and cap a 12-0 Toronto run. And after Bosh missed a fadeaway from the right baseline, Bayless tried a 3-pointer to tie. It bounced off, and with the game in the balance, James went to work.
He was fouled by James Johnson and made two free throws with 2:20 left, not before letting anyone around him know he wasn't pleased with the physicality of the play. The next time James touched the ball, he didn't give the Raptors a chance to foul him - his steal and two-handed slam with 2:07 left gave Miami an 89-82 edge and all but ensured the win.
"Good back-to-back plays for our team and I was happy I was able to make them," James said.
James - who leads the NBA in first-quarter scoring this season (9.1 points a game) - got off to another big start, making his first five shots and scoring 12 points in the opening quarter. He's now shooting just under 60 percent in first quarters this season.
While scoring wasn't an issue, the Heat were far from in the clear.
Casey told the Raptors that establishing pace and limiting turnovers - especially early - would be big keys. Seemed like his team got the message: The Raptors matched a season-high with 27 points in the first quarter, and turned the ball over only five times in the first half. That, combined with DeRozan tying his season best with 16 points in the opening two quarters, kept the Raptors close.
"It just shows that we can compete with anybody," DeRozan said.
Miami's lead was only 53-48 at the break, and that was even after James and Wade combined to score 22 points in the opening quarter on 8 for 9 shooting.
"We knew it was going to be one of those grind-out kind of games," Wade said. "We understand that a lot of teams do that when they play the Heat - come out on fire."
In the third quarter, the Heat finally took control - not surprisingly, when the defense picked up a notch.
Toronto missed all but one of its shots over a seven-minute stretch of the third, a span where Miami started with a 55-54 lead and increased it 73-57. Chalmers hit back-to-back 3-pointers late in the 18-3 run, James made a fadeaway with 3:27 to play in the period to close the flurry.
"Our energy was good," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Even throughout the game, I didn't have a problem with the energy. ... It was more of a real concentration and a discipline toward the end of the (shot) clock. And that's something we'll have to continue to get better at."
And, just as Casey feared, turnovers proved decisive. Toronto committed eight in the third, which Miami turned into nine points. Miami gave the ball away only twice in the third, and the Raptors didn't score on either.
"Next time we've got to come out and make the plays and close," Bayless said.
ESPN committed to Caribbean region
Bernard Stewart, ESPN's vice-president of Caribbean and Maritime Media, underlined the international sport network's commitment to the region and noted that the company is actually looking for even greater integration opportunities through the addition of more region-specific programming.
Stewart, who is one of over 5,000 guests aboard Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas for this year's ESPN Super Bowl at Sea, the third instalment of what is fast becoming a calendar event for cruise and NFL fanatics, told The Jamaica Gleaner that is company is focused on deepening its roots in the market and giving the people more of what they want to see.
"We are absolutely here to stay," said Stewart.
"I like to feel that the longevity of our company is based on the fact that we view what we do as a permanent part of life and we are here to be a major part of the Caribbean for a long time."
"When I first took this assignment, we made a couple of stops in the region in the first month or so and I made the statement that everyone knows ESPN, but they don't know the value of the ESPN brand to them as people of the Caribbean," he added.
"My mission is to make sure that everybody understands that when they see ESPN, they feel a connection beyond just watching something on their television.
We took a look at all of the countries that are celebrating monumental anniversaries within the next five years or so, and it is for us to find those stories and tell them in a compelling way. I am happy that we have a solid strategy and that we have a few projects under our belt now," added Stewart.
Cyclists welcome end of Armstrong investigations
Cycling teams at the Tour of Qatar yesterday welcomed the end of a US federal investigation into Lance Armstrong, saying they were hopeful the seven-time Tour of France champion could finally move on with his life.
Federal prosecutors dropped their investigation of Armstrong on Friday, ending a nearly two-year effort to determine whether the American cyclist and his teammates were involved in doping. Armstrong has long denied doping and said he was "gratified" by the decision.
Laurenzo Lapage, the Greenedge cycling sporting director who worked with Armstrong on the US Postal Service and Discovery Channel teams from 2003 to '07, said the decision reaffirmed what most colleagues of Armstrong had long believed: he didn't dope.
"Everyone who knows Lance and was racing and working with him knew this before," said Lapage, as his team prepared for the first stage of the Tour of Qatar.
"It was not a surprise for anyone. It's a good feeling that the truth is out now," Lapage said. "The guy had a lot of success and a lot of people were jealous ... People tried to break him down with lies and it is really good thing everything (is) over for him now. He did a lot of great things for cycling. It is his moment to live in peace."
Johnny Weltz, the sporting director of the American team Garmin-Barracuda and who rode with Armstrong on the Motorola team in 1995, said Armstrong was an easy target.
Federal inquiry ideal
"The people who (made) these charges, they wanted to be Lance and didn't manage it," Weltz said.
"So OK, you can hit him in another way. These aren't the right people to judge. For us and cycling, it was best that it was a federal investigation. They had no know-ledge up front and no past in the sport. I think most justice happens that way."
Investigators looked at whether a doping programme was established for Armstrong's team while, at least part of the time, they received government sponsorship from the US Postal Service. They also examined whether Armstrong encouraged or facilitated doping on the team.
Armstrong won the Tour de France every year from 1999-2005.
Several riders contend Armstrong doped including disgraced cyclist Floyd Landis, who claims Armstrong had a long-running doping system in place while they were teammates. Landis, who was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title for drug use, acknowledged in 2010 he used performance-enhancing drugs after years of denying he cheated.
Several riders, including world sprint champion Mark Cavendish and former Armstrong teammate Yaroslav Popovych, refused to discuss the Armstrong matter ahead of their race in Doha. Officials from Popovych's Radioshack-Nissan team also refused to discuss it.
USA beat Belarus to reach Fed Cup World Group play-offs
USA reached the play-offs for promotion to the Fed Cup World Group after beating Belarus 5-0 in Massachusetts.
Leading 2-0 overnight after wins for Christina McHale and Serena Williams, they secured victory when Williams beat Anastasia Yakimova 5-7 6-1 6-1.
Belarus, missing Victoria Azarenka due to injury, could now face Great Britain in April's World Group II play-offs.
Elsewhere in the World Group II, Japan beat Slovenia, Slovakia overcame France and Australia defeated Switzerland.
With Azarenka still troubled by a lower back injury it was a formidable task for Yakimova, 65th in the current world rankings, against Williams, the winner of 13 Grand Slams, undefeated in eight Fed Cup matches, and still 12th in the rankings despite recent absences through injury.
But, after conceding an early break, Yakimova recovered to take a gruelling first set in 68 minutes.
After squandering seven break point opportunities in the opener, Williams took both of the chances she had in the second set, racing through it in 29 minutes.
The deciding set followed a similar pattern, Williams underlining her superiority to take it in 32 minutes to complete victory in two hours nine minutes.
"It wasn't my best day today, for sure," Williams admitted afterwards. "It's important for me to just get matches. I just need to get matches."
In the elite World Group, Serbia won the deciding doubles to beat Belgium 3-2.
Their semi-final opponents on 21-22 April will be Russia, who beat Spain 3-2.
Defending champions the Czech Republic beat Germany 4-1 and will play Italy in the other semi-final, after they won the deciding doubles to beat Ukraine 3-2.
Greece crisis bailout talks delayed
Greece is set to continue talks with international authorities over cuts being demanded in exchange for crucial bailout funds.
However, negotiations between coalition parties on the austerity measures, which broke down on Sunday, have been delayed until Tuesday.
Athens needs the 130bn euros (£108bn; $171bn) of funds and help from private lenders to avoid a debt default.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said time was running out for a deal.
Speaking after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Sarkozy urged Greek political leaders to agree to reforms, saying the crisis had to be solved "once and for all".
"Greece's leaders have made commitments and they must respect them scrupulously," he told a press conference.
"Europe is a place where everyone has their rights and duties. Time is running out, it needs to be concluded, it needs to be signed."
Athens faces loan repayments to private lenders of 14.4bn euros on 20 March which it currently cannot afford to pay.
A European Commission spokesman said Greece was already "beyond the deadline" to end the talks.
Talks on Sunday between Greek PM Lucas Papademos and the leaders of his three-party coalition over new austerity measures ended without full agreement.
The measures include:
- Further government spending cuts equal to 1.5% of GDP
- Re-capitalisation of Greek banks - whilst retaining their independence
- Reducing labour costs, including a cut in the minimum wage and holiday bonuses
- Further civil service job cuts
- Cuts to the size of pension programmes
On Sunday, the prime minister's office said that some agreement had been reached in some areas. But there were disagreements over the size of job cuts, cuts to the minimum wage, pension cuts and the ending of a so-called 13th or 14th month's pay as a holiday bonus.
The talks between the parties had been expected to reconvene on Monday, with signs emerging of movement on some of the more contentious issues.
Government sources told the BBC's Athens correspondent, Mark Lowen, that there was the outline of an agreement on cutting the minimum wage, currently about 750 euros a month, by 20%. Holiday bonuses that had been under threat, would be kept, the sources suggested.
Mr Papademos will meet representatives of the European authorities and the International Monetary Fund later.
It is hoped that the text of a final agreement on reforms will be distributed to party leaders on Monday night or Tuesday morning, giving them time to consult with their MPs before meeting the prime minister to sign off on the deal.
Unions and employers' groups have resisted pay cuts, with the two largest unions calling for a day-long strike on Tuesday.
Iannis Panagopoulos, leader of the GSEE private-sector union, was reported as saying proposed 20-30% cuts in private sector wages "chronicle a pending death".
Anti-austerity protests are also expected to take place on Monday evening.
The discussions come as the EU's statistics office reported Greece's debt spiked to 159.1% of gross domestic product in the third quarter of 2011 - up from 138.8% a year earlier and 154.7% in the second quarter.
Unless Greece promises to implement reforms, the eurozone ministers say Greece will not be able to go ahead with a plan to restructure its privately-held debt.
Eurozone finance ministers had hoped to meet on Monday to finalise the bailout - Greece's second - but that meeting has been delayed.
Greece has prepared a debt plan with private creditors to more than halve the value of Greek debt and in return receive new, 30-year bonds with an average interest rate of less than 4%.
The restructuring is designed to help cut Greek debt to 120% of GDP by 2020, a level viewed as sustainable by some economists.
China 'bans' airlines from joining EU carbon scheme
China has "banned" all airlines in the country from joining the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) aimed at cutting carbon emissions.
The authorities have also barred the airlines from increasing their fares or adding new charges for the scheme.
The ban comes just weeks after the China Air Transport Association said its members did not support the ETS.
The scheme, implemented from 1 January, levies a charge on flights in EU airspace based on carbon emissions.
'Severe challenges'
The scheme has come in for severe criticism not just from China but also from other countries such as the US and Canada.
China has claimed that the plan could cost Chinese airlines 95m euros ($124m, £79m) in extra annual costs.
Analysts said that given the global economic conditions and an uncertain outlook for the travel industry, airlines were wary of the scheme hurting their profits.
"The sector is already facing quite severe challenges," Chris De Lavigne of Frost & Sullivan told the BBC.
"The airline industry as a whole has already been hit by high fuel costs in the past couple of years and no one wants additional cost factors coming in."
According to EU estimates, the scheme will see the cost of air fares rise by between 2 and 12 euros per passenger.
'Very tricky'
The move by the Chinese authorities is likely to complicate the issue as the EU will have to decide on what measures it will take from here on.
"It is going to be very tricky. You have to wait and see how the EU will react," Siva Govindasamy of Flightglobal told the BBC.
"They would be able to stop the Chinese airlines from flying to the EU, but that could see retaliatory action by China which will not be good for either side," he added.
Analysts said that given the differences between the various parties involved, the matter may have to be resolved by an international body.
"It could potentially end up on the desk of the World Trade Organization as the countries who are against it have said it is an unfair trade practice," said Frost & Sullivan's Mr Lavigne.
"Both sides have claimed that this is either fair or unfair, so it is very difficult to see how this is going to shape up."
Mitsubishi to close European plant
Japanese car maker Mitsubishi Motors is to end production at its only plant in Western Europe.
Production has fallen at Mitsubishi's car plant at Born in the Netherlands to just 50,000 cars, as Mitsubishi's European sales have dropped sharply.
It has not yet announced plans for the site, which employs 1,500 workers making the Colt and Outlander models.
Mitsubishi cars in Europe will be imported from Japan and Thailand where the company is building a new plant.
'Fluctuating environment'
Production will stop at the factory at the end of this year.
The company had already announced plants to stop building the Colt at the plant, but had hoped to allocate a new model to the facility.
However, it said difficult economic conditions made that impossible.
"Due to the wildly fluctuating operating environment which automobile manufacturers currently face, MMC (Mitsubishi Motors) could not come up with a reasonable solution to utilise NedCar [Netherlands Car]," the company said in a statement.
The plant started in 1991 as a joint venture along with Volvo and the Dutch government, before being bought out by Mitsubishi in 2001.
Last week, the company reported a profit for the three months to the end of December after a cost cutting drive.
The firm announced third quarter net income of 13.6bn yen ($177m, £112m).
HTC profits rise but sales set to fall
Taiwan smartphone maker HTC has posted a jump in profits, but says recent sales have been hit as it faces tougher competition from rivals such as Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy range.
It reported post-tax profits of 61.98bn Taiwan dollars ($2.1bn; £1.33bn) for 2011, up 57% on the previous year.
Annual sales rose 67% to NT$465.8bn, despite a 20% sales fall in December.
However, it expects sales in the first three months of this year to drop by more than a third.
The firm has struggled to keep pace with rival smartphones, and it plans to launch four new models at the Barcelona Mobile World Congress later this month.
It expects sales to fall in the first quarter to fall by as much as 36% to between NT$65bn and NT$70bn, down from NT$101.42bn in the previous three months.
HTC added 1,000 new engineers to its ranks in the last year in a bid to keep its smartphone range competitive.
Peter Chou, chief executive of HTC, said: "While short-term performance may not meet the results as expected, we have gained further experience and advancement in the areas of brand management and product innovation.
"These fundamental strengths and the groundwork we have laid will take us into 2012 with a renewed focus and determination."
Euro crisis could almost halve China's growth, IMF says
A eurozone recession could almost halve Chinese growth this year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The IMF forecasts China's economy will grow by 8.2% this year - but warns that a recession in the eurozone could cut this to 4.2%.
It said Beijing should get ready to inject billions of dollars into the economy to fend off any downturn.
China's economy grew by 9.2% in 2011, but growth was slowed by Beijing to avoid over-expansion.
The IMF's report comes as Greece enters another day of crisis talks aimed at finalising a 130bn-euro (£108bn; $171bn) European Union bailout.
Athens needs the money by mid-March to avoid default on its debts.
Room for manoeuvre
In its report, the IMF said: "China's growth rate would drop abruptly if the euro area experiences a sharp recession.
"However, a track record of fiscal discipline has given China ample room to respond to such an external shock."
The government should cushion the impact of a deeper slowdown with measures including tax cuts that amount to about 3% of gross domestic product, the IMF said.
It also noted that inflation had reached more comfortable levels by the end of 2011 and may continue to slow steadily in the first few months of this year.
The outlook expands on the IMF's warning last month that the world could plunge into another recession if Europe's financial crisis deepens.
IMF chief Christine Lagarde said last month that the world faced "an economic spiral reminiscent of the 1930s" unless the eurozone crisis was resolved.
Chinese leader Wen Jiabao reiterated last week that his government would "fine-tune" policies to support growth amid the eurozone's debt crisis.
China Stresses Need for Stability in Tibet
China has warned officials in Tibet that they must maintain stability ahead of the fourth anniversary of deadly riots in Tibet's capital, Lhasa.
China has increased security in Tibet and adjoining provinces following a series of self-immolations and sporadic protests against Chinese rule.
On Monday, the India-based administration of Tibetan exiles cited “unconfirmed reports” that three Tibetans set themselves on fire Friday in Serthar, a Tibetan area of China's Sichuan province. If confirmed, it would bring to at least 19 the number of monks, nuns and lay Tibetans believed to have burned themselves over the past year.
Chinese media has denied the reports.
The unrest is the worst since 2008, when 22 people died in rioting in Lhasa and Tibetan areas in adjoining provinces.
In a statement from its seat in the northern Indian town of Dharamshala, the exiled Tibetan government said the spate of self-immolations “indicate to us that the Chinese policies in Tibet have reached new levels of repression.''
China, in turn, blames exiled Tibetans for stoking the protests, especially Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising.