CLICO policyholders go back to court
On Wednesday, Colonial Life Insurance Co Ltd (CLICO) policyholders will again be going before the court challenging the State's refusal to pay them the full amount due on their Executive Flexible Premium Annuities (EFPA).
The policyholders, represented by attorney Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, yesterday held a meeting at Centre Pointe Mall in Chaguanas.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting Maharaj said he was optimistic that ruling will be made in the policyholders' favour.
They are seeking an interim court order that Government give details of the assets of CLICO which has been sold and how the proceeds of the sales were applied. Maharaj said the lawsuit also seeks to compel Government to give details of the EFPA policyholders who have been paid in full since January 2009.
Maharaj said he hoped the matter should be resolved by March.
"The EFPA policyholders are very upbeat. They want to get their full compensation but they have indicated if the government decides to enter into discussions to resolve the matter, they are prepared to give and take so the government can get some concessions from the EFPA policyholders.''
The matter will be heard in the Hall of Justice, Port of Spain.
US expels Venezuelan diplomat
Venezuela's consul general in Miami has been declared to be persona non grata and must leave the United States, a State Department spokesman said on Sunday.
No reasons were given for the decision to expel Livia Acosta Noguera, who has headed Venezuela's consulate in Miami since March 2011.
The Venezuelan Embassy in Washington was informed of the decision Friday and Acosta must depart the United States by Tuesday.
There was no immediate response from the Venezuelan government.
Last month, a group of US lawmakers called for an investigation following a television documentary alleging that Acosta was among a group of Venezuelan and Iranian diplomats that expressed interest in an offer from a group of Mexican hackers to infiltrate the websites of the White House, the FBI, the Pentagon and US nuclear plants.
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez called the report "lies."
A State Department spokesman said last month that the US did not know about the alleged plot, but that it found the allegations "very disturbing."
In a letter last month to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, David Rivera, Mario Diaz-Balart and Albio Sires asked the State Department to require Acosta's "immediate departure" from the United States if the report proved true.
Venezuela's Chavez to welcome Iranian president
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was due to arrive in Venezuela on Sunday at the start of a Caribbean tour to shore up support from the region's leftist leaders, as new Western sanctions aim to isolate Iran and target its oil exports.
As he prepared to welcome Ahmadinejad on Sunday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez dismissed a US warning to avoid close ties with Iran.
Washington has said that Ahmadinejad's planned tour of Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Ecuador showed Iran was "desperate" for friends.
"We are making absolutely clear to countries around the world that now is not the time to be deepening ties, not security ties, not economic ties, with Iran," a US State Department spokesperson said on Friday.
"A spokesman or spokeswoman in Washington from the State Department or the White House said it was not convenient for any country to get close to Iran. Well, the truth is, it made you laugh," Chavez responded on national television.
"We are free. The people of Latin America will never again kneel, dominated by the Imperial Yankee. Never again," he said.
The increasingly warm relations between Iran and Venezuela are a growing source of concern for the United States.
Ahmadinejad will also visit Nicaragua to attend the swearing-in ceremony for Daniel Ortega, following which he will visit Cuba and Ecuador.
Fidel Castro warns again about nuclear war and climate change
Former Cuban president Fidel Castro warned last week that nuclear war and climate change are critical dangers for humanity, which keeps standing far away from getting any closer to a solution.
In an article published on Cubadebate website, titled “The Walk to the Abyss,” Fidel said that never before in history has humanity faced the dangers it is facing at present.
In previous occasions, Fidel Castro has extensively written about these issues, two of his articles written in August and September 2010 respectively deal with the catastrophe of a nuclear war: Nuclear Winter and Nuclear Winter and Peace.
The military technologies that may affect the whole planet, such as the atomic bomb, are increasingly spoken of today, he said and noted that thousands of such weapons are now ready to be used in an incomparably stronger manner than those launched over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
The weapons of this kind, which are kept in depots, as they add to those already deployed, amount to over 20,000 nuclear warheads, said Fidel Castro, who noted that just a hundred of those weapons could be enough to trigger a nuclear winter that would kill the population of the planet in a brief time, as US scientist Alan Robock has explained.
Those who usually read the news and reliable international analyses know that the risk of a nuclear war outbreak increases as tensions grow in the Near East, said Fidel and pointed out that the Israeli government has stockpiled hundreds of nuclear weapons, which are ready to be used, while tension also grows about Russia, a country with unquestionable response capacity, which is now being threatened with a alleged European nuclear shield.
The Cuban leader said that the United States not only promotes wars, but also is the bigger producer and exporter of weapons in the world. This powerful country – Fidel pointed out -- has signed accords to supply 60 billion dollars to Saudi Arabia over the next years, where US transnational companies and their allies extract 10 million barrels of light oil every single day.
In his article, Fidel Castro maintained his view that humanity has no guarantee at all, since outer space is full of US satellites designed to spy on everything that takes place in the world, even over the roofs of the buildings in any nation of the planet.
However, the war is a tragedy that may take place while it is quite probable to occur; but if humanity were able to delay it for indefinite time, another similarly dramatic event is already taking place at a speedy way: climate change, he noted.
He recalled that the US administration opposed the Kyoto Protocol on the environment, a behaviour that not even coincided with that of its closest allies, whose territories would be tremendously affected, some of which, like Holland, would almost disappear completely.
Fidel Castro insisted that the planet is now fully lacking policies about this serious problem, while the sea level continues to increase and the huge ice layers covering the Antarctic and Greenland, which accumulate over 90 percent of the world´s fresh water, are melting at growing pace.
Tebow rules in OT, too: Broncos 29, Steelers 23
"Pull the trigger," John Elway told his Denver Broncos star, Tim Tebow , trying to shake the quarterback from a three-game funk.
Tebow went one better - he pulled off an upset.
A rejuvenated Tebow connected with Demaryius Thomas on an electrifying 80-yard touchdown pass on the first play of overtime and the Broncos defeated the stunned Pittsburgh Steelers 29-23 in the AFC wild-card game on Sunday.
Wild doesn't begin to describe it. The play took 11 seconds and was the quickest ending to an overtime in NFL history.
Thomas hauled in a high play-action pass at the Denver 38, stiff-armed Ike Taylor and then outraced backup safety Ryan Mundy to the end zone.
"I was just saying, `Man trust your speed. Trust your speed. Don't cut back. Don't cut back.' And he kept it straight. He outran the guy," said Willis McGahee , whose fourth-quarter fumble helped Pittsburgh tie it.
"I was like `Oh my God, is he still running?' Please just go. Please. Please."
Tebow, who looked as startled as everyone else, chased down Thomas and knelt on one knee - Tebowing as it's known - in the end zone. Then he pounded a fist in triumph and took a victory lap.
"When I saw him scoring, first of all, I just thought, `Thank you, Lord,"' Tebow said. "Then, I was running pretty fast, chasing him - like I can catch up to D.T! Then I just jumped into the stands, first time I've done that. That was fun. Then, got on a knee and thanked the Lord again and tried to celebrate with my teammates and the fans."
Behind Tebow's 316 yards passing, the Broncos (9-8) are heading to New England for a second-round game against the top-seeded Patriots on Saturday night.
And, unlike Elway, who lost his first postseason start - to the Steelers at home in 1984 - Tebow is 1-0 in the playoffs.
"We're just a fighting team. A lot of resilience," cornerback Champ Bailey said. "In any adverse situation, we'll find a way to get out of it. Everybody says we backed into the playoffs, we're in. We did something right along the way. We're in it. We won a game. Now, we've got to go try to win another one."
The Steelers (12-5) lost despite Ben Roethlisberger rallying injury-depleted Pittsburgh from a two-touchdown halftime deficit with 10 points in the final 10 minutes.
Pittsburgh called tails for the overtime coin toss, and it came up heads.
Tebow, who engineered five fourth-quarter comebacks and three OT wins in the regular season, wasted no time finding Thomas to end the game.
"They were the No. 1 defense and we are the No. 1 offense running the ball," Thomas said. "So, I feel like they wanted to make a statement and stop the run. I don't know if they forgot about the passing game. The last couple of games that we had, we were not passing the ball that great."
Thus, Elway's admonition.
"He showed he's a quarterback in the NFL, case closed," McGahee said. "They say he couldn't throw. They said we wouldn't be able to run the ball on them. We did that. I wonder what they're going to say next week."
Mundy was playing in place of Ryan Clark , the Steelers' leading tackler who sat this one out because of a blood condition that's exacerbated at altitude.
Clark was one of several Steelers sidelined or injured. Pro Bowl center Maurkice Pouncey was out, replaced by Doug Legursky , who had a bad snap right before halftime that moved Pittsburgh out of field goal range.
Thomas raced down the Broncos sideline, sending the crowd, including Elway, the Broncos executive vice president, into a frenzy at Sports Authority Field, which was rocking like the old Mile High Stadium back in the 1990s.
And Elway, the architect of so many those magical moments at the old place, celebrated on the field like he used to when he was the one engineering the triumphs.
The Patriots walloped the Broncos 41-23 last month, sending Tebow into a funk that included seven turnovers and a 40 percent completion clip - and prompting Elway to implore him to "pull the trigger" in the playoffs.
Did he ever.
Tebow completed 10 of 21 passes but Thomas hauled in four of them for 204 yards after his top target, Eric Decker , was lost to a left knee injury on the first play of the second quarter when he was hit by linebacker James Harrison .
Tebow threw two TD passes and also ran 10 times for 50 yards and a touchdown.
"I think we executed a little bit better. We tried to step up," Tebow said. "We knew it was win or go home. This team wanted to fight. We wanted to play another game."
These two teams had played the first ever regular season overtime game on Sept. 22, 1974, in Denver. Now, they played the first non-sudden death playoff game in history. The new rules called for both teams to get the ball in the extra period providing there wasn't a touchdown by either the offense or defense.
Tebow took care of that in a hurry.
Making his first appearance in the playoffs after going 7-4 as Denver's starter, Tebow outplayed Roethlisberger, a two-time Super Bowl winner playing on a bad ankle, who fell to 10-4 in the playoffs.
Roethlisberger was 22 for 40 for 289 yards with one TD, one interception and five sacks.
The Broncos snapped a three-game losing streak that had many wondering if they were even worthy of their first playoff in six seasons, and it kept the Steelers from their 34th playoff win, which would have broken a tie with the Cowboys for the most ever.
Tebow led Denver to 20 second-quarter points - they had scored just 13 in the quarter in his 11 starts - but a 20-6 halftime lead didn't last long.
Receiver Mike Wallace had a 1-yard TD run, Shaun Suisham kicked a short field goal and Jerricho Cotchery grabbed a 31-yard TD pass with 3:48 left in regulation to tie it.
The Steelers were nearing field goal range in the final minute of regulation but the Broncos sacked Roethlisberger three times on that final drive, forcing a fumble that Roethlisberger recovered.
"We were moving it and we had a shot," Roethlisberger said. "Someone got, it felt like a finger, on the ball and knocked it out. After that, you're trying to throw a 70-yard Hail Mary and that's hard."
Pittsburgh caught a break in the second half when the Broncos thought they had another takeaway inside the Steelers' 20, but an errant whistle negated the turnover and the Steelers capitalized with an 87-yard TD drive to pull to 20-13.
Denver's decision to defer upon winning the first-half coin toss started to look by a bad decision when Roethlisberger drove the Steelers to two quick field goals and the Broncos managed just 8 yards in the first quarter.
The Broncos' bugaboo has been the second quarter, too, where they scored just 13 points in Tebow's 11 starts, and things started off ominously when his top target got hurt on the first snap of the second quarter.
Harrison's low tackle on Decker also broke up his 21-yard catch, which would have marked Tebow's first completion.
As Decker - whose girlfriend, country singer Jessie James, performed at halftime - hobbled to the locker room, Tebow hit Thomas for a 51-yard gain down the left sideline, then found Eddie Royal for a 30-yard touchdown toss that gave the Broncos a 7-6 lead.
That was Denver's first touchdown drive in 22 possessions.
Thomas' 58-yard reception set up Tebow's 8-yard scoring run that made it 14-6.
The Broncos dialed up the pressure on Roethlisberger and rookie safety Quinton Carter 's interception at the Pittsburgh 18 set up Matt Prater 's first of three field goals, putting them up 17-6.
Roethlisberger was picked off on his next throw by Andre' Goodman, but that interception was negated by Elvis Dumervil 's offside penalty. After a punt, however, Tebow connected with tight end Daniel Fells for 40 yards to the Steelers 25, setting up Prater's second short field goal that gave Denver a 20-6 halftime lead.
Liverpool draw Manchester United in FA Cup fourth round
Liverpool will host Manchester United at Anfield in the pick of the ties of the FA Cup fourth round.
The rivals, whose relationship has strained over Luis Suarez's ban for racially abusing Patrice Evra, meet over the weekend of 28 January.
QPR host Chelsea if they can overcome MK Dons in a replay, while Sunderland entertain neighbours Middlesbrough.
The fifth round will definitely include a League One team after Stevenage drew Notts County.
Wrexham, who drew 1-1 at Championship side Brighton on Saturday, will earn a home tie with Newcastle if they can win their replay.
Macclesfield could face more Premier League opposition in Swansea if they can win their replay at Bolton, after drawing 2-2 with Owen Coyle's side at Moss Rose.
Paolo di Canio's Swindon's reward for knocking Wigan out is a trip to either Nottingham Forest or Leicester, while Crawley head to Championship side Hull.
There could be as many as six all-Premier League ties, with Everton hosting Fulham, Norwich travelling to West Brom and Aston Villa awaiting Arsenal if the Gunners can get past Leeds on Monday night.
Suarez will be suspended for the match at Anfield but will be available after his eight-match ban when Liverpool head to Old Trafford in the Premier League on 11 February.
Liverpool announced last week that they would not be appealing against the ban, and United boss Sir Alex Ferguson rejected suggestions that the two clubs should hold conciliatory talks over the situation.
United, who progressed with a 3-2 win over neighbours City on Sunday, knocked Liverpool out in the third round of last year's competition, winning 1-0 at Old Trafford in the first game of Kenny Dalglish's second spell in charge.
But Liverpool were victorious in the club's last FA Cup meeting at Anfield, with Peter Crouch's effort sealing a 1-0 win over United in the fourth round in 2006.
United striker Wayne Rooney, who scored twice in the victory over City and started his career at Everton, is relishing the short trip to Anfield.
He said on Twitter: "What a draw for (the) next round. Another big game. Can't wait for it already."
Liverpool midfielder Charlie Adam tweeted: "Great draw, Man United at home. That's the FA Cup."
Manchester United's former Liverpool striker Michael Owen said: "And people talk about United always getting lucky cup draws! It couldn't get much tougher. What a game to look forward to."
Sunderland manager Martin O'Neill is already looking forward to his first north-east derby at the Stadium of Light.
He told ITV: "It's a tough one but we're at home. I wonder what Lee Cattermole [who started his career at Middlesbrough] thinks."
FA Cup fourth round draw in full:
Brighton or Wrexham v Newcastle
Sunderland v Middlesbrough
Dagenham & Redbridge or Millwall v Southampton
Hull City v Crawley
MK Dons or QPR v Chelsea
West Brom v Norwich
Blackpool v Sheffield Wednesday
Arsenal or Leeds v Aston Villa
Stevenage v Notts County
Watford v Tottenham
Liverpool v Manchester United
Derby v Stoke
Everton v Fulham
Macclesfield Town or Bolton v Swansea
Sheffield United v Birmingham or Wolves
Nottingham Forest or Leicester v Swindon
Ties to take place on the weekend of 28/29 January.
Thunder beat Spurs 108-96 to win 3rd in 3 nights
The Oklahoma City Thunder became the first team to win three games in three nights during the NBA's condensed schedule this season, and they managed to make it look easy.
Kevin Durant had 21 points and 10 rebounds, reserve James Harden scored 20 and the Thunder rested their starters throughout the fourth quarter in a 108-96 victory against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.
"I just think the big thing was not to dwell on it and not make too much out of it. It's not sometimes as bad as people think," said Nick Collison, who had his first double-double by recording season bests of 12 points and 10 rebounds.
"I'm glad it happened earlier in the year. I think that was a positive but I think we all felt fine."
The Thunder were also able to rest their starters throughout the fourth quarter on the front end of the back-to-back-to-back after leading Houston by 21 through three.
This time, they outscored San Antonio 37-21 in the third to build a 22-point cushion.
"I knew our guys were going to compete and they were going to give everything they had for the three games. You were hoping that you could win them all," Oklahoma City coach Scott Brooks said.
"Fortunately for us, we did."
The Spurs, already without Manu Ginobili because of a broken left hand, played without point guard Tony Parker after he came out of the game and walked to locker room midway through the third quarter. He returned to the bench a few minutes later, and a team spokesman said Parker was fine and could have played.
DeJuan Blair also pulled himself from the game after he cramped up just after halftime. He didn't come back either.
Gary Neal, who scored a team-high 18 points, would not let their absences be an excuse.
"I just think a couple turnovers here, and their athletes were able to get out and run the lane, and the score ballooned on us," Neal said.
Parker left near the beginning of a 25-8 run that put the game away for Oklahoma City.
Russell Westbrook hit a driving layup and then set up Serge Ibaka for a three-point play to start it, and rookie Reggie Jackson's 3-pointer with 7 seconds left in the third quarter stretched the lead to 91-67.
Oklahoma City outscored San Antonio 13-0 in fast-break points in the quarter. The Spurs had a 15-8 advantage the rest of the game.
"One of our keys to the game was transition defense. In that third quarter, they got started with the transition with Russell and before you knew it, it was an eight-point game and then it was a 14-point game and a 20-point game," Neal said. "It kind of got away from us."
Durant needed only three more assists to record his first career triple-double but instead kept busy in the fourth quarter by getting up to give pointers to his teammates. After Durant spent an entire free throw sequence chatting with reserve Lazar Hayward, who was in the game, he shared a laugh with Brooks on the way back to the bench.
"I gave him my coaching notes just to make sure if he wanted to finish out the game," Brooks said. "Kevin loves the game. There's so many things that we all see in Kevin every day and sometimes we take for granted, but I like the fact that players love other players to do well."
Spurs star Tim Duncan didn't play in the last period either as the deficit remained in double digits.
Westbrook finished with 13 points and five assists in under 25 minutes and Jackson - taking over Eric Maynor's role as the backup point guard - had 11 points and four assists. Maynor sustained a season-ending knee injury in the Thunder's 98-95 win at Houston on Saturday night that allowed them to become the first to win the first two games of a back-to-back-to-back.
"It just shows you the depth that we have on this team. We have 10 guys in the rotation, so any given night any guy can step up and make plays," Harden said.
"These three games, we really needed it and we got the job done."
Atlanta, Denver, Houston, Sacramento and the Los Angeles Lakers had all failed to win three straight games on consecutive nights this season.
Oklahoma City finished it off and even had time to rest the starters, running away after Richard Jefferson's 3-pointer to start the second half got San Antonio within 54-51.
Westbrook answered with a 3 and his fast-break layup restored the lead to double digits at 65-54 after an 11-3 burst. Parker came out a few minutes later and the Spurs never mounted a comeback.
Rookie Kawhi Leonard had 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Jefferson also scored 13 for San Antonio. The Spurs never led after the first quarter and gave up a run of nine straight points to the Thunder reserves to start the second period.
SI
Andy Murray wins in Brisbane ahead of Australian Open
Andy Murray enjoyed the perfect preparation for the Australian Open with a comfortable victory over Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov in the Brisbane International final.
In his final event before the year's first Grand Slam, Murray dominated from the off to beat the third seed 6-1 6-3.
He won nine straight games from 1-1 in the first set and, although Dolgopolov rallied, easily wrapped up the title.
"I'd like to say sorry to Alex; he had a problem with his leg," Murray said.
"It's my first week with this new team and it was good. Mr Lendl - he's up there somewhere, hiding," he added of new coach Ivan Lendl.
"I really enjoyed it. Hopefully it'll bring more success in the future."
The one slight concern for the world number four and his new coach will be a drop in concentration in the second set which allowed Dolgopolov to fight back from 4-0 to 4-3.
But the positives will far outweigh any negatives as they begin final preparations for the Australian Open, which begins in Melbourne on 16 January.
Murray, twice a finalist in the season's first major, including last year's straight sets defeat by Novak Djokovic, set the tone against Dolgopolov with a comfortable first service game that finished with an ace.
Although Dolgopolov levelled to get his first ATP Tour hardcourt final off to a positive start, that was at good as it got for the Ukrainian as Murray then reeled off nine consecutive games with a mixture of solid serving and attacking returns to move to within two games of the title.
Dolgopolov, who lost to Murray in the Australian Open quarter-finals in 2011, finally held serve for the first time in five attempts to avoid a second-set whitewash and then shocked Murray by claiming one of the breaks back with a fierce forehand on game point.
However, a solid hold by Murray in his next service game quickly quelled any thoughts of an unlikely turnaround and the 24-year-old then broke serve once more to win a 22nd career title.
Dolgopolov, hampered by a groin injury sustained in his semi-final win over second seed Gilles Simon, said: "I'd like to say sorry for some boring tennis from me today, but that's the best I could do."
Murray, the only British male guaranteed a place in the Australian Open main draw, will learn his first-round opponent when the draw is made on Friday 13 January.
And he said that Lendl's experience in winning a Grand Slam final at the fifth attempt could help him break his own run of losing in his first three appearances in major finals.
"He knows the feeling of playing a Grand Slam final, the nerves, he understands all that stuff," Murray told BBC Radio 5 live's Sportsweek.
"We've spoken about working hard and focussing on the process and not worrying about past results or things that have happened in the past.
"He's going to help with all sorts of things and hopefully come the Australian Open I'll be playing great tennis but we will have only been working together for 10 days. I'll have to spend a lot more time with him before we can make any changes to my game."
World number six Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overcame fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils 7-5 6-3 in the Qatar Open final to claim his eighth ATP Tour title.
World number 15 Monfils beat top seed Rafael Nadal in his semi-final while Tsonga received a bye when Roger Federer withdrew because of a back injury.
That advantage ultimately told in the final, although Tsonga started sluggishly before rallying from 5-3 down in the first set as he claimed nine of the next 11 games against a fading opponent.
Tsonga said: "I have reached the [Australian Open] final already in 2008 so maybe I can win there. I will leave this tournament with a lot of confidence."
And in Chennai, top seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia was beaten 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 by big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic - and tipped the world number 31 to break into the top 10 very soon.
Pakistan v England: Batsmen struggle in Dubai warm-up
England's batsmen were made to struggle on the second day of their three-day warm-up game against an ICC Combined Associate and Affiliate XI in Dubai.
Only Alastair Cook (76) passed 20 against the ICC XI's pace attack, led by Afghanistan's Hamid Hassan (2-26) and Ireland's Boyd Rankin (2-49).
With England reeling on 185-8 - 96 behind on first innings - captain Andrew Strauss declared.
The ICC XI lost early wickets but finished the day on 90-5, 186 ahead.
Stuart Broad again impressed with the new ball, taking 2-15 from nine economical overs to add to his four-wicket haul from the first innings, while James Anderson also picked up two wickets.
But England will be more concerned about the way their batsmen, Cook excepted, were unable to match even the run-scoring exploits of the ICC XI's tail-enders from day one.
After Hassan removed Strauss and Jonathan Trott, Rankin - now part of the England Lions set-up - had Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell caught behind by Mohammad Shahzad, who took four catches.
However, Hassan was taken to hospital after he chased a ball to the boundary, trying in vain to cut off the four which brought up Cook's fifty - and was injured falling over a picket fence.
Although cleared of serious injury, Hassan will take no further part in the match, and will be replaced by the ICC XI's 12th man, Ireland spinner George Dockrell, after England agreed he could bat and bowl in the second innings.
England's lack of patience continued to cost them dearly as off-spinner Mohammad Nabi, the third Afghan player on show, accounted for Eoin Morgan and Broad.
Cook edged Christi Viljoen to the keeper, Scotland spinner Majid Haq trapped Steven Davies lbw with his first ball, and when Broad fell to Nabi, England had lost six for 52.
Strauss's decision to declare early paid off as Ireland openers William Porterfield and Paul Stirling departed without scoring.
However, Scotland's Kyle Coetzer (31) dug in well and Shahzad hit six fours in an entertaining unbeaten 34 to complement his first-innings 51.
New loans beat forecast, as authorities ease credit
China's lending and money supply grew at a faster pace than expected as the country relaxed its credit restrictions.
New loans worth 640.5bn yuan ($101bn; £65.6bn) were issued in December, up from 562.2bn yuan in November.
Last month, the central bank cut the amount of money banks have to hold in reserve for the first time since 2008.
Chinese authorities are seen to be spurring domestic growth amid fears of a slowdown in the US and Europe.
China had previously been struggling to tame high inflation and therefore the central bank had been tightening monetary policy.
However, analysts said the lending figures out on Sunday show a shift in policy towards easing to encourage lending.
"The policy easing signal is becoming clearer," said Wang Hu, from Guotai Junan Securities in Shanghai. "We think the central bank will continue to loosen credit in the coming months."
Beating estimates
Both lending and money supply growth beat analysts' expectations.
China's total cash in circulation and all deposits rose by 13.6% in December compared to the same month last year.
This is a higher rate of increase than November's money supply figure, which was up 12.7% on the year before.
Analysts had been expecting money supply to grow to 12.9%. New loans were expected to hit 580bn yuan in December.
'Fine tuning'
The central bank said in a statement on Sunday that it will leave the option to 'fine tune' measures open while maintaining a prudent monetary policy.
This echoed comments from Premier Wen Jiabao after a two-day financial policy meeting that authorities would leave room to adjust policy as needed.
Analysts said this suggests that China may be open to further easing of its credit restrictions, including another cut to bank reserve ratios in coming weeks.