Guyana board to take action against Sarwan
The Guyana Cricket Board has said it will take disciplinary action against Ramnaresh Sarwan, the Guyana and West Indies batsman, after Sarwan publicly criticised the board for not picking him in Guyana’s squad for the Caribbean T20. A GCB release said Sarwan had telephoned Guyana’s chairman of selectors Reyon Griffith on December 4, the day the squad was announced, and “engaged in behaviour now attracting the attention of the Guyana Police Force.” The board had said the selectors had not picked Sarwan because they were not sure he would be fit to play, but Sarwan had said “that is total c**p” and that he had informed the president of the board and Griffith that he had recovered from the injury that kept him out of West Indies’ tours of Bangladesh and India. The board, however, have said it had asked Sarwan to submit a medical report proving his fitness and only received a document on December 5, a day after the 14-man squad for the Caribbean T20 had been selected.
The board also questioned whether the document Sarwan had submitted could be considered a medical report since it was submitted by a personal trainer and not a doctor. “This ‘document’ originated from Mr Forrest Nelson, a personal trainer who has a degree as a physical therapy assistant (PTA),” a GCB release said. “The presentation of this document as a medical report by an assistant physical therapist is viewed as unethical and possibly illegal.” Sarwan had said he had informed the board of his fitness personally and when they asked him to provide evidence he had “got the experts who treated me to send an e-mail to me which I forwarded to the GCB on the status of my injury.” The GCB said Sarwan had contacted the board on November 12 and said he would be fit by December 2. The board, however, pointed to the fact that Sarwan had spent time in Canada, where temperatures are sub-zero at this time of year, rather than playing in the local T20 tournament in Guyana that was used to pick the Caribbean T20 squad.
“The GCB received communication from Mr Sarwan on November 12 indicating he was confident he would be injury free by December 2; this was passed on to the chairman of selectors,” the release said. “The Carib/Pepsi 20/20 Big Smash competition was designed to provide opportunities and preparation for cricketers, and at no time was Mr Sarwan ineligible to play. Mr Sarwan’s suggestion that he is working on ‘match fitness’ in Canada during the winter is baffling.” Sarwan had said the board were being inconsistent in using his non-participation in the local T20 tournament as a reason for leaving him out of the Caribbean T20, since he had not played in Guyana’s local 50-over tournament either yet had was picked in the Guyana squad for the WICB’s 50-over event. “The behaviour of Mr Sarwan subsequent to his non-selection to the Guyana team and his continued attempts to influence the selection process and abuse to executive members has caused grave concern at the Guyana Cricket Board and we are in the process of instituting disciplinary measures,” the GCB release said.
Guyana will go into the Caribbean T20 with Ravindranauth Seeram, the former Guyana captain, as head coach. Seeram had been replaced by former Guyana teammate Mark Harper for this year’s regional first-class championship and Regional Super50 tournament. The GCB appoints coaches on a tournament-by-tournament basis and given Seeram’s success in the July 2010 Caribbean T20, which Guyana won, they have re-appointed him for the 2011-12 event.
Billboard Names Lil Wayne Top R&B/Rapper Of 2011, Nicki Minaj Places Second
Young Money CEO Lil Wayne will end 2011 as the top R&B/Hip-Hop artist, according to data released by Billboard magazine.
The rapper had a banner year, thanks to his hits album Tha Carter IV.
The release debuted at #1, sold almost a million copies during its first week in stores and is certified double platinum.
Lil Wayne also scored four #1 singles, along with 24 chart entries on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart during 2011 alone.
Lil Wayne was also one of the top touring artists of 2011 as well.
The rapper performed 69 arena shows in 2011, that were attended by a total of 712,000 people.
Lil Wayne’s total gross for touring in 2011 was $46,300,000.
The good news for the Young Money brand doesn’t stop with Lil Wayne.
Nicki Minaj has landed at #2 on the list of Billboard’s top artists in 2011, thanks to the success of her debut album Pink Friday.
Pink Friday spent six weeks at #1 on the Top R&B Albums and produced six Top 10 singles.
Nicki was also named the Top Rap artist by Billboard, besting Lil Wayne, Drake and Kanye West.
It’s also the first time a female rapper has topped the year-end chart since Missy Elliott landed at the top in 2000.
Bryan “Birdman” Williams, is the CEO of Cash Money, the label that distributes Young Money.
In a recent Interview with Alhiphop.com, Williams said both labels were ready to top 2011's accomplishments in 2012.
“Nicki’s coming out…Tyga, Twist, Bow Wow, myself, Kevin Rudolph, Jay Sean,” Williams told AllHipHop.com. “Wayne got another album, everybody. I mean, we’re gonna drop 10 to 14 albums in the first six months of the year, so everybody’s cocked and loaded.”
(AllHipHop News)
Other notables on Billboard’s top R&B/Hip-Hop year end list includes Chris Brown, Miguel and Wiz Khalifa.
Amy Winehouse's Lioness tops UK album chart
Amy Winehouse's posthumous album, Lioness: Hidden Treasures, has topped the UK album chart.
The record, which features 12 original tracks and covers, was compiled by long-time musical partners Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson.
Proceeds from the album will go to the Amy Winehouse Foundation.
A coroner ruled the singer, who was found dead in her London flat on 23 July, died as a result of drinking too much alcohol.
A verdict of misadventure was recorded after the inquest heard the singer had 416mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
The first single from Winehouse's album, Our Day Will Come, also entered the singles chart at 29.
Elsewhere in the album chart, Michael Buble's Christmas held firm at number two, with last year's X Factor runner-up Rebecca Ferguson entering the chart at three with her debut, Heaven.
Last week's number one, Olly Murs' In Case You Didn't Know, fell to number four.
Christmas classics
Meanwhile in the singles chart, Murs' track Dance With Me Tonight climbed one place to secure the number one spot, displacing the X Factor Finalists 2011 with their cover of the Rose Royce song Wishing On A Star.
Lloyd's collaboration with Andre 3000 and Lil Wayne was the highest new entry with Dedication To My Ex at three.
While 5 O'Clock by T-Pain ft Wiz Khalifa and Lily Allen was the only other new entry at six.
The chart also saw a surge in sales of classic Christmas singles as the festive period kicked in.
Mariah Carey's 1994 hit track All I Want For Christmas was the highest placing at 12, with The Pogues and Kirsty McColl's Fairytale of New York close behind at 15.
Also charting in the top 40 was Wham's Last Christmas at 26, Wizzard's I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday at 28, Merry Xmas Everybody by Slade at 33 and Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas at 34.
Rihanna to perform at New Year's Eve VIP party in Barbados
Rihanna is schedule to do a private performance in her native country of Barbados on New Year’s Eve . The event is hosted by UK’s Global Radio boss Ashley Talbot, and will take place at the Sandy Lane hotel.
Guest includes X factor USA Judge Simon Cowell and other VIP's. The boyband The Wanted are also expected to perform., this according to the The Daily Star.
China's president promises to increase trade imports
China's President Hu Jintao has promised to increase imports, in an effort to boost global trade.
Speaking on the tenth anniversary of China's entry into the World Trade Organization, Mr Hu said annual imports would exceed $8 trillion (£639bn) in the next five years.
Last year, China bought only $1.39tn worth of products from overseas.
Customs data shows the country's exports rose by 14% in November, while imports rose by 22%.
The pace of growth has slowed from October as trade with Europe, which is China's largest business partner, moderated.
Balancing trade
With anaemic economic expansion in Europe and America, there is even more pressure on China, the world's second-biggest economy, to boost consumption at home.
Mr Hu said on Sunday that Beijing was serious about pursuing balance in its trade policy, adding that it would bring opportunities to countries around the world.
"We will view expansion of imports as an important way to change the development mode of foreign trade," he said at a speech at the Great Hall of the People.
"We will work hard to promote a balanced international balance of payments. We will not deliberately pursue a trade surplus."
China's trade surplus, a persistent source of tension with its trading partners, narrowed to $14.5bn last month, from $17bn in October.
Clegg warns European veto 'bad for Britain'
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg says David Cameron's veto of EU treaty changes was "bad for Britain" and could leave it "isolated and marginalised".
But he blamed French and German "intransigence" and pressure from Eurosceptic Conservatives for putting the PM in "a very difficult position".
Initially Mr Clegg said the coalition was united over the use of the veto.
But he told the BBC he had "made it clear" to Mr Cameron it was "untenable" for him to welcome the move.
Sources close to Mr Clegg have told the BBC he "couldn't believe it" when he was told the summit in Brussels had "spectacularly unravelled".
The prime minister blocked changes to the EU's Lisbon Treaty at an EU summit, arguing that the proposed changes were not in the UK's interest.
It now looks likely that all 26 other members of the European Union will agree to a new "accord" setting out tougher budget rules aimed at preventing a repeat of the current eurozone crisis.
'Bitterly disappointed'
As leader of the Liberal Democrats, Mr Clegg is far more pro-European than his Conservative coalition colleagues.
He told the BBC's Andrew Marr programme: "I'm bitterly disappointed by the outcome of last week's summit, precisely because I think now there is a danger that the UK will be isolated and marginalised within the European Union.
"I don't think that's good for jobs, in the City or elsewhere, I don't think it's good for growth or for families up and down the country."
He said he would now be doing "everything I can to ensure this setback does not become a permanent divide".
The deputy PM said he had learned of the veto in a phone call from the prime minister at 0400 GMT, shortly before Mr Cameron gave a press conference announcing it publicly.
Asked what his reaction had been, the Lib Dem leader said: "I said this was bad for Britain.
"I made it clear that it was untenable for me to welcome it."
'Unacceptable' demands
The new accord will hold eurozone members to strict budgetary rules including:
- a cap of 0.5% of GDP on countries' annual structural deficits
- "automatic consequences" for countries whose public deficit exceeds 3% of GDP
- a requirement to submit their national budgets to the European Commission, which will have the power to request that they be revised
Mr Cameron has said he was seeking certain "safeguards" from Europe on protection of the single market and the UK's financial services industry.
But French President Nicolas Sarkozy called those demands "unacceptable".
Mr Clegg said unwillingness to negotiate from France and Germany, combined with "outright antagonism to all things European" from parts of the Conservative Party, had left Mr Cameron in a difficult position.
"He couldn't come back to London empty-handed because self evidently, if he'd done so, he wouldn't have been able to get whatever had been agreed through the House of Commons so all we would have had would have been a delayed crisis."
On Friday, a spokesman for Mr Clegg said he had been "consulted throughout" the 10 hours of unsuccessful negotiations in Brussels - a claim backed up by Foreign Secretary William Hague.
He told the BBC the Lib Dem leader was fully "signed up" to the decision to veto the proposed treaty.
'Better way forward'
Mr Cameron will make a statement in the House of Commons on his decision on Monday - and the Labour leader called on him to use it to "explain why he did something that was so bad for Britain and bad for British jobs".
"He did this because the Eurosceptic wing of the Conservative Party has effectively taken over and that isn't good for the national interest," Ed Miliband said.
"What I say to Liberal Democrats and others is that we will work with anybody who thinks this position cannot stand. We must find a better way forward for Britain."
Mr Hague insisted Britain was "not marginalised", and told Sky News that while "everybody knows" that the Tories and Lib Dems had different views on Europe, the negotiating position taken by Mr Cameron "was agreed in advance" with Mr Clegg's party.
But Lib Dem peer Lord Oakeshott said his party's Business Secretary Vince Cable had "given a very serious warning last Monday in the cabinet against elevating these financial regulation points into a make or break deal".
Asked about Labour's allegation that Mr Cameron did not genuinely want to reach a deal in Brussels, Lord Oakeshott told the BBC's Politics Show he believed "a walk-out quite suited him".
Mr Cameron and his Chancellor George Osborne have insisted the veto was in part to protect the City of London from excessive intervention by Europe, but Labour and the UK Independence Party have both warned that actually no additional safeguards for it were achieved.
Japan extends tax breaks on fuel-efficient vehicles
Japan has extended tax breaks for fuel-efficient vehicles, in a bid to help its struggling domestic car industry.
Originally scheduled to expire in April, the incentive will continue until April 2015.
Japan's domestic car sector has been hit by natural disasters at home and abroad, as well as by the strength of the yen.
Tax breaks on green vehicles vary according to the model and type of car.
Although companies such as Toyota and Nissan are known around the world, Japan's overall domestic car market has grown very little in recent years.
Fuel-efficient vehicles have offered a bright spot within the sector.
The news from Japan came as negotiators at the United Nations climate change talks in Durban agreed for the first time to bring the world's biggest polluting countries into efforts to limit global warming.
Digicel’s revenues up 16 per cent
Digicel, the Caribbean’s largest mobile telephone service provider with operations also in Central America and the Pacific, reported strong financial performance for the six months ended September 30, 2011. Digicel Group Limited—which comprises the 30 markets of the Caribbean, El Salvador and the Pacific —reported revenues up 16 per cent year on year to US$1.24 billion for the first half of the fiscal year. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) was up 15 per cent year on year to US$524 million for the six month period with the most recent quarter contributing US$270 million EBITDA.
With subscribers up 14 per cent year on year to 11.1 million across Digicel's 30 markets worldwide, performance has been strong across the board with revenue growth in all of Digicel's major markets including El Salvador, French West Indies, Haiti, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea and Trinidad and Tobago. Haiti in particular experienced rapid growth adding 830,000 new subscribers in the first six months of the financial year. Revenue earned from value-added-services like Web browsing and messaging, was up 47 per cent year on year, helped by strong demand for smartphones. Digicel has also signed an agreement to extend and upsize its senior credit facility, which will see US$282 million new funds committed.
Digicel Group CEO, Colm Delves said: "Our latest set of financial results reflect Digicel's ongoing strong growth and outperformance of our industry peers. I am pleased to report that we have seen growth across the board and are also continuing to diversify our revenue mix with significant increases in value added services. "The refinancing of our senior credit facility was well supported and provides us with further balance sheet flexibility. I would like to thank our customers and staff for their ongoing commitment to Digicel and to assure them of our continued focus on delivering best value, best service and best network - and to giving back to our communities." Speaking with Caribbean Business Report, Delves further added that as at the end of September and before the receipt of new funds, Digicel had over US$400 million in cash on its balance sheet.
Jamaica Observer
France election: De Villepin to stand for president
French former prime minister and centre-right politician Dominique de Villepin has announced he will stand for president in the 2012 election.
The long-time rival of incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy made his announcement on French TV.
Mr Sarkozy himself has not formally declared a bid for re-election but is widely expected to do so.
France's Socialist opposition recently elected Francois Hollande as their candidate for the presidency.
Recent opinion polls suggested Mr de Villepin, 58, would only get 1 or 2% of the vote.
His candidacy will certainly annoy the president because he will take away precious votes in the first round of the election at the end of April, the BBC's Hugh Schofield reports from Paris.
But it is hard to see him as a serious contender as many of his former friends and allies have moved over to President Sarkozy's camp, our correspondent adds.
Furthermore, he has just been named in a corruption enquiry, accused of putting pressure on a businessman not to give information to the police that might implicate one of his friends.
Nadine Morano, the election chief of Mr Sarkozy's governing UMP party, called on Mr de Villepin to abandon his bid and "back Mr Sarkozy instead".
'Divided again'
Mr de Villepin is presenting himself as a candidate above party politics, correspondents say. He recently set up a new political movement, United Republic (French: Republique solidaire), which contains members of the UMP.
"I want to reunite all the French, those on the left, those on the right, and those in the centre," he told the TF1 channel.
"I intend to defend a certain idea of France," Mr de Villepin.
His words evoked a famous phrase of General de Gaulle, our correspondent says.
The former prime minister said he was "concerned" to see France "humiliated by the law of markets which encroaches further and further in austerity".
This was a clear reference to the deal in Europe just masterminded by Mr Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in order to save the euro, our correspondent says.
Describing Mr de Villepin as a "man on his own without financial means or a political movement", Ms Morano said she hoped he would not "make the mistake of [causing] a division in 2012".
She said he belonged to the "UMP family" and should stand in the French parliamentary election - which follows the presidential poll - instead.
A Socialist senator, Andre Vallini, said: "I don't think it's good news for us but it's bad news for Mr Sarkozy. The right is a bit more divided again."
Troubled career
Dominique Marie Francois Rene Galouzeau de Villepin, 58, was a protege of Mr Sarkozy's predecessor as president, Jacques Chirac.
As foreign minister in February 2003, Mr de Villepin opposed the invasion of Iraq at the United Nations.
As prime minister between May 2005 and May 2007, he saw his plans for labour reforms scrapped in the face of public protests and strikes.
He was later involved in a long and bitter legal battle centring on allegations that he had tried to smear Mr Sarkozy in the run-up to the 2007 presidential election through the Clearstream affair.
A French appeals court cleared him of complicity in September.
One French tweeter, Aure Lianna, quipped on Sunday: "At least it's certain he's not standing in order to negotiate a ministerial post from... Nicolas Sarkozy."
The new corruption case in which Mr de Villepin has been named relates to an embezzlement case against his friend Regis Bulot, former head of Relais & Chateaux, a French-based association of exclusive small hotels and gourmet restaurants.
"This case does not concern me," Mr de Villepin told TF1 on Sunday. "One may have a friend, friends, and not be implicated in their business dealings."
Obama Makes His Case for Second Term
U.S. President Barack Obama has made a case for his re-election by setting himself apart from his Republican challengers.
In an interview Sunday on American television (the CBS news show 60 Minutes), the president compared himself to a ship's captain in stormy waters. He said he did not expect the American people to feel satisfied with the state of the U.S. economy.
He said if the voters believe in the Republican agenda of lower taxes for the wealthy and weaker regulations, he will lose the next presidential election next year. But, he said, he does not think “that's where the American people are going to go.”
Instead, he said he is counting on the voters to give him credit for averting a second Great Depression, saving the auto industry and lowering health care costs.
He rejected Republican criticism that his policies amount to class warfare. He said he is trying to restore an America that builds the middle class and requires rich Americans to pay a little more.
Republican contenders for the presidency, including leading contenders Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, have said Mr. Obama is not capable of steering the country out of the economic crisis.