Russian economy shrinks 2% as sanctions bite
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Russia's economy shrank by 2% in the first three months of this year, the first contraction since 2009.
He attributed the shrinkage to the pressure of sanctions and the weak oil price. But, addressing MPs, he said the economic situation was not as bad as in 2009 and was stabilising.
He said Russia faced "a new reality".
He said the heaviest pressure had come from "the main political decision last year - the return of Crimea to Russia".
Western sanctions were imposed after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region in March 2014, and they have been escalated during the fighting in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow is backing separatist forces.
He compared the significance to Russia of the return of Crimea to "the reunification of Germany or the return to China of Hong Kong and Macao".
Mr Medvedev said sanctions resulting from this were causing significant economic problems.
He estimated that losses as a result of sanctions had dented income from some foreign exports by €25bn (£18bn; $26.7bn), 1.5% of gross domestic product, a figure he said could "increase several times" this year.
Last year, the rouble collapsed in value, causing import prices to shoot up and exports income to shrink. The situation was heightened by a deep fall in the price of oil, on which the Russian economy is highly dependent.
The country's central bank has predicted the economy could shrink by up to 4% this year if oil stays at about $50 a barrel.
But Mr Medvedev said Russia could cope, even if economic conditions deteriorated further: "If external pressure intensifies, and oil prices remain at an extremely low level for a long time, we will have to develop in a new economic reality.
"I am convinced that we will be able to live even in such a reality. The experience of the recent period has shown that we have learnt how to do this."
Source-BBC
LIME ROLLS OUT PARTNERSHIP WITH CANOC TO AIR OLYMPICS IN RIO 2016
RTC Sports was apart of a major press conference in Trinidad & Tobago yesterday for a major announcement as Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) was been named the official broadcast sponsor – and the exclusive telecoms partner – of the 2016 Rio Olympics for the Pan-Caribbean region.
The decision was made by CANOC Broadcasting Inc (CBI), a subsidiary of the Caribbean Association of National Olympic Committees.
The organisation, which now operates both the LIME and Flow brands in a number of markets, has secured the exclusive Olympics content rights to all platforms in 20 English-speaking countries including the Turks & Caicos, as well as non-exclusive rights in 10 non-English-speaking countries throughout the region, said John Reid, President, Consumer Group, CWC.
In addition to the Olympic coverage, Reid says it will also provide customers with a unique variety of live video feeds and data services offered across a number of media platforms including radio, TV, mobile, and Internet streams.
These live services will feature interviews, profiles and live-action footage of Caribbean athletes as a result of this unique partnership, from more than 20 cameras said Larry Romany, CEO, Canoc Broadcasting Inc.
“We are proud to have this opportunity to bring a more enriched Olympic experience to our region,” said John Reid, former president of Columbus Communications and recently appointed president of CWC’s Consumer Group.
“It truly is a privilege to offer our customers unparalleled access to this significant international sporting event, and we are excited to work with CBI, who are committed to ensuring that viewers in our region can enjoy the spectacle of their hometown heroes competing on the world stage,” he continued.
RTC Sports can also confirm that there will be no extra charges to consumers for the viewing of this event, which will be 12 hours of live broadcasts and video on the demand content, this was announced to our press.
So far, Turks & Caicos is the first territory offering LTE through Lime, which will be unveiling these for our sports fans to see & enjoy.
Following the press conference RTC's Chris Jarrett spoke with Ali Smith from the Commonwealth Games, who said that he is very excited about this and looks forward to Turks & Caicos taking part in this event.
Jon Stewart Sets Date for His Final 'Daily Show'
Jon Stewart has set the end date for his days as "The Daily Show" host. The comedian announced at the end of the show's Monday, April 20 episode that he would depart the Comedy Central series on Thursday, August 6.
"My last 'Daily Show' program will be August the 6th. I will be wearing a suit, I will more than likely be showered," he said, before jokingly adding, "I am sorry... I will be wearing overalls and I won't shower."
Stewart invited fans to join him in the studio for his farewell episode, explaining a contest that would benefit charity. "I hope that you will join us for that program and as a matter of fact you can actually join us here in reality," he said. "It's going to be a pretty good episode. You'll get flown to New York, get put up in a nice hotel and maybe you can sit here and take selfies. And all of the money goes to Night of Too Many Stars - New York Collaborates for Autism."
Stewart recently revealed reasons behind his departure from the show which he has hosted for more than 16 years. "It's not like I thought the show wasn't working any more, or that I didn't know how to do it. It was more, 'Yup, it's working. But I'm not getting the same satisfaction,' " he said. "These things are cyclical. You have moments of dissatisfaction, and then you come out of it and it's OK. But the cycles become longer and maybe more entrenched, and that's when you realize, 'OK, I'm on the back side of it now.' "
Trevor Noah has been chosen as his replacement.
Source- Aceshowbiz
Willie Nelson Launches His Own Brand of Pot
While some Hollywood celebrities commemorated 4/20 on social media, country music legend Willie Nelson launched his own brand of pot "Willie's Reserve" on Monday, April 20. The product will be grown and sold in Colorado and Washington, where recreational pot is legal.
Speaking to Rolling Stones in his bus backstage in Texas, Willie said of his pot brand, "I will make sure it's good or it won't be on sale. There should be a menu just like in a restaurant because there's so many different kinds of pot that do many different things. It's a good idea to have everything labeled for what it does, what it don't do [and] how powerful it is."
The 81-year-old singer said, "It's just a matter of time in this country before it's legal. I feel like I bought so much, it's time to start selling it back!" According to Willie, the business would include a menu "just like in a restaurant because there's so many different kind of pot that do many different things." He also planned stores that would sell edibles as well.
Willie said in a statement that the brand "is an extension of my passion and appreciation for the many varieties and range of the plant's qualities. Some of the best master growers in America will collaborate...to define quality standards so that fans can expect clean and consistent products."
Source:-Aceshowbiz
AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd pleads guilty to threat to kill
Phil Rudd, drummer of Australian rock band AC/DC, has changed his plea to guilty on a charge of a threat to kill, at a court in Tauranga, New Zealand.
The court heard he was unhappy about his album's launch party and asked for a former employee to be "taken out".
He had previously denied the charge. He also pleaded guilty to cannabis and methamphetamine possession.
Prosecutors dropped a second threat to kill charge, relating to the former employee's daughter.
Australian-born Mr Rudd was arrested at his home in the coastal town in November last year and has since been out on bail.
The court heard on Tuesday that he had fired a number of employees in August after the launch of his solo album, Head Job.
Mr Rudd was concerned that security at the launch party at his restaurant Phil's Place was not tight enough, according to the court summary.
A month later, the court heard, he telephoned an associate saying he wanted one of the people he had fired "taken out".
He later offered the associate NZ$200,000 ($153,000; £100,000) as well as "a motorbike, one of his cars or a house", which the person assumed was payment "for carrying out his earlier request".
Mr Rudd is then alleged to have called the victim threatening to "come over and kill you".
"As a result of threats made by the defendant, the victim was genuinely very fearful for his safety", the court summary read.
Mr Rudd's lawyer, Craig Tuck, told reporters outside the court that the charge "essentially revolved around an angry phone call - that was it".
Mr Rudd, 60, faces up to seven years in jail for the threat charge. Possession of cannabis carries a sentence of three months and methamphetamine possession six months.
He has been released on bail until another hearing in June.
Source-BBC
Indian Minister Says 2,000 Girls Killed Every Day
Two thousand girls are killed every day due to a preference for sons in India, with most aborted or murdered just after birth, the country's minister for women and child development said.
Despite laws that ban parents from having tests to determine the gender of unborn children, sex-selective abortions remain a common practice in parts of India. They've resulted in a decline in the number of girls compared to boys.
"You have 2,000 girls who are killed in the womb every day. Some are born and have pillows on their faces choking them," Maneka Gandhi told NDTV news channel late on Monday.
India's 2011 census showed that while the overall female-to-male ratio has improved marginally since the last census a decade ago, fewer girls were born than boys and the number of girls younger than six plummeted for the fifth straight decade.
A May 2011 study in British medical journal The Lancet found that up to 12 million Indian girls were aborted over the last three decades, resulting in a skewed child sex ratio of 918 girls to every 1,000 boys in 2011, versus 962 in 1981.
India's traditionally male-dominated culture views sons as assets — breadwinners who will provide for the family, carry on the family name, and perform the last rites for their parents, an important ritual in many faiths.
Girls are often seen as a liability, with families having to dig deep for a substantial dowry to ensure a desirable match. In a culture that views premarital sex as bringing shame to the girl's family, parents also worry about their safety.
Gandhi said that the government's “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” (Save the Daughter, Educate the Daughter) campaign, which aims to reverse the declining number of girls, had already shown results since its launch in January.
The initiative, which is being run in 100 districts where the ratio of girls to boys is particularly low, aims to better enforce laws that criminalize pre-birth gender selection and improve girls' access to education.
“We didn't expect results to show for at least a year or two years, if at all, as it's one of those mindset-change things,” Gandhi said in her first television interview since taking office last May.
She added that the campaign had led to an increase in unwanted girl infants ending up in orphanages but said this was a positive response as it meant they had moved "from being killed to being thrown out."
"The result is that hundreds of girl children are being thrown into orphanages in these 100 districts," the minister said. "In Amritsar, they have received 89 girls this month. In Tamil Nadu, they said the same thing. In all the districts we have chosen, they have a lot of girls going into palnas" or state orphanages.
CCJ grants leave to convicted murderer to challenge sentence
The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has granted special leave to convicted murderer Gregory August to challenge his sentence of life imprisonment without parole.
The Trinidad-based CCJ is holding a historic sitting here this week. The CCJ is the final court for Belize, the country among four Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries that have replaced the London-based Privy Council with the CCJ as their court of final appeal.
In November 2012, August was found guilty of stabbing 73-year-old Alvin Robinson to death inside his home and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
August would subsequently go before the Court of Appeal where the decision to condemn him was never challenged.
His attorney, Eamon Courtenay, told reporters that his client had applied to the CCJ, the country’s final court, for permission to appeal to the CCJ and to challenge the sentence.
“One of the grounds that we had put in our notice in the application was that it is unconstitutional to sentence somebody to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. When we went into court to start making the application the court immediately said to me, “Mr Courtenay, we are concerned about Section Seven of the Constitution [of Belize]. That is that this man has been sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.”
“And so they felt that that was a matter that the Court of Appeal should consider,” he said, adding “so they are saying that the Court of Appeal should look at that. So what they did was to grant special leave for him to challenge his conviction”.
Courtenay said that the CCJ headed by its President Sir Dennis Byron agreed to send the matter back to the Court of Appeal to deal with the question of sentence and the question of a good character direction “and that the matter must be heard as quickly as possible”.
The case management for the matter is expected is set for Tuesday.
Source-CMC
Bahamas R&B singer Johnny Kemp of 'Just Got Paid' fame dies
Bahamian R&B singer Johnny Kemp, who is best known for the hit song "Just Got Paid," has died in Jamaica. He was 55.
Jamaica police said Friday that Kemp was found floating at a beach in Montego Bay on Thursday morning. It had not yet been determined how he died.
Police said Kemp arrived in Jamaica on a cruise ship but added that they did not have further details.
Reach Media Inc. said Kemp had been scheduled to be on a Caribbean cruise this week, but the U.S.-based parent company of the "Tom Joyner Morning Show" said it did not have further details.
Kemp was nominated in 1989 for a Grammy Award for "Just Got Paid" in a category that included Bobby Brown and Luther Vandross. The song was a No. 1 hit on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart.
Kemp appeared on a 2007 Keith Sweat DVD called "Sweat Hotel Live" and had been performing at musical events across the U.S. in recent years.
Source-AP
Cuban doctor praised for developing diabetic foot ulcer drug
A Cuban doctor who created a drug used to fight diabetic foot ulcers, has been lauded by his colleagues from across the globe.
Doctors at a recent Diabetic Foot Global Conference in the United States praised Dr Jorge Berlanga, who created the drug – Heberprot-B, for the success of the product as well as the work of Cuban health professionals.
According to Berlanga, doctors, particularly those in the United States are interested in the drug, noting that 70 to 80 thousand people undergo amputations in the US due to diabetes.
A diabetic foot ulcer is an open sore or wound that occurs in approximately 15 per cent of patients with diabetes and is commonly located on the bottom of the foot.
Approximately 14 to 24 per cent of patients with diabetes who develop foot ulcers will require an amputation.
Source-CMC
Michael Phelps returns from six-month suspension with victory
Michael Phelps won his first race back from suspension at the Mesa Pro Series meeting in Phoenix.
The 29-year-old - the most decorated Olympian of all time with 22 medals - was banned for six months in October after being arrested for drink-driving.
But on his return the American clocked 52.38 seconds, ahead of rival Ryan Lochte (53.11), in the 100m butterfly.
It was not amongst the top 10 world times this year but Phelps said: "I hope we'll be able to build and build."
Phelps is now bidding to reach a fifth Olympic Games, but will not swim at August's World Championships in Russia as part of an agreement with USA Swimming alongside his ban.
He will instead race at the US national championships in San Antonio, Texas, taking place at the same time as the Worlds.
Source-BBC