US Economic Growth Slower Than First Thought
U.S. economic growth was slower than first thought in the last few months of 2014.
Friday's report from the Commerce Department says the gross domestic product expanded at a 2.2 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter.
That is a bit slower than a previous estimate, and half the rate of the third quarter's expansion.
Commerce officials say GDP growth slowed because of less federal government spending and rising imports.
For all of 2014 the new analysis puts growth at 2.4 percent, which is a bit faster than the prior year.
White House economic advisor Jason Furman said the slower growth rate is due to temporary issues, and that the labor market and energy security continue to improve.
Economists from PNC bank say the weaker growth figures are due in part to a strong U.S. dollar and weak overseas demand which hurt U.S. exports.
Russians Pay Tribute to Slain Putin Critic
Thousands of people marched in central Moscow Sunday to mourn murdered opposition leader Boris Nemtsov.
Many of the marchers carried Russian flags and placards saying, "I am not afraid," in memory of the veteran liberal politician and vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin.
Organizers said 70,000 people joined the tribute to Nemtsov, but Moscow police described the crowd as much smaller, about 16,000.
Some of the marchers, young and old, carried pictures of the 55-year-old Nemtsov, who was shot dead on a bridge near the Kremlin while he was walking home from a restaurant Friday night.
Daniel Schearf, reporting from Moscow for the Voice of America, said some protesters, as they neared the bridge where Nemtsov was killed, briefly chanted, "Russia without Putin!"
The crowd was largely somber, but they did chant slogans, including "never forget, never forgive," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported Sunday.
Russian authorities, usually slow to give permission for large opposition rallies, gave quick approval for the memorial march.
Nemtsov was to have led an anti-war and anti-Putin rally in Moscow Sunday. Instead, the memorial was planned for the man whom U.S. President Barack Obama called a "tireless advocate" for the rights of the Russian people.
Police are hunting for those responsible for shooting Nemtsov four times from a car while he and a female companion crossed a bridge over the Moscow River Friday night, just steps from the Kremlin. The woman was not hurt.
Source-VOA
Nigerian female bomb suspect beaten to death by mob
A mob beat a woman to death in the north-eastern Nigerian city of Bauchi in the belief that she was a suicide bomber, police and witnesses say.
The woman - said to be a teenager - was attacked when she refused to be screened at the entrance to a market. No explosives were found on her.
A series of suicide bombings in northern Nigeria has been blamed on Boko Haram militants.
It wants to enforce strict Islamic law across the country.
Witnesses say the mob put a tyre sprinkled with petrol over the woman's head and set it on fire after she was beaten.
Police say that she was dead before they arrived on the scene to rescue her and disperse the mob. No arrests were made.
The exact circumstances of her death are unclear. Some reports say that the dead woman was accompanied by another woman but other accounts say they she had a male escort.
An eyewitness told the AFP news agency that the woman came under suspicion when two bottles were found strapped to both sides of her waist after she refused to be frisked with a metal detector.
"When her hijab was raised over her head two bottles were found strapped to her waist and the crowd descended on the young woman," he said.
Police told the AP news agency that it was doubtful the woman was a bomber because she did not detonate any explosives when she was attacked.
Deputy Superintendent Mohammad Haruna described her as the victim of "mob action carried out by an irate crowd".
Another police source said that she may have been sent on a dummy run to see if it was possible to enter the bus station without being searched.
Boko Haram has taken to sending women on suicide missions, fuelling concern that its insurgency has entered a more ruthless phase.
Teenagers have been used to carry explosives into busy markets and bus stations, raising additional fears that some of Boko Haram's hundreds of kidnap victims may have been forced into carrying out bomb attacks.
This is done either by detonating explosives themselves or by carrying devices that are remotely triggered, police say.
February's presidential election has been postponed because of the unrest. The vote is now expected to take place on 28 March.
Source-BBC
South Sudan boys 'kidnapped to be child soldiers'
Hundreds of boys in South Sudan have been kidnapped and forced to become child soldiers, the United Nations children's agency says.
The figure is a big increase on the 89 child abductions reported by Unicef last month.
Their latest statement blamed a militia group allied to the government.
South Sudan is in a state of civil war with forces loyal to President Salva Kiir pitted against rebels led by former Vice-President Riek Machar.
The campaign group Human Rights Watch has accused both sides of using child soldiers.
Unicef said the boys were abducted by the Shilluk Militia, under the control of Johnson Oloni. The government has previously said it has no control over the group.
"We fear the children are going from the classroom to the front line," said Unicef's representative in South Sudan, Jonathan Veitch.
Witnesses report seeing children as young as 12 carrying guns, according to the UN.
The seizure of the boys happened in an area known as Wau Shilluk, in oil-rich Upper Nile state.
The UN believes 12,000 children were used as child soldiers across South Sudan last year.
About 1.5 million people have been displaced by the fighting in the country and 2.5 million are facing severe food shortages.
Source-BBC
Johnson Charles replaces Darren Bravo
Johnson Charles has been called up to the West Indies squad to replace the injured Darren Bravo, who was ruled out of the rest of the World Cup on Friday.
Batsman Bravo failed to recover from the hamstring injury he suffered during the Windies' opening Pool B win over Pakistan on 21 February.
Opener Charles, 26, has not played international cricket since last March.
He joins a West Indies side that faces defending World Cup champions India in their next match on 6 March in Perth.
So far, the Windies have lost to Ireland and South Africa, but beaten Pakistan and Zimbabwe.
Windies still confident as preparations start for India
West Indies arrived in Perth yesterday still smarting from Friday's heavy loss to South Africa but hoping to regroup ahead of next week's clash with reigning world champions India.
The Caribbean team has been their usual inconsistent selves, winning two and losing two of their four outings to date in the ICC Cricket World Cup.
Their latest defeat - a 257-run thrashing at the hands of South Africa - came as a big blow to their quarter-final hopes, but captain Jason Holder remained upbeat about his side's progression in the tournament.
"I wouldn't say it puts us onto the back foot. We still have two games left. We just need to take it one game at a time," Holder said.
"We have to deal with India next in Perth, and we're going to be aggressive. We're going to play our normal style of cricket. We obviously have areas to improve on in terms of our death bowling and still if we could try to get a few more dot balls into the middle overs, and I think once we do that we're still a force to be reckoned with in this competition.
"[Friday] was just the first off day with the bat. It's a daunting task trying to chase 400, and so you have to go hard initially trying to get the runs, and we just didn't get any momentum going today unfortunately."
South Africa piled up 408 for five off their 50 overs, with captain AB de Villiers smashing a historic 66-ball unbeaten 162.
West Indies have lost top order batsman Darren Bravo who has failed to recover from a hamstring injury sustained against Pakistan last Saturday, and will now return home.
Source-CMC
Bolt's Relay Team places second at the Gibson McCook Relays
The University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech) men’s sprint relay team created a massive upset at yesterday’s 39th staging of the Gibson/McCook Relays at the National Stadium as they held off a powerful Racers Lions team, led by Usain Bolt, to win in a world-leading 38.23 seconds.
Tyquendo Tracey, who anchored the UTech team, got the baton about seven metres in front, and despite Bolt finishing like a runaway train, closing the gap with each massive stride, he held on to cross the finish line first to avenge last year’s loss. “I told myself to just relax and run,” Tracey told the Jamaica Observer.
“Last year I got the lead but tightened up and Blake (Yohan) caught me, and I told myself I was not going to let lightning strike twice.” Tracey said he felt Bolt closing in on him, but once again reminded himself to “relax”. UTech’s Julian Forte, whose brilliant second leg contributed greatly to the victory, said he knew he had to run fast.
“Bolt was on the anchor and I knew we had to get a big lead if we were to win.” Bolt told the Observer he was disappointed with the defeat. “You want to win every time you go on the track, but this was a good race and I am feeling OK.”
The treble world record holder, who missed most of last year, said he had some work to do in the gym before he reaches where he wants to be, and that he is down to run a 400m race “some time soon; in the next two of three weeks”.
Andrew Fisher started and handed off to Forte who relayed to Kamarley Brown on the third leg, while the Racers Lions team made one change from the team that ran the preliminaries, Commonwealth Games 100m champion Kemar Bailey-Cole replaced Michael Frater on the second leg, taking the baton from Mario Forsythe and handing off to Warren Weir, the World Championships, Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games 200m medallist.
Meanwhile, up to press time last night, two records were broken and one equalled, all in the 4x100m. The Calabar Class One boys smashed the record they set last year, the UTech women also broke the sprint relay record, while Edwin Allen girls’ Class Two team equalled their record. Calabar High and Kingston College shared the high school boys’ 4x100m races, Calabar taking Class One and Class Two, while Kingston College, who withdrew from several events yesterday, won the Class Three and Class Four races.
The Class One team ran under 40.00 seconds as the Calabar team of Edward Clarke, Michael O’Hara, Jelani Walker, and Seanie Selvin ran 39.32 seconds to break the 39.61 seconds set just last year. St Jago High were second in 39.80 seconds with St Elizabeth Technical third in 40.30 seconds. Calabar’s Daniel Bogle, Anthony Carpenter, Alex Robinson, and Tyreek Wilson ran 40.86 seconds to win Class Two ahead of Kingston College (41.42 secs) and Jamaica College (41.76 secs).
Kingston College won Class Three in 43.09 seconds, just holding off St Jago (43.12 secs) with Jamaica College third in 45.51 seconds. The ‘Purples’ also won Class Four in 44.44 seconds, with St Jago second in 46.12 seconds and Calabar third in 46.21 seconds.
The UTech women broke the record 43.28 seconds set in 2007 by an MVP squad, running 43.13 seconds, beating Racers TC (43.75 secs) and Sprint Tech (44.24 secs). Edwin Allen High and St Jago shared the high school girls’ 4x100m races, with St Jago winning Class One and Class Three, while Edwin Allen won Class Two and Class Four.
The St Jago High Class One team ran 45.24 seconds to hold off last year’s winners Edwin Allen (45.57 secs) and Wolmer’s Girls’ (46.27 secs). Edwin Allen equalled the 45.01 seconds record for Class Two, set in 2001 by Holmwood Technical with Green Island High second in 46.11 seconds after Hydel High were disqualified, with St Jago getting third with 46.40 seconds.
St Jago won Class Three with 45.87 seconds, ahead of Hydel High (47.17 secs), with Vere Technical third in 47.44 seconds. Edwin Allen won back-to-back Class Four titles, running 47.74 seconds ahead of St Jago (47.98 secs) and Wolmer’s Girls’ (48.49 secs).
Source-Jamaica Observer
Will Smith's 'Focus' opens with $19.1 million to win U.S. box office
Will Smith's new action drama "Focus" booted the kinky sex tale "Fifty Shades of Grey" for its perch atop U.S. and Canadian weekend box office charts, racking up $19.1 million in ticket sales.
Smith, in his first leading role since 2013's "After Earth," plays a seasoned con artist who meets up with an aspiring con artist, played by Margot Robbie, in the romance-caper film hybrid.
"Kingsman: The Secret Service", an adaptation of a popular comic series which stars Samuel L. Jackson and Colin Firth about a spy agency's training program and a global threat by a tech genius, also outpaced "Grey" to claim second place with $11.8 million.
Third place on a weekend that saw business hampered by rough winter weather in the south and midwest again went to the family-friendly "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water", based on the popular television show about a talking animated sponge. It sold $11.2 million in tickets.
"Grey," the smash hit adaptation of the best-selling novel which stars James Dornan and Dakota Johnson as the libidinous couple, took in $10.9 million, landing in fourth from Friday through Sunday, according to studio estimates. The film is closing in on $148 million at the domestic box office since opening just over two weeks ago.
Comcast Corp's Universal Pictures released "Fifty Shades of Grey". "Kingsman: The Secret Service" was released by 20th Century Fox, the unit of 21st Century Fox. "The SpongeBob Movie" was distributed by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. "Focus" was released by Warner Brothers, a unit of Time Warner Inc.
Source-Reuters
Scarlett Johansson's Supergroup The Singles Hit With Cease-and-Desist
Scarlett Johansson's supergroup The Singles hasn't even been around for a week, but they are already facing legal issues. Just a few days after the all-girl band premiered their first single, another L.A.-based band with the same name issued a cease-and-desist order to the actress' reps, alleging copyright infringement.
"I woke up one morning and learned from the news that our band name was literally just taken by someone else as their own," The Singles' Vincent Frederick wrote in a press release. "It's hard to believe that any musician would do something like that to another band. The Singles has been my life for the past 16 years. We have worked so incredibly hard to make it a success."
Frederick went on to say that his band has accounts on "nearly all social media sites," and their music is available at record stores, on iTunes and many websites. "Just a simple search on Google would have revealed that 'The Singles' was already a band name being used by another pop/rock band - our band," he added.
Johansson formed her own The Singles with Este Haim of HAIM, Holly Miranda, Kendra Morris and Julia Haltigan. "The idea was to write super-pop dance music written and performed by girls," the "Lucy" star explained her band in statement last week. "I love Grimes. And I love The Bangles. And I love The Go-Go's. I wanted it to be like those bands: ultra pop but also a little ironic, a little in on the joke."
The statement came along with their debut single "Candy". The song was produced by TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek who previously worked with Johansson on her 2008 Tom Waits cover album, "Anywhere I Lay My Head".
Source-Ace.Showbiz
LIME aquires ISLANDCOM & strengthens its position as leading Mobile Network in the Turks & Caicos Islands
LIME TCI has reached an agreement to acquire the assets of ISLANDCOM in Turks & Caicos.
The move is another signal of the company’s commitment to the continuous upgrade of its mobile and data networks, as part of the Upgrade initiative launched last year. The acquisition enables LIME to strengthen its position as the leading Mobile Network in Turks & Caicos by now being able to offer Superfast 4G LTE.
The proposed acquisition has been submitted to the regulatory authorities in Turks and Caicos for approval. During the regulatory approval process both companies are expected to continue to operate as separate and distinct entities. Next steps post approval will include a period for the integration of both companies’ networks and a subscriber migration plan.
James Pitt, LIME TCI General Manager said, LIME is focused on providing best in class Mobile and Broadband networks to better serve our customers and provide a superior customer experience. “We believe that data connectivity is a key element for the future growth and success of our business.
The acquisition of ISLANDCOM will allow us to upgrade our mobile offering to Superfast 4G LTE across TCI which forms a key pillar in our strategy – Mobile Leadership,” said Mr. Pitt. “It will also give our customers access to a best in class convergent offering that will include our game-changing Superfast Broadband Internet at home and the expanded benefits of the recent acquisition of Columbus International by our parent company, CWC,” he added.
“Our joint companies will make every effort to ensure that the transition to the LIME network for ISLANDCOM customers will be as seamless as possible including allowing the transfer of their current mobile number,” said Mr. Pitt.