EU leaders hail Latvia’s euro membership
European Union leaders say Latvia’s inclusion in the euro bloc has shown that countries can emerge from economic crises stronger and that fears of the common currency’s decline were exaggerated.
During his first visit to the country since its accession, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the Baltic state is a “shining example” of how an economy can reap benefits from painful reforms. It is currently the EU’s fastest-growing economy. Barroso said Latvia’s joining the eurozone on January 1 was the best demonstration of the currency zone’s resilience despite recent predications it would implode due to high debts and recessions in several member states.
European Council President Herman van Rompuy said he expects another Baltic state, Lithuania, to become the 19th member of the eurozone in 2015.
Source-AP
T&T must diversify to be relevant
The recent oil spill in parts of south Trinidad shows the weak infrastructure of T&T’s oil industry, said Gregory Hill, president of the Securities Dealers’ Association of T&T (SDATT). “They (the Government) need to diversify if we are to be relevant in the context of our uncompetitive natural gas prices,” he said.
“The declining oil production locally, our weak oil infrastructure as can be seen by the recent oil spill, the competition from shale gas, competition from other competing energy plants from around the world—our energy sector is in a precarious position as our economy is dependent on those.” Hill spoke yesterday at the signing of the protocol ceremony between the SDATT and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He said the agreement will work in favour of the Securities Industry and the economy as a whole.
“Today the role of SDATT is a heightened one in the T&T economy. As we see the outlook for our economy to be fairly mixed. Our energy sector still accounts for 45 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and that level of dependence is a risk factor to our industry and our economy as a whole,” he said. He said because of this, SDATT sees development of the capital market as critical for the economic diversification paradigm of the country. Hill said the development of the country lies at the “heart of the securities business.”
“We must include our sector’s contribution from the low teens to at least a third of the economy. The only way to do that is to develop our securities services. We need more IPO’s and we thank Finance Minister Howai for the FCB IPO. We also need to privatise the non-core state entities of T&T and by doing this create more listings on the market and by doing so create a society that is more open to risk taking,” he said.
Source-Guardian Media
Volkswagen plans $7bn North America investment
German carmaker Volkswagen has said it will invest $7bn (£4bn) in North America over the next five years as it looks to boost its sales in the region.
The firm will also launch a new sports utility vehicle (SUV) in the US - one of its biggest markets - in 2016.
It also reiterated its goal of selling a million Volkswagens and Audis - its luxury brand - in the US by 2018.
Volkswagen has set its sights on becoming the world's biggest carmaker by then.
It is currently the world's third-biggest manufacturer, behind Japan's Toyota and US carmaker General Motors.
"As a group, we will be investing over $7bn in North America over the next five years," said Martin Winterkorn, chief executive of Volkswagen.
Volkswagen's plans to boost investment in the region come at a time when the US car market has been recovering from the slump seen in the years after the global financial crisis.
Analysts expect 2013 to be the best year for the US auto market since 2007, with total annual sales expected to reach nearly 15.6 million units.
If that figure is met, it would mark a strong recovery from 2009, when sales fell to 10.4 million.
Global carmakers, including Volkswagen, have benefited from the continuing recovery.
Last week, Volkswagen reported record sales for its luxury brands - Audi, Porsche and Bentley - in 2013.
A rise in deliveries in the US market was a key contributor to their sales during the period.
Audi's sales jumped 13.5% in the US during the period, from a year ago, while Porsche saw growth of 21% and Bentley deliveries rose 28%.
Source-BBC
BP loses bid over Gulf oil payouts
BP has lost an appeal to cancel the terms of its multi-billion-dollar settlement with businesses over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster.
A US federal appeals court on Saturday upheld the terms of the original 2012 settlement.
The UK oil giant has supported compensation for businesses harmed by the disaster.
But it argued that the terms of the existing deal meant that some huge sums were being paid for false claims.
In 2012, BP agreed to make payments to those who suffered economic losses as a result of the disaster aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which triggered the worst offshore oil spill in US history.
The blast killed 11 workers and released an estimated four million barrels of oil into the gulf.
However, BP complained that the payout formula worked out by court-appointed claims administrator Patrick Juneau was too generous and meant that people and businesses were being paid huge sums for false claims.
On Friday, the US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the original judge, Carl Barbier, did not err by failing to determine whether the class of eligible claimants included individuals who haven't actually suffered any injury.
It means that the UK oil giant may have to pay out much more than it originally thought it would have to.
BP originally projected that the settlement would cost $7.8bn (£4.8bn) but last year increased its estimate to $9.6bn.
BP has faced about $42.4bn in criminal and civil charges since the disaster.
Golden Globes 2014 winners
Here are the winners and nominees for the 71st Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best film and TV in 2013.
MOVIES
DRAMA
Winner: 12 Years a Slave
Nominees: 12 Years a Slave; Captain Phillips; Gravity; Philomena; Rush
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MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Winner: American Hustle
Nominees: American Hustle; Her; Inside Llewyn Davis; Nebraska; The Wolf of Wall Street
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ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Winner: Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club as Ron Woodroof)
Nominees: Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave as Solomon Northup); Idris Elba (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom as Nelson Mandela); Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips as Captain Richard Phillips); Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club as Ron Woodroof); Robert Redford (All Is Lost as Our Man)
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ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Winner: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine as Jasmine Francis)
Nominees: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine as Jasmine Francis); Sandra Bullock (Gravity as Dr. Ryan Stone); Judi Dench (Philomena as Philomena Lee); Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks as P. L. Travers); Kate Winslet (Labor Day as Adele Wheeler)
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ACTOR IN A MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Winner: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street as Jordan Belfort)
Nominees: Christian Bale (American Hustle as Irving Rosenfeld); Bruce Dern (Nebraska as Woody Grant); Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street as Jordan Belfort); Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis as Llewyn Davis); Joaquin Phoenix (Her as Theodore Twombly)
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ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Winner: Amy Adams (American Hustle as Sydney Prosser)
Nominees: Amy Adams (American Hustle as Sydney Prosser); Julie Delpy (Before Midnight as Céline Wallace); Greta Gerwig (Frances Ha as Frances Halladay); Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Enough Said as Eva); Meryl Streep (August: Osage County as Violet Weston)
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SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Winner: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club as Rayon)
Nominees: Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips as Abduwali Muse); Daniel Brühl (Rush as Niki Lauda); Bradley Cooper (American Hustle as Richie DiMaso); Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave as Edwin Epps); Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club as Rayon)
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SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Winner: Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle as Rosalyn Rosenfeld)
Nominees: Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine as Ginger); Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle as Rosalyn Rosenfeld); Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave as Patsey); Julia Roberts (August: Osage County as Barbara Weston-Fordham); June Squibb (Nebraska as Kate Grant)
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DIRECTOR
Winner: Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity)
Nominees: Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity); Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips); Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave); Alexander Payne (Nebraska); David O. Russell (American Hustle)
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SCREENPLAY
Winner: Spike Jonze (Her)
Nominees: Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope (Philomena); Spike Jonze (Her); Bob Nelson (Nebraska); John Ridley (12 Years a Slave); Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell (American Hustle)
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ORIGINAL SCORE
Winner: Alex Ebert (All Is Lost)
Nominees: Alex Ebert (All Is Lost); Alex Heffes (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom); Steven Price (Gravity); John Williams (The Book Thief); Hans Zimmer (12 Years a Slave)
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ORIGINAL SONG
Winner: Ordinary Love by U2 and Danger Mouse (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom)
Nominees: Atlas by Coldplay (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire); Let It Go by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez (Frozen); Ordinary Love by U2 and Danger Mouse (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom); Please Mr. Kennedy by Ed Rush, George Cromarty, T Bone Burnett, Justin Timberlake, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (Inside Llewyn Davis); Sweeter Than Fiction by Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff (One Chance)
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ANIMATED FILM
Winner: Frozen
Nominees: The Croods; Despicable Me 2; Frozen
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FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Winner: The Great Beauty
Nominees: Blue Is the Warmest Color; The Great Beauty; The Hunt; The Past; The Wind Rises
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TELEVISION
DRAMA SERIES
Winner: Breaking Bad
Nominees: Breaking Bad; Downton Abbey; The Good Wife; House of Cards; Masters of Sex
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MUSICAL OR COMEDY SERIES
Winner: Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Nominees: The Big Bang Theory; Brooklyn Nine-Nine; Girls; Modern Family; Parks and Recreation
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ACTOR, DRAMA SERIES
Winner: Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad as Walter White)
Nominees: Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad as Walter White); Michael Sheen (Masters of Sex as Bill Masters); Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan as Ray Donovan); Kevin Spacey (House of Cards as Frank Underwood); James Spader (The Blacklist as Raymond Reddington)
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ACTRESS, DRAMA SERIES
Winner: Robin Wright (House of Cards as Claire Underwood)
Nominees: Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife as Alicia Florrick); Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black as various characters); Taylor Schilling (Orange Is the New Black as Piper Chapman); Kerry Washington (Scandal as Olivia Pope); Robin Wright (House of Cards as Claire Underwood)
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ACTOR, MUSICAL OR COMEDY SERIES
Winner: Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine as Jake Peralta)
Nominees: Jason Bateman (Arrested Development as Michael Bluth); Don Cheadle (House of Lies as Marty Kaan); Michael J. Fox (The Michael J. Fox Show as Mike Henry); Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory as Sheldon Cooper); Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine as Jake Peralta)
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ACTRESS, MUSICAL OR COMEDY SERIES
Winner: Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation as Leslie Knope)
Nominees: Zooey Deschanel (New Girl as Jessica Day), Lena Dunham (Girls as Hannah Horvath), Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie as Jackie Peyton); Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Veep as Vice President Selina Meyer); Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation as Leslie Knope)
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ACTOR, MINISERIES OR TV FILM
Winner: Michael Douglas (Behind the Candelabra as Liberace)
Nominees: Matt Damon (Behind the Candelabra as Scott Thorson); Michael Douglas (Behind the Candelabra as Liberace); Chiwetel Ejiofor (Dancing on the Edge as Louis Lester); Idris Elba (Luther as John Luther); Al Pacino (Phil Spector as Phil Spector)
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ACTRESS, MINISERIES OR TV FILM
Winner: Elisabeth Moss (Top of the Lake as Robin Griffin)
Nominees: Helena Bonham Carter (Burton & Taylor as Elizabeth Taylor); Rebecca Ferguson (The White Queen as Elizabeth Woodville); Jessica Lange (American Horror Story: Coven as Fiona Goode); Helen Mirren (Phil Spector as Linda Kenney Baden); Elisabeth Moss (Top of the Lake as Robin Griffin)
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SUPPORTING ACTOR
Winner: Jon Voight (Ray Donovan as Mickey Donovan)
Nominees: Josh Charles (The Good Wife as Will Gardner); Rob Lowe (Behind the Candelabra as Dr. Jack Startz); Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad as Jesse Pinkman); Corey Stoll (House of Cards as Peter Russo); Jon Voight (Ray Donovan as Mickey Donovan)
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SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Winner: Jacqueline Bisset (Dancing on the Edge as Lady Livinia Cremone)
Nominees: Jacqueline Bisset (Dancing on the Edge as Lady Livinia Cremone); Janet McTeer (The White Queen as Jacquetta of Luxembourg); Hayden Panettiere (Nashville as Juliette Barnes); Monica Potter (Parenthood as Kristina Braverman); Sofía Vergara (Modern Family as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett)
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MINISERIES OR TV FILM
Winner: Behind the Candelabra
Nominees: American Horror Story: Coven; Behind the Candelabra; Dancing on the Edge; Top of the Lake; The White Queen
Source-USA Today
American Hustle wins three awards at Golden Globes
American Hustle has been honoured at the Golden Globes in Los Angeles, winning three awards.
The 1970s-set crime movie was named best film, comedy or musical, while its stars Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence also won prizes for their roles.
Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto picked up the best actor and supporting actor in a drama prizes for the biographical Dallas Buyers Club.
Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave was named best film drama.
However, it was the only award the movie picked up, after going into evening with seven nominations.
Both McQueen and stars Michael Fassbender and Chiwetel Ejiofor had received nods.
Cate Blanchett collected the best actress in a drama trophy for Woody Allen film Blue Jasmine, while Alfonso Cuaron was named best director for space movie Gravity.
Jacqueline Bisset was the only British actor to win an award for her part in BBC drama Dancing on the Edge.
The TV categories featured a number of double award winners.
Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra was named best TV movie/mini-series, with Michael Douglas picking up the best actor in a TV movie, series or mini-series.
Breaking Bad also came away with two awards including best drama series and best actor in a drama for its star Bryan Cranston.
It was the first Golden Globe for Cranston, having been nominated for the same award every year since 2011. He was also nominated in 2003 for his role in comedy Malcolm in the Middle.
Police caper Brooklyn Nine-Nine also collected two prizes including best comedy or musical TV series and best actor in a comedy for Andy Samberg.
Amy Poehler won best actress in a TV comedy or musical for her role in Parks and Recreation, while Robin Wright was named best actress in a drama series.
Source-BBC
Sparrow: I’m feeling good
The indomitable spirit that catapulted him to calypso supremacy still resides in the Mighty Sparrow (Dr Slinger Francisco) in his recovery effort from a diabetic coma that put him in hospital in Queen’s New York, last September.
In a three-way telephone conversation that included founder of the Sunshine Awards Gilman Figaro last Friday night, the Birdie, now convalescing in a therapy facility in Brooklyn, and clearly in a jovial mood, sang, joked and gave the assurance that he is progressing steadily on the road to recovery.
“Let my fans in Trinidad and Tobago know that the Calypso King of the World, the supreme serenader, the one-and-only Mighty Sparrow is feeling good, and ready to take on all comers in 2014,” he said with trademark bravado, before treating us to a verse and chorus of his 1992 classic Man Will Survive. He then informed that he will be appearing on a programme to be staged at Melanie’s, an upscale restaurant/bar catering to West Indians, on Fulton Avenue, Brooklyn, this Saturday.
“I am choosing my repertoire carefully for this event, as it will also be a form of thanksgiving to the Almighty for granting me an extension of life after all I have been through the past months,” he said. Figaro, who has been a constant visitor to the bard at the facility, said Sparrow has never seemed depressed since coming out of the coma. “He always exhibits a very cheerful attitude, and is well loved and admired by the nursing staff there,” he said.
Last week, Sparrow said: “They think I am strong enough for air travel and to return home. I plan to return home very early in February and I will be performing for Carnival at Tuco Kaiso House in the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain.”
Source-Guardian Media
Pharrell Williams reclaims UK singles chart pinnacle
US star Pharrell Williams has returned to the number one spot in the UK singles chart with his track Happy.
Last week the singer was dislodged from pole position by Pitbull and Kesha, who have been pegged back to second place.
Ellie Goulding retained her hard-earned number one spot in the album chart with Halcyon, ahead of Beyonce's self-titled collection.
The British singer spent a staggering 65 weeks in the rundown before securing the accolade.
Elsewhere on the singles chart, Beyonce cracked the top 10 with Drunk in Love, a collaboration with her husband Jay-Z.
It secures the 16th top 10 single of her career, according to the Official Charts Company.
Swedish DJ and producer Avicii remained steady at three with Hey Brother, and Jason Derulo stayed in fourth place with Trumpets.
Fuse ODG leapt into the top 10 at number five with Million Pound Girl (Badder Than Bad), scoring his highest UK singles chart placing to date.
In the albums rundown, Gary Barlow slipped to three, while John Newman clambered one place to four.
British band Bastille went up one place to five with Bad Blood, in the week they earned four nominations for next month's Brit Awards.
Source-BBC
Sean Penn holds auction for Haiti
While many stars are awash in the gifts and parties of Golden Globes weekend, a few used their privilege to benefit the people of Haiti – and they were rewarded with an intimate performance by U2.
Bette Midler, Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, Charlize Theron, Piers Morgan, Chelsea Handler, Sarah Silverman, Idris Elba and Kathryn Bigelow were among the guests yesterday at Sean Penn’s third annual Help Haiti Home benefit, which raised nearly $6 million for the J/P Haitian Relief Organization.
The dinner party at the Montage Hotel included a surprise performance by U2, the band’s first in four years.
The J/P Haitian Relief Organization has been working since the 2010 earthquake to provide emergency care and sustainable shelter and education to the people of Haiti. But Penn says he hopes his organization is obsolete within 10 years.
He said progress in the Caribbean nation has been miraculous despite corruption and “inaccurate, bad Journalism”.
“I’m not satisfied. I want more,” he said. “But this couldn’t have happened in the United States: This amount of clean up, this amount of resilience.”
He expects all of the people displaced by the earthquake to find permanent housing within the next two years. Nearly two million have already moved out of the emergency camps and into homes.
Besides lending his time and his fame to the cause, Penn also gave his vintage El Camino to benefit his organization. It sold for $100 000 at auction yesterday.
The earth is such a tiny speck in the universe that the only thing that makes sense is to take care of those on the planet with us, he said. He promised to reward those who participated in the auction.
Midler, Paltrow and Kevin Bacon cast bids. Paltrow’s husband, Coldplay front man Chris Martin, won an exclusive art piece from Banksy for $650 000. CNN newsman Anderson Cooper, the evening’s host, gave the biggest donation: His auction bid of $1.4 million won a sculpture to be made from Penn’s 65 discarded firearms.
U2’s three-song performance – stunning in a hotel ballroom – followed a tender, acoustic performance earlier in the evening with Bono, guitarist The Edge and Haitian singer Anaelle Jean-Pierre.
Emma Thompson noted the contrast between the Help Haiti event and other pre-awards-show parties.
“I’m here for awards season,” she said, “and this is the first night I’ve been having a good time.”
Source-AP
New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez in season doping ban
Baseball's highest paid star, Alex Rodriguez, has been suspended for the entire 2014 season in a doping scandal.
The ruling by arbitrator Fredric Horowitz means the New York Yankees slugger will lose more than $22m (£13m) for the games he is missing.
The 38-year-old is one of a few players who have been linked to a closed Florida clinic which allegedly supplied banned performing-enhancing drugs.
Rodriguez, popularly known as A-Rod, said he would fight to reverse the ban.
He attacked Saturday's ruling - in response to his appeal - as "one man's decision, that was not put before a fair and impartial jury, does not involve me having failed a single drug test, is at odds with the facts".
He added: "I have been clear that I did not use performance-enhancing substances as alleged... and in order to prove it I will take this fight to federal court."
The ban is the longest in the sport's history for doping and raises the possibility that Rodriguez - arguably baseball's biggest star - will not play again.
The Major League Baseball union, said it "strongly" disagreed with the ruling but recognised that "a final and binding decision has been reached".
Rodriguez was suspended last year along with 13 other players include the Texas Rangers' Nelson Cruz, Jhonny Peralta of the Detroit Tigers, and Everth Cabrera who plays with the San Diego Padres.
They each received a 50-game ban but Rodriguez was the only one to appeal.
They are the latest players to fall foul of the doping allegations which have plagued the sport.
Major League Baseball, the organisation governing the sport, has said Rodrigez's punishment was over "his use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including testosterone and human growth hormone, over the course of multiple years".
He was also accused of "attempting to cover up his violations" by obstructing the investigation.
The accusations against Rodriguez emerged from a major investigation into a shut Florida drug clinic, Biogenesis, that allegedly distributed performance-enhancing drugs to a number of professional baseball players.
Rodriguez was accused of interfering with the Major League Baseball investigation into Biogenesis, resulting in a harsher penalty, correspondents say.
He previously admitted using performance-enhancing drugs while playing for a Texas team between 2001-03, but had denied using steroids since.
He was named Most Valuable Player in baseball's American League three times.
The divorced father of two's earnings for 2013 were over $30m (£19.5m) according to Forbes.
Rodriguez has previously been romantically linked to a string of celebrities, including pop singer Madonna and actresses Kate Hudson and Cameron Diaz.
After years of inflated batting statistics - and arm muscles - during what has become known as baseball's "steroids era", the extent of doping in the sport was laid bare in a 2007 report by former Senator George Mitchell.
The sport subsequently strengthened its drug-testing policies and created an investigative branch to prosecute such offences.
Source-BBC