Clippers pull away from Bobcats
Blake Griffin scored 13 of his 31 points in the final 7:05 and Jared Dudley got 11 of his 20 points in the third quarter, leading the Los Angeles Clippers to a 112-85 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Wednesday night.
Dudley faced his second former team in two games, making seven of 10 shots against the club that selected him with their first pick in 2007 and traded him to Phoenix after one season. He had nine points against the Suns on Monday in the Clippers' 107-88 loss.
Chris Paul had 17 points and 14 assists for the defending Pacific Division champions, who beat the Bobcats for the sixth straight time and sent them to their 17th straight road loss against Western Conference opponents.
Source-USA Today
Helicopter Rescue Delayed for Stranded Antarctic Ship
The latest attempt to rescue dozens of passengers stranded aboard a Russian research ship stuck in the Antarctic ice has been delayed.
A helicopter had been expected Thursday to evacuate the passengers, 12 at a time, from the MV Akademik Shokalskiy, which has now been stuck for over a week.
However, Australian authorities said sea ice is preventing a barge from reaching one of the rescue vessels where the passengers were to have been temporarily dropped.
Blizzard conditions hampered previous attempts to evacuate the passengers by helicopter. Icebreaker ships from China, Australia, and France have also failed to reach the Russian vessel.
Seventy-four scientists, tourists and crew members are on board the MV Akademik Shokalskiy, which has weeks of supplies and is in no danger of sinking.
Most of the 22-member Russian crew are expected to stay behind and wait for the ice to break up naturally.
The Russian ship, which left New Zealand on November 28, was trying to recreate Australian explorer Douglas Mawson's century-old voyage to Antarctica.
Source-Voice Of America
Oil spill spreading north, says Aboud
The Gulf of Paria will become a toxic dead zone if thick crude is not vacuumed from the ocean floor before Petrotrin begins its underwater seismic surveys, president of Fishermen and Friends of the Sea Gary Aboud warned yesterday. Aboud made the claim as he accused Petrotrin of trying to cover up the magnitude of the massive oil spill which has wreaked havoc on plant, human and marine life along the south-western peninsula since December 21.
The 11 oil spills, some of which Petrotrin officials suspect are acts of sabotage, have started spreading to the Oropouche mangroves, Aboud said yesterday. He explained that fishermen as far as Cocorite have recently been picking up oil on their fishing spools.
Saying the oil slick was now moving northwards, Aboud called on Petrotrin to immediately stop all seismic surveys in the Gulf until all the oil is cleaned from the ocean floor. Explaining the movement of the tidal currents, Aboud said the water flows in a circular clockwise and anti-clockwise manner. “This is called a gyre. It appears now that oil is coming into Otaheite and also into the Oropouche mangroves,” he said.
A gyre in oceanography is any large system of rotating ocean currents, particularly those involved with large wind movements. Aboud explained that on Old Year’s Night, seven fishermen from Cocorite reported that oil and tar caught on their spools while they were banking. “We knew this was going to happen,” he said.
“We are not trying to cause a panic, but when you are trawling, you have a net dragging at the bottom of the ocean. Trawling is also used when there is a line in water floating at a specific distance. Sometimes a fisherman will use a metal spool with a hook. This is called towing and many people who are towing say there is thick oil on the seabed.” He said the chemicals used by Petrotrin in the clean-up operations had caused the oil to sink.
“We have asked Petrotrin what kind of dispersant they are using and we are yet to get an answer. With the battering of the waves, the oil will coagulate and sink,” Aboud said. “It is will stifle marine life. The gulf could become a dead zone if they don’t clear the oil that has sunk.” He claimed that Petrotrin was starved of crude for its refinery and this was why the company was insisting that it wanted to begin its Ocean Bottom Cable (OBC) seismic survey.
He also said his team was keeping a close eye on the seismic ship to ensure that surveys are not executed. “If they attempt to do any seismic testing we will have to take whatever action is necessary to protect plant and marine life. Fishing is our livelihood,” Aboud said. Meanwhile, Petrotrin, in a statement, said there is no conclusive scientific evidence that the survey will have a negative impact on fisheries.
Petrotrin said the survey, which will be conducted in Petrotrin’s Trinmar and North Marine Areas in the Gulf of Paria, once started will continue for five months, with operations taking place continuously 24 hours per day. The oil company assured that the technology will utilise the discharge of compressed air to generate pulses for recording and no explosives will be used.
Source- The Guardian Media
'2013 was not good year for Caribbean' according to IDB
The Inter American Development Bank (IDB) says 2013 has been marked by an external context that did not encourage a strong economic performance in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The IDB said that the high degree of volatility that rattled international financial markets and the fall in prices for basic goods took a toll on the region’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth, which averaged 2.7 per cent. It said that in 2014, the growth forecast for the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole is three per cent.
“A less favourable external environment, along with weak external demand over the mid-term and latent risks in international financial markets, will require the region to accelerate growth without depending on the external conditions that helped us in the past decade,” IDB president Luis Alberto Moreno said in his year-end report to the bank’s board of executive directors.
“Therefore, our priority is to increase potential output over the medium term through reforms focusing on bottlenecks that are restricting growth in productivity, internal savings and investment,” Moreno added.
'Fresh Prince of Bel Air' actor James Avery dies
The American actor James Avery has died aged 65, his publicist has said.
He was best known for his role as Phil Banks in US television series The Fresh Prince of Bel Air with Will Smith.
His fellow cast member in the show Alfonso Ribeiro, who played his son Carlton, tweeted: "I'm deeply saddened to say that James Avery has passed away.
"He was a second father to me. I will miss him greatly."
The actor appeared in a number of films and TV shows including Gray's Anatomy and Star Trek: Enterprise.
He hosted TV programme Going Places, and provided voice-overs in animated TV series Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Iron Man.
James Avery died following complications from open-heart surgery.
But he was best known for his portrayal of the judge and patriarch 'Uncle Phil' in 1990s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
He appeared in 141 episodes of the programme alongside his on-screen nephew, Will Smith, and was reunited with most of the cast at a charity event two years ago.
Avery's publicist, Cynthia Snyder, told The Associated Press that Avery died on Tuesday in Glendale, California, following complications from open-heart surgery.
Avery served in Vietnam in the US Navy from 1968 to 1969, before he began writing TV scripts and poetry for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).
He is survived by his wife of 26 years, Barbara, his mother, Florence Avery, and his step-son, Kevin Waters.
Avery had been working until September this year on the Zach Braff film Wish I Was Here, which will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival later this month.
Ms Snyder said plans were being made for a memorial service.
Fiat agrees to buy up rest of Chrysler
The Italian motors giant Fiat has agreed to buy the remaining 41% of Chrysler it does not own in a move that will create the world's seventh-largest car company.
Fiat has owned a majority stake in the US company since 2009.
The agreement ends long negotiations with the current owners, Veba, the healthcare trust affiliated to the United Auto Workers' union (UAW).
Chrysler and Fiat will pay the trust an initial $3.65bn (£2.2bn).
Once the deal is signed off, Chrysler will pay Fiat another $700m.
Fiat's chief executive, Sergio Marchionne, plans to widen the company's global reach.
The Veba trust looks after medical benefits for 117,000 retired Chrysler workers and their dependents.
Robert Naftaly, chair of the committee that governs the trust said: "This agreement is in the best interests of the trust's UAW Chrysler retiree members and their families who rely on the trust to provide vital health care benefits."
The alliance between the two companies came amid the major restructuring of the US car industry following the financial crisis of the late 2000s.
Hyundai and Kia shares hit by sales forecast
Shares of Hyundai and affiliate Kia Motors have dipped more than 4% after the carmakers issued their weakest growth forecast in nearly a decade.
Their combined sales are expected to grow by 4% to 7.86 million vehicles in 2014.
The outlook is lower than the 6.2% growth posted by the two firms in 2013.
The forecast comes amid increased competition from Japanese rivals who have benefited from a sharp decline in the yen's value in recent months.
The Japanese currency fell nearly 20% against the US dollar in 2013. A weaker yen makes Japanese goods more affordable for foreign buyers.
At the same time, the South Korean won has strengthened in recently - making South Korean cars more expensive for foreign buyers and negating some of the price advantage the firms had enjoyed in recent years.
The won has risen nearly 10% against the US dollar since June last year.
To add to Hyundai and Kia's woes, they have also been facing increased competition in the US from resurgent domestic carmakers Ford and General Motors.
That has seen their growth in the US - one of their biggest markets - slow.
Hyundai chairman Chung Mong-koo said: "Competition among companies is intensifying, as the global economy has entered an era of low growth".
Hyundai has also been hurt in recent months by a series of strikes by staff over pay, which resulted in fewer vehicles being produced at its South Korean factories.
'Injuries in Kenya grenade attack'
At least 10 people have been injured in a grenade attack at a Kenyan tourist resort south of the port city of Mombasa, say police.
Attackers hurled the device into a bar in the Diani area late in the night.
"We had an explosion at the bar and about 10 people were injured," said local police chief Jack Ekakuro, quoted in local media.
The injured are said to be in a stable condition and have been taken to hospital.
Source-BBC
Appeal for information into Robbery/Murder case by TCI Police
The Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force (RTCIPF) continue to appeal to the public for any information as they continue their investigation into the fatal shooting of 34-year-old Jocelin Odisse of Leeward Highway, Providenciales. The RTCIPF is now releasing the name of the deceased after notifying his next of kin. Odisse was fatally shot when three gunmen robbed a business place of a sum of cash on Tuesday December 31, 2013.
The RTCIPF are sparing no effort to ensure that justice is served and are doing everything within their powers to ensure that the persons responsible for this dreadful act are brought to justice.
Commissioner of Police Mr. Colin Farquhar wishes to reassure the public that the RTCIPF are working tirelessly to ensure the safety and security of the Turks and Caicos Islands during this busy time of year.
Persons who may have information about this incident and wish not to be identified are being urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 8477 or use the Crime Stoppers website www.crimestoppers.tc. Information you provide will be treated in the strictest of confidence. Tips can also be submitted anonymously in English, French or Spanish. We remind people they should not report crime information via our Facebook and Twitter pages.
Bomb at New Year's Eve Party Kills 6 in the Phillipines
A bombing at a New Year's Eve party on a southern Philippine island has killed six people and wounded at least six others.
The Philippine military said an improvised explosive device was used in the attack, which hit the town of Sumisip, on Basilan island.
There has been no claim of responsibility and the motive for the attack is not known.
Militant Islamic groups, including the notorious Abu Sayyaf group, which has links to al-Qaida, are known to operate on the island.
Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for a wave of bomb attacks, kidnappings and beheadings in the southern Philippines.
The group has been fractured by a government anti-terror campaign in recent years, but continues to carry out attacks.