Kobe Bryant expected to miss six weeks play
Kobe Bryant will be out for six weeks after suffering a fractured lateral tibial plateau in his left knee.
If Bryant misses exactly six weeks, he will be sidelined for Los Angeles Lakers’ next 21 games with an expected return date in the last week of January.
The 35-year-old Bryant has appeared in only six games this season after rehabilitating from a torn left Achilles tendon that ended his 2012-2013 season in mid-April.
He made his season debut on December 8 against the Raptors, just 11 days ago.
The 15-time All-Star guard is averaging 13.8 points, 6.3 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 5.7 turnovers in 29.5 minutes this season.
The injury occurred during the Laker’s 96-92 victory over Memphis on Tuesday.
New Zealand fighting for the advantage against Windies
West Indies frustrated New Zealand with bat and ball but Ross Taylor’s unbeaten half-century helped to steer the Black Caps to safety on the second day of the third Test at Seddon Park Hamilton, here on Friday.
Taylor is undefeated on 56 and Kane Williamson was bowled by Sunil Narine for 58 as New Zealand closed the day on 156 for three, in reply to West Indies 367 all out, highlighted by centuries from Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Denesh Ramdin.
Taylor and Williamson added 95 to ease some of New Zealand’s pressure after their openers went cheaply on a slow wicket.
The Black Caps needed the stand after West Indies captain Darren Sammy celebrated his 30th birthday by pulling off two brilliant catches to reduce them to 43-2.
Opening the bowling, he stooped on his follow-through to pick up a low return catch to remove Hamish Rutherford and then used his sharp reflexes at leg slip to dispose of Peter Fulton.
Narine posed the biggest threat, occasionally bamboozling both Williamson and Taylor with his variations including the use of the carrom ball across the right-handers from round the wicket.
He trapped Williamson lbw for 58 before stumps after review upheld the decision by umpire Nigel Llong.
Taylor himself survived an early lbw shout that was referred to the third umpire and Brendon McCullum was with him on 11 at the end.
Earlier, the tourists added 60 runs for the final two wickets after Chanderpaul scored his 29th test century and later took their score beyond 350.
Suarez signs new contract with Liverpool
Luis Suarez has signed a new long-term contract with top English Premier League team Liverpool.
The 26-year-old Uruguayan is the top scorer in the League this season with 17 goals in 11 starts.
Suarez says he believes he "can achieve the ambitions of winning trophies and playing at the very highest level with Liverpool. My aim is to help get us there as quickly as possible."
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers says "Luis is a world-class talent and securing his services is crucial for what we are trying to achieve here."
Liverpool is second in the Premier League, two points behind Arsenal.
In April, Suarez received a 10-match ban for biting an opponent on the arm.
Blackberry and Foxconn agree a five-year deal
Struggling smartphone maker Blackberry has agreed a five-year deal with Foxconn, the big Taiwan-based maker of electronic products and components.
The two companies will initially work on the development of a new smartphone.
Blackberry also announced on Friday a third-quarter loss of $4.4bn (£2.7bn), including a big write-down of assets.
The firm once dominated the smartphone market, but has seen its fortunes fall in recent years and last month abandoned an attempt to find a buyer.
Blackberry recently appointed an interim chief executive, John Chen, following the collapse of a planned sale to its biggest shareholder, Fairfax Financial Holdings.
"It's an absolutely essential deal for Blackberry," Ben Wood, mobile analyst at research firm CCS Insight, told the BBC.
"Foxconn gives them the scale they need to be competitive, particularly in the Far Eastern markets, such as Indonesia - Blackberry's biggest market."
Blackberry has been hit by the success and popularity of smartphones launched by rivals such as Apple and Samsun Its attempts to boost its market share have not yielded the desired results.
"This partnership demonstrates BlackBerry's commitment to the device market for the long-term and our determination to remain the innovation leader in secure end-to-end mobile solutions," said Mr Chen.
"Partnering with Foxconn allows BlackBerry to focus on what we do best - iconic design, world-class security, software development and enterprise mobility management - while simultaneously addressing fast-growing markets leveraging Foxconn's scale and efficiency that will allow us to compete more effectively."
Foxconn is the world's largest manufacturer of electronic products and components, and already has extensive links with Apple as the maker of the iPad and iPhone.
Meanwhile, Blackberry's quarterly results continue to underline the company's struggle to regain financial stability. Excluding the one-time items and write downs, the loss was $354m.
Revenue fell to $1.19bn from $2.73bn as increased uncertainty about the company's fate led to further sales erosion.
A new line of devices that run on BlackBerry 10 software has failed to win back market share.
France takes Bermuda off tax blacklist
France has removed Bermuda from its tax blacklist, Finance Minister Bob Richards said today.
The move came after high-level talks between French officials and Finance Ministry staff.
Mr Richards said: “I was impressed by the goodwill shown by French officials in working with Bermuda officials to resolve the matter before the end of the year.
“We were confident that any entry on France’s list would be very short-lived as Bermuda is globally recognised as complying with the highest international standards on tax transparency and compliance.”
And he thanked Governor George Fergusson and UK Treasury staff, including Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, for their backing for Bermuda’s bid to be delisted by the French.
Bermuda — alongside Jersey and the British Virgin Islands — were added to the French hit list of jurisdictions labelled as uncooperative by the French authorities in August.
The move meant that the French could impose a 75 percent withholding tax on French money coming to Bermuda.
Jersey has also been removed from the French blacklist for 2014.
The French Ministry of Finance said “jersey and Bermuda have been informed that they will be removed from the list for 2014, which means that the retaliation measures provided for by law will not be applied.”
Source-Royal Gazette
Trade between the DR & Haiti: US$1.1B formal; US$900.0M informal
Dominican Republic’s and trade with Haiti of around US$2.0 billion per year is split nearly evenly at US$1.1 billion formal and US$900.0 million informal, Industry and Commerce minister Jose del Castillo revealed Thursday.
Speaking at a luncheon for journalists and media executives, the official said the country’s capacity-building efforts continued throughout 2013, for its successful foray into markets abroad, through training for the various local industries, both big and small.
Accompanying del Castillo in the holiday luncheon were Deputy minister for MSEs Ignacio Méndez, and Yahaira Sosa, Deputy minister for Foreign Trade, among others.
BAE shares fall on setbacks over Middle East fighter jet sales
Shares in BAE Systems fell 4.5% after the UK's biggest manufacturer suffered setbacks over fighter jet sales in the Middle East.
News that a deal to sell 60 Eurofighter Typhoon jets to the United Arab Emirates had collapsed were compounded by fears over a deal with Saudi Arabia.
Talks to extend an existing Saudi deal have stalled, according to reports.
As US and European defence budgets are cut, arms firms are looking to the Middle East to maintain order books.
The double blow sent BAE shares down 4.6% in afternoon trading, making it the worst performer in the FTSE 100.
"The UAE have advised that they have elected not to proceed with these proposals at this time," BAE said in a statement.
BAE added that it had not priced the UAE deal into its financial assumptions. "All parties have invested significant effort in drawing up Typhoon proposals for the UAE and, recognising the risk, scale and complexity of such a transaction, the group had not built this prospect into its planning assumptions," the company said.
However, analysts said that there was an expectation that the deal, worth up to £5bn, appeared close to being signed, especially as prime minister David Cameron had visited the UAE during last month's Dubai Air Show.
BAE also said it had yet to reach a "definitive agreement" on a a contract to upgrade an existing contract to sell 72 fighter jets with Saudi Arabia.
Under the 2007 Salaam contract, Saudi agreed to buy 72 Typhoon jets for about £4.5bn, but the two sides have been in protracted talks about upgrading the aircraft and expanding support and maintenance.
BAE's chief executive Ian King said in August that winning the UAE deal could be a "major game changer" for the company and the order, along with the expanded Saudi contract, could help stretch its Typhoon production line by four years to 2022.
The company has said that should the Saudi deal fail to be completed this year, it could hit its earnings per share by 6p-7p for 2013.
"The combined news is certainly negative for BAE," RBC Capital Markets analyst Rob Stallard said. "But Salaam could potentially prove the more worrying piece of news as its continued delay may spook investors into worrying that negotiations are not achieving any real progress."
Source-BBC
Rupert Murdoch's media company NewsCorp has bought Irish "social for $25 million (£15.3m).
Rupert Murdoch's media company NewsCorp has bought Storyful, an Irish "social media news agency".
The Dublin-based firm has been acquired for $25 million (£15.3m).
Storyful specialises in licensing and distributing social media content to major news organisations such as the Wall Street Journal and BBC.
"We believe that journalism in the age of social media needs to be open, innovative and collaborative," Storyful founder Mark Little said.
Mr Little set up the company in 2010. He had previously been a presenter on Irish TV network RTE.
Storyful's business is in verifying online video authenticity, and also licenses usage rights to broadcasters for popular viral video.
The company will remain at its current location in Dublin, and will act as a standalone company.
Robert Thomson, chief executive of News Corp, added: "Storyful has become the village square for valuable video, using journalistic sensibility, integrity and creativity to find, authenticate and commercialise user-generated content."
Theatreland shocked by West End 'tragedy
Leading lights of London's Theatreland have been "rocked and shocked" by the ceiling collapse at a West End theatre that left dozens of people injured.
Several heard the news as they left the opening night of Stephen Ward, the new musical from Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Sir Richard Eyre, the show's director and a former director of the National Theatre, said the news was "frightening and shocking and disturbing".
"It's a terrible thing to happen in a theatre," he told the BBC News website.
Musicals star Elaine Paige said the audience at the Aldwych Theatre were "rocked and shocked" to learn what had happened around a mile away.
"It was a tragic and shocking thing to hear," said the actress and broadcaster. "Clearly there's been a tragedy over there tonight."
Her sentiments were echoed by theatre producer Robert Fox, who said it was "a very shocking thing to happen and incredibly sad".
"I just hope no-one has been killed and that people will be okay," he told the BBC.
Fellow producer Bill Kenwright said he was "shocked" by the news, while choreographer and former Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene Phillips said the news was "shocking and surreal".
In a statement on Friday morning, the Society of London Theatre (Solt) praised the emergency services and theatre staff for their "professional and compassionate" handling of the situation.
"At a meeting today all the major theatre owners have confirmed that their safety inspections and certificates are up to date, and will co-operate fully with the authorities to reassure the public that their theatres are safe. All other London theatres remain open for business today and in the coming weeks," it said.
"The exact cause of the incident is still being investigated and the theatre owners, Nimax, are working closely with the relevant authorities to establish exactly what happened.
"Our theatres entertain over 32,000 people in central London every night and all theatres take the safety of their audience, performers and staff very seriously. Every theatre undergoes rigorous safety checks and inspections by independent experts, and incidents like last night are extremely rare."
The incident took place during a performance of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, an adaptation of the Mark Haddon novel that was originally presented at the National Theatre.
Sir Nicholas Hytner, director of the National, was at the Aldwych to see Stephen Ward and left immediately afterwards, as did Nimax Theatres co-owner Nica Burns.
Performances of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time have been cancelled until 4 January.
In a message on Twitter, Haddon said it had been "horrifying" watching the events unfold and that he was "hugely relieved" there had been no fatalities reported.
"I hope that those who were seriously injured are OK," he continued. "I'm sorry, too, that so many people went through such a terrifying experience."
The actor David Suchet also took to Twitter to express his dismay. "What a tragedy," he wrote. "My thoughts are with all those who are hurt and injured."
Eyewitnesses heard a "crackling" noise before the collapse at about 20:15 GMT. Theatre-goers left covered in debris and 51 people were taken to hospital.
First opened in 1901, the Apollo is a Grade II listed building that seats 775 people across four levels.
Source-BBC with additional reporting by BBC entertainment correspondent Tim Masters.
Clint Eastwood Refuses to Pay Spousal Support for Dina
Clint Eastwood's divorce from ex-wife Dina has turned ugly, according to a new court document. He has filed a response to Dina's divorce papers, saying he refused to pay spousal support and asked her to pay for her own legal fees.
Dina filed for divorce in Monterey County Superior Court in Carmel, California back in October. She cited "irreconcilable differences", sought full physical and joint legal custody of their minor daughter, 16-year-old Morgan, and asked for spousal support and attorney fees to be paid by her estranged husband.
Clint is reportedly worth $350 million but he refused to share it with his wife of 17 years. The acting legend revealed in his response that they secretly separated more than a year ago, on June 2, 2012. The date would be crucial in determining the earnings Clint made during that time should they go on a legal war.
In Dina's filing, she stated that they have a prenuptial agreement but the property rights are still "to be determined". Clint's response, which was obtained by Radar Online, indicated that there was indeed a prenuptial agreement.
Clint and Dina got married in 1996 after meeting during a TV interview where she was the host. Clint was previously married to Maggie Johnson and had two children with her. He has four other children from previous relationships.
Source-Ace.Showbiz