Kobe's minutes to be limited initially
Kobe Bryant was on the court for nearly every minute of the seven games he played last April before tearing his Achilles.
He'll be much scarcer when he makes his long-awaited return in the Los Angeles Lakers game against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.
"I don't think it's a magical number," Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said after practice Saturday when asked about a minute range for Bryant. "He's totally well and ready to go. I think he'll be limited by his wind and ability to be able to take the pounding. So, I would be surprised if more than in the twenties. It shouldn't be any more than that."
No matter how long Bryant plays, his impact will be felt, according to D'Antoni.
"He's a big piece," D'Antoni said. "When you throw that boulder in the water, there's going to be some ripples. Serious ripples."
Jodie Meeks will be the Lakers' player most immediately affected as he loses his starting spot at shooting guard to accommodate Bryant.
"I figured it was coming but I know for me personally, my role doesn't change," said Meeks, who is the Lakers' third-leading scorer this season with an average of 13.5 points per game on 50 percent shooting.
But among the biggest questions surrounding Bryant's return nearly eight months after he left the lineup is whether he can still produce like he did when he averaged 27.3 points and 6.0 assists a season ago.
"I don't think right to start with, but give him a month and then he should be back to those numbers," D'Antoni said.
The way he gets to those averages will be different for the former slam dunk contest champion, who was still throwing down some vintage dunks last season prior to injury, D'Antoni said.
"He's not going to be above the rim for awhile, which is fine," D'Antoni said. "There were some great players that played below the rim and he'll have to do that for a little bit. He'll control the game and his presence will be exemplary."
With Steve Nash (nerve root irritation) back at practice but ruled out Sunday, and Jordan Farmar expected to be sidelined another three weeks with a hamstring tear, Bryant, the fourth-highest scorer in league history, will be called upon to be a distributor.
"I think that's mostly what he'll do to start with," D'Antoni said. "Try to get his game, get in rhythm. He was doing that last year. The last 40 games that's what he did mostly -- six assists, seven assists. I expect the same thing."
D'Antoni said that after such a long layoff, the 35-year-old Bryant might not storm out of the gates.
"I think there will be some ups and downs," D'Antoni said. "Now, it's Kobe Bryant, so I don't know that. Anybody normal would have ups and downs. You might play well the first couple games then fall off a little bit or start off kind of slow and build your way up. So, it will be an adjustment period for him and also for us."
Outside of adjusting the starting lineup with Bryant for Meeks, D'Antoni will keep the rest of the first five intact.
Source-ESPN
WICB assures safety of West Indies Under 19 team in Bangladesh
The West Indies Cricket Board assures the public that all the players of the West Indies Under 19 squad and members of the Team Management on tour of Bangladesh are safe and not in danger.
An explosion occurred a short distance away from the team hotel in Chittagong on Saturday evening. The players and members of team management were not targeted and were not in any immediate danger as a result of the incident.
The WICB management has been in contact with Team Manager Altamont Solomon and will continue to receive regular briefings. The team gathered shortly after the incident and are safe at their team hotel and have been afforded additional security protection. The WICB is working with the Bangladesh Cricket Board to ensure the continued safety of the team. Further WICB Security Manager Paul Slowe will formally assess the situation and provide a report to the WICB.
The WICB thanks the BCB and Bangladeshi authorities for their efforts in hosting and providing security for the team. The WICB is contacting the parents and guardians of all the players and will provide further updates as necessary.
Liverpool 4 West Ham 1
Liverpool striker Luis Suarez may not have stolen the show in quite the way he did earlier in the week but his influence in the win at home to West Ham was just as significant.
It was the Uruguay international's shot which produced Guy Demel's own goal just before half-time, he won the free-kick from which Mamadou Sakho scored his first goal for the club and then added a late goal to calm the nerves after Martin Skrtel put past his own goalkeeper. He might even have laid claim to the fifth goal of the afternoon but the ball had taken a fateful deflection off Joey O'Brien.
Suarez could have had back-to-back hat-tricks after getting four in midweek against Norwich but in taking his tally to 26 in his last 25 league matches, including 10 in his last four home matches, he provided further proof — should it be needed — that he is central to the Reds' bid to regain Champions League status.
The only downside to the day was the sight of Steven Gerrard limping off injured midway through the second half, which prompted a period of uncertainty which was in danger of developing into a terminal decline until Suarez's late intervention. In the first half, even with playmaker Philippe Coutinho pulling the strings, often dropping very deep from his position behind the main striker, West Ham appeared to have worked out a way to stifle Liverpool's primary threat.
The visitors packed central areas with plenty of bodies and if nothing else that restricted the space in which Suarez had to move. But even that tactic cannot cut the Uruguay international entirely out of the game and that is why his standing in world football is matching his soaring valuation.
Having seen a left-footed chip drift wide the 26-year-old was a lively presence in and around the penalty area and had a shot from Gerrard's pass deflected wide before getting in the way of Jordan Henderson's effort after he cut in from the left.
That was symptomatic of the opening 40 minutes as Liverpool strained to create chances but none which could really be described as clear-cut. Raheem Sterling, who got a verbal rocket from Gerrard urging him to up his game and was frequently whistled at by manager Brendan Rodgers like a demented contestant on 'One Man and His Dog', provided plenty going forward but not nearly enough in the finishing department.
His pace on the diagonal run from the right started to open up the Hammers' defence — especially with Coutinho's weight of pass timed to perfection — but he lacked an end product and his scuffed shot having outpaced his opponents failed to trouble Jussi Jaaskelainen.
That task fell to Suarez, of course, whose angled shot just before the break was not held by the Finn and bounced into the path of Demel who diverted the ball back past his own goalkeeper. It was just the lucky break the home side needed after a first half of toil.
West Ham could feel slightly aggrieved as they had created the best chance when Modibo Maiga's header was brilliantly tipped over by Simon Mignolet.
They also saw Matt Jarvis' cross evade Mignolet and roll through the six-yard area after Johnson had given away possession to George McCartney. The goal forced the visitors to be more open after the break but only two minutes in they were further behind. James Tomkins went through the back of Suarez and Gerrard's free-kick picked out Sakho at the far post.
The France defender, making his first start since the November 2 defeat at Arsenal, completely fluffed his shot but did just enough to divert it goalwards and Collins could not keep it from crossing the line. All done and dusted, you would have thought, but soon after Liverpool lost Gerrard to injury as he raced down the inside-right channel.
West Ham drew confidence from a sharp reflex save by Jaaskelainen to deny Sterling's first-time effort and then were handed a way back into the game when Skrtel scored his second own goal in a week after turning Jarvis' header past Mignolet. That really cranked up the tension as the home side conceded the initiative and it was only wrested back thanks to Suarez.
Glen Johnson produced the perfect shot for the striker to head home at the far post and then smashed what would have been a second against O'Brien, across goal then home via the crossbar.
Uncharacteristically he squandered the chance of scoring another late goal after rounding Jaaskelainen with five minutes to go, instead running the ball out of play. He was obviously having an off-day.
Jay-Z Leads Nominations for 2014 Grammy Awards
The full nominations of the 2014 Grammy Awards have been announced. Jay-Z leads the pack with 9 nominations in various categories that include Best Rap Performance for his "Tom Ford", Best Rap Album for his chart-topping "Magna Carta... Holy Grail" and Best Rap Song for his collaboration with Justin Timberlake, "Holy Grail".
Meanwhile, Timberlake himself is set to battle against other musicians in 7 categories. He's up for awards like Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for his "Suit & Tie" and Best Pop Solo Performance for "Mirrors". Shockingly, his double album "The 20/20 Experience" and "The 20/20 Experience - 2 of 2" are not nominated for Album of the Year.
Instead, the prestigious category will feature a tough competition among Taylor Swift's "Red", Kendrick Lamar's "Good Kid, M.A.A.D City", Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories", Drake's "Nothing Was the Same", Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "The Heist" and Sara Bareilles' "The Blessed Unrest".
Swift's "Red" is also vying for Best Country Album award, while none of the album's mega hits like "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble" are nominated. However, the 23-year-old singer scores nominations in Best Country Duo/Group Performance for her collaboration with Keith Urban and Tim McGraw "Highway Don't Care" and Best Country Song for "Begin Again".
Other nominees include Lorde, whose breakthrough single "Royals" is up for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, Kacey Musgraves, Ed Sheeran, Robin Thicke, Rihanna, Lana Del Rey and Imagine Dragons.
The 26th Annual Grammy Awards will be aired live from Los Angeles' Staples Center on January 26, 2014. Fans can head to Grammy's official website to find out the full nominations.
Song of The Year:
"Just Give Me a Reason" - Pink
"Locked Out of Heaven" - Bruno Mars
"Roar" - Katy Perry
"Royals" - Lorde
"Same Love" - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Record of The Year:
"Get Lucky" - Daft Punk ft. Pharrell Williams
"Radioactive" - Imagine Dragons
"Royals" - Lorde
"Locked Out of Heaven" - Bruno Mars
"Blurred Lines" - Robin Thicke ft. T.I. and Pharrell Williams
Album of The Year:
"The Blessed Unrest" - Sara Bareilles
"Random Access Memories" - Daft Punk
"Good Kid, M.A.A.D City" - Kendrick Lamar
"The Heist" - Macklemore & cRyan
"Red" - Taylor Swift
Best New Artist:
James Blake
Kendrick Lamar
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Kacey Musgraves
Ed Sheeran
Pop Performance of the Year:
"Get Lucky" - Daft Punk & Pharrell Williams
"Just Give Me a Reason" - Pink ft. Nate Ruess
"Stay" - Rihanna
"Blurred Lines" - Robin Thicke
"Suit & Tie" - Justin Timberlake ft. Jay-Z
Country Album of the Year:
"Night Train" - Jason Aldean
"Two Lanes of Freedom" - Tim McGraw
"Same Trailer Different Park" - Kacey Musgraves
"Based on a True Story..." - Blake Shelton
"Red" - Taylor Swift
Rock Album of the Year:
"13" - Black Sabbath
"The Next Day" - David Bowie
"Mechanical Bull" - Kings of Leon
"Celebration Day" - Led Zeppelin
"...Like Clockwork" - Queens Of The Stone Age
"Psychedelic Pill" - Neil Young and Crazy Horse
R&B Album of the Year: :
"R&B Divas" - Faith Evans
"Girl On Fire" - Alicia Keys
"Love In The Future" - John Legend
"Better" - Chrisette Michele
"...Like Clockwork" - Queens Of The Stone Age
"3 Kings" - TGT
Rap Album of the Year:
"Nothing Was The Same" - Drake
"Magna Carta... Holy Grail" - Jay-Z
"Good Kid, M.A.A.D City" - Kendrick Lamar
"The Heist" - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
"Yeezus" - Kanye West
Beres & Sizzla nominated for Grammy awards
Reggae Crooner Beres Hammond last night earned his second ever nomination for a Reggae Grammy when his album One Love, One Life received the nod for Best Reggae Album for 2014.
Hammond previously received a nomination for his album Music Is Life which was released in 2001. One Love, One Life was released by VP records earlier.
Also earning a nomination for Best Reggae Album were Sly & Robbie and the Jam Masters for Reggae Connection; Sizzla with his project Messiah; Ziggy Marley for Ziggy Marley in Concert and Snoop Lion, also known as Snoop Dog and Snoop Zilla for his project Reincarnated.
Messiah is the first ever nomination for Sizzla who released this latest work on VP Records this year. The Rastafarian who has been recording albums from as early as 1995, has so far released in excess of 30 projects.
Bruce Lee: Yellow jumpsuit sells for $100,000
The yellow jumpsuit worn by martial arts film star Bruce Lee in his final film has sold for $100,000 (£61,000) at an auction in Hong Kong.
The polyester black-striped garment still has a zip damaged in a fight scene, auction house Spink said.
Lee died in 1973, aged 32, before final film Game of Death was completed.
The jumpsuit, which made three times its estimate, was part of a collection of Lee memorabilia which fetched $258,000 (£157,000).
Other items that were snapped up included the star's nunchaku - a pair of wooden lacquered sticks connected by a length of cord - one of the prop weapons used by Lee in his final screen outing.
They were designed to match his yellow jumpsuit.
British collector George Phillips successfully bid $70,000 (£42,700) for the nunchaku, calling it an "iconic item".
A green bamboo stick used by the star was another item of martial arts weaponry which sold at the auction.
Another auction of props from the Lord of the Rings trilogy took place in California, making a total haul estimated at more than $1 million (£611,325).
The item which attracted the biggest bid was a double-headed axe used by dwarf character Gimli, which made $180,000 (£110,000).
That was followed by a Hobbit-sixed sword used by Frodo, played by Elijah Wood, which fetched $156,000 (£95,365).
The haul was derived from a private collection, second only in size to Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson's own official archive, according to auction house Julien's.
Completing the auction action was the sale of singer Bruce Springsteen's handwritten draft of his 1975 hit song Born to Run.
A lyric draft, made a year previously, sold for $197,000 (£120,430) at Sotheby's in New York.
Most of the work on the draft was unpublished and unrecorded, but contains "a nearly perfected chorus", according to the auction house.
Written on a sheet of ruled notepaper in blue ink, the manuscript contains some "enigmatic" margin notes, with words including "angel" and "velocity".
Bob Dylan's Fender Stratocaster sells for nearly $1m
The electric guitar played by Bob Dylan at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival has been sold at auction in New York for a record $965,000 (£591,000).
The Fender Stratocaster had been in the possession of a New Jersey family for 48 years after he left it on a plane.
The pilot's daughter had it authenticated on a television programme on US broadcaster PBS.
The festival in Newport, Rhode Island, is often cited as the performance where Dylan "went electric".
Dylan's move "changed the structure of folk music", Newport Folk Festival founder George Wein, 88, told the Associated Press news agency.
"The minute Dylan went electric, all these young people said, 'Bobby's going electric. We're going electric, too.'"
But at the time, the three-song set drew boos from the crowd, who had come expecting Dylan's traditional acoustic folk performance.
Dawn Peterson said on the PBS programme History Detectives that her father, the private plane's pilot, asked Dylan's management firm what to do with the guitar but nobody ever got back to him.
Experts matched the wood grain on the instrument with a close-up colour photo taken during Dylan's set at the festival.
Recently, Dylan and Ms Peterson quietly settled a legal dispute over the instrument. Details of the settlement are not known.
Auction house Christie's had estimated the guitar would sell for $300,000-$500,000. The buyer has not been identified.
The previous record for a guitar sold at auction was a Fender owned by Eric Clapton, nicknamed "Blackie", which sold at Christie's for $959,500 in 2004.
Jazz pianist dies at the age of 86
Celebrated British jazz pianist Stan Tracey has died aged 86, his family have confirmed.
Tracey, who had a career spanning 70 years, was widely acknowledged as one of the greats in his field.
The Londoner was resident pianist at Ronnie Scott's jazz club from 1959-66 and made numerous recordings.
He also received a host of awards during his career, including the first Ivor Novello award for jazz in 2012. Tracey was awarded an OBE in 1986.
He became a CBE in the 2008 New Year Honours list.
The musician was also awarded a lifetime achievement award at the BBC Jazz Awards in 2002 and made appearances on Later... With Jools Holland.
Jazz artist Jamie Cullum said on Twitter: "He played like a demon right up until his last days on earth as an Eightysomething."
Alyn Shipton, presenter of BBC Radio 3's Jazz Record Requests, called Tracey "a towering figure in British jazz".
"He showed back in the 1960s that British themes could make a great basis for improvised jazz with his Under Milk Wood Suite, inspired by Dylan Thomas," he continued.
"His very latest work, the Flying Pig was inspired by the humour of British soldiers in the trenches in World War One, and it's a remarkable composing career, to have such acclaimed works from either end of a 50 year span.
"He'll be sorely missed," he added.
Source-BBC
WTO agrees global trade deal worth $1tn
Ministers from 159 countries have reached a deal intended to boost global trade at a meeting in Bali, Indonesia.
The World Trade Organization's first comprehensive agreement involves an effort to simplify the procedures for doing business across borders.
There will also be improved duty-free access for goods sold by the world's poorest countries.
The deal, which could add about $1tn to world trade, gives developing nations more scope to increase farm subsidies.
"For the first time in our history, the WTO has truly delivered," said WTO chief Roberto Azevedo, as the organisation reached its first comprehensive agreement since it was founded in 1995.
"This time the entire membership came together. We have put the 'world' back in World Trade Organization," he said.
Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan said the deal would "benefit all WTO members".
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said the "historic" agreement could be a "lifeline" for the world's poorest people, as well as benefiting British businesses to the tune of more than $1bn (£600m).
However, the package was criticised by some development campaigners who said it was not going far enough.
It is worth spelling out something what is not covered by this - tariffs or taxes on imported goods.
Dealing with them has been the bread butter of past trade rounds - but not for this deal.
The core of this agreement is what is called trade facilitation. This is about reducing the costs and delays involved in international trade. It is often described as "cutting red tape".
Some analysts suggest the benefits could be large. An influential Washington think tank has put the potential gains to the world economy at close to $1tn and 20m million jobs.
It also estimates the cost of administrative barrier as double the cost of tariffs.
The rich countries have agreed to help the poorer WTO members with implementing this agreement.
Another important aspect of the Bali package is about enabling poor countries to sell their goods more easily. This part is about tariffs, and also quota limits on imports.
Rich countries and the more advanced developing countries have agreed to cut tariffs on products from the poorest nations.
EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht told the BBC that if the poorest nations "have more trading capacity it will also result in more investment in logistics and infrastructure".
But campaigners describe the plan as weak.
Nick Dearden of the World Development Movement said: "If the US and EU really wanted to tackle global poverty, they would have made the least-developed-countries package much stronger."
Source-BBC
Russia-Ukraine 'closer on gas price' after Sochi talks
Russia says differences with Ukraine on reducing the price of Russian gas have been narrowed after talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the talks would continue at a later date.
Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had been expected to debate Kiev joining a Moscow-led customs union.
But both Russia and Ukraine said the issue had not been discussed.
Street protests have continued in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, where a new call was made for the resignation of the government.
Last month Mr Yanukovych shelved a partnership deal with the EU, triggering angry protests in Ukraine's capital Kiev.
Russia was unhappy with the deal and Mr Putin has been urging Ukraine to join a Russian customs union with Belarus and Kazakhstan.
The two neighbours have also been trying to resolve a long-running dispute over energy supplies.
Ukraine depends on imports of Russian gas, but the supplier, Gazprom, has recently complained that Kiev had fallen behind in payments.
Disputes over supplies to Ukraine before 2009 saw Gazprom temporarily cutting off supplies.
Pipelines passing through Ukraine also pump Russian gas to many EU member states.
Mr Peskov told Interfax news agency that "great attention [had] been devoted to the co-operation in the energy sphere".
"Both sides narrowed the gap between their positions as a result of the discussion," he said. "However, no final agreement has been reached."
The issue of Ukraine joining the customs union was not discussed during the meeting in Sochi, according to both Mr Peskov and a statement from Mr Yanukovych's office.
Correspondents had earlier speculated that an agreement on Ukraine joining the customs union might be reached in return for reduced energy prices.
Many Ukrainians were furious that Mr Yanukovych refused to sign the association agreement with the EU, which had followed years of negotiations.
On Saturday, several thousand supporters of the EU deal braved snow and swirling winds as they maintained control of Kiev's Independence Square for the seventh successive day.
Protest organisers say they expect up to 300,000 people to turn out on Sunday for fresh demonstrations.
Protest leaders have set out three conditions for any negotiations with President Yanukovych: the resignation of his government, the release of protesters arrested during clashes in Kiev and the punishment of those responsible for beating demonstrators.
Source-BBC