Toni Braxton and Babyface Debut 'Hurt You' Music Video
Tony Braxton and Babyface have released the music video for their collaboration, "Hurt You". Directed by Ray Kay, the four-minute visuals is simple and a perfect representation of the track, which tells about the hardships of being in a relationship.
The touching clip opens with the two singers singing the ballad in two different rooms, which are separated by a wall. They eventually manage to break the wall and express their desire to start all over again.
Co-written by Braxton, Babyface, Daryl Simmons and Antonio Dixon, "Hurt You" serves as the first single off the former two's collaborative album, "Love, Marriage, Divorce". The record is scheduled to arrive on November 25 via Motown.
"I think because Babyface and I have both gone through divorces, we can relate and we can collaborate together on this topic and make it so others who have gone through this situation can relate," Braxton recently told a Los Angeles radio station of working with Babyface for the forthcoming album.
Braxton and Babyface are not strangers to working together. They teamed up for "Give U My Heart", 1992's song which also served as the soundtrack to film "Boomerang". They reunited again for Braxtons' hits that included "Breathe Again" and "Another Sad Love Song".
Jamie Foxx Reportedly Playing MLK In Oliver Stone Directed Biopic
Academy Award winning actor Jamie Foxx may be taking on the most significant role of his career. According to The Wrap, Foxx is being considered to play civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in a film directed by Oliver Stone.
The DreamWorks/Warner Brothers production will present MLK’s life going from a Atlanta preacher to national figure to his 1968 assassination. King’s children, Dexter King, Bernice King and Martin Luther King III, are reportedly on board as executive producers. Steven Spielberg is also attached as a producer.
The script was written by Kario Salem (The Score, Chasing Mavericks). Salem’s screenplay is based on three years of research and interviews.
Several other MLK biopics have been in the works over the years, but the DreamWorks film is the only one endorsed by the King family.
Katy Perry and Ron Burgundy to appear at MTV EMAs
Katy Perry will perform at this year's MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs).
The American singer will play her new single Unconditionally at the ceremony, which takes place at Amsterdam's Ziggo Dome on 10 November.
The track is the second single taken from her new album Prism.
Will Ferrell will also make an appearance as fictional newsreader Ron Burgundy from The Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues at the awards show next month.
He will make several news reports from around the Dutch capital during the ceremony.
The sequel to the 2004 original Anchorman film is released in UK cinemas on 20 December.
The bookings are said to be part of MTV's plans to attract a larger American audience for the event.
As well as performing, 28-year-old Perry has been nominated in two categories including best female artist.
Other artists named in two EMA categories include Rihanna, Eminem, Jay Z, Bastille, The Killers, Rita Ora, Drake, Avicii, Calvin Harris and Iggy Azalea.
Justin Timberlake and duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis lead the nominations this year, both getting five nods.
Timberlake's nominations include best male artist while Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are up for best song for Thrift Shop and best hip-hop act
They will go head-to-head with Timberlake for best US act.
Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke are all up for four awards.
Cyrus' nominations include best pop and US act, while Justin Bieber is also up for best pop, male, biggest fans and Canadian act.
Robin Thicke, who headlined 1Xtra Live in Liverpool earlier this week, is nominated for best song for Blurred Lines, US Act and world stage award for a performance in Malaysia earlier this month.
Lady Gaga is named in the best look and biggest fans categories.
One Direction's Harry Styles is also on the shortlist for best look.
Music tourism 'boosts UK's economy by £2.2bn a year'
Tourists going to concerts and festivals are boosting the UK economy by as much as £2.2 billion a year.
Music tourism is also said to provide 24,000 jobs each year, a report by VisitBritain and UK Music shows.
Spending by people from the UK and abroad was worth £1.3 billion last year.
That includes buying tickets and paying for transport and accommodation plus other indirect spending, which adds another £914 million.
VisitBritain says nearly half of the average live music audience is made up of tourists, with visitors from abroad spending an average of £910 while attending festivals and £602 going to concerts.
Domestic music tourists spent, on average, £396 while attending festivals and £87 going to concerts.
The report also says that overseas tourists account for 6% of music tourism visits and 20% of music tourism spending.
London attracts 28% of all music tourists in the UK, with 1.8 million people visiting the capital.
The Stone Roses gig at Heaton Park generated more than £20 million for Manchester's economy.
VisitBritain chief executive Sandie Dawe said: "This report confirms that the UK's music scene has significant international appeal and that music tourists spend lots of money and travel across the whole of Britain.
"This will act as a catalyst for us all to ramp up our activity and forge better relationships with festival organisers, promoters, venues and producers to raise awareness of our amazing music scene across the world."
Jo Dipple, chief executive of industry body UK Music, which helped prepare the report, said: "It's clear our music industry is doing a great job for the British economy, encouraging 6.5 million tourists who generated £2.2 billion last year.
"Music tourism created more than 24,000 jobs. Just think what we might achieve with policies that specifically target the music tourist in this country and abroad."
Republic of Ireland to exit bailout in December, says PM
The Republic of Ireland is on track to exit its international bailout programme by December, Prime Minister Enda Kenny says.
He told the Fine Gael party conference in Limerick that although "fragile times" lay ahead "the economic emergency will be over".
The 85bn euro (£73bn) bailout was forced on the country after its biggest banks collapsed in 2010.
Ireland sought help after a property crash left its banks under-capitalised.
"Tonight I can confirm that Ireland is on track to exit the EU/IMF bailout on December 15. And we won't go back," said Mr Kenny.
"It won't mean that our financial troubles are over. Yes, there are still fragile times ahead. There's still a long way to go. But at last, the era of the bailout will be no more. The economic emergency will be over.
Addressing those most affected by the years of austerity, the Taoiseach (prime minister) said their "huge sacrifice" was paying off.
He cautioned that the national budget due to be unveiled on Tuesday would be "tough", with another 2.5bn euros (£2bn) in tax rises and spending cuts.
But he said it would leave Ireland with a 4.8% deficit next year, well ahead of the required 5.1% target.
He added that the government would publish a new medium term economic strategy by the end of this year.
Correspondents say that if the Republic of Ireland does exit the scheme by December, it will be the first of the four countries bailed out by the eurozone to wean itself off emergency aid.
In July, ratings agency Standard & Poor's upgraded its credit outlook for the Republic of Ireland from "stable" to "positive", arguing that the country's debts were falling faster than expected.
In April, eurozone finance ministers rewarded the country's efforts by giving Ireland more time to repay its bailout loans.
TCI welcomes big cut in roaming service rates
Digicel boss in the Turks and Caicos Islands, E Jay Saunders said customers in the island chain could save over 50 per cent on roaming services, following a big chop in rates announced last week by the telecommunications giant.
"As a commercial product, it's an amazing development for Digicel customers travelling to other parts of the Caribbean and beyond," Saunders told the Caribbean Business Report shortly after Digicel announced its new "Roam Like You're Home" plan from headquarters in downtown Kingston, Jamaica.
Asked how much savings could be realised on a typical spend for roaming services, Saunders who is also President of the TCI Chamber of Commerce, said a Digicel customer in the TCI could see a reduction of over 50 per cent in their roaming bills.
"It's even more amazing for customers who travel across the region. They won't have to keep buying a new SIM card for each territory they land in. In fact, they don't have to worry about which island they are in," said Saunders. "This is certainly going to reduce cost for our valued customers, especially our business customers who travel often. We are really excited about this development."
Digicel announced last Friday that under its "Roam Like You're Home" plan, customers would be able to call, email, browse the Internet and send text messages for "great low rates as they can use their phones in 24 countries abroad as they do at home".
Customers roaming in other Digicel markets across the Caribbean and Central America (with the exception of Guyana) will not have to pay an activation fee, and for roamers to the USA, the activation fee is lower.
Digicel quoted Jamaica's Technology Minister Phillip Paulwell as saying on August 7, 2013 that "those (roaming) charges hinder affordable communication among Caribbean people, and as we move toward greater regional unity, we must take every opportunity to remove the barriers that keep us apart".
Barry O'Brien, Digicel Jamaica CEO also commented: "We have done extensive research across the globe and what we are offering with 'Roam Like You're Home' is quite simply the best roaming plan in the world as it gives customers the freedom to use their phones abroad as they do at home, without having to worry about the cost.
"We are thrilled to be revolutionising the world of roaming and to be rolling this out across the region. In doing so, we are ensuring that our customers can stay connected easily and economically with Digicel."
Prepaid and postpaid customers in Jamaica already benefit from lower rates when they roam in the Caribbean and the United States with Digicel's "Same Rates a Yaad" offer, without having to pay an opt-in fee when they roam in a large number of Caribbean countries. To effect the change, tax on international calls to Jamaica ($0.095) and Haiti ($0.05) has been removed from October 1, 2013 for Digicel roaming subscribers.
The countries included are USA, Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Bermuda, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Cayman, Curacao, Dominica, El Salvador, French Guyana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Martinique, Panama, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Turks & Caicos.
Saunders who has been CEO of Digicel TCI for the past seven years, partnered with Digicel's principal Denis O'Brien to bring the telecommunications company to his country.
He said Digicel now has over 55 per cent of the TCI telecommunications market and can boast that all TCI government networks are now powered by Digicel, which includes a high-speed WAN (Wide Area Network) that connects over 80 government offices across six islands, making the state apparatus five times as efficient as it was before and saving it an estimated US$62,000 a month or US$3.7m over the five-year term of the contract.
TCI Government officers anywhere in the world can now utilise any data connection including WiFi on their mobile phones to make and receive calls through the Government's new cloud-based Unified Communications System (PBX) that Digicel TCI built specifically for the Premier Rufus Ewing-led State, thereby greatly reducing their roaming costs. The custom-built solution also gives the top 250 government officials the ability to conduct video conference calls directly from their desk phone, thereby cutting down on travel costs.
"What we have built for the TCI Government is probably the best unified communication system available to any government in the Caribbean. It is also comparable to the best in North America. I am certain when other governments see the efficiency gains this type of system produces and the amount of money it saves they will want to upgrade their communications networks," said the tech-savvy Saunders who personally designed the CISCO solution.
Digicel TCI is poised to move to the next level, having recently won the bid for the prime LTE (Long Term Evolution) spectrum, the next generation in mobile broadband, which is expected to be rolled out in 12 months.
Source-JA.Observer
JPMorgan Chase reports quarterly loss on legal costs
JPMorgan Chase has reported a loss in the third quarter after setting aside $9.2bn (£5.8bn) to cover legal bills.
The bank lost $380m during the quarter, compared with a profit of $5.7bn in the same period last year.
JPMorgan is currently in talks with the US government over a potentially huge settlement relating to the sale of mortgage-related investment products in the run-up to the financial crisis.
Last month, it paid $920m to settle charges related to a trading scandal.
JPMorgan's chief executive, Jamie Dimon, said: "We continuously evaluate our legal reserves, but in this highly charged and unpredictable environment, with escalating demand and penalties from multiple government agencies, we thought it was prudent to significantly strengthen them."
He stressed that the bank's underlying business was strong.
Stripping out one-off charges, the bank made $5.8bn over the three months to the end of September.
Wells Fargo, the biggest US mortgage lender, also reported results on Friday.
It reported a record net income of $5.3bn in the third quarter, up 13% on the same period in 2012.
That rise came despite a fall in income at its mortgage business, where revenue fell 43% to $1.6bn.
The fall was offset by lower expenses and a reduction in funds set aside for loans going bad.
JPMorgan now has a contingency fund of $23bn to cover legal expenses. It also said that it could face litigation-related expenses of another $6.8bn.
It is currently in talks with the Justice Department over a potentially huge settlement, related to the mis-selling of mortgage related products during the US housing boom.
It is thought the settlement could cost as much as $11bn.
Mr Dimon stressed on Friday that much of the case related to deals done by Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual, companies that JPMorgan Chase bought during the financial crisis.
"The Board continues to seek a fair and reasonable settlement with the government on mortgage-related issues and one that recognises the extraordinary circumstances of the Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual transactions, which were undertaken at the request or encouragement of the US government," he said.
Last month, JPMorgan paid $920m to settle a case related to disastrous trades by Bruno Iksil, who earned the nickname the "London Whale" for his big bets on the financial markets.
Last year, the bank admitted to losses of $6.2bn resulting from his activities.
As part of the settlement deal, JPMorgan admitted violating US federal securities laws.
Royal Mail shares jump sharply on market debut
Royal Mail shares rose 38% to 455p in their first day of conditional dealings on the London Stock Exchange.
The hugely oversubscribed sale was priced at 330p a share, valuing the 500-year-old firm at £3.3bn. At one point, the price hit 459.75p.
Private investors received 227 shares each. In all, more than 225 million shares were traded on Friday.
Business Secretary Vince Cable told Channel Four News he could have charged a higher price for Royal Mail shares.
Asked if he could have raised the sale price when he saw the level of demand for shares, Mr Cable said: "I could have done and I could have joined the speculators and spivs.
"I'm not interested in doing that," he said.
The shares are listed officially next Tuesday, but City institutions began conditional dealings on Friday.
Some 10 million shares were traded in the first 30 seconds when the market opened. Stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown reported that its website was having "intermittent problems" due to the "unprecedented interest" in Royal Mail.
Tom McPhail, the firm's head of pensions research, said it was "extremely sorry for the delays", but was making "significant progress in clearing the backlog" and hoped to have all systems running normally again soon.
"We have experienced demand this morning which has gone off the scale," he said.
"We now have six times the normal number of staff working on our dealing lines. We know we are not the only broker affected by such problems this morning."
The price rise is likely to fuel debate over whether the sale of Royal Mail has been undervalued. Mr Cable has insisted that the taxpayer has not been short-changed by the privatisation.
Obama would sign short-term debt rise
US President Barack Obama is willing to sign a "clean" short-term increase to the US borrowing limit that is free from Republican budget and policy demands, his spokesman has said.
Jay Carney's remarks came amid talks aimed at ending the twin fiscal crises threatening the US and world economies.
The US is in the 11th day of a partial government shutdown.
But the Statue of Liberty, the Grand Canyon and Mount Rushmore, closed by the shutdown, will now re-open.
The funding will be provided by the states of New York, Arizona and South Dakota, however, with other national parks and monuments remaining closed due to the deadlock in Washington.
As the well as the shutdown, the US is heading towards default if it does not raise its debt limit by 17 October.
"If the Congress were to pass a clean debt ceiling of short duration to avoid default, the president would sign that," Mr Carney said, following rounds of talks among Mr Obama and Senate and House Republicans.
But Mr Carney reiterated the White House would not accept a debt ceiling rise with conditions attached, saying the right thing to do was to "remove that gun from the table".
And the White House spokesman said there was still "no acceptable reason to keep the government shut down".
The partial government shutdown, which has sent home hundreds of thousands of government workers on unpaid leave, began on 1 October after Republicans refused to pass a new budget unless Mr Obama and the Democrats agreed to delay Mr Obama's signature healthcare reform law of 2010 or eliminate its funding.
The White House has repeatedly said it would not undermine the law, known as Obamacare, nor negotiate over larger budget matters, until Republicans vote to end the threat of default and reopen the government.
Mr Carney also condemned a proposal floated by the House Republicans for a six-week debt limit increase in exchange for broader budget negotiations.
He said it would "put us right back where we are today in just six weeks, on the verge of Thanksgiving and the obviously important shopping season leading up to the holidays, and that would create enormous uncertainty for our economy... We don't think that's the right way to go".
The Democratic-controlled Senate is set to vote on Saturday on a 15-month extension of the debt ceiling, which would remove the issue from next year's congressional campaigns.
CARICOM Member States urged to move to CCJ
Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, has called on CARICOM Member States that have not taken the necessary steps to make the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) their final court of appeal, to do so.
Ambassador LaRocque was speaking during a conference at the University of the West Indies, Regional Headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica on Tuesday hosted by the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute for Social and Economic Studies (SALISES).
The conference, which was hosted under the theme `Rethinking Regionalism: Beyond the CARICOM Integration Project’ sought to “engage participants in a sweeping review of the region taking account of how the complex problems of the contemporary reality are likely to shape CARICOM in the future”.
He said the most recent judgement by the CCJ in the case of Shanique Myrie and the Government of Barbados, would cause a shift in the way affairs in the Community were conducted.
“It has also cemented the Community’s rules-based system and continues to engender a high level of confidence” the Secretary-General said of the judgement.
He stated further that the decision was far-reaching, addressing decision-making in the Community, the nature and effect of Community law, obligations of Member States and rights of Community nationals.