Virus keeps Trini PM away from Liberation Day celebrations
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar failed to show up at Spiritual Shouter Baptist Liberation Day celebrations held across the country yesterday because she was ill.
Minister of National Diversity and Social Integration Clifton De Coteau took up the mantle and stood in her stead before the congregation at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain, where the turnout was relatively small.
The Sunday Express spoke with De Coteau, the only Government Minister who attended the event at the Savannah, after he gave the members of the Spiritual Baptist faith a lesson in history and before he left the Savannah to attend similar celebrations in Maloney, where he was also scheduled to represent the Prime Minister.
“Well, the Prime Minister is ill as you are aware, she is down with the virus and in spite of being down with the virus she was out yesterday, when we had the blackout, and that shows her leadership and love for country,” said De Coteau.
“To see that she actually dragged herself out to see what was the source of the problem...we really have to commend our Prime Minister for that.”
He said looking at the pictures of her at the PowerGen facility in Penal, which were sent out by the Government to the media, she appears to be very pale and so it is obvious she needs rest. he said.
Persad-Bissessar visited the Penal sub-station in the wee hours of Friday morning with Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine to determine the cause of the nationwide blackout.
Nearly 70 per cent of Jamaica's customers lost power
The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) says nearly 70 per cent of its customers across the island lost their electricity supply in a major power outage this afternoon.
JPS says it has already restored electricity to several areas, but up to late this afternoon, the company could not say what percentage of its customers were still without power.
Up to news time, JPS said details on what caused the power outage were still not available.
In a statement this afternoon, the country’s sole electricity distributor said the problem developed during upgrading work at its Duhaney Sub-station, in St Andrew.
The company says it is making every effort to have power restored in the shortest possible time.
Bahamas aiming to improve tourism
A digital platform which will give visitors the ability to search for airlift, car rentals and hotels in the Bahamas is among plans outlined by the BahamasTourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe, as that country seek to impove the tousim product.
Part of the country’s plan is marketing the entirety of the Bahamas, not just Nassau and Paradise Island, something the Bahamas featured in its Super Bowl video in February.
At the end of April, Bahamian tourism officials will travel to Brazil for the first-ever World Tourism Council Meeting.
Wilchcombe sys "it is a way to get people to discover the islands and get them here in the quickest possible way,” said .
“The Bahamas is right now set to become one of the most exciting tourism destinations, because we are renewing our product at the right time,” he said.
Police uses tear gas in row at Brazil World Cup stadium
Police in Brazil have used tear gas and smoke grenades to break up clashes between fans who were trying to buy tickets for the inaugural match in a stadium built for the 2014 World Cup.
The football fans had queued overnight at a ticket office in the north-eastern state of Bahia, but fighting broke out as soon as it opened.
The Arena Fonte Nova stadium cost $330m (£217m) - about $50m over budget.
Meanwhile, a builder was killed in an accident at another world cup venue.
Raimundo Nonato Lima Costa, 49, a construction worker at the Amazon Arena in Manaus, reportedly fell from a height of about 5m (16 feet).
Maracana delays
Nobody was arrested after the clashes at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador, police said.
The company in charge of the new stadium issued a statement saying it would improve on the shortcomings that became apparent on Friday.
Witnesses said there were no barriers to separate the ticket booth queues.
Lately, a series of events have led to criticism of Brazil's planning for the world's biggest football event.
The inauguration date of iconic Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, set to host the final next year, has been delayed repeatedly.
Originally due reopening in December 2012, its first match is now scheduled for 27 April.
Last week, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro added to the embarrassment closing the stadium due to host the athletics events at the 2016 Olympics, which was being used to replace Maracana at major football matches.
Chile ex-president Bachelet to run for re-election
The former president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, has said she will run for a second mandate in the November poll.
Mrs Bachelet became the first female president of Chile in 2006, serving out her term in 2010.
She has spent the last three years in New York as head of the United Nations gender equality agency, UN Women.
The centre-left politician stands a good chance against Laurence Golborne, the centre-right candidate backed by President Sebastian Pinera.
Chilean law prevents its presidents from serving consecutive terms.
Mrs Bachelet left the office with a high approval rating, although many criticised her government's reaction to the deadly earthquake and tsunami in February 2010.
More than 500 people died, and a lawyer representing victims of the disaster sued the former president and other officials for "denial of assistance".
Her manifesto will not be written "between four walls", Mrs Bachelet told reporters.
'Civic involvement'
"I am going to promote debates and meetings so this campaign's programme gets a stamp of civic involvement," she said.
Mr Pinera recently reshuffled his cabinet, after two of his ministers decided to run for presidency.
Public Works Minister Laurence Golborne, who oversaw the spectacular rescue of trapped miners in 2010, and Defence Minister Andres Allamand both hope to be Chile's next leader.
Both of them welcomed the announcement of Mrs Bachelet's candidacy.
President Pinera became Chile's first right-wing leader in 20 years when he was elected in 2010.
However, he has seen his popularity drop sharply since then, and in last month's local elections, his centre-right alliance lost some key races, including in the capital Santiago.
Mrs Bachelet's return to Chile on Wednesday was shrouded in speculation about her ambitions for a second presidential term.
She had previously said she would announce her decision by the end of March.
Bank of Cyprus big depositors could lose up to 60%
Bank of Cyprus depositors with more than 100,000 euros (£84,300; $128,200) could lose up to 60% of their savings as part of an EU-IMF bailout restructuring move, officials say.
The central bank says 37.5% of holdings over 100,000 euros will become shares.
Up to 22.5% will go into a fund attracting no interest and may be subject to further write-offs.
The other 40% will attract interest - but this will not be paid unless the bank performs well.
It was known that the wealthiest savers at the Bank of Cyprus would take a large hit from the bailout deal - but not to this extent, the BBC's Mark Lowen reports.
Cypriot officials have also said that big depositors at Laiki - the country's second largest bank - could face an even tougher "haircut". However, no details have been released.
The officials say that Laiki will eventually be absorbed into the Bank of Cyprus. The fear is that once the unprecedented capital controls - which are in place for an indefinite time - are lifted, the wealthiest will rush to move their deposits abroad, our correspondent says.
He adds that the larger than expected loss could also have devastating consequences for large depositors such as schools and universities. And it could spread fear in other indebted eurozone countries that Cyprus might set a precedent.
'Loans written off'
Cyprus needs to raise 5.8bn euros to qualify for the bailout, and has become the first eurozone member country to bring in capital controls to prevent a torrent of money leaving the island and credit institutions collapsing.
The original 10bn-euro bailout deal was agreed in Brussels earlier this month. It placed a one-off tax on all customers of Cypriot banks, starting at 6.75% for the smallest deposits.
But this led to mass protests across Cyprus, and the deal was later voted down by the country's parliament. MPs later backed a revised deal.
Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades has said the financial situation has been "contained" following the deal.
He has also stressed that Cyprus has no intention of leaving the euro, stressing that "in no way will we experiment with the future of our country". On Thursday, banks in Cyprus opened for the first time in nearly two weeks. Queues formed of people trying to access their money, but the mood was generally calm.
By Friday, banks had returned to their normal working hours and there were no longer reports of big queues.
In a separate development, Cyprus launched an investigation after Greek media published the names of politicians who allegedly had loans forgiven by three Cypriot banks at the height of the crisis.
The Bank of Cyprus, Laiki and Hellenic Bank apparently wrote off loans of millions of euros to companies, local authorities, and politicians from some of the island's biggest parties.
The list has now been handed to the ethics committee of the Cypriot parliament.
--BBC
US economy ekes out 0.4% growth in fourth quarter
The US economy grew at a faster than expected 0.4% in the fourth quarter of 2012, the Department of Commerce has said.
The annualised figure was better than an earlier estimate of 0.1% growth, reflecting increased investments in plant and equipment.
However, despite the upwards revision, the department warned that the economy remained "sluggish".
The latest figures were a marked slowdown from the previous quarter.
An acute fall in defence spending and government expenditures hurt economic output, said the department.
"While non-residential fixed investment is higher than previously estimated, the revision to GDP [gross domestic product] has not changed the general picture of the economy," said a statement.
The October-December figures came amid hopes that the US economic recovery is gathering steam, following a string of recent data showing rising home sales and an improving labour market.
Wall Street shares opened flat on Thursday, with the S&P 500 index hovering near its all-time closing high.
"Fundamentally, the economy is improving and we are getting good earnings," said Jack DeGan, chief investment officer of Harbor Advisory.
BMO Capital Markets economist Jennifer Lee described the revised fourth quarter rate as "still disappointing", but said that the investment bank was expecting US GDP to increase by 2.2% this year, the rate at which the economy grew last year.
In a report last week, the US Federal Reserve said that the economy had strengthened "moderately" but still needed stimulus measures to underpin recovery.
The Fed has said it would keep its policy of buying $85bn a month of Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities in order to lower borrowing costs for households and businesses.
Although US joblessness has fallen, the Fed said it wanted to see signs of a long-term trend of falling unemployment.
S&P 500 index reaches record high
The S&P 500 index closed on Thursday night at a record high of 1,569, up 6 points or 0.4%. The last time it broke into new territory was on 9 October 2007 when it closed at 1,565.
The Dow Jones index was also up 0.4%, with a rise of 52 points taking it to a record 14,578.
The Nasdaq joined in the upbeat mood created by the smooth reopening of banks in Cyprus and generally positive economic news. It rose 11 points, or 0.3%, to close at 3,268.
The S&P has been near its record high for several weeks, despite the still sluggish performance of the US economy. This means it finishes the quarter 10% higher than its level at the beginning of the year and more than double its low point during the financial crisis.
Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank in Cleveland said that the new closing high "is a very appropriate punctuation for a great quarter that saw a lot of last year's anxieties recede."
However, Michael Mullaney, chief investment officer at Fiduciary Trust in Boston warned "we don't know how long we'll be at these levels."
In relatively light trading, the biggest gainers in the Dow Jones were two IT companies - IBM and Hewlett-Packard, both up over 1%. The biggest falls were by Chevron and JP Morgan Chase.
On the currency markets, the euro rose 0.4 cents to $1.282.
US markets will be shut for the Good Friday holiday.
IMF 'has confidence' in Christine Lagarde
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said it continues to have "confidence" in its managing director Christine Lagarde.
An IMF spokesman said the fund's board backed Ms Lagarde despite a French inquiry into alleged abuses of power.
The probe relates to her time as French finance minister and her involvement in the payment of compensation to businessman Bernard Tapie.
Ms Lagarde, who took over as IMF chief in 2011, denies any wrongdoing.
Her Paris apartment was searched by police investigators last week.
"The executive board has been briefed on this matter, including recently, and continues to express its confidence in the managing director's ability to effectively carry out her duties," said IMF spokesman Gerry Rice at a press conference on Thursday.
No formal charges
Ms Lagarde was involved in a dispute between French businessman Bernard Tapie and the bank Credit Lyonnais in 2007.
She referred the case to an arbitration panel, after which Mr Tapie switched his support to Nicholas Sarkozy, then leader of Ms Lagarde's UMP party, in the presidential election campaign.
Mr Tapie was later awarded 400m euros (£340m) in damages by that panel - a decision approved by Ms Lagarde.
Ms Lagarde has yet to be placed under formal investigation in the case and has denied any wrongdoing.
However, the case comes at a difficult time for the IMF.
Ms Lagarde replaced its disgraced former chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn less than two years ago.
The organisation is also deeply involved in managing the continuing eurozone crisis, including the bailout of Cyprus.
Blackberry reports 1m Z10 sales
Mobile phone maker Blackberry says it has sold one million of its new Z10 smartphones.
In better than expected results the company said it made profits of $98m (£65m) in the quarter, after posting a big loss for the same period last year.
The Z10 handset is seen as crucial to the future of Blackberry, which has struggled to keep up with new Apple and Android phones.
It has been on sale for a month in the UK, Canada and other markets.
It went on sale with little fanfare a week ago in the United States, Blackberry's most important market.Blackberry reports 1m Z10 sales
The figures do not include US sales.
Blackberry was previously called Research In Motion, but changed its name last year.
Analysts greeted the results cautiously, saying that it was too early to judge the success of the Z10 and its sister device the Q10.
Earlier in the week, Blackberry shares were hit when two major US brokerages expressed disappointment with the US launch of the Z10.
In a note to its clients Citigroup described the launch as "a big disappointment".
The Blackberry results also showed the company lost three million users over the year. Its handsets are now used by 76 million people, down from 79 million 12 months ago.
In total, Blackberry said it shipped a total of around six million handsets in the three months to early March.