Pound continues to weaken against dollar and euro
Sterling has continued to weaken against the dollar and the euro on continued worries about the health of the UK economy.
Against the dollar, sterling fell to a seven-month low, and against the euro it was nearing a 15-month low.
The falls came after Bank of England policymaker Martin Weale said that sterling may need to weaken further to bolster the UK economy.
Currency speculators are also betting that sterling will fall, data shows.
Sterling fell 0.5% to $1.543, its lowest since 13 July, 2012. The euro was up 0.3% against sterling, making a euro worth 86.3 pence.
The pound has been weakening this year following some disappointing economic data and worries that the UK may lose is triple-A credit rating.
In a speech on Saturday Mr Weale said the currency may need to weaken further, helping to make exports cheaper and boost growth.
Last week, the pound suffered its biggest weekly loss since early June 2012 after a weak retail sales report for January added to worries about the economy.
The pound had already been under pressure since the middle of last week when the Bank of England quarterly inflation report forecast higher inflation and weak growth.
Governor Mervyn King also said the Bank was ready to tolerate higher inflation to support the economy.
Steve Englander, currency strategist at Citi, wrote in a research note: "If you go through recent Bank of England commentary, they are quite openly cheer-leading the pound down as a way of closing the UK's external imbalance and generating a cyclical recovery."
Speculators have increased their bets against the pound, with latest data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showing they built up their largest "short" sterling bets since last June. Short sellers make money if a currency or share price goes down.
Heathrow airport hits record 70 million passengers
A record 70 million passengers used Heathrow last year, boosting the airport's revenues by 8% to £2.46bn.
The airport, the UK's busiest, is operating at close to capacity, with 471,341 flights during 2012, just below the legal limit of 480,000 a year.
Passenger numbers fell by 400,000 during the Olympics, as Britons stayed home to enjoy the Games and the number of inward-bound travellers dipped.
The chief executive of Heathrow again warned about a lack of capacity.
Colin Matthews said a decision on new airport capacity was "urgent", because of competition from rival airports in Europe and the Middle East.
The results published on Monday include Stansted airport, which was sold to Manchester Airports Group for £1.5bn. Stansted's passenger numbers fell 3.2% to 17.5 million last year.
The company said construction of the new Heathrow Terminal 2 should be completed towards the end of 2013, with operations commencing in mid-2014.
The project accounted for a large slice of the £1.1bn invested in the airport during 2012, an increase of more than 30% on a year earlier.
Israel Prisoner X: Ben Zygier 'leaked Mossad secrets'
Israel secretly imprisoned an Australian man who worked for its Mossad spy agency because it believed he had divulged details of his work, an Australian news programme has reported.
ABC News said Ben Zygier was suspected by Israel of informing Australia's security agency of Mossad operations.
Last week, ABC identified Mr Zygier as Israel's so-called Prisoner X, whose existence Israel never acknowledged.
He was reported to have hanged himself, months after his case surfaced in 2010.
The report on ABC's Foreign Correspondent programme, which named Mr Zygier, has been the subject of intense media debate in Israel, after Israel issued a gagging order preventing publication of details of the story.
Restrictions were later eased and some Israeli members of parliament have called for an end to the practise of media censorship in the country.
Italy mission
According to the latest Foreign Correspondent report, Mr Zygier met Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio) agents and told them about secret operations he was involved in.
The programme said one of the operations was a top-secret mission in Italy, for where Mr Zygier had applied for a work visa.
Foreign Correspondent said Mr Zygier changed his name several times and obtained numerous passports, which he used for Mossad work in Europe and the Middle East.
It said he set up a communications company in Europe for Mossad, which exported electronic components to Arab countries and Iran.
Israel, along with Western and other powers, has accused Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies.
The ABC programme said Mossad discovered that Mr Zygier had had contact with the Asio agents during one of his stays in Australia.
He is believed to have been arrested in 2010 and held in secret in Israel's maximum security Ayalon prison. His case came to light when an Israeli newspaper website broke the story that year, but the reports were removed after a gagging order was imposed.
Mr Zygier is reported to have hanged himself, aged 34, in the prison in December 2010.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the necessity of keeping some information out of the public domain.
"We are not like all other countries,'' he said. "We are more threatened, more challenged, and therefore we have to ensure the proper activity of our security forces.''
"Allow the security forces to work quietly so we can continue to live securely and safely," he added.
UN Report Criticizes Both Factions in Syrian Conflict
A member of the U.N.'s commission of inquiry on the Syria conflict says the International Criminal Court should be called in to probe war crimes in Syria.
Carla del Ponte said Monday the U.N. Security Council and the international community must make the decision whether to refer the commission's findings to the ICC.
The commission says its latest report is based on interviews with over 400 victims and witnesses who have left Syria. The investigators are not allowed in Syria.
The commission says it has identified Syrian individuals, as well as government forces and armed rebels who may be responsible for war crimes.
The commission's latest report criticizes both factions, but stresses the government regime is the major perpetrator.
The report says "government forces and affiliated militia committed the crimes against humanity of murder, torture, rape, enforced disappearance and other inhumane acts."
The report also says "anti-government armed groups have committed war crimes, including murder, torture, hostage-taking and attacking protected objects."
The commission is due next month to submit a confidential list of individuals and units allegedly involved in war crimes to the U.N.'s human rights office, but is not planning to make the list public.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
Al-Qaida Affiliate Claims Baghdad Blasts
Al-Qaida's Iraqi wing has claimed responsibility for a series of car bomb blasts in the capital that killed at least 28 people and wounded around 100 others in predominantly Shi'ite districts.
The al-Qaida affiliate, Islamic State of Iraq, said Monday it carried out the attacks in Baghdad to take revenge for perceived state repression of Sunni Muslims.
The attacks on Sunday struck outdoor markets in and around the capital.
The Shi'ite district of Sadr City was one of the worst hit, with three car bombings.
Other targeted districts include Ameen, Habibiya, Husseiniya, Kamiliya and Karrada. Authorities managed to defuse at least one of the planted explosives.
So far this month, attacks in Iraq have killed at least 100 people, including the head of Iraq's military intelligence academy. Brigadier General Ali Aouni and two of his bodyguards were killed Saturday in a suicide bombing in the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar.
The wave of violence coincides with a political crisis that has seen the Iraqi government plagued by infighting among sectarian factions and pressured by almost two months of protests in mostly Sunni regions. Many Sunnis accuse Shi'ite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of marginalizing and discriminating against their community.
Militants Attack Government Office in Pakistan
Officials in Pakistan say militants wearing police uniforms have attacked the office of a senior government official in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing at least five people and wounding seven.
Authorities say at least two of the insurgents were suicide bombers who detonated their devices Monday, while other militants opened fire on the compound's security forces.
The dead include four of the security officials and an elderly man.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but the Pakistani Taliban has carried out similar operations in the past.
Elsewhere in Pakistan Monday, Shi'ites in Quetta have refused to bury victims of a bloody bombing that killed at least 80 people and wounded more than 100 others. They have demanded that security forces protect them from the extremists behind the attack.
Thousands of people have joined in the protest. Muslim tradition requires that bodies are buried as soon as possible, and leaving them above ground is a powerful expression of grief and pain.
The Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for Saturday's bombing, as well as a similar attack last month that killed nearly 100 people.
Meanwhile, a strike Monday to protest against the bombing in Quetta has brought Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, to a standstill.
Sectarian violence claimed more than 400 lives in Pakistan last year.
US Celebrates Presidents' Day
Millions of workers across the United States are getting the day off Monday as part of the annual observance of the Presidents' Day holiday.
It first became a federal holiday in 1879 to celebrate the February 22 birthday of George Washington, the first U.S. president. Nearly a century later, in 1968, Congress passed a law that shifted the celebration of several federal holidays from specific dates to predetermined Mondays, in order to give workers three consecutive days off.
Retailers take advantage of the holiday - held on the third Monday in February - to promote sales and price cuts on their products.
Although the day is still officially known as Washington's Birthday, it has evolved into Presidents' Day to celebrate both Washington's birthday and that of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th U.S. president whose birthday falls on February 12. Lincoln's birthday was never an official federal holiday, although many states celebrated the day. Presidents' Day is now widely viewed as a day to celebrate all presidents past and present.
The current U.S. president, Barack Obama, spent part of the holiday weekend on Sunday playing golf at a private course in Florida with Tiger Woods, the world's second-ranked golfer and holder of 14 major titles.
Police investigating a number of incidents
Police in Providenciales are investigating a number of incidents reported from Saturday 9th February through to Monday 11th February - these includes six burglaries.
The thieves targeted home electronics in all cases. They are also investigating two cases of assault and actual bodily harm, two thefts, two attempted burglaries, the theft of a motor vehicle, possession of an imitation fire-arm, a robbery, two cases of malicious damage to property and two of wounding.
Over the past weekend, police officers from various units conducted a number of stop and search operations in Providenciales.
Officers were searching for Illegal Drugs, Weapons and Stolen goods. Police are appealing to the public who may have any information about these incidents to call the Police on 911 or Crime Stoppers anonymously on 1-800-8477. Tips can also be submitted anonymously in English, French or Spanish on either www.crimestoppers.tc or on Facebook as a fan of Crime Stoppers Turks & Caicos. Crime Stoppers tips are received in the USA.
Valentines for CIBC
CIBC FirstCaribbean Bank, the largest regional bank in the English and Dutch speaking Caribbean, has announced a special Valentine’s Day package for its customers across its 100 branches and offices.
Trevor Torzsas, Managing Director of Customer Service Management and Strategy, has announced that the bank, which serves over half a million customers, will be hosting its largest-ever Customer Appreciation project with a Valentine’s Day event at every one of its branches.
Daniel Farmer, Managing Director for Retail Banking, said it was the FirstCaribbean’s way of saying ‘thank you’ to its customers for making the bank their preferred financial institution. He said the bank’s customers were fiercely loyal and the bank wanted to do something special for them.
In addition to refreshments and promotional gift items, CIBC FirstCaribbean’s basket of Valentine’s Day goodies would include double points for Valentine’s Day credit card purchases and 500 bonus reward points to the first person to receive an approved credit card. The bank was also offering any customer with an approved auto loan, who took an additional complimentary product, a reduction of 50% off the loan fee.
LeBron James Records Miami Heat Record 5th Straight 30-Point Game
You officially can't stop LeBron James. In fact, you can't even contain him. You can just hope that he decides on his own not to embarrass you.
Unfortunately for the rest of the league, the NBA's reigning MVP and Finals MVP is in full "embarrass mode" right now. He hit the 30-point mark Sunday afternoon, giving him five straight contests with that number.
Ho-hum, just another week at the office for King James.
James, once again, did it all during Miami's 107-97 win against the Los Angeles Lakers. He scored from the outside (1-of-2 from deep). He got to the free-throw line and converted (7-of-8 from the charity stripe). He got out in transition, where he becomes "train coming down the track" LeBron and is instantly unstoppable.
In the end, LBJ finished with 32 points on a decently efficient (compared to his last few games) 12-of-18 shooting to go along with seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.
As Dwyane Wade would say, he has officially "surpassed the planet."
During James' five-game 30-point streak, he is averaging 31 points, 6.8 rebounds and 6.0 assists. He has hit 55-of-77 shots over that span, which comes out to a shooting percentage of 71.4.
Those numbers are bordering on comedic. They are beyond video-game level. Beyond believable. Beyond human.
It's difficult to find someone in league history who has gone through a more impressive, more dominant, more overpowering stretch of basketball than James is currently in the middle of.
Even during a season in which Kevin Durant is having a career year, James is beginning to separate himself in the MVP race with this kind of transcendent play. I mean, he's doing Wilt Chamberlain-esque things right now.
We are simply witnesses, and every subsequent game is a new treat.