Black Keys sue Pizza Hut and Home Depot over song use
US rock duo The Black Keys are suing Pizza Hut and DIY chain Home Depot for allegedly using their songs in adverts without their permission.
Legal papers filed in Los Angeles claim the pizza chain used "significant portions" of the band's hit Gold On The Ceiling to advertise a new product.
A second legal claim alleges Home Depot used the song Lonely Boy in an advert for power tools.
The band are seeking an end to the use of the songs and financial damages.
Lawyers for the band said the adverts were "a brazen and improper effort to capitalize on plaintiffs' hard-earned success".
They added that they had sent letters to both companies in May requesting they withdraw the adverts, but claim these were ignored.
Both of the tracks in question appeared on the group's seventh album, El Camino, which was released last year.
Producer Danger Mouse, who co-wrote the album - is also suing the companies.
A spokesman for Home Depot told the Associated Press: "We haven't seen the complaint yet, but respect for intellectual property rights is a matter we take very seriously."
A Pizza Hut spokesman directed inquiries to its advert's creators, The Martin Agency, who said the company did not respond to pending lawsuits.
Justin Bieber denies Cheryl Cole number one album
US pop star Justin Bieber has topped the UK album chart, denying Cheryl Cole her third number one record.
Bieber's second album, Believe, sold just 3,000 copies more than the Cole's to claim the chart crown.
Cole suffered disappointment in the singles chart, too, where Maroon 5 knocked her song, Call My Name, off the top slot after just one week.
The US pop band sold more than 141,000 copies of their single Payphone, giving them their first UK number one.
Their previous highest-charting singles were 2007's Makes Me Wonder and 2011's Moves Like Jagger, which both made it to number two.
"It's been a long time coming," lead singer Adam Levine told BBC Radio 1. "We're so happy that people like the tune, and there are more to come."
Asked how he would celebrate, Levine said: "We're going to dance like girls."
Maroon 5's sales victory comes a week after Cole set the record for the fastest-selling single of the year so far, shifting a total of 152,000 copies in a week.
She tweeted on Sunday morning that she was in rehearsals for the video to its follow-up, Under The Sun.
Bieber, 18, rose to fame after posting songs on YouTube as a youngster. He was later signed by US R&B star Usher.
The Canadian star's second album has been praised for its mature urban sound, in comparison to the saccharine teen pop of his debut.
In the US, it is expected to sell 410,000 copies this week - the largest first-week sales of any album this year.
The final tally will be revealed when the Billboard chart is announced on Wednesday.
Other new entries in the album chart included Blown Away, by country singer Carrie Underwood, which went in at number 11; and the third album by Sheffield indie band Reverend and the Makers - @reverend-makers - which entered the chart at number 16.
US art-rock band The Smashing Pumpkins also returned to the charts for the first time in five years.
Their ninth album, Oceania, debuted at number 19.
The singles chart saw little movement this week. Apart from Maroon 5, the only other new entry was Black Heart, by Essex girl band Stooshe.
The track, co-written by former All Saints member Shaznay Lewis, went in at number four.
Paloma Faith re-entered the top 10 with her single Picking Up The Pieces. Two weeks ago the song had dropped to number 19, but it has reversed its decline following a performance on Graham Norton's chat show.
Katy Perry's Wide Awake - the eighth and last single from her Teenage Dream album - was the week's highest climber, jumping from 31 to 12 in the same week that she released the song's video.
Edwin Yearwood joins the list of 16 to perform at Sweet Soca Semifinals
In cataloging the songs submitted for the Sweet Soca Competition, 6 songs that had been submitted on time were inadvertently not transferred to the Judges’ play list and were therefore not judged in the original session.
As a consequence, an emergency session with the judges was convened to examine and assess the 6 songs.
As a result, Edwin Yearwood will now join the 16 semifinalists who originally qualified, and along with the reserve, will now perform and compete at the semi finals stage of this competition on July 6th at the Pork Lime in Wildey.
The National Cultural Foundation (NCF) uses a cataloging system where the songs submitted are transferred to an electronic library where they reside until they are moved to the judges play list from which they are played for the judging session.
The NCF will be reexamining this internal logging system to ensure that something of this nature does not recur.
Bravo found guilty of breaching ICC Code of Conduct
West Indies player Dwayne Bravo has been fined 20 per cent of his match fee after being found guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct after the One-Day International between England and the West Indies at The Oval on Tuesday.
Bravo was charged with a Level 1 offence, contrary to clause 2.1.7 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players or Team Officials which covers inappropriate public comment.
Bravo pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanction so there was no need for a formal hearing.
Jeff Crowe of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees, explaining his decision, said: “Dwayne unfortunately went over the mark in describing the Chris Gayle decision and used comments that criticised both the on-field and TV umpire.”
The charge was laid by Tony Hill and Kumar Dharmasena, both from the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires, after Bravo was publicly critical of the umpires following an LBW decision against West Indies batsman Chris Gayle.
All Level one breaches carry a minimum penalty of warning/reprimand and a maximum penalty of 50 per cent of the match fee.
PR
Fifty criminals are to be pardoned in Trinidad
Fifty criminals are to be pardoned for the country's 50th Independence anniversary.
This announcement was made Thursday by Justice Minister Herbert Volney, who said in commemoration of the country's 50th anniversary of independence, Government is to recommend to President George Maxwell Richards that he pardons 50 criminals, who would become free people.
He was speaking at the post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair.
"The Government is going to announce, in the fullness of time, the pardon of 50 persons to commemorate (the country's 50th anniversary of independence)," he said.
Asked whether these persons had committed murder or other types of crimes, Volney said they were "worthy candidates, people who have spent all their lives in prison. It is on the recommendation of the Commissioner of Prisons, and it would be dealt with by the Mercy Committee, making the recommendation to the President".
He however assured that "we won't jeopardise public safety by releasing any dangerous person on the public".
The last presidential pardon was issued in May 2012 to Godson Neptune, 83, a graduate of the University of Caracas in Venezuela, who had chopped his wife to death in 1985.
Neptune's defence was that he thought his wife was a snake. He later stated he was in an "alcohol intolerance condition" which caused him to do the most outrageous and dangerous things.
Rio+20: $513 billion pledged to sustainable development
FroAt the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), some $513 billion in funding has been committed by governments, the private sector, civil society and other groups to achieve a sustainable future.
m the very beginning we have said that Rio+20 is about implementation and concrete action,” said Rio+20’s Secretary-General, Sha Zukang, at a press conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Friday. “The commitments that we share with you today demonstrate that governments, the UN systems, and the nine major groups are committed and serious about implementation.”
Of the funds committed, $323 billion will be devoted to achieving universal access to sustainable energy by 2030.
A wide range of actions have also been pledged during Rio+20. These include planting 100 million trees, empowering 5,000 women entrepreneurs in green economy businesses in Africa, and recycling 800,000 tons of polyvinyl chloride (commonly known as PVC) – one of the most widely used plastics – per year.
Some 40,000 people – including heads of state and government, representatives from non-governmental organizations and the private sector – have been in Rio de Janeiro for the past three days, attending Rio+20, and seeking to help shape new policies to promote global prosperity, reduce poverty and advance social equity and environmental protection.
A key element on the conference has been its outcome document, entitled “The Future We Want” and agreed on by member states.
“I’m very grateful and encouraged by world leaders for their strong political commitments to agree to a solid outcome document which puts all of us towards a greater sustainable path,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in an interview.
The outcome document calls for a wide range of actions, such as beginning the process to establish sustainable development goals; detailing how the green economy can be used as a tool to achieve sustainable development; strengthening the UN Environment Programme (UNEP); promoting corporate sustainability reporting measures; taking steps to go beyond gross domestic product to assess the well-being of a country; developing a strategy for sustainable development financing; and, adopting a framework for tackling sustainable consumption and production.
The document also focuses on improving gender equity; recognizing the importance of voluntary commitments on sustainable development; and stressing the need to engage civil society and incorporate science into policy; among other points.
Over 50 million people from all over the world have taken part in Rio+20 through social media platforms, voicing their comments, opinions and ideas, making the platforms a key component in establishing a global conversation on sustainability issues both in the lead-up to and during the conference.
“Rio+20 has been a great success,” Sha said. “It had a huge participation, but participation without success means nothing, but we succeeded in concluding negotiations and agreeing to establish not only sustainable development goals but also a high-level forum to monitor the implementation of all commitments.”
US to increase use of spy planes in the Caribbean
The Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) is reporting that the United States (US) plans to step up the use of Predator drones in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico as it increases drug smuggling surveillance.
Predator drones were used by American Intelligence to find and kill al-Qaida suspects in Pakistan and Yemen.
The US Department of Homeland Security officials said Washington has been quietly testing the drones over the Bahamas for more than 18 months.
They say the latest move would dramatically increase US drone flights in the Western Hemisphere, more than doubling the number of square miles now covered by the Department of Homeland Security’s fleet of nine surveillance drones, which are used primarily on the northern and southwestern US borders.
Last Pinta giant tortoise Lonesome George dies
Staff at the Galapagos National Park in Ecuador say Lonesome George, a giant tortoise believed to be the last of its subspecies, has died.
Scientists estimate he was about 100 years old.
Park officials said they would carry out a post-mortem to determine the cause of his death.
With no offspring and no known individuals from his subspecies left, Lonesome George became known as the rarest creature in the world.
For decades, environmentalists unsuccessfully tried to get the Pinta Island tortoise to reproduce with females from a similar subspecies on the Galapagos Islands.
Park officials said the tortoise was found dead in his corral by his keeper of 40 years, Fausto Llerena.
While his exact age was not known, Lonesome George was estimated to be about 100, which made him a young adult as the subspecies can live up to an age of 200.
Galapagos icon
Lonesome George was first seen by a Hungarian scientist on the Galapagos island of Pinta in 1972.
Environmentalists had believed his subspecies (Chelonoidis nigra abingdoni) had become extinct.
Lonesome George became part of the Galapagos National Park breeding programme.
After 15 years of living with a female tortoise from the nearby Wolf volcano, Lonesome George did mate, but the eggs were infertile.
He also shared his corral with female tortoises from Espanola island, which are genetically closer to him than those from Wolf volcano, but Lonesome George failed to mate with them.
He became a become a symbol of the Galapagos Islands, which attract some 180,000 visitors a year.
Hunted to extinction
Galapagos National Park officials said that with George's death, the Pinta tortoise subspecies has become extinct.
They said his body would probably be embalmed to conserve him for future generations.
Tortoises were plentiful on the Galapagos islands until the late 19th century, but were later hunted for their meat by sailors and fishermen to the point of extinction.
Their habitat furthermore suffered when goats were introduced from the mainland.
The differences in appearance between tortoises from different Galapagos islands were among the features which helped the British naturalist Charles Darwin formulate his theory of evolution.
Some 20,000 giant tortoises of other subspecies still live on the Galapagos.
Bolivia police protests continue after deal is rejected
Police in Bolivia, who have been on strike in protest at low pay, have rejected a deal their representative struck with the government.
The officers burned the document their negotiator had signed after all-night talks with the Interior Minister and said they would elect new leaders.
They demand their pay be raised to equal that of soldiers of the same rank.
The government has accused the officers of setting the scene for a coup.
The police protests turned violent on Thursday when a group of officers and their wives seized control of an elite police unit in Bolivia's main city, La Paz, and expelled their superiors.
Other officers joined the protest on Friday in other major Bolivian cities such as Santa Cruz, Cochabamba and Oruro.
After rejecting the pay deal, officers in La Paz took their protest to city's central square, Plaza Murillo.
Officers on strike in Cochabamba, Oruro and Tarija also rejected the deal, while those in Santa Cruz are reportedly still debating whether to accept it.
Greek PM Samaras to miss EU summit following surgery
Greece's new Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will miss this week's EU summit while he recovers from eye surgery, according to a government spokesman.
He underwent routine surgery on Saturday for a damaged retina, with the operation said to have been a success.
Mr Samaras was sworn in as prime minister only last Wednesday to head a three-party pro-austerity coalition.
The "troika" of rescue lenders have also postponed a planned visit to Athens due to Mr Samaras' poor health.
Inspectors from the EU, European Central Bank and IMF had been due to review Greece's progress in meeting bailout conditions on Monday.
The new date for the trip will be determined later in the week.
Negotiations
Greece is under huge international pressure to fulfil bailout terms.
The new governing coalition consists of two "pro-memorandum" parties who broadly support continuing the austerity and reforms demanded by Greece's lenders - Mr Samaras' centre-right New Democracy and the beleaguered socialist Pasok party - as well as the more sceptical Democratic Left.
The new government is seeking to water down the requirements imposed on it by other EU countries and by the International Monetary Fund, including an extension to the deadline for it to reduce its budget deficit by at least two years, to 2016.
The Greek reform programme was expected to be a major item on the agenda of the two-day EU summit in Brussels that begins this Thursday.
A government spokesman said that Mr Samaras cannot attend because doctors have forbidden him from flying, and that the new foreign minister, Dimitris Avramopoulos, will go in his place.
To compound the government's difficulties, the new finance minister Vassilis Rapanos is in hospital after apparently fainting on Friday.
His condition was said on Saturday to be "stable and improving". He was originally due to be sworn in on Saturday.
The outgoing finance minister, Giorgos Zanias, will instead travel to the summit along with two deputy ministers.
Both politicians are expected to be discharged on Monday, but Mr Samaras is likely to be confined to his home for a week.
In a policy document, the government said its aim was for the fiscal target envisaged by the bailout deal to be met without further cuts to salaries and pensions.
Elections held last week ended a two-month deadlock over its implementation.
Pro-bailout parties gained a narrow majority in parliament, despite widespread public anger at austerity measures stipulated in the bailout.
'Avoiding layoffs'
The government's negotiation document was published following agreement on policy goals between the coalition partners New Democracy, Pasok and Democraftic Left, and precedes a confidence vote in parliament.
It includes provision for "an extension to the period for the fiscal adjustment by at least two years, so that the fiscal target is met without further cuts in salaries and pensions".
"The aim is to avoid layoffs of permanent staff, but to economise a serious amount through non-salary operational costs and less bureaucracy," it said, quoted by AFP.
Under the current bailout deal, Greece has agreed to take 150,000 civil servants off the payroll by 2015.
Other provisions include:
- reviewing minimum wage cuts and measures to facilitate private-sector layoffs
- employers and unions to be allowed to set a private sector minimum wage
- rearranging taxpayers' arrears for the year so that they do not exceed 25% of income
- reducing VAT in catering from 23% to 13%
- extending unemployment benefits
Greece's new cabinet was announced two days ago.
All three parties have signed a agreement to fully support the coalition, giving it a majority of 29 in parliament.
However, the cabinet is dominated by the conservative New Democracy party, after its left-wing partners Pasok and Democratic Left barred their MPs from joining.They are represented by two party officials each. It is believed that they may not want to be associated with austerity measures.