World NEWS

The US trade deficit widened to $39.7bn (£20.8bn) in February, as import growth continued to outpace exports. The overall trade deficit increased by $2.7bn from January, the Commerce Department said. At $182.9bn, imports were up 20.5% on the same month a year ago, while exports of $143.2bn were up only 14.3%. The trade figures confirm the trend of resurgent imports outpacing the rebound in exports as the US economy recovers from recession. Compared with January on a seasonally-adjusted basis, imports were up 1.72% and exports were up 0.21%. Export growth was dominated by manufacturing, while imports were driven by consumption. The figures suggest that the surprise fall in the US trade deficit recorded in January may only have been a blip.

The severe winter contributed to a "hesitant" beginning to 2010 for the economy, the Scottish Chambers of Commerce has said. A survey found cold weather at the start of the year affected confidence and activity across all sectors. The main business trends remain negative but are better than a year ago, according to the report. It concluded signs of a sustained recovery in the Scottish economy "remain elusive". The report, conducted in conjunction with the University of Strathclyde's Fraser of Allander Institute, found rising optimism in manufacturing during the first quarter of 2010. Of particular concern is the apparent fall in the volume of public sector contracts Garry Clark Scottish Chambers of Commerce Rising export trends led to an improvement in total orders, but the survey f

Sony Ericsson has reported a surprise profit for the first three months of the year, boosted by new product launches and cost savings. Net profit came in at 21m euros ($28m; £18m), compared with a loss of 293m euros a year earlier. The unexpected profit came despite mobile phone sales being 28% lower from a year ago at 10.5 million phones. Sony Ericsson is playing catch up with other mobile makers that were quicker to launch smartphones. Falling sales "We are pleased to see the positive impact of both the launch of new products and the business transformation programme improving the company's results," said Bert Nordberg, president of Sony Ericsson. He picked out the company's new Experia X10 and Vivaz products as being particularly well received. Despite the launches, sales over the quarter fell to 1.74bn euros compared with 1.41bn euros for the same period a year ago. Improved margins and cost-cutting also helped to improve profitability. Sony Ericsson

KOBE Bryant, one of the biggest names in basketball, will play his first NBA game outside the US when he leads Los Angeles Lakers against the Minnesota Timberwolves in a pre-season game at the O2 Arena on October 4. Kobe Bryant has won four NBA titles and was last year’s most valuable player in the nBA finals. He said: “I know how passionate fans are in the UK and I look forward to putting on a show for what promises to be a great game."

SNOOKER coaching guru Del Hill is staying away from the first week of this year’s world championship – because four of his prodigies are playing against each other and he does not want divided loyalties. This is typical of Hill, who is rated as the best coach in the game , having masterminded world titles with Ronnie O’Sullivan, Stephen Hendry, Peter Ebdon and Graeme Dott . Hill operates from his snooker “farm” which is set in five acres of lush grounds that boast a large lake stocked with perch, carp and bream, where players can relax and fish after long spells of potting pressure. He is also head of World Snooker’s elite coaching team, manager of England’s amateur squad and has still found time to answer business calls from Russia, Thailand, Jordan, Romania, Belgium, Malta, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates. And if that is not enough, he also brokered a deal for Chelsea’s John Terry to buy The Crucible’s 2008 World Championship table – and arranged for technici

The Indian Premier League's new franchise Rendezvous Sports World (RSW) has threatened to sue IPL commissioner Lalit Modi for breaking the confidentiality terms. Modi, who is an avid user of the micro-blogging website Twitter, disclosed the details of the stakeholders in the new Kochi team through his tweets. Modi disclosed the names of the free equity holders in Rendezvous, a move which put Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor [ Images ] in a fix, as Sunanda Pushkar, the lady whom he is reportedly planning to marry, figured in the list. Rendezvous coughed up approximately Rs 1533 crore to bag the Kochi franchise. Modi wrote on his Twitter page that the free equity holders in RSW include Kisan, Shailender and Pushpa Gaikwad, Sunanda Pushkar, Puja Gulati, Jayant Kotalwar, Vishnu [ Images ] Prasad and Sundip Agarwal. "A lot of you are asking about shareholders and events surrounding the Kochi team. I am compiling a note shortly and will put

Internet giant Google has reported a 37% rise in first-quarter net profit, beating analysts' expectations.Profit for the three months to March came in at $1.96bn (£1.26bn) compared with the $1.42bn it made a year ago.Revenue climbed 23% to $6.78bn, helped by an increase in online spending by advertisers. "Going forward, we remain committed to heavy investment in innovation," Google chief financial officer Patrick Pichette said.  He added that the investment would both "spur future growth in our core and emerging businesses as well as to help build the future of the open web". Google also said it had taken on nearly 800 employees in the quarter, its biggest increase in staff since the first quarter of 2008. Its global headcount now stands at 20,621. 'Solid quarter' The amount of money the company made from pay-per-click online advertising rose 15% from the same quarter last year, as the internet advertising market continues its recovery from