European markets close slightly higher after central bank bonanza; Maersk shares up 8%

 LONDON — European markets closed slightly higher on Friday, rounding out a positive week after a deluge of key policy decisions from major central banks.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index ended up 0.1%, having given back earlier gains of around 0.5%. Mining stocks climbed 1.3% while telecoms dropped 0.8%.

It gained 0.91% on the week in its fifth consecutive week of gains.

A day earlier, on Thursday, the European blue-chip index hitits highest point since January 2022.

Wednesday saw the U.S. Federal Reserve keep interest unchanged in a range between 5.25% and 5.5%, but risk sentiment in markets was boosted as the central bank revealed that policymakers were penciling in at least three rate cuts next year.

On Thursday, both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank also kept their respective interest rates unchanged, but the former pushed back against market expectations by retaining its hawkish guidance that monetary policy is “likely to need to be restrictive for an extended period of time.”

Alongside its decision, the ECB revised down its growth and inflation forecasts for the euro area and announced plans to speed up the shrinking of its balance sheet.

U.S. stocks were mixed on Friday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average notched a fresh record high, as the index heads for its best weekly winning streak since 2019.

Shares in Asia-Pacific also climbed overnight, led by Hong Kong, as markets in the region picked up the baton from Wall Street despite Chinese data showing an uneven recovery in the world’s second-largest economy.

Maersk to pause all container ship traffic through the Red Sea

  Danish shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk  will pause all container shipments through the Red Sea until further notice, a spokesperson for the company told Reuters on Friday.

"Following the near-miss incident involving Maersk Gibraltar yesterday and yet another attack on a container vessel today, we have instructed all Maersk vessels in the area bound to pass through the Bab al-Mandab Strait to pause their journey until further notice," the company said in a statement.

Maersk on Thursday said its vessel Maersk Gibraltar was targeted by a missile while travelling from Salalah, Oman, to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and that the crew and vessel were reported safe.

Earlier on Friday Maersk  by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement that the militia had struck a Maersk vessel sailing towards Israel.

"The vessel was not hit," a Maersk spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement following the Houthi claim.

The Houthis had claimed they carried out a military operation against a Maersk container vessel, directly hitting it with a drone. The Houthis, who made the claim in a statement, did not release any evidence.

Maersk said the company was deeply concerned about the highly escalated security situation in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

"The recent attacks on commercial vessels in the area are alarming and pose a significant threat to the safety and security of seafarers," it wrote in the statement.

Twilight' Stars: It Was 'About Damn Time' For Robert/Taylor Kiss

The biggest shocker to come out of the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday night (June 5) was hands down that Robert Pattinson treated Taylor Lautner to a smooch almost as passionate as the ones in the Golden Popcorn-winning "Twilight Saga" films.
"It was about damn time, man. It's been up in the air for about three years now. I think we've all been waiting for Rob and Taylor to kiss," Jackson Rathbone told MTV News when we caught up with him backstage at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. "We knew it was coming, and finally it did. Finally, they acknowledged their love for each other." Rathbone's vampire brother Kellan Lutz admitted he was a bit surprised, but their co-star Peter Facinelli shared a little secret about how the RPattz/Taylor smooch went off without a hitch.
"They asked us to show them in practice," Facinelli said.
"We taught them everything they know," Lutz confirmed.
Tinsel Korey hought the Pattinson and Lautner kiss was "totally sexy," but Kiowa Gordon said he "puked a little bit" when his onscreen enemies locked lips. BooBoo Stewart had "no comment," but Julia Jones at least "thought it was cute."
All seemed to have been smoothed over by the time Pattinson, Lautner and their co-stars took the stage to accept the Best Movie award, with Lautner teasingly giving his sparkly co-star a knowing look and a quick tap on the chin before throwing his arm around his shoulder. As Rathbone said, those two should be nominated for a special award at next year's Movie Awards for Best Man-On-Man Kiss.
What did you think of Rob and Taylor's kiss? Tell us in the comments!

U.S. Soccer focused on Gold Cup

The information from U.S. Soccer referred to an "inexperienced lineup" and the upcoming CONCACAF Gold Cup as "more important."
Sorry, but the U.S. national team was playing World Cup champion Spain before 64,121 Saturday night at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., and its 4-0 loss can't be treated as an afterthought.
"Spain is a great team," understated U.S. coach Bob Bradley. "It's a tough test to play against them at any time and it becomes even tougher on the eve of the Gold Cup. It's what the game at the highest level is all about. It's the best way for our team to improve."
The last time the United States played Spain was at the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa, and the Americans scored a spectacular, 2-0 victory, ending Spain's 35-game international unbeaten streak. Six players who played that night were in Bradley's lineup Saturday, and the rest of the U.S. team included players who play professionally in England, Germany and Scotland.
What inexperience?
The Spaniards used five Real Madrid players, three from just-crowned UEFA Champions League king Barcelona, and three from English Premier League teams.
Santa Cazorla (Villareal) scored two goals, Alvaro Negrado (Sevilla), and Fernando Torres, who could not buy a goal this past season for either Liverpool or Chelsea, each scored once.
"We got our butts kicked," said U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard, who will face the Union with Everton at PPL Park in July. "If we win the Gold Cup in a couple of weeks, nobody will remember this."
And who do you think will remember anything about the Gold Cup?

Thunder fighting to survive

NORMAN — In what may have been the lowest point in the short history of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin Durant sat alone. After his team gave up a 15-point lead that led to an overtime loss to Dallas in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals Monday, Durant faced the media by himself. His coach had just left and his sidekick, Russell Westbrook, was nowhere in sight.
But Durant sat there, with a hand over his face, and answered every question that was shot at him — even the ones that visibly brought up the memories of the painful collapse.
“This is basketball, man,” Durant said. “Our youth has nothing to do with what we were doing on the floor. We’ve showed we can play on this level. They played good defense. We missed some shots. Our youth has nothing to do with it.”
Durant didn’t have the type of game he had wanted — or expected — from himself in Game 5. He had 29 points, but didn’t score a point in the final 10 minutes, including overtime. He tallied 15 rebounds as he battled Tyson Chandler in the paint, but he was also one turnover away from a different kind of triple-double.
“I was trying to play with so much force and play so hard,” Durant said. “Early on, I was getting the ball where I wanted to and they were just playing straight-up defense. But later on, I got the ball where I wanted to and I seen three or four guys around me, and I had to make a pass. Some passes were tipped. A few of those, my swipe move, I didn’t get the foul and I got the turnover.”
Dallas made the decision early on that Durant was not going to beat them.
“The guys that are getting the ball a lot are facing tremendous pressure,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. “We’re game planning like crazy for the guy. We’re chasing him, we’re double-teaming him out to half-court a lot of the time. He’s receiving a lot of attention.”
One thing is for sure, Durant will see the same attention tonight in Game 5 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. It will be up to coach Scott Brooks to figure out a way to get his star the ball in easier scoring positions.
What hurts the situation even more is that Durant doesn’t have to look too far to see how a superstar is supposed to play in the clutch. The Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki has nearly put to rest the talk of him being soft in the postseason with the way he has bullied Thunder defenders throughout the series. He’s scored 40 points or more twice. Dallas won both of those games.
But it’s more than Nowitzki outplaying Durant. It’s the Mavericks’ supporting cast outplaying the Thunder, especially late in games.
“He is a tough cover,” Westbrook said. “The way he knocks down shots, we couldn’t double because of his shooters they have around him. It was tough.”
If the Thunder want their season to continue for at least one more game, they will have to go on the road, in front of a hostile crowd, and show they have learned from their most recent failure.
“I think we can,” Thabo Sefolosha said. “We have bounced back a lot of times. We are playing against a very good team. We have to make some adjustments and keep fighting. It’s not over yet. We have a lot of basketball to play and we have to keep pushing.”
When the season started, the Thunder had championship aspirations, despite their age. Those aspirations turned to expectations after the trade deadline brought them Kendrick Perkins.
Now Oklahoma City is just fighting to survive.
“I feel upset because I think I let (the fans) down,” Durant said. “I let the city down. I just want to come back next game and play even harder. I think I played hard, but push it up another level for these fans and try to bring it back to OKC.”

Hines Ward scores, takes home mirror ball trophy on 'Dancing with the Stars'

It's all over but cleaning up the tons of confetti on the dance floor of "Dancing with the Stars" Season 12, and by winning it all, Pittsburgh Steeler Hines Ward, with his partner Kym Johnson, upheld the tradition of the dancing football star. Hines was the odds-on favorite to take home the trophy after weeks of outstanding dancing, along with showing a captivating smile and personality. And I have to say: I called it last week!!
If there was a shocker for the night, it was that Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas, tied with Hines and Kym atop the leaderboard, were eliminated and had to settle for third place. It just proves that DWTS is as much a personality contest as a dancing competition.
Kirstie Alley and Maks Chmerkovskiy did their level best to wow the judges and viewers with continued improvement in dancing, while Kirstie gained confidence, endurance and a new figure. I think that Maks was hoping to break into the circle of mirror ball winners after 10 years, but Hines and Kym became a team that was just too tough to beat. Hopefully, the rumors are wrong and he'll be back next season to show off his best moves -- and bare chest.The two-hour finale was just as bloated with commercials and padded with repeats and look-backs as ever, although there were a few surprises. Josh Groban's appearance to surprise Petra Nemcova with her favorite song as she waltzed with Dmitry Chaplin was one, and Chris Jericho's spot-on impression of over-the-top judge Bruno onioli was another. The audience was packed with stars of ABC shows, celebrities, including Sarah Palin, and family and friends of the contestants. All in all, it was exactly what we've come to expect on "Dancing with the Stars." Now, how many weeks is it until the next season starts in September?

Josh Groban Receives Glowing Reviews for Current "Straight To You" Tour

BURBANK, CA--(Marketwire - May 24, 2011) - On May 12^th, Josh Groban launched the North American leg of his 2011 "Straight To You" World Tour and is receiving some of the best reviews of his career. With a set designed by the award-winning British multi-media creative and digital agency Knifedge, which has pioneered the use of projection with live theater events, the tour gives fans the feeling of an intimate theater setting through stage design, lighting, and projection, as well as through the spontaneity and interactivity Groban delighted his fans with during last year's "Before We Begin" shows. Groban is not only performing an ever-changing set-list of fan favorites from his best-selling albums and his recent platinum-seller Illuminations, he is also taking questions from the audience via text, which concert-goers are given instructions on how to send before and during each show.
"Groban's genuine boy-next-door demeanor in the midst of violins, french horns, percussion, cello, piano, guitars, bass and drums makes him and his music all the more endearing. He appears truly comfortable performing, like it's his second home." - The Dallas Morning News
"Listening to Groban's commanding tenor navigate 'Oceano' and 'Alla Luce,' for example, was to us the same as admiring a painting at the Museum of Fine Arts -- it wasn't necessary to understand the lyrics to understand the song. ... Sometimes beauty, in and of itself, can be both motive and reward. And regardless of the context you're coming from, it can be pretty inspirational, too." - Houston Press
"Groban has boyish charm that belies his big voice. If you want to dismiss him as popera, be my guest; but do take a moment to listen to his voice sometime, just for its qualities and tone, and tell me it doesn't draw you in." -Dallas Voice
"Impeccable vocals, wit, make Groban concert memorable. Groban proved to be quite the showman, but his vocals truly made the show memorable. He managed to belt powerful and enunciated lyrics, then quickly switch to a soothing falsetto. Few performers have the ability to perform that way live without a hitch." - Wichita Eagle
"That had been one of the purposes of the stage set created for his 'Straight To You' tour -- to allow for more interaction between Groban and his fans, whether it be answering questions audience members could text in before the show or getting down among the adoring. But it's simply the case of a talented artist putting his instrument to its best and most effective use. And Groban sings with such obvious emotion and sincerity -- not to mention skill -- that it's difficult not to be won over." - Tulsa World

American Idol' Finale: The Case For Lauren

We realize this is a futile effort. Everyone knows that Scotty McCreery, the clean-cut, mild mannered, country kid with the aw, shucks grin from Garner North Carolina, has this contest pretty much sewn up. And we’re not just talking about Tuesday night’s DialIdol results that has him leading with twice as many votes as Lauren Alaina. Let’s face it, he’s never been in the bottom three, and a source tells THR that earlier this month, Scotty led his fellow finalists by a country mile over the number two vote-getter that week. So Wednesday night’s result show should come as a surprise to, well, nobody.
Even so, this should not dissuade Lauren Alaina’s fans from harnessing their power and influence to put the Georgia peach in the winner’s column. There’s still time! But even beyond tonight’s four-hour window, we’d like to offer top five reasons why Lauren is the better choice for Season 10.
5) Lauren has versatility. Her range not only suits the country genre she so clearly loves, but it has pop undertones that would work very well with what we like to classify as “crossover” potential. Think: Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood.
4) Look at the Top 40 and the iTunes charts these days -- the biggest sellers of the past two years are female: Pink, Lady Gaga, Adele, Katy Perry, Ke$ha, Rihanna, Beyonce, and, yes, Jennifer Lopez. Girls are huge sellers in multiple genres, or, in the words of Beyonce, “run the World.”
3) The top two bests-selling most beloved Idols? Women. The aforementioned Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson, ‘natch. And can’t you just see Lauren fitting nicely into that coffee klatch?
2) Despite nearly losing her voice last night, Lauren soldiered on and did more than “work it out,” as Randy Jackson would say. She put heart, soul and every muscle she had into that performance Tuesdya night, showing true poise and professionalism. The show must go on, and it did. Some say Scotty is the more mature of the two. We say, who cares?
1) It has been far too long since a girl won American Idol. The last one was season 6’s Jordin Sparks who won in 2007 and, incidentally, has multiple singles still being played on the radio. No, the closest Idol had to a female winner was last year’s Crystal Bowersox.
Bottom line: Lauren has marketability and the most potential to strengthen the Idol brand by selling music, and isn’t that really what this exercise is all about?
As always, we welcome your thoughts, Idol Worshipers...

Television Review: 'Too Big to Fail'

A tale of the 2008 financial meltdown comes to HBO, with straightforward direction by Curtis Hanson and a sizable cast led by William Hurt."Too Big to Fail," which premieres Monday on HBO, is the latest of that network's high-toned original films ("Recount," "The Late Shift," "From the Earth to the Moon," the upcoming "Game Change") in which a large cast of medium-big-to-big-named actors assume the skin of the real people to put you backstage at history. In this case — the story of the 2008 financial meltdown and the attempt to keep us all from ruin — the paint is barely dry on the actual events. Indeed, their ongoing consequences will affect the next election.

Directed by Curtis Hanson ("L.A. Confidential," "8 Mile") from a screenplay by Peter Gould ("Breaking Bad") and based on Andrew Ross Sorkin's book of the same name, "Too Big to Fail" is pretty consistent low-key entertainment if not exactly enlightening (because it is an impersonation of the truth) or gripping (because we already know how it sort of ends). Structurally, it is a little like an episode of "House," a series of surgeries and injections requiring further surgeries and injections but without the tidy fourth-act cure, and a little like a disaster movie, where the disaster is still rumbling on at the movie's end, just not as awfully as it might have, and a little like a samurai movie, where the soldiers carry cellphones instead of swords, minus the action. Hanson's direction is admirably straightforward; he doesn't try to compensate for what is basically a story of rich white men talking about money with overcomposed or flashy visuals or an unsettling sound design.In some respects I am a bear of little brain. Fannie Mae will always be the title of a Buster Brown song to me, and at first much of the matter here and many of the many characters went by in a blur of blue suits and gobbledygook — much like my experience of the crisis itself, for that matter. Eventually, the players resolve vaguely into teams, after which watching is less about keeping the many facts straight than tracking the energy flow.

Still, the filmmakers have tried to touch all the important bases, and there are possibly six lines in the film that do not prompt one to ask, "Will this be on the test?" (There is one about doughnuts, one about oatmeal, one about a hawk, one about a frog, one about Christian Science and one about Al Capone's gun; they are supposed to add a dash of naturalism, and they stick out a mile.) Because they have a lot to tell you, movies like "Too Big to Fail" inevitably have something of the shorthand quality of a Presidents Day pageant: "Who has chopped down my cherry tree?" "It was I, with my little hatchet." "God bless you, Mr. President!"

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson (William Hurt) is our hero here, flanked by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke (Paul Giamatti) and then-president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Timothy F. Geithner (Billy Crudup). Of the bankers and money men — played by the power-suited likes of Tony Shalhoub, Bill Pullman, Michael O'Keefe and Matthew Modine — only James Woods' Dick Fuld, the CEO of Lehman Brothers, constitutes more than a cameo, in part because Lehman was the firm that was allowed to fail and in part because Fuld's famously difficult demeanor guaranteed him screen time. As support staff on Team Paulson, Topher Grace, Cynthia Nixon, Joey Slotnick and Ayad Akhtar all do heavy lifting lightly.

The film's main argument, really, is that we should look kindly upon Paulson and the best he tried to do; the other characters we rate by whether they help or hinder him. What moral voice there is here mostly comes out of his mouth. "We've been late on everything," he admits, and admits also that no one in power wanted to regulate the financial industry because "We were making too much money." (That's about as pointed as the film gets on the subject of corporate greed.) Hurt, who (like his costars) seems to be playing the script rather than imitating the person whose name he bears, is a tall tower of movie-star appeal, and it does not hurt our opinion of Paulson that Kathy Baker plays his wife, although she has not much to do but sympathize.

31 Modern Warfare 3 trailer screens: New York

Modern Warfare 3 is being created by three separate US studios: Infinity Ward, Raven Software and Sledgehammer Games. So it's something of a surprise to see New York get quite such a violent battering in the first trailer.Activision's teaser footage for the game , which was release last night, shows The Big Apple getting pulverised - both in the handily subtitled 'America' part, and later on in the video.

Here, we've grabbed 31 stills of the action, in which you can see some very cool naval manoeuvres (can you spot the Statue Of Liberty in the background?) as well as a major attack on what appears to be Wall Street.You can check out similarly revelatory screens from the London, Paris and Berlin sections of the Modern Warfare trailer through the links.

Modern Warfare 3 is due for release worldwide for PC, 360 and PS3 on November 8.