US and European stock markets have fallen over concerns about the health of one of Portugal’s biggest banks.
Shares in Banco Espirito Santo were suspended after falling 17% following concerns about accounting irregularities at its parent group.
As a result, the Lisbon stock exchange fell more than 4%, Madrid’s IBEX was down 2.7%, while the Paris CAC 40 and Frankfurt’s DAX were both 1.8% lower.
Wall Street also opened sharply lower, with the Dow Jones falling 150 points.
This took the index well below 17,000, the level breached for the first time earlier this month.
US and European stock markets have fallen over concerns about the health of Portugal’s Banco Espirito Santo
Media reports highlighting concerns about certain financial practices at the Espirito Santo group surfaced at the end of last year.
Portugal’s central bank then ordered an audit into the group’s accounts, which uncovered “serious” accounting irregularities.
The Portuguese government has said that Banco Espirito is isolated from problems at its parent, which is registered in Luxembourg, and that public finances are not at risk.
At the height of the financial crisis, Portugal was forced to take a 78 billion euro ($106 billion) bailout from its European partners and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Portugal exited the bailout program last month as confidence in the country’s economy returned.
Government borrowing costs fell to an eight-year low of 3.58% in April this year, but renewed concerns about the health of the country’s financial sector pushed these back up towards 4% on Thursday.
Some commentators suggested the specific concerns about Banco Espirito fed into wider fears about the health of the eurozone economy.
A rare Botticelli drawing – titled Study for a Seated St Joseph, his head resting on his right hand – has sold for a record £1.3 million ($2.1 million) at Sotheby’s auction in London.
Created in the 1480s, the piece was the first drawing by the artist to be sold for a century.
Sotheby’s said it was highest price ever paid for a work on paper by the Renaissance master.
Botticelli’s Study for a Seated St Joseph, his head resting on his right hand has sold for a record $2.1 million at Sotheby’s auction in London (photo Sotheby’s)
The work was also believed to be the last of his drawings that remained in private hands.
The drawing came from the collection of late philanthropist Barbara Piasecka Johnson, the wife of Johnson and Johnson heir John Seward Johnson, who bought the artwork for $88,000 at a New York auction in 1988.
Study for a Seated St Joseph is believed to be the only drawing which can be clearly linked to one of Sandro Botticelli’s painted compositions.
The man depicted is a study for The Nativity with adoring St John the Baptist – a circular painting dating from the late 1480s which is at Buscot Park near Faringdon, Oxfordshire.
Aside from an album of illustrations for Dante’s Divine Comedy, there are only 12 surviving drawings by Botticelli – all but Study for a Seated St Joseph are in museums.
Germany has expelled a CIA official in Berlin in response to two cases of alleged spying by the US.
The official is said to have acted as a CIA contact at the US embassy, reports say, in a scandal that has infuriated German politicians.
A 31-year-old German intelligence official was arrested last week on suspicion of spying.
Reports on Wednesday said an inquiry had also begun into a German soldier.
“The representative of the US intelligence services at the embassy of the United States of America has been told to leave Germany,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert said.
The chairman of the Bundestag (German parliament) committee overseeing the German secret service said the action was taken because of American spying on German politicians and its failure to co-operate and provide adequate responses.
Angela Merkel has tried to maintain a balance between condemning the US spying, but also maintaining cordial relations
The US has not denied allegations that a German intelligence agency employee arrested last week was passing secret documents to the US National Security Agency (NSA).
However, the latest reports that a soldier within the defense ministry was also spying for the US were considered more serious. Although no arrest was made, searches were carried out on Wednesday at the ministry and elsewhere.
The US and Germany have been close allies for decades but relations were hit last year when it emerged that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone had been monitored by the NSA.
On Thursday, Angela Merkel said spying on allies was a “waste of energy”.
“We have so many problems, we should focus on the important things,” she said at a news conference with visiting Moldovan PM Iurie Leanca.
Angela Merkel has tried to maintain a balance between condemning the US actions but also maintaining cordial relations. However, each revelation has made that balance harder to achieve, he adds.
The scale of the US agency’s surveillance was revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who fled the US and is now a fugitive in Russia.
The German intelligence official arrested last week was alleged to have been trying to gather details about a German parliamentary committee investigating the NSA spying scandal.
China’s trade surplus narrowed to $32 billion in June 2014 after export growth slowed and imports increased, showing the economy is still stabilizing after a weak start to the year.
Exports rose by 7.2% from a year earlier, which was below market expectations for a 10.6% increase.
Imports also missed forecasts, rising by 5.5% due to sluggish demand.
Asian stocks fell in reaction to the data, while the Australian dollar lost some of its gains before recovering.
China’s trade surplus narrowed to $32 billion in June 2014 after export growth slowed and imports increased
Economists say unless more stimulus measures are taken, they doubt China will be able to achieve its annual growth target of 7.5% this year.
China released its latest inflation figures on Wednesday, showing that price pressures have diminished amid lower food prices.
Low inflation is good news because the value of consumers’ incomes is preserved, allowing their money to go further. It also gives the authorities more room to maneuver when setting policy.
Consumer prices rose by 2.3% in June from a year ago, which was an improvement from May’s increase of 2.5%.
Producer prices fell by 1.1% from a year earlier in June after energy prices fell.
Luxury fashion brand Burberry has announced a strong rise in sales but warned that profits could be hit by unfavorable exchange rates.
Retail revenues for Q2 2014 were $592 million, up almost 10% from a year earlier, while like-for-like sales increased by 12%.
Sales were particularly strong in China and Hong Kong.
Burberry has announced a strong rise in sales but warned that profits could be hit by unfavorable exchange rates (photo Wikipedia)
But it warned that if exchange rates remained at current levels, retail and wholesale profit could be cut by $88 million.
Burberry added that, given movements in the sterling-yen exchange rate, it expected licensing revenue to be down by about $16 million.
“The first quarter performance reflects our focus on striving to give customers the best possible experience of the Burberry brand through ongoing investment in retail, digital and service, both on and offline,” said chief executive Christopher Bailey.
“With great brand momentum and a focused vision, we remain confident of delivering sustainable, profitable growth into the future.”
Burberry said it had seen double-digit sales growth in American and Asia Pacific markets. Europe, the Middle East and Africa saw “low single-digit” sales growth.
The retailer also highlighted the strong performance of its online business.
Clinton: The Musical will make its US debut at the New York Music Theater Festival.
Written and directed by Australian brothers Paul and Michael Hodge, the musical offers a satirical take on President Bill Clinton’s time in the White House.
Clinton: The Musical, a satire about scandals of the 1990s, will make its US premiere on July 18 as part of the New York Musical Theater Festival. It portrays two sides of President Bill Clinton: the jovial id who cannot control himself and the pensive policy wonk who cannot stop talking about the intricacies of health care reform.
Hillary Clinton is the struggling-to-be-stabilizing force, grappling with the Lewinsky scandal while slyly eyeing her own Senate run.
Clinton: The Musical will make its US debut at the New York Music Theater Festival
Paul Hodge said his inspiration was Bill Clinton’s 2004 autobiography, My Life, in which the former president explored his “outside life” and his “internal life”.
Dick Morris, the former Bill Clinton aide-turned-enemy, called these parallel lives “Saturday Night Bill” and “Sunday Morning President Clinton”.
There are 21 songs in the show and the character of Bill Clinton is played by two different actors, aiming to show the “two sides” to the former US President.
“He’s so complex that it seemed like an appropriate device,” Paul Hodge said.
The Clintons have already left a big mark on pop culture, from the 1998 movie Primary Colors, based on the roman à clef by Joe Klein, to The Special Relationship, a 2010 HBO movie about Bill Clinton and Tony Blair.
The USA Network’s political drama Political Animals, with Sigourney Weaver as a fictional version of Hillary Clinton, lasted a single season.
In Clinton: The Musical, Duke Lafoon portrays Billy Clinton, the fun-loving side to the serious W. J. Clinton (Karl Kenzler). Duke Lafoon had previously played Bill Clinton in Monica! The Musical, a 2005 Off Broadway show that featured Hillary Clinton as a scheming strategist.
The FBI and NSA spied on the emails of five high-profile Muslim Americans in an effort to identify security threats, documents leaked by fugitive ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden show.
The targets include a lawyer, professor and a political operative, according to a report published in the Intercept.
The Intercept is an online news site overseen by Glenn Greenwald, who helped publish many of Edward Snowden’s leaks.
The FBI and NSA said they only spied on Americans when they had probable cause.
“The National Security Agency and FBI have covertly monitored the emails of prominent Muslim-Americans… under secretive procedures intended to target terrorists and foreign spies,” according to The Intercept report.
According to the report – the result of a three-month investigation using classified documents obtained from Edward Snowden – all five individuals have denied involvement in terrorist activities.
The NSA and Department of Justice quickly responded to the report, saying emails of Americans are only accessed if there is probable cause.
“It is entirely false that US intelligence agencies conduct electronic surveillance of political, religious or activist figures solely because they disagree with public policies or criticize the government, or for exercising constitutional rights,” the agencies wrote in a joint statement.
The White House has ordered a review of national security agencies in the wake of the allegations, however.
Faisal Gill is a Pakistani-born lawyer, a Republican Party operative and former Department of Homeland Security employee (photo ABC News)
“Upon learning of this matter, the White House immediately requested that the Director of National Intelligence undertake an assessment of Intelligence Community policies, training standards or directives that promote diversity and tolerance,” White House national security spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said on Wednesday.
“The use of racial or ethnic stereotypes, slurs, or other similar language” is not acceptable, she added.
Several dozen civil liberties groups have also spoken out against the allegations made in The Intercept report, urging President Barack Obama to provide a full public accounting of domestic surveillance.
It is not the first time US agencies have been accused of snooping on Americans. Previous documents leaked by Edward Snowden indicate the electronic files of thousands of citizens were scanned by the NSA.
Last year, Edward Snowden – a former NSA contractor now residing in Russia – fed a trove of secret NSA documents to news outlets including the Washington Post and the Guardian, where Glenn Greenwald worked.
The Congress has attempted to curb online snooping in the wake of the snooping revelations, with the House of Representatives passing legislation to that effect in mid-June.
The measure, added to a $570 billion defense spending bill, would bar the NSA from collecting Americans’ personal online information without a warrant.
Earlier this year the House also passed the USA Freedom Act that would limit the NSA’s bulk data collection and storage of some American landline telephone call records.
Those allegedly spied on include:
Faisal Gill, a Pakistani-born lawyer, a Republican Party operative and former Department of Homeland Security employee
Asim Ghafoor, a lawyer who represented clients in terrorism-related cases
Hooshang Amirahmadi, an Iranian-American professor at Rutgers University
Agha Saeed, a former political science professor at California State University
Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations [youtube J3hsr3q69eU 650] [youtube Hzkqz5fsp18 650]
Justin Bieber has been sentenced to two years’ probation after pleading no contest to misdemeanor vandalism in connection with the egging of his neighbor’s home.
California’s court also ordered him to pay $80,900 in damages, serve five days of community service and complete an anger management program.
Justin Bieber, 20, was not present in court for the arraignment.
He faces two other criminal cases in Florida and Toronto.
Justin Bieber has been sentenced to two years’ probation after pleading no contest to misdemeanor vandalism in connection with the egging of his neighbor’s home (photo Getty Images)
“Justin is glad to get this matter resolved and behind him,” Justin Bieber’s representatives said in a statement after the verdict by Los Angeles Superior Court in Van Nuys.
“He will continue to move forward focusing on his career and his music.”
Investigators searched Justin Bieber’s Calabasas home in California in January for evidence after the egging apparently caused serious damage.
One of Justin Bieber’s friends was arrested on drug possession charges after that search.
The LA County Sheriff’s Office says they were looking for surveillance video tapes when they spotted the drugs “in plain view”.
Surveillance footage seized from the home appears to show Justin Bieber high-fiving friends and celebrating after throwing eggs at his neighbor’s home, police said.
Frontier Airlines pilot Gerhard Brandner ordered pizzas for a plane full of passengers as they were stuck on tarmac for two hours in Wyoming.
The flight from Washington D.C. to the Mile High city was expected to last three hours. But that eventually morphed into a seven-hour exercise in patience with a diversion to Cheyenne, Wyoming for two and a half hours Monday night.
That’s when Gerhard Brandner got hungry. But rather than order something only for himself, the pilot called in and paid for 50 pizzas for the all passengers on board his Airbus A320 aircraft.
Passengers said the entire cabin burst into applause after the pilot announced the delivery on the loudspeaker.
Frontier Airlines pilot Gerhard Brandner ordered pizzas for a plane full of passengers as they were stuck on tarmac for two hours in Wyoming (photo KDVR.com)
“Ladies and gentleman, Frontier Airlines is known for being one of the cheapest airlines in the US, but your captain is not cheap. I just ordered pizza for the entire plane,” recalled passenger Logan Torres, quoting Gerhard Brandner, in an interview with Fox affiliate KDVR.
Andrew Ritchie, the manager of the Cheyenne Domino’s Pizza in Cheyenne, Wyoming, told the Associated Press he got a call from Gerhard Brandner around 10 p.m with an order enough to feed 160 people.
Pizza for that number of people usually takes an hour, but Andrew Ritchie said it had to be done and delivered in 30 minutes.
The Washington DC to Denver flight, with 160 people, finally flew on to its destination in Colorado.
Gerhard Brandner said he ordered the pizzas as he landed in Cheyenne.
He told a Washington broadcaster he was hungry as well, but he ordered the food because he believed in treating his passengers like family.
“They are my responsibility the moment they step on the aircraft until they get off the aircraft,” Gerhard Brandner said.
Duck Dynasty’s Jase and Missy Robertson are visiting Washington D.C. with their three children, Mia, Reed and Cole.
Jase Robertson with his wife Missy and their kids in front of the White House (photo Facebook)
Missy Robertson wrote on her Facebook page: “We’re in Washington, D.C., where I’ve wanted to bring the kids for years, goofing off, learning a lot and having a few <<selahs>>, as Jase says. It truly is humbling to see our country’s history. We were spotted at the changing of the guard and we’re honored to take a picture with the Honor Guard. Now, onto the Nationals game to watch Adam.”
Justin Bieber will be charged with misdemeanor vandalism in connection with the egging of his neighbor’s home, say Californian prosecutors.
According to a spokeswoman, Justin Bieber will not be in court for the hearing on Wednesday afternoon.
Justin Bieber, 20, faces two other criminal cases in Florida and Toronto.
Justin Bieber will be charged with misdemeanor vandalism in connection with the egging of his neighbor’s home (photo Getty Images)
Investigators searched Justin Bieber’s Calabasas, California, home in January searching for evidence after the egging apparently caused serious damage.
One of Justin Bieber’s friends was arrested on drug possession charges after that search.
The LA County Sheriff’s Office says they were looking for surveillance video tapes when they spotted the drugs “in plain view”.
Surveillance footage seized from the home appears to show Justin Bieber high-fiving friends and celebrating after throwing eggs at his neighbor’s home, police said.
Justin Bieber could have faced a more serious felony charge if the damage to the home was greater than $20,000.
Two previous investigations into Justin Bieber’s conduct by the sheriff’s department have not led to charges.
Prosecutors declined to charge him last year after a neighbor complained he drove recklessly through the area, and in November 2012 after a paparazzi photographer accused Justin Bieber of assault.
Halle Berry’s older sister is Heidi Berry-Henderson.
Halle and Heidi were raised by their mother, actress Judith Hawkins, after their father Jerome Berry abandoned the family.
Halle Berry and her mother Judith Hawkins (photo Getty Images)
After Jerome Berry left the family, Judith Hawkins moved the family to a predominantly white suburb of Cleveland called Bedford. Halle Berry’s time in a nearly all-white school was marred by racial discrimination. The actress has said that this time drove her to work harder.
In interviews over the years, Halle Berry has alleged her father was a violent alcoholic who beat her mother in front of her and her sister Heidi.
Halle Berry excelled in beauty pageants and easily found work in modeling after leaving college early to pursue her dreams.
LG has unveiled the Kizon, a wrist-worn device designed to let parents keep track of where their child is and listen to what they are up to.
The Kizon uses GPS and Wi-Fi signals to identify the wearer’s location and sends the information to an Android app.
LG is targeting the device at families with pre-school and primary school children.
LG’s Kizon is a wrist-worn device designed to let parents keep track of where their child is and listen to what they are up to (photo LG)
However, others have raised concerns about the idea.
LG is not the first to market such a device – start-ups including KMS Solutions, Tinitell and Filip have announced similar products – however, the South Korean company’s launch marks the entry of a tech giant into the sector.
The company says the Kizon can run for up to 36 hours between charges, is water resistant and works with 2G and 3G cellular networks.
The wearer can call a pre-configured phone number by pressing a button on its front.
The button also allows the child to accept calls from approved numbers, and if they fail to press it within 10 seconds the device will automatically let the caller listen in to the machine’s built-in microphone.
LG said it planned to launch the device in South Korea this week, and introduce it to Europe and North America before the end of September.
Thunderstorms with powerful winds have hit northern New York killing at least 4 people and leaving more than 70,000 people without electricity.
Four residents of the rural town of Smithfield were found dead after several homes were destroyed by the fast-moving storms.
Madison County Sheriff Allen Riley told a local broadcaster investigators were searching for others in the rubble.
A boy at summer camp in Maryland was also killed when a tree fell.
Four residents of the rural town of Smithfield were found dead after several homes were destroyed by the fast-moving storms
Six of his friends were injured in the same accident, which happened as they were moving to shelter.
Forecasters said winds from the storms in New York state were at least 60mph.
The National Weather Service said they were sending investigators to Smithfield to see if a tornado touched down.
Town Supervisor Rich Bargabos told the Syracuse Post Standard a mother and her four-month-old baby, a relative of the family and an unrelated neighbor had been killed.
“The houses are obliterated,” Rich Bargabos said.
“There is not a piece of framework together.”
Three small tornadoes touched down in Ohio, forecasters said, and another was spotted in Pennsylvania.
At the height of the outages on Tuesday, more than 300,000 homes and businesses were without electricity in the north-west area of the state.
President Dilma Rousseff has urged Brazilians to bounce back after the national soccer team devastating 7-1 World Cup defeat against Germany.
“Like all Brazilians, I am very, very sad after the defeat. But we will not let ourselves be broken,” Dilma Rousseff tweeted.
The coach of the Brazilian team Luiz Felipe Scolari called the defeat “the worst day of his life”.
Brazilian media reflected the mood of shock on Wednesday, describing the result as a “historic humiliation”.
The result was Brazil’s biggest defeat in World Cup finals history.
“I feel bad for all of us – for fans and for our players,” Dilma Rousseff said, urging Brazilians to “get up, shake off the dust and come out on top”.
President Dilma Rousseff has urged Brazilians to bounce back after the national soccer team devastating 7-1 World Cup defeat against Germany
Some have speculated that the team’s poor showing may affect Dilma Rousseff’s chances in the presidential election in October.
“Brazil’s historic humiliation has set off a warning signal in Dilma Rousseff’s government, which fears that the bad mood stemming from the defeat may affect expectations for the economy – already not very favorable – as well as the campaign trail,” a column in the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper said.
It added that fans in the stadium had chanted insults about Dilma Rousseff.
The German team established a 5-0 lead within just 29 minutes, adding two more goals in the second half.
By the end of the match many of the remaining Brazilian fans were cheering the German team.
The match was the first time a team had scored seven goals in a World Cup semi-final, and the first World Cup game with eight or more goals since Germany beat Saudi Arabia 8-0 in 2002.
Edward Snowden has officially applied for the extension of his stay in Russia after his visa expires.
His lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, confirmed that paperwork had been submitted to Russia’s Federal Migration Service.
The current document granting him temporary asylum expires on July 31.
Edward Snowden fled the US in May 2013 and has been living under temporary asylum in Russia. Last year, he fed a trove of secret intelligence to news outlets.
“We have gone through the procedure of getting temporary asylum… We have submitted documents for extending his stay in Russia,” Anatoly Kucherena told reporters on Wednesday.
The lawyer did not say for how long Edward Snowden wanted to stay in Russia, or whether he wanted to become a Russian citizen.
Edward Snowden has officially applied for the extension of his stay in Russia after his visa expires
Edward Snowden became stranded in the international airport at Moscow last year while travelling from Hong Kong to Cuba. He was in effect trapped in the airport’s transit zone for several weeks before the Russian government allowed him refugee status for a year.
He went to Russia shortly after leaking details of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) international surveillance and telephone-tapping operation.
Russia’s decision to give asylum to Edward Snowden – a former NSA contractor – was strongly criticized by the US.
Correspondents say that while Edward Snowden has in recent weeks increased his media visibility in Russia by giving several closely monitored interviews, he has conceded that he would like to go home, where he faces spying charges that could result in a substantial jail sentence.
News of his moves to extend his visa came as prosecutors in Germany searched the home of a defense ministry employee suspected of spying – the second such case in a week.
The US has not denied allegations that the intelligence agency employee arrested earlier this month was passing secret documents to the NSA.
The two countries, the biggest members of the NATO alliance, have been close allies for decades but relations were strained last year when it was revealed – from paperwork leaked by Edward Snowden – that the NSA had been monitoring German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone calls.
Matthew Sandusky, the adopted son of imprisoned former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, speaks out about his ordeal in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Matt Sandusky’s first public interview will air on July 17 when he will answer questions from Oprah Winfrey on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) at 9 p.m. ET, Huffington Post reported.
Matt Sandusky’s first public interview will air on July 17 when he will answer questions from Oprah Winfrey on the OWN (photo OWN)
In the interview, Matthew Sandusky – currently married and a father himself – will describe the ordeal he endured while being raised by Jerry and Dottie Sandusky.
According to the publication, Matthew Sandusky will respond to Dottie Sandusky’s accusations against her husband’s victims and share details on Jerry Sandusky’s nightly ritual. He is one of six children Jerry and Dottie Sandusky adopted.
Jerry Sandusky was convicted in June 2012 on 45 counts of child abuse, found guilty of raping or fondling 10 boys he had met through the acclaimed youth charity he founded, The Second Mile.
Pamela Anderson is divorcing from Rick Salomon for a second time.
The 47-year-old Baywatch star originally wed film producer and poker professional Rick Salomon in 2007, but the couple had the union annulled two months later.
Pamela Anderson is divorcing from Rick Salomon for a second time (photo Getty Images)
Pamela Anderson and Rick Salomon, 46, rekindled their romance in 2013, and in January 2014, she surprised fans by confirming rumors they had walked down the aisle once more.
However, it appears the relationship isn’t meant to be and Pamela Anderson has since filed legal papers to end the marriage, according to TMZ.
Pamela Anderson was also previously married to rockers Tommy Lee and Kid Rock.
Carrefour is shutting its business in India less than four years after it opened its first store in the country.
One of the world’s largest retail chains, Carrefour currently operates five cash and carry wholesale stores in India.
The French retailer has been exiting underperforming markets, including Singapore, Malaysia and Greece, under chief executive Georges Plassat’s three-year revival plan.
It has said it wants to focus on key markets in Europe, China and Brazil.
Carrefour is shutting its business in India less than four years after it opened its first store in the country
India opened up its multi-brand retail sector to foreign companies in 2012.
But it has put pre-conditions, including those on local sourcing and infrastructure investment, and has also left the final decision on whether to allow foreign companies to open stores to individual state governments.
Many analysts have said the pre-conditions have deterred foreign companies from entering the sector.
So far, only one company – the UK’s Tesco – has announced plans to open stores in the country.
The decision to open up the sector to foreign firms also faced political opposition at the time.
The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) – which has recently formed a new government in India – had opposed the move arguing that the arrival of big name supermarkets may hurt the small retailers in the country.
Cupcake chain Crumbs Bake Shop has said it will shut all its shops, a week after its shares were suspended from trading on the Nasdaq index.
“Regrettably Crumbs has been forced to cease operations,” it said.
The company said it was now evaluating “its limited remaining options”.
Crumbs listed on the stock market in 2011 at the height of the cupcake boom.
Crumbs Bake Shop will shut all its shops, a week after its shares were suspended from trading on the Nasdaq index
It had 65 shops in 12 states and Washington DC as of the end of March, according to its website.
Crumbs, which was founded in 2003, sold cupcakes in flavors such as red velvet cheesecake, peanut butter cup and cookie dough, with some of them containing more than 600 calories.
It sold the cupcakes in sizes varying from a one-inch taster cake to its “colossal” six-inch cake serving six to eight people.
Its fortunes began to decline as its cake sales slowed.
Crumbs reported a loss of $18.2 million last year, which came on top of a $10.3 million loss in 2012.
The company warned in May in an official filing that it “may be forced to curtail or cease its activities” if its operations did not generate enough cash flow.
As of the end of last year, Crumbs listed 165 full-time employees and about 655 part-time hourly employees as working in its stores.
Greek public sector workers have begun a 24-hour strike to protest against continuing cuts in government spending.
Hospitals, tax offices, prisons and archaeological sites are expected to be disrupted by the action.
The workers are protesting against austerity measures, including a 40% reduction to salaries and pensions.
Greek public sector workers have begun a 24-hour strike to protest against continuing cuts in government spending (photo Reuters)
The strike coincides with a visit from Greece’s international creditors to check on the country’s progress.
The European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank – known collectively as the Troika – are monitoring austerity measures that were a condition of a 240 billion-euro ($325 billion) bailout.
The lenders have praised Greece’s progress in meeting the targets set. It has achieved a “primary budget surplus”, with its deficit wiped out apart from interest owed on the bailout.
After six years of recession, the economy is expected to return to growth this year.
After Greece’s high court ruling that recent wage cuts to judges, the armed forces and emergency service workers were illegal and must be repaid, there will be tense discussions about the widening hole in next year’s finances.
The nagging question remains about how to bring down a 26% unemployment rate caused chiefly by four years of austerity.
Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Beijing for the annual China-US dialogue.
China’s President Xi Jinping has called for mutual respect between the two nations, saying that a confrontation with the US would be a “disaster”.
Diplomats are expected to discuss China’s currency, North Korea and tensions in the South China Sea.
The US delegation is led by John Kerry, who in his opening remarks said that the US was not seeking to “contain” China.
Xi Jinping said the two countries’ interests were now “more than ever interconnected”, with much to gain from co-operation.
US diplomats at the Beijing talks are expected to discuss China’s currency, North Korea and tensions in the South China Sea
“China-US confrontation, to the two countries and the world, would definitely be a disaster,” he said.
“We should mutually respect and treat each other equally, and respect the other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and respect each other’s choice on the path of development.”
John Kerry, meanwhile, said the US did “not seek to contain China” and urged Beijing not to “interpret it as an overall strategy” when the US differed from China on certain issues.
President Barack Obama also said in a statement that the US “welcomes the emergence of a stable, peaceful, and prosperous China”.
“We remain determined to ensure that co-operation defines the overall relationship,” he said.
US leaders have also called on China to do its part in maintaining stability in Asia.
John Kerry said the US welcomed a China that “contributes to the stability and development of the region and chooses to play a responsible role in world affairs”.
The talks come with China locked in bitter disputes with several neighbors in the region, notably Vietnam and the Philippines, over claims in the South China Sea.
In turn, the US has stepped up joint military exercises with the Philippines and its military presence there, a move over which China has raised concerns. One of the latest exercises was conducted in the South China Sea near disputed waters two weeks ago.
Increased anti-Japan rhetoric has also come from China in recent weeks, following a decision by the Japanese cabinet to reinterpret the constitution, giving the Japanese military greater latitude to fight overseas.
Both countries claim a string of islands in the East China Sea and ties are severely strained over this issue.
The US and China have also had disagreements in recent months, particularly over cyber-attacks.
In May, US authorities charged five Chinese military officers with hacking into American businesses. Beijing has vigorously denied the charges, accusing the US of launching cyber-attacks against China.
Two suspected short-range missiles have been launched by North Korea, South Korea says, in the fourth such test in two weeks.
The projectiles were fired from a western province into waters east of the Korean peninsula in the early hours of Wednesday, officials said.
The move follows a recent visit by the Chinese president to South Korea.
Chinese leaders traditionally go to Pyongyang before Seoul, and the visit has been seen as a snub to North Korea.
North Korea has fired two suspected short-range missiles into the sea
“North Korea fired two short-range missiles presumed to be Scud-type ones… from a site in Hwanghae province in a north-easterly direction,” South Korean spokesman Um Hyo-sik was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.
“They flew some 500km [310 miles] and landed in international waters,” he added, without giving further details.
North Korea has carried out several such launches in recent months, including four within the last two weeks.
It has interspersed these launches with apparently conciliatory moves towards the South, including a recent offer to suspend provocative military activities and cross-border slander.
Previous similar offers have come to nothing and South Korea has dismissed this latest offer.
The latest launch also comes days after Chinese President Xi Jinping and his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye reaffirmed their opposition to North Korean nuclear tests during talks in Seoul.
