Recovering UK economy shows broader, faster growth

1 of 2. A shopper leaves a Marks & Spencer store in Leicester, central England March 18, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Darren Staples

By Olesya Dmitracova and Kate Holton

LONDON | Fri Aug 23, 2013 6:53am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's economy grew faster than expected in the second quarter, benefiting from a broad-based pick-up in activity that looked to have put the country's burgeoning recovery on a firmer footing.

Gross domestic product expanded 0.7 percent from the previous quarter, data from the Office for National Statistics showed on Friday, beating its initial estimate and economists' forecasts and putting Britain's growth rate on a par with European powerhouse Germany.

"It does look like the recovery is becoming more self-sustaining," said Philip Shaw, economist at Investec.

Stocks gained after the data, which also showed output rose by a surprisingly strong 1.5 percent from a year ago.

The pound and government bond yields rose, highlighting expectations that the revival could force Britain's central bank to raise interest rates earlier than it has indicated.

British exports rose at the fastest pace since late 2011 and business investment grew faster than household spending, suggesting a shift towards more balanced growth in an economy that has been driven mainly by domestic consumption and imports.

RATES CONUNDRUM

In an effort to encourage spending and investment, the Bank of England said earlier this month it would not raise borrowing costs while unemployment remained above 7 percent, a level it did not expect to be breached for at least three years.

But the threshold may be crossed sooner if Britain's recovery maintains momentum, and since the bank gave its forward guidance, the news on the economy has been predominantly upbeat.

Factories' order books looked in their best shape for two years in August, consumer confidence and retail sales soared in July, and surveys found robust growth across manufacturing, construction and services at the start of the third quarter.

"The Bank of England is therefore facing a growing challenge of how to convince the markets and households that interest rates will not need to rise over the next three years," said Chris Williamson, economist at financial data company Markit.

In a speech next week, BoE governor Mark Carney is tipped to try to talk down expectations of an earlier rise in the base rate, which have caused conditions to tighten on money markets.

Friday's data showed that most key output components of GDP expanded more than originally thought.

Britain's service sector - which makes up more than three quarters of GDP - grew 0.6 percent compared with the first quarter, as estimated earlier.

But manufacturing output growth was heavily revised up to 0.7 percent and the volatile construction sector posted a 1.4 percent rise, also much better than found a month ago.

The increase in building activity is running in parallel with an upturn in the property market, fuelled in part by a state-backed mortgage scheme that critics fear could lead to a new price bubble.

Britain's economy is still 3.2 percent smaller than at its peak in the first quarter of 2008.

(Editing by John Stonestreet)

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Naomi Campbell shows off her increasingly toned bikini body

By Sarah Bull

PUBLISHED: 09:45 GMT, 16 August 2013 | UPDATED: 14:05 GMT, 16 August 2013

They're both recently single after high-profile splits.

So Naomi Campbell and Stacy Keibler must have had a lot to talk about as they holidayed together on Roberto Cavalli's yacht in Ibiza this week.

While Naomi split from billionaire beau Vladimir Doronin in June, Stacy and former beau George Clooney broke up last month.

Heartbreak holiday: Naomi Campbell and Stacy Keibler were seen holidaying together on Roberto Cavalli's yacht in Ibiza this week

Competing for attention: While Naomi wore a mismatched bikini, Stacy opted for a black revealing monokini

But both girls put their heartbreak behind them and appeared in good spirits as they made the most of their break on the luxury vessel.

Naomi, 43, sported a white bikini top and spotted, frilled bikini bottoms as she stood on the deck.

Displaying her truly incredible figure, Naomi looked in good spirits as she laughed and spent time with friends on the vessel.

Increasingly toned: Naomi showed off her incredible bikini body on the luxury vessel

Mismatched style: Naomi wore a white bikini top with polkadot frilled bottoms, teamed with a cowboy hat and sunglasses as she spent the day on designer Roberto Cavalli's yacht

Ever conscious of accessories, Naomi teamed her mismatched two-piece with a jewelled belly chain and cowboy hat, along with sunglasses.

Clearly determined to stay safe in the sunshine, Naomi had covered herself in SPF, giving her skin a silky sheen.

Meanwhile, Naomi had competition on the attention-grabbing front from Stacy, who showed off her figure in a revealing black monokini.

Diva in denim: Stacy paired her swimsuit with denim shorts worn over the top

Stacy was seen wearing a pair of barely-there denim shorts over the swimsuit as she made her way up onto the deck, with her blonde hair tied back into a bun.

Both Naomi and Stacy looked slimmer than they have in recent months - suggesting they have both been on the heartbreak diet.

According to reports, Naomi has been throwing herself into daily gym workouts in a bid to take her mind off her split from Vladimir, who she had been dating for five years.

A source said: 'Naomi has thrown herself into exercise in the wake of her split. For the past two months, she's been in the gym more than five times a week.'

Puffing away: Naomi has tried previously but has never been able to kick her smoking habit

Party time: Naomi looked in good spirits as she laughed and spent time with friends on the boat

Naomi has also reportedly been following a cleansing diet regime to rid her body of toxins.

The source added to Closer magazine: 'She's been doing the maple syrup cleanse around three times a year for the past seven years, which involves drinking a mix of water, maple syrup and cayenne pepper for around ten days at a time.

'She says she feels totally detoxed after doing it.'

Speaking prevously about the regime, which Beyonc? also famously followed to lose weight for her role in the movie Dreamgirls, Naomi said: 'I try to do this three times a year. The most I've ever done it for is 18 days. It's good just to clean out your body once in a while.'

Accessory queen: Naomi finished off her swimwear look by adding a bejewelled belly chain to her ensemble

Picture perfect: Naomi has been throwing herself into exercise following her June split from Vladimir Doronin

Lap of luxury: There's certainly no expense spared when Cavalli invites his celebrity pals onto his yacht

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The Wolverine 3D review: Hugh Jackman shows he's still a force of nature

By Brian Viner

PUBLISHED: 21:06 GMT, 25 July 2013 | UPDATED: 23:21 GMT, 8 August 2013

The Wolverine 3D (12A)

Verdict: The Wolvering cometh - again

Rating:

The atomic bombing of Nagasaki seems more likely to conclude an action film than begin it, but then The Wolverine, the latest in the Marvel Comics-inspired X-Men series, is nothing if not ambitious. 

And confounding my own lacklustre expectations, the ambition pays off.

This represents a vast improvement on the last outing for Hugh Jackman’s retractable-clawed mutant, in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It is really rather good.

Hugh Jackman's retractable claws are back for a sharp, entertaining installment

Naturally, it comes chock-full of stuff you shouldn’t try at home, starting with the use of a manhole-cover to protect a chap from a nuclear explosion.

The protected man is a Japanese soldier, who takes advantage of his good fortune to build another kind of fortune, becoming his country’s richest business mogul, and sending from his death bed — the most high-tech death bed you’ve ever seen, I might add — for his war-time saviour.

This, of course, is the immortal and ageless Wolverine, otherwise known as Logan, who is holed up in the back of the American beyond, with not much to do except exact revenge on hunters for using poison-tipped arrows against grizzly bears.

But when a feisty Japanese girl (Rila Fukushima) turns up and invites him to meet the old man he saved in Nagasaki, the real fun begins.

In Japan, Logan is sucked into a fight for control of the old man’s business empire, involving his ruthless son and sexy granddaughter, not to mention a villainess (Svetlana Khodchenkova) who appears to have even greater superpowers than our hero, not least a kind of killer halitosis. 

Inevitably, this being the Far East, the battle for supremacy also includes plenty of martial arts, which might be as good a way as any to mark the anniversary of Bruce Lee’s death, 40 years ago last week.

All these action sequences are splendidly done, in particular a thrilling fight on top of a 300mph bullet train.

The dialogue may be lacking in finesse but the action and chase scenes are thrilling

The director is James Mangold, better known for the Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line than for anything featuring superheroes, but here he gets to play with actual rings of fire, and enjoys himself hugely.

As for Jackman, he looks more than ever like mid-period Clint Eastwood, and is only slightly more talkative.

This is a relief, since dialogue never exactly sparkles in the X-Men films, and it’s not about to start here (though I was interested to learn that it is a bad omen to leave chopsticks upright, because they evoke incense sticks burning at a funeral). 

The sophistication lies in the fight and chase sequences, not the script. 

‘Go f*** yourself, pretty boy’, is about the closest Logan comes to a witty riposte.

But all credit to Jackman, who still manages to convey a man suffering from a kind of existential itch — and heaven knows it’s not easy to scratch any itch when you have claws.

Behind those claws, what this is, essentially, is an old-fashioned damsel-in-distress story, the damsel being the fragrant heiress, Mariko (Tao Okamoto).

But what good is a damsel in distress without a Prince Charming to fall in love with her? 

Happily, Logan obliges, with only the briefest of troubling flashbacks to his dead girlfriend Jean (Famke Janssen).

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