In year of 'Selma,' critics blast Oscars for all-white Best Actor field

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The lack of diversity in that category was punctuated by the absence of David Oyelowo, who gave an acclaimed performance in "Selma" as Martin Luther King Jr.

Actors Eddie Redmayne, Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Keaton, Bradley Cooper and Steve Carell were all nominated over Oyelowo.

The exclusion of Oyelowo from Best Actor wasn't the only "Selma" exclusion many took issue with.

The film's director, Ava DuVernay, wasn't nominated for Best Director. She would have been the first African-American woman ever in the category.

In all, the well-reviewed "Selma" picked up two awards: Best Picture and Best Song.

Other major categories, including Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, also had all-white slates of nominees.

Many felt that David Oyelowo's performance in "Selma" was grossly overlooked.

Backlash from fans and critics was fervent.

"It's a movie about blacks being shut out of society. ... And now we're shut out of Hollywood," Al Sharpton told the New York Daily News.

On social media, many conveyed their outrage with the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite.

Others pointed out what they called the Academy's inconsistencies.

"Selma? One of the best pics of the year. But the directing, script, all the acting, & cinematography? Meh," comedian Patton Oswalt tweeted. "Nice song, though."

The widespread criticism comes a year after the Oscars celebrated nominees from diverse backgrounds.

At last year's Oscars, "12 Years A Slave" won the biggest prize of all: Best Picture. Other awards like Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay also went to people of color.

Yet, while "Selma" was neglected by the Academy, it will have the honor of being shown at the White House as President Obama hosts a screening of the film on Friday night.

The Oscars will be broadcast on ABC on February 22.

Related: Is this why 'Selma' was snubbed?

First Published: January 16, 2015: 2:26 PM ET

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Charlie Hebdo co-founder: Prophet cartoons went too far

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Henri Roussel, now 80, wrote a letter with his views in the wake of the terrorist attack at the magazine's office in Paris. Twelve people were killed, including Charbonnier, known as "Charb."

Roussel called Charbonnier "brilliant" but "stubborn." He said he thought the magazine went too far with its provocative images, particularly after the 2011 firebombing of the office. That incident came at the same time the magazine published a cover image depicting the prophet.

"What made him feel the need to drag the team into overdoing it?" Roussel asked, according to an English translation of his letter in the French-language magazine Nouvel Obs.

"I'm upset at you, Charb," he added.

Roussel's remarks mimic the public debate about the appropriateness of Charlie Hebdo's depictions of the prophet.

According to British media reports, Charlie Hebdo lawyer Richard Malka condemned Roussel's comments, calling them "polemical and venomous."

The magazine's so-called "survivors' issue," published Wednesday, expressed appreciation for the outpouring of public support after the January 7 attack. The support continues, with sellouts at newsstands across Paris on Friday for a third day in a row.

"It's still sold out almost everywhere we look," CNN's John Berman said.

About 1 million copies of the magazine are being printed each day. Michel Salion, a spokesman for the magazine's distributor, said technical problems will result in fewer copies than expected on Saturday; normal distribution will resume on Monday.

"Merci de votre patience," he wrote on Twitter -- "thank you for your patience."

Meanwhile, opposition to the new issue's cover image, which portrays the Prophet Mohammed, turned violent during a protest in Karachi, Pakistan on Friday. Demonstrators tried to march to the French consulate but were turned back by police water cannons and tear gas.

A photographer working for AFP, a wire service based in Paris, was shot during the chaos.

"Investigations are underway to determine who shot him," Ahmed Chinoy, chief of Karachi's Citizen Police Liaison Committee, told CNN.

--CNN's Sophia Saifi contributed reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan.

First Published: January 16, 2015: 5:32 PM ET

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Software can't replace mass spying

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But that doesn't mean the mass spying should keep happening, it added.

The long-awaited report was released Thursday by the National Academy of Sciences. It came from the committee that President Obama put together after ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed the extent of U.S. government spying on the American public's phone records, email logs and more.

In response to the report, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union noted that the committee doesn't condone current mass surveillance practices. Quite the opposite, Neema Singh Guliani said.

"The report does not even attempt to provide one concrete example of a case where bulk collection was essential to a national security investigation," she said in a blog post.

This committee was made up of academics and technology professionals from Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30), Oracle (ORCL, Tech30) and elsewhere.

Its job was to figure out whether the government could ditch the current strategy of collecting lots of information on nearly everyone and manually sort through it and instead, use computer software to narrow down the spying.

However, the committee concluded, for the government to know everything, it has to collect everything.

The committee suggested putting automatic controls that limit who can access the data collected by government spies. That addresses one of the main criticisms voiced by Snowden: that lots of intelligence agents and private contractors get creepy access into our personal lives, from webcams to private chats with friends and family.

Such computer software would also make it easier for the government to catch when spies behave badly -- and make that information public.

Related: U.S. planes spy on American phones

Related: How the NSA can 'turn on' your phone remotely

First Published: January 16, 2015: 6:20 PM ET

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U.S. airlines eager to fly to Cuba

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

JetBlue (JBLU), Delta (DAL) and United (UAL) airlines are already expressing interest in adding the route.

On Thursday, the White House announced details about new regulations that will make it easier for Americans to travel to Cuba. They come after President Obama said he would begin thawing relations with the Communist country last month.

"We plan to serve Cuba, subject to government approvals, and look forward to doing so from our global gateways of Newark and Houston," a United spokesperson said Thursday.

Related: Obama's Cuba details revealed, to make travel easier to island

Under the relaxed rules, travel agents and airlines can book tickets for U.S. citizens to Cuba without a special license from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

And Americans will be able to visit, so long as the trip meets certain criteria. Those traveling to the island will also be allowed to use credit cards, a restriction that complicated trips to Cuba in the past.

Related: The promise for American businesses if Cuba sanctions are lifted

The policy change is shy of a complete lifting of the embargo, which requires Congressional action. It came as part of a larger deal that secured the release of Alan Gross, an American government subcontractor who was imprisoned on the island for five years.

Details about the travel rules were just released on Thursday and the Department of Transportation said that it expects many U.S. airlines will be interested providing service on this route.

First Published: January 15, 2015: 8:02 PM ET

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China growth expected to miss government target

HONG KONG (CNNMoney)

Gross domestic product is likely to have expanded by 7.3% in 2014, compared to the same period last year, according to a median estimate of eight economists. While that is below the government's 7.5% goal, officials have said they will tolerate growth that is slightly below target.

Fourth-quarter growth is expected to be 7.2%, according to the survey, while GDP is forecast to dip further to 7% in 2015.

The National Bureau of Statistics will announce official fourth-quarter and full-year GDP figures on Jan. 20.

GDP growth in China remains the most comprehensive gauge of the country's economic health -- an important number to watch as the government works to reform the world's second-largest economy and shift to consumption-driven growth.

China averaged economic expansion of around 10% a year over the past three decades, pushing it up the list of biggest economies and boosting household wealth. But now, the pace of growth is languishing -- China recorded GDP growth of 7.7% in 2012 and 2013, a marked slowdown from 9.3% in 2011 and 10.5% in 2010.

Related: The Chinese like capitalism more than Americans

China continues to face a number of long-standing risks, such as ballooning government and corporate debt and a weak property sector.

In the face of a sustained downturn, the government has deployed incremental measures to boost the economy. Beijing has accelerated infrastructure projects, cut interest rates and tried to bolster the flagging property market.

Other efforts to support the financial markets have largely flopped -- a much-lauded pilot program to connect the Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges has attracted relatively little investor interest. (Despite that, mainland investors have pushed the Shanghai market to record highs.)

Experts say a drop in global oil prices will provide a mini-boost to China, keeping a little more money in the pockets of consumers -- but even that could be short-lived.

Read next: 3 red flags causing the market to panic

First Published: January 15, 2015: 11:04 PM ET

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Venezuela lacks a lot more than McDonald's French fries

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

It's not just the McDonald's in her hometown of Puerto Ordaz, all McDonald's in Venezuela are out of fries. The South American nation can't afford to pay for many imported goods, including fries.

It's yet another sign of the country's spiraling economy, which many experts predict will default this year or next.

Venezuela relies heavily on oil revenue to fund the government and pay for imported items. About 70% of its consumer goods, including French fries, are imported, according to the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C.

Related: Wall Street bets on Russia and Venezuela defaults

Hurt by oil: The already-suffering economy is getting hit extra hard as oil prices have fallen from above $100 a barrel in July to around $45 now. The nation's currency, the Bolivar, devalued more than any other country's last year, shedding 60% of its value. It was even worse than the Russian ruble.

Protests and violence are mounting in Venezuelan cities as food and basic items are hard to come by. Rodriguez says she often sees four-hour long lines at supermarkets for people just trying to buy a bag of flour.

"It's an adventure to buy milk, sugar, flour, oil, meat," says Rodriguez, listing many other items. "The life of Venezuelans has changed a lot. It is sad to see."

Related: Opinion: Venezuela squandered oil riches, now faces default

Seeking foreign aid: Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela's President, visited OPEC nations as well as China and Russia this week, seeking funds to help his economy and stave off default. Maduro says China and Qatar have already promised to send funds.

But the outlook for Venezuela got even gloomier Tuesday when Moody's downgraded the nation's debt rating to Caa3, the same level as conflict-ridden Ukraine. Experts say a default is highly likely this year or next.

"The country is imploding," says Russell Dallen, managing partner of Caracas Capital Markets, a Miami-based firm that specializes in Latin American securities. "Venezuela couldn't pay its bills at $100 a barrel of oil and it's darn sure going to have a hard time paying them at $40 a barrel of oil."

Related: Airlines in currency war with Venezuela

Venezuela does not sell enough of its oil to cover its debt, Dallen says. Although Venezuela produces about 2.3 million barrels of oil a day, Venezuelans consume a third of that and pay almost nothing for it. While the country also sends a lot of oil to China, it's almost entirely to pay off previous debts, according to Dallen.

The South American nation has $11 billion in debt payments this year. The critical moment will come in October, experts say, when about $5 billion is due. Maduro has not asked the International Monetary Fund or World Bank for financial help.

That would go against his anti-capitalist politics, says Harold Trinkunas, a Venezuelan-born senior fellow on Latin America at Brookings.

"This really is the territory where Venezuela's income is not sufficient to meet all the demands in terms of imports, debt service," Trinkunas says. He added: "Constraining imports really is affecting basic living standards."

First Published: January 16, 2015: 12:24 AM ET

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Mexican billionaire more than doubles New York Times stake

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim now owns 17% of the New York Times Company.

HONG KONG (CNNMoney)

Slim has exercised warrants to acquire 15.9 million shares of the company's class A stock at a price of $6.36 per share, according to a company statement.

In 2008, Slim lent the cash-strapped New York Times Company $250 million at an interest rate of 14%, which the company repaid in 2011, in advance of the due date. The warrants Slim has exercised were linked to that deal.

Slim now owns 27.8 million shares, or 17% of the New York Times Company (NYT), a stake worth roughly $341 million based on Wednesday's closing stock price in New York. He previously owned 7%.

The company has received more than $100 million in the transaction, and has been authorized by the board to use the funds to repurchase class A shares.

Related: Billionaires double since financial crisis

The New York Times Company's class A stock is a different category from the controlling class B shares held by the Sulzberger family, which has owned and published the newspaper for generations.

"We believe a share repurchase program in this instance is an appropriate use of the cash proceeds," said Mark Thomposon, president and CEO. "We believe it is in the best interests of the company to continue to maintain a conservative balance sheet and a prudent view on the allocation of free cash flow, and this one-off repurchase program should not be viewed as a change of position about our capital allocation plans."

Mexican billionaire Slim amassed his giant fortune as a telecoms tycoon in South America, and is worth an estimated $73 billion, according to Forbes.

Read next: The richest women around the world

First Published: January 14, 2015: 11:57 PM ET

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India cuts key interest rate in surprise move

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said that with inflation under control, the bank felt it had room to act.

HONG KONG (CNNMoney)

The central bank was not scheduled to issue a rate decision, and the move took economists and analysts by surprise.

The RBI reduced its key repo rate by 0.25 percentage points to 7.75%, the first such cut in nearly two years. The rupee surged on the news, as did stocks trading in Mumbai.

RBI governor Raghuram Rajan said in a statement that with inflation under control, the bank felt it had room to act.

"These developments have provided headroom for a shift in the monetary policy stance," he said.

Daniel Martin, an economist at Capital Economics, said that more rate cuts are likely. He expects additional central bank actions over the next year or so that will bring the repo rate down to 7%.

"We think today's surprise move marks the start of a loosening cycle," he said. "The economy could certainly use some support, with the industrial sector, in particular, clearly struggling to gain any momentum."

Related: Why India has the cheapest flights on Earth

India's economy has sputtered in recent quarters, despite efforts by the new government to build a consensus around economic reforms.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised to end policy paralysis, reduce inflation and tackle corruption. He also pledged to establish manufacturing hubs and industrial corridors and improve the tax code.

India should get a nice boost from falling oil prices, as cheap gas will give consumers some extra resources in the short-term.

Related: Indian civil servant finally fired after epic 24-year absence

First Published: January 15, 2015: 12:01 AM ET

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Uniqlo owner promises to clean up its factories

Shoppers at a Uniqlo store in New York City.

HONG KONG (CNNMoney)

Fast Retailing, Uniqlo's parent company, said it had found "several issues, including long working hours" at the suppliers. The inspection was prompted by an undercover investigation by Hong-Kong based watchdog Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour, or SACOM.

SACOM said in recent report that it had identified problems including high temperatures, open sewage and poor ventilation at the factories, and concluded that "workers' health and safety are not at the top priority." The report also said some workers received only one or two days off per month, working hundreds of hours in overtime to compensate for minimum-wage salaries.

The group embedded investigators as general workers at the two Uniqlo's suppliers, and also conducted interviews with factory employees.

Related: Warren Buffett faces labor problems

Fast Retailing said Thursday that it was taking immediate action to improve conditions on factory floors and limit overtime.

"Respecting human rights and ensuring appropriate working conditions for the workers of our production partners are top priorities for Fast Retailing, and in this we are completely aligned with SACOM," Fast Retailing executive Yukihiro Nitta said in a statement.

The company also promised to introduce a hotline for employees to report problems.

Fast Retailing plans to inspect the factories again in one month and if progress is not made, the company will consider dropping the suppliers.

Related: 24 hours with a refugee in Hong Kong

First Published: January 15, 2015: 2:18 AM ET

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Taxi drivers strike in China over steep fees, Uber

Taxi drivers in China are on strike, protesting against high fees they are forced to pay to big taxi companies.

HONG KONG (CNNMoney)

Taxi drivers are demanding a reduction in rental contract fees, which they say can eat into their profits. The going rental rate in cities like Nanjing can be as much as 9,000 yuan ($1,450) per month.

But taxi companies seem to have little incentive to lower rates. They have a strong hold on the market -- in most cases, the government hasn't issued new taxi licenses since the early 1990s. In Shanghai, for example, a license can cost as much as 500,000 yuan ($80,745).

Drivers are also upset by growing competition from ride-hailing apps like Uber, and their popular Chinese counterparts backed by Alibaba and Tencent, according to state media.

Related: Uber escapes China taxi app crackdown

The strikes have hit capitals in a handful of Chinese provinces, and in some cities, it's become nearly impossible to spot taxis on the streets.

Last week, China's Ministry of Transport banned private cars from providing rides through taxi apps, after other drivers went on strike in some Chinese cities in early January, according to state media. Drivers using private cars can be detained and fined as much as 100,000 yuan ($16,150).

While it's unclear how much companies like Uber are factoring into Chinese driver frustration, the company has faced lawsuits and strikes from driver unions and taxi companies in other countries around the world.

-- CNN's Steven Jiang contributed reporting.

Read next: Uber slashes prices in 48 cities

First Published: January 14, 2015: 1:14 AM ET

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