Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck hold lavish estate wedding

WASHINGTON, United States - Celebrity couple Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck tied the knot Saturday -- for the second time in just over a month -- in a lavish ceremony at the "Good Will Hunting" star's estate, US media reported.

The A-list lovebirds already wed in Las Vegas in mid-July, but made it official again, this time in front of friends and family at Affleck's 87-acre (35-hectare) waterfront compound in the southeastern US state of Georgia.

Among the Hollywood types in attendance at the three-day affair were longtime Affleck pal Matt Damon and director Kevin Smith, People magazine reported.

Guests wore all-white while Lopez donned a Ralph Lauren dress made in Italy, according to Fox News.

Images posted by celebrity gossip site TMZ ahead of the wedding showed dinner seating being arranged on what appeared to be a large, covered dock, with a substantial barge for pyrotechnics floating nearby.

The pair -- he is 50 and she is 53 -- first met on the set of the widely panned movie "Gigli" in 2002.

They became a media sensation as they dated but postponed their planned 2003 nuptials, then announced their relationship was over in early 2004.

"Bennifer" -- the couple's public nickname from their first highly publicized relationship -- set the internet alight last year when photos of them together again began circulating. 

Lopez and Affleck announced their engagement in April.

Lopez posted a video of herself appearing emotional and admiring a green ring in her newsletter, "On The JLo." US media reported that the ring was an emerald-cut pale green diamond.

This is the fourth marriage for Lopez and the second for Affleck.

Lopez discussed her renewed relationship with Affleck in an interview with People in February.

"It's a beautiful love story that we got a second chance," she said.

Agence France Presse

US CDC releases COVID-19 microscopic image

An isolate from the first U.S. case of COVID-19, formerly known as 2019-nCoV or novel coronavirus, is seen in a transmission electron microscopic image obtained from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. on Tuesday. At least 29 were reported killed as coronavirus infection rose to almost 1,000 around the country.

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Google to spend over $13-billion on US data centers, offices

Alphabet Inc's Google said on Wednesday it would spend more than $13 billion on data centers and offices in the United States this year.

"These new investments will give us the capacity to hire tens of thousands of employees, and enable the creation of more than 10,000 new construction jobs in Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Virginia," Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post.

With the new investment Google will now be in 24 out of the 50 states in the US

Google will continue to expand its presence in Chicago and Washington, and the company's workforce would double in Virginia and Georgia, according to the blog post.

The company said it had hired more than 10,000 people in the United States and made over $9 billion in investments in the last year.

For the fourth quarter, Google reported $31.07 billion in costs and expenses, up 26 percent from last year. Capital expenditure rose 64 percent to $7.08 billion.

Last week, Reuters reported Amazon.com Inc was exploring alternatives to locate part of its new headquarters in New York in case the plan fails due to local opposition.

Google has seen some pushback about its plans to expand in San Jose, near its Mountain View headquarters, but otherwise has not met strong local opposition.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Power restored at world's busiest airport after partial shutdown

One of the heaviest travel weeks of the year began with the cancellation of hundreds of flights on Sunday at the world's busiest airport in Atlanta, where a power outage left passengers stranded in darkened terminals or in aircraft idling on tarmacs.

The early afternoon outage paralyzed operations at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport through Sunday evening. Even though power was finally restored at close to midnight Sunday, the incident continued to wreak havoc on holiday travel plans for thousands of people hit by airline cancellations extending into Monday.

Delta said it was cancelling about 300 flights on Monday, on top of the 900 Sunday cancellations as a result of the Atlanta outage. United Air Lines also warned on social media that travel on Monday may be affected.

The incident led the Federal Aviation Administration to ground flights bound for Atlanta. American Airlines and Southwest Airlines were also among the major carriers that suspended operations at the airport on Sunday. Southwest canceled 70 departures on Sunday.

All passengers had safely disembarked from aircraft by approximately 10 p.m., or 9 hours after the outage began, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said on Twitter. On Twitter, some passengers reported sitting on planes for hours.

Reed had told reporters earlier in the evening that the airport was expected to be fully operational again by midnight.

The FAA said air traffic control remained fully staffed, with the airport open and accepting general aviation and cargo operations. It expected commercial traffic to resume on Monday.

The city was providing shelter to stranded passengers at the Georgia International Convention Center. The city said that Chick-fil-A would be providing food for passengers. By late Sunday the city said it had provided 2,000 meals.

"We’re just focusing on the comfort of our passengers," Reed told a news conference. "We know they have had a very, very long and difficult day."

Georgia Power, the utility that provides electricity to the sprawling airport, said the failure was linked to a fire in an underground facility that damaged substations serving Hartsfield. The blaze damaged access to a backup system, Reed told reporters, adding the cause remained unknown.

Photos and videos posted on social media showed passengers huddled in partial darkness inside crowded terminals.

"Stuck on a plane at Atlanta Airport as the power is out there ... bedlam inside and boredom out here!" Jack Harris wrote on Twitter.

For all carriers, nearly 700 flights scheduled to fly out of Hartsfield, or 60 percent, were canceled on Sunday as of 10:30 p.m. EST, while 477 of all scheduled inbound flights were scratched, airline tracking service FlightAware said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Obama declares state of emergency in Georgia

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency in Georgia on Thursday, adding it to the states of Florida and South Carolina as being eligible for federal hurricane relief.

He ordered federal aid to supplement state and local efforts, authorizing the Homeland Security Department and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief as Hurricane Matthew bore down on the US coast.

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Streb seals maiden PGA Tour win in playoff

Robert Streb held his nerve to win his first PGA Tour title in a playoff with fellow American Will MacKenzie and Zimbabwe's Brendon de Jonge for the $5.6 million McGladrey Classic at Sea Island in Georgia on Sunday.

As the afternoon shadows lengthened to end a day of unbroken sunshine on the Seaside Course, Streb sealed victory by sinking a four-foot birdie putt at the second extra hole, the par-three 17th, where de Jonge narrowly missed his attempt from 18 feet.

After retrieving his ball from the cup, the 27-year-old Streb removed his cap to acknowledge the cheers from the crowd before being congratulated by the burly de Jonge, who had also been bidding for his maiden victory on the PGA Tour.

MacKenzie, seeking to end a six-year title drought on the U.S. circuit, was eliminated from the playoff at the first extra hole, the par-four 18th, where he bogeyed after failing to get up and down from a greenside bunker.

The trio had finished the 72 regulation holes on 14-under-par 266, de Jonge closing with a five-under 65, MacKenzie carding a 68 and early starter Streb firing a best-of-the-day 63.

"The wait was a little nerve-wracking because they (the final groups in regulation) had the par-five (15th to come)," Streb, who finished his round an hour-and-a-half before MacKenzie, told Golf Channel.

"And then obviously those last two short putts I was pretty shaky," he added, referring to his four-footer for par on the first extra hole and his birdie putt for victory.

Asked if he could put his emotions into words, Streb replied: "Not yet but I am very thrilled."

BIRDIE FLURRY

De Jonge made the first significant move in a hotly contested final round, a flurry of three birdies in the opening three holes lifting him into a tie for the lead with overnight pacesetters Andrew Svoboda and MacKenzie.

While Svoboda slipped back with bogeys on 11, 12 and 14, Streb, who began the final round five strokes off the pace, drained a 33-footer at the 17th for his fourth consecutive birdie to move into a share of the lead.

Streb had to settle for a par at the last after his birdie attempt from 21 feet pulled up a few inches short of the cup.

"It was a lot of fun," Streb said after signing his card. "I made quite a few putts and stuffed a couple of wedges (close). Before you know it, you've got a whole pile of birdies."

MacKenzie faltered with a three-putt bogey at the 16th but rebounded with a birdie at the 17th, where he very nearly holed his tee shot.

He salvaged a par at the 18th after his tee shot ended up in the right rough and failed to reach the green in two, two-putting from around 25 yards to join the playoff.

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Gene Cherry)

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