U.S. and Canada End Friday Without Reaching a Deal on New NAFTA
Posted: 31 Aug 2018 01:19 PM PDT
(Bloomberg) — Talks between the U.S. and Canada ended Friday without a deal on a new North American Free Trade Agreement, but discussions are expected to continue next week, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is expected to brief reporters at 4:30 p.m. local time on Friday at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, according to a Canadian government statement.
Freeland has been in Washington since Tuesday in an accelerated push to reach an agreement with the U.S. over revamping Nafta. The Trump administration had given Canada until Friday to join a preliminary deal it reached earlier in the week with Mexico or risk being left out.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that the U.S. intends to notify Congress on Friday that it’ll proceed with changes to Nafta with Mexico, and that it remains open to continuing negotiations with Canada.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday said he’ll only sign an agreement that’s right for Canada. Trudeau reiterated his government wouldn’t concede to U.S. demands to dismantle its dairy system, known as supply management. Talks were also hung up on U.S. demands to eliminate dispute-resolution panels that Ottawa considers essential, two Canadian officials said Friday.
Canada has been clear about its “red lines” around Nafta, Trudeau said at an event in Oshawa, Ontario. “We are looking forward to signing the right deal for Canada. But we have also been very clear, we will only sign a deal if it is a good deal for Canada.”
Sunday, September 2, 2018
Coca-Cola takes plunge into coffee with $5.1 billion Costa deal - Reuters
AUGUST 31, 2018
Coca-Cola takes plunge into coffee with $5.1 billion Costa deal
Kate Holton, Martinne Geller
LONDON (Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) has agreed to buy coffee chain Costa for $5.1 billion to extend its push into healthier drinks and take on the likes of Starbucks and Nestle in the booming global coffee market.
The purchase from Britain’s Whitbread (WTB.L) of Costa’s almost 4,000 outlets thrusts the world’s biggest soda company into one of the few bright spots in the sluggish packaged food and drinks sector.
Paying about 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) more than some analysts had expected, Coke will use its distribution network to supercharge Costa’s expansion as it chases coffee chain market leader Starbucks (SBUX.O) and its almost 29,000 stores across 77 markets.
Beyond coffee shops, Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey, a Briton familiar with the UK brand, said Costa would provide an important growth platform ranging from beans to bottled drinks in an attractive category, growing by around 6 percent a year.
Coke already sells some coffee, such as the Georgia brand in Japan, but lacks a global offering, Quincey said in a blog post here, highlighting Costa's retail footprint, roastery, supply chain and Costa Express vending system, which the company plans to expand.
SPONSORED
“Coffee is one of the strongest growing categories in the world, and Coca-Cola needs to expand into coffee and hot drinks,” he said.
Operating a retail chain marks a new challenge for 132-year-old Atlanta-based Coca-Cola, which mostly sells soft drink concentrates to a network of franchised bottlers.
It will face a fight, as rivals are also bulking up in a fragmented market, keen to attract young people prepared to pay out for barista-made drinks and developing tastes for ever more exotic coffees.
Nestle (NESN.S), the market leader in packaged coffee, for example, has sealed a $7 billion licensing deal for Starbucks’ retail business, while Europe’s billionaire Reimann clan has built the JAB empire spanning coffee brands such as Kenco, Douwe Egberts and soft-drink maker Dr Pepper Snapple.
Bringing Costa shops to the key U.S. market would affect Starbucks, McDonald’s - a major Coke customer - and JAB, which owns a string of chains including Peet’s and Caribou.
Meanwhile, if Coke were to roll out canned or bottled Costa coffee drinks through its U.S. bottling system, that could upset the dominance of a joint venture between Starbucks and PepsiCo (PEP.O), trade publication Beverage Digest said.
The purchase of the biggest coffee chain behind Starbucks adds to Coca-Cola’s drive to diversify away from fizzy drinks and expand its options for increasingly health-conscious consumers, after countries started introducing sugar taxes.
Coke shares were down 0.4 percent in morning trade in New York as investors weighed the benefits of diversification against concerns about profitability.
“We do think investors will have questions surrounding the retail component of the business and lower operating profit margin versus legacy Coca-Cola,” said JP Morgan analysts.
Coke did not change its outlook for 2018 or beyond. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2019.
CAFFEINE HIGH
Whitbread shares closed 14.3 percent higher following news of the deal, which analysts said was priced at a punchy 16.4 times Costa’s latest annual earnings.
Slideshow (2 Images)
“Coca-Cola are one of the few companies in the world that could justify the valuation,” said Nicholas Hyett, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
“Its global reach should turbo-charge growth in the years to come, and hot drinks are one of the few areas of the wider beverages sector where the soft drinks giant doesn’t have a killer brand. Costa will get lots of care and attention.”
Whitbread had been in the process of demerging Costa from its hotel group Premier Inn, and the sale marks the latest transformation in a business that was established in 1742 as a brewer and which has also owned sports clubs and restaurants.
Whitbread bought Costa, founded in 1971 in London by Italian brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa, for 19 million pounds in 1995. It only had 39 shops then, but now its maroon shop front is one of the most ubiquitous sights on British high streets, with 2,422 outlets in the UK and a further 1,399 in international markets, operated as franchises, joint ventures and wholesale outlets.
Whitbread Chief Executive Alison Brittain said the price tag represented “a substantial premium” to what would have been created through a demerger.
“We were not interested in a sale other than to somebody who had a strategic rationale and therefore would be able to create significantly more value than Costa could create on its own.”
Coca-Cola Co
44.57
KO.NNEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE
-0.38(-0.85%)
KO.N
KO.NWTB.LSBUX.ONESN.SPEP.O
Some of the proceeds will go toward reducing Whitbread’s pension deficit and financial debt to ease expansion of the Premier Inn hotel chain in the UK and Germany, but Brittain said a “significant majority” of the cash would go to shareholders.
Brittain also denied Whitbread had been pressured to accelerate the sale by activist investor Elliott and other hedge funds. “I would imagine they would be as delighted and surprised as anybody else this morning,” she told reporters.
Elliott congratulated the board on the deal and said it “looks forward to continuing to engage with them to maximize the value of the remaining businesses”.
CAFE CULTURE
The global market for packaged coffee and drinks was worth about $83 billion in 2017, a fraction of the $513 billion market for soft drinks, according to Euromonitor International, but it is growing faster. What is more, sales at coffee shops like Starbucks and Costa are growing even faster, as people increasingly indulge their habit on the go, rather than at home.
Costa recently expanded into China to try to offset an increasingly saturated market in Britain, where chains such as Starbucks and Caffe Nero vie with thousands of independents.
A burgeoning cafe culture in China provides an encouraging backdrop, but Costa faces intensifying competition there as well. Starbucks, which has 3,400 stores in China, plans to almost double that by 2022, while partnering with Chinese tech giant Alibaba (BABA.N) to start delivery services.
Local rival Luckin also plans to more than double its Chinese store count to 2,000 by the end of 2018.
Rothschild advised Coke on the deal while Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank advised Whitbread.
($1 = 0.7679 pounds)
Additional reporting by Sangameswaran S and Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru, Ben Martin in London and Miyoung Kim in Seoul; Editing Mark Potter and Adrian Croft
Coca-Cola takes plunge into coffee with $5.1 billion Costa deal
Kate Holton, Martinne Geller
LONDON (Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) has agreed to buy coffee chain Costa for $5.1 billion to extend its push into healthier drinks and take on the likes of Starbucks and Nestle in the booming global coffee market.
The purchase from Britain’s Whitbread (WTB.L) of Costa’s almost 4,000 outlets thrusts the world’s biggest soda company into one of the few bright spots in the sluggish packaged food and drinks sector.
Paying about 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) more than some analysts had expected, Coke will use its distribution network to supercharge Costa’s expansion as it chases coffee chain market leader Starbucks (SBUX.O) and its almost 29,000 stores across 77 markets.
Beyond coffee shops, Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey, a Briton familiar with the UK brand, said Costa would provide an important growth platform ranging from beans to bottled drinks in an attractive category, growing by around 6 percent a year.
Coke already sells some coffee, such as the Georgia brand in Japan, but lacks a global offering, Quincey said in a blog post here, highlighting Costa's retail footprint, roastery, supply chain and Costa Express vending system, which the company plans to expand.
SPONSORED
“Coffee is one of the strongest growing categories in the world, and Coca-Cola needs to expand into coffee and hot drinks,” he said.
Operating a retail chain marks a new challenge for 132-year-old Atlanta-based Coca-Cola, which mostly sells soft drink concentrates to a network of franchised bottlers.
It will face a fight, as rivals are also bulking up in a fragmented market, keen to attract young people prepared to pay out for barista-made drinks and developing tastes for ever more exotic coffees.
Nestle (NESN.S), the market leader in packaged coffee, for example, has sealed a $7 billion licensing deal for Starbucks’ retail business, while Europe’s billionaire Reimann clan has built the JAB empire spanning coffee brands such as Kenco, Douwe Egberts and soft-drink maker Dr Pepper Snapple.
Bringing Costa shops to the key U.S. market would affect Starbucks, McDonald’s - a major Coke customer - and JAB, which owns a string of chains including Peet’s and Caribou.
Meanwhile, if Coke were to roll out canned or bottled Costa coffee drinks through its U.S. bottling system, that could upset the dominance of a joint venture between Starbucks and PepsiCo (PEP.O), trade publication Beverage Digest said.
The purchase of the biggest coffee chain behind Starbucks adds to Coca-Cola’s drive to diversify away from fizzy drinks and expand its options for increasingly health-conscious consumers, after countries started introducing sugar taxes.
Coke shares were down 0.4 percent in morning trade in New York as investors weighed the benefits of diversification against concerns about profitability.
“We do think investors will have questions surrounding the retail component of the business and lower operating profit margin versus legacy Coca-Cola,” said JP Morgan analysts.
Coke did not change its outlook for 2018 or beyond. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2019.
CAFFEINE HIGH
Whitbread shares closed 14.3 percent higher following news of the deal, which analysts said was priced at a punchy 16.4 times Costa’s latest annual earnings.
Slideshow (2 Images)
“Coca-Cola are one of the few companies in the world that could justify the valuation,” said Nicholas Hyett, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
“Its global reach should turbo-charge growth in the years to come, and hot drinks are one of the few areas of the wider beverages sector where the soft drinks giant doesn’t have a killer brand. Costa will get lots of care and attention.”
Whitbread had been in the process of demerging Costa from its hotel group Premier Inn, and the sale marks the latest transformation in a business that was established in 1742 as a brewer and which has also owned sports clubs and restaurants.
Whitbread bought Costa, founded in 1971 in London by Italian brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa, for 19 million pounds in 1995. It only had 39 shops then, but now its maroon shop front is one of the most ubiquitous sights on British high streets, with 2,422 outlets in the UK and a further 1,399 in international markets, operated as franchises, joint ventures and wholesale outlets.
Whitbread Chief Executive Alison Brittain said the price tag represented “a substantial premium” to what would have been created through a demerger.
“We were not interested in a sale other than to somebody who had a strategic rationale and therefore would be able to create significantly more value than Costa could create on its own.”
Coca-Cola Co
44.57
KO.NNEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE
-0.38(-0.85%)
KO.N
KO.NWTB.LSBUX.ONESN.SPEP.O
Some of the proceeds will go toward reducing Whitbread’s pension deficit and financial debt to ease expansion of the Premier Inn hotel chain in the UK and Germany, but Brittain said a “significant majority” of the cash would go to shareholders.
Brittain also denied Whitbread had been pressured to accelerate the sale by activist investor Elliott and other hedge funds. “I would imagine they would be as delighted and surprised as anybody else this morning,” she told reporters.
Elliott congratulated the board on the deal and said it “looks forward to continuing to engage with them to maximize the value of the remaining businesses”.
CAFE CULTURE
The global market for packaged coffee and drinks was worth about $83 billion in 2017, a fraction of the $513 billion market for soft drinks, according to Euromonitor International, but it is growing faster. What is more, sales at coffee shops like Starbucks and Costa are growing even faster, as people increasingly indulge their habit on the go, rather than at home.
Costa recently expanded into China to try to offset an increasingly saturated market in Britain, where chains such as Starbucks and Caffe Nero vie with thousands of independents.
A burgeoning cafe culture in China provides an encouraging backdrop, but Costa faces intensifying competition there as well. Starbucks, which has 3,400 stores in China, plans to almost double that by 2022, while partnering with Chinese tech giant Alibaba (BABA.N) to start delivery services.
Local rival Luckin also plans to more than double its Chinese store count to 2,000 by the end of 2018.
Rothschild advised Coke on the deal while Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank advised Whitbread.
($1 = 0.7679 pounds)
Additional reporting by Sangameswaran S and Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru, Ben Martin in London and Miyoung Kim in Seoul; Editing Mark Potter and Adrian Croft
Colombo to borrow $1bn from China and issue $250mn Panda bonds before year-end - Nikkei Asian Review
Sri Lanka sinks deeper into China's grasp as debt woes spiral
Colombo to borrow $1bn from China and issue $250mn Panda bonds before year-end
MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR, Asia regional correspondent
August 29, 2018 18:15 JST
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping before a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on April 8, 2016. © Reuters
COLOMBO -- Sri Lanka has again turned to China for a fresh injection of cash, which will come during the final quarter of 2018, as it prepares for a crippling debt repayment cycle that will begin in 2019. But the $1.25 billion in loans will push Sri Lanka deeper into Beijing's grasp.
China is already the largest lender to the South Asian island.
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka is working with its Chinese counterpart, the People's Bank of China, to issue the equivalent of $250 million worth of yuan-denominated Panda bonds. Sri Lanka has already secured a $1 billion syndicated loan from China Development Bank on terms the central bank says were more favorable than what Western international lenders were offering. The first $500 million tranche is due to be transferred this week.
Sri Lanka retains an affinity for Chinese loans rather than international sovereign bonds, loans from the International Monetary Fund or other funding options. At the same time, it is being warned that its foreign reserves, now at $8.5 billion, are inadequate.
Between 2019 and 2023, Sri Lanka has to come up with $17 billion for maturing foreign loans and debt servicing. Its lenders include the China Development Bank, the governments of Japan and India as well as multilateral institutions like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.
Central bank Gov. Indrajit Coomaraswamy said Sri Lanka diversified away from a tradition of only raising money through dollar-denominated international sovereign bonds in an effort to better handle external debt pressure. "Our debt dynamics are challenging, but manageable," Coomaraswamy told the Nikkei Asian Review. "The debt servicing next year will be a little over $4 billion, including an ISB of $1.5 billion, Sri Lanka development bonds and payments for bilateral and multilateral debts."
Sri Lanka, which has an $87 billion economy, will actually have to grapple with more debt payments in 2019. Its current-account deficit of 2.2% of gross domestic product will push its total debt burden to be paid for the year to $7 billion. "We are an outlier in terms of our debt indicators amongst our ratings peers," Coomaraswamy said, referring to central bank figures that say the country's debt is 77% of its GDP. This is higher than the debt-to-GDP ratio of neighbors India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Thailand.
The country's accumulated foreign debt is estimated at $55 billion. Chinese lenders hold 10% of this total, Japan accounts for 12%, the Asian Development Bank 14% and the World Bank 11%.
Sri Lanka's mounting burden has earned it some notoriety, with some observers saying the country is falling into a debt trap of Chinese design. This view gained currency last year, after $1.1 billion in debt was written off in exchange for a long-term lease on the deep-water port of Hambantota, near the southern tip of Sri Lanka. Chinese loans worth $1.5 billion were used to build the port, the lease to which is held by a state-owned Chinese company.
Mahinda Rajapaksa, the former president of Sri Lanka who presided over the end of a nearly 30-year civil war, opened the door to Chinese lenders.
From 2010 till 2015, Rajapaksa's final years in office, Chinese poured $4.8 billion worth of loans into building the Hambantota port, a new airport, a coal-fired power plant and highways. By 2016, Chinese had loaned Sri Lanka $6 billion, fueling an infrastructure-building spree.
But the largest slice of debt that will mature over the next five years predates the Chinese lending boom. Multilateral institutions gave Sri Lanka 10-year grace periods and 30- to 40-year maturities on loan deals signed when the Indian Ocean nation was considered to have successfully embraced an open, liberal economy.
"We were a bit of a donor darling because, after Chile in 1974, we were second, and got a lot of concessional loans from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank as a low-income country that had opted to liberalize," Coomaraswamy said. A "significant portion of the debt stock is that concessional money that came from multilateral and bilateral financial sources."
Indraji Coomaraswamy, governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, says his country needs more foreign direct investment and other capital inflows that do not put the country further into debt. (Photo by Marwaan Macan-Markar)
Sri Lanka's debt has dogged the coalition government of President Maithripala Sirisena. After nearly four years in office, the government has little to show in the way of foreign direct investment. It attracted $1.7 billion worth of FDI in 2017, far lower than the ambitious target of $2.5 billion. Likewise, the government has failed to improve the country's global ranking for ease of doing business. Sri Lanka sits in 111th place.
Its multibillion dollar trade deficit has been another drag.
Equally troubling, the government has made little headway against burdensome state-owned enterprises. They include Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, Ceylon Electricity Board, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority and Sri Lankan, the national carrier, whose combined debt is estimated at $7.93 billion, according to the IMF.
Coomaraswamy is banking on government policies beyond fiscal commitments to slow the rising tide of red ink. "To overcome the situation we need to get nondebt creating inflows," he said. "We need to get more FDI and to boost export growth."
Colombo to borrow $1bn from China and issue $250mn Panda bonds before year-end
MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR, Asia regional correspondent
August 29, 2018 18:15 JST
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping before a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on April 8, 2016. © Reuters
COLOMBO -- Sri Lanka has again turned to China for a fresh injection of cash, which will come during the final quarter of 2018, as it prepares for a crippling debt repayment cycle that will begin in 2019. But the $1.25 billion in loans will push Sri Lanka deeper into Beijing's grasp.
China is already the largest lender to the South Asian island.
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka is working with its Chinese counterpart, the People's Bank of China, to issue the equivalent of $250 million worth of yuan-denominated Panda bonds. Sri Lanka has already secured a $1 billion syndicated loan from China Development Bank on terms the central bank says were more favorable than what Western international lenders were offering. The first $500 million tranche is due to be transferred this week.
Sri Lanka retains an affinity for Chinese loans rather than international sovereign bonds, loans from the International Monetary Fund or other funding options. At the same time, it is being warned that its foreign reserves, now at $8.5 billion, are inadequate.
Between 2019 and 2023, Sri Lanka has to come up with $17 billion for maturing foreign loans and debt servicing. Its lenders include the China Development Bank, the governments of Japan and India as well as multilateral institutions like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.
Central bank Gov. Indrajit Coomaraswamy said Sri Lanka diversified away from a tradition of only raising money through dollar-denominated international sovereign bonds in an effort to better handle external debt pressure. "Our debt dynamics are challenging, but manageable," Coomaraswamy told the Nikkei Asian Review. "The debt servicing next year will be a little over $4 billion, including an ISB of $1.5 billion, Sri Lanka development bonds and payments for bilateral and multilateral debts."
Sri Lanka, which has an $87 billion economy, will actually have to grapple with more debt payments in 2019. Its current-account deficit of 2.2% of gross domestic product will push its total debt burden to be paid for the year to $7 billion. "We are an outlier in terms of our debt indicators amongst our ratings peers," Coomaraswamy said, referring to central bank figures that say the country's debt is 77% of its GDP. This is higher than the debt-to-GDP ratio of neighbors India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Thailand.
The country's accumulated foreign debt is estimated at $55 billion. Chinese lenders hold 10% of this total, Japan accounts for 12%, the Asian Development Bank 14% and the World Bank 11%.
Sri Lanka's mounting burden has earned it some notoriety, with some observers saying the country is falling into a debt trap of Chinese design. This view gained currency last year, after $1.1 billion in debt was written off in exchange for a long-term lease on the deep-water port of Hambantota, near the southern tip of Sri Lanka. Chinese loans worth $1.5 billion were used to build the port, the lease to which is held by a state-owned Chinese company.
Mahinda Rajapaksa, the former president of Sri Lanka who presided over the end of a nearly 30-year civil war, opened the door to Chinese lenders.
From 2010 till 2015, Rajapaksa's final years in office, Chinese poured $4.8 billion worth of loans into building the Hambantota port, a new airport, a coal-fired power plant and highways. By 2016, Chinese had loaned Sri Lanka $6 billion, fueling an infrastructure-building spree.
But the largest slice of debt that will mature over the next five years predates the Chinese lending boom. Multilateral institutions gave Sri Lanka 10-year grace periods and 30- to 40-year maturities on loan deals signed when the Indian Ocean nation was considered to have successfully embraced an open, liberal economy.
"We were a bit of a donor darling because, after Chile in 1974, we were second, and got a lot of concessional loans from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank as a low-income country that had opted to liberalize," Coomaraswamy said. A "significant portion of the debt stock is that concessional money that came from multilateral and bilateral financial sources."
Indraji Coomaraswamy, governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, says his country needs more foreign direct investment and other capital inflows that do not put the country further into debt. (Photo by Marwaan Macan-Markar)
Sri Lanka's debt has dogged the coalition government of President Maithripala Sirisena. After nearly four years in office, the government has little to show in the way of foreign direct investment. It attracted $1.7 billion worth of FDI in 2017, far lower than the ambitious target of $2.5 billion. Likewise, the government has failed to improve the country's global ranking for ease of doing business. Sri Lanka sits in 111th place.
Its multibillion dollar trade deficit has been another drag.
Equally troubling, the government has made little headway against burdensome state-owned enterprises. They include Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, Ceylon Electricity Board, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority and Sri Lankan, the national carrier, whose combined debt is estimated at $7.93 billion, according to the IMF.
Coomaraswamy is banking on government policies beyond fiscal commitments to slow the rising tide of red ink. "To overcome the situation we need to get nondebt creating inflows," he said. "We need to get more FDI and to boost export growth."
Aretha Franklin bishop sorry after 'groping' Ariana Grande - BBC News
Aretha Franklin bishop sorry after 'groping' Ariana Grande
1 September 2018
The bishop who led Aretha Franklin's funeral has apologised to Ariana Grande after being accused of groping her on stage.
Images show Bishop Charles H Ellis III holding Ariana high above her waist, with his fingers squeezed around the side of the singer's chest.
"It would never be my intention to touch any woman's breast," he told the Associated Press.
"Maybe I crossed the border, maybe I was too friendly or familiar."
He added: "But again, I apologise."
The preacher said he hugged all artists, male or female, during the ceremony commemorating the Queen of Soul.
But viewers began posting images from the service when Ariana got up to sing Aretha's song (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.
Many people felt that Bishop Ellis's hand was inappropriately high on the 25-year-old's body as he spoke to her - saying that she looked uncomfortable with the contact.
It came as others on social media had been criticising Ariana for what she was wearing to the church service, saying her dress was too short.
Some people said that the focus being on Ariana, rather than the bishop, was misogynistic.
And argued that the pastor's embrace deserved greater attention than it was getting.
#RespectAriana began trending as more people saw the footage.
And people began reposting an old tweet of hers related to consent.
"I hug all the female artists and the male artists," Bishop Ellis told AP.
"Everybody that was up, I shook their hands and hugged them. That's what we are all about in the church. We are all about love."
He added: "The last thing I want to do is to be a distraction to this day. This is all about Aretha Franklin."
It wasn't the only thing the bishop apologised to Ariana about though.
Earlier in the service he made a joke about the singer's name.
"When I saw Ariana Grande on the program, I thought that was a new something at Taco Bell," he said to her.
Image Copyright @Local4News@LOCAL4NEWS
Report
A lot of people found the joke funny, and it featured heavily in the conversation around the funeral.
But Bishop Ellis apologised after some thought it was distasteful.
"I personally and sincerely apologise to Ariana and to her fans and to the whole Hispanic community," the bishop said.
"When you're doing a program for nine hours you try to keep it lively, you try to insert some jokes here and there."
Ariana was performing at the funeral of Aretha Franklin alongside icons like Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan.
Aretha was remembered as an aunt, grandmother, friend, civil rights activist and icon of black womanhood, in a nine-hour ceremony.
She died earlier this month of pancreatic cancer, aged 76.
Newsbeat has contacted representatives of Ariana Grande for comment.
1 September 2018
The bishop who led Aretha Franklin's funeral has apologised to Ariana Grande after being accused of groping her on stage.
Images show Bishop Charles H Ellis III holding Ariana high above her waist, with his fingers squeezed around the side of the singer's chest.
"It would never be my intention to touch any woman's breast," he told the Associated Press.
"Maybe I crossed the border, maybe I was too friendly or familiar."
He added: "But again, I apologise."
The preacher said he hugged all artists, male or female, during the ceremony commemorating the Queen of Soul.
But viewers began posting images from the service when Ariana got up to sing Aretha's song (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.
Many people felt that Bishop Ellis's hand was inappropriately high on the 25-year-old's body as he spoke to her - saying that she looked uncomfortable with the contact.
It came as others on social media had been criticising Ariana for what she was wearing to the church service, saying her dress was too short.
Some people said that the focus being on Ariana, rather than the bishop, was misogynistic.
And argued that the pastor's embrace deserved greater attention than it was getting.
#RespectAriana began trending as more people saw the footage.
And people began reposting an old tweet of hers related to consent.
"I hug all the female artists and the male artists," Bishop Ellis told AP.
"Everybody that was up, I shook their hands and hugged them. That's what we are all about in the church. We are all about love."
He added: "The last thing I want to do is to be a distraction to this day. This is all about Aretha Franklin."
It wasn't the only thing the bishop apologised to Ariana about though.
Earlier in the service he made a joke about the singer's name.
"When I saw Ariana Grande on the program, I thought that was a new something at Taco Bell," he said to her.
Image Copyright @Local4News@LOCAL4NEWS
Report
A lot of people found the joke funny, and it featured heavily in the conversation around the funeral.
But Bishop Ellis apologised after some thought it was distasteful.
"I personally and sincerely apologise to Ariana and to her fans and to the whole Hispanic community," the bishop said.
"When you're doing a program for nine hours you try to keep it lively, you try to insert some jokes here and there."
Ariana was performing at the funeral of Aretha Franklin alongside icons like Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan.
Aretha was remembered as an aunt, grandmother, friend, civil rights activist and icon of black womanhood, in a nine-hour ceremony.
She died earlier this month of pancreatic cancer, aged 76.
Newsbeat has contacted representatives of Ariana Grande for comment.
US military to cancel $300m in Pakistan aid over terror groups - BBC News
Sept., 2, 2018.
US military to cancel $300m in Pakistan aid over terror groups
Pakistan has previously rejected US accusations that it provides a safe haven for militants
The US military says it is cancelling $300m (£230m) in aid to Pakistan over what it calls Islamabad's failure to take action against militant groups.
President Donald Trump has previously accused Pakistan of deceiving the US while receiving billions of dollars.
Pentagon spokesman Lt Col Koné Faulkner said the US military would aim to spend the money on other "urgent priorities".
The move, which needs to be approved by US Congress, is part of a broader suspension announced in January.
The US state department has criticised Pakistan, a key ally, for failing to deal with terrorist networks operating on its soil, including the Haqqani network and the Afghan Taliban.
"We continue to press Pakistan to indiscriminately target all terrorist groups," Col Faulkner said in a statement on Saturday, adding that the $300m aid - which had earlier been suspended - should be used elsewhere due to "a lack of Pakistani decisive actions" in tackling the issue.
The announcement comes just days before US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is due to visit Pakistan to meet the country's new prime minister, Imran Khan.
In January, the US government announced it was cutting almost all security aid to the country.
How will US move to cut aid affect Pakistan?
US rhetoric on Pakistan raises serious questions
The US and others have long complained that Pakistan provides a safe haven to militant networks, allowing them to carry out cross-border attacks in Afghanistan - something that Islamabad denies.
There was no immediate comment from Pakistan on the latest funding cut.
However, the military responded to January's suspension by arguing that it "never fought for money but for peace", and had targeted all militants at a "heavy cost of blood and treasure".
Separately on Friday, the US said it was ending all funding for the UN's Palestinian refugee agency - the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) - which it described as "irredeemably flawed".
Who are the militants Pakistan is alleged to support?
The Haqqani network is a militant group that focuses most of its activities on neighbouring Afghanistan, which has complained for years that Pakistan allows it to operate unimpeded from its soil across the border.
The group is linked to the Afghan Taliban - a hardline Islamist movement that poses a major threat to the Afghan government. Pakistani Taliban groups, while associated with the Afghan Taliban, focus on attacks within Pakistan.
Will Pakistan ever stamp out extremism?
Who are the Taliban?
Media captionANALYSIS: Will Trump's tough approach on Pakistan work?
Both the Haqqani Network and the Afghan Taliban have launched attacks in Afghanistan that have killed US forces, and US officials have long argued that Pakistan, and specifically its ISI intelligence service, provides safe havens to them.
Why would Pakistan support them?
Pakistan has long been accused of using the Afghan Taliban to further its foreign policy interests in the country. The ISI first became involved in funding and training militants in Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion in 1979.
Pakistan and the US are key allies - but ties have frayed in recent months
Although since 2001 Pakistan has allowed its territory to be used to supply international troops during the war in Afghanistan, and co-operated with the West in fighting some terrorists groups like al-Qaeda, analysts say it has continued to give shelter and support to Afghan insurgents.
Its aim has been to limit the influence in Afghanistan of its chief regional rival, India.
US military to cancel $300m in Pakistan aid over terror groups
Pakistan has previously rejected US accusations that it provides a safe haven for militants
The US military says it is cancelling $300m (£230m) in aid to Pakistan over what it calls Islamabad's failure to take action against militant groups.
President Donald Trump has previously accused Pakistan of deceiving the US while receiving billions of dollars.
Pentagon spokesman Lt Col Koné Faulkner said the US military would aim to spend the money on other "urgent priorities".
The move, which needs to be approved by US Congress, is part of a broader suspension announced in January.
The US state department has criticised Pakistan, a key ally, for failing to deal with terrorist networks operating on its soil, including the Haqqani network and the Afghan Taliban.
"We continue to press Pakistan to indiscriminately target all terrorist groups," Col Faulkner said in a statement on Saturday, adding that the $300m aid - which had earlier been suspended - should be used elsewhere due to "a lack of Pakistani decisive actions" in tackling the issue.
The announcement comes just days before US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is due to visit Pakistan to meet the country's new prime minister, Imran Khan.
In January, the US government announced it was cutting almost all security aid to the country.
How will US move to cut aid affect Pakistan?
US rhetoric on Pakistan raises serious questions
The US and others have long complained that Pakistan provides a safe haven to militant networks, allowing them to carry out cross-border attacks in Afghanistan - something that Islamabad denies.
There was no immediate comment from Pakistan on the latest funding cut.
However, the military responded to January's suspension by arguing that it "never fought for money but for peace", and had targeted all militants at a "heavy cost of blood and treasure".
Separately on Friday, the US said it was ending all funding for the UN's Palestinian refugee agency - the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) - which it described as "irredeemably flawed".
Who are the militants Pakistan is alleged to support?
The Haqqani network is a militant group that focuses most of its activities on neighbouring Afghanistan, which has complained for years that Pakistan allows it to operate unimpeded from its soil across the border.
The group is linked to the Afghan Taliban - a hardline Islamist movement that poses a major threat to the Afghan government. Pakistani Taliban groups, while associated with the Afghan Taliban, focus on attacks within Pakistan.
Will Pakistan ever stamp out extremism?
Who are the Taliban?
Media captionANALYSIS: Will Trump's tough approach on Pakistan work?
Both the Haqqani Network and the Afghan Taliban have launched attacks in Afghanistan that have killed US forces, and US officials have long argued that Pakistan, and specifically its ISI intelligence service, provides safe havens to them.
Why would Pakistan support them?
Pakistan has long been accused of using the Afghan Taliban to further its foreign policy interests in the country. The ISI first became involved in funding and training militants in Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion in 1979.
Pakistan and the US are key allies - but ties have frayed in recent months
Although since 2001 Pakistan has allowed its territory to be used to supply international troops during the war in Afghanistan, and co-operated with the West in fighting some terrorists groups like al-Qaeda, analysts say it has continued to give shelter and support to Afghan insurgents.
Its aim has been to limit the influence in Afghanistan of its chief regional rival, India.
Somalia's capital Mogadishu hit by huge explosion - BBC News
Sept. 2, 2018.
Somalia's capital Mogadishu hit by huge explosion
Smoke is seen rising above the city after the deadly attack
A suicide bomber has attacked a government office in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, causing a nearby school to collapse, police say.
The car bomb in Howlwadag district killed three soldiers and injured 14 people, including six children, local officials told BBC Somali.
The blast also damaged nearby houses and blew the roof off a mosque.
The militant group al-Shabab, which has waged an insurgency for more than 10 years, said it carried out the attack.
Who are Somalia's al-Shabab?
The three soldiers had died as they stopped the explosives-laden car from entering a government compound, local official Salah Hassan Omar said.
Raqiya Mahamed Ali, who was in the compound at the time, said: "We were in the middle of our usual work when the explosion happened.
"I hid under the table. There was a lot of gunfire at our gate... when I came out, I saw many people injured on the ground and others dead," she told Reuters.
Somalia has faced instability and violence since 1991, when the military government was overthrown.
The blast killed three soldiers and injured several children
The ousting of Mohamed Siad Barre led to a decades-long civil war between rival warlords, and two northern regions - Somaliland and Puntland - effectively broke away from Somalia.
Much of the country has effectively been a war zone.
A UN-backed unity government was formed in 2012. Al-Shabab has since been driven out of many urban areas but still controls territory in rural regions and carries out gun attacks and bombings on military and civilian targets.
A suicide bomber rammed a car into the district office
The militant group has imposed a strict version of Sharia in areas under its control, including stoning to death women accused of adultery and amputating the hands of thieves.
A truck attack in Mogadishu in October last year killed at least 500 people in the deadliest bombing in Somalia.
A man accused of leading an al-Shabab unit that carried out the attack was sentenced to death in February.
Somalia's capital Mogadishu hit by huge explosion
Smoke is seen rising above the city after the deadly attack
A suicide bomber has attacked a government office in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, causing a nearby school to collapse, police say.
The car bomb in Howlwadag district killed three soldiers and injured 14 people, including six children, local officials told BBC Somali.
The blast also damaged nearby houses and blew the roof off a mosque.
The militant group al-Shabab, which has waged an insurgency for more than 10 years, said it carried out the attack.
Who are Somalia's al-Shabab?
The three soldiers had died as they stopped the explosives-laden car from entering a government compound, local official Salah Hassan Omar said.
Raqiya Mahamed Ali, who was in the compound at the time, said: "We were in the middle of our usual work when the explosion happened.
"I hid under the table. There was a lot of gunfire at our gate... when I came out, I saw many people injured on the ground and others dead," she told Reuters.
Somalia has faced instability and violence since 1991, when the military government was overthrown.
The blast killed three soldiers and injured several children
The ousting of Mohamed Siad Barre led to a decades-long civil war between rival warlords, and two northern regions - Somaliland and Puntland - effectively broke away from Somalia.
Much of the country has effectively been a war zone.
A UN-backed unity government was formed in 2012. Al-Shabab has since been driven out of many urban areas but still controls territory in rural regions and carries out gun attacks and bombings on military and civilian targets.
A suicide bomber rammed a car into the district office
The militant group has imposed a strict version of Sharia in areas under its control, including stoning to death women accused of adultery and amputating the hands of thieves.
A truck attack in Mogadishu in October last year killed at least 500 people in the deadliest bombing in Somalia.
A man accused of leading an al-Shabab unit that carried out the attack was sentenced to death in February.
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