World-renowned Caribbean rum brand celebrates 150th anniversary in 2012
Bacardi Limited, the world’s largest privately-owned spirits company, has declared that 2012 will be its most innovative year since the creation of Bacardi rum in 1862.
Throughout the year, Bacardi will host one-of-a-kind birthday parties, launch special promotions featuring 100 years of ground-breaking advertising, introduce a $2,000 limited-edition decanter of rare Bacardi rum, offer travel retail exclusives and commemorative gifts, and much more for consumers to come together and share in the excitement.
“The passion and entrepreneurial spirit shown by my great-great grandfather in Santiago de Cuba a century and a half ago gave birth to exceptional rum that would change the spirits industry forever,” said Facundo L. Bacardi, Bacardi Limited chairman and fifth-generation Bacardi family member. “These qualities remain key to our phenomenal success and position today as the world’s favorite and most awarded rum brand, with more than 400 awards to date.”
Bacardi was founded in Santiago de Cuba on February 4, 1862, when Don Facundo Bacardi Masso purchased a small distillery. After years of experimenting, Bacardi revolutionized the spirits industry by adding steps never before used in rum-making. He selected high quality blackstrap sugarcane molasses, isolated a special strain of yeast (still used today), filtered, mellowed his rums in American white oak barrels, and then blended them to create the perfect taste. The smooth, light-bodied spirit he created, as opposed to the harsh “fire water” of the time, was the world’s first premium rum and the first mixable rum – helping usher in a cocktail culture that thrives today. The artful maestros de ron (master blenders) continue to follow the same exacting standards set forth by Don Facundo.
“For the past 150 years, Bacardi — as a family, company and brand — has brought people together through legendary parties and great-tasting cocktails. Visit any bar, club or restaurant almost anywhere in the world, and the impact Bacardi has made on the spirits industry is crystal-clear,” said Seamus McBride, Bacardi Limited president and chief executive officer. “It’s incredible to see how a one-brand company founded 150 years ago has grown into the third-largest spirits company in the world with an enviable portfolio of iconic spirits.”
By Caribbean News Now
Largest Caribbean refinery in USVI to close
The Caribbean’s largest oil refinery in St Croix, US Virgin Islands, is to close down by mid-February because of reduced fuel demand and increased international competition.
The Hovensa refinery is a joint venture between the Hess Corporation and Petroleos de Venezuela SA. Losses at the 350,000 barrel-a-day facility have totalled $1.3 billion in the past three years, the company said on Wednesday in a statement.
USVI Governor John de Jongh described the announcement as “a complete body blow” for the territory. He said Hovensa generated some $60 million a year in revenue for the local government, which already faces a budget crisis.
“Given what we’re going through right now, this is the last bit of news that I wanted to hear,” de Jongh said in a media teleconference.
The refinery will be converted to an oil storage terminal, said Brian Lever, president and chief operating officer of Hovensa LLC.
“We deeply regret the closure of the Hovensa refinery and the impact on our dedicated people,” Lever said. “We explored all available options to avoid this outcome, but severe financial losses left us with no other choice.”
The Hovensa refinery employs 1,200 workers with another 950 contract employees at the site, Alex Moorhead, a Hovensa spokesman, said. About 100 people will be retained to operate the terminal, he said.
Montserrat police conducting internal investigation into misconduct allegations
The Royal Montserrat Police Service has been conducting an extensive internal investigation into allegations of police misconduct during and following the arrests of George Leonard and George Farrell on the morning of 17 December 2011.
As a result of the investigation, one officer has been suspended from duty and another is on compulsory leave pending further investigation.
The Governor has decided that, in addition to the very comprehensive internal investigation undertaken to date, he should activate the provisions of a co-operation agreement on reciprocal law enforcement assistance between the Caribbean Overseas Territories.
This will enable law enforcement officers from the Bermuda and Cayman police services to come to Montserrat to assist in the on-going investigation under the command and direction of Deputy Commissioner Paul Morris and present their findings to the Director of Public Prosecutions through the Governor. The police officers should begin their work early next week.
by Nerissa Golden
Caribbean News Now
Eastman Kodak files for bankruptcy protection
Eastman Kodak, the company that invented the hand-held camera, has filed for bankruptcy protection.
The move gives the company time to reorganise itself without facing its creditors, and Kodak said that it would mean business as normal for customers.
The company has recently moved away from cameras to refocus on making printers, to stem falling profits.
The 133-year-old firm has struggled to keep up with competitors who were quicker to adapt to the digital era.
"Kodak made all its money from selling film, then the digital camera came along and now no-ones buying film. It's not like they didn't see it coming. Kodak hesitated because they didn't want to eviscerate their business," said Rupert Goodwins, editor of technology website ZDNet.
Announcing the move to seek bankruptcy protection, Antonio Perez, Kodak's chairman and chief executive, said: "The board of directors and the entire senior management team unanimously believe that this is a necessary step and the right thing to do for the future of Kodak."
The company said it had already arranged a $950m (£615m) credit facility from Citigroup.
Earlier this month, the New York Stock Exchange told Kodak that it could be delisted from the exchange if it could not get its stock price back above $1.00 per share.
Kodak fell out of the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 top US companies in 2004.
Transformation
Since becoming chief executive, Mr Perez has been responsible for steering Kodak away from its traditional market in cameras to focus on home and commercial printers.
However, the firm has failed to stop its plunging profitability.
The firm said earlier this year that it was pinning its hopes on its printer, software and packaging businesses, with the aim of expanding them to account for 25% of its income by 2013.
It reorganised its business units into two rather than three, renaming them consumer and commercial.
"Even though film and developing is a dead business, there is still money to be made in ink and other supplies," technology commentator Larry Magib told BBC World.
"But Hewlett Packard, Canon and Epson have those markets. Kodak does have printers, but it has not been able to succeed in making money from them," he said.
The move to seek bankruptcy protection comes after Kodak failed to sell its catalogue of digital imaging patents last year. At the time, Kodak warned that it would run out of cash if it did not find a buyer by the end of 2011.
"Now we must complete the transformation by further addressing our cost structure and effectively monetising non-core IP assets," said Mr Perez on Thursday.
Reorganisation
Former Kodak vice president Don Strickland insists the firm's late entry into the digital market is a key factor in its recent troubles. He claims he left the company in 1993 after he failed to get backing from within the company to release a digital camera.
"We developed the world's first consumer digital camera and Kodak could have launched it in 1992.
"We could not get approval to launch or sell it because of fear of the cannibalisation of film," he told BBC News.
Although Kodak was one of the original inventors of digital photography, it failed to keep pace with developments in the market and competitors including Fuji steadily eroded its share of the market.
Since 2003, Kodak has closed down 12 manufacturing plants.
Mr Strickland believes the firm has little chance of surviving long term.
Sony Ericsson reports fourth quarter loss
Mobile phone company Sony Ericsson has reported a fourth quarter loss, citing tough competition and the global economic slowdown for the deficit.
The firm - which is soon to be fully taken over by Sony - posted a net loss of 207m euros ($267m; £173m), compared with an 8m euro profit a year ago.
Sony Ericsson also said it had been hit by component shortages following the floods in Thailand last year.
The firm reported a net loss of 247m euros for the whole of 2011.
Chief executive Bert Nordberg said: "Our fourth quarter results reflected intense competition, unfavourable macroeconomic conditions and the effects of a natural disaster in Thailand."
Sales for the final three months of 2011 were 1.3bn euros, down 16% from the same period a year earlier, and 13% less than the previous quarter.
The company shipped nine million handsets in the fourth quarter, down 20% from a year ago.
In October last year, Japan's Sony agreed to take full control of Sony Ericsson from Sweden's Ericsson.
Sony is buying Ericsson's 50% of the business for 1.1bn euros, a deal which is expected to be completed within the next few weeks.
After the release of Sony Ericsson's results, Ericsson said the mobile phone maker's loss would cut its fourth quarter earnings by 1.1bn crowns ($160.3m; £104m).
Goldman Sachs cuts pay and bonuses as profits halve
US banking giant Goldman Sachs has cut its pay and bonus payments during 2011 - to $12.2bn (£7.4bn).
It said its total compensation - including staff bonuses - was down 21% from 2010.
The bank also said that its quarterly profits had more than halved from the previous year, but still beat analysts' forecasts.
Net income for the last three months of the year fell 58% to $1.01bn from the same period a year earlier.
In the whole of 2011, Goldman said that it made 47% less in profits than in 2010.
Weak US growth and uncertainty about European sovereign debt has hit banks hard globally.
The bank said that it had cut total staff numbers by 7% in 2011 - to 33,300 people, meaning the average compensation per member of staff is about $366,360.
'Concerns'
"This past year was dominated by global macro-economic concerns which significantly affected our clients' risk tolerance and willingness to transact," said Goldman chief executive Lloyd Blankfein.
Goldman also said that the UK bank payroll tax - the 50% tax on bankers' bonuses levied by the previous Labour government for one fiscal year - cost it a total of $465m in 2010.
That helped push up its effective tax rate up to 35.2% in 2010, and it had dropped to 28% last year.
On Tuesday, US rival Citigroup reported a profit of $11.3bn for 2011, up 6% on the previous year.
Last week, JP Morgan started earnings season also reported a drop in fourth-quarter profits.
The bank made a profit of $3.7bn in the period, down by almost a quarter on a year earlier.
IMF seeking $500bn funding boost
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said it will seek to increase its resources by $500bn (£325bn) to help stabilise the global economy.
The extra money could be used to help countries in the eurozone struggling to pay their debts.
But the IMF said it may need up to $1tn "in the coming years".
The $500bn includes the recent European commitment to commit 150bn euros (£125bn; $194bn) to the IMF, the 187-nation body said.
"Based on staff's estimate of global potential financing needs of about $1tn in the coming years, the Fund would aim to raise up to $500bn in additional lending resources," the IMF said.
"At this preliminary stage, we are exploring options on funding and will have no further comment until the necessary consultations with the Fund's membership have been completed."
The IMF currently has a a total borrowing capacity of about $590bn, and the Fund's lending commitments are at a record $250bn.
With Europe pledging the bulk of the extra funding, the IMF will have to discuss with its other members how to get the remaining resources.
European funding
At a summit in December, most of the European Union vowed to add about 200bn euros to the IMF's resources - which in turn could be lent to stricken nations such as Greece or to the eurozone bailout fund.
But the UK decided not to take part in the scheme to support the eurozone, so the EU failed to reach their target.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said it will seek to increase its resources by $500bn (£325bn) to help stabilise the global economy.
The extra money could be used to help countries in the eurozone struggling to pay their debts.
But the IMF said it may need up to $1tn "in the coming years".
The $500bn includes the recent European commitment to commit 150bn euros (£125bn; $194bn) to the IMF, the 187-nation body said.
"Based on staff's estimate of global potential financing needs of about $1tn in the coming years, the Fund would aim to raise up to $500bn in additional lending resources," the IMF said.
"At this preliminary stage, we are exploring options on funding and will have no further comment until the necessary consultations with the Fund's membership have been completed."
The IMF currently has a a total borrowing capacity of about $590bn, and the Fund's lending commitments are at a record $250bn.
With Europe pledging the bulk of the extra funding, the IMF will have to discuss with its other members how to get the remaining resources.
European funding
At a summit in December, most of the European Union vowed to add about 200bn euros to the IMF's resources - which in turn could be lent to stricken nations such as Greece or to the eurozone bailout fund.
But the UK decided not to take part in the scheme to support the eurozone, so the EU failed to reach their target.
Pakistan PM Gilani stands firm in contempt battle
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has appeared before the country's Supreme Court in contempt proceedings, to defend his record.
The court initiated the hearing over Mr Gilani's refusal to ask Swiss officials to reopen a corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari.
If found guilty of contempt he could be banned from holding public office.
A stand-off between the government, the judiciary and the military threatens to topple Mr Gilani's government.
After a hearing lasting little more than an hour the case was adjourned until 1 February.
Mr Gilani smiled and waved as he arrived at the Supreme Court, accompanied by his legal team and senior cabinet ministers.
In a lengthy opening statement to the seven judges, he spoke of his respect for the court and the Pakistani constitution.
He said he had not intended to defy the court but that he believed Mr Zardari had presidential immunity from prosecution.
"I have discussed this with my friends and experts, and they all agree that he has got complete immunity," Mr Gilani said.
"It will not give a good message to proceed against a president who is elected by a two-thirds majority."
He said it would not be good idea to throw the president to the "wolves".
Regardless of the outcome, one of the judges said, ''it was a great day for Pakistan, that the chief executive had bowed before the majesty of the law.".
Mr Gilani's embattled government is currently embroiled in disputes with the judiciary and also with Pakistan's powerful armed forces.
The prime minister sounded conciliatory at the hearing but his appearance was intended to be a show of strength for the government, says the BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad.
'No harm'
Mr Gilani has long refused to request the Swiss authorities to reopen the corruption case against President Zardari, as the Supreme Court has demanded.
But his lawyer, Aitzaz Ahsan, indicated on Wednesday that the prime minister might reverse that stance.
"There is no harm in writing a letter to the Swiss authorities," he said.
"The president has complete immunity against criminal procedures in the courts."
He added: "I don't think the prime minister has committed contempt of court by not writing the letter. Through my arguments I will try to convince the court that the prime minister is not guilty of contempt."
If convicted, Mr Gilani would face a prison term and be disqualified from office, potentially forcing early elections.
Meanwhile, former President Pervez Musharraf has indicated he intends to stick to a promise to return in late January from self-imposed exile to run in elections, which are due by 2013.
He told the BBC he wanted to seek "the mandate of the people", despite facing arrest on his return to face accusations that he did not provide adequate security for former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto when she was assassinated in late 2007.
On Wednesday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said Gen Musharraf would be arrested if he returned to the country.
Money laundering
Mr Zardari and his late wife, Benazir Bhutto, were found guilty in absentia by a Swiss court in 2003 of laundering millions of dollars in kickbacks from Swiss firms while they were in government.
They appealed and Swiss officials dropped the case in 2008 at the request of the Pakistani government.
The case was one of thousands dropped as a result of an amnesty that allowed Ms Bhutto to return from self-imposed exile and run for election in 2008. She was assassinated shortly after returning.
However, in 2009 Pakistan's Supreme Court declared the amnesty unconstitutional, leaving those covered by it open to prosecution.
The government is also engaged in a dispute with the military over an anonymous memo asking for US help to avert a possible army coup in Pakistan. The memo was sent in the wake of the killing of Osama Bin Laden in a US raid in May 2011.
US officials have acknowledged receiving the memo but say they took no action over it.
Both disputes have overshadowed Pakistan's deteriorating relationship with Washington following US air strikes that accidentally killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.
Decision looms on ending Concordia rescue operations
Rescuers resumed work aboard of the wreck of the cruise liner Costa Concordia on Thursday, the Italian navy said, as a decision loomed about when and if to call off the search for survivors.
Authorities are considering when to change the operation from rescue to recovery, Coast Guard spokesman Cosimo Nicastro said Thursday.
At least 11 people are known to have been killed since the disaster, and about two dozen are still missing.
Declaring the operation to be recovery rather than rescue would allow salvage experts to start pumping fuel out of the ship, potentially averting an environmental catastrophe.
The ship was carrying about 2,300 tons of fuel when it hit rocks off the coast of the Italian island of Giglio on Friday night.
Rescuers will try to blow more holes in the side of the ship with explosives to allow greater access to the ship if weather allows on Thursday, Nicastro said.
The brother-in-law of the captain who has been arrested over the shipwreck defended him in an Italian newspaper Thursday.
Capt. Francesco Schettino "managed to avoid a tragedy -- it could have been worse," Maurilio Russo said in Corrierre della Sera.
And he denied that he captain had abandoned ship.
"He was not running away, he came down [from the ship] to survey the damage," Russo said.
Russo also said the route the captain took was not out of the ordinary.
''It is a usual procedure, the owners are well aware of it, it is useless to pretend otherwise," he said. "Passengers pay to see something and skirting very close to the shore is part of the show."
Schettino's parish priest Don Gennaro Starita accused the media of "killing him" in an interview with with Italian newspaper.
"It's a shame," he said. "Already there are all these dead people, do we want to add another one to the list?"
The priest said he he plans to visit the captain in the next couple of days "to express solidarity."
Schettino may face charges including manslaughter, shipwreck and abandoning a ship when passengers were still on board, according to legal papers.
Prosecutor Francesco Verusio has accused the captain of piloting the ship too fast to allow him to react to dangers, causing the shipwreck, according to legal papers.
Judge Valeria Montesarchio's initial ruling found Schettino changed the ship's course, steering too close to shore and causing the ship to hit a rock.
The judge said the captain admitted to making a mistake and that, at the time of the collision, he was navigating by sight.
In her preliminary investigation, Montesarchio said there appears to be considerable evidence against the captain, whom she said showed "imprudence and inexperience."
The judge's findings included: Schettino made no serious attempt to return to the ship, he underestimated the damage to the Concordia and he failed to alert authorities in a timely manner.
"The captain could not but realize right away the gravity of the situation both because of the tilt and because he was alerted by the crew of the water influx," Montesarchio said.
The captain abandoned ship while at least 100 people were still on board, the judge said.
Montesarchio described the shipwreck as "a disaster of global proportion."
Officials named one of the victims Wednesday as Sandor Feher, a Hungarian member of the crew.
His body was one of five recovered Tuesday.
The mayor's office in Grosseto, the provincial capital, said 26 people remained missing, but that number may include some of the five victims found Tuesday.
The family of two missing Americans, Gerald and Barbara Heil of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, said it was thankful for perilous attempts to find those still unaccounted for.
"While it is certainly hard for us to see the recovery efforts stall due to the unstable conditions ... we are also very concerned for the safety of the Italian coast guard as they continue to put forth a heroic effort in trying to find those who remain missing," relatives wrote.
Experts say chances of finding survivors are slim.
China Says US Sanctions on Iran ‘Ineffective’
China expressed concern Thursday over rising tensions in the Persian Gulf, saying the situation could pose problems for resolving Iran's nuclear issues.
Speaking at a regular news briefing in Beijing, foreign ministry spokesperson Liu Weimin said disagreements over Tehran's controversial nuclear program should be solved through dialogue and negotiations.
“Using sanctions, imposing pressure and threatening one another with force not only do not help solve the problem, but they would lead to further deterioration of the situation.”
Liu echoed earlier comments by Premier Wen Jiabao, who said Beijing is opposed to any “extreme action” by Iran to shut off the Strait of Hormuz.
Wen told reporters in Doha, Qatar late Wednesday that it would be not be in the interest of the global community for Iran to follow through on its threat to block the waterway, which is a key shipping lane for global oil supplies.
Tehran has threatened to close the strait in response to U.S. sanctions. Officials in Washington have said there is room for diplomacy, but warn that the United States will not allow an Iranian blockade.
China has supported U.N. sanctions on Iran, but opposes the much tougher U.S. measures.
On Wednesday, Wen said China “firmly opposes” Iran producing a nuclear weapon. But he says the issue should be resolved through “peaceful” means, saying the so-called P-five-plus-one talks are one way to do so.
The negotiations between the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council – the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China – plus Germany last took place a year ago. Iran and the United States have both hinted that the talks could soon resume, although no date has been set.
The recently enacted U.S. sanctions impose financial penalties against foreign banks that do business with Iran's central bank, which is responsible for most of its oil deals.