Shell, villagers agree to $83.5 million for huge oil spill

JOHANNESBURG — Oil giant Shell has agreed to pay a Nigerian fishing community 55 million pounds (about $83.5 million) for the worst oil spill in Nigeria, an unprecedented settlement that experts say could open a floodgate of litigation there and abroad.

Wednesday's agreement ends a three-year legal battle in Britain over two spills in 2008 that destroyed thousands of hectares (acres) of mangroves and the fish and shellfish that sustained villagers of the Bodo community in Nigeria's southern Niger Delta.

It "is thought to be one of the largest payouts to an entire community following environmental damage," said Martyn Day of the claimants' London lawyers, Leigh Day & Co.

"We hope that in future Shell will properly consider claims such as these from the outset and that this method of compensation, with each affected individual being compensated, will act as a template for Shell in future cases" in Nigeria and elsewhere. Shell Nigeria is 55 percent owned by the Nigerian government.

George Frynas, who has researched and published for 20 years about community conflict and litigation, said the agreement has "enormous importance" that "may open the floodgates for other communities around the world to sue companies."

Lawyers around the world will be watching closely and looking for ways to bring more cases to U.S. and U.K. courts because the amounts involved are so huge, he said.

The last precedent-setting case saw Shell paying compensation of just over $300,000 in Nigeria in 1994. Frynas is a professor at Britain's Middlesex University Business School.

Murtala Touray of IHS Country Risk said Nigerian courts could now be inundated with similar compensation litigation.

Nigeria's oil-rich southern Niger Delta suffers hundreds of oil spills every year and villagers have been in conflict with oil companies for decades. Typically, victims spend years battling a corrupt Nigerian court system only to come away with a pittance, Frynas said.

Touray called Wednesday's agreement a significant and precedent-setting development that "will create huge expectations among the communities of instant transformation of their lives from poverty to opulence."

Bodo community leader Chief Sylvester Kogbara described more modest aspirations.

He told The Associated Press that villagers are discussing setting up as petty traders and other small businesses until their environment is restored. Under the agreement, some 15,600 fishermen and farmers get 2,200 pounds ($3,340) in a country where the minimum monthly wage is less than $100.

About $30.4 million awarded to the community in the settlement will be used to provide needed basic services, Kogbara said.

"We have no health facilities, our schools are very basic, there's no clean water supply," he said.

Villagers began receiving payouts on Tuesday, according to Pastor Christian Kpandei of the Center for Environment, Human Rights and Development in the Niger Delta.

Shell also has agreed to a long-overdue cleanup, but a U.N. report has said it could take 30 years to properly restore the ruined mangrove swamps.

23.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Super Bowl ads: from GoDaddy to Wix.com, web-service marketers flock to big game

The biggest Super Bowl ad battle in 2015 has something small at stake. No less than three companies aiming to capture the interest of the nation's entrepreneurs and small business leaders.

Wix.com, a web-services company making its debut as a Super Bowl advertiser, intends to launch a campaign featuring five famous NFL players NFL - Brett Favre, Terrell Owens, Emmitt Smith, Larry Allen and Franco Harris - as they make transitions from athletes to chiefs of their own start-ups. Wix will play a key role in helping them get there, and a 30-second spot set to air in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLIX slated to air on NBC February 1 will offer more of their antics. Owens stars in a teaser ad slated to debut Wednesday.

If Wix services don't sound as sexy or as easy-to-understand as a luxury automobile or a can of beer, well, tough. Wix joins two other web-services providers who want to help small business owners get ahead and who will use the Super Bowl broadcast to do so. GoDaddy has been a Super Bowl advertiser for more than a decade and will run a single 30-second spot during the game featuring longtime spokeswoman Danica Patrick and a puppy. Squarespace, a New York company that helps people build web sites, is returning to the Super Bowl for its second year.

Wix estimates the market for such services will total $50 billion in 2015, citing data from Verisign, and expects consumers to lauch 90 million web sites this year, making the Super Bowl a good tool to help get the word out about its services to a broad crowd.

Like many other Super Bowl advertisers, Wix expects to tap social media to help emphasize its message in the weeks before the broadcast. Each player's professional website s will be launched in coming days and include more information and even purchasable products. People who want to follow along can track the hashtag #ItsThatEasy and check out various creative at a "hub" website that will go live at a later time.

This isn't the first time the Super Bowl has helped create heat around a category that might be considered a little esoteric. For several years, online-recruitment site Monster.com was a Super Bowl perennial, making its biggest mark in 1999 with an ad from Interpublic Group's Mullen agency featuring children spouting soul-killing career goals. "When I grow up, I want to claw my way up to middle management," says one kid. The company often found itself tilting against Yahoo's HotJobs site. Later on, Careerbuilder ran Super Bowl ads between 2005 and 2012 featuring a bunch of monkeys who took over an office, among other concepts.

Ad aficionados will have to tune in to see whether the Super Bowl features more web-services companies than car advertisers. Automakers, who have dominated the ad roster of the game for the last few years, are said to be pulling back for the 2015 event, though Nissan and Toyota have already confirmed they will hawk their cars during the event.

In 2014, the Super Bowl featured two different ads for chocolate candies - Mars' M&Ms and Nestle's Butterfinger Peanut Butter Cups as well as two different kinds of Greek yogurt, Dannon's Oikos and Chobani. The danger for these marketers is that consumers will remember the type of product being sold but not be able to differentiate between the different brands.

© 2015 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

23.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Survey: US companies stepped up hiring in December

WASHINGTON — U.S. businesses ramped up hiring last month in the latest sign that the nation's economy is expanding despite worries about global growth that have sent financial markets tumbling.

Payroll processor ADP said Wednesday that companies added 241,000 jobs in December, up from 227,000 in November. That suggests Friday's government report on December job gains will also be healthy.

The ADP numbers cover only private businesses and sometimes diverge from the government's more comprehensive report, which includes government agencies.

Economists forecast the government's figures will show that employers added 240,000 jobs in December, according to a survey by financial data provider FactSet. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 5.8 percent.

Hiring was solid across most large industries and company sizes. Manufacturers added 26,000 jobs, the second-highest monthly total in 2014 and up from 16,000 in November. Construction firms added 23,000, up from 20,000 the previous month.

Small companies with fewer than 50 employees gained 106,000 jobs, up from 99,000 in November. Medium-sized firms gained 70,000 jobs and large companies 66,000.

Strong economic growth has encouraged employers to ramp up hiring. The economy expanded at a 5 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the healthiest pace since 2003. And that followed 4.6 percent growth in the April-June quarter.

Employers added nearly 2.7 million new jobs in the first 11 months of last year, the most since 1999. Still, the job market is not yet back to full health. There are about 9.1 million unemployed people, up from about 7.5 million before the Great Recession. And 6.8 million people are working part-time but would prefer full-time work, up from just 4.1 million before the downturn.

23.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Woman sues over use of her school photo on novelty flask

SANTA FE, N.M. — A New Mexico woman is suing a novelty products maker over a flask that includes her likeness and the phrase, "I'm going to be the most popular girl in rehab."

The Santa Fe New Mexican reports (http://goo.gl/j8MdZk) Veronica Vigil alleges in her in federal court that Anne Taintor Inc. obtained and used her high school graduation picture from 1970 without her permission.

The lawsuit says the Brooklyn, New York-based company then defamed Vigil by linking her image to a product that makes light of substance abuse.

Court documents say the Chimayo, New Mexico, resident is an active church member and doesn't consume alcohol or drugs.

The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages.

A spokeswoman for Anne Taintor Inc. said the company does not comment on pending litigation.

23.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Keurig Green Mountain, Dr. Pepper Snapple strike deal

WATERBURY, Vt. — Keurig Green Mountain struck a deal with Dr. Pepper Snapple to make single-serve capsules for use in Keurig's soon-to-be released cold beverage system.

The companies did not disclose terms of the agreement Wednesday or specify which particular brands will be included. The soda maker, based in Plano, Texas, sells Sunkist, Snapple, Dr. Pepper, Hawaiian Punch and other brands.

The multi-year deal will make Keurig Green Mountain Inc. the exclusive producer in the U.S. and Canada for the drinks that use fountain syrup in the new Keurig Cold platform.

Keurig Cold, which is expected to launch in the fall, lets users to make cold carbonated drinks, sports drinks, teas, juice drinks and enhanced waters at home.

Shares of Keurig Green Mountain, which is based in Waterbury, Vermont, rose more than 3 percent to $131.22 before the opening bell.

Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Inc., like other soda makers, has been trying to maintain sales as American tastes and diets shift.

U.S. sales volume of carbonated soft drinks fell 3 percent in 2013, according to a report released last year by Beverage Digest, an industry tracker. That was a steeper drop than the 1.2 percent decline in 2012 and brought total soda volume to the lowest level since 1995.

"Our team is committed to building and enhancing our leading brands, and this agreement presents an opportunity to reach consumers in new occasions," said Jim Trebilcock, a marketing executive with Dr. Pepper Snapple.

23.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Watch Chris Evans star in Chinese 'Call of Duty Online' campaign

Chris Evans is promoting the launch of Activision Blizzard's "Call of Duty Online" in China by starring in a three-minute live action commercial for the videogame maker.

Evans, who already suits up as Captain America in Marvel Studios' superhero films, goes into combat again in the ad that was produced exclusively for the Chinese market.

In the video, he appears guns blazing as he rescues soldiers pinned down by enemies.

"Who does he think he is? Some kind of Hollywood action hero?" asks one of the soldiers.

Chinese filmmakers Longman Leung and Sunny Luk directed the spot. They also helmed the Hong Kong thriller "Cold War."

Activision is releasing "Call of Duty Online" through Chinese Internet giant Tencent.

The free-to-play online version of the military actioner was Activision's workaround in a country that had long banned videogame consoles.

Evans joins a growing roster of celebrities who have appeared in Activision's "Call of Duty" campaigns, including Robert Downey Jr., Jonah Hill, Megan Fox and Taylor Kitsch.

© 2015 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

23.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Al Getler named new publisher of Burlington Free Press

BURLINGTON, Vt. — Al Getler, group publisher of the North of Boston Media Group, has been named publisher of the Burlington Free Press.

In taking over at the Free Press, Getler returns to Gannett Co. Inc., where he spent nearly a decade with the Newspaper Network of Central Ohio in various marketing and circulation roles. He also was publisher of The Advocate.

Getler also has worked for The Record in Troy, New York, The Press of Atlantic City in New Jersey and the North Jersey Media Group.

At the Free Press, Getler succeeds Jim Fogler, who left in September to become vice president of business development for Party City.

23.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

US trade deficit hits 11-month low of $39 billion

WASHINGTON — The U.S. trade deficit fell in November to the lowest level in 11 months as crude oil imports dropped to a two-decade low.

The trade deficit narrowed to $39 billion in November, down 7.7 percent from a revised October deficit of $42.2 billion, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. U.S. exports slipped 1 percent to $196.4 billion, with sales of commercial airliners falling.

Imports dropped even faster, falling 2.2 percent to $235.4 billion. That was primarily a reflection of foreign oil declines. The volume of crude imported in November hit its lowest level since 1994, while the average price dropped to a two-year low.

The U.S. trade deficit is being helped by falling global oil prices and a boom in U.S. energy production, which has lessened America's reliance on imports.

The November deficit was the lowest since a trade gap of $37.4 billion in December 2013. Through the first 11 months of 2014, the deficit is running 5.1 percent above the same period in 2013.

The smaller-than-expected deficit for November caused some economists to boost their growth forecasts for the final three months of the year.

Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said trade should be less of a drag on the economy than he had previously expected and is now projecting overall economic growth of 2.25 percent in the October-December quarter. Other economists are more optimistic and estimating growth of 3 percent in the fourth quarter.

Many economists believe the trade deficit will keep rising in 2015, reflecting an expanding U.S. economy that will be importing more foreign products than U.S. producers will be selling overseas. American manufacturers are grappling with weakness in a number of major export markets such as Europe and Japan, as well as a strengthening U.S. dollar that makes American goods more expensive for foreign consumers.

A rising trade deficit acts as a drag on economic growth, but economists are still forecasting that overall growth this year will be stronger than in 2014.

In November, the politically sensitive trade deficit with China dropped 8 percent to $29.9 billion but remained on track to set a new all-time high for the year. America's deficit with China is the largest for any country. It has added to pressure on Congress and the Obama administration to take tougher actions against what critics see as unfair Chinese trade practices such as the country's manipulation of its currency to gain trade advantages over American companies.

The widening trade gap with China comes at a time when the Obama administration hopes to finally get Congress to approve the fast-track authority it needs to wrap up a major 12-nation trade agreement with Pacific Rim countries known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The administration sees the trade deal as one of the areas where President Barack Obama may be able to find common ground with Republicans who took control of the Senate this week and now control both chambers of Congress.

The U.S. deficit with the European Union dropped 7.4 percent to $11.8 billion in November as imports from that region fell more than U.S. exports. There is concern that an economic slowdown in Europe will dampen U.S. export sales.

For the first 11 months of 2014, U.S. energy exports are up 9.6 percent compared with the same period in 2013, putting them on track to hit a record even with the recent fall in prices.

23.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

US stocks rise at open as oil steadies

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks are moving higher in early trading as the price of oil steadies near six-year lows. European markets also pushed higher on Wednesday after weak inflation figures for the region raised speculation of further help from the European Central Bank.

KEEPING SCORE: All three major U.S. indexes climbed more than 1 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 21 points to 2,023, as of 10:09 a.m. Eastern. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 177 points to 17,549, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 50 points to 4,642.

ECONOMY WATCH: U.S. businesses increased hiring last month in the latest sign that the U.S. economy is on steady footing, despite concerns about global growth. The payroll processor ADP reported that companies added 241,000 workers in December, up from 227,000 in November.

Later in the day, the Federal Reserve will release details from its December interest-rate meeting. After last month's meeting, the Fed said it will be "patient" in deciding when to raise interest rates.

ABROAD: Major markets in Europe also climbed higher for the first time this week. Germany's DAX was up 1 percent and France's CAC-40 rose 1.3 percent. Britain's FTSE 100 advanced 1.2 percent.

PRICES: Consumer prices in Europe fell in December for the first time since 2009. The 0.2 percent drop was mainly due to a slump in global oil prices, something that could help consumers immediately. The drop puts pressure on the European Central Bank to provide more stimulus. Many analysts expect the bank to start buying government bonds, possibly as soon as this month. The euro fell to $1.1834 from $1.1890.

CRUDE: Oil prices remain in focus following sharp drops recorded over the past few months. On Wednesday, the price of oil stabilized after nearing a six-year low. U.S. crude oil rose $1.12 to $49.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude has fallen by more than half since June as demand weakened and supplies rose. Lower energy costs are a boon to consumers and businesses, but there is also concern the plunge is a sign of weakness in the world economy.

MOVING: J.C. Penney soared $1.36, or 21 percent, to $7.94 after the beleaguered retail store posted solid sales late Tuesday. For the nine-week holiday shopping season, the company reported sales growth of 3.7 percent over the same period in 2013.

BETTER, BUT: Eli Lilly predicted increased revenue and earnings this year as it tries to recover from the loss of patents protecting key drugs. But the forecast fell short of Wall Street's expectations. The company's stock fell 92 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $68.80.

ASIA'S DAY: Earlier, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 ended flat, while Seoul's Kospi edged up 0.1 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.8 percent, and the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.7 percent.

23.14 | 0 komentar | Read More

Monsanto earnings fall 34 percent on lower corn seed sales

ST LOUIS — Monsanto said Wednesday that its earnings fell 34 percent in its first fiscal quarter as South American farmers cut back on planting corn, reducing demand for the company's biotech-enhanced seeds.

U.S. farmers harvested record crops of soybeans and corn last year, sending prices on those food staples to their lowest levels in years. That has resulted in farmers in South America and elsewhere reducing the number of acres they dedicate to corn. The company said lower corn plantings in the U.S. will likely reduce second quarter results by 5 to 10 percent compared with the prior year.

Monsanto said its business was also affected by reduced cotton planting in Australia and a shift in timing for its chemical business.

The St. Louis-based company reported a profit of $243 million, or 50 cents per share, down from $368 million, or 69 cents per share, in the prior year period. Earnings, adjusted to account for discontinued operations, came to 47 cents per share in the most recent quarter.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 34 cents per share.

The agricultural products company's revenue fell more than 8 percent to $2.87 billion in the period, on lower sales of corn seeds and herbicide. Analysts expected $2.96 billion, according to Zacks.

Monsanto expects full-year earnings in the range of $5.75 to $6 per share.

The company's shares rose $1.38, or 1.2 percent, to $117.14 in morning trading, Its shares have risen about 3.5 percent over the past year.

Monsanto has dominated the bioengineered-seed business for more than a decade and recently began developing products specifically for emerging markets like Argentina, Brazil and parts of Asia. The company is also making investments in computerized tools for the agricultural sector.

Monsanto executives predict this expanded portfolio of offerings will help the company double its earnings per share over the next five years.

"The near-term headwinds in agriculture persist, but our ability to deliver new solutions to help farmers improve yields while efficiently using resources provides the opportunity to deliver growth in both the current environment and over the longer-term," said CEO Hugh Grant in a statement.

The company's biotech seeds have genetically engineered traits that the company says benefit farmers enough that they come out ahead, despite their higher costs.

Total seed and seed license revenue declined to $1.62 billion from $1.67 billion with higher soybean sales partially offsetting lower sales of the company's best-selling product, biotech corn seeds.

Sales of the company's signature herbicide, Roundup, and other chemicals declined to $1.25 billion from $1.47 billion.

23.14 | 0 komentar | Read More