Archive for September 19th, 2011
Cristin back on earth after ‘Universe’ experience
(CNS): After a gruelling journey from Sao Paolo, Brazil where she faced various delays, Miss Cayman Islands returned home from the world’s most glamorous beauty pageant last week looking like a winner. Welcomed back from the Miss Universe contest, by the premier, as well as fans, friends and family Cristin Alexander described her experience at Brazil as “incredible.” Miss Cayman said she was delighted with the choice of all five top contestants in last Monday’s final pageant, especially Miss Angola, the winner. She also said she was very happy with her preparation for the event and that she had given it her best shot. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)
Greeting the country’s reigning beauty queen on Thursday McKeeva Bush said he was truly proud of Cristin and lauded her as an ardent cultural ambassador for Cayman.
“Indeed, in Cayman’s eyes, Cristin is a winner all the way and a tremendous role model for young women and girls in Cayman,” he said. “I wish her the very best during the rest of her year and beyond.”
Cristin’s reign will come to an end in a few days however, when she crowns the new Miss Cayman Islands on Saturday. Ten young women from across all three Cayman Islands will be vying for the 2011 at the Lion’s centre this weekend.
US battles corporate corruption overseas
(AFP): Envelopes stuffed with cash and lavish gifts for foreign officials were once standard practice for companies chasing profits in the red-hot markets of Asia, Africa and Latin America, but now US authorities have cracked down stepping up enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), a 1977 law rarely enforced until recently. The surge in FCPA enforcement has led to multimillion-dollar fines on firms that are often not even based in the United States, and it has shed light on how some corporations pursue growth in emerging markets.
On Thursday, Japanese rubber giant Bridgestone agreed to plead guilty to charges that its US employees bribed officials of Mexico's state oil firm Pemex to win deals, sometimes writing "Read and Destroy" on sensitive fax messages about the illicit payments.
And in July, US regulators charged London-based liquor company Diageo with FCPA violations that included taking South Korean officials on a junket to Prague and Budapest in return for favorable tax treatment. Diageo also paid a senior Thai official to lobby for lower sales taxes on its Johnnie Walker whiskey and bribed employees of state-owned liquor stores in India to stock its brands, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged. Diageo did not admit wrongdoing but paid $16 million to settle the charges.