Tag: ebusiness

Fist Of Legend via YouTube

At 8:45 PM EST tonight, we'll get the

manufacturing

report.

Economists expect the number to rise to 50.8 from 50.5 a month ago.

Overall, the recent data out of the world's second largest economy has been bullish. Earlier this month, we learned that retail sales and industrial production had accelerated in November.

"The Chinese economy is undoubtedly heating up," said SocGen economist Wei Yao.

However, November trade data was unexpectedly weak raising doubts about the recovery. Exports slowed substantially and import growth fell to zero.

"We believe the big volatility in export growth since Sep 2012 could be driven by a bunch of factors such as working days and base effects, but we would like to highlight that strikes in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in California from 27 Nov to 4 Dec could play a role as these two ports handle 40% of American imports (surely much more of imports from Asia)," said Bank of America Merrill Lynch's Ting Lu.

China is a key source of growth for the global economy. As such, all eyes will be on China tonight.

Talk about a sibling rivalry. Just over a year after Formula One heiress Petra Ecclestone dropped $85 million on Holmby Hills' famous Spelling Mansion, her sister Tamara is rumored to be looking at an even more expensive home in the same neighborhood.

According to The Sun, Tamara "is desperate to buy" the Fleur de Lys estate, also in Holmby Hills, which returned to the market last year with a $125 million asking price. Tamara, 28, is reportedly moving from London to the U.S. to film a reality TV show.

The home, owned by philanthropist Suzanne Saperstein, has 12 bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, a ballroom, two kitchens, a massive movie theater, a pool, tennis courts, and a nine-car garage.

Here's where the sibling rivalry comes in. Shortly before Petra, 23, bought the Spelling Mansion, she reportedly made an $80 million offer on Fleur de Lys, but was turned down by Saperstein, notes celebrity real estate blogger The Real Estalker.

If Tamara winds up in the home, it will be a major coup for the older sister.

Juan Manuel Marquez knocked out Manny Pacquiao tonight with one right hand in the sixth.

This photo captures everything from that moment — the sadness of a seemingly unconscious Pacquiao, the anticipation of Marquez ready to erupt in joy, the spectacle of the match buzzing in the background.

Just amazing:

Al Bello/Getty Images

folkehjelp on Flickr

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The Syrian regime was the only government in the world to lay new landmines this year, campaigners said Thursday as they issued an annual report on the use and effect of the devastating weapons.

Mark Hiznay, the editor of the report for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), said the finding is a significant change from last year, when four governments laid mines, and represents the lowest number since the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty was signed in 1997.

"This represents a milestone for us: having only one country using antipersonnel mines," he told reporters in Geneva at the unveiling of the 2012 Landmine Monitor report.

But even though only one government laid the lethal mines this year, the explosives were still used by non-state armed groups in six countries — Afghanistan, Colombia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Thailand and Yemen — up from four countries last year, the report said.

The ICBL's report hailed record high levels of funding for mine clearance and a dramatic reduction in the number of people killed by the explosive devices over the past decade.

These developments are "a testament to the achievements of the Mine Ban Treaty over the past 15 years and that's the good news," said Hiznay, who is also a senior arms researcher for Human Rights Watch.

Syria was also among the four countries singled out in last year's report, when the governments of Israel, Libya and Myanmar were found to have used landmines.

In Syria, at least 19 people were killed by the explosive devices in border-crossing areas during the first five months of the year, including a Landmine Monitor source who died while crossing a mine field in March, according to ICBL.

There had also been an incident in October, when Syrian troops abandoning a military position near the village of Khirbet al-Jouz close to the Turkish border had left behind up to 200 landmines, Hiznay said.

"Eventually, the villagers began finding them the hard way," he said.

The Syrian regime appeared to be using old stockpiles of the weapons produced by the Soviet Union in the 1980s, he said, adding that "there was "no indication of recent supplies."

While the number of countries laying new landmines might be low, 59 countries and six other areas were confirmed to have been affected by the deadly explosives this year, and mines were suspected in another 12 countries, the report said.

The ICBL said 4,286 people were killed by landmines worldwide last year — or nearly 12 deaths a day, compared to 32 in 2001.

The steady decrease in annual casualty rates in some of the world's most mine-affected countries, like Afghanistan and Cambodia, had however been offset by a "significant increase" in mine-linked deaths in countries like Libya, Sudan and Syria.

In Syria, the number of casualties had jumped from nine in 2010 to 20 last year, the ICBL said.

The organisation, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for its efforts to rid the world of landmines, said a growing number of governments were signing on to the treaty, which now counts 160 signatory states.

International and national funding for mine clearing activities meanwhile reached an all-time high last year of around $662 million (511 million euros), ICBL said, while noting that funding for helping landmine survivors had fallen sharply to just $30 million in 2011.

As for landmine production, only India, Myanmar, Pakistan and South Korea appeared to still be actively producing antipersonnel mines, the report showed.

However, another eight countries still reserve the right to produce such weapons: China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.

The ICBL report came ahead of a five-day meeting in Geneva next week of signatory countries to the Ottawa Treaty.

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Housing has turned the corner and is said to be a bright spot in the U.S. economy.

But national home prices are expected to climb just 3.3 percent in the next five years, according to the latest data from Fiserv Case-Shiller.

Earlier this week we put together a list of the 15 best housing markets for the next five years that will see home prices rise at a much faster pace.

Today, we're following it up with a feature on the 15 housing markets that are projected to see the most declines or the slowest growth in home prices.

Note: The median family income and home price data is for Q1 2012. Unemployment data is for May 2012, and population data is for 2011.

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