LG challenges Samsung with the G Flex curved screen smartphone

"It looks like LG and Samsung are at it again. Both companies were vying for attention at CES 2013 with simultaneous "world's first" curved OLED television announcements. LG consistently led in the race to the consumer space, and looked liked being first to move the screen format onto smartphones with the annuoncement earlier this month of its plans to mass produce flexible OLED phone displays. Samsung had other ideas, however, and the Galaxy Round was launched just a few days later. LG has now caught up with the forthcoming release of its slightly larger G Flex smartphone, featuring a curved display that follows the contour of the face.

Arcing the G Flex smartphone's display vertically brings the microphone closer to a user's mouth when held against the ear, which, according to LG, increases the volume at the mic by 3 dB (when compared to typical flat-screened phones). The company is also making similar IMAX-like immersive landscape video viewing claims to those which accompanied the release of the curved televisions.

The G Flex sports a 6-inch, 1280 x 720 resolution P-OLED display, which sees the display and panel built on plastic substrates instead of glass. Real RGB technology has been incorporated – where red, green and blue subpixels are all contained in one pixel – for a brighter and more precise onscreen image.

A 2.26 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor runs the show, with a 450 MHz Adreno 330 GPU, 2 GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 32 GB of eMMC storage (with a microSD slot for expansion) making up the supporting cast. The device tips the scales at 6.2 oz (177 g), and its 3,500 mAh curved battery, which was developed by sister company LG Chem, is reported to provide more than a full day's use.

The 6.3 x 3.2 x 0.31 - 0.34 in (160.5 x 81.6 x 7.9 - 8.7 mm) device features a 13 megapixel camera with LED flash at the back and a front-facing 2.1 MP webcam. The LED pulses to indicate face detection or timer countdown. The rear-key design first seen in the G2 has also been included, with a power button in the middle of a volume rocker, and the company has applied a special scratch-resistant coating on the back to help keep the device looking like new for longer.

The latest member of LG's G smartphone family runs Android 4.2.2, and features a refreshed UX that has a function called Q Theater which gives users access to content direct from the lock screen, and allows the display to be divided into two separate windows for multi-tasking.

The smartphone is LTE-capable, packs Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi, and features NFC technology. It is also capable of Hi-Fi quality 24-bit/192 kHz audio playback.

The LG G Flex starts its journey into the back pockets of consumers in Korea next month, before being rolled out to other markets".

Source: Gizmag

WSJ: Chile 2013 Forestry Exports Seen Rising 6.8% to $5.75 Billion

"Chile's forestry exports are expected to increase to $5.75 billion this year, up 6.8% from the $5.39 billion exported in 2012, industry trade group Corma said Monday.

An increase in pulp production would partly boost total forestry exports, Corma said in a statement.

Pulp prices, however, could fall after new plants in Brazil and Uruguay increase supply from South America, said Corma President Fernando Raga.

In Chile, fuel and forestry conglomerate Empresas Copec SA (COPEC.SN) plans to start operations at its $1.9 billion Montes del Plata mill in Uruguay during the first half of this year. Montes del Plata, a joint-venture between Copec and Finnish paper producer Stora Enso Oyj (STERV.HE), expects to add 1.3 million metric tons of hardwood pulp a year.

Chilean paper and wood-pulp producer Empresas CMPC SA (CMPC.SN), meanwhile, has a $2.1 billion investment planned for the expansion of its Guaiba plant in Brazil.

Once Guaiba is fully operational in 2015, CMPC will increase total pulp production by 46% to around 4.1 billion metric tons a year.

In addition to being one of the largest exporters of wood pulp, Chile also exports sawn timber, wood panels and other processed-wood products".

Source: WSJ

"Pink Star" diamond up for grabs

The world’s largest pink diamond will soon be up for grabs. The precious rock, with its pure pink color, weighs in at almost 60 carats, and is estimated to fetch over 60 million US dollars at auction. Some valuable contemporary paintings will also go under the hammer later this month.

Putting the big in bling, this massive pink diamond is waiting for its new owner. Reportedly discovered in Africa in 1999, it has never before been up for public sale.

According to David Bennett, the Chairman of Sotheby’s International Jewelery division, the pink color is not an imperfection.

David Bennett, Chairman of Sotheby's Int'l Jewelry Division, said, "The reason the diamond is pink is probably by an accident when it was being formed. The cause of the pink is not precisely known. What we do know is it is not an impurity."

Bennett says the reason diamonds are so exciting is that they are formed very deep within the earth’s crust, and are mined differently than other precious stones.

"The only reason we have them is when they have been associated with volcanoes when they have been brought up by chance to the surface." David said.

The flawless 59.6-carat Pink Star will be auctioned off in Geneva on Nov. 13th.

Source: CCTV

Heavy Haze continues to rise in Beiging

It’s another day of heavy haze in the Chinese capital. Beijing’s meteorological station issued a yellow alert early Saturday morning, the second highest on the four-tier warning system. This is the third haze alert this week.

The level of PM 2.5 in Beijing has risen sharply to 300, which means heavy pollution. Visibility is also reduced to less than 100 meters in the worst affected parts of the city.

In the past month, northern and eastern China were plagued by continuous haze. Cities like Beijing and Tianjin were blanketed for more than 15 days, the worst since 1961.

Beijing’s weather authority forecasts that winds will hit the capital, which could clear the air from early Sunday. But two more bouts of hazy weather will make a comeback next week in some parts of northern and eastern China.

Mobile Tech : Be-Bound app provides mobile internet access without 3G or Wi-Fi

Be-Bound is a new mobile app for Android that uses text messaging as the means by which to provide internet access at very low bandwidths to mobile devices when there is little or no data connectivity available through a Wi-Fi or 3G connection.

“We started with a simple observation," says Albert Szulman, CEO of Be-Bound. "Everybody has faced connection issues, even in covered areas like the train, the subway, indoor or any other areas with low connectivity."

To overcome this, Be-Bound is designed to provide users with internet access wherever they may be through 2G networks. The Be-Bound app is free to download from Google Play with users paying for the service by topping-up with pre-paid credits called "Be-Miles."

According to Be-Bound, using the app is much cheaper than standard roaming costs and so is ideal for use when traveling abroad. It features built-in email, weather, news and Twitter functionality with the company claiming that it can even help users to save money on their existing mobile tariffs.

When connectivity isn’t an issue, Be-Bound can still be used when on Wi-Fi or 3G networks, with the company claiming it provides a faster means of accessing the internet than traditional smartphone apps while also reducing data usage.

Sources: Be-Bound; Gizmag

          

Macroecomic View vs Value Investor.

"Economics is extremely important to understanding the world in which we live, but the linear application of it can be deadly with actual money on the line. Thinking that low GDP growth would mean low stock returns would have sat you out of one of the best bull markets in history these past few years. It also would have made you miss the bottom of the European stock market and led you to have guessed that China, with its world-beating growth numbers, would outperform (it's actually had the fastest economic growth and the poorest stock market returns).
A study from theLondon School of Economics concluded that choosing where to invest based on favorable economic factors is actually a recipe for underperformance. Researchers Dimson, Marsh and Staunton said "take the records of 83 countries from 1972 to 2009 (the most comprehensive set available) and rank them by GDP growth over the previous five years. Investing each year in the countries with the highest economic growth over the preceding five years earned an annual return of 18.4%, but investing in the lowest-growth countries returned 25.1%." Another study by BNY Mellon looked at the S&P 500 versus US economic growth from 1970-2012 and concluded that there is no link whatsoever between the two.

Greek stocks, once shunned by investors concerned that a default would force the nation out of the euro, are beating almost every market in the world as a six-year recession eases and new investors consider purchases.

Since June 5, 2012, two weeks before MSCI Inc. gave notice it may reclassify Greece as an emerging market, the country’s ASE Index has surged 146 percent, trimming the decline from its 2007 peak to 79 percent. The gains topped all 94 national benchmarks globally in the period, except Venezuela, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Yields on Greece’s 10-year government bonds have dropped to 8.31 percent from a peak of 33.7 percent in March 2012.

The country is unable to borrow without the assistance of its Northern European benefactors backstopping and haircutting and bailing-out and inspecting. Debt-to-GDP will peak out in the next year at some 176% - a disastrous number for any country, especially for a country that does not have the ability to use currency deflation to make it more manageable. In the meantime, over the last five years, Greece has seen a full 25% of its economic output literally disappear - vaporized. This while unemployment has shown almost no sign of abating, the current rate of joblessness today stands at an unfathomable 27%.

But the stock market is not the economy.

We explained this to clients with our European overweights this past spring (You're overweighting Europe?!?!?) and are currently doing the same with our investments into the much-hated materials sector.

Stocks trade based on three things: sentiment, valuation and trend. Yes, economic data feeds into these things, but it is up to the trader or investor to determine their combined favorability, an economist does not do that sort of work. The Greek stock market was the most hated in the world (sentiment), one of the very cheapest on valuation(four times earnings at the bottom!) and the trend had only one direction to go (the Greek stock market, called the ASE, had hit a 22-year low in June of 2012 and was down 90% from the 2007 high)".

Source: thereformedbroker  Joshua Brown

Facebook's ad warning sounds a note of caution for Twitter

Facebook Inc's investors and other proponents of the social network like to say that it captures one of the greatest concentrations of human attention on the planet and thus offers a boundless opportunity for advertisers.

But Facebook Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman on Wednesday cast doubt on those assertions by suggesting that there may be a limit on how many ads Facebook can show users before they get turned off.

Ebersman's warning carries far-reaching implications for not only Facebook but also other social media companies including Twitter Inc, which is in the middle of a roadshow to promote its initial public offering to investors.

Twitter has yet to turn a profit but it is pitching an advertising business model similar to Facebook's.

Seven-year old Twitter faces an additional challenge: its active user base, now at 230 million, has expanded much more slowly compared to Facebook, due in part to its struggle to retain newcomers. A recent Reuters-Ipsos poll found 36 percent of Twitter users do not use the online messaging service.

Twitter is trying to expand its ad business in other ways. This week it closed a $350 million deal to acquire MoPub, an ad network that serves ads within mobile apps.

Source: Reuters

Pakistan Taliban secretly bury leader, vow bombs in revenge

Pakistani Taliban fighters secretly buried their leader early on Saturday after he was killed by a U.S. drone aircraft and quickly moved to replace him while vowing a wave of suicide bombs in revenge.

The Pakistani government denounced the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud as a U.S. bid to derail planned peace talks and some politicians demanded that U.S. military supply lines into Afghanistan be blocked in response.

Mehsud, who had a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, and three others were killed on Friday in the militant stronghold of Miranshah in northwest Pakistan, Pakistani security officials and militants said.

Mehsud's vehicle was hit after he attended a meeting of Taliban leaders, a Pakistani Taliban fighter said, adding Mehsud's body was "damaged but recognisable". His bodyguard and driver were also killed.

He was secretly buried under cover of darkness in the early hours by a few companions amid fears that his funeral might be attacked by U.S. drones, militants and Pakistani security sources said.

Source: Reuters

China cites East Turkistan Islamic Movement terrorist threat

China said on Friday that the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) has been the most direct and real threat to the country's security.

"The ETIM has incited, organized and committed terrorist attacks of various forms in China over the years and spread the ideas of violence and terrorism. It has been the most direct and real threat to our security, and has damaged the security of other countries and regions," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying at a routine press briefing.

She was responding to a question regarding comments by China's top security chief Meng Jianzhu on Monday's terrorist attack in downtown Beijing.

Meng, chief of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, on Thursday briefed the Executive Committee of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) Regional Anti-Terrorism Agency on the attack.

He said many countries, including China, were currently under threat amid rising global terrorist activities and China was determined to fight against violence and terrorist crimes.

"The ETIM, based in South, Central and West Asia, is a terrorist group identified by the United Nations. It has connections with many other terrorist groups," Hua told journalists.

She said the SCO has prioritized cooperation in fighting the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism.

"The terrorist attack in Tian'anmen Square shows that terrorist forces were plotting in all sorts of ways to undermine development of SCO member countries," according to the spokeswoman.

She said China is ready to strengthen its efforts in combating terrorism, and safeguarding regional security and stability.

Police on Wednesday identified the crash in Tian'anman Square as a terrorist attack, in which three people in the vehicle and two tourists were killed and 38 others were injured.

According to Beijing police, the attack was "carefully planned, organized and premeditated." Five suspects in connection with the attack have been detained.

Les députés français approuvent la réalisation du Lyon-Turin

Le dossier brûlant de l’écotaxe s’invite dans tous les débats. En discutant, jeudi 31 octobre, de la ratification du traité international portant sur l’"Accord entre le gouvernement de la République italienne et le gouvernement de la République française pour la réalisation et l’exploitation d’une nouvelle ligne ferroviaire Lyon-Turin", signé à Rome le 30 janvier 2012, certains députés, hostiles au projet, n’ont pas manqué de brocarder la volte-face du gouvernement de Jean-Marc Ayrault sur l’écotaxe désormais suspendue.

Comment engager des milliards dans un chantier considérable – la Cour des comptes a estimé à quelque 26 milliards d’euros le coût total du percement d’un nouveau tunnel ferroviaire sous les Alpes et la construction de ses accès français et italiens –, et, dans le même temps, se priver du revenu de l’écotaxe prélevée sur la circulation routière des poids-lourds ?, s’interrogeaient ces députés. "La disparition de l’écotaxe est une double peine, a jugé François-Michel Lambert, élu (Europe Ecologie-Les Verts) des Bouches-du-Rhône. Elle a disparu alors qu’elle aurait permis de freiner ces transits inutiles, plutôt que de dépenser de l’argent dont on a bien besoin par ailleurs, dans un projet pharaonique."

Source: Le Monde

Authorities told to reveal birth control fines

China's National Health and Family Planning Commission has urged authorities in seven provincial-level regions to release data on birth control fines after they failed to respond to requests.

Family planning fines, or "social compensation fees," are paid to local family planning departments by parents who violate China's one-child policy. Fines can amount to tens of thousands of yuan for each extra child.

Suspecting some departments of misconduct in the management of such funds, a lawyer filed a petition for 31 provincial-level regions on the Chinese mainland to reveal the total amount of fines each received last year. Authorities in 19 regions failed to provide data.

Friday's announcement was made after the same lawyer appealed to the commission to launch an administrative reconsideration procedure on how to deal with the 19 regions.

The seven regions under pressure to release information on birth control fines include the provinces of Liaoning, Anhui, Jiangxi, Shandong, Hainan and Gansu as well as Chongqing municipality.

The commission said another seven provincial-level regions have already responded and cases concerning the remaining five are still being dealt with.

In September, the National Audit Office released its auditing results on fines collected in 45 counties and cities in nine provincial-level regions from the beginning of 2009 to May 2012.

The office revealed various problems in the handling of fines, including inaccurate reports relating to the number of extra children parents had, fees not successfully collected and local officials handing out higher fines than what they should have.

France. Assurance-vie : le scandale des contrats en déshérence

"Nous avons constaté, grâce à nos contrôles, des pratiques scandaleuses, dont je ne soupçonnais même pas qu'elles puissent exister malgré mon expérience", a récemment expliqué Jean-Marie Levaux devant les commissions des finances de l'Assemblée nationale et du Sénat, avant sa nomination comme vice-président de l'ACP (Autorité de contrôle prudentiel : le "gendarme" des assureurs, des mutuelles et des institutions de prévoyance).

Durant cette intervention, il a aussi confié que trois grands groupes ont été contrôlés. A la suite de ces contrôles, "l'ACP a adressé une lettre de rappel à l'ordre au premier (…). Pour les deux autres groupes, les irrégularités étant plus graves, une procédure de sanction a été engagée".

Il ne s'agit vraisemblablement pas de détails : "Ce que nous avons vu est vraiment scandaleux, en particulier la passivité de certains assureurs dans le traitement des dossiers, a poursuivi M. Levaux. Malgré la loi du 17 décembre 2007 permettant la recherche des bénéficiaires des contrats d'assurance sur la vie non réclamés et garantissant les droits des assurés, de très nombreux dossiers restent en attente."

Il en a profité pour dénoncer le seuil de 2 000 euros auquel des assureurs se réfèrent pour entamer des recherches de bénéficiaires, "alors que la loi du 26 juillet 2013 n'a pas retenu ce seuil".

Les assureurs ont désormais accès au fichier de l'Insee dans lequel figurent les personnes décédées et ils doivent régulièrement contrôler si leurs clients sont toujours de ce monde. Si ce n'est pas le cas, il leur faut alors rechercher les bénéficiaires désignés pour leur transmettre les capitaux qui leur reviennent.

Pour éviter une telle situation, rappelons qu'il existe deux possibilités pour les assurés. Soit ils peuvent choisir d'informer directement les bénéficiaires des dispositions prises à leur profit, afin que ces derniers puissent réclamer les sommes qui leur sont dues au décès de l'assuré. Soit, encore plus sûr : la clause bénéficiaire peut être rédigée dans le cadre d'un testament déposé chez un notaire et enregistré au fichier central des dispositions de dernières volontés. Ce fichier sera obligatoirement consulté lors de l'ouverture de la succession et l'existence du ou des contrats sera ainsi révélée aux héritiers.

Source: Le Monde

La Bourse de Bombay flambe grâce au retour des capitaux étrangers

Après une inquiétante période de fuite des capitaux étrangers, qui s'est traduite par de forts mouvements a la basse sur laroupie, les investisseurs semblent avoirrepris goût aux placements indiens : la Bourse de Bombay a atteint vendredi 1ernovembre en séance son plus haut niveau. L'indice Sensex progressait de 0,38 % vers 9 h 30, à 21 246,72 points, battant son précédent record de 21 206,77 points remontant au 10 janvier 2008.

Comme plusieurs autres économies émergentes en Asie, le marché indien a souffert au printemps et à l'été d'un refluxdes capitaux étrangers en raison de craintes d'un changement de politique monétaire de la Réserve fédérale américaine (Fed). L'Inde pâtit en outre de doutes sur son modèle de croissance, avecun ralentissement de la hausse de son produit intérieur brut et un déficit commercial élevé. L'impressionnante chute de la roupie, même si celle-ci était auparavant largement surévaluée, a aussi contribué à effrayer les investisseurs.

Ces derniers semblent avoir retrouvé le moral et l'appétit après la confirmation par la Fed de la poursuite de ses mesures au moins jusqu'à la fin de l'année, et la Bourse de Bombay a bénéficié d'un retour massif de capitaux. Cet afflux d'argent frais sur le marché des actions indien est estimé à 2,55 milliards de dollars (1,88 milliard d'euros) pour le mois d'octobre et 16,19 milliards depuis le début de l'année, selon des statistiques officielles.

L'arrivée à la tête de la Banque centrale indienne de Raghuram Rajan, ancien économiste en chef du Fonds monétaire international, a également redonné confiance aux investisseurs.

Fonte: Le Monde

Chinese land Reform in the Countryside (will continue)

  According to an article published on the Economist "urban land in China is owned by the state, and in the 1990s the state allowed a flourishing property market to develop in the cities. That went on to become a colossal engine of economic growth. But rural land, though no longer farmed collectively, as it was in Mao’s disastrous “people’s communes”, has stayed under collective ownership overseen by local party bosses. Farmers are not allowed to buy or sell the land they work or the homes they live in. That hobbles the rural economy, and the opportunities of the farmers who have migrated to the cities but live as second-class citizens there".
"On October 7th Mr Xi said the government was drawing up a “master plan” for not just more reform, but a “profound revolution”. Such talk is part of the preparations for a plenum of the Communist Party’s Central Committee which will begin on November 9th.
Mr Xi wants to be seen as a new strongman of similar calibre, one unafraid to take on big targets—as with his sweeping campaign against corruption—and willing to tear down the huge remaining barriers to China’s reincarnation as a market economy.
Although it will surely be discussed, land reform will not be the focus of the plenum: officials have indicated that, unusually, the party meeting is going to cover the whole spectrum of reform-related issues, rather than dwell on a single area.
What matters is unpicking the carefully crafted and coded pronouncements that ensue.
The policies for which this plenum will provide cover are going to reflect the party’s belief that China needs to change the way it is developing. From a investment and export led economy to
one driven by increasing productivity and  consumer spending.
  We have covered extensively in this blog several issues that must change in the economic front of the Chinese Economy, but one of the most important reforms is "the urgency of creating a rural property market, a reform that will change not just rural life, but city life, too".
 In January last year the government announced that the urban population had reached 51% (up from less than 18% in 1978), exceeding the rural one for the first time. But this is misleading. About 270m (nearly 40%) of those included in the urban population are resident in urban areas, but still retain their official “household registration”, or hukou, in the countryside.This shuts many people out of property markets; unable to sell in the country, they cannot buy in the city. It means they are not entitled to the full welfare benefits of urban hukou holders. In Beijing, and some other big cities, many are not allowed to buy houses or cars, supposedly to limit demand. Officials admit that there is something very wrong with this and say it is now time for a “new type of urbanisation”.
Dismantling hukou restrictions should allow farmers living in the city to trade in their rural property for a more secure foothold on the urban ladder. It could also provide a big chunk of the boost in consumption that Mr Xi and his colleagues want to engineer. Migrants from the countryside save far more of their income than do holders of urbanhukou. They are thus a huge potential source of spending. But for this potential to be realised, they need a way to sell up in the countryside.
Though now much criticised by Chinese economic reformers, Hu Jintao, Mr Xi’s predecessor, paved the way for some level of rural land reform. A plenum in 2008, also the third in a cycle, upheld the Maoist notion of collective ownership of rural land—but at the same time called for the “gradual” establishment of a “unified urban and rural market” for construction land, which includes land used for rural housing and factories. And the plenum declared that individual farmers’ rights to farmland, hitherto restrained by investment-inhibiting 30-year leases, could be extended indefinitely. Lawmakers have been arguing ever since over revisions to the all-important Land Administration Law that would put reforms into place.
Here is the most important issue and step for reform, "remarkably, in a country that embraces so many other aspects of capitalism, ideology still matters in the countryside. The notion of collective ownership of rural land is enshrined in the constitution and officials are loth even to hint that it might be changed. Some of them see it as a badge of the “socialism with Chinese characteristics” that the party says it upholds".

China’s first policy for shale gas signals financial support

China’s energy regulator, the National Energy Administration, unveiled the country’s first policy for the shale gas industry on its website on Wednesday. It promises to boost financial support for shale gas exploration and extraction.

According to a bulletin posted on the administration’s website, the shale gas industry policy aims to explore shale gas resources in a "reasonable and orderly" way, increase the supply of natural gas, cut emissions, and safeguard national energy security.

In the meantime, Chinese oil giant Sinopec has started to drill shale gas in commercial quantities at its wells in Southwest China. The start of production is expected to bring a breakthrough in the development of the new energy source. The US Energy Information Administration estimates that China holds more than one thousand trillion cubic feet of shale gas nearly double the size of US reserves.

Source: CNTV

China. Subanchor: Hukou system lags behind urbanization

And Ai Yang joins us now in the studio for more on this. Good evening.

Wang: How was this survey conducted and what other issues has it uncovered?

Ai: The results of the survey have just been released, by Tsinghua University’s "China Data Center", with around 12,000 people taking part. And interestingly, some of the figures differ from official statistics. One example is China’s actual rate of urbanization. The government says the rate rose from 22 to 53 percent in just two decades. While that’s correct, in the sense that more than half of the population is now living and working in cities, the Tsinghua report shows that only half of the people who moved to cities in that time have gained a hukou, or household registration. So China’s hukou system is now lagging far behind the mobility of the modern population. As we know, "Hukou-less" migrants don’t get equal social welfare, but an equally fundamental issue is that the government makes big decisions on allocating resources and urban planning, based on hukou information. So, in a word, the current system is not keeping pace with China’s economic development, and authorities are not seeing the real picture.

Wang: Populations seem to have exploded in bigger cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, at the forefront of this economic development. Just how serious is this problem right now and what solutions are being put forward?

Ai: Let’s look at Beijing. Last year there were 20 million permanent residents living in the capital, up 25 percent from just 7 years ago. But Beijing’s urban planners have been making decisions based on a figure of just 18 million, until at least 2020. There are even more permanent residents in Shanghai, some 23 million last year while permanent residents in Shenzhen and Guangzhou reached 10 million and 12 million respectively. But these places do enjoy some of the best resources in the country. For example, Beijing is home to some of the highest nationally ranked universities, as well as some of the best hospitals and doctors. That’s why people try so hard to live here even without a hukou. In comparison, second, third or even fourth tier cities seem a less attractive option, despite it being easier to obtain a hukou -- there are just fewer opportunities to thrive in those places. Many experts now say the key to solving these problems is to help smaller cities develop and become more attractive to make the urbanization more even and more balanced.

China: Land seizure subsidy and hukou system give weak support

Urbanization in China has been changing people's lives fast and on an extensive scale. A recent survey by Tsinghua University shows as much as 16 percent of the people polled nationwide had their land seized or homes demolished during the country's urbanization drive. The aim may be to enable more rural residents to enjoy urban perks, but how are they really adapting to their new environment?

Urbanization has taken away homes and lands in a bid to settle more rural residents into bigger cities, which in theory grants a better life. Researchers now estimate some 60 million Chinese households have had to make the move. But according to a Tsinghua university survey, compensations given to affected families are not enough to help them adapt to a different lifestyle.

"Farmers, especially older ones, who have their land seized and moved to urban areas usually have no other living skills other than farming. It’s not enough to just compensate them for the loss of land, but the next step for the government is to help them acquire skills for other employment, so they can have a sustainable new life pattern in cities. Work in this area has been done but it’s far from covering all the affected." Researcher from Renmin University’s National Academy of Development & Strategy Duan Chengrong said.

The survey indicates only 4 percent of those whose land was seized were given help in finding a job, while even less of those who had their homes demolished received such support. As substantial financial gains usually come with the commercial use of seized lands, some researchers suggest in future farmers should also reap some of the benefits from these revenues.

"The government’s next step is to ensure basic equal opportunities for the migrant population. The fundamental reason why so many people would rather work in bigger cities without hukou, than seek work in smaller cities that have a lower urban registration threshold, is that the opportunities in bigger cities are far greater and they can make much more money." Duan said.

Duan believes China’s urbanization has a vital influence on the country’s development strategy, and the focus now should better include smaller cities and rural areas."

Source:CCTV

FTSE DROPS 46 POINTS AS DATA COMES IN MIXED

The FTSE 100 fell 46 points by the close on Thursday as investors took stock of the Federal Reserve's policy decision and a raft of data released from across the globe.

The Federal Open Market Committee said it would keep its monthly $85bn bond buying programme unchanged, pointing to weaker economic growth that was hampered by the 16-day partial government shutdown earlier this month.

Many economists expect a reduction to quantitative easing will be held off until March 2014 but some interpreted the Fed's statement as a suggestion that this could come in December.

In other news, the UK Food Standards Agency today revealed that cans of beef imported from Romania have been withdrawn from two UK chains after they were found to contain horsemeat.

In other news, ministers have proposed plans to enable commuters who suffer repeat train delays could be sold cheaper train tickets in the future.

House prices climb at fastest rate in three years

UK house prices rose at the fastest annual pace in more than three years in October, according to data from Nationwide on Thursday.

House prices climbed 5.8% year-on-year, compared to a 5% increase in September, marking the biggest annual rise since July 2010. Economists had predicted a 5.1% jump.

Nationwide Chief Economist Robert Gardner said prices were boosted by government schemes including 'Help to Buy' and 'Funding for Lending', which have improved the availability and lowered the cost of credit.

Data offers a mixed picture

Initial US jobless claims for the week ended October 25th declined to 340,000 compared to 350,000 a week earlier, according to the Labor Department. However, it missed the consensus forecast for 338,000 claims.

"While claims data have been noisy for the past two months, we expect that they will resume their gradual downward trend in the coming weeks," according to Barclays.

A separate report showed consumer confidence in the world's biggest economy fell for a fifth straight week. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index declined in the period ended October 27th to minus 37.6, the weakest reading since October 2012, from minus 36.1.

In the Eurozone, inflation dropped unexpectedly and unemployment held at a record high.

The consumer price index dropped to 0.7% in October from 1.1% in September, according to a flash estimate from the European Union's statistics office. It missed analysts' estimates for inflation to remain unchanged.

The unemployment rate came in at 12.2% last month, in line with August, falling short of the forecast for the rate to fall to 12%.

"The latest Eurozone inflation and unemployment figures will increase pressure on the ECB to take further action to support the economy," said Capital Economics.

Meanwhile, market research institute GfK's consumer confidence index for Germany fell unexpectedly to 7.0 in November from 7.1 in October. Economists had predicted a reading of 7.2.

Croda disappoints with currencies and manufacturing sales

The losses on the FTSE 100 were led by Croda International, which plunged after warning on subdued underlying market conditions, the "significant devaluation of the Japanese yen and Indian rupee", and near-double-digit declines in "relatively low" margin but high volume commodity and toll manufacturing sales. Overall, turnover for the first half rose 4.4%, although underlying sales climbed just 0.8%.

Earnings declined more than expected at Royal Dutch Shell due to weaker refinery conditions, higher costs and lower volumes, pushing the stock firmly lower. Chief Executive Officer Peter Voser said headwinds that continued to "erode the near term outlook" included weak industry refining margins and security issues in Nigeria but pointed to a strong flow of new projects and said Shell would increase the pace of asset sales.

Investec stuck to its 'sell' rating on Antofagasta's shares, pushing them firmly into the red, after the mining group's quarterly production report. Antofagasta reported a drop in gold and copper production in its third quarter reflecting lower grades at its mining operations.

Leading the risers was BG Group, after it predicted that production would recover in the fourth quarter, helped by the completion of its North Sea maintenance shutdowns and new projects coming on stream, particularly the Jasmine field in the North Sea.

Telecomms heavyweight BT today reported a 13% decline in half-year pre-tax profits to £948m, but said the recently introduced BT Sport package had made a 'confident start'. Shares in the group floated higher, encouraged by a 13% jump in the interim dividend to 3.4p and a reaffirmation of the full-year outlook.


Source: LiveCharts

Vodafone Shares Gain as a Report fuels AT&T takeover speculation

Shares in Vodafone were lifted by growing speculation that US giant AT&T was plotting a takeover of the UK mobile company. 

Executives at AT&T were putting together plans for a possible takeover of the company next year, reported Bloomberg citing people familiar with the situation. 

The report said the two companies hadn't started formal discussions yet but AT&T was looking at which Vodafone assets it would keep hold of after a deal as well as a strategy for Vodafone's business in Europe. 

AT&T has made little secret of its interest in expanding in Europe and Vodafone has been seen as its most likely target should it pounce on a European operator. 

Chief Executive Randall Stephenson was quoted last month as saying there was "huge opportunity" to upgrade European networks. 

Source: LiveCharts

China Construction Bank buys Brazil's BIC

China Construction Bank, one of China's big four lenders, said Friday that it had entered into a share purchase and sale agreement with Brazil's bank BIC to acquire BIC's controlling stake for 1.6 billion Brazilian Reais (720 million U.S. dollars).

In a statement filed to the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges, China Construction Bank said it had agreed to buy 157.4 million ordinary shares and 24.7 million preferred shares issued by BIC, by which it would hold 72 percent of BIC's total shares upon completion of the transaction.

China Construction Bank didn't disclose the purchasing price of BIC's single share. But BIC, in its statement, said CCB bought the shares at 8.9017 Brazilian Reais each, compared with BIC's close price of 7.5 Reais on Thursday.

The transaction is subject to approvals from the China Banking Regulatory Commission, Banco Central do Brasil (Brazil's central bank) and other regulatory authorities in China and other jurisdictions.

Founded in 1938, BIC has focused on providing loan services to medium-sized companies. It has 38 service outlets in Brazil and one branch in the Cayman Islands. Its network covers 33 major cities in 19 provinces in Brazil with a total of about 900 employees. BIC has been listed on the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange since 2007.

China Construction Bank said Brazil has been one of its target markets, and it has been actively seeking opportunities for entrance.

The acquisition would mark a significant step in the globalization strategy of China Construction Bank, facilitating future expansion of the bank's networks in Latin America, it said.

Source: Xinhua

China says U.S. denies plan with Japan over disputed islands

The United States has clarified reports about a U.S.-Japan joint military plan relating to disputed islands in the East China Sea, said a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman on Friday.

Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing, "China has noticed relevant reports, and the U.S. side has given clarification to the Chinese side and said the Japanese reports were not in line with the fact."

Nikkei News reported on Oct. 25 that Japan and the United States had drawn up a plan to jointly "recapture" the Diaoyu Islands if they were taken away.

The Diaoyu Islands, called the Senkaku Islands by Japan, have been Chinese territory but were covertly taken by Japan after the 1894-1895 Sino-Japanese War.

The Japanese government's plan in September 2012 to "purchase" part of the islands from private owners and "nationalize" them sparked fierce opposition from China and deteriorated Sino-Japanese relations.

Source: Xinhua

China: Carrier rocket sent to launch base for unmanned moon landing mission

A Long March-3B carrier rocket is being transported towards the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China, after left Beijing Sunday morning, to prepare for the upcoming launch of Chang'e-3 moon probe.

The carrier rocket left the capital aboard a train and is scheduled to reach the launch center on Nov. 1, said a statement from the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

Compared with the carrier rocket of Chang'e-2 moon probe, this one has been equipped with a number of new technologies and its reliability has been further improved, the statement said.

All tests on the Chang'e-3 moon probe, which has been in Xichang since Sept. 12, are going on smoothly, the statement added.

The Chang'e-3 moon probe is designed to carry China's first moon rover and soft-land on the moon. Its launch is scheduled at the end of this year.

It is part of the second stage of China's three-stage lunar probe program, orbiting, landing, and analyzing lunar soil and stone samples.

Source: Xinhua

China launches remote-sensing satellite

The Yaogan XVIII remote-sensing satellite was successfully launched on Tuesday from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province, according to a press release from the center.

The satellite was launched at 10:50 a.m. on the back of a Long March 2C carrier rocket, according to the center.

The satellite will be used to conduct scientific experiments, carry out land surveys, monitor crop yields and aid in preventing and reducing natural disasters.

The launch marked the 183th mission for the Long March rocket family.

Source: Xinhua

Asian Shares Split after Mixed Data

  According to a report from the Wall Street Journal,the Nikkei 225 index fell 0.9% amid a firmer yen. The Japanese currency, which briefly broke the 97 handle in Asian trade, was last trading around ¥98.09 to the dollar versus ¥98.36 late Thursday in New York.

South Korea was a bright spot in the region after the country reported a stronger-than-expected 7.3% rise in exports last month. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal on average expected a 4.5% rise. Imports rose 5.1%, also more than expected.

Investors have flocked to South Korean stocks since late summer, attracted by the country's strong finances and stable currency. The benchmark Kospi index rose 0.5% Friday, the biggest gainer in Asian trade.

Stocks in Hong Kong and China registered modest gains despite concerns surrounding China's factory sector last month.

"Although the PMI rose in October for the fourth consecutive month, the momentum driving the increase is unbalanced," said Zhao Qinghe, a spokesman for China's National Bureau of Statistics.

China securitization plan expanded to include foreign banks

 Chinese regulators have expanded a pilot plan allowingbanks to package loans into tradable securities to include foreign banks, sources said.

Chinese policymakers see securitization as a tool to shift risk away from the banking system to reduce the chances of a financial crisis as economic growth slows and bad loans rise.

Securitization would also help satisfy voracious investor demand for alternatives to the chronically weak stock market and frothy property sector.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told a cabinet meeting in late August that China would aggressively expand the securitization of credit assets.

The central bank launched a pilot program in 2005 to allow banks to package loans into bond-like securities known as collateralized loan obligations (CLO).

Authorities have moved slowly on the pilot program though partly in the knowledge that the collapse of collateralized debt, backed by U.S. mortgages, triggered the global financial crisis.

The CLO products available in China make up a tiny fraction of the overall loans market and the involvement of foreign banks will not change that ratio since they hold less than 2 percent of bank assets.

The pilot expansion will be limited to small-scale deals, two sources with direct knowledge of the plan said. Recent deals by domestic banks have ranged from 1-to-10 billion yuan ($164 million to $1.64 billion).

About 90 billion yuan ($14.8 billion) of CLO products have been issued in China's interbank market since 2005, according to Reuters calculations based on central bank statements.

That is a tiny fraction of the 70 trillion yuan in local currency loans outstanding at the end of September.

Securitization deals were halted during the financial crisis. The pilot resumed in 2011.

Under the expansion, regulators have asked foreign banks to submit preliminary plans for securitization, the sources said. Once they have received feedback on the preliminary plans, the banks can formally apply for permission to execute the deals.

Source: Reuters