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December 2, 2013 April 19, 2013
Closing Iceland reveals controversial mortgage cuts Macau govt cuts public housing supply The Icelandic government said Saturday it would write up to 24,000 euros off the mortgage of every household, making good on an election campaign promise despite international warnings over the plan. The cost of the measure is estimated to reach 150 billion krona (US $1.2 billion) over four years, the government said in a statement. It would be funded by taxes on banks and funds managing assets of banks that went bust during the 2008 financial crisis, added the government. The Progressive Party won lateApril elections, after promising to offer household debt relief.
About 5,600 public housing units will be ready in the coming years, Wong Chan Tong, head of the cabinet of Secretary for Transport and Public Works, told media on Saturday. That figure is lower than the 6,300 units promised by Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On in November 2011. The cut is mainly due to a decision to build more two-bedroom flats – for which demand is higher – instead of one-bedroom units, said Mr Wong. Eighty percent of the units in the pipeline will be in Ilha Verde and Fai Chi Kei, he added.
Ukrainians protest after EU trade snub Tens of thousands defied a protest ban to join Kiev march
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Online sales soar in Black Friday frenzy US stores eked out slim gain in weakest holiday sales since 2009 Sylvie Lanteaume
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nline United States shopping for Black Friday deals soared to US$3 billion during a two-day period beginning Thursday, with tablets and cell phones as top must-have items, estimates showed Saturday. Online pur chase s reache d US$1.93 billion on Friday itself, the unofficial start of the retail sector’s holiday season. That marked a 39 percent increase over 2012, according to software maker Adobe, which analysed 400 million visits on some 2,000 American shopping websites. Holiday shopping traditionally accounts for 20 to 40 percent of an individual retailer’s annual sales, according to the National Retail Federation. Early online Black Friday sales, which began on Thursday, the United States Thanksgiving holiday, reached US$1.06 billion, up 18 percent from last year, according to Adobe. Technology giant IBM also reported increased numbers in overall online sales as it looked at 800 merchant websites.
IBM said Internet sales jumped 19.7 percent over last year on Thanksgiving and 19 percent on Black Friday, with orders averaging US$135.27, a 2.2 percent increase compared to last year. Online shoppers may have been wise to avoid stores, with reports of fistfights, a stabbing and a shooting as people elbowed their way through crowded shopping floors to snatch heavily discounted items. Purchases of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices accounted for 24.2 percent of online sales, according to Adobe. Tablets represented 15.6 percent of online sales while smartphones representing 8.6 percent. IBM also found that mobile devices accounted for 21.8 percent of sales. According to Adobe, of the US$3 billion in total online sales over the two days, US$417 million was done on iPads and US$126 million was done on iPhones, while Android phones were used to buy US$106 million in purchases and Android tablets accounted for US$42 million. According to initial estimates of
in-store sales released Saturday by retail research group ShopperTrak, Americans spent US$12.3 billion during shopping over the two-day period, a 2.3 percent increase from the same timeframe in 2012. According to the firm, stores that opened on Thursday – a new trend transforming the sacrosanct Thanksgiving holiday – attracted more people than last year. Traffic in brickand-mortar shops on Black Friday, however, fell 11.4 percent, with retail sales decreasing by 13.2 percent. “The Black Friday shopping experience is changing with more shoppers choosing to go out on Thanksgiving Day,” said Bill Martin, ShopperTrak founder. “Consumers increasingly research products online before entering stores. When they arrive, customers know exactly what they want to buy,” he said. This season’s holiday shopping season is a full six days and one shopping weekend shorter than last year’s due to the late Thanksgiving season. AFP
ens of thousands of Ukrainians defied a ban on protests yesterday by marching through central Kiev in support of early elections meant to punish president Viktor Yanukovych for rejecting a key European Union pact. The flag-waving demonstators gathered in a park before moving toward Kiev’s Independence Square, in defiance of a court order banning rallies in the city centre, AFP correspondents said. The Kiev city administration said in an e-mailed statement that it wanted to ban protests in some downtown squares and areas near government buildings because it “wants to decorate everything for New Year and Christmas.” About 40 people were injured when Ukrainian police began breaking up a rally on Independence Square after midnight Saturday. People took to the streets to protest Mr Yanukovych’s decision to reject a possible Association Agreement with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Russia. Russia may be offering US$15 billion in loans, debt restructuring and asset purchases to persuade Ukraine’s leadership not to proceed with the European Union deal, weekly magazine Zerkalo Nedeli reported. Mr Yanukovych said in an address to the nation that he “condemned the violence and demanded the prosecutor general to investigate the case and punish people responsible for it.” Arseniy Yatsenyuk, an opposition lawmaker, said at a press conference that seven protesters were hospitalised. Opposition groups agreed to create a national resistance headquarters and prepare for a nationwide strike, he said. Bloomberg News/AFP