March 2006 Edition
PORTS
Shanghai, China's commercial capital, has surpassed Singapore as the world's top cargo port, a result of the country's fast-expanding trade in goods. Total cargo handled rose 17 per cent to 443 million tonnes in 2005, some 21 million tonnes more than Singapore. However, China's largest metropolis ranked third as a container port behind leaders Hong Kong and Singapore.
EXPANSION
Home Depot is planning to curtail retail store openings by nearly half over the next five years and rely more heavily on sales to commercial and industrial customers. It expects to open 80 to 100 stores a year and will continue experimenting with smaller stores in rural and urban areas. To compensate for slower retail growth it is hoping it can quickly capture a large share of the US$410-billion professional supply and maintenance industry.
MUSIC
The market for digital music downloads via the Internet and mobile phones nearly tripled in 2005, accounting for six per cent of total record industry sales. The value of digital music downloads rose to US$1.1-billion last year, up from $380-million in 2004 as music fans downloaded 420 million single digital tracks, twenty times the number legally downloaded two year ago.
HELP WANTED
Thirty-five per cent of respondents in a recent U.S. survey of various retail categories surveyed said they plan to shop for a new job in 2006. Compensation continues to top the list of retail workers concerns with more than half saying they did not receive a raise last year and 84 per cent reported not receiving a bonus. The number who are dissatisfied with their pay increased to 60 per cent, up from 54 per cent a year previously.
PCs
Global shipments of personal computers rose 15.3 per cent in 2005. Worldwide sales of Pcs rose to 219 million units from 189 million in 2004. Shipments in Europe, the Middle East and Africa rose 17 per cent to 72 million units overtaking the U.S. which rose 7.5 per cent to 67 million units. The fastest growth in 2005 was Asia Pacific and Latin America where unit sales increased 26 per cent to 43 million and 15 million respectively.
MAGLEV
A Tokyo company has announced that the first elevators controlled by magnetic levitation will be in operation as early as 2008. Using no cables, they will employ so-called maglev technology, capable of suspending objects in midair through the combination of magnetic attraction and repulsion to control the elevators. The maglev elevators will be quieter and more comfortable and will travel at 300 metre per minute, not as fast as conventional elevators which can move up to 1010 metres a minute. This technology has already been used to develop high-speed trains
CONGESTION
The crowded skies will get more crowded this year over the U.S. with the appearance of small, speedy, cheap jets that the big airlines worry will cause traffic jams around major airports. Called "microjets" or very light jets (VLJs), they have two engines and seating capacity for five or six people. They cost half as much as the most inexpensive business jet now in service. Three thousand of the little jets are already on order.
MINING
British Coumbia has seen the province's mining industry receive the biggest investment in exploration in a decade. Investment rose last year to C$220-million, up from $29-million just four years ago. High commodity prices have contributed to this increase as have changes to government policies and tax changes. Mining provides about 25,000 jobs in the province but the industry will still need more skilled workers.
CHAMPAGNE
Worldwide shipments of champagne topped 300 million bottles in 2004, an increase of two per cent over the previous year. Britain imports more champagne than any other country.
NAFTA
Surface trade between the U.S. and its NAFTA partners, Canada and Mexico totalled US$64-billion last October, the highest monthly level ever recorded. From that record, trucks hauled 63 per cent of US imports and 79 per cent of exports. The $42-billion surface trade with Canada and $22-billion with Mexico were monthly records also. Trucks carried 53 per cent of imports from Canada and 82 per cent from Mexico. Michigan led all states in surface trade with Canada with $6.5-billion while Texas' surface trade with Mexico was $7.2-billion in October.
PROFIT
The Shakespeare Globe Theatre in London has turned conventional thinking about arts subsidies on its head when it disclosed recently that it had made a pre-tax profit of around $3-million every year since it opened a decade ago. The replica of an Elizabethan theatre was expected to be a loss-maker and at best a small tourist attraction when it opened.
INVENTIONS
In 1944, Silly Putty was a failed attempt to make a synthetic rubber for soldiers boots and airplane tires. It found fame and fortune when someone thought to package it in plastic eggs and sell it as a toy in 1949.
HEALTH
A new report suggests that changes in western diets and farming methods over the last 50 years have played a major role in significant rises in mental health problems. Researchers say less nutritious and imbalanced diets have led to growing rates of depression, schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity and Alzheimer's. Pesticides have altered the body fat composition of animals farmed for meat resulting in a large reduction of key nutrients such as essential fats, vitamins and minerals being consumed by large parts of the population.
CUBA
China became Cuba's second-largest trading partner after Venezuela in 2005, but Chinese companies worry about collecting payment for their increasing sales of durable goods to the Island. China's growing influence on the Cuban economy is evident on the streets and in the shops where Chinese goods such as toys, clothes and sports equipment have replaced imports from other countries. China is selling Cuba television sets, electric cookers, rice steamers and light bulbs as well as buses and locomotives. Chinese exports to Cuba in the first 10 months of 2005 grew 95 per cent to over US$500-billion to move from fourth place to second, displacing Spain and Canada.
DOOMSDAY
Norway is planning to build a "doomsday vault" inside a mountain on an Arctic island to hold a seed bank of all known varieties of the world's crops. Located on Spitsbergen, it will be designed to withstand global catastrophes like nuclear war or natural disasters. that would destroy the planet's sources of food. There are currently about 1,400 seed banks around the world, but a large number are in countries that are either politically unstable or face threats from the natural environment.
TRENDS
Major U.S airlines, in search of greater efficiency, are adopting new ways of getting passengers to board their flights. For instance, United Airlines boards its window passengers first followed by those in the middle and aisle seats. Its boarding is now four to five minutes faster, saving about US$1-million annually the company claims.
SEARCHING
Top technology minds in laboratories across France and Germany are working on what they hope will be the world's most advanced multimedia search engine, with tools for translating, identifying and indexing images, sound and text. Quaero, which means "to search" in Latin, is billed as Europe's answer to Google. The technology would work with desktops, mobile devices and even televisions.
TASTE
Canadians now spend more money on green, herbal and flavoured teas than they do on the traditional black tea. Last year, sales of green tea jumped 37 per cent on top of a 31 per cent increase the year previously. It's a trend that is transforming Canada's tea business. Six years ago, black tea commanded 60 per cent of tea sales. 77 per cent of Canadians consume an average of 0.59 kilograms of tea annually ranking 25th in world among tea drinking countries. Ireland is first, followed by Britain.
COMMODITIES
Experts forecast that 2006 will not be the year when India becomes the next big driver of commodities, pushing prices even higher. India's economy is still focused primarily on services rather than commodity-intensive manufacturing that isu driving China's boom. India makes up only two per cent of the world's demand for copper, aluminum and nickel. By comparison, China consumes about 22 per cent of the world's copper, 23 per cent of its aluminum and 16 per cent of its nickel.
THEME PARKS
Attendance at North America's 50 most popular amusement parks rose 4.2 per cent in 2005, powered by strong investment in new rides, the 50th anniversary of Disneyland and a hurricane season that by-passed the theme park capital of Orlando, Florida. An estimated 176-million visitors went to North America's most popular parks. Worldwide, amusement park attendance increased 2.2 per cent to 253-million visitors in 2005.
SPACE
A survey of prime office space shows that London is well out in front at a hefty US$141.72 per square foot. Now York is $44.85, Paris $72.06 and Tokyo $111.45. Britain's commercial real estate sector is booming so much that more than $100-million in property changed hands in 2005.
CAMERAS
Britain is to become the first country in the world where the movements of all vehicles on the roads are recorded. A new national surveillance system will hold the records for at least two years. The network will incorporate thousands of existing CCTV cameras which are being converted to read number plates automatically night and day and provide 24\7 coverage of all motorways and main roads as well as towns, cities, ports and gas-stations. Thirty-five million plates will be read each day.
HAPPINESS
In a "life satisfaction index" of 100,000 people in 90 countries, Canadians (69 per cent satisfied) were tied for eighth place, with Finland and Ghana. The happiest place was Malta (74 per cent happy). The U.S. ranked 13th on the list and Britain 21st.
BROADWAY
A string of high-performing musicals and plays helped Broadway to a record year. Ticket sales were US$825-million in 2005, up from $749-million the previous year. Although ticket prices did rise in 2005, an extra 650,000 visited Broadway theatres in 2005. Prices were as high as US$110 for the best seats.
HOURS
Today, the average American puts in 36 hours more than the Japanese (1,825 versus 1,789). The hardest workers are the South Koreans with 2,394 hours a year, followed by the Greeks, Poles, Turks and Czechs. The land of leisure is Norway whose average worker spends just 1,364 on the job.
WASTE
According to the Bumper Book of Government Waste the UK government spent half a million dollars last year on a scheme to advise the elderly how to wear slippers in case they tripped downstairs.
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