Jenny Segerstedt learned about the downside of Sweden’s soaring real-estate market the hard way. The 39-year-old teacher, who needed to move this year after a divorce, lost out on one property after a bidding war sent the price to 2.2 million kronor ($342,000), 70 percent above the starting bid. She eventually found a 63-square meter (678 square-foot) apartment in a 1950s building in the western Stockholm suburb of Vaellingby for 1.7 million kronor.
Updated 6 Years ago

It was another rewarding day for Asia’s richest man, Li Ka-shing. The billionaire controls Hutchison Whampoa, a conglomerate with businesses in telecoms, retail, energy, and ports that is the biggest group in the Li empire, which also includes the city’s top power company and one of its largest property developers.
Updated 6 Years ago

Aliko Dangote, president, Dangote Group, has been appointed to co-chair the next year’s annual meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos-Kloster, Switzerland. The executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, in a letter inviting the business mogul to co-chair the sitting, said the Forum was of the belief that Dangote’s participation at the helm will contribute significantly to the substance of the discussions.
Updated 6 Years ago

A white diamond the size of a small egg has sold for $30.6 million at an auction in Hong Kong, smashing the world record for a jewel of its kind. The flawless, 118-carat oval diamond was sold to an unidentified Asian collector, whose winning bid came at the lower end of the $28 million to $35 million estimate set by auction giant Sotheby's. It was the largest diamond ever sold at auction.
Updated 6 Years ago

There is a certain internet meme that properly, tersely, and fully explains the existence of the Cadillac Escalade. With vulgar charm, it addresses the critical and common question of “Why would someone want an expensive Yukon/Tahoe/Suburban?” (In fact, it’s a solid—if crass—response to any “why” question.) But we can’t reproduce that meme here. It’s just not a family friendly line, and the Escalade is, at its core, a family vehicle. Really. Every year, tens of thousands of people buy Cadillac’s massive three-row SUV, and these buyers are on average younger, wealthier, and better educated than buyers of any other Cadillac model. These are demographics that any car company would be desperate to keep, and so with GM rolling out new versions of all of its full-sized trucks this year, it’s only rational that Cadillac would have a new iteration of the lovably irrational Escalade.
Updated 6 Years ago

The Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) in Ikot Abasi Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom says it is losing 1.6 million dollars monthly due to high cost of production. Mrs Tatyana Smirnova, its Director of Public/Government Relation, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Ikot Abasi.
Updated 6 Years ago

The proposed Centenary Village, an ultra-modern city within the FCT to mark the 100 years of the Nigerian nationhood, will cost N3.2 trillion, retired Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar said on Monday. Abubakar, who is Chairman of the Board of Centenary Village Plc, disclosed this while presenting a report to President Goodluck Jonathan at the State House in Abuja.
Updated 6 Years ago

Singapore's prime minister openly criticized the United States over the government shutdown and ongoing deadlock over the debt ceiling, calling them "problems you have created for yourself in a game of chicken." In an interview with CNN's Patricia Wu on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Americans "are unable to get their act together," and that Washington's behavior sends a "negative signal which will last much longer that the shutdown."
Updated 6 Years ago

Passengers were, yesterday, dazed at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, MMA2 and the General Aviation Terminal, GAT, Terminal 1 as airline operators increased airfares astronomically. Vanguard gathered at the terminal that there was a sharp increase in fares. For instance a 55-minutes flight to Abuja attracted between N22, 000 and N26, 000 in the economy class depending on how early a prospective passenger bought the ticket.
Updated 6 Years ago

As the Government shutdown in the US enters its second week, the country is just 10-days away from default, and the country’s main creditor China has urged Washington to take decisive steps to avoid bankruptcy and ensure safety of Chinese investments. China, the US government's largest foreign creditor, is "naturally concerned about developments in the US fiscal cliff", as Reuters quoted Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao giving the Chinese government's first public response to the Oct 17 US deadline for raising the debt ceiling.
Updated 6 Years ago