China top domain name land grab about to start with 中国

'中国' domain ready to roll as part of ICANN's non-ASCII plan 

 

Domain names ending with .中国 – the Chinese characters for China – will become available in mid-October and China is gearing up for the rush of expected applications.

The addition of the .中国 top level domain is a result of ICANN's decision to add top level domains that don't use Latin script. When announced last January ICANN argued doing so was simply a fair thing to do.

China has since outlined how the process will work, for two groups of potential users.

One of those groups, owners of .cn domains, have been granted a “privileged upgrade” period from October 15th to October 23rd. Owners of .cn domains can use that period to apply for the addition of a .中国 domain.

Trademark-holders of names using Chinese characters are the other group, and have until October 14th to file proof of trademark ownership with the China Internet Network Information Centre (CINIC) in order to claim domain names in Chinese characters.

The new domain names are bound to attract attention around the world, thanks to China's colossal real-world and online populations. The latter, the Chinese Social Sciences Academic Press reports, according to a Xinhua report, is expected to reach 800 million in 2015. China also claims 415 million instant messaging users, plus the world's largest population of micro-blog users. The latter claim is, however, a little rubbery as China claims 274 million micro-bloggers. Twitter is reputed to have more.

Whatever the true numbers, the arrival of the .中国 top level domain is surely a signal that the English language's dominance of the internet is unlikely to persist. There's no need, however, to figure out just how to coax the characters '中国' out of your keyboard, as addresses typed in the Latin alphabet will continue to reach sites using both .cn and .中国 addresses.

By Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor
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Malaysia's property market steady, demand not affected by global factors

KUALA LUMPUR: The property market may be affected by the global economic factors but local demand has not been dampened, according to some property developers.

Low Yat Group sales and marketing executive Sean Saw said there was interest among Malaysians especially the younger adults to purchase property although the economy may be holding some of them back.

“I gather that even though the property sector may be quieter due to external factors, but there are still transactions. Newly launched projects continue to be sold out, surprisingly,” he said after a briefing for exhibitors at the Star Property Fair 2012.

He added that the market for sub-sale may be slower but the overall market was expected to be back in full swing next year.

Saw said the fair would be a great avenue to raise awareness among homebuyers about Low Yat's high-end projects, especially its Tribeca serviced apartments to be launched this quarter.

LBS Bina Group Bhd's managing director Datuk Lim Hock San also concurred noted that despite the economic uncertainty, there was still demand in the local property market especially the affordable homes.

“This can be seen in our recently launched Royal Ivory double-storey double storey cluster link semi-detached development where over 300 units were fully sold in three months,” he said.

LBS which is participating again in the Star Property Fair after a hiatus last year said that it was back with exciting projects.

Senior public relations executive Cleosun Ng said after the first exhibitors' briefing: “It has been an exciting year for us. We have many projects to share with the homebuyers and this fair is the right platform for us.”

She added that the fair would serve as a branding channel for LBS to convey its lifestyle living range of products to the homebuyers.

Bukit Gambang Resort City developer Sentoria Group Bhd would also be exhibiting, promoting its investment development within the Bukit Gambang resort city that include commercial and residential projects.

Sales and marketing senior executive Cony Tan said that the fair would be a great ground for Sentoria to get more exposure and reach new customer as it used to only reach out to existing customers through its buyer-get-buyer scheme.

Bucking the trend: Exhibitors attending the briefing. Some property developers say newly launched projects continue to be sold out.

 

“All the while we invite existing customers to our events but since launching our villas, we are trying to market our products through different channels,” she said, adding that Sentoria has started participating in roadshows and exhibitions in the second half of the year.

“The customers who walk in to (the Star Property Fair) would be very potential buyers. There are good chances of growing our customer database and getting feedback on our products,” she said of what to expect at the fair.

The Star Property Fair, in its fourth year rolling, would be held from Nov 30 to Dec 2 at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

By LIZ LEE lizlee@thestar.com.my

34,000 more out of work in Eurozone

BRUSSELS: Unemployment in the eurozone remained at record highs in August and the number of people out of work climbed again, highlighting the human cost of the bloc's three-year debt crisis.

Joblessness in the 17 countries sharing the euro was 11.4% of the working population in August, which was stable compared with July on a statistical basis, but another 34,000 people were out of work in the month, the EU's statistics office Eurostat said yesterday.

That left 18.2 million people unemployed in the eurozone, the highest level since the euro's inception in 1999, while 25.5 million people were out of a job in the wider 27-nation European Union, Eurostat said.

The debt crisis that began in Greece in 2010 and has spread across the eurozone to engulf Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus and the much bigger economy of Spain has devastated business confidence and sapped companies' abilities to create jobs.

A European-wide drive to cut debts and deficits to try to win back that lost confidence has led governments to cut back spending and lay off staff, while stubbornly high inflation and limited bank credit are adding to household's problems.

Joblessness could go beyond 19 million by early 2014, or about 12% of the eurozone's workforce, according to a new study by consultancy Ernst & Young, predicting that rate to rise to 27% in indebted Greece. That compares with 24.4% in the country in June, the latest data available.

“In this difficult environment, companies are likely to reduce employment further in order to preserve productivity and profitability,” the report said.

Eurozone manufacturing put in its worst performance in the three months to September since the depths of the 2008/2009 financial crisis, with factories hit by falling demand despite cutting prices, a survey showed yesterday.

The International Monetary Fund expects the eurozone's economy to shrink 0.3% this year and only a weak recovery to emerge next year that will generate 0.7% growth.

But the joblessness picture also obscures wide regional variations. In Austria, unemployment is the eurozone's lowest at 4.5% in August, a slight fall from July, while Spain has the highest rate at 25.1% in the month.

While a bursting of a real estate bubble in Spain and the end of a decade of credit-fuelled expansion in Greece account for difficulties in the Mediterranean, policymakers still face the challenge of trying to revive growth across the bloc.

“The recession in the eurozone is due to the tough consolidation course in the peripheral countries, weaker global demand and the high uncertainty coming from the sovereign debt crisis,” Commerzbank economist Christoph Weil wrote in a recent research note.

Eurozone and UK central bankers will likely leave policy unchanged at their meetings this week, but both will announce additional measures to help their moribund economies before the year's end, according to a poll. - Reuters