What’s more, the report from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development represents the Chinese government’s first ever target for the construction of green buildings.

The news is hardly surprising given that the construction sector in China is expected to account for more than 30 percent of all social energy consumption by 2020, which will make it one of the country’s largest polluters. Recent studies have shown that between 2011 and 2015 energy efficient buildings in China have the potential to save energy from around 45 million tons of burnt coal.

The government intends to implement its plans through a range of incentives and subsidies outlined by a specific green grading system. Those at the top of the grade will receive subsidies of equivalent to $12 per square metre, while those in the second tier will receive around $7 per square metre.

The government will also boost the number of green buildings by ensuring that all new low-income housing and public welfare projects apply to these same green standards by 2014.

According to Wang Youwei, the deputy head of the China Association of Building Energy Efficiency, the potential for green construction in China is huge with energy-efficient buildings accounting for less than 40 million square metres at present.

In addition to being the world’s largest producer of renewable energy China could also become its largest creator of green buildings. The country is now a world leader in a number of fast growing technologies of which green buildings is just one. China’s tallest building, the Shanghai Centre already leads the way boasting a 3 Star Green Building Rating.

Watch this space for more information on China and its green building developments, or alternatively head down to MIPIM 2013, March 12-15 at the Palais des Festivals, Cannes. Here at EAS we can promise you the best hotel rooms, the most sought-after rented apartments and even the odd luxury yacht or two. With our expert knowledge we’ll make sure your stay will be one you don’t forget. Click on this link to fill in our request form.

In addition the country’s HSPA connections, which now stand at 10 million, are expected to increase by 900 percent over the next two years to more than 100 million connections. This will leapfrog the country ahead of China, Japan and the US to make it the largest HSPA market in the world.

This sudden explosion of mobile growth has been led by the country’s affluent city communities, which added 85 million connections alone in 2011. According to the GSMA’s Wireless Intelligence Service mobile penetration in India’s urban areas now stands at 161 percent, having risen 20 percent last year. Today the country is also the third largest Internet subscriber base in the world with more than 100 million users and has the second largest Facebook subscriber base with 43 million profiles.

However despite this huge increase in mobile activity smartphones and dongles still remain out of reach of many ordinary Indians with average price tags of $500 and $200, four times and twice the country’s average monthly per capita GDP. As the number of LTE networks increase worldwide and more devices become available prices will come down boosting India’s mobile penetration yet further, especially in the heavily populated rural areas.

The potential for extra business in India over the short and long term for mobile operators and telecommunications companies is staggering and will only increase as the country’s development moves forward. For all the latest information on the state of the Sub-Continent’s mobile sector head down to the Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona. For all your accommodation needs in the city look to EAS, your friendly local travel agents. We have rooms in all the best Barcelona hotels and most centrally located apartments. We’ll organise your transportation, nightly entertainment and make sure your stay is as stress free as it is unforgettable. Click on this link to fill in our request form.

Just last month at the Mobile World Congress, Ford Motor Company outlined its ambitions to ease traffic congestion by adapting cars to new technology, which would see them connected to wireless operators. Bill Ford, the head of the American firm, revealed he was looking to set up a mobile network that would automatically provide customers with the best routes to avoid congestion. This would be a system, he said, that “uses real-time data to optimise personal mobility on a massive scale.”

The car company wants to create vehicles with the ability to talk to each other in the hope of preventing accidents in addition to being able to reroute drivers down empty streets. Ford is not alone in its quest to equip their cars with wireless capabilities with General Motors revealing last October that it had already started developing the technology. According to Machina Research we can expect most new cars to come fitted with some form of wireless technology by 2020.

At present there are already apps available that can help drivers avoid irritating traffic jams. Apps such as Waze set up communications between drivers who post pictures and updates about crowded areas. Using the GPS features built into most smartphones Waze is able to map out crowded areas. And then there is Signal Guru by Princeton, which tells drivers how fast to go to make red lights and gives them suggestions about alternative routes through information gathered from smartphones mounted on car dashboards. Although not yet available for commercial purposes, it is likely that this form of harnessing information through smartphones is the technology carmakers will use to move forward with their plans.

For more information on this and any other developments in the world of mobile technology head down to the Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona. If you’re after accommodation then look no further than EAS, your friendly local travel agents. We’ll find you the best hotels and rented apartments right in the heart of the city. Or if you prefer, why not try one of our luxury yachts – the choice is yours. Just click on this link to fill in our request form.

This is the second year in a row that an American movie will open the famous film festival. Last year Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris kicked off the event. Anderson is viewed by many, including the festival’s artistic director Thierry Fremaux, as one of the rising powers in American cinema whose previous movies include Darjeeling Limited, 2001’s The Royal Tenebaums and 1998’s Rushmore. Moonrise Kingdom follows a pair of young lovers in 1960s New England who run away from home prompting a search party led by the sheriff (Bruce Willis) to find them.

The full Cannes schedule is to be announced April 19 but there is plenty of speculation as to what movies will complete the festival’s lineup. Many people are expecting to see David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis as a candidate given its French release date, while Park Chan’s first English language film Stoker starring Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska and Matthew Goode is also creating a lot of buzz. Film Festival regulars Woody Allen, Michael Haneke, Ken Loach and Abbas Kiarostami all have movies out around the time of the festival, so it’s pretty certain that a few of them will be unveiling their creations on the Croisette.

Lawless a film by John Hillcoat and the musician Nick Cave stars Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman and is being tipped by many to be a Cannes entry this year as is Killing Me Softy by Andrew Dominik. This will be the latter’s first film since his release The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford in 2007. If it is an entry at the Croisette it will give the festival a major star in the form of Brad Pitt.

To experience the very best of this year’s international film releases make your way down to the Cannes Film Festival, 16-27 May. For the best in rented apartments, 5-star hotels, and even luxury yachts contact EAS, the local travel agent you can trust. We’ll make your stay as relaxing as possible, organising not only your accommodation needs, but transport and nightly entertainment too. Click on this link for more information.

Sales on mobile advertising reached £203 million in 2011, up from just £83 million in 2010 as customers increasingly spread their time between a range of platforms including laptops, tablets and mobile phones.

According to the Internet Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) Mobile Adspend Survey the most marked increase was seen in the amount of money spent on display advertising which rose by 186 percent to £68.9 million, accounting for a third of the total mobile ad spend. While 54 percent of all mobile display advertising was now on apps, with the rest being spent on ads that appear when users access mobile internet browsers.

The result comes as further figures reveal that more and more users in the UK are using their mobile phones to purchase goods online, with a quarter of those surveyed by the IAB saying that they had.

Director of mobile and operations at IAB, Jon Mew said that thanks to the increased use of different platforms m-commerce was now one of the most important ways for a company to interact with its customers. “With 26 million smartphone owners in the UK, the opportunities for brands to interact with consumers in a more innovative way are endless,” he said.

For more information on the world of mobile phone technology reserve your spot at the Mobile World Congress in 2013 in Barcelona. EAS has all your accommodation needs including rooms at the city’s best hotels and most centrally located rented apartments. How about transportation around the city and nightly entertainment? Well we can even organise that for you too. Click on this link to fill in our request form.

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse for Spain’s ailing construction and property industries, the National Statistics Institute (INE) revealed that prices on new build properties had dropped by an incredible 8.5 percent in the final quarter of 2011. It is the worst quarterly drop since the INE started recording the data in 2007.

This coupled with a fall of used homes by 13.7 percent during the same quarter means that overall house prices fell by 11.2 percent at the end of 2011.

House prices in Spain are now down by more than 20 percent from their 2007-2008 peaks and evidence points that they may well drop further to more than 30 percent. High unemployment, debt-laden households and limited access to credit are proving the biggest obstacles to kick starting the country’s flagging property market.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Spanish banks now possess more than €400 billion worth of construction and real-estate sector loans which amounts to the equivalent of 40 percent of Spain’s gross domestic product. Little wonder then that last month Spain’s Finance Minister Luis de Guindos unveiled a plan that will force banks to set aside €50 billion this year to cover losses accumulated from bank loans gone bad.

Demand in Spain’s property sector continues to be sluggish too, with INE data reporting a 26 percent annual decline in sales throughout 2011. Last year 361,000 homes were sold in Spain, a figure that is less than half the number sold in 2007. According to consultants Ernst & Young this lack of demand could keep house prices falling for the next three years.

To see how the Spanish property market is doing next year and for an intensive four days of real estate business, head down to MIPIM 2013, 12-15 March at the Palais des Festivals, Cannes. If you’re after accommodation look no further than EAS, your friendly local travel agents. We can provide you with the best hotels, apartments, and even luxury yachts right in the heart of Cannes. With our expert knowledge of the region, we’ll ensure that you have the best stay possible. Click on this link to fill in our request form.

Paris has become the most popular place in Europe for property investment according to a list released by leading estate agent CBRE. The French capital overtook London during the second half of 2011 thanks to deals worth €7.9 billion as opposed to €7.8 billion in the UK capital.

A busy second half of the year saw Paris snapping up 14.2% of international deals as investors rushed to complete transactions before the end of the year and ahead of the closing of some property tax breaks.

In addition to being the most popular place for property investment, Paris is now the most expensive capital in which to rent accommodation after rental prices increased by 4.7% during the year.

The 20 arrondissements of Paris escaped the bombing of the Second World War, which means that new-build developments are rare and property supply is limited forcing up rental prices. The City of London, which has far more new-build properties, has seen rents fall to a 25-year low, although the West End market is still buoyant. New York also saw a healthy rise in rental costs as prices increased by 6.5% during the first half of 2011 and 6.2% during the second half.

However it was not all good news as rental growth slowed in many new world cities such as Hong Kong, Shanghai and Moscow during the second half of 2011.

Foreign investors in 2011 were made up mostly of US and Canadian buyers who provided 28% of cross-border transactions, with the US accounting for €9 billion worth of deals. Germany was the next most active buyer taking a 12% market share, while UK buyers came in third place making 9% of property transactions.

If you’re interested in all the latest property developments in Paris, head to MIPIM in Cannes in 2013. For the best hotel rooms, rented apartments and even private yachts, look to EAS for all your accommodation needs. We can also help you with restaurant bookings, nightly entertainment and all your transportation requirements. Click on this link to fill in our request form.

This year’s MIPTV will be awash with celebrities as the cast of MTV’s popular show Jersey Shore, celebrity chef Chuck Hughes and super model turned businesswoman Elle Macpherson all drop in at the Croisette.

On Monday April 2 Deena Cortese and Vinny Guadagnino from MTV’s hugely popular series Jersey Shore will join MTV’s EVP of programming and head of production Chris Linn to give an inside look at the series and a sneak peak at what can be expected from the fifth season, which will debut on the channel in March.

Chef Chuck Hughes, who rose to fame with his internationally popular show Chuck’s Day Off, will be on hand to promote two of his latest ventures, Chuck’s Week Off: Mexico and Chuckmas. The first is an eight-part tour around Mexico in which Hughes samples the country’s cuisine, while the latter is a one-hour Christmas special. The Canadian chef will also be producing a few of his famous culinary creations at an invite-only cocktail party on April 2.

Meanwhile Australian model Elle Macpherson will be unveiling her new show Fashion Star which is to debut on 13 March on NBC, and will be rolled out globally to 20 countries during spring 2012. The show will follow 14 wannabe fashion designers as they battle it out for the chance to have their creations sold in Saks Fifth Avenue, H&M and Macy’s. Macpherson will also join Ben Silverman, founder and chairman of the US-based multimedia production studio Electus to discuss the future of branded entertainment, providing an internal look at how advertisers, retailers and consumer interests combine within the industry.

For your chance to meet some of the stars at this year’s MIPTV, head down to Cannes, April 1-4. For the best hotels, rented apartments and villas look no further than EAS, the local travel agent you can rely on. We have rooms in the most centrally located hotels, beach apartments with sea views, penthouses and even luxury loft apartments. We also offer yacht charters for those after something a little bit different and can organise all your transportation, dining and entertainment needs. Click on this link to fill in our request form.

The European Commission agreed to another round of charge cuts on Tuesday, which will come into effect this summer. Since 2007 the gap between domestic and “roaming” call charges has fallen by about 75 percent as a result of EC intervention and will drop further thanks to yesterday’s decision. Five years ago mobile operators were making profits of more than 200 percent for mobile calls made in different EU countries leading the European Commission to call it the “roaming rip-off.”

According to UK MEP Peter Skinner there is no need for phone companies to have any roaming charges at all. “Phone companies are still using international travel as a way of ripping off customers: airwaves know no international borders, so it’s crazy for customers to pay lots for a phone call from Dover to Calais 21 miles away, while Dover to the Shetlands, hundreds of miles off the coast of Scotland, costs much less,” he explained.

In retaliation to Tuesday’s move by the EC, Vodafone’s chief executive Vittorio Colao warned that if the EU continued to impose price cuts mobile operators would cut investment in networks. Speaking at the Mobile World Congress, Colao said: “We should stop having continuous intervention on prices and let the industry reinvest the money.” But Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said that if customers lost the fear to use smartphones and tablets when travelling across Europe everyone would benefit, including the mobile operators. She has vowed to reduce the gap between domestic and roaming call charges to almost nothing by 2015.

For all the latest information on the world of mobile phones and telecommunications don’t miss out on the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. For the best hotels, rented apartments and other accommodation choices contact EAS, your local travel agents. With our expert knowledge and experience we’ll make sure you have an unforgettable stay. And we’ll even sort out your transportation and nightly entertainment. Click on this link to fill in our request form.

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