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Tuesday, December 4, 2012

What city has world's best quality of life?

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1. Vienna, Austria

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Austria's capital Vienna was rated the best city to live by Mercer
Eight out of the top 10 cities with highest quality of life are located in Europe
The worst city to live of the 221 surveyed around the globe is Baghdad, Iraq
The survey takes 39 factors, such as crime rates and medical care, into account

(CNN) -- Vienna, famous for its hundreds of museums, 2000 parks and of course its roasted coffee, is the best place on the planet to live, according to Mercer's 2012 Quality of Living Index. This year's latest accolade makes Vienna number one in the world for the fourth year in a row.

The annual survey by the global human resources consulting firm points not just to Austria's qualities but to much of the region's virtues. Eight of the report's top 10 cities are in Europe. Zurich is the world's second most livable city while three German cities -- Munich, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt -- follow close behind.

"Overall, European cities continue to have high quality of living as a result of a combination of increased stability, rising living standards and advanced city infrastructures," said Slagin Parakatil, Senior Researcher at Mercer. This is despite economic turmoil, political tension and high unemployment in some European countries.

Australian, New Zealand and Canadian metropolises round out the top ten list.

The world's top 30 cities of the Mercer 2012 index

1. Vienna, Austria

2. Zurich, Switzerland

3. Auckland, New Zealand

4. Munich, Germany

5. Vancouver, Canada

6. Düsseldorf, Germany

7. Frankfurt, Germany

8. Geneva, Switzerland

9. Copenhagen, Denmark

10. Bern, Switzerland

10. (tie) Sydney, Australia

12. Amsterdam, Netherlands

13. Wellington, New Zealand

14. Ottawa, Canada

15. Toronto, Canada

16. Berlin, Germany

17. Hamburg, Germany

17. Melbourne, Australia

19. Luxembourg, Luxembourg

21. Perth, Australia

22. Brussels, Belgium

23. Montreal, Canada

24. Nuremberg, Germany

25. Singapore, Singapore

26. Canberra, Australia

27. Stuttgart, Germany

28. Honolulu, U.S.

29. Adelaide, Australia

29. (tie) Paris, France

29. (tie) San Francisco, U.S.

Mercer's survey results are based on an analysis of local living conditions comprising 39 factors in 10 categories. Political considerations include government stability and crime rates. Economic factors take into account banking services and currency exchange laws. Health considerations include access to medical care and pollution levels. Transport, housing and recreation are also taken into account.

City scores help multinational companies calculate compensation packages for the employees they dispatch overseas. A lower score often correlates into a better compensation package that includes hardship allowances, according to Mercer.

Countries with unstable governments or undergoing civil strife tend usually have lower scores. Eight African cities dominate the bottom ten in this year's survey.

"The ongoing turmoil in many countries across North Africa and the Middle East has led to serous security issues for locals and expatriates," says Mercer's Parakatil. "Companies need to be able to proactively implement mitigation plans, such as emergency repatriation, or adjust expatriate compensation packages accordingly."

Around the word and on a regional basis, the cities that score the lowest are the following:

64. Belfast, Northern Ireland (Western Europe)

71. Detroit, Michigan, (United States)

207. Dushanbe, Tajikistan (Asia-Pacific)

213. Tbilisi, Georgia (Eastern Europe)

219. Port-au-Prince, Haiti (North Americas)

This year's city with the worst quality of life?

Baghdad, Iraq at #221.

Best place to buy property in Asia

High rise commercial buildings under construction in Jakarta in February.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Indonesia's capital Jakarta is predicted to be Asia's top real estate market in 2013
With increasing GDP and foreign investment, Jakarta jumped up 10 places since 2011
Singapore got bumped to third place, from first place last year
Japan's Osaka is the forecast's lowest-ranked city for real estate investment next year

Hong Kong (CNN) -- Forget the red-hot property market of mainland China -- a new forecast says investors should be looking south.

Jakarta -- Indonesia's burgeoning capital of nearly 10 million people -- is predicted to be Asia's top real estate market in 2013, ahead of cities such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney in "Emerging Trends in Real Estate -- Asia Pacific 2013," a real estate forecastreleased this week by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the Washington D.C.-based Urban Land Institute.

The recommendation to buy into Jakarta-based property may raise eyebrows, but PriceWatershouseCoopers says Indonesia's economic turnaround over the past few years has impressed international investors.

"Interest rates and inflation are under control, and while GDP is growing at around 6.5% annually, foreign direct investment is increasing at a much higher rate—39% in the first half of this year," the survey said. "Driven by increased demand from foreigners and locals alike, office rents shot up 29% year-on-year in the third quarter, according to (property services firm) DTZ."

That growth in demand helped Jakarta jump 10 places from its 2011 ranking but PwC warns the city's real estate scene is not entirely rosy. Difficulties in finding inexpensive bank loans, trustworthy local partners and land with disputed ownership all mean "caveat emptor" -- buyer beware.

China's financial hub of Shanghai keeps its number two spot from last year. The PwC survey says the city's retail property sector is heating up as investors shift away from the commercial sector, traditionally "the bread-and-butter investment for foreign funds in China for many years."

But PwC adds that foreigners are generally not as tempted to buy into Shanghai property as they were in the past. The major reasons: a real estate market that is already saturated, the rarity of commercial-grade investment buildings and Chinese regulators that are not as welcoming to foreign money as in years past.

The tiny city-state of Singapore, traditionally a safe bet for real estate plays, comes in a close third, falling from last year's first place. PwC credits the Lion City's strong position as an Asian financial hub, an uninterrupted supply of real estate projects and continued demand for high-grade office space as the country attracts more employees from multinational firms. Put simply, both supply and demand for Singapore property is expected to stay strong in 2013, PwC reports.

Asia-Pacific's Top 15 Asian Investment Prospects for 2013

1. Jakarta, Indonesia

2. Shanghai, China

3. Singapore, Singapore

4. Sydney, Australia

5. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

6. Bangkok, Thailand

7. Beijing, China

8. China--secondary cities (Chongqing, Tianjin, Shenyang)

9. Taipei, Taiwan

10. Melbourne, Australia

11. Hong Kong, China

12. Manila, Philippines

13. Tokyo, Japan

14. Seoul, South Korea

15. Guangzhou, China

At number 13, the real estate outlook for Tokyo signifies a ratings downgrade from "generally good" prospects to "fair" prospects. PwC says the ranking for Japan's capital is surprisingly "lackluster."

"Though investment potential appears good, investors have found deal flows restricted by the ongoing reluctance of local banks to clear bad debt from their balance sheets. A wide bid/ask spread has also limited transaction volumes."

The forecast's lowest-ranked city for real estate investment in 2013 is Osaka and ranks at the bottom in most survey categories, from investment and development prospects to office buy/sell recommendations.

One major reason is a glut of new office space that is still being completed. At the same time, PwC says "in small regional cities such as Osaka, investors simply do not know where the bottom is because of uncertain demand."

The silver lining is that Osaka's four-year oversupply of office space is coming to an end, PwC says.

Spanx's Sara Blakely: Turning $5,000 into $1 billion with panties

Sara Blakley is the creator of "body-shaping" underwear company Spanx. She turned a $5,000 start-up into into a multi-million dollar business -- becoming, according to Forbes, America's youngest self-made female billionaire in the process.

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Sara Blakely: Underwear entrepreneur

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Sara Blakely is the founder of Spanx, a hosiery company present in 50 countries
Her business idea was sparked in 1998 from "the way her butt looked in white pants"
Blakely was crowned America's youngest self-made female billionaire by Forbes magazine
She attributes her success to extraordinary perseverance, salesmanship and risk-taking

(CNN) -- From a woman who sold fax machines door-to-door to being named a billionaire, Sara Blakely's career trajectory has been anything but usual.

No Ivy-League MBA in sight, Blakely has helmed Spanx, a company that produces slimming bodywear -- bras, panties and more -- to a presence in more than 50 countries and an estimated value of over $1 billion, according to Forbes. With product names such as "Bra-lellulah" and headquarters complete with boudoir-like red walls, Blakely's empire is the opposite of corporate. Even the inspiration behind her privately-held company is like no other -- her own rear.

"I just did not like the way it looked in white pants," says Blakely. "That moment inspired Spanx. I had been doing some soul searching and visualization of my life to create a product that I could sell to millions of people."

Spanx revenues for 2011 were estimated at just under $250 million, according to independent research by Forbes Magazine. The magazine also cited that four Wall Street investment banks valued the company at $1 billion.

I just did not like the way (my rear) looked in white pants. That moment inspired Spanx
Sara Blakely

This year, Spanx expanded into standalone retail stores in the U.S., opening two in November and a third in this month. What started out as a pair of pantyhose with its feet cut out in 1998, has evolved into a diverse business that includes active wear, menswear and swimwear.

In person, Blakely, 41, is attractive, chatty and breaks out into a wide grin frequently. Shunning businesswoman power suits, she's often spotted in a pair of jeans and cotton T-shirt, wearing her hair in hair bands.

Professionally too, Spanx defies the odds.

Where over 50% of American small businesses fail in the first five years, according to figures from the U.S. Small Business Administration, Spanx, now 12, has weathered the economic crisis and Blakely is planning further international expansion. They will begin selling in Italy in early 2013, with plans to target Brazil, France, Eastern Europe, China, India and Russia.

Five facts: Spanx

• Spanx has 40 registered trademarks and has patented five designs so far

• Spanx for Men launched in October 2010 exclusive to British department store Selfridges and sold out three times in a row

• Singapore was the first Asian country to sell Spanx in 2009. Three years later, the hosiery company is present in seven Asian regions, from Australia to the Middle East

• Spanx are popular amongst celebrities, including Katie Perry, Kristen Stewart, Oprah and Julia Roberts

• Upcoming international targets include Brazil, France, Eastern Europe, China, India and Russia

Blakely credits her success to getting comfortable with failure and rejection early. After failing the LSAT law exam, her lifelong dream to be a lawyer was dashed. After a short stint as a ride greeter at Disney World she spent seven years selling fax machines.

She describes her days as a door-to-door salesman as "very difficult, very humbling with lots of tears." Blakely now says she's grateful for the great training she got from "having doors slam in my face."

Blakely launched Spanx with just $5,000 and an unwavering belief the product was exactly what the world needed (she patented it almost immediately). Then, as she faced rejection upon rejection meeting with mill-owners in North Carolina, trying to find someone who would make her girdle, she says her perseverance combined with -- wait for it -- her lack-of-experience, eventually won out.

"I used a lot of very confident, very powerful language, but I also asked for help. If you cover up your weaknesses, I think you miss opportunities for human nature to want to kick in. At the end of the day, the guy ended up just wanting to help me. He didn't even believe in the idea."

Calling on the sales skills she learned in her cold-calling days, Blakely stood in department stores every day for two years talking to customers to sell her panties.

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"I learned very quickly that my biggest challenge was location of the store -- (Spanx were) put in the sleepiest corner. I realized, 'This is going to come here and leave if I don't personally intervene, even if I have to sell every pair myself.' And that's basically what I did."

Blakely often snuck Spanx products relegated to the back of department stores closer to checkout, and spent nights stuffing shipping orders into padded envelopes. All while continuing her day job.

In 2000, just two years after launching the first rear-shaping prototype, Oprah Winfrey named Spanx her favorite product of the year. Blakely says was getting her hair highlighted when Oprah's studio called. She remembers jumping out of the chair and running out of the salon with all the foils still in her hair "having a full-blown happy attack -- dancing, cheering and clapping."

The unexpected publicity catapulted her to international acclaim. By 2012, she was listed as one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people.

Fast forward to today and Blakely who is now mother to 3-year-old son, Lazer, says she balances her hectic work schedule with family life by "prioritizing, delegating and letting go."

The biggest risk in life is not risking. Every risk you take in life is in direct proportion to the reward
Sara Blakely

Her motto is: "What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?" It's painted on a wall in all her homes and she says it reminds her to take life less seriously. It also helps her overcome extreme fears like flying --- one she faces regularly as she shuttles between her base in Atlanta and New York where her husband lives.

She says: "The biggest risk in life is not risking. Every risk you take in life is in direct proportion to the reward. If I'm afraid of something, it's the next thing I have to go do. That's just the way I've been."

Now, her main professional focus is "world butt domination through Spanx or Assets" (a cheaper line). Already, over six million women wear the Spanx Power Panty, according to the company. She's also continuing to create new products --"the competition is watching us so closely" -- while dedicating resources to empowering women. The Sara Blakely Foundation has donated over $20 million to charity.

Blakely owns 100% of the business and says she has no plans to take the company public in the near future. Instead, she'd rather spend resources developing a product to fill another gap in the market.

"Before I retire, I want to make a comfortable high heel. I don't subscribe to the beauty is pain philosophy."

It might sound like a tall order, but for the Florida girl with no formal business qualifications who now shapes rears internationally, it might not be impossible.

Rising sea level puts island nations like Nauru at risk

(File photo) The island is 21 square kilometers and has a population of 10,000, almost all of whom live on the coast.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Lands in the Alliance of Small Island States are disappearing amid rising sea levels
The Alliance is pressing for action at the current Climate Change conference
The warming climate also produces more extreme storms and affects fishing
Alliance members do not sound optimistic about the conference

(CNN) -- Kieren Keke remembers growing up on the Pacific island of Nauru, the world's smallest independent republic.

"The weather patterns were predictable," he says. "There was a wet season and a dry season, an annual cycle. When there was drought, it was limited."

"Now it's different," he tells CNN. "There's no predictability -- periods of drought can last seven or eight years, and when we get storms they are more intense. The coastline is being eroded. Now the sea is right up to people's doorsteps."

Keke is now foreign minister of Nauru, and leads the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) at the current U.N. Climate Change conference in Doha, Qatar. The Alliance is fighting a David-and-Goliath battle with the world's biggest polluters -- trying to shame them into tougher action to limit emissions and curb the warming of the planet.

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The 43 members of the Alliance include countries that are literally disappearing amid rising sea levels. And they accuse the likes of India, China and the United States of not addressing climate change with enough urgency.

The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change said in 2007 that sea levels would rise between seven and 23 inches (18 and 59 centimeters) this century, but a rate of ice-melt in the Arctic that is much faster than anticipated has prompted many scientists to raise the projection to about one meter, more than three feet.

Among those most threatened are the Marshall Islands, halfway between Hawaii and Papua New Guinea. The highest point on the 29 atolls and five islands is 33 feet (10 meters) above sea level. The capital, Majuro, is just three feet above sea level and was inundated by high tides four years ago.

"Low-lying atolls across the Pacific are slowly vanishing," Keke says.

In Nauru, too, people don't have many places to go. The island -- which on satellite imagery looks like a white pebble in the deep blue expanse of the Pacific -- is eight square miles (21 square kilometers) and has a population of some 10,000, almost all of whom live on the coastline. The highest point is 200 feet above sea level, but much of the interior has been ravaged by the effects of phosphate mining. And the nearest neighbors are some 180 miles (almost 300 kilometers) away.

Keke says the Alliance wants the 190-odd delegations in Doha to "ramp up their ambitions" because current scientific projections about the warming planet will otherwise wipe out a number of low-lying states. But time is pressing. The Kyoto Protocol, the only binding international agreement on emissions, expires in less than four weeks. And the Doha conference is due to end later this week.

"Some countries are ready to sign up for a second commitment period to Kyoto," which would last from 2013 to 2020, Keke says. Among them the European Union and Australia. But Canada, Russia and Japan are among governments that have already said they won't sign onto an extension of Kyoto, a stance that Keke says is "very disappointing."

They are demanding that countries like China and India -- now the first and third emitters of greenhouse gases -- to be bound by new targets, along with the industrialized world.

China and India, as developing nations, were excused from the commitment adopted at Kyoto by some 40 developed nations to cut their carbon emissions by 5% by this year, compared with the level in 1990.

Measuring sea levels among the Pacific islands -- and trying to establish trends -- is complicated by the effects of the weather systems known as El Nino and La Nina, according to climatologists. But beyond the threat of higher sea levels, the warming climate produces more extreme storms, and more acidic water bleaches coral reefs.

Then there are the fish. Many of these island states rely on fishing to survive and as a source of revenue, but as ocean temperatures warm, fish move. Tuna don't like it hot and swim toward cooler, nutrient-rich waters. A paper prepared this year by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community forecasts that currents and changes in water temperature will mean that "tuna are likely to move progressively toward the east" -- away from the islands of Oceania.

"Traditional food sources and ways of living will be at risk," Keke says.

AOSIS is asking U.N. officials at Doha not to allow this conference -- the 17th since the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 -- to degenerate into a last-minute take-it-or-leave-it declaration, as have previous sessions of the U.N. Framework on Climate Change. But these conferences have a habit of coming to life only when the main players turn up in the final days, and past meetings have led to shallow agreements that revised the process of negotiation rather than established real commitments.

Whether Doha will be much different, and whether Keke and his colleagues from the Alliance of Small Island States will see a glimpse of hope on the horizon, may become clearer by the end of this week.

At present they don't sound very optimistic, releasing a statement Monday that reads: "We begin the final week of negotiations in Doha with the sober recognition that time is running out to prevent the loss of entire nations and other calamities in our membership and around the world."

How severe weather impacts global food supply

The UK's wettest summer in a century resulted in low yields and poor quality grain. Elsewhere the U.S. MidWest suffered a drought.

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Impact of global food price increases

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

This year's severe weather events have led to low yields in grain exporting nations
Kansas prairie farmer Donn Teske says extreme weather events are becoming much more extreme
Aid group Oxfam believes there may be another spike in food prices in early 2013 and longer term volatility
Some countries like Nigeria are looking for alternative staple crops such as cassava

Editor's note: Extreme weather across the world in 2012 has led to low food yields and a hike in prices. Climate is not the only driver of high food costs, but recent price spikes have caused hardship across the world. You can find out how it affects people in vulnerable countries by reading more of their stories gathered by CNN and international aid group Oxfam.

London (CNN) -- Sometimes Jaria Faraj Ali is so hungry that she ties a scarf tight around her waist to make her feel more comfortable.

The Yemeni mother of six told the international aid group Oxfam that she has now resorted to begging because food prices are so high and she doesn't have an income.

And in Pakistan, 28-year-old Asif Masih says he has to work at two jobs to buy enough food. "I drive a taxi part time as well as work in an office because otherwise me and my family won't be able to eat," he told CNN.

Their stories of hardship are echoed across the globe from Tajikistan to Peru where a recent spike in world food prices has hit the most vulnerable, and particularly in countries that rely on imported food.

Rising food prices have been blamed on a number of factors -- for example, rising energy costs, changing land use for biofuel production, local conflicts, and an increasing demand for meat and dairy products.

The UN data shows the spikes in food prices

But 2012's severe weather events around the world have led to low yields in nations such as the U.S. that export grain. Oxfam fears climate change is responsible and that impoverished people could be facing a future of high food prices driven by extreme weather trends.

Oxfam spokesperson Colin Roach said: "High and volatile food prices spell misery for millions of people like Jaria who face a daily struggle to put food on the table. This is man-made misery in a world which produces enough for everyone to eat."

A recent study commissioned by Oxfam into global warming and food prices, said: "Against a backdrop of rising populations and changing diets which will see global food production struggle to keep pace with increasing demand, the food security outlook in a future of unchecked climate change is bleak."

Oxfam-commissioned research on extreme weather and extreme prices

It has certainly been a tough year for farmers. While much of North America baked in the hottest July on record and the Mid-West suffered its worst drought in 56 years, the UK endured its wettest summer in a century.

Back in September, CNN reported: "From Ukraine to Yellowstone, in Pakistan and Kazakhstan, the skies have stayed clear, and the earth has been parched. And on the world's commodity exchanges, the prices of corn, soybeans, wheat and tea are surging."

The driest season: Global drought causes major worry

UK cereal farmer Jeff Powell says it was the poorest harvest he had seen in 30 years of farming with low yields and poor quality grain -- and he warns that the full effects are yet to filter into the system.

This is man-made misery in a world which produces enough for everyone to eat
Colin Roach, Oxfam

"Your loaf is going to cost more money this winter without a doubt -- when we get to Christmas bread prices will be up a lot," he said.

"It's an absolute nightmare for anyone in the livestock industry -- especially pigs and dairy -- with feed prices going up they can only stand that for so long."

In the U.S. state of Kansas, Donn Teske, who runs a prairie farm, said it was not unusual to have dry years but added: "What we are finding though is that the extreme weather events are becoming much more extreme. Historically we haven't had these kind of conditions since the 1950s and before that the 1930s."

Find out how high food prices affect people across the world

The implications could be serious.

Michael Roberts, an associate professor of economics at the University of Hawaii, wrote in August that lower U.S. crop yields would impact the world's poorest and could lead to social unrest.

"For these people, a huge rise in grain prices is more than noticeable -- it can break their budget. In 2008 and 2011, when corn prices went up to levels nearly as high as today's, the world saw a sharp rise in food riots. Many pointed to wheat prices as a catalyst for revolutions in the Middle East, including Egypt, Tunisia and Libya."

Oxfam says commodities futures markets are indicating there may be another spike in prices in early 2013, but expects high and volatile food prices in the medium to long term. It says governments should do more to prevent famine.

"Putting a stop to food price crisis requires a radical new approach to the way we grow, share and manage food," said Oxfam's Colin Roach. "Governments must kick start the process by investing in small scale producers who feed billions across the developing world, regulating commodity markets; putting an end to biofuels policies which divert food crops into fuel; tackling greenhouse gas emissions which drive extreme and erratic weather and helping poor producers adapt to a changing climate."

There was better news for consumers this week when the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that global rice production for 2012 was expected to outpace consumption, saying improved weather patterns in Africa and Asia had contributed to the rebound in rice inventories.

And farmers are trying to adapt. Donn Teske says he will be stocking fewer cattle next year and trying to plant crops with less tillage to preserve the moisture.

Some countries are also taking a longer term approach to reducing their reliance on food imports by looking for alternative staple crops.

Nigeria has a population of 170 million and according to Debisi Araba, the special adviser to Nigeria's agriculture minister, the country spends 635 billion naira ($4 billion) annually on wheat and an astonishing one billion naira ($6.3 million) each day on rice imports.

But Nigeria has a plan to combat this huge cost. Araba said Nigeria produces 34 million tons of the starchy root crop cassava every year and this can be mixed with wheat flour.

He said Nigeria was planning to replace 40% of wheat flour with cassava and was ramping up production of rice. Araba believes the country will be able to produce 2.1 million tons of rice by 2015, first becoming self sufficient, and then able to export.

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For other farmers, it may be more of a challenge to deal with any erratic weather patterns in the future.

Jeff Powell said: "Now with a wet autumn a lot of people are struggling to get their winter crops planted. If we have more years like this [2012] then we may aim to plant more crops in the spring... but the spring last year was bone dry. It's a bit of a catch-22."