For all those who enjoy reading latest surveys here is an amusing survey especially if you are planning a trip to Europe. In a poll conducted by the website TripAdvisor, nearly 2,400 travelers gave their views on different European cities and the results were definitely shocking. No city was spared in this survey where the travelers voted for London as the dirtiest in Europe, home to the worst-dressed people and the most expensive.

But the real shocker was Paris that was voted as the least friendly city and the second-most expensive! The city known for its romantic ambiance and lovely people had to sacrifice this title to Venice. But all was not lost; London and Paris made a comeback in this poll. Paris was voted as having the best cuisine and best-dressed people, while London was seen as having the best nightlife, best public parks and most free attractions.

So if you wish to go according to this survey then Dublin is the place to go if you seek friendly people. For health freaks Denmark is the apt choice while for shopaholics, Prague is the way to go. But one place you have to avoid is Brussels which was voted as the most boring! Surprising as these stats are they reveal the changing times and interests of the travelers of today.

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Looking for cheap wheels? Here they are -- the least-expensive 2012 cars on sale in America. (All prices are MSRP (sticker price) plus destination charge.) The About.com Cars test team has driven all of these cheap cars, and this list will tell you which are the real deals -- and which are the real duds.

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Semi-precious stone inlays, customized paintwork and intricate floral designs added to cars in garages across the UAE underline the oil-rich GCC’s love of customized cars. The UAE, the Gulf’s largest market for luxury sales, has seen bespoke services continue to soar as wealthy petrolheads look to ensure their cars to stand out from the crowd.

“Our customers here are a bit more discerning; they want to have something that is different. Having a car that stands out is something that is looked for a lot more in this region,” James Crichton, regional director MEA at Rolls-Royce, told Arabian Business. “In your typical European or Asian markets, a black or silver car is about as exciting as it gets but here customers want to have something that stands out…they want to have something that is different to the car that their neighbour, friend of colleague has,” he added.

The UAE was hit hard by the global financial crisis but last year’s political unrest across the Arab world boosted car sales across the Gulf state. Total car sales are expected to increase 32 percent to 25,010 this year after a16 percent rise in 2010, according to consultants IHS Automotive. The Middle East is Rolls-Royce’s biggest market globally for bespoke cars, said Crichton. “Bespoke is something we have been doing for a very long time… it really has been a key element [of the business] and more specifically for the Middle East.”

The 107-year old company sold 23 percent more cars in the Middle East last year compared to the same period the previous year, the firm said Jan 9. In 2011, the company’s Middle East arm exported its most expensive car to the region, valued at $1m due to its “high bespoke” design. Rolls-Royce bespoke starts at $15-20,000 for customised paintwork and can go up to $100,000 for more intricate designs, said Crichton.

“Abu Dhabi last year created a car that has a semi-precious stone built into the veneer – it was the same stone used for prayer beads,” he said. “Our dealer in Dubai created another car around horse racing called Thoroughbred, where the inlay in the veneer included the silk shirts of the 35 jockeys that raced in the Glorious Goodwood race in 2011,” he added.

Dubai-based Al Ghandi Motors, regional dealers of GMC and Chevrolet cars, spent $68,000 hand-painting falcons on the sides of a Chevrolet Silverado 3500 HD, customising its interior with new leather and suede upholstery, raising its suspension by seven inches and upgrading the electrical system for the MBC Action Battle of the Garages competition, which it won in September.
“We’ve been asked two more almost identical vehicles since with different paintwork,” said James Liddle, director of after sales at Al Ghandi Motors.

“We’ve done custom vehicles and had two or three of them exported to Sudan. On Kamal’s, which is a good selling car, we’ve done two wide body kits and increased the break horsepower on them to 570, which is approximately AED70-75,000.”

But it’s not just luxury buyers that are seeing a rise in bespoke sales. Buyers are also snapping up cheaper bodykits in a bid to personalize their cars, according to Dubai-based Performance Garage.
“Lots of customers choose to change the body style which might involve changing the bumper style, spoilers and sometimes the full body kit with alloy wheels,” said general manager, Jaics Joseph.
The garage customises up to seven cars a month with prices starting from AED6,000. “People are still spending – a lot of people are going for it,” said Joseph.

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PRYOR - Pryor was named the sixth least-expensive community to live in by a recent nationwide study. The Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) puts the list together. A team of analysts looks at pricing data for more than 60 goods and services, from a loaf of bread to housing.

Analysts then compare prices to incomes in the community. John Hawkins with the Pryor Chamber of Commerce believes part of the reason the city finished so high is because of fiscal discipline by elected officials and low utility rates. "We own our own utility system. We have a school system that usually or is always very judicious about how they spend the revenues they have, which keeps our overall property taxes down," said Hawkins.

The report also said Pryor was the least-expensive when it comes to dental service. Pryor dentist Ken Rains attributes this to the number of people in the area with dental insurance. "Because of the area we live in with the industrial park, because of the amount of dental insurance we have here," said Rains.  Cathe Smith, who owns a barbershop downtown, lived all over the country before moving to Pryor 12 years ago.

"The cost of living is cheaper in all aspects actually," said Smith. She said haircuts in some places averaged $14. "I came down to Pryor, started off at $7," said Smith. "Now I'm a whopping $10."Pryor was not the only Oklahoma city ranked in the top ten. Ardmore, in southern Oklahoma, finished as the third least-expensive city to live in.

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The Lumia 710 is currently T-Mobile’s most powerful Windows Phone in terms of specs. It has a 1.4 GHz second-generation single-core Snapdragon processor, a gyroscope, Corning Gorilla Glass, and a compass.

However, the Lumia 710 lacks a front-facing camera and is of course limited with 8 GB of storage space. It also doesn’t look as sexy as the HTC Radar, nor does it feel as expensive as the Radar.

The screen on the 710 is a nicely sized 3.7″ ClearBlack LCD display, which is perfect for texting with one hand. Colors are possibly a little more vivid on the 710 when compared to the S-LCD on the HTC Radar, but the ClearBlack display doesn’t preform much better out in the sunlight compared to the Radar. A big disadvantage to the Lumia 710 is that there’s a very noticeable black border around the screen, whereas on the HTC Radar, the screen perfectly touches the rest of the phone seamlessly.

Instead of touch-sensitive buttons, the Lumia 710 has physical buttons on the front of the phone, which prevent you from accidentally hitting the back key while playing games on the phone. My only complaint is that these buttons look quite cheap when lit up at night time.

The camera button can be a little tricky, because there’s hardly any travel space between pressing the button halfway down to focus it and actually pressing it all the way down to take the picture. Otherwise, the volume buttons and power buttons feel nice. The Lumia 710 has a 5 MP camera and a single-LED flash, but we’ll go into the quality of the camera later in our review section dedicated to the camera.

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Jewellery has been an important part of human life and especially very important for women. It is thought to be the most precious thing for women. Jewellery is made of a lot of dissimilar valuable metals that are found were rare in this world. More the metal is valuable more its jewellery is worth. It has been desire of everyone to have the most expensive jewellery but this is not possible. Most of the designers make too much expensive jewellery but others make more expensive than they had made.

Platinum jewellery is also one of the kinds of jewellery that are thought to be very expensive. Sometime platinum jewellery pieces are said to so valuable that they cannot be bought by giving money. These types of platinum jewellery pieces are called master pieces and are used to gift them to some very special personality. That might be some well renounced celebrity or some person that has done incredible work.

Platinum jewellery is considered to be very elegant and exclusive when compared to any other type of jewellery. Its natural colour is so attractive that it needs no extra finish or painting it. Once a professional jewellery maker work on platinum jewellery and finishes the product then it is a very fine piece of jewellery. This is the only reason that platinum jewellery is not so common and it is seen in special classes of society. This is not the case that platinum jewellery is not at all affordable but the common people are not so interested in buying it.

People with special taste for jewellery like platinum jewellery and they also tell their jewellery designers that what type of jewellery piece they want. Platinum jewellery is not designed alone it is also designed by adding some other precious metals like white gold or silver to add up some extra beauty. This is done to lower the cost of platinum jewellery as other precious metals are cheaper then platinum. Also these metals provide some extra glow and attraction to platinum jewellery. The combination of platinum jewellery and diamonds is thought to be the best combination in jewellery. Whenever platinum is ornamented with the help of diamonds its grace is amazing and it is so eye catching that people cannot resist its beauty.

The cost of these types of jewellery is also very high but when it comes to getting something you like than everyone is ready to spend money. Cheaper platinum jewellery is also designed that is also very smart and adorable. It has the same grace as any other platinum jewellery but the difference lie in the type of material that has been used in the designing of that jewellery. As the jewellery piece has pure amount of platinum more expensive it will be.Platinum jewellery has been in fashion from a very long time and will remain in fashion because of its uniqueness that attracts everyone towards it. Many jewellery designers only work on platinum jewellery and are much renowned for making some marvellous masterpieces.

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Laxmi Vedula has never bought a piece of jewellery from anyone except her regular jeweller. "I once got cheated," recalls the Mumbaikar. "Since then, I have bought all jewellery from my regular local jeweller." Soon, the likes of Vedula need not worry. With hallmarking of gold jewellery being made mandatory, buyers cannot be cheated on the quality of gold jewellery. A hallmark certifies the quality of a jewellery (gold and silver) against irregular quality of the metal.

According to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), hallmarking is the accurate determination and official recording of the proportionate content of precious metal (gold or silver) in articles. It ensures 92 per cent purity of gold ornaments. Hallmarks are, thus, official marks used in many countries as a guarantee of purity or fineness of precious metal articles.

Jewellery hallmarking provides a third-party assurance — that a buyer is getting the right purity of gold or silver jewellery for the given price. "Many buyers get their jewellery re-checked by a third party — BIS — to confirm the purity of the piece," notes Ashok Minawala, former chairman of the Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation. "Now, the hallmark will be a certification for such individuals."

Many jewellers like Gitanjali Gems, Tanishq and Waman Hari Pethe already provide hallmarked jewellery. In 2007, hallmarking was made mandatory in four metro cities. "Last time," says Mehul Choksi, CMD of Gitanjali Gems, "it got deferred for other cities because not everyone had the right infrastructure to hallmark jewellery. This time they will make it mandatory for jewellers across the country."Importantly, lack of proper infrastructure has made hallmarking expensive in India. This, in turn, pushes up your cost of jewellery — both readymade and customised ones.

Hallmarked jewellery also helps when you need to sell or exchange jewellery. Jewellery buyers are often told the piece of jewellery being bought is 22 carat. Only when selling or exchanging does the individual discover the jewellery piece was only 18 carat. Many lose money this way. Industry experts say this problem also arose due to the lack of suitable solders for high-carat jewellery, preferred in India. Higher the caratage, softer the metal, and it can bend or break easily. Such jewellery needs soldering and the solder alloys used are of a much lower caratage, leading to under-carating.

Then, there is adulteration by addition of too much alloy and selling gold or silver-coated articles with base metal cores. These frauds still continue at least in the local jewellery market. If you have not bought from the jeweller whom you approach for selling/exchanging, he will weigh the caratage, tally it with the hallmark and pay according to the weight. There are chances the weight then varies slightly from that when you had bought the jewellery, especially if you've worn it regularly. Old jewellery can also be hallmarked. This is advisable if you are gifting, says Chandrakant Sanghavi, regional chairman (Gujarat), Gems & Jewellery Export Promotion Council.

You will have to approach a BIS-recognised assaying and hallmarking centre to get it done. At the centre, the jewellery will be checked for caratage and hallmarked accordingly. This, even if you were told a different purity when you had bought it.

BIS-recognised assaying and hallmarking centres charge for hallmarking. It differs from piece to piece and according to weight. "BIS-recognised centres have been advised to charge for gold Rs 18 an article and a minimum charge for a consignment shall be Rs 100," according to a BIS statement.

But, jewellers may charge you based on the type and weight of the jewellery. "It should be Rs 10-15 for a gramme," says Choksi. This is exclusive of service tax and other charges.

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Canada’s coolest Arctic city is also one of its hottest rental markets. That’s led Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, to record the highest average two-bedroom rent in Canada -- $2,265, according to the latest figures from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The national average was $835.

No other city seems to come close in terms of average rent, according to the CMHC’s Housing Observer report. The next highest was Yellowknife at $1,486 per month and then Toronto, at $1,123. In Nunavut with a population of 7,250, there’s a short supply and unusually strong demand, with 22% home ownership compared to 68% nationally.

But it is also so cold that trees cannot grow in the area, and only three snowless months per year. Iqaluit officially became a city in 2001. A city guide produced by Iqaluit officials notes a negative vacancy rate for all types of rental accommodation, and “job offers tend to come with the proviso of ‘housing not included.’

A major property management company in the city has a waiting list of more than 50 tenants. Nunavut should continue to see strong demand continue in coming years, with the CMHC projecting the number of households growing from 7,855 in 2006 to 10,000 by 2016 and 13,000 by 2036.

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Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. and Daimler AG (DAI-N47.42----%) will build engines together in the U.S. from 2014 in an efficiency measure that marks the biggest undertaking outside Europe for the auto makers’ two-year strategic partnership.

The Japanese and German companies said on Sunday they would build four-cylinder gasoline engines together at the Nissan’s plant in Decherd, Tenn., from 2014.The engines will be used in Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz C-class and Nissan’s Infiniti premium marque. The plant will have the capacity to build up to 250,000 engines a year.

It will be the first time Mercedes has made engines in North America, and the move comes amid intensifying competition in the U.S. premium car market, the largest in the world. Rival German luxury marque BMW AG outsold Mercedes in the U.S. for the first time in 2011, data published last week showed.

The announcement comes on the eve of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, held this year against the backdrop of a resurgent U.S. car market, where premium auto makers are reaping rich rewards.

Daimler and Nissan said the Tennessee plant’s strategic location and logistics links would ensure a direct supply of engines from 2014 for Mercedes’ C-Class mid-size car, which the German car maker builds at its plant in Tuscaloosa, Ala. It currently uses German-built engines in its U.S.-made cars.

BMW, which makes its X3 and X5 models at a plant in South Carolina, imports the engines from Germany and Austria. By extending Daimler’s co-operation with Nissan and its French alliance partner Renault SA, “We can realize near-market engine production in the NAFTA region on attractive economic terms,” Dieter Zetsche, the German company’s chief executive, said on Sunday. “Thus we are systematically broadening our manufacturing footprint in this important growth market.”

The engines project will also provide a cost-cutting fillip to Infiniti, which makes the bulk of its cars in Japan, but has its biggest sales in the U.S. Like all its Japanese rivals, Nissan has been hit by the soaring yen.

Carlos Ghosn, Nissan and Renault’s CEO, said that the engine project would reduce the Japanese car maker’s exposure to foreign exchange rates, and the deal represented a “win-win for the [Renault-Nissan] alliance and Daimler.”

Nissan has made engines at the Tennessee plant since 1997, and supplies its own brand and Infiniti vehicles with four-, six-, and eight-cylinder engines. The factory made more than 580,000 engines last year.

The joint project marks a further expansion of ties between Renault and Nissan – which have been joined in a close alliance since 1999 – and Daimler, which joined them in a looser partnership in April, 2010, that saw the Franco-Japanese and German groups take 3 per cent mutual equity stakes and agree to collaborate on small cars, engines, and commercial vehicles.

Competing car makers often collaborate in areas where they can pool costs without sacrificing market share, such as engine development. Renault/ Nissan and Daimler have outlined plans to co-operate on Renault’s next-generation Twingo small car and four-seat versions of Daimler’s Smart car, due to launch in early 2014.

Renault and Nissan are supplying Daimler with three-cylinder gasoline engines to be used in the cars and four-cylinder diesel engines to be used in a new city van being developed by the partnered car makers for Mercedes, and in the German brand’s next generation of compact cars. Daimler will also supply Nissan and Infiniti with four- and six-cylinder diesel engines and automatic transmissions.

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2011 was a surprisingly positive year for car manufacturers in India, as sales exceeded forecasted expectations and as the year's final months saw an uptick in business across the board. This was especially true in the luxury car market. Due to rising incomes, changing tastes, and the emergence of luxury vehicles as impressive status symbols, the luxury industry continued its growth trend during the past year. The growth is expected to only continue. According to Reuters, the market is growing at a rate of 40 percent annually. Luxury cars, already a one billion dollar business in India, can expect to attain only a greater prevalence in the country in the years to come.

But numerous challenges and limitation remain that threaten to curtail the growth of the luxury market and keep India far behind China when it comes to such sales. If the industry is to truly realize the prediction of 40 percent annual gains, the following areas will need to be improved:

Infrastructure
High performance cars are often stymied by India's treacherous roads. Bumps, potholes, and cracks in the country's paved roads means that cars are often susceptible to damage. This is especially a concern when it comes to luxury vehicles, since these cars usually ride lower to the ground and because they are so expensive that few owners want to risk even minor bumps and cuts. These days, many luxury owners transport their cars to supercar parades rather than drive them on the highways. This will need to someday change if the market is to truly succeed.

Taxes
Almost all luxury cars in India are manufactured elsewhere and then imported into the country. The government charges high fees on such imports; taxes on imported luxury goods can sometimes approach 110% of the cost. This oppressive tax policy makes high performance vehicles far more expensive in India than in Europe.

The Economy
The global economic downturn has impacted even the luxury sector. Certainly, this is true of India's luxury car market. Fiscal tightening by the Indian central bank has caused insurance quotes and financing costs to rise for potential buyers. At the same time, a decline in the rupee has made imported products more costly to attain.

Despite these challenges, India's luxury car market shows definitive signs of expansion and vigor. But these issues need to ultimately be addressed for the market to reach its potential. Considering the country's growth over the past couple decades, it is not unreasonable to predict that they will.

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