Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines (AHN) – Car sales in the Philippines went up 29 percent in the first 11 months of 2010. According to the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines, 153,163 units were sold from January to November.

For the same period last year, only 118,848 vehicles were sold.

CAMP President Elizabeth Lee said because of the strong sales, the chamber is confident 12-month sales would exceed their target of 162,000 units.

The last time that number of cars was sold across the country was in 1996.

Lee attributed the fast pace of auto sales to high business and consumer confidence from the peaceful May national elections and the entry of a new administration. The confidence spilled into the second half of the year, she said.

Lee added that auto sales also were boosted by attractive financing packages from car makers and financial institutions and strong remittance from overseas Filipino workers.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas confirmed the improved consumer confidence. According to the central bank’s fourth quarter survey, the consumer confidence index rose to minus 8.5 percent from minus 14 percent in the 3rd quarter.

However, the index continued to stay in negative territory because there were more pessimists than optimists, particularly among the low-income group.

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Dubai, United Arab Emirates Michael Grubb – Dubai International Airport, the largest in the Gulf, is outpacing the world aviation industry’s recovery this year as it capitalizes on its role as a pivot for business travelers arbitraging between a struggling Europe and the burgeoning economies of Asia. But analysts warn that Dubai’s success makes it a likely magnet for new competition.

Traffic through Dubai International rose by close to 16 percent in the first nine months of the year, well ahead of the 12.9 percent average increase in the Asia-Pacific market, making it the world’s fastest growing, according to Airports Council International. The pace of growth for Dubai continued in October, when traffic exceeded 4 million people for the second time ever, Dubai Airports reported Wednesday.

Aviation is a big and thriving business for tiny Dubai, whose economy is otherwise struggling with some $100 billion of real estate debt. Dubai is home to the world’s 14th busiest airport, just behind New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport and ahead of Amsterdam’s Schiphol. The number of people passing through the airport in October alone was equal to more than twice the country’s entire population.

Dubai Airports has ambitious plans for expanding. Annual capacity at Dubai International will grow from 60 million passengers to 75 million next year when it dedicates Concourse 3, the world’s only facility dedicated to servicing the Airbus A380, the largest passenger airliner in the world.

Meanwhile, a second airport, the Al-Maktoum International, is under development next door. Al-Maktoum began cargo operations six months ago and will be opening for passenger travel in March 2011.

Dubai Airports is expecting growth to continue at a strong double-digit rate in 2011, with annual passenger traffic jumping 13.1 percent to 52.2 million from a forecast 46.1 million for all of 2010. Dubai’s flag carrier Emirates is counting on its passenger numbers growing 10 percent next year while the discount carrier Flydubai forecasts its traffic doubling.

“Before the end of the decade passenger numbers will approach 90 million making Dubai International the busiest airport in the world in terms of international passenger traffic,” Paul Griffiths, chief executive officer of Dubai Airports, said last week.

But Dubai’s airports – and its airlines — are vulnerable to emerging competition because it is entirely dependent on funneling passengers from Europe and Asia through its airports and sending them on to their final destinations, he said. The airport has no domestic market and a tiny regional one. Indeed, measured by international traffic alone, Dubai rises in the world airport rankings to No. 6.

“They will have competition, the dynamics will definitely change,” Philip Butterworth-Hayes, lead consultant of the aviation advisory firm PMi Media, told The Media Line. “I would look at Indian airlines in particular. Once you have a strong home market like India, you have the ability to capture traffic.”

Dubai has not only benefited from huge investment in its airport and carriers but also from low costs, the absence of environmental constraints to airport expansion and its strategic location. Demand for Europe-Asian travel has grown as European companies focus sales on the growing economies of China and the rest of Asia while newly wealthy Asians have the disposable income to travel to Europe for holidays. Dubai is about 5,500 kilometers (3,400 miles) from London and 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles) from Shanghai.

Adding to world-class airports, Dubai’s state-owned Emirates airlines has been an aggressive competitor, taking market share from hobbled European rivals by adding capacity – the airline has the biggest fleet of the giant A380s on order – and is keeping fares and costs low.

But India could match many of these assets. Mumbai, the country’s commercial capital is about 7,200 kilometers (4,500 miles) from London and 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles) from Shanghai, on top of being a business and tourism destination in its own right.

As India’s economy grows, demand for domestic air travel for its 1 billion people has also increased. Domestic air traffic in India grew 15 percent in October compared with a year ago to 4.6 million passengers, the government said last week. What the country still lacks to take on Dubai is a competitive airline to service an Indian hub, Griffiths said.

“If you were to have an Emirates-like operation in India, you could make it a major hub,” he said. “But they would also benefit from the presence of a huge domestic market.”

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Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates David Rosenberg – The world got its first look Thursday at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed National Museum when backers unveiled architectural renderings of the dramatic 345,000-square-foot structure comprised of five soaring pavilions that mimic the feathers of a falcon’s wing. The project radiates money and prestige, if not a little but of glamour.

The internationally renowned architect Lord Norman Foster is designing the building and the British Museum is lending its expertise. When it opens in 2014 on Saadiyat Island, a sandy patch 500 meters off the Abu Dhabi coast, it will be only one of several world-class cultural attractions that include branches of the Louvre and Guggenheim museums. A prestige golf course, a St. Regis Hotel and a host of other high-end attractions are also slated. The tab for building all this? About $27 billion.

If the plans for Saadiyat Island ring a familiar bell of over-the-top development, the kind that sent Dubai, Abu Dhabi’s next door emirate soaring and then crashing, economists beg to differ. With substantial oil wealth and the lessons learned from Dubai’s experience, the United Arab Emirate’s rising economic power stands a good chance of steering its way through a breakneck growth agenda dubbed Plan Abu Dhabi 2030.

“After the financial crisis they are shifting from real estate. They know that property development alone is not a sustainable growth model over the next five to 10 years,” Jean-Paul Pigat, head of Middle East and North Africa analysis at Business Monitor International, told The Media Line.

Until Dubai World, a quasi-governmental holding company, asked for more time to pay back investors a year ago, Dubai was riding high on luxury real estate development, offices and malls. The emirate, along with Abu Dhabi one of seven that make up the UAE, is now weighed down by debt that may be as much as $100 billion while the property boom has fizzled. The more conservative Abu Dhabi even helped its high-flying brother with a $20 billion aid package last year.

Abu Dhabi still has six hotels opening in 2011, and the tiny emirate is home to three PGA-standard golf courses. But the focus of economic development is on less glamorous projects, like a $5.7 billion aluminum plant; the development of a healthcare center with help from Johns Hopkins University; the Cleveland Clinic; and a host of energy projects.

Abu Dhabi’s state-owned Advanced Technology Investment Co. has taken a majority stake in the semiconductor maker Globalfoundries, which will build a $6 billion plant near Masdar City employing 1,500 people, Ibrahim Ajami, ATI’s chief executive, said in an interview with the UAE’s The National newspaper last week.

The goal is to derive two thirds of its gross domestic product from things other than oil by 2030.

Abu Dhabi also has the added benefit of holding 9 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves — 98.2 million barrels — and 5 percent of the world’s natural gas. It also has enough land to develop without reclaiming it from the Gulf, Robin Teh, director of valuation and research at the international property agency Chesterton International, wrote in The Gulf Times this week.

“Soon, Dubai is likely to have some competition from its neighbor, Abu Dhabi,” Teh said. “Abu Dhabi is in line to offer a greater variety of retail, leisure and recreational activity than most cities in the [Gulf].”

Giyas Gokkent, head of research at Abu Dhabi National Bank, said he didn’t see competition emerging between the two emirates. Much of what Abu Dhabi is developing, such as its airlines and airports and its aluminum industry, is competing with Europe or other non-Gulf economies, not with Dubai, he told The Media Line.

“We’ll have a rapid rail link between the two areas, and if you come back in 15-20 years time you will find a single cosmopolitan area. There will be a merging between Dubai and Abu Dhabi,” he said. “People will fly to Dubai and say, ‘let’s go visit the Guggenheim in Abu Dhabi today.’ It will be a single destination. In Yas Island, there will be theme parks – it will be like an Orlando for the region.”

If Abu Dhabi does have any competition, it may be coming from Qatar, another Gulf country with substantial energy resources, said Pigat of Business Monitor International. Qatar aims to boost its liquefied natural gas export capacity by 12 percent to 77 million metric tons a year. Eventually, it wants to raise total oil and gas output to five million barrels of oil equivalent per day, from 2.8 million last year.

Vast amounts are already being spent on education and sports initiatives, the arts and property development, including a quixotic bid to host the 2022 World Cup.

“In terms of infrastructure spending and growth, Qatar is star performer in the Gulf,” Pigat said. “There is a competition within Gulf over who will become the major hub of political and economic power in the Gulf. Abu Dhabi is competing with the likes of Qatar and Bahrain.”

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Los Angeles, CA, United States (AHN) – “Toy Story 3,” the #1 animated film of the year and world-wide, proved to be a “Toy” audiences want to play with again and again, coming in at #1 on DVD, Blu-ray and rentals after its first week in stores.

“Toy Story 3″ was released on DVD, 2-disc Blu-ray, and Blu-ray and DVD combo pack. The combo pack includes a Blu-ray copy of the film, a second Blu-ray of bonus features, a DVD film copy, and a digital copy for online and handheld use.

“Toy Story 3″ includes over six hours of special features, including commentaries, production featurettes, publicity materials, games, the “Day & Night” theatrical short, and more.

The trilogy (so far) that began in 1995 with Toy Story, the first fully-computer-animated feature film, continued with Toy Story 2 in 1999, its equally breathtaking followup, now completes itself (for the time being) with Toy Story 3.

In the latest adventure for the talking toys, their owner, Andy, goes off to college, seemingly having outgrown Woody, Buzz, and the gang, who are then (with the exception of Woody, who is college bound) donated to the Sunnyside day-care center, where predatory preschoolers manhandle toys like nobody’s business, placing our heroes in real jeopardy, and where some of the seemingly innocuous playthings are, when there are no people around, very much other than what they seem.

The director, Lee Unkrich — who served as the editor of Toy Story and co-directed Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo — works from a screenplay by Michael Arndt, Oscar-winning scenarist of Little Miss Sunshine. Arndt’s script may be the film’s ultimate stroke of genius because it’s not afraid to go dark, exploring as it does mortality and change and fear of abandonment and the emotional toll on beloved creatures who no longer feel loved.

As hilarious as it is heartwarming, this Toy Story, as before, generates both big laughs and earned tears, aimed as squarely at grownups — especially empty nesters — as it is at kids. Everything works like gangbusters, first and foremost the story itself, which is nuanced and layered and thought-provoking.

According to Nielsen VideoScan, “Toy Story 3,” was the top-selling Blu-ray and DVD title for the week ending November 7th. It also made its best Blu-ray showing yet, with 33% of its sales coming from the high-definition format.

It’s Blu-ray showing is a record for an animated title released day-and-date with a DVD. That’s 9% higher than when “Up” was released on both formats last year.

Overall packaged media sales came in at $236.78 million, over 20% from last year during the same date. Blu-ray sales were up a whopping 72.25% from last year, earning $48.33 million.

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Christchurch, New Zealand (AHN) – Since speakers began playing Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s music at the City Centre Mall in Christchurch, New Zealand, the number of petty crimes and anti-social incidents inside the mall fell from 77 incidents a week in October 2008 to just two incidents in the same week a year later.

Not only this, but drug and alcohol-related incidents also fell from 16 in 2008 to zero this year.

“The classical music is soothing on the ear. We try not to play anything with a beat because that is more noticeable. Classical music is known for reducing anti-social behaviour,” according to Central City Business Association manager Paul Lonsdale, told local newspaper the Press, adding that, “It is much more pleasant now. People sit in that area now because they feel safer.”

Mozart was also played in the surrounding streets of Oxford Tce, Manchester, Hereford and Lichfield streets, producing the same results.

Senior Sergeant Gordon Spite, officer in charge of the city centre police beat section, said the music has led to a transformation from chaos to civility, “If you go into an area that is uncared for and knocked around there is a clear message that no-one cares and you can do what you like. There are no rules. The music has had quite a calming affect on things. A more diverse group of people use it now than before.”

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Herzogenaurach, Germany (AHN) – Adidas reported 25 percent growth in its third quarter profits on Thursday, beating analysts’ expectations. The German sports goods manufacturer upgraded its outlook for the full year.

Net income for the period ended Sept. 30 rose to 266 million euros ($378 million), or 1.27 euros a share, from 213 million euros, or 1.03 euros per share, last year.

Sales spiked 20 percent to 3.47 billion euros ($4.9 billion) from 2.89 billion euros in the same quarter a year ago.

Excluding the effects of currency, revenue from the company’s stores rose 16 percent while its wholesale business increased 8 percent.

All regions reported strong performance during the quarter. Revenue in North America jumped 14 percent on a currency-neutral basis, led by a 15 percent rise in sales of the Adidas brand and a 25 percent increase for Reebok.

In China, sales increased 9 percent because of growth of both retail and wholesale businesses.

Gross margin increased to 47.3 percent from 45.3 percent last year.

“Double-digit revenue growth in football, Adidas Sport Style and Reebok year-to-date, as well as a resumption of growth in Greater China in the third quarter all reflect a well-executed 2010 strategy,” chief executive Herbert Hainer said in a statement.

Adidas revised its full-year sale forecast from a mid-single-digit increase to an 8 percent rise, excluding currency effects.

The company said sales and profits will rise at a mid-single-digit rate in the 2011 fiscal year. Earnings per share are expected to grow between 10 percent and 15 percent.

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London, United Kingdom (AHN) – With the NFL’s fourth annual game at Wembley Stadium Sunday, commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the possibility of a London franchise joining the league.

“Each year, the different barometers indicate that our popularity continues to rise,” Goodell told reporters during a Saturday press conference. “I think the next step will be multiple games (in Europe). And if that’s successful then I think the idea of a franchise here is realistic.”

Goodell said two games will eventually be played across the pond, but economic instability kept it to one this season. Though Wembley eventually sold out for this year’s matchup between struggling teams the San Francisco 49ers (1-6) and Denver Broncos (2-5), tickets did not move very quickly.

While Goodell hopes for one team in the near future, NBA Commissioner David Stern is a bit more ambitious. In Miami for the home debut of the newly-minted Heat, Stern suggested an entire European division could be possible within 10 years.

“It’s a wonderful topic, because 10 years ago, I said, ‘Oh, it’s inevitable, it’ll happen in 10 years. And now what I’m saying is, ‘It’s inevitable, it’ll happen in 10 years,’” Stern said at a business leaders’ luncheon the morning after Miami’s 96-70 thrashing of the Magic.

“But in terms of globalization, we’re going to see a desire for franchises in Europe – and in about 10 years, you’ll send me a postcard.”

Stern hopes to follow the NFL’s footsteps by bringing a game to London by 2012, but an actual franchise may be a bit too far-fetched.

Stern said in February the NBA expects to suffer a $400 million loss this season, and the possibility of league contraction could be on the table in upcoming contract talks.

Both leagues have collective bargaining agreements that end following the current season and have not been renewed.

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Boston, MA, United States (AHN) – Jay-Z is adding a new appearance to his schedule. The rapper is appearing in a public service announcement for the nonpartisan organization HeadCount, encouraging people to vote in the midterm elections. The “Vote Again 2010″ spot will air on several major networks, including CBS and Fuse.

HeadCount’s executive director Andy Bernstein, who produced the PSA, is available for interviews to discuss the PSA or the importance of youth voter turnout in the midterm elections. Bernstein recently discussed this topic on Fox Business.

“In a year when there is such negativity in this country, Jay-Z’s positive message is jolting and inspirational,” Bernstein said. “When he told the crowd at Bonnaroo ‘We changed the world,’ it was a truly electric moment. Thousands of people got goosebumps, and I knew it would make an unforgettable PSA.”

The clips of Jay-Z in the PSA were shot during his headlining performance at Bonnaroo on June 12 of this year.

HeadCount, headquartered in Boston, MA, works specifically with musicians to promote youth participation in politics and government. The organization sends volunteer street teams to concerts with the goal of getting concert-goers to register to vote. The group works with 50 artists, including John Mayer, Tom Petty, MGMT, Dave Matthews Band and Jack Johnson. For the presidential election in 2008, HeadCount registered more than 100,000 voters; so far this year, the organization has registered more than 10,000 voters.

More information can be found at the website www.voteagain2010.com.

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