A week before you move, if you are currently renting , confirm when the landlord will collect the keys, check your removal firm/van hire company is all prepared for moving day, contact your local council to suspend parking restrictions during your move and pay your bills for things like milk and newspaper. Also, put together a box of essentials, including light bulbs, breakfast and nightwear, to ease the transition on the first night.

On moving day, check you have left nothing behind, locked and switched off everything necessary and keep a copy of the last meter readings. At your new house, check that everything is as you expected it to be with regards to what has been left behind. Tell your solicitor if not.

Moving preparations start well before a week to go. Decisions have to be made whether or not to use a removals firm, or save money and hire a van (or a man with a van), the utilities and internet connections need to be sorted out – this should be thought about well in advance.

Other things to consider are redirecting the post, telling everyone the new address and organising any tradesmen necessary to disconnect the cooker etc. There is a useful list at NatWest.com

The tourist industry has been given an $11 million boost by airlines and regional and state tourist organisations to encourage more flights to Australia. The Federal Government has also put in $9 million.

Airlines have been having trouble getting bums on seats on international flights as passenger numbers declined. And tourist figures have been declining steadily, with fewer international tourists flights to Sydney. Hotel bookings have also declined and responded by slashing the prices of hotel rooms in order to attract business.

Last October the Federal Government invested $9 million into Tourism Australia for overseas marketing, the most widely known being ‘Best Job in the World’, won by Ben Southall.

Federal Minister for Tourism, Martin Ferguson, blamed the crisis on the swine flu pandemic and the global recession: “We all know that 2009 was a very tough year,” he said. “International visitors to Australia declined by one per cent, compared to an average of about four per cent around the world.”

However he is optimistic that the funding will help the industry to get back on its feet: “When [private organisations] buy in… you’ve actually got a better chance of making it work.”

“It will also fund initiatives to stimulate business travel, which fell away badly in 2009”

This large investment in Australia’s tourism industry is bound to be risky, but now Britain is officially out of  recession, the last European country to do so, the Australian government will be hoping that their investment will pay off and the tourist industry will start to show growth.

Last week Spain proposed that the EU set binding economic goals for its member countries, with penalties for those that don’t meet the targets. So Europeans anxious about recession and unemployment can relax—if Spain’s Prime Minister José Luis Rodriquez Zapatero has his way, these inconveniences will soon be forbidden.

What an excellent idea. I was planning to go to Spain, hire a car and travel about a bit. If not making a profit is made illegal, it might be worth moving over there because employment will be 0%, the cost of living will effectively go down as everyone will be over-performing and receive huge pay rises every year. I hear Malaga has some great golf courses and its an excellent way to learn the language. I previously thought that golf ruined a good walk, but not having ever tried it, that’s probably a bit unfair. After all, golf is a good way to get out and meet the rich and famous.

A lovely bouquet of flowers always goes down well on Valentines Day – not only for girlfriends and boyfriends, but parents and grandparents too. Flowers are appreciated any time of year and shouldn’t just be for Valentines day, but if a friend needs needs cheering up, why not give them Valentines flowers.

One of the most popular gifts at this time of year for ladies is lingerie, which can be a bit of a minefield, especially if it is early days in the relationship. Gentlemen going down this route, at least go shopping with her size and don’t be afraid to ask for help from the assistants – they assist tens of people a day and have heard it all before.

If cash is in short supply, there is a cheaper alternatives to going out…. Stay in!

Cook a meal at home. For those less inclined in the culinary department, there are ‘dine-in’ offers from the major retailers, as long as you can switch on the oven and operate a timer, it should be pretty straight forward.

A slightly more expensive option is to get a takeaway delivered. Of course they don’t come with drinks generally, so this will have to be bought in advance.

If there is a group of you, spread the cost by asking everyone to bring something for the meal, or maybe a game or dvd. If there isn’t a gaming console to play on, invest in a pack of cards and choose from hundreds of games. Money can be substituted for sweets or matches to keep it fun.

The Burj Khalifa has been named after the President of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan as he was a major contributor in the financial rescue of Dubai. In its short history, the Burj has already been making the headlines. Base jumpers launched themselves from its summit to create a new basejump record and a whole new technology has been designed in order to keep it clean.

Cleaning the 24,830 reflective windows of the Burj is quite a technological challenge to which Australian company Cox Gomyl designed a bespoke solution. Twelve machines, each weighing 13 tonnes, attach themselves to the outside of the building using a type of rail. Each carousel carries 36 cleaners which then clean the windows manually.  The machines cost a total of $7.3 million and should take an estimates three months to clean the entire building.

The lifts in the building are another technological marvel. They move at a staggering 26mph, but like other tall buildings, stop regularly to allow passengers to catch their breath on their journey to the 828m summit.

Four thousand fans of advanced design are employed to cool the Burj in the desert heat.

The species identified are not necessarily those most endangered, but were chosen by the UCN because they are well researched ‘flagship’ species at risk from a variety of climate change effects such as ocean acidification and beach erosion.

For a complete list of the species with pictures, see the National Geographic page.

Many of the species mentioned are already on the UCN’s Red List of Threatened Species as they are endangered in other ways such as destruction of habitat and over harvesting, making climate change a substantial additional threat.

The list is comprised of:-

1. Ringed seals – depend on summer sea ice for survival
2. Emperor penguins – crumbling Antarctic ice shelves threaten breeding colonies
3. Clownfish – depend on declining coral reefs caused by climate change
4. Quiver tress – rising average temperatures are causing mass die-offs of this species
5. Salmon – increased snow melt in the winter will mean faster flowing rivers in winter, removing eggs from river beds and reduced flow rate in the summer could lead to a loss of habitat for adults in summer
6. Artic fox – a warmer climate encourages red foxes to encroach onto their range and endanger the habitat of their prey
7. Leatherback sea turtles – warmer temperatures would mean a disproportionate number of females produced, coupled with the problems of nesting beaches more prone to erosion from increasingly violent storms
8. Beluga whale – sea ice decline would allow humans better access to their habitat, threatening numbers
9. Koalas – rising CO2 levels are decreasing the nutritional value of the eucalyptus leaves they depend on
10. Staghorn coral – a combination of bleaching and ocean acidification due to climate change is putting this species at risk

Prices are so competitive that a family of four could stay a week in a self catering in a 3 bedroom Orlando house, with swimming pool, flights, USA car hire and a ‘kids eat free’ restaurant card for £2,180. A similar stay in Spain in a 1 bedroom apartment with no extras costs £1,910.

Some US travel companies, expecting a downturn in business due to the recession, were pleasantly surprised to find that bookings had increased year on year. The largest gain was in the self catering market, perhaps because it is the most economical for families and groups and allows them to stay together.

2010 is shaping up to be just as successful with continued competitive pricing. Couples can go to Orlando for a 10 day or 2 week break for £500 pp in January, whilst families can save up to £1500 on a trip to Walt Disney World Resort if they book before the end of the year.

Russia and China are championing the cause of the developing nations that richer countries should bear the heavier responsibility for reducing emissions. Russian  President Dmitry Medvedev wrote on his website:-

“I also think that we need to use a differentiated approach in determining the commitments of developed and developing countries. We are all in different situations,” he said.

“These commitments must not conflict with economic opportunities or, most importantly, the development priorities of each country. It’s obvious that the young industrialized economies will be a greater drain on energy resources than the postindustrial powers that have already developed their economies.”

Jiang Yu, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said that developed countries have “put forward a plethora” of demands on developing countries and that this “will hamper the Copenhagen conference.”

What is most surprising about the position taken by Russia and China is that they are generally considered to be industrialised, developed countries themselves these days.

The developing nations walked out of the Copenhagen climate change talks on Sunday for five hours over the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which they want changed to a two tier system when it expires in 2012. This system would give developing countries a special deal as they become more industrialised. Other nations are against this, preferring a single agreement to fight the effects of climate change. The walkout ended when conference organisers agreed to form pairs of ministers from each side in an attempt to bridge differences.

President Obama has now arranged to attend the conference at its close, rather than earlier in the week, but time is fast running out for any Copenhagen agreement at all. EU Commission Chief Jose Manuel Barroso asked “How are we going to look Friday or Saturday if there are more than 100 heads of state and government from all over the world, and what we say to the world is that it was not possible to come to an agreement?”. A very good question.

Now commercial and fleet buyers who use electric cars will be exempt from company car tax, electric vans from a van benefit charge for five years, plus the cost of the van can be recovered from corporation tax in the first year. Businesses are expected to be keen to take on electric vehicles as they face mounting pressure to cut emissions and also it is relatively easy for commercial owners to implement recharging facilities.

Private buyers of electric cars will benefit from a tax break of between £2 – 5K from this year, but manufacturers and industry analysts believe that further government subsidies will be required to support this in the first years after launch to offset the higher costs of electric vehicles.

Businesses welcomed the move on Wednesday after a period of speculation:

“This will make business buyers much more interested in electric cars and vans,” said Paul Everitt, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association’s chief executive, John Lewis, said: “We are really pleased that the chancellor has listened to our call to modernise the business tax regime and give a clear, long-term incentive for companies willing to be early adopters of electric cars and vans.”

Many workers had their flights to Dubai paid for by their employers, who subsequently confiscated their passports. A large number of workers moved to Dubai to help their families escape poverty in  places such as Bangladesh and it is these workers who are likely to bear the brunt of Dubai’s current financial difficulties. Migrant workers built Dubai and now clean the streets and keep most of its institutions running. It is hard to imagine what would happen if the labour force was no longer there.

Dubai World is one of the largest government owned companies facing debt problems and this is causing anxiety to workers fearing they are to be sent home. Unpaid salaries are another big problem in the region as Dubai residency is dependent on either having a job or a bank account.  If you don’t have either, yo can be sent home.

Workers are often reluctant to speak openly about the problems to the media as those caught can be accused of tarnishing the image of Dubai and get thrown out of the country.

Dubai hasn’t let the question of whether Dubai World will be able to pay back its debt repayment, due on 14th December, get in the way of celebrating United Arab Emirates National Day. Flags were flying and the traditional black dresses of the women were embroidered with national colours.