The massive rains that have been hitting central Europe the past few days have seen water levels spike in the major rivers in the region to heights reaching the deadly floods of 2002.
Follows the ancestor worship in some local people to make sacrifices to a god the activity, implores the New Year good crop weather, safe, abundant harvest.
The implication is a sharp decline in global trade, which has plunged partly because oil-producing nations can't afford to import as much as they used to.
The results of the company's cost-cutting measures are evident in its profits, which increased five percent during the first three months of this year after it fell over the last two years.
Even if the property market cools, hot money could simply switch to the stock market, which has ridden a roller coaster of booms and busts over the past two decades.
Dear Annie: One of my goals in the coming year is to spend more time with my wife and kids, whom I've badly neglected over the past few months because of work.