U.S. office landlords had the first
net increase in occupied space in three years in the fourth
quarter, a sign the market is beginning to recover, said Reis
Inc., a New York-based property-research firm.

Office buildings added 2.5 million square feet (232,000
square meters) of occupied space in the fourth quarter, compared
with a loss of 14 million square feet a year earlier, Reis said
in its report. It was the first rise in net absorption since the
fourth quarter of 2007.

The office vacancy rate was unchanged from the third
quarter at 17.6 percent, remaining at the highest level since
1993, as supply also increased. The last time vacancies didn’t
rise quarter to quarter was in the third quarter of 2007,
according to Reis. Vacancies stood at 17 percent a year earlier.

“Vacancy has finally appeared to have stabilized,” Ryan
Severino, an economist at Reis, said in the firm’s quarterly
survey of the office market. While the leasing environment
remains “difficult,” vacancies are more likely to fall than
rise in coming quarters, he said.

The market has benefited from a pickup in the economy, Reis
said. Sales at retailers rose more than expected in November
while manufacturing expanded in December at the fastest pace in
seven months. Growth has been hindered as companies remain
reluctant to boost hiring 18 months after the end of the
recession. The unemployment rate rose to a seven-month high of
9.8 percent in November as payroll growth slowed to 39,000 from
172,000 in the prior month, according to the Labor Department.

Effective rents, or what tenants actually pay, fell to an
average $22.09 per square foot from $22.43 a year earlier, Reis
said. They were up from $22.04 in the third quarter, the first
quarter-to-quarter increase in effective rents since 2008’s
second quarter.

Asking Rents

Landlords’ asking rents dropped to $27.53 a foot from
$27.79 a year earlier and were up from $27.50 in the third
quarter, according to Reis. It was the first quarterly increase
in asking rents since the third quarter of 2008.

“The increase in asking rents is a positive development
and demonstrates that landlords finally feel confident enough
about their prospects to move beyond simply adjusting
concessions,” Severino said.

A total of 2.3 million square feet of new office space came
to market in the fourth quarter, the lowest since Reis began
publishing quarterly data in 1999.

New York

“These are only the nascent stages of a recovery in the
office market,” Severino said. Improvement in the office market
will reflect what happens in the economy and labor market, where
growth remains “inconsistent,” he said.

New York office vacancies declined to 11.4 percent from
11.6 percent in the third quarter and effective rents rose 1.5
percent from the prior quarter, Reis said. Washington maintained
the lowest vacancy rate at 9.9 percent, while Detroit had the
highest vacancy at 26.9 percent.

The number of markets that registered quarterly effective
rent declines fell to 40 out of 79 in the quarter from 46 out of
79 in the third quarter, Reis said.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Hui-yong Yu in Seattle at
hyu@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Kara Wetzel at
kwetzel@bloomberg.net

THE Met Office has been accused of giving ministers early warning of a
dramatically cold winter but keeping the public in the dark for a whole
month.

It warned the Government in October to expect an exceptional early freeze but
only made the warning public a month later.

It raises questions over whether the public, transport networks and councils
could have been better prepared if warned of the Big Freeze sooner.

The chill caused chaos just before Christmas with airports and roads closed,
faltering fuel deliveries, cancelled rubbish collections and trains stranded
on lines overnight.

The agency’s longer-term announcements were scrapped in March after it faced
widespread criticism following a series of gaffes.

They included predicting a barbecue summer in 2009 which became a washout and
a forecasted “mild winter” turned into one of the coldest in 30 years.

BBC environment analyst Roger Harrabin said the Met Office had kept the
predictions secret because it was embarrassed by its earlier mistakes, and
instead of a seasonal forecast stuck to looking only a month ahead.

Mr Harrabin said: “With Britain shivering through a third winter in a row,
shouldn’t the weather forecasters have warned us well in advance? Why didn’t
the Met Office tell us?

“The truth is it did suspect we were in for an exceptionally cold early
winter, and told the Cabinet Office so in October.

“But we weren’t let in on the secret because the Met Office no longer
publishes its seasonal forecasts due to the ridicule it suffered for
predicting a barbecue summer in 2009.”

The Met Office the BBC’s official forecaster denied failing to
share October’s prediction because of the risk of embarrassment.

A Met Office spokesman said: “In late October we informed the Cabinet office
that there were early indications of a cold start to winter.

“Following public research we were told that a monthly outlook would be
of more use which is why we now have the 6-15 day and 16-30 day forecast on
our website.”

The Cabinet Office said the “information is shared as appropriate between
departments and with local responders” but could not say how October’s
forecast was shared.

Roger Harrabin, an environment analyst at the BBC, told the Radio Times: “The
trouble is that we simply don’t know how much to trust the Met Office. How
often does it get the weather right and wrong. And we don’t know how it
compares with other, independent forecasters.

“Can we rely on them if we are planning a garden party at the weekend? Or want
to know if we should take a brolly with us tomorrow? Or planning a holiday
next week?

“In a few year��s time hopefully we’ll all have a better idea of whom to trust.
By then the Met Office might have recovered enough confidence to share with
us its winter prediction of whether to buy a plane ticket or a toboggan.”

The decision to publish the assessment was welcomed by rival forecasters.

Piers Corbyn, the owner of WeatherAction, an independent forecaster, said:
“This is a step in the right direction. The Met Office has got it repeatedly
and yet it remains the public service forecaster. There needs to be greater
competition. I hope this will encourage but it is vital that the assessors
and their measurements are independent and objective.”

The Met Office stopped making its long-term forecasts public in March after a
series of major gaffes.

In 2009 a predicted ���barbecue summer” became a washout, while a subsequent
forecast of a “mild winter” turned out to be one of the coldest in 30 years.

This winter, however, its seasonal forecast proved more accurate. Mr Harrabin
said: “Why didn’t the Met Office tell us that Greenland was about to swap
weather with Godalming? The truth is it [The Met Office] did suspect we were
in for an exceptionally cold early winter, and told the Cabinet Office so in
October. But we weren’t let in on the secret.

“The reason? The Met Office no longer publishes its seasonal forecasts because
of the ridicule it suffered for predicting a barbecue summer in 2009 – the
summer that campers floated around in their tents.”

Edmund King, President of the AA, said the Met Office had a “public duty” to
publish its seasonal forecasts. He said that according to a recent AA survey
ofಔ,000 of its members only 3% of motorists bought winter tyres.

He said: “The Met Office has a public duty to tell us its forecasts so that we
can prepare for adverse weather. As it was many motorists were caught out.”

A spokesman for the Met Office said: “In late October we informed the Cabinet
office that there were early indications of a cold start to winter.
Following public research we were told that a monthly outlook would be of
more use which is why we now have the 6-15 day and 16-30 day forecast on our
website.��

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States on Monday sharply criticized Belarus for ordering the closure of the OSCE office in Minsk, saying it was a “step backwards” for democracy and human rights in the country.

Belarus on Friday ordered the closure of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) office in Minsk, in an apparent response to the transatlantic security group’s stinging criticism of its presidential polls.

“The United States deeply regrets the government of Belarus’s decision to terminate the mission of the OSCE office in Minsk,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.

“It was founded to assist the Belarusian government in institution-building, promoting the rule of law, and encouraging outreach to civil society. And the mandate of that mission is not completed, as the OSCE’s critical assessment of the presidential elections indicates,” he said.

“Unfortunately, this is a step backwards in the development of democratic government and the respect for human rights in Belarus,” Crowley added.

The move to close the office came as Belarus held hundreds of opposition supporters arrested in the mass protest against the December 19 polls swept by President Alexander Lukashenko in a crackdown decried by the West.

In Minsk, foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Savinykh said his government had decided to end the OSCE office’s mandate because “of the lack of objective reasons for retaining an OSCE mission in Belarus.”

Giving the rationale for the closure, he said only that the office’s mandate “had been fulfilled”.

But the move comes after OSCE monitors said after the polls that Belarus is still “a considerable way” from holding democratic elections.

OSCE monitors issued a damning report on the presidential polls that listed a litany of vote count violations, saying its observers assessed the tally “as bad and very bad” in almost half of all observed polling stations.

BEIJING (Hollywood Reporter) – China’s box office gross sales rose 61% in 2010 to $1.47 billion, boosted by Hollywood imports such as “Avatar,” local hits such as “Aftershock,” local media said Monday citing a leading media regulator.

From January through December, China’s moviegoers bought tickets worth 10 billion yuan, up from the 6.2 billion yuan ($908 million) they spent on the movies in 2Ǡ9, Wang Taihua, director of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, told China Daily.

Wang said China made 500 films in 2010, ranking the nation third behind Bollywood and Hollywood in terms of annual film output, according to a story in the state-run English-language newspaper. This was 100 films fewer than SARFT said were made in China in 2009.

Although much of the gain in China’s box office ticket sales came from Hollywood imports such as “Avatar” — which grossed $204 million in China alone — Wang said many Chinese-made films also had been commercial and critical successes, citing director Feng Xiaogang’s film “Aftershock” as an example.

“Aftershock” – in which a mother and daughter rebuild their relationship 32 years after they were separated by the 1976 Tangshan earthquake – became China’s highest-grossing homegrown film of all time, raking in more than 660 million yuan.

China’s 2010 box office growth coincided with the addition of an average of three new theatrical screens each day, bringing the nation’s total to 5,690 screens in about 1,800 cinemas, Wang said.

The first half of the year got off to a lightning fast start with gross box office sales up 86%, China Film Group data showed.

Industry research showed that a disproportionate amount of that sales growth came from the premium paid for increasingly popular 3D screenings of Hollywood imports such as “Avatar” and “Alice in Wonderland.”

China’s screen count is far smaller than the 40,000 in nearly 6,000 cinemas that currently serve the U.S., where the population is less than a quarter as large.

However, 2010 annual gross box office revenue was projected to hit $11 billion – 7.5 times greater than China’s take.

Ranked No. 2 in the world, Japan’s annual 2010 box office gross was expected to be tallied at $2.5 billion.

China’s media regulators expect China will overtake Japan in box office sales by 2015.

After the Bell

Before the Bell

Booyah! Newsletter

ETF Daily

BOCA RATON, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Office Depot (NYSE:ODP – News), a leading global provider of office supplies
and services, today announced it is celebrating members of its Star
Teacher Program from January 2 – 8, 2011. The Office Depot Star
Teacher Program invites teachers to join and be rewarded with special
promotions, discounts and offers year round. For one week in early
January, Star Teachers will receive extra savings as part of the
designated Star Teacher Appreciation Days!

From January 2 to January 8, Star
Teacher members will receive the following benefits:

• 100% back in Rewards on Select Supplies;
• 50% back in Rewards on Copy
  & Print Depot™ services in addition to Star Teacher’s normal
  15% instant discount; and
• 10% off INSTANTLY on qualifying in-store purchases.

And these benefits are more critical than ever. According to a recent
survey by the National School Supply and Equipment Association, on
average teachers spend $398 on classroom supplies and $538 on
instructional materials annually, totaling $936. Overall, 92 percent of
teachers spend their own money on supplies for their classrooms.*

“Teachers continue to make significant commitments to their students and
classrooms,” said Adriana Vethencourt, Director of Loyalty Marketing for
Office Depot. “And with the start of the new year, teachers need help
purchasing the right supplies. The Star Teacher Appreciation Days we are
hosting in all of our stores in early January is just one more way for
Office Depot to help out.”

About the Office Depot Star Teacher Program

The Office Depot Star Teacher Program, launched in 2003, provides
members with special promotions, discounts and offers to help teachers
stretch their classroom budgets in these challenging economic times.
Pre-K through 12th grade classroom teachers are eligible to be members
of the Office Depot Star Teacher program. Enrollment in the Star Teacher
Program is FREE and can be done at any Office Depot store. Ask a store
associate for details or visit www.school.com
or www.mystarteacher.com
for more information.

Star Teacher Program benefits include 10 percent back on ink, toner and
paper purchases, an instant 15 percent off Copy & Print Depot services,
plus an additional one percent back on nearly everything else.**

About Office Depot

Every day, Office Depot is Taking Care of Business for millions of
customers around the globe. For the local corner store as well as
Fortune 500 companies, Office Depot provides products and services to
its customers through 1,600 worldwide retail stores, a dedicated sales
force, top-rated catalogs and a Ŭ.1 billion e-commerce operation.
Office Depot has annual sales of approximately $12.1 billion, and
employs about 41,000 associates around the world. The Company provides
more office products and services to more customers in more countries
than any other company, and currently sells to customers directly or
through affiliates in 53 countries.

Office Depot’s common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange
under the symbol ODP. Additional press information can be found at: http://mediarelations.officedepot.com.

*The National School Supply and Equipment Association (NSSEA)
released the 2008 NSSEA Retail Market Awareness Study. This study,
conducted by Perry Research Professionals, reports on teachers’
knowledge of parent-teacher stores, including their spending patterns,
funding sources, shopping preferences, and factors that influence their
purchasing decisions. For more information on NSSEA, please visit www.nssea.org.

**10% Rewards exclude postage stamps and HP ink and toner, 1% rewards
are granted on qualifying purchases and certain exclusions apply.
Rewards are paid quarterly in the form of an Office Depot reward card
when you earn a minimum of $10 in rewards. Rewards carry over from
quarter to quarter in a calendar year. Visit www.mystarteacher.com
for full details.

BOCA RATON, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), a leading global provider of office supplies
and services, is helping businesses get organized in the new year with a
new promotion aimed at finding “America’s Messiest Office.”

“We are in the midst of National Get Organized Month, and Office Depot
wants to help our customers kick off the new year with a commitment to
getting organized”

From January 2nd through January 31st, customers can upload a photo of
their messy, unorganized office space or desk to Office Depot’s Facebook
page (www.facebook.com/officedepot)
for a chance to win a wide selection of great prizes.

The grand prize winner of “America’s Messiest Office” sweepstakes will
win a $10,000 office makeover. Additionally, 10 visitors daily will win
a $100 Office Depot gift card, and everyone who submits a messy office
photo will receive a special Office Depot coupon good for a future
purchase.

Visitors to Office Depot’s “America’s Messiest Office” Facebook tab will
also be able to view and post comments on other messy office photos,
browse and purchase a wide assortment of organizational products, and
take in some helpful tips on getting the home office organized for the
new year.

“We are in the midst of National Get Organized Month, and Office Depot
wants to help our customers kick off the new year with a commitment to
getting organized,�� said Jeff Herbert, Senior Vice President of
Marketing for Office Depot. “Through this exciting new promotion, one
lucky winner will walk away with a dream office that is sure to help
them work smarter in the new year.���

Office Depot has a great line-up of “must have” products to help
business professionals get and stay organized in the New Year. Featured
products include:

Desktop Organization

• Realspace® Organizing Solutions: Stay organized and work
  smarter with this functional and stylish line of desktop accessories
  by Realspace®. Perfect for the home office, you can keep your papers,
  documents, and technology organized and easily accessible.
• At-A-Glance® Desk Calendar: Stay organized and
  productive with this simple desktop calendar from At-A-Glance®.
  Features QuickNotes® column for lists, notes, and to-do’s.
• Super Sticky Post-it® Notes: Great for jotting down
  reminders, messages or quick notes, the unique super-sticky
  adhesive sticks to virtually any surface.

Files and Storage

• Smead® SuperTab® File Folders: Find your
  important documents quickly with the innovative line of Smead®
  SuperTab® file folders. Tabs have 90 percent more room for easy-to-see
  labeling.
• Wilson Jones® Single-Touch Locking Binders: Tired of messing
  around trying to open and close the rings on that old binder? The new
  Wilson Jones® Single-Touch Locking Binders feature a single-touch ring
  trigger to make filing a breeze!
• Three Drawer Cart: These convenient rolling storage carts
  include organizer tops that accommodate everyday office supplies and
  accessories. Clear drawers allow you to quickly identify contents.
• Office Depot File Totes: Not sure what to do with those stacks
  of paper on your desk? Office Depot File Totes keep your documents
  protected and you can easily retrieve papers with the slide out
  drawers.

Top Tech Picks

• DYMO LabelWriter® 450 Turbo: This innovative label maker
  from DYMO is an essential for any home office. Not only can you label
  your files and boxes, but this device also prints U.S. Postal
  Service-approved stamps, shipping and return labels!
• Swingline™ Stack and Shred™ Shredder: The new Swingline™
  EX100-ǧ Stack and Shred™ automatic cross-cut shredder lets you
  shred documents safely and securely. Just toss in up to 100 sheets of
  paper, close the lid, and go!
• Lexmark™ P-705 Wireless All-in-One Printer, Copier, Scanner, Fax: Wireless-N
  networking lets you print from virtually anywhere in your home or
  office – all at speeds of up to 33 pages per minute.
• NeatReceipts® Portable Scanner: Don’t waste your valuable time
  looking around for old receipts come tax time. With this stylish,
  portable scanner from NeatReceipts®, you can scan and archive receipts
  from business expenses instantly!
• Seagate® GoFlex��� External Portable Hard Drive: Backup,
  store and organize your important digital files – all in a single,
  secure location with this sleek and portable hard drive from Seagate.
• Cisco Valet™ Wireless Router: Install a home office wireless
  connection in just minutes with the Cisco Valet™ wireless
  router. For an extra smart office, use your Cisco Valet™
  wireless router to connect your printer to your home network for
  wireless printing from anywhere in the house.

Office Essentials

• Cleaning and Breakroom: Get your year off to a “Smart Start”
  with a clean office – and keep it that way all year long! Office Depot
  carries a wide assortment of everyday cleaning products such as
  Windex, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, Lysol disinfectant, Scott paper
  towels, Glad garbage bags, and Purell hand sanitizer.
• Sharpie® Writing Instruments: Uncap what’s inside with
  Sharpie® pens that do not bleed through paper, liquid pencils that
  won’t break your flow, and highlighters that won’t smear.
• Ativa® Mobil-ITâ�� Ultimate Collection Business Cases: Designed
  and engineered to support the needs of mobile workers, these high tech
  cases come in a variety of styles ranging from rolling overnighters
  for the business traveler to tech messenger bags for the gadget guru.

Business and Tax Software

• H&R Block® At Home™ Tax Software: Don’t let taxes
  sneak up on you this year without a plan! For those who have
  investments, own a home or make charitable donations, you’ll find the
  tax guidance you need with H&R Block® At Home™ Deluxe,
  including one free Federal e-file.
• QuickBooks® Pro 2011: Advanced tools included within
  this must-have software help your business succeed! Complete with
  access to more than 100 custom reports, you will have unparalleled
  insights into your business performance.

To learn more about the small business products and services available
at Office Depot, please visit your local Office Depot retail
store location or www.officedepot.com.
To become a fan of Office Depot on Facebook and receive exclusive
content, offers and more, please visit www.facebook.com/officedepot.
To follow Office Depot on Twitter, please visit www.twitter.com/officedepot.

About Office Depot

Every day, Office Depot is Taking Care of Business for millions of
customers around the globe. For the local corner store as well as
Fortune 500 companies, Office Depot provides products and services to
its customers through 1,600 worldwide retail stores, a dedicated sales
force, top-rated catalogs and a $4.1 billion e-commerce operation.
Office Depot has annual sales of approximately $12.1 billion, and
employs about 41,000 associates around the world. The Company provides
more office products and services to more customers in more countries
than any other company, and currently sells to customers directly or
through affiliates in 53 countries.

Office Depot��s common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange
under the symbol ODP. Additional press information can be found at: http://mediarelations.officedepot.com.