According to Lloyds TSB, the typical British household has £5,000 in savings and investments. This compares to over £19,000 in China.

German households, meanwhile, have average savings of almost £9,000.

UK and China

The bank said that the “remarkable” findings reflect the fact that there is no “social safety net” in China, such as state pensions and benefits, meaning that families must provide for themselves financially.

Lloyds TSB also said that the so-called savings ratio in the UK – that is a person’s savings as a proportion of their disposable income – has been falling over the last decade.

Currently, Britons save around 7 per cent of their disposable income. This compares with 47 per cent in China.

Greg Coughlan, head of savings at Lloyds TSB, said: “Despite significantly higher income levels, today’s British and German households are both being roundly beaten in the savings stakes by urban Chinese households.”

Dr Karl Gerth, author of As China Goes, So Goes the World: How Chinese Consumers are Transforming Everything and a lecturer in modern Chinese history at Merton College, Oxford, said that Chinese people save out of necessity because they have to pay for healthcare, education, housing and their retirement.

“It has nothing to do with ancient Confucian wisdom and all to do with contemporary realities,” said Dr Gerth.

He said that savings levels among young Chinese people are far lower than among their parents’ generation.

“In China, young people are learning to spend,” he said.

Lloyds TSB’s findings were based on over 3,000 interviews with adults in the UK, China and German.

telegraph.co.uk

Spain’s Prado art museum said Wednesday it had discovered an unusual copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s “La Gioconda,” painted by one of the master’s pupils at the same time that the original was being completed.

The copy had been on display at the Madrid art museum for years without experts being aware of its importance.

A routine restoration led experts to discover that the dark background behind the female figure popularly known as Mona Lisa had been added afterward and that it covered an Italian landscape similar to that in da Vinci’s original.

The stunning find of what the Prado now says is probably the earliest known copy of “La Gioconda” will give art lovers and experts an idea of what the Mona Lisa looked like back in the 16th century, said Gabriele Finaldi, the museum’s deputy director collections.

“It is as if we were in the same studio, standing at the next easel,” he said.

TheStar.com

Pippa Middleton might get a royal title of her own!

British tabloid The Sun claims that Duchess Kate’s sexy sister is in a serious relationship with her longtime pal George Percy — an Earl worth $400 million who will one day be the Duke of Northumberland.

Middleton, 28, and Percy, 27, have been friends since their college days at Edinburgh University. Pippa and George have been photographed together numerous times — including a summer 2011 weekend trip with pals in Spain — but the Sun reports that things became romantic during a New Year’s Eve bash thrown by the Middleton family.

Middleton and beau of two years, banker Alex Loudon, called it quits for good last fall.

As the future duke, Percy (who was a royal page to Kate’s grandmother-in-law Queen Elizabeth) will be entitled to 100,000 acres, 100 tenanted farms, a country estate in Surrey and a mansion in London, the Sun reports. Perhaps the most stunning property in the family is Alnwick Castle, which was used in the Harry Potter films as Hogwarts School.

If Middleton were to marry Percy, she would one day enjoy the title of Duchess.

Percy is “completely in love with her,” a source is quoted in the Sun as saying.

USMagazine.com

Roseanne Barr is officially vying to be president of the United States. And she’s got the paperwork to prove this isn’t a punchline.

The comedienne registered with the Federal Election Commission in late January to run for the Green Party nomination, the Los Angeles Times reports.

“Both the Democratic and Republican parties are bought and paid for by corporate America and cater to the needs of the highest bidder as opposed to the people they claim to represent,” Barr said in a statement on Green Party Watch. She adds that she’s been “a tireless advocate of Occupy Wall Street” since its beginning.

Barr announced her presidential bid (for the second time) on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” in August.

In a presidential nomination poll conducted on Green Party Watch, Barr received 29 percent of the vote, a distant second to Jill Stein, one of three opponents she’ll face at the Green Party’s nomination convention in July.

Does the sitcom queen really expect to be nominated? Not so much. She wrote on Twitter, “I run in support of The Green Party & probably of Jill Stein—hopefully I can be of service by speaking on media about a viable choice 4 voters.” A Vice President Barr also doesn’t seem to be in the cards: “jill has already named a vice. i’m just in it to support the greens and their fine american message.”

Unless, of course, the voters appreciate her straightforward campaign slogan — “vote for me, I’ll fix this [expletive]!” — and demand a President Barr.

WashingtonPost.com

The worst part about Josh Hamilton’s relapse is that he didn’t care. The most famous addict in sports does not go to a bar in the town where he is best known without full knowledge that his exploits will become public in a matter of hours. That it took three full days for Hamilton’s latest relapse to go viral – and that incriminating pictures have yet to surface – is something of a miracle.

What we know at the moment, from the Dallas Morning News report and confirmation by the Texas Rangers, is that Hamilton drank Monday. The particulars – was he drunk, why did he drink and was he really letting women at the bar grab his butt? – don’t matter as much as the act. With addicts they never do. Sobriety is black and white. Black won Monday.

That it prevailed in such open fashion is what should scare Hamilton’s family as well as the Rangers. Only Hamilton understands why he would choose such a setting to drink, whether it was the empowerment of doing what he wants, where he wants, when he wants, or if it was his way of asking for help as he floats about without an accountability partner. After his spectacular fall off the wagon in January 2009 that included pictures of him licking whipped cream off a woman’s fake breasts, Hamilton knew the second alcohol touched his lips he was vulnerable not only to its seductive ways but to the gossipy culture that is making secrets an anachronism.

Hamilton does care, of course, even if for the tiniest sliver of time it eluded him. He has said so to me and to his friends and to millions of people who see him for what addicts can achieve, and there’s no reason not to believe him. A temporary slip in that does not represent weakness. It is a symptom of addiction’s vagaries. And those moments are the toughest for every addict to confront. Some reach that nadir and stop. Others fight and claw and battle and cave. Hamilton has seen some lows. Falling asleep in a ditch whacked out on crack. Being immortalized in a Deadspin photo montage. The devil in him is strong.

And because he can’t beat it – because even though he’s got the greatest job in the world and a newborn daughter and so very much, it’s just not that easy – the severity of the consequences are hastening.

That long-term contract Hamilton wanted from the Rangers? Gone. It has to be. Already the Rangers had shown little inclination to lock up long-term a player who two years ago won the American League MVP award despite missing the final month. Texas, like most other clubs, fears Hamilton’s body, brittle from his years of drug abuse, won’t hold up. Whatever leverage Hamilton held is kaput, and only the madness of free agency will land him a payday.

All it takes is one screw-up, one moment different than the millions of good ones, and an addict self-inflicts another scar. Like Hamilton said when acknowledging his wild night out three years ago, “Some people it just don’t mix with, and I’m one of those people.”

Hamilton’s forthrightness about his struggles – his honesty about the night three years ago, about the depths of his addiction – means he almost certainly will talk publicly about this. And as he is so good at doing, Hamilton will placate the sadness that permeates his fan base today through words of encouragement and strength and hosannas to how through God’s help and his family’s love he’ll persevere and win this lifelong battle.

That’s all addicts can offer. There will be those who call them hypocritical or weak-minded or full of excuses. Such ignorance never ceases. Sobriety for those who struggle the most is merely a moment between relapses – hopefully a moment longer than the last, one that eventually lasts forever.

Hamilton has lasted three years, and once again in the middle of an offseason he failed. Like last time, too, it was in full view for everyone to witness. Only now the stakes are higher, the money bigger, the team better – and the sober clock back at zero.

Whether Hamilton needs rehab or someone to babysit him or nothing at all is up to him, though that decision comes with consequences. For addicts, every decision does because every decision ultimately leads back to the most vital thing in their life: sobriety. It is their sine qua non. A sober Josh Hamilton is a role model, a paragon of perseverance, a pillar for addicts trapped in dark tunnels.

Sober, he is great.

On Monday, when he wasn’t, he was just another guy who didn’t care.

Yahoo.com

Nationwide said that house prices dropped by a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent last month after a similar decline in December, and are just 0.6 percent up on a year earlier.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected prices to remain flat on the month, giving an annual rise of 1.4 percent.

UK housing market

“The weakness in buyer demand is partly a reaction to the uncertain outlook for the economy, especially the labour market. But affordability is also part of the explanation – in particular, finding a sufficient deposit,” said Nationwide’s chief economist, Robert Gardner.

Britain’s housing market, formerly a major driver of consumer spending, has been extremely sluggish since the start of the financial crisis, a point reinforced by Bank of England mortgage data on Tuesday.

Nationwide said that the average first-time buyer now opted to put down a 20 percent deposit, compared to 10 percent in early 2008. Mortgages with lower deposit requirements are available, but tend to carry punitive interest rates.

However, for those home-buyers able to find a 20 percent deposit, low interest rates mean that servicing a mortgage is now cheaper than four years ago and close to its long-run average, with initial payments now costing 31 percent of take-home pay, down from 46 percent in 2008.

uk.reuters.com

The January transfer window passed with very little activity at Liverpool, and Joe Cole has revealed there were no talks with the club regarding his long-term future.

Cole is currently on a season-long loan at Lille, where he is reviving his career after a disastrous time under former Reds boss Roy Hodgson. The England man recently hit a hat-trick for his temporary employers, whose fans have grown to like their foreign import.

In Cole’s absence Liverpool have been unpredictable this season, reaching the Carling Cup final and knocking Manchester United out of the FA Cup, yet drawing seven league games on home territory. In 11 league encounters at Anfield, they have scored just 14 goals.

Cole is the type of player who once built a career on unlocking defences so the argument for his requirement on Merseyside is obvious. However, he admits he is fairly content in France and heard nothing from Liverpool during the January window.

“It is still a little difficult for me to talk about my future,” Cole said in L’Equipe. “What I want? I don’t wish to talk about it now, because it is not that simple.

“I am really very happy here and my family too. But up to now I have not talked with Liverpool.

“Do I miss English football? I don’t know. The only thing I miss is the dressing room. I can’t understand all the jokes and that is frustrating. French is more difficult than I thought. But I try to be very serious with my lessons.”

Cole is realistic enough to know that the Premier League is stronger than France’s Ligue 1 competition, but he also stressed that the English game can learn from its European counterpart.

“I like the atmosphere in Ligue 1, the closeness between TV and players,” he said. “The interviews before, in the middle and after the match are very friendly. The Premier League should get inspired by that.”

ESPN.co.uk

A secret horde of 700 unheard Thin Lizzy songs recorded before frontman Phil Lynott’s death has been unearthed – and record company bosses are planning to release them as a CD box set.

Lynott handed a stash of more than 150 tapes, containing unreleased tracks and alternate studio takes, to an unnamed pal before his death from pneumonia and heart failure at the age of 36 in 1986.

News of the trove, which is said to contain around 700 songs recorded between 1971 and 1981, emerged recently and now Lynott’s former Thin Lizzy bandmates and bosses at Universal Music are sifting through the tapes to prepare a release of the best material.

“I’ve got bags of CDs here,” guitarist Scott Gorham told Mojo magazine.

“The bulk of what I’ve heard so far is by the fab four: Phil, myself, (drummer) Brian Downey, and (guitarist) Brian Robertson … (Listening to them) I was reminded how much Phil loved dragging that lyric book around with him, and I think this box set will show people just how prolific he was.

“Our tactic was always to nail as much as we could on any one session, but there’s lots of fabulous stuff here that I had forgotten about … Rest assured that we’re only going to put out the coolest stuff. Phil doesn’t need my protection, I know, but I always want his music to be presented in the best light … You think, how could this stuff be wasting away in a vault? What were we thinking?”

TheAge.com

Vile web death threats sent to Natasha Giggs have left the CBB star terrified.

Police contacted the star after the stalker, who brands himself ‘Twitter’s first killer’, bombarded her with shocking messages threatening to mutilate and kill the CBB contender because of her affair with brother-in-law Ryan Giggs.

Incredibly the fiend even brags he would never get caught if he killed mother-of-two Natasha in one of the string of abusive messages posted on Twitter.

Police became so concerned with the content of the abuse they contacted the former model urging her to make a formal complaint.

And the stalker, whose account is under the name jersey_justin, ignored the threat continuing to bombard Natasha’s friends and fans with messages, tearing her apart for infidelity.

In messages which police have seen, the stalker states: ‘Just to tell u that yr punishment is coming and it will be severe! Your time is up c***!! You will feel pain! u love all the attention from yr fans; well, enjoy it becoz its almost over!!!’

He goes on: ‘I can’t wait to see the pain and fear in your eyes Natasha Giggs.’

Greater Manchester Police messaged Natasha urging her to contact officers and make a formal complaint saying: ‘Several people have Tweeted us saying you have had threatening Tweets.

‘We recommend u report it on 101 or 999 if emergency.’

Later Natasha responded online saying: ‘WTF is this for real?? Little disturbed at that. There are some seriously mentally deranged smackrats on Twitter.’

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman told MailOnline officers were poised to investigate but Natasha, who is estranged from husband Rhodri, had yet to make a formal complaint.

Bizarrely fans have accused jersey_justin, who says online he is from London, of being Ryan Giggs’ wife Stacey.

Today he denied he was involved in the family or knew Natasha personally saying his vendetta was purely because of her cheating ways.

He also said: ‘Why the hell is it all over the papers? i can’t believe she even turns this into publicity.’

Natasha’s spokesman told The Star: ‘She is absolutely terrified. She has abslutely no idea who this could be. It is so sinister.’

DailyMail.co.uk

Don Cornelius, creator of iconic dance program Soul Train that helped introduce Americans to black culture on TV, died after shooting himself in the head, officials said on Wednesday. He was 75.

“The death was reported as a suicide, a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head,” said coroner’s assistant chief Ed Winter. Cornelius was pronounced dead at 4: 56 a.m., Winter said.

Police discovered the popular personality’s body at his house after responding to reports of shots fired in the wealthy, hillside area of Los Angeles called Sherman Oaks where he lived. The community is home to many celebrities and entertainment executives.

Cornelius was taken to a nearby hospital where he was officially pronounced dead, LAPD spokesman Kevin Maiberger said. He declined to give details because detectives were still at the scene investigating on Wednesday morning.

Cornelius launched Soul Train in the early 1970s as a local dance show from Chicago. It relocated to Los Angeles the following year and eventually became part of pop culture history by boosting the careers of young artist breaking out, such as the Jackson Five, and older artists like James Brown that were looking to tap into a young, funky audience. As the smooth-talking host with a deep voice, Cornelius gave to hip young kids of the ’70s what American Bandstand creator Dick Clark offered to viewers in the early days of rock ‘n’ roll.

As the popularity of Soul Train grew, the show began to cross over into mainstream America and R&B artists soon broadened their fan base.

Soul Train aired until 2006, making it the longest-running U.S. series in first-run syndication. Cornelius sold the franchise in 2008.

Longtime friend Rev. Al Sharpton expressed shock and grief over the news of the death.

“He brought soul music and dance to the world in a way that it had never been shown and he was a cultural game changer on a global level,” he said. Quincy Jones said that he was “deeply saddened” at the sudden passing of his friend, colleague and business partner.

“Before MTV, there was Soul Train, that will be the great legacy of Don Cornelius,” he said. “His contributions to television, music and our culture as a whole will never be matched.”

‘we wish you Love, peace and soul’

Don Cornelius, creator of the iconic U.S. television music show Soul Train, died on Wednesday after shooting himself in the head at his Los Angeles home. He was 75. Following are some key facts about Cornelius and the show he hosted for more than 20 years.

Cornelius started his career as a police officer before becoming a disc jockey and news reader at a Chicago radio station in the 1960s. He later got into concert promotions featuring local talent.

He launched Soul Train as a live TV dance and music show in Chicago in 1970. It was one of the first TV shows to feature African-Americans prominently and was syndicated nationally from 1971 to 2006. Cornelius hosted the show until 1993. .

Carmen Electra, Nick Cannon, MC Hammer and Laurieann Gibson were among the Soul Train dancers who got their first taste of fame on the show.

Music artists appearing on the show ranged from Marvin Gaye, James Brown and The Jackson 5 to Elton John, David Bowie and Paula Abdul.

Blessed with a smooth deep voice, Cornelius closed the show each week with the phrase, “And you can bet your last money, it’s all gonna be a stone gas, honey! I’m Don Cornelius, and as always in parting, we wish you love, peace and soul!”

The Soul Train Music Awards were created in 1987 and are broadcast annually on the BET TV channel.

EdmontonJournal.com