Sense | Common News Update

Oct102018 by adminNo Comments

German satellites sense Earth's lumps and bumps

The German space agency (DLR) has released a spectacular 3D map of Earth. Built from images acquired by two radar satellites, it traces the variations in height across all land surfaces - an area totalling more than 148 million sq km. DLR is making the map free and open, enabling any scientist to download and use it. There will be myriad applications, from forecasting where flood waters flow to planning big infrastructure projects. How was the map made?The two satellites involved are called TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X. Like all radar spacecraft, they send down microwave pulses to the surface of the planet and then time how long the signals take to bounce back. The shorter ...

Making sense of the new cap on state tax deductions

Finance

The GOP tax bill explainedA lot of change is coming to taxes -- how much you'll pay and how you prepare them. Some people will pay more, some will pay less. It depends on many factors. One of the most controversial changes are those surrounding the deduction on state and local income taxes, a.k.a SALT. If you live in a state with high income and property taxes, you could lose out under the new tax plan. We tried to make sense of it for you. How does the SALT deduction work? Under the new plan, taxpayers who itemize will be able to deduct their state individual income, sales and property taxes up to a limit of $ 10,000 in total starting in 2018. Currently the deduction is unlimited. But filers have to choose to deduct either individual income taxes or sales taxes. For most people, deducti...

Op-Ed: Why this investing model makes sense for real estate in Asia

Finance

A decade ago, the real estate market opportunity in China consisted largely of risky speculative development deals because of a lack of availability of stock.Foreign investors seeking opportunistic returns from the first wave of China funds have been largely disappointed from a toxic combination of delays, cost escalation and implementation problems due to difficulties in enforcing basic contractual law. As a consequence, investor cynicism about China real estate runs high, and so sentiment on Chinese real estate is largely polarized between uber-bulls and perma-bears with not much in between.The reality on the ground today, however, is that the situation is more nuanced and much improved. Particularly in Beijing and Shanghai, occupational markets in the commercial market are buoyant and i...