Advertising Women of New York (AWNY), the premier organization for women in advertising, marketing, media, digital, promotion and public relations, has announced the creation of a$100,000 Education Loan Relief Scholarship Fund to mark the start of its Centennial year celebration. The new initiative, designed to help alleviate financial burden for AWNY members grappling with education debt, launches at a time when student loan bills have become the largest single category of Americans’ financial obligation.
AWNY will present a minimum of ten $10,000 awards to qualifying members at the organization’s Centennial celebration luncheon on October 4.  A portion of all Centennial event sponsorships will raise the $100,000 award monies.  The award application, which must be submitted no later than August 15, can be found at www.awny.org.
“For 100 years, AWNY has dedicated its resources to advancing women in the communications profession, and throughout that time, higher education has been the key to lifting women into positions of influence,” said Carol Watson, AWNY’s new president, who heads the cross-cultural talent consultancy Tangerine-Watson. “Mounting education debt, however, hinders success. With the creation of our Education Loan Relief Program, we aim to address this national issue. AWNY is, to date, the only advertising organization with such a program.”
“This is an unparalleled offer for our industry,” said Kathleen Nagle, co-chair of AWNY’s Young Executive Committee and account director at Redbook.  “Student loan debt is a burden that touches many AWNY members, including myself. This education initiative further demonstrates AWNY’s commitment to educate, support, develop and advance its members, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.”
About AWNY
Advertising Women of New York, which turns 100 this year, was founded in 1912 as the first women’s association in the communications industry. The organization today counts more than 1,600 dynamic and influential women and men representing the advertising, marketing, media, digital, promotions and public relations fields as its members. AWNY’s mission is to provide a forum for personal and professional growth, to serve as a catalyst for the advancement of women in the communications field, and to promote and support philanthropic endeavors through the AWNY Foundation. For further information, visit http://www.awny.org.
SOURCE Advertising Women of New York

Quatari Diar and Canary Wharf Group Plc, whose London history dates to the 1500s, are joint-venturing a $1.6 billion (one billion British pounds) redevelopment of London's South Bank area where the noted Shell Center Tower will continue to be the centerpiece of the 880,000-square-foot undertaking. Completion is tentatively scheduled for 2019.

The project is expected to include 800,000 square feet of office, 80,000 square feet of retail and 790 residences. The developers contracted with Royal Dutch Shell in July 2011 to redevelop the Shell Center site. They each spent 150 million pounds to take the 5.25-acre site on a 999-year lease.  Shell remains the site's owner.  One British pound equals $1.61 U.S.

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Macquarie Betting on Mexico With $1.15 Billion Stake

Macquarie Group of Sydney, Australia, one of the world's biggest commercial real estate investment organizations, has launched a $1.15 billion real estate investment trust on the Mexican stock exchange. Shares were priced at 25 pesos ($1.96).  Macquarie Mexico Real Estate Management said the offering raised MXN14.72 billion. One peso equals 7.8 cents U.S.

Macquarie said the REIT, known in Mexico as a Fibra, expects net proceeds of MXN13.57 billion if over-allotments are exercised. The trust will use the money to acquire its initial portfolio of 244 industrial properties spread over 21 cities in 15 Mexican states. The properties had an average occupancy rate of 91% at the end of September.

The properties are being acquired from real estate firms GE Capital Real Estate Mexico and Corporate Properties of the Americas.

Ireland is a feast for the senses.

The sight of winding country roads lined by thatched cottages, with generations of "the ancestors" buried in the back. The sounds of the local pub on "Traditional Music Night," when happy singing and laughter echo into the night. The aroma of the ubiquitous peat soil, which warms many an Irish hearth in those cottages. The overwhelming presence of a history burdened by sadness, but also buoyed by creative and literary genius. The feel of the damp, cold stones in the ancient Roman towers of the Wicklow Mountains. And the fragrant aroma of thick wet grass...everywhere.

Ireland is a country of myth, of heroes and kings and saints, of bagpipes and step-dancing and story-telling and friendly faces.

This year, the country is staging "The Gathering," a year-long festival of Irish culture, history, and folklore, with special events taking place from the storied Cliffs of Moher in the West to the literary alleys of Dublin in the East, from Cork by the Celtic Sea in the South to Aran Island in the windswept North.  

A company called Brendan Vacations, located in Los Angeles and with an office in Ireland, is offering unique "The Gathering" tours, with special features such as lunch in a private home with a local expert on W.B. Yeats, or a Bodhrán (Irish Drum) lesson in one of Ireland's oldest pubs.

In the capital city of Dublin, you'll visit Trinity College, where you'll stop into the Gothic library to see the magnificent Book of Kells, an ancient religious manuscript that's hand-painted. You'll stop at St.  Stephen's Green, where it seems all of Dublin comes to play on nice days. You'll browse the shops of Grafton Street, where you'll find everything from clan kilts to antique books to cashmere sweaters to Waterford Crystal.

You'll ponder Ireland's tumultuous history as you stand before the Customs House and the statues of famous Irishmen such as Daniel O'Connell and Charles Parnell (along with a statue of a mythical Irish "every-woman" named Molly McGuire). You'll pause at one of the bridges going over the River Liffey, and take in the 360-degree street-life swirling around you. And you'll probably stop at the Guinness factory, home of Ireland's most popular export.    

During the Gathering, the country will be staging hundreds of special events and festivals. 

Not far from Cork, in the south, there'll be plenty of celebrating going on at Blarney Castle, where visitors will be assisted in leaning over backward and kissing the Blarney Stone. 

In the rural west, where some people still speak Gaelic, there'll be story-telling and limerick events in the town of Limerick, and the echoes of the ancient past will be re-awakened at Bunratty Castle. 

In the beautiful Wicklow Mountains, you'll travel on winding, high-country roads in and out of mountains bathed in fog one minute and sunshine the next. In County Clare on the west coast, you'll stand atop the Cliffs of Moher, reddish-brown walls looking down on the Atlantic from 700 feet above.

In a year filled with special events, the most special one - of course - is St. Patrick's Day. The Irish will celebrate the day Saint Patrick chased the snakes out of Eire with marching bands, spirited dancers, bagpipers, colorful floats, and just plain old fun - "craic."

One of the best places to celebrate St. Patty's Day is at that most Irish of institutions - the pub. It's a place to catch up on gossip; to argue about whether Oscar Wilde was a better writer than James Joyce; to enjoy "Traditional Music Nights"; or to just sit back with a couple of "mates" and savor a "pint Stout" (Guinness) and a pack of "crisps" (potato chips).

During the Gathering, you'll probably make a lot of new friends here. And you can toast them with a hearty Slainte! - "To your health!"

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
How much does a college education cost? In the United States, the College Board releases yearly reports on prices at colleges and universities. The group bases its findings on “published” tuition and fees, meaning the prices officially listed by the school. Students might pay less — for instance, if they receive scholarships.
Nationally, tuition and fees at public four-year colleges and universities rose more than 8 percent during the academic year that just ended. The increase was seven percent if you exclude California. California has about ten percent of the nation’s full-time students in public four-year colleges.
In-state tuition and fees averaged more than eight thousand dollars nationally. The average total charge — which includes housing and meals — was seventeen thousand dollars. The total charge for students from out of state was thirty thousand dollars.
Tuition and fees increased four and a half percent at private nonprofit four-year schools. That was still higher than the inflation rate. The average was twenty-eight thousand five hundred dollars.
For-profit schools charged an estimated fourteen thousand dollars in tuition and fees. That was up 3.2 percent from the year before.
One way for parents in the United States to start saving for college when their child is still very young is called a 529 plan. The plans are named for the part of the federal tax law that created them in nineteen ninety-six. All fifty states and the District of Columbia offer them.
Private investment companies operate most of these plans, and each state has its own rules. Many plans are open to families from other states.
Five twenty-nine plans offer different investment choices. Families must decide how aggressively they want to put money into stocks, bonds or other investments that can rise or fall in value. There are limits on how much families can put into 529 plans.
Another choice is called a prepaid tuition plan. Parents can pay for an education at a public college or university in their state while their child is still growing up. But what if the child decides to go to school out of state, or not at all?  The money can go to educate another family member, or the parents can withdraw it and pay taxes on the gains.
There are other ways to save for college while also saving on taxes. One way is to put money for a child into what is called a custodial account until the child becomes an adult.