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DUBLIN (Reuters) An unemployed Irish artist has built a home from the shredded remains of 1.4 billion euros ($1.82 billion), a monument to the “madness” he says has been wrought on Ireland by the single currency, from a spectacular construction boom to a wrenching bust.

Frank Buckley built the apartment in the lobby of a Dublin office building that has lain vacant since its completion four years ago at the peak of an ill-fated construction boom, using bricks of shredded euro notes he borrowed from Ireland’s national mint.

“It’s a reflection of the whole madness that gripped us,” Buckley said of what he calls his “billion-euro home.”

“People were pouring billions into buildings now worth nothing,” he said. “I wanted to create something from nothing.”

A wave of cheap credit flowed into Ireland in the early 2000s after Ireland joined the currency zone fuelling a huge property bubble that transformed the country.

The bubble’s collapse since 2007 plunged Ireland into the deepest recession in the industrialized world, forcing the former “Celtic Tiger” to accept a humiliating bailout from the EU and the IMF.

Buckley was given a 100 percent mortgage at the peak of the boom to buy a 365,000 euro home on the far reaches of Dublin’s commuter belt, despite the fact he had no steady income.

He has separated from his wife who lives in the home, which has since lost at least one-third of its value.

Living in his “billion euro home” since the start of December, Buckley is working on adding a kitchen to the living room and hall.

The walls and floor are covered in euro shreddings and the house is so warm Buckley sleeps without a blanket.

Pictures made from notes and coins decorate the walls, including one of a house, made from Irish 5 pence pieces.

“There are houses in Ireland worth less than that,” Buckley quips.

Buckley said he wants Europe’s politicians to solve the eurozone debt crisis without destroying its currency. But if the currency ultimately fails, he will happily use the euro zone’s defunct notes as fodder for future projects.

“Whatever you say about the euro,wholesale Calvin Klein, it’s a great insulator.”

($1 = 0.7704 euros)

(Reporting by Conor Humphries; editing by Carmel Crimmins and Paul Casciato)

Xinhua cited an Aba county spokesman as saying the monks were rescued and were being treated at a local hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

Kirti monastery has seen recurring unrest against Chinese rule for the last three years. In March, Rigzin Phuntsog, a 21-year-old Kirti monk, died after setting himself on fire. Phuntsog’s death was seen as a protest against China’s heavy-handed controls on Tibetan Buddhism and provoked a standoff between security forces and monks.

BEIJING Two Tibetan men set themselves on fire in southwest China in the latest self-immolation protest against the Chinese government, state media and a rights group reported Saturday.

Free Tibet said that it has heard that pamphlets were being distributed saying that if Chinese policies at Kirti monastery and in Aba town continued, “many more people were prepared to give up their lives in protest.”

Kirti monastery is under tight guard by security forces who have been accused by overseas pro-Tibetan groups of beating onlookers and detaining monks. The area is off-limits to foreign journalists.

In June, China rejected pressure from a U.N. human rights panel to provide information about more than 300 monks from Kirti whose whereabouts it said have been unknown since the monastery was raided in April.

The two former monks, 18-year-old Thongan and 20-year-old Tenzin, set themselves on fire in Aba county in Sichuan province’s Aba prefecture Friday, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

It and the London-based Free Tibet group said there were unconfirmed reports that Choephel died at the site.

As custodians of Tibet’s Buddhist culture, monks are especially sensitive to strict Chinese controls over monasteries that they say take precious time away from religious study and practice.

They are the fourth and fifth Tibetans to set themselves on fire in Aba county in the past two weeks. Aba prefecture has been the scene of numerous protests in past years against the Chinese government. Most are led by monks who are fiercely loyal to Tibet’s exiled Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, who fled the Himalayan region in 1959 amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule and is reviled by Beijing.

Overseas Tibet activist groups gave slightly different accounts of the self-immolations. The Washington, D.C.-based International Campaign for Tibet said the two men were named Choephel, 19, and Kayang, 18, and that they clasped their hands together as they set themselves alight.

Adjusted income from continuing operations was $5.89 per share.

For the year, Joy Global earned $609.7 million, or $5.72 per share. In the prior year the company earned $461.5 million, or $4.40 per share.

But the Milwaukee company cautioned on Wednesday that production in the near future may increase at a “more tempered pace” as demand for commodities weakens. Uncertainty about the health of the global economy, and demand for the raw materials that power it, may cause customers to scale back on orders, the company said.

Shares fell $1.55, or 1.8 percent, to $83 in premarket trading.

Annual revenue rose 25 percent to $4.4 billion from $3.52 billion.

Quarterly bookings climbed 33 percent to $1.39 billion, benefiting from a $116 million contribution from the LeTourneau acquisition.

Joy Global forecast 2012 earnings of $7 to $7.40 per share on revenue of $5.3 billion to $5.5 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet predict earnings of $7.18 per share on revenue of $5.4 billion.

Revenue increased 27 percent to $1.34 billion from $1.05 billion as customers ordered more equipment to increase mine production and start new mines. Heavier mine volumes and more difficult mining conditions also boosted orders, Joy Global said.

Costs related to its $1.1 billion acquisition of drilling- and mining-equipment maker LeTourneau Technologies Inc. in June hurt earnings by 7 cents per share.

In the August-October quarter, Joy Global posted net income of $172.3 million, or $1.61 per share. That compares with earnings of $146.3 million, or $1.39 per share, a year earlier.

Adjusted income from continuing operations was $1.82 per share. Analysts expected earnings of $1.86 per share.

Wall Street had estimated higher revenue of $1.36 billion.

MILWAUKEE Mining equipment maker Joy Global Inc.’s fiscal fourth-quarter net income climbed 18 percent, helped by a recent acquisition and higher bookings as customers increased production.

NEW YORK A student accused of selling LSD at Columbia University pleaded guilty Tuesday to attempted drug possession, resolving the last case in a takedown of a drug ring on the Ivy League campus.

Adam Klein was the last of five students to plead guilty in the case, which authorities called the biggest move in recent memory against drug dealing at a New York City college. The case, unveiled in December 2010, spurred discussion of student drug use and how to weigh questions of promise, privilege and punishment in places from the New York Post’s editorial page to an essay on Time magazine’s website.

Klein, 21, is expected to get five years’ probation at sentencing, which is scheduled for Feb. 28.

The students formed a loose-knit network that sold drugs ranging from marijuana to Ecstasy to cocaine out of dorm rooms and fraternity houses, with each student specializing in certain drugs, according to city Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan’s office. An undercover officer bought more than $11,000 worth of drugs from the group over five months, prosecutors said.

Lawyers for several of the students, including Klein, portrayed them as talented young men who got derailed by drug problems in college. Klein became addicted to marijuana and other drugs that took a severe toll on him academically, according to his lawyer, Alan Abramson. Klein is currently in drug treatment, Abramson said.

Klein and three of the other students asked a court for a chance at wiping their records clean by completing court-supervised rehabilitation, a legal option granted to more than 1,000 people statewide each year. The fifth student wasn’t eligible because he faced more serious charges related to cocaine sales.

A court turned down all but one of the students, Christopher Coles, 21, who began treatment earlier this month after admitting he sold more than a pound of marijuana to an undercover officer. His lawyer said the sales were an attempt to finance the anthropology major’s own $70-to-$100-a-day pot habit.

For the rest of the students, the outcomes have ranged from probation and community service to jail time.

The engineering student who faced the cocaine charges and was the investigation’s initial target, Harrison David, 21, served a six-month jail sentence after pleading guilty to a cocaine-selling charge.

Jose Stephan Perez, a published poet who won the prestigious Gates Millennium scholarship, pleaded guilty to a felony attempted drug possession charge. Perez, 21, also known as Stephan Vincenzo, had been accused mainly of selling the prescription stimulant Adderall. But Perez, whose lawyer said the student struggled with social pressures in college and began smoking marijuana as many as five times a day, will be allowed to withdraw his plea and plead guilty instead to a drug misdemeanor in a year if he meets conditions including 300 hours of community service.

Michael Wymbs, an engineering major initially charged with selling LSD and Ecstasy, was sentenced last week to five years’ probation after pleading guilty to attempted drug possession. Wymbs, 23, was treated for depression in college and grappled with drug use and heavy drinking, his lawyer said in court papers.

Wymbs is now studying at the City University of New York, his lawyer, Michael Bachner, told a judge last week.

Columbia has declined to comment on the students’ current status, citing educational privacy laws.

Three off-campus suppliers charged in the case also have pleaded guilty.

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and other red-carpet veterans joined some Hollywood newcomers in the Southern California desert this weekend to kick off the two-month-long movie award season at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

“When you’re of age: drink,” Clooney noted to the newbies at Saturday night’s gala awards ceremony. “That’s good advice to pretty much anybody.”

Among those relative newcomers were Clooney’s co-stars from the drama “The Descendants.” “It is the first time we have dressed up all season,” said actor Matthew Lillard. “We have a couple months to put on nice dresses and suits.”

“Don’t forget the shoes,” injected actress Judy Greer. “Oh man, am I going to need a massage when the next two months are over.”

Clooney, star of both “Descendants” and the drama “The Ides of March,” was given the festival’s “Chairman’s Award” for acting, directing, producing and writing. “They gave me a gavel on the way in,” he joked. “And I’m feeling like I might actually get protested now.”

Among other honorees: actresses Michelle Williams (“My Week with Marilyn), Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer (“The Help”) and Glenn Close (“Albert Nobbs”).

Pitt was handed the Desert Palm Achievement Award for his performances in “Moneyball” and “The Tree of Life.” Gary Oldman (“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”) was dubbed International Star of the Year – the significance of which seemed to baffle its recipient.

“I am on an international stage, rather than a local one,” Oldman noted. “I guess that is what that means?

Or perhaps he simply no longer needs a passport.

“Who designed the award?” Oldman asked. “Maybe I have just that and it gets me through customs.”

As excited as Jolie was to support partner Pitt the latter walking with a cane, following a skiing injury home in LA was where their hearts were. “We are rushing back to the kids tonight,” Jolie explained. “We have a birthday party in the morning with our daughter.”

Next stops on the entertainment honors gauntlet include Wednesday’s People’s Choice, Thursday’s Critic’s Choice, Friday’s Los Angeles Film Critics and Sunday’s Golden Globes awards.

“I found that the last time I was (at the Golden Globes), it was a very fun day,Replica Ed hardy,” said actor and director Kenneth Branagh, a Globe nominee for his performance in “My Week With Marilyn.”

“The fact that it is a smallish room by comparison with some of the bigger awards rooms means that it has an intimacy and a kind of slightly raucous quality that is very, very carefully adhered to,” Branagh explained. “I was very intoxicated.”

In September, I told you about FedEx’s (NYSE: FDX – News) fiscal-first-quarter earnings’ growth story. In the second quarter, the company reported a bombastic 76% income growth compared to its previous-year quarter. The world’s second-largest packaged delivery company posted better-than-expected results thanks to strong Thanksgiving weekend online sales and a better price/volume mix, sending the shares up after the announcement.

Let’s dig deeper.

The quarter
Profits increased to $497 million, a 76% year-over-year rise. The company earned $1.57 per share, beating the Street expectation of $1.53 per share. FedEx also improved its operational margins to 7.4%, from 4.9% last year, helped by fewer flights and frequencies.

Overall sales inched up by 10%,Cheap Ed hardy belts, to $10.59 billion. Sales at FedEx’s largest business — FedEx Express — grew 10% and helped the company push up its revenue. Although international priority daily package volume was lower due to a weaker Asian market, the company still logged higher international priority revenues per package due to higher fuel surcharges, rate per pound, and weight per package.

Shopping and holiday mix
With an increase in online shopping during the Thanksgiving weekend, demand for residential delivery services shot up. The fact that online retailer Amazon.com is expected to have a strong holiday season is certainly good news for shipping companies like FedEx.

Looking beyond the quarter
Despite being hurt by a weak Asian market, FedEx has opened its largest express facility in China. The company sees China as an important market for express offerings as it can account for the bulk of FedEx’s future growth. Rival United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS – News) is also increasing capacity in Asia.

Apart from expanding in Asia, FedEx has been conscious of lowering its costs. The company is buying 27 new 767-300 freighter planes from Boeing (NYSE: BA – News) to replace its aging MD-10 planes. The new planes will be 30% more fuel-efficient and more reliable. The order is valued at $4.7 billion. This investment will reduce unit operating costs by 20%.

The Foolish bottom line
FedEx posted bright numbers this quarter due to a combination of strong Thanksgiving weekend e-commerce and higher margins. With well-planned investments in Asia and cost-efficient strategies, FedEx looks intriguing. The company expects to earn $1.25 to $1.45 per share this quarter as compared to the Street expectation of $1.31 per share.

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WASHINGTON 2012 looks to be another year of opportunity for the few who can afford to buy or refinance a home.

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 3.91 percent this week, Freddie Mac said Thursday. That matches the record low reached two weeks ago.

The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage ticked down to 3.23 percent from 3.24 percent. That’s up from 3.21 percent two weeks, also a record low.

Mortgage rates are lower because they tend to track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which fell below 2 percent this week. They could fall even lower this year if the Fed launches another round of bond purchases, as some economists expect.

Still, cheap mortgage rates have done little too boost the depressed housing market. For eight straight weeks at the end of 2011, the average fixed mortgage rates hovered around 4 percent. Yet many Americans either can’t take advantage of the rates or have already done so.

High unemployment and scant wage gains have made it harder for many people to qualify for loans. Many don’t want to sink money into a home that they fear could lose value over the next few years.

Previously occupied homes are selling just slightly ahead of 2010′s dismal pace. New-home sales in 2011 will likely be the worst year on records going back half a century.

Builders are hopeful that the low rates could boost sales next year. Low mortgage rates were cited as a key reason the National Association of Home Builders survey of builder sentiment rose in December to its highest level in more than a year.

But so far, rates are having no major impact. Mortgage applications have fallen slightly in recent weeks, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

To calculate the average rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country Monday through Wednesday of each week. The average rates don’t include extra fees,Inflatable Bouncers, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fee for the 30-year loan rose to 0.8 from 0.7; the average on the 15-year fixed mortgage was unchanged at 0.8.

For the five-year adjustable loan, the average rate declined to 2.86 percent from 2.88 percent. The average on the one-year adjustable loan rose to 2.80 percent from 2.78 percent.

The average fee on the five-year adjustable loan rose to 0.7 from 0.6; the average on the one-year adjustable-rate loan was unchanged at 0.6.

BEIJING (Reuters) China’s big manufacturers narrowly avoided a contraction in December a survey showed on Sunday, but downward risks persist and suggest the world’s second’s second-largest economy will need fresh policy support to counter a slowdown in growth.

The official purchasing managers’ index (PMI), complied by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) on behalf of the National Bureau of Statistics, rose to 50.3 in December from 49 in November.

That indicated a slight expansion in business activity in China’s vast factory sector, but the reading was barely above the flatline of 50 that demarcates expansion from contraction which the index fell below in November for the first time since early 2009.

Analysts had expected the official PMI to be at 49.1 in December.

“The rebound in the December PMI shows that there will be no big slowdown in the Chinese economy,” Zhang Liqun, a researcher with the Development Research Centre of the State Council, wrote in the CFLP statement.

The economy faces downward pressure but there are positive elements that could underpin growth, Zhang sid.

The new orders sub-index rose to 49.8 in December from 47.8 in November while the sub-index for new export orders rose to 48.6 from November’s 45.6.

A similar survey on Friday by HSBC and UK-based data provider, Markit, which captures data from smaller factories, inched up to 48.7 in December from a 32-month low of 47.7 in November but still signaled a modest contraction in activity on the month, reinforcing the case for pro-growth policies.

Economists at Citi believe a policy response is growing ever more likely to combat what the bank believes is a tangible slowing of economic activity.

“Accumulating evidence of economic weakness would herald more policy easing in the months ahead, starting with another RRR cut by the Chinese New Year,” they wrote in a client note, citing risks to growth from the euro zone, property prices, industrial production (IP) and fixed asset investment (FAI).

“Although domestic consumption held up steadily, its contribution may have been more than offset by weakened investment activity and deteriorating foreign trade conditions. We estimate that GDP has grown by 8.5 percent year on year during Q4 and 9.1 percent for the entire year,” they wrote.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

China’s central bank is in the spotlight with widespread speculation in financial markets that it will soon unveil a cut in the required ratio of reserves (RRR) it demands commercial lenders hold, after cutting it by 50 basis points on November 30 from a record high of 21.5 percent.

Such a move would free up funds that could be used for lending to support growth, but China’s leaders remain wary of relaxing their grip too soon on inflation, the annual rate of which remained stubbornly above the 4 percent target through 2011 and hit a three year of 6.5 percent in July.

The official survey showed that a significant drop in price pressures in November did not follow through to December. The prices sub-index of the official PMI rose to 47.1 from 44.4 in November.

Still, Chinese officials have warned that demand-destroying effects of Europe’s debt crisis and weakness in U.S. consumption could put more pressure on Chinese exporters in coming months and have pledged to fine-tune economic policy settings in response.

Analysts expect Beijing to ease monetary policy and step up fiscal spending to bolster the vast factory sector which supports an estimated 220 million Chinese jobs.

“Overall,wholesale Ed hardy sunglasses, the economy is weakening and it’s still too early to tell any clear signs of recovery at this stage,” said Hua Zhongwei, senior economist at Huachuang Securities in Beijing.

He said the central bank could still cut the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves to underpin growth. Analysts expect the next cut in RRR could come early this month.

Despite the uptick for the official PMI, both it and the HSBC index are stuck near their weakest levels since early 2009, when China took a blow from the global financial crisis.

China’s economy is on track to slow for a fourth successive quarter, easing further from the first quarter’s 9.7 percent annual growth rate with economists expecting the final three months of the year to have slipped below 9 percent.

Economists polled by Reuters earlier this month forecast the PBOC will deliver 200 bps of RRR cuts by the end of 2012, but refrain from an outright cut in interest rates unless quarterly GDP growth dips below 8 percent.

Economists typically view growth of 7 to 8 percent as the bare minimum needed to generate enough jobs to help China absorb the urban influx of rural migrants and maintain social harmony.

(Reporting by Kevin Yao; Editing by Nick Edwards)

LONDON (Reuters) Christie’s held a highly anticipated auction of old master paintings in London on Tuesday night, with one of the star works selling for more than 2 million pounds ($3.12 million) above the pre-auction estimate.

“The Battle between Carnival and Lent” by Pieter Brueghel II sold for almost 6.9 million pounds to an anonymous buyer, Christie’s said on its website.

The sale price exceeded the pre-auction estimate of 3.5-4.5 million pounds and set the world record price for the artist at auction, Christie’s said.

The second highest-priced painting on the night was a Willem van de Velde II work, “Dutch men-o’-war and other shipping in a calm,” which sold to a European private collector for nearly 6 million pounds, also a world record price for the artist at auction, Christie’s said.

However,wholesale Burberry, the auction’s star attraction “Portrait of Juan Lopez de Robredo,” by Spanish painter Francisco Goya remained listed on the auctioneer’s website as unsold, with an estimated sale tag of 6.2-9.3 million pounds.

The total sale of 24 million pounds, which did not include a sale for the Goya painting, as well as a Nicolaes Maes work that carried an estimated price of 1.5-2.3 million pounds, was just shy of the pre-sale estimate for all the lots of 26 million pounds.

Much of the interest in this week’s series of old master and British art auctions in London has been generated by a Velazquez original that was first valued at 300 pounds ($470).

The portrait of an unknown gentleman goes under the hammer on Wednesday and is set to fetch up to 3 million pounds at Bonhams.

($1 = 0.6410 British pounds)

(Reporting by Stephen Mangan; Editing by Michael Roddy)

PORTLAND, Ore. Nike Inc.’s second-quarter profit rose 3 percent as strong demand and higher prices for its shoes, clothes and gear offset increased costs.

Nike and other consumer product companies have been coping for some time with higher costs for materials, labor and freight. But while others have struggled to regain their footing in the weak U.S. economy, the world’s largest athletic shoe and clothing company has been able to increase sales and raise prices without consumer backlash.

“We’re able to accomplish this by staying focused on what we do best – deliver innovative products and experiences that serve athletes, inspire consumers and reward our shareholders,” said Mark Parker, Nike’s CEO.

The company, based in Beaverton, Ore., reported Tuesday that it earned $469 million, or $1 per share,wholesale Ed hardy jeans, for the quarter that ended Nov. 30. That’s up from $457 million, or 94 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. Nike’s total revenue increased 18 percent to $5.73 billion as it sold more of its branded products in nearly every market around the globe.

The quarter beat analysts’ expectations for the quarter of 97 cents per share on revenue of $5.63 billion, according to FactSet.

During the quarter, some of its most popular lines were in basketball and running, with Nike noting that it hasn’t seen this much energy around running since the original boom in the sport during the 1970s. Additionally, strong sales at Converse more than offset lower revenue from the Nike Golf, Cole Haan, Hurley and Umbro brands.

Nike leaders expressed confidence in the company’s future sales growth as the NBA season resumes and it prepares to launch a number of new products in anticipation of major athletic events such as the summer Olympics.

As an indication of what is ahead, Nike disclosed that orders for items that were scheduled to be delivered between December and April rose 13 percent by comparison to the same period last year. Investors keep a close eye on this measure as an indicator of demand for the coming period.

Going forward, some of Nike’s costs are beginning to ease up. But the company said that won’t make a difference to its bottom line for several quarters.

Nike plans to raise prices further this year to help relieve some of its margin pressures. The company did not disclose how much it will increase prices but said the hikes would be larger than those put in place during the past year. As a result of these price hikes and a seemingly endless appetite for its products, the company expects its gross margin declines to narrow over the balance of the year.

Nike’s shares rose 25 cents to close at $93.63 in regular trading. Shares rose $2.37, or more than 2 percent, to $96.00 in after-hours trading on the news.