Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with word people. 14 news.

THE yuan climbed to the strongest since a link to the US dollar was scrapped two years ago after the central bank said exchange-rate flexibility will rise, spurring speculation it plans to widen the daily trading band. The yuan rose 0.3 percent to 7.3475 per US dollar at 5:30pm in Shanghai, bringing gains this month to 0.7 percent. The central bank set the reference rate at 7.3315 yesterday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. The rate touched 7.3405 yesterday, the highest since the peg ended in July 2005. The People's Bank of China said in a statement last Friday that it will let the market play a bigger role in setting the exchange rate.

RAPID urbanization as well as robust demand for homes will continue to boost the country's real estate industry in 2008, industry analysts said. Wei Bo, a property analyst with Central China Securities Company, sees three main factors as being responsible for the strong demand. "New demand from the country's urbanization progress, growing requirement for larger and better homes among the Chinese, as well as rising investments caused by the appreciation of the Chinese currency and the existing negative interest rates, will probably help the real estate industry's fortune for another year," Wei said. "We expect the industry to maintain its high pace of development and give it a 'better than broad market' rating." China is seeing probably one of the largest urbanization in the world. According to an earlier forecast by the United Nations, between 16 million and 22 million people will migrate from rural places to urban areas in the country each year from now

From Apple's boardroom to alternative energy, privacy, and piracy, it was easy to see how the news in 2007 got people stirred up.

This is the China century," says Jim Rogers, standing amid moving boxes in his opulent Manhattan townhouse. "It's time for them to rule the roost." In fact, the 65-year-old former investment partner of George Soros and globe-circling author of Investment Biker is such a believer in the capitalist momentum of the People's Republic that he recently agreed to sell his beloved home and relocate full-time to Singapore - not quite Shanghai, but close enough to the action. It's something he's been considering at least since 2004, when Fortune last wrote about his remarkable prescience in championing a China-driven, worldwide commodities boom. His new book, A Bull in China: Investing Profitably in the World's Greatest Market (Random House, $26.95), is a how-to guide for investors interested in following him to the Far East. Fortune interrupted his packing for a chat about China, commodities, and the teetering U.S. economy.

Google News offers a new feature that allows people quoted in news articles to post a comment that will be paired with that article online.

This is the season when people get technology gifts, but it's also the time of year when we get rid of our old gadgets.

I'll get used to Christmas, if only in my dreams I MARRIED Christmas. No, that isn't my wife's first name, nor did I marry for the holiday the way some people marry for money. Like so many assimilated American Jews, I grew up admiring the lights and the trees and the shopping-mall Santas, but not celebrating the holiday itself. Non-observance of Christmas was a bedrock principle of my equally assimilated parents' religious self-definition. We may have eaten bacon freely and never set foot in a synagogue, but when one of us children whistled "Jingle Bells" or asked to string lights on a tree, we once again were slaves in Egypt. My wife's family, by contrast, celebrates Christmas with a fervour and intensity (and joy, of course) that still amazes me. Over the top of my computer I see a dozen different creches arrayed atop a cabinet. Eight miniature golden reindeer lead a well-stuffed sleigh across the mantle; red bows are tied around everything upright that will hold them; holly branches garland pictures; and red-and-white striped candles are ready to be lit. There is no tree yet; we'll select and cut our own tomorrow from an orchard located in the nearby town of, believe it or not, Bethlehem, Connecticut. ...

Ex-Olympian still benefits from sport Some people might say that Ross Seymour is a fish out of water, but only in the best sense of the word.

In a nod to people who don't celebrate Christmas and want something to do Dec. 25, more Metro Detroit stores and businesses are opening Christmas Day.

PARKER, Colo. -- As the housing market slump deepens, disguised discounts are making it harder to tell exactly how much people are paying for homes.

Ten years after I am dead and gone, I suspect only two people will give much thought to me, and their names are Henry and Hannah.

Where do you draw the line when you're trying to spread the word that people should spend money in locally owned businesses?

The Gloucester-based holiday company goes into administration, leaving as much as 40,000 people scrambling to rearrange their vacation plans

Some episodes of the drama about a group of good-looking people in their 20s have yet to attract 100,000 video views.