Pyongyang, September 25 (KCNA) -- For August, U.S. privately owned housing starts were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 571 000, 5 percent below the revised estimate for July 2011, according to Commerce Department figures released Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Japan's supermarket sales in August fell 2.2 percent from a year earlier on a same-store basis, Japan Chain Stores Association said on Sept. 22. This is ascribable to the fall of inhabitants' purchase power due to economic depression.