Alejandro Ernesto / EPA

A newspaper salesman holds a copy of the latest 'Granma' edition on Nov. 3, 2011, which announces the Cuban government's approval for individuals to be able to buy and sell homes legally for the first time since the revolution.

Franklin Reyes / AP

Nilda Bouzo, right, speaks with her husband Ives Lopez next to a sign that reads in Spanish " Exchange Apartment Two for One" in their home balcony in Havana, Cuba, Nov. 3, 2011. Property exchanges and signs such as the one in the picture were already legal in Cuba.

AP reports:

HAVANA —The highly anticipated new rules instantly transform islanders' cramped, dilapidated homes into potential liquid assets in the most significant reform yet adopted by President Raul Castro since he took over the communist country from his brother in 2008.

But plenty of restrictions remain. Read the full story.

Disputes over land are increasingly common in China. On Wednesday, an operation to demolish illegally built shelters on a former dump site in the city of Wuhan led to an impassioned protest by one woman. EPA reports that the city plans to demolish illegal buildings at over 200 sites this month.

Soaring property prices are a major source of official and consumer concern in China with apartment costs rising out of the reach of many people and threatening to spark social unrest, AFP reports.

AFP - Getty Images

A protester being held by enforcement officers as a group of illegal buildings is demolished in Wuhan, in central China's Hubei province, on July 20. Soaring property prices are a major source of official and consumer concern in China with apartment costs rising out of the reach of many people and threatening to spark social unrest in the country of more than 1.3 billion.

AFP - Getty Images

Enforcement officers watch a woman, right, protesting against the demolition of a group of illegal buildings in Wuhan on July 20.

Li Lun / EPA

A law enforcement officer stands guard during a mission to demolish illegally built shelters on a former dump site in Wuhan on July 20. The city plans to demolish illegal buildings at over 200 sites this month to kick off a facelifting "revolution of urban administration" which will last through 2013.

See more images of China on PhotoBlog.

'We can't go on living, we invested all our money in this shop, a lifetime of savings, my grandparents' pension - a total of 1.6 million yuan,' or $243,000, 27-year-old Beijing store owner Wang Shibo told AFP.

Land disputes have become the nation's biggest source of unrest, triggering countless violent protests and a handful of self-immolations as residents take matters in their own hands.

Peter Parks / AFP - Getty Images

Twenty-seven-year-old store-owner Wang Shibo, center, is comforted by relatives outside her Beijing shop, in a final and desperate protest against the forced demolition of the store on Jan. 25. Wang and other relatives wear coats soaked in flammable liquid and faced off with police, pledging to self-immolate if Wang is not compensated.

Peter Parks / AFP - Getty Images

Wang Shibo sits drenched in petrol outside her Beijing shop, in a final and desperate protest against the forced demolition of the store.

Officials have promised Wang they will take action. But she has pledged to go ahead with self-immolation if the outcome is not satisfactory.

'We will commit suicide before the Lunar New Year (February 3), because we have no money to go home anyway,' she told AFP.