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Interest rates expected to drop in 2011

In Uncategorized on January 12, 2011 at 7:14 am

Interest rates are expected to go down this year because they are presently too high and cannot rise any higher, an economist has said.

Transactions conducted at a Southern Bank branch in Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: SGGP)

This year has seen skyrocketing interest rates due to the soaring inflation in 2010, with savings interest rates and lending interest rates being 14 percent per year and 17-18 percent per year respectively.
 
According to economists, the rates are already too high for enterprises; therefore, it is unlikely that interest rates will go any higher.
 
Enterprises and commercial banks have hoped that the State Bank of Vietnam will regulate interest rates in compliance with the Law on Credit Institutions, which took effect early this year.
 
Banks said that this will give them the flexibility in adjusting interest rates in accordance with foreign exchange rates and inflation.
 
Economists said the interest rates will drop by the end of the first quarter of 2011, because demand for production and business funds from various enterprises will decrease after the Tet holiday.
 
In addition, banks will be able to mobilize funds from residents more easily. This is because the inbound remittance will increase, and people will have more money in cash.
 
Therefore, banks might reduce their lending interest rates to 15-16 percent by the second quarter of 2011.
 
Some commercial banks said they cannot lower the interest rates yet, because the expenses for mobilizing funds are still very high.
 
However, they said they can offer lower rates to their regular client base.
 
The central bank said early this year that it will use the prime interest rate to curb high interest rates, but not as a monetary policy management tool.  
 
The bank will focus its management on refinance, open market operations (OMO) and rediscount rates.
 
The central bank said OMO rates will be flexible and be adjusted to market rates.
 
Deputy general director of a joint stock bank said that to lower interest rates and stabilize the monetary market in 2011, drastic solutions will have to be taken to contain inflation.
 
Economists said there should be a special mechanism concerning small commercial banks.
 
They said for the long run, interest rates for the dong should be floated in the government’s direction. However, in abnormal market conditions, the central bank must regulate market interest rates.
 
The central bank also said that it has targeted credit growth at 23 percent for 2011, two percent lower than last year, and loans will be prioritized for the production sector.

Source: SGGP

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Chinese vice premier in trade-focused London talks

In Uncategorized on January 12, 2011 at 7:10 am

Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang arrives in London on Monday to meet Prime Minister David Cameron on the second day of a visit to Britain aimed at bolstering economic ties between the two countries.

Chinese Vice Prime Ministerr Li Keqiang (C) is escorted on a tour of the Pelamis Wave Power factory in Edinburgh, Scotland, on the first of a four-day visit to the United Kingdom on January 9, 2011.

The government is rolling out the red carpet for Li, who is widely tipped to become Chinese premier next year, as Britain scrambles to catch up with European rivals Germany and France in landing trade deals with China.


Li, accompanied by a 150-strong business and political delegation, was also to hold talks with finance minister George Osborne and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on Monday and will make a speech at a banquet on Tuesday.


Having already visited Spain and Germany on his three-country European visit, Li started his trip to Britain on Sunday in Scotland where he sealed a modest renewable energy deal between Scottish and Chinese companies.


In Scotland, he said Britain and China had grown closer together in recent years.


Closer cooperation between London and Beijing would not only benefit the two countries and peoples, “but also contribute to world peace, stability and prosperity”, Li was quoted as saying, according to the official Xinhua news agency.


The visit follows Cameron’s trip to China in November, when he too was accompanied by a team of ministers and business leaders.


Cameron was the first Western leader to visit China since the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.


While he did not publicly confront Chinese leaders over human rights, Cameron used a speech to university students to call for “greater political opening” as the Chinese economy surges forward.


Clegg has insisted that “no subject will be off limits” during the talks with Li in the four-day British visit.


In trade terms, Cameron’s visit to Beijing produced deals for British companies worth around one billion pounds (1.5 billion dollars, 1.2 billion euros).


In contrast, a few days earlier a visit to France by Chinese President Hu Jintao yielded 20 billion dollars of aviation and energy contracts between Chinese and French companies.


In an article in the Financial Times on Monday, Li said the world should not fear a rapidly growing China.


“China’s development benefits other countries,” he wrote. “We welcome the entry into our market of competitive good and services from around the world, and will provide a fair and even more transparent environment for foreign investors.”


Cameron has said Li’s visit would “build on the momentum” from his trip to Beijing, adding that “stronger relations with China offered a real opportunity for Britain in terms of trade, jobs, and economic growth”.


Li’s trips to Germany and Spain have focused on business.


In Berlin, he said China and Germany, the world’s top two exporters, should deepen their economic cooperation both in traditional areas such as machinery and cars but also in low-carbon technologies and energy efficient industry.


While in Madrid, Li said Beijing was willing to buy around six billion euros worth of Spanish debt, daily El Pais quoted government sources as saying.


After eurozone members Greece and Ireland were forced to seek bailouts worth tens of billions of euros last year, Spain, together with Portugal, have been seen as next in line in the 17-country currency union to need help.


 

Source: SGGP

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Scores dead or missing in Australian floods

In Uncategorized on January 12, 2011 at 7:10 am

 Australia braced for a rapidly rising death toll Tuesday after flash floods killed eight and left 72 missing, as a quickly spreading flood disaster forced evacuations in central Brisbane.


A sombre Prime Minister Julia Gillard, dressed in black, warned the country to prepare for the worst after flash floods described as an “inland tsunami” smashed mountainside Toowoomba, sweeping away entire houses.


“Yesterday we saw some simply shocking events in Toowoomba and other communities in the Lockyer Valley, literally walls of water smashing into cars and into buildings,” Gillard said.


“We have seen very dramatic images of cars tossed around, people on roofs of houses and on the roofs of cars and people literally hanging on for dear life to trees and to signposts.”

Screengrab taken on January 10, 2010 from footage aired by Australia’s Channel 9 shows flood waters racing through the city of Toowoomba.

Queensland state premier Anna Bligh said the death toll would rise “potentially quite dramatically”, with families among those missing and rescue efforts hampered by heavy rain and washed-away roads.


“Mother Nature has delivered something terrible in the last 48 hours but there’s more to go and our emergency people are more than up to that task,” said Bligh.


“This is going to be I think a very grim day, particularly for the people in that region, and a desperate hour here in Queensland.”


TV images showed Toowoomba’s streets turned into churning rapids dotted with floating cars, some with people sitting on top, while elsewhere residents were forced onto roofs as waters lapped at awnings.


Four of the dead were children, some of them swept away in cars driven by their mothers. A man and a younger male died in Murphy’s Creek near Toowoomba, 125 kilometres (80 miles) west of Brisbane in the Great Dividing Range.


Nineteen people have now died in flooding across Australia’s northeastern coal-mining and farming zone after weeks of rain blamed on the La Nina weather system, which has also dumped heavy snow on the northern United States.


Meanwhile floods that have devastated an area the size of France and Germany combined threatened central Brisbane, the state capital, forcing evacuations in a riverside inner city area and warnings for a swathe of suburbs.


“All members of the community who live or are currently near the Brisbane River at West End are advised to move to higher ground,” Queensland police said in a statement.


Hundreds of people were air-lifted out of outlying towns as floods that have cost billions of dollars in damage spread yet further.


Disaster coordinator Ian Stewart said he had serious concerns for the small Queensland town of Grantham, where three of the flash-flooding victims died and where dozens of residents are thought to be stranded.


“Grantham is going to be, in my view, just a disaster in terms of the number of homes that have been damaged or destroyed and we’re waiting on confirmation of potential extra loss of life,” Stewart said.


Federal MP Ian MacFarlane described dramatic scenes in Toowoomba as the flash flood deluged the town before subsiding within three hours, leaving scenes of destruction and people dead in their cars.


“We’re just seeing building after building, the water rushing in and blowing the windows out,” MacFarlane told Sky News. “Cars that were parked in the car parks were just lifted up and went bobbing down the street.”


Toowoomba mayor Peter Taylor said the town was struck without warning after two normally innocuous waterways suddenly overflowed.

“Torrential rain over a very short period of time came down two major creeks through the middle of the city which are normal quiet drainage ways, and people had no warning at all,” Taylor told the Seven Network.

“It was just unprecedented. Some people are saying an inland tsunami, and I think that probably sums it up really.”

Four military helicopters were sent to join the emergency effort but rescuers were badly hampered by continuing heavy rains in the Lockyer Valley region.

Source: SGGP

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Arizona gunman in court as Obama leads mourning

In Uncategorized on January 12, 2011 at 7:10 am

The man accused of trying to assassinate a congresswoman in an Arizona shooting spree that left six dead appeared in court but said nothing to shed light on his motive.


President Barack Obama led the American nation in a somber minute of silence to honor the 20 people gunned down in Tucson — where he will attend a memorial service on Wednesday, the White House announced.


Flags were at half-staff at the Capitol in Washington, where hundreds of aides and lawmakers crammed the storied steps of Congress to pay silent tribute to the victims, including one of their own.


Democratic lawmaker Gabrielle Giffords, 40, was shot through the head at point-blank range before the gunman sprayed a crowd of constituents with bullets, a nine-year-old girl and a federal judge among six who died.


Jared Loughner, who faces the death penalty for the murder of the judge, appeared, his head shaven, amid tight security around the federal court in Arizona state capital Phoenix.


Dressed in a brown prison jumpsuit for the less than 15 minute hearing, 22-year-old Loughner appeared to follow proceedings closely, but said little beyond answering “Yes” to basic questions from Judge Michael Anderson.


The judge agreed to his request to have Judy Clarke, who represented the Unabomber — an anarchist serving life without parole for a 20-year mail bombing spree — and 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, as his attorney.


No plea of guilty or not guilty was entered during the hearing and a preliminary court appearance was scheduled for January 24. A mug shot released by police showed the gunman with a haunting smile.


In an update on Giffords’ condition Monday, doctors said she was still responding to basic commands such as squeezing medics’ fingers, fueling growing hope for her recovery, though she remains in a critical condition.

People wait in line to sign condolence books for the victims of Saturday’s mass shooting in Arizona in the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill

Authorities said Loughner, a troubled young man booted out of a community college last year, fired a full clip of 31 shots.


He was reloading another clip into his 9mm Glock semi-automatic pistol when bystanders, including a 74-year-old retired colonel whose head had just been grazed by a bullet, brought him to the ground.


Obama praised the “extraordinary courage” of those who tackled the gunman, including a young Giffords aide and a woman who helped disarm him.


At the Capitol, Democratic representative Emanuel Cleaver recited a prayer: “We ask blessings on the spirit of this nation… help us move from this dark place to a place of sunshine… we ask that you help keep our hearts pure.”


Outside the Tucson hospital where Giffords clung to life with part of her skull removed, tearful well-wishers gathered, praying and hoping.


A search of Loughner’s home on Saturday unearthed a trove of evidence in a safe, according to the criminal complaint.


A letter from Giffords thanked Loughner for attending one of her earlier public meetings, in August 2007.


Also in the safe they found an envelope with the hand-written notes, “I planned ahead,” “My assassination” and “Giffords,” the affidavit said.


Officials declined to assess Loughner’s motives or mental state. He wrote a stream of barely coherent postings on the Internet that showed an interest in developing a new currency and criticism of “illiterate” fellow residents.

A US senator meanwhile said he plans to present legislation to ban high-capacity ammunition clips of the type used by the Tucson gunman.

“The only reason to have 33 bullets loaded in a handgun is to kill a lot of people very quickly. These high-capacity clips simply should not be on the market,” said Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg.

Giffords, who narrowly won re-election last year over a favorite of the conservative Tea Party movement, is a centrist Democrat who supports increased border security and, incidentally, loose restrictions on gun ownership.

Lawmakers of the rival Republican Party, which made huge gains in November midterm elections, denounced the attack and suspended proceedings of the House of Representatives whose new leadership had taken over just three days earlier.

Source: SGGP

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Massive black hole discovered in nearby galaxy

In Uncategorized on January 12, 2011 at 7:09 am

US astronomers have discovered a huge black hole, a million times the mass of the sun, in a nearby galaxy — a finding that could help better understand the origins of the universe.


The announcement Monday by the American Astronomical Society said the surprise discovery in a so-called “dwarf” galaxy offers evidence that black holes — regions of space where not even light can escape — formed before the buildup of galaxies.


“This galaxy gives us important clues about a very early phase of galaxy evolution that has not been observed before,” said Amy Reines, a researcher at the University of Virginia who presented the findings to the AAS annual meeting.

This undated NASA image shows the dwarf galaxy Henize 2-10, seen in visible light by the Hubble Space Telescope

The galaxy, called Henize 2-10, is 30 million light-years from Earth, has been studied for years, and is forming stars very rapidly. It resembles what scientists think were some of the first galaxies to form in the early universe.


Reines along with Gregory Sivakoff and Kelsey Johnson of the University of Virginia and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), and Crystal Brogan of the NRAO, observed Henize 2-10 with the National Science Foundation?s Very Large Array radio telescope and with the Hubble Space Telescope.


They found a region near the center of the galaxy that strongly emits radio waves with characteristics of those emitted by super-fast “jets” of material spewed outward from areas close to a black hole.


They then searched images from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory that showed this same, radio-bright region to be strongly emitting energetic X-rays. This combination, they said, indicates an active, black-hole-powered, galactic nucleus.


“Not many dwarf galaxies are known to have massive black holes,” Sivakoff said.


While black holes of roughly the same mass as the one in Henize 2-10 have been found in other galaxies, those galaxies all have much more regular shapes.


“This galaxy probably resembles those in the very young universe, when galaxies were just starting to form and were colliding frequently. All its properties, including the supermassive black hole, are giving us important new clues about how these black holes and galaxies formed at that time,” Johnson said.

Source: SGGP

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Assange due in UK court over Swedish extradition

In Uncategorized on January 12, 2011 at 7:08 am

WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange is due to appear in a London court on Tuesday as lawyers draw the battle lines in his fight to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning about alleged sex crimes.


The mainly procedural hearing at the top security Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court, due to start at 1000 GMT (3 p.m. EST), is likely to confirm the date for a full extradition hearing which is expected in early February.


The 39-year-old Australian computer expert, who has infuriated Washington by releasing details of secret U.S. diplomatic cables on his website, has protested his innocence over claims of sexual misconduct against two women.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange attends a seminar at the Swedish Trade Union Confederation headquarters in Stockholm August 14,

“The hearing on Tuesday is to ensure that the real issues in the case are identified and that preparation of the case is progressing in a timely fashion,” said a spokesman for Britain’s courts service.


It will also decide elements of the legal process, such as which documents the prosecutors and defense lawyers should provide and whether any witnesses should be called up.


British police arrested Assange last month on a European warrant issued by Sweden following allegations made by two WikiLeaks’ volunteers.


After spending nine days in jail, he was released on bail on December 16 after his supporters raised a surety of 200,000 pounds ($312,000).


As part of his bail conditions, Assange must stay at a mansion in eastern England, abide by a curfew, report to police daily and wear an electronic tag. Assange has described the curbs on him as “hi-tech house arrest.”

Source: SGGP

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Dong Nai 3 Hydroelectric Power Plant’s first turbine in operation

In Uncategorized on January 12, 2011 at 7:08 am




Dong Nai 3 Hydroelectric Power Plant’s first turbine in operation


QĐND – Saturday, January 08, 2011, 20:30 (GMT+7)

Dong Nai 3 Hydroelectric Power Plant’s first turbine was officially put into operation on January 8 in Dac Giong district, Dak Nong province, in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai.  


Addressing the event, Deputy PM Hai called on Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) and the management board of Dong Nai 3 Hydroelectric Power Plant to ensure the turbine’s safe operation and efficiency. He urged them to run the second turbine of the plant in the first quarter in 2011 so that Dong Nai 4 plant can start working by the end of this year.


Deputy PM Hai suggested the EVN should continue to work in close coordination with localities to take care of people’s resettlement.


The construction of Dong Nai 3 Hydroelectric Power project began in 2004. Its total investment capital was VND6,000 billion. It consists of two turbines and produces over 600 million kW per hour every year.


The plant will serve to limit floods in the area, create a water source for Dong Nai 4 Hydroelectric Power Plant and provide water for agriculture use. It is also one of emulation activities to celebrate the coming 11th National Party Congress.

Source: VOV

Source: QDND

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Man slain on Acapulco highway; 31 dead in 4 days

In Uncategorized on January 12, 2011 at 7:08 am

The body of a murdered man was found Monday on the main highway to Acapulco, bringing to 31 the number of people killed in the Pacific resort city over four days.


The unidentified man was shot several times in the head and found under a pedestrian bridge with his shirt pulled over his face, said Fernando Monreal Leyva, director of the investigative police for Guerrero state, where Acapulco is located.


Leyva said federal, state and local police planned to meet Monday with the military to consider ways to beef up security in Acapulco, where 14 decapitated men and two police officers were among the unusually high body count since Friday evening.

Fatigues with an embroidered logo of the La Familia drug cartel is presented to the media along with weaponry, drugs and cars confiscated in an operation in Morelia January 10, 2011

Most of the killings occurred in just a few hours from Friday night to Saturday in non-tourist areas of the city. But the officers were shot to death in front of tourists on Avenida Costero Miguel Aleman, the hotel-lined thoroughfare that runs along the bay.


Drug violence has increased in southern Guerrero state as factions of the Beltran Leyva cartel began fighting for territory after leader Arturo Beltran Leyva was killed by Mexican marines in December 2009.


Messages left with the 14 decapitated men said they were killed by “El Chapo’s People,” a reference to the Sinaloa cartel headed by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Leyva would not say whether the notes indicated Sinaloa had joined the fight.


The decapitations were the largest single group found in Mexico in recent years. In 2008, a group of 12 decapitated bodies were piled outside the Yucatan state capital of Merida. The same year, nine headless men were discovered in Guerrero’s capital, Chilpancingo.


Among the other Acapulco victims, six people were shot and stuffed into a taxi, their hands and feet bound.


More than 30,000 people have died in drug violence nationwide since President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown on cartels after taking office in December 2006 by deploying thousands of soldiers and federal police to drug hotspots.


Alejandro Poire, the government spokesman for security issues, said Monday that the increase in violence in Acapulco shows most of the killings in Mexico are a result of turf fights between drug gangs.


“They are vying for a place that, from the point of view of local drug sales, is extremely important,” Poire said.


Also Monday, the mayor of a town in central Mexico was shot to death as he drove with his wife and son, authorities said.


Abraham Ortiz Rosales, mayor of Temoac in Morelos state, was shot once in the head near the town of Jantetelco, said Morelos state Attorney General Pedro Benitez. Benitez said police had not determined a motive.


Ortiz Rosales had been threatened in June by men carrying assault rifles but the motive for that incident was never made public.

Source: SGGP

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Coal and mineral industry fetches VND70,000 billion in 2010 revenue

In Uncategorized on January 12, 2011 at 7:07 am




Coal and mineral industry fetches VND70,000 billion in 2010 revenue


QĐND – Sunday, January 09, 2011, 22:18 (GMT+7)

The Vietnam National Coal Mineral Industries Group (VINACOMIN) earned nearly VND70,000 billion in 2010 revenue, 11 percent more than in 2009, in which coal exports reached VND21,000 billion, up by 21 percent over 2009.


On January 8, VINACOMIN organised a conference to review business and production activities in 2010 and worked out the 2011 plan.


Despite facing a lot of difficulties due to the impact of the global economic crisis, VINACOMIN still perform well, carrying out its business plans. As a result, in 2011, VINACOMIN contributed more than VND8,000 billion to the State budget, 25 percent more than in 2009 while its mineral exploration hit VND2,500 billion, up by 31 percent; electricity production reached VND2,300 billion, up by 131 percent over 2009.


Asides from this, the group restructured its enterprises and production management while implementing key projects on mining, thermal-electric power and exploring new coal mines.


Last year, VINANCOMIN ensured job provision and stable incomes for more than 1.3 million workers with a monthly average salary of VND6 million each, 5 percent more than the level of the year before.


In 2011, the group will continue to implement measures to gain more than VND72,000 billion in revenue, apply advanced technology to increase production efficiency and reduce workplace accidents.


The group will also ensure social welfare for workers as well as adopt measures for sustainable environmental protection in its exploration process.


Source: VOV


Source: QDND

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24,650 people in rural areas buy Vietnamese goods

In Uncategorized on January 12, 2011 at 7:07 am




24,650 people in rural areas buy Vietnamese goods


QĐND – Monday, January 10, 2011, 20:26 (GMT+7)

The first fair of Vietnamese goods in rural areas this year was held in Lap Vo district, Dong Thap province from January 7-9.


The event drew the participation of 46 businesses in the fields of electronics, cosmetics, food, garment and textile and pharmaceutical products.


The fair attracted 24,650 visitors to buy Vietnamese goods at reasonable prices, with a total turnover of VND1.45 billion.


Source: VOV


 


Source: QDND