Real estate slump hits construction industry | Vietnam Business News

The slump in the property market has in turn led to stagnation in the construction and construction materials industries.

Sales was down by 40 per cent now compared with the same period last year, said Hoang Van Tieu, deputy director of the Hoang Thien Phat Ltd company, which sells luxury interior materials.

?Many importing companies like us are offering big promotions but we still cannot sell because construction has no hope in the near future,? he said.

Nguyen Kim Thuy, director of the Hoang Son Ltd company, said: ?We are looking at other markets like Malaysia, Cambodia and Laos, but if the local market remains at a standstill, we will have to trade other products.?

According to figures from the General Statistics Office, unsold stocks in the construction materials industry have increased by 21 per cent this year.

Some, like electric cables (86 per cent) and cement (84 per cent), have seen stocks rise by an astonishing rate.

There are also 30 million sq. metres of flowered enamelled tiles worth VND2 trillion (US$100 million) and 400,000 tonnes of steel in stock.

The Viet Nam Steel Association predicts around a fifth of all steel companies to go bankrupt this year since many big companies have had to cut production by 50-70 per cent.

Besides, the prices of major inputs like coal and electricity have risen sharply, causing manufacturers more difficulties.

Falling demand for their goods has been exacerbated by the loosening of controls on imports.

The construction materials industry wants the Government to tighten control over imports and help them tide over this difficult period.

For their part, it is vital to restructure production, work together within other industry players, build strong brands, cut costs, and improve their competitiveness. ? VNS

Tags: Vietnam Property market, Vietnam real estate, vietnam real estate market

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N Korea moves rocket into place

9 April 2012 Last updated at 00:50 ET

The BBC's Damian Grammaticas was invited by North Korean officials to witness preparations for the launch.

North Korea has moved into place a long-range rocket for a controversial launch later this month - amid reports it is also planning a nuclear test.

Pyongyang says the Unha-3 rocket, which it plans to launch between 12 and 16 April, will put a satellite into orbit.

But opponents of the move fear it is a disguised long-range missile test.

Meanwhile, South Korean officials say new satellite images suggest the North is preparing to carry out a third nuclear test.

The images show piles of earth and sand at the entrance of a tunnel at the Punggye-ri site, where tests of a nuclear bomb were previously carried out in 2006 and 2009, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports.

"Recent satellite images led us to conclude the North has been secretly digging a new underground tunnel in the nuclear test site... besides two others where the previous tests were conducted," one unnamed official told the AFP news agency.

North Korea has been under close scrutiny by its neighbours and the international community since Kim Jong-un became leader of the secretive state following the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, in December 2011.

Continue reading the main story

At the scene

Hidden behind a fold in the hills, on North Korea's coastline, its Unha rocket looked almost ready for launch.

Painted with the North Korean flag, it towered 30m high. Soldiers stood guard while technicians worked on the rocket.

It is a birthday present for the North's former dictator Kim Il-sung, designed to put a satellite into polar orbit, to mark his 100th birthday, even though he died 17 years ago.

North Korea wants to convince its own people that their nation is now strong and prosperous.

Pyongyang had agreed in February to a partial freeze in nuclear activities and a missile test moratorium in return for US food aid. But the deal was put on hold last month after the North announced its rocket launch plans.

'Peaceful purposes'

The BBC's Damian Grammaticas was among a group of foreign journalists taken by train to the Sohae satellite station at Tongchang-ri, on the country's north-west coast, on Sunday to see the final preparations for the rocket launch.

All three stages of the rocket were visibly in position at the launch pad.

Station manager Jang Myong-jim told reporters that preparations were on track and fuelling would begin soon, without giving exact timings.

He said the 100kg (220 pound) satellite is designed to send back images and information that will be used for weather forecasts as well as surveys of North Korea's natural resources.

But should the country be putting its effort into a satellite launch when it cannot feed its own people, our correspondent asked.

''If we don't develop our own technology, we will become slaves,'' the director of the launch site told the BBC. ''We need our own technology to be an advanced country, to be a powerful space nation.''

Pyongyang has previously said the launch, for "peaceful purposes", is to mark the centennial of the birth of founding leader Kim Il-sung.

But the United States and North Korea's neighbours say it contravenes UN resolutions that were imposed after a similar launch in April 2009.

Japan and South Korea have warned they will shoot the rocket down if it strays into their territory.

The North says any of those responses would be considered hostile acts. But it seems determined to go ahead even if it sets of a dangerous cascade of events, says our correspondent.

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10 Best Firefox Add-Ons ? Reporter India Online News ? Crime ...

Mozilla?s Firefox browser burst onto the web landscape a few years ago, and unlike IE, Firefox is doing it right.

In fact, the popularity of Firefox has grown significantly, and when you consider that this browser competes with Microsoft?s Internet Explorer and Google?s Chrome, the success of Firefox is proof that Mozilla got it right by introducing a blank-slate browser that you customize to make your own.

Firefox supports a large, diverse and active community of independent developers. Visit the add-ons page at Mozilla and you?ll discover hundreds of features you can add to Firefox, enabling you to customize Firefox to your business needs, web cruising practices and personal preferences.

Ever since Firefox launched, Mozilla has promoted the browser as user-centric ? a lesson every site owner can take to the bank. Engage your users and they become a digital community.

I use a number of browsers for different purposes, but I always come back to Firefox for routine web-based activity. And, by downloading add-ons, I?ve created a browser that meets my needs so my Firefox search page looks different from your search page, thanks to the roster of add-ons offered by Firefox.

1. FastestFox 3.0.4

This productivity app is fairly new, but man, has it caught the attention of Firefox users. I can?t believe how this one app improves the performance of any computer from 5-year-old doorstops to today?s high-speed processors and a terabyte of RAM .

FastestFox simplifies repetitive tasks. Program the interface once and daily chores can be automated ? everything from time cards to content management. Downloads are faster, even when I?m downloading two or three batches of digital data simultaneously.

This handy little tool can also run in the background if you don?t need all the bells and whistles by increasing speed as you move from one site to another. I?m still discovering new ways to use this app. It?s flexible, deep in features and it?s a simple add-on to the blank Firefox interface.

2. Google Shortcuts

With Google apps moving aggressively into the exclusive activities of the world wide ?wealth? of Microsoft, there?s a lot of Google tools I want access to daily ? everything from my Analytics account to Google Docs.

This handy download let?s me place all my critical Google tools on a single menu. Click once and I?m deep in my Google account, or conducting research with Google?s Keyword Generator.

It?s a simple navigation tool that takes a few clicks out of my work day and those clicks add up. So, it improves my productivity, too, providing faster access to the Google tools I use everyday. Hey, save a click here, a click there ? it adds up to increased productivity.

3. Yoono 6.2.1

If you?re like me, social media takes up a big part of the day. Sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr and other digital gathering and SMS sites are a great way to create web or blog buzz. And isn?t that what we?re all trying to do?

Yoono is in my arsenal of guerrilla marketing tools, enabling me to ping posts, add posts to a variety of sites and track return activity such as RTs and comments to posts ? all from one dashboard. Think of Yoono as a blend of Ping.fm and Seesmic ? only mashed together in functionality. Real simple interface, too.

4. Smart Bookmarks Bar 1.4.3

If you?re like me you?ve got a couple of hundred bookmarks in your favorites file. Well, if you?re tired of searching for your destination sites, Smart Bookmarks enables you to display more bookmarks on your navigation bar.

You can hide it and bring it up as needed, but it?s so convenient, I keep it on-screen all the time so I?m on any site with a click. That?s just how I want it.

5. MR Tech Toolkit 6.0.4

A simple download add-on that delivers all the tools I need to install, manage and change extensions and Firefox themes and other add-ons in a variety of formats and from a simple interface.

Makes download management more manageable. Another time saver for me.

6. AutoPager 0.5.5.6

Simple idea, simple add on. AutoPager automatically loads next pages based on your preferences and web use practices. It reads Google, Yahoo and interfaces with other Firefox add-ons like spam blockers so you can still skip the spam without having to manually load the next page into your Firefox browser. This little tool does it for you.

Think of AutoPager as an infinite scrolling tool and stop manually clicking to the next page. Scroll through an entire site in seconds.

7. RSS Ticker 3.0.4

I?ve got over 100 blogs and sites loaded into four different RSS readers so sometimes finding the news takes more time than I want to spend.

That?s why I added RSS Ticker ? a convenience overlay that notifies me of changes in any of the live bookmarks I place in the tracker. Now, I don?t have to manually track RSS readers. This add-on does it for me.

8. FEBE 6.3.2

A security add on that automatically backs up all my Firefox activities ? bookmarks, preferences, passwords and other stuff that I use everyday.

Sure, I have multiple, redundant back-up systems off-site and in-house. This Firefox add-on simply takes one more thing off my plate ? one more thing I don?t even have to think about. Nice back up security for all your Firefox add-ons and settings.

9. View Source Chart 2.7

One of the most creative uses of Firefox?s OSS interface, View Source Chart provides the source code of any site in a very simple GUI. But it?s not just a click saver.

View Source displays HTML tag boundaries, provides a GUI of tag nesting configurations and even identifies a page element?s ancestor tags ? all on one screen and all with a click.

If site performance analysis is part of your profession (you?re an SEO, SEM, web copy writer, site designer, etc.) this little add-on, which I keep loaded on my main toolbar, will make your market analysis activities more productive and effective. Highest recommended for web professionals.

10. Greasemonkey 0.8.2

The Greasemonkey team?s main add-on, just called Greasemonkey, allows me to create web displays using snippets of JavaScript. You can grab Greasemonkey-compatible scripts here or create your own Greasemonkey scripts by mashing scripts to suit your needs. If you don?t know diddly about JavaScript, here?s everything you need to know to create a truly unique browser using this very sweet little time-saver.

With such an active community of developers, building literally thousands of Firefox add-ons, and new releases coming out daily, bookmark the Firefox add-ons site.

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A Organic Home made Diet Program regarding your Pet Dog or ...

Dog meals producers spend millions associated with dollars screening and also determining optimum ranges of nutrients regarding dogs throughout different lifestyle phases. Theoretically, you can offer the dog using the same nutrition he gets coming from commercial dog food, nevertheless It?s unlikely you may possess fairly your physique of knowledge, analysis and trial and also error at your rear of anyone which leading companies do. I carry in, intermittently, things like Stella & Chewy?s Frozen raw food for Dogs (duck); ZiwiPeak Every Day Dog Cuisine Dry Meals (venison or lamb); as well as Total natural Nutrition Real Meals Toppers (wild salmon). Theoretically, you?ll become able to supply your dog using the same nutrition he gets coming from commercial dog food, yet It?s unlikely you?ll get fairly your body associated with knowledge, research and trial and also error powering anyone that will leading companies do. Grain Free Canned Cat Food

NATURAL DIETS FOR URBAN PETS. To ensure optimum stability of a natural homemade diet, I recommend a new nutritional consult with a Holistic Veterinarian. Ooh, that?s a tasty deer, I?ll go round up your pack and hunt him down. ? Arthritis.

Carbohydrates offer energy. We can, however, source the particular constructing blocks of his or her organic diet to end up being in a new position to offer these using the essential elements that they require to reside a new long, wholesome life. It will be regular for these people to have more time hours involving meal interval. Doing your free feeding will simply help make their particular stomach exhausted.

Ziwipeak Grain Free Canned Cat Food Always just take time throughout reading your meals label when getting commercial foods for that dog. Sources associated with carbohydrates include potatoes, pasta, rice and other grains. It tells how much amount a person should give your food. Protein isn?t stored inside the body, consequently it wants to become replenished each day. Doing the free feeding will only create their particular abdomen exhausted.

Ziwipeak Grain Free Wet Cat Food Your dog requirements protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and also minerals in the right proportions to remain healthy as well as fit. {}. Friday ? Ah shame, finished that will deer off yesterday, what for you to eat today? Oh look, a bird?s nest, yum, I adore raw eggs, and also look, a amount of berries around the ground over here, may well snavel all of them up before anybody otherwise finds them, oooh, along with a amount of horse poo yippee!.

If you transition your pet into a natural diet, possibly 100% homemade, or such as any proportion of substantial quality, carnivore-appropriate, organic pet food, for example K9 All-natural or even Ziwi Peak, you will most certainly recognize numerous health benefits. It tells how much amount you ought to give the food. Note that the info around the label will be recommended regarding general excess weight regarding dogs.

Tags: Grain Free Canned Cat Food, Grain Free Cat Food, Grain Free Dry Cat Food, Grain Free Wet Cat Food, Ziwipeak Grain Free Cat Food

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments ?

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Obama adds politics to women's forum (CNN)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

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Car financing | finance and money blog

Finding a car is like finding a shoe that would fit you, except that you cannot find your perfect car in a department store. Getting through the obstacles of buying your own car is now possible and easier, thanks to various online direct lending companies. People from all walks of life can now apply for auto car loans online and get approved of a loan within a matter of days, hours, and even minutes.

Finding a car loan appropriate for you needs consideration of a number of factors. You need to know how much you can pay for a car every month, whether you have good or bad credit standing, or whether you already have an auto loan but need refinancing. You also need to use a tool called auto finance calculator to help you make better financing decisions. Read on to help you find the right kind of financing for you.

If you have good credit scores, then go for new or used auto loans

They say people with good credit standing generally get approved of car financing.

They may apply loans from traditional lending sources such as banks and credit unions without having much difficulty. Although it is an advantage, people with good credit standing can go for online lending sources that offer new or used auto loans for cheaper rates.

New auto loans are ideal for individuals who have had credit problems in the past. These are suitable for people who are investing in a new car with enough paying capabilities, while used auto loans are for people who are practical and realistic about getting a car they need at the moment.

If you have bad credit scores, then apply for bad credit auto loans

Some people have difficulty in regaining their good credit standing. If you currently have bad credit and you are in need of a car, then you can search online for companies which can offer you bad credit auto loans. Some companies can work with direct financing companies to give you a loan for the car you want.

Applying online puts you on an equal playing field with people of good credit standing applying for auto loans. You will not be judged because of your bad credit. You simply need to fill out a secure online form which they will assess and you can get approved in a few minutes.

If you want to lower your monthly rates, then look for companies offering refinance auto loans

Some people are charged with incredibly high interest rates for their cars. To solve this, you can look for car loan providers that offer refinancing auto loans. This will help lower the interest rates you are paying and help you save more money during the period of your loan. To help you evaluate the future savings you can get from having your loan refinanced, use auto finance calculators which are available in many online auto loan companies.

There are many car financing companies available on the internet which can help you get the car you want based on your capabilities and needs. Thanks to the internet, you can get approved for your loan in minutes without being judged because of your good or bad credit.

Ronnie Brown writes blog and published magazine articles about car financing while giving advice to people about finding the right auto car loan for his readers.

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Reality check on Russia's 'zombie ray gun'

Itar-Tass / Reuters

Russian leader Vladimir Putin stands with a gun at a shooting gallery of the new GRU military intelligence headquarters building in Moscow during a 2006 visit. Last month, Putin said nations would eventually develop new types of weapons, including "psychophysical" weapon systems.

By Alan Boyle

Are we on the brink of an arms race over zombie ray guns? You might think so, based on the alarms being rung over Russia's potential to create mind-scrambling weapons. But the reality is that it'll be a long time before we have to worry about super-soldiers taking over our brains.

The Americans as well as the Russians have been looking into psychotronic weapons for more than 15 years. You can find ample references to the subject on the Internet, including a feature published by U.S. News and World Report in 1997 and a report written for a U.S. Army publication in 1998.

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Such weapons purport to take advantage of the effect that pulsed microwaves can have on brain activity. Some researchers have reported an effect known as microwave hearing, in which a directed beam of radiation produces a sensation of buzzing, clicking or hissing in the head. "This technology in its crudest form could be used to distract individuals," according to a declassified Army review of non-lethal weapons.

Theoretically, electromagnetic beams could cause an epileptic-type seizure, or involuntary eye motion leading to dizziness and nausea. Military researchers have also looked into using infrasound or laser beams to confuse or incapacitate a foe ? but when you start going down this road, before you know it, you're talking about remote viewing, ESP and all the way-out concepts chronicled in "The Men Who Stare at Goats."

The Russian connection
The Russians have looked into these potential technologies at least as deeply as the Pentagon has, and you're hearing about zombie ray guns now because top Russian officials started talking about psychotronic weapons a couple of weeks ago. That has brought the subject back from the dead like a ... well, you know.

Moscow is planning to set up an advanced military research agency similar to the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov referred to those plans on March 22. Here's what the RIA Novosti news agency quoted him as saying during a meeting with Prime Minister (and President-elect) Vladimir Putin:

"The development of weaponry based on new physics principles ? direct-energy weapons, geophysical weapons, wave-energy weapons, genetic weapons, psychotronic weapons, etc. ? is part of the state arms procurement program for 2011-2020 ... We will draft the proposals for the next program by December 2012."

Putin, who begins his presidential term next month, pledged during the campaign that he would beef up Russia's military. In February, he laid out his national security plan in an article published by Rossiiskaya Gazeta. At the time, most of the news reports picked up on Putin's call for almost $770 billion in spending over the course of a decade to modernize the armed forces. But Putin also observed that the current balance of power, held in place by nuclear arsenals, could well shift in the future due to new technologies. It was in that context that he brought up the psychotronic angle:

"The military capability of a country in space or information countermeasures, especially in cyberspace, will play a great, if not decisive, role in determining the nature of an armed conflict. In the more distant future, weapons systems based on new principles (beam, geophysical, wave, genetic, psychophysical and other technology) will be developed. All this will, in addition to nuclear weapons, provide entirely new instruments for achieving political and strategic goals. Such high-tech weapons systems will be comparable in effect to nuclear weapons but will be more 'acceptable' in terms of political and military ideology. In this sense, the strategic balance of nuclear forces will play a gradually diminishing role in deterring aggression and chaos."

In the wake of Serdyukov's comments, folks dredged up Putin's reference to "psychophysical" weapons, added in some background about the research into electromagnetic mind control, and voila: the zombie ray gun. Last week, Britain's Daily Mail suggested that the guns "could be used against Russia's enemies and, perhaps, its own dissidents by the end of the decade."

The Mail also quoted Anatoly Tsyganov, head of the Military Forecasting Center in Moscow, as saying microwaves could make for "a highly serious weapon":

"When it was used for dispersing a crowd and it was focused on a man, his body temperature went up immediately as if he was thrown into a hot frying pan. Still, we know very little about this weapon and even special forces guys can hardly cope with it."

Based on that comment, Tsyganov was apparently talking about a different kind of non-lethal weapon, an analog to the millimeter-wave "pain ray" that the U.S. military has been working on for years. As we noted a couple of weeks ago, the beam of radiation can be directed at a crowd, producing a severe burning sensation on the skin that forces the target to jump away instinctively.

Live Poll

Are you worried about psychotronic weapons?

• 180681

  No, that's pure science fiction.

  14%

• 180682

  Short-term, no. Long-term, maybe.

  53%

• 180683

  Yes, I'm definitely worried.

  21%

• 180684

  None of the above.

  12%

VoteTotal Votes: 860

How fast can mad scientists work?
There are a few problems with the pain-ray technology: It takes hours to build up enough power for the beam generator, and the system reportedly works only in clear atmospheric conditions. Nevertheless, testing of the "Silent Guardian" system is continuing, not only for military applications but also for use against oceangoing pirates and rioting prisoners.

The bottom line is that Russia certainly seems to be on track to set up its own DARPA-like "Department of Mad Scientists," working on heat rays, mind-altering electromagnetic beams and heaven knows what else. But there's nothing in the comments from Putin and Serdyukov to suggest that the Russians are anywhere close to having psychotronic weapons. In fact, Putin makes it sound as if the next frontier in warfare won't be the zombie ray gun but the coordinated cyber-attack. And that's scary enough for me.

What do you think? Please feel free to register your opinion in the unscientific poll above, and the comment space below.

Update for 11 p.m. ET: A couple of commenters noted that the zombielike picture that originally accompanied this item had a caption that didn't quite square with the lore for the "Left 4 Dead" video game. The more I learned about the game, the more I saw that the picture really didn't fit. So I've put in the picture of a gun-toting Putin instead. Thanks to the gamers who pointed out the problem. If I ever play "Left 4 Dead," I'll want you on my side.

More about weapons technologies:

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Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.

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