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England vs Scotland will be played on Saturday, March 16.
The match will kick off at 5pm.
It will be played at Twickenham.
Vietnam's central bank aims to get commercial bank lending rates down to between 17 percent and 19 percent, perhaps from next month, its new governor was quoted as saying in an online report, which helped lift stock prices.
Dong rates averaged 18.64 percent in July, with loans for the agricultural and export sectors at 16-21 percent, other production and business activities at 18-22 percent and non-manufacturing sectors at 20-25 percent, the central bank said in a monthly report on Wednesday.
The State Bank of Vietnam will work with banks to try to get rates down from mid-September, Governor Nguyen Van Binh was quoted as saying in the report posted on news website NDHMoney (ndhmoney.vn).
High lending rates have been a major problem for businesses, but the authorities have had to tighten monetary policy significantly this year in the face of soaring inflation, which exceeded 22 percent in July.
Binh, who was confirmed in his post by parliament on Wednesday, said the central bank would "minimize the use of administrative intervention measures" and would maintain a tight monetary policy. He did not give further details.
The news cheered Vietnam's drooping stock market, and the main Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange index rose 1.17 percent to close at 396.05 on Thursday, its first rise since July 28. The market has lost 18.3 percent so far this year.
"The governor's move helped restore confidence in most market participants, who expect the new cabinet will have measures to stabilize the economy," said Doan Tran Phuong Phi, head of the brokerage team at Ho Chi Minh City Securities.
Parliament approved a new cabinet on Wednesday.
Banks may have to cut lending rates sooner or later as many firms cannot afford the high costs and are not taking out fresh loans, said Deputy Director Quach Manh Hao of Thang Long Securities.
"The markets could see positive developments in the next few sessions, and stocks may start on an upward trend in the near term," Hao said.
Vietnam has responded to a surge in inflation with a string of measures since February, including several increases in policy rates.
It cut the interest rate it charges for loans in open market operations by 100 basis points to 14 percent on July 4 but some economists said that may have simply reflected liquidity flows .
Other key rates were left steady, including the refinance rate and the discount rate, which were lifted 100 basis points at the end of April to 14 percent and 13 percent respectively.
The government has cut its credit growth target to below 20 percent this year to curb inflation from an initial target of 23 percent, following a rise of 27.65 percent in 2010.
Bank loans as of July 20 had risen 7.57 percent from the end of 2010, the central bank's report said.
Binh said the central bank would keep a reasonable volume of the domestic currency in circulation and avoid any surpluses while aiming to keep interest rates at a level beneficial for depositors.
He also said foreign reserves were "relatively large", sufficient to meet any shortage, and that the central bank would aim for a stable foreign exchange rate.
Vietnam has added nearly $4 billion to its foreign reserves this year, the government said last month. It gave no total value for reserves, which are regarded as a state secret.
The dong has fallen 22 percent against the dollar since the start of 2008 but has stabilised in recent months.
Binh is a career central banker who, until his promotion, had been one of five deputy governors since early 2008. He oversaw the bank's external relations and is seen by some overseas analysts as a steady pair of hands.
DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., maker of the “Kung Fu Panda” films, retreated the most in almost two years in Nasdaq trading after reporting a 72 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit, missing analysts’ estimates.
DreamWorks Animation fell 10 percent to $17.68 at 10:28 a.m. in New York. The intraday drop of as much as 11 percent was the biggest since May 24, 2010.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs advised investors today to sell shares of the Glendale, California-based DreamWorks Animation. The company reported yesterday that net income fell to $24.3 million, or 29 cents a share, from $85.2 million, or 99 cents, a year earlier, on lower DVD sales. Analysts had projected profit of 31 cen...
“The overall home-entertainment environment remains challenging,” Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Katzenberg said on a conference call. Consumer purchases of digital copies of movies remain “modest,” he said.
Fourth-quarter sales declined 21 percent to $219 million from $275.7 million a year earlier, beating analysts’ average estimate of $205.1 million.
Goldman Sachs today also cut its earnings estimates on DreamWorks Animation, citing higher production costs and lower consumer-products revenue.
DreamWorks Animation plans to announce new distribution arrangements for its films by midyear or later, Katzenberg said. Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures distributes DreamWorks Animation movies under a deal that expires at the end of this year.
Does Donald Trump Intend to Be a Factual Statement?
President Obama's decision to release his long-form birth certificate is a reminder of the handicaps under which rational people labor when confronting the irrational. Facts are poor antidotes to irrational beliefs, as numerous analyses of birther madness (and other false beliefs) have noted and birther reaction to Oba...
And therein lies Donald Trump's great advantage. Whether or not he attended the "best schools and always did good," whether or not he was admitted for reasons having little to do with merit, he seems to owe very little to the academic tradition and its regard for reason and facts. Instead he owes his ascent on reality ...
Known on The Daily Show as "professional megalomaniac" Donald Trump, he self-affirms to the point of self-parody. His chest-thumping is not exactly a lie. When an aggressive self-affirmer declares his greatness, he probably intends to be offering a factual statement, and it may pass for one among friendly audiences, ea...
But whether or not Trump's fans take all his bombast literally, they do seem to take seriously his questionable claims of high intelligence and an unvarnished record of astounding success (which Joshua Green questions here).
I doubt they support his presidential bid simply because they find it entertaining -- though these days, you never know. What's the harm of a political blowhard's encomiums to himself? If people share his assessments of his own incredible excellence, they're likely to credit his pronouncements about the economy or fore...
Asserting his own greatness, his implicit (as well as explicit) message is that he will restore America's greatness as well. It's as if Trump's self-proclaimed exceptionalism would rub off on the nation. A developer who worked with Trump years ago told me that when he walked down the street, strangers reached out to to...
Thu., Jan. 27, 2011, 7:28 p.m.
Mon., July 26, 2010, 7:55 p.m.
Tue., March 23, 2010, 7:03 p.m.
Spokane County commissioners approved a $50,000 settlement Tuesday in the May 2007 death of a Spokane Valley man who fought with sheriff’s deputies.
Mon., Feb. 22, 2010, 6:17 p.m.
Sun., Sept. 13, 2009, 1 a.m.
The SA Sevens cruised into the quarterfinals of the Sevens World Series thanks to three convincing rugby performances in the Port Elizabeth leg at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Friday.
The Blitzbokke went through the day without conceding a point and saved their best performance of the day for the final match of the evening, trouncing Pool C rivals Australia 26-0.
South Africa broke down some resolute Aussie early defending when star player and IRB Sevens player of the year Cecil Afrika scored the opening try of the game on the stroke of half-time.
They scored three more tries through Mark Richards (two) and Steven Hunt to bury Australia and top the pool.
Paul Treu’s men will now face France in Saturday’s Cup quarterfinals.
South African leg champions New Zealand signalled their intention to defend their title with a superb 41-0 victory over Dubai finalists France in Pool A.
The French had no answer for the powerful All Blacks, who also easily accounted for Morocco and Scotland earlier in the day, and face Australia in Saturday’s Cup quarterfinals.
Series log leaders Fiji also claimed three victories on Friday, along with Samoa.
South Africa eased into their campaign just after lunch with a comfortable 33-0 victory over Canada, playing with cohesion and determination to run in five tries to none.
Afrika produced a perfectly weighed crosskick into the safe hands of Chris Dry, who scored South Africa’s second try before the dreadlocked Port Elizabeth-born flyer was subbed by Treu shortly after the interval.
Other tries were scored by Branco du Preez, Hunt, Cornal Hendricks and Richards.
Another PE-born star, Hunt thrilled local fans when he ran in four tries as the Blitzbokke thumped Kenya 45-0 in their second match.
Afrika, who missed the Dubai leg because of a rib injury, once again marshalled his troops brilliantly as the Boks raced to a 26-0 lead at the break, dashing to score a 50-metre try in the corner.
The newly established South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) has lost its first application for a strike – a general stayaway sought at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac), which would have coincided with Wednesday’s national day of action planned by opposition parties.
The failure to secure a section 77 certificate means Saftu’s potential affiliates – speculated to be 21 unions representing 700 000 workers – won’t be taking part in Wednesday’s protest at the Union Buildings.
To secure a section 77 strike notice (under the Labour Relations Act), which would protect workers from disciplinary action while they demonstrated, Nedlac needs to declare that there is a dispute between the stakeholders and that a solution to the federation’s concerns cannot be found.
The application to Nedlac was heard by business, government and labour representatives on Friday afternoon as tens of thousands of people took to the streets, calling on President Jacob Zuma to step down.
The application was based on “issues of jobs, the economy and the national minimum wage; the sell-out (national minimum wage) deal signed by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and bosses. The crisis in the education sector as a whole also informed the application,” according to Saftu’s convener, Zwelin...
The application was dismissed because the newly established federation could not demonstrate that government and business representatives had failed to intervene in the concerned areas.
The federation is due to hold its founding congress at the end of this month.
The movement is three years in the making and follows Vavi’s dismissal from Cosatu and the expulsion of South Africa’s largest union, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, from the ANC-allied workers body.
Vavi told the Mail & Guardian that, unlike Cosatu, which is dominated by public sector workers – the federation would have a mix of industries.
Some of the other notable unions include the Food and Allied Workers Union and the National Transport Movement. The federation is also understood to be wooing popular unions such as the platinum mining majority union, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union.
Vavi said Saftu had already started campaigning on issues such as #OutsourcingMustFall – a movement advocating for the permanent employment of outsourced workers at universities and in the state.
The federation, he said, would also take up the campaigns started by the Unite Against Corruption movement, an umbrella body set up two years ago to coalesce civic organisations, unions and citizens into a strategy to fight corruption.
But its strongest drawcard is its independent nature, he said.
“[Saftu] is independent but not apolitical. It is truly worker controlled and democratic and not ‘sloganising’ over the issues. Saftu is truly fighting and militant,” Vavi said, adding that the federation’s position towards Zuma is crystal clear.
“That’s why we put in a section 77 application. Because if we do nothing about Zuma, we will see unemployment double. We will see half of the population living in poverty in no time. Zuma represents no ideology, he’s just acting as a criminal,” Vavi concluded.
When you think of "connected" devices, you probably picture your smartphone… or maybe your tablet.
You see, the coming wireless revolution will go far beyond those handheld mobile devices.
By 2020, we'll be using 50 billion connected "things" worldwide.
I'm talking about "connected" cars, factory robots, thermostats and household appliances, vending machines, industrial tractors and plows, warehouse forklifts… well, everything.
To make this revolution possible, our wireless Internet is going to have to get faster – much, much faster, in fact.
We'll get there by migrating to a whole new ultrafast wireless ecosystem known as 5G. Once this huge breakthrough in mobile communications takes hold, the wireless Internet will run up to 50 times faster than existing 4G connections.
But that's trivial compared to the big ideas that 5G is going to make possible… concepts like driverless cars and the Internet of Everything.
On Feb. 22, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) made a $1.8 billion acquisition that underscores this massive shift – and it largely flew under Wall Street's radar screen.
Today, I want to tell you about this bit of news – and what it means for 5G.
And I want to show you a tech stock tapped in to this unstoppable trend that combines high yields and market-beating gains.
Verizon's acquisition of XO Communications may have gone mostly unnoticed because, at first glance, it sounded like a "technical" event. After all, the press releases mostly talked about how XO provides high-speed fiber-optic networks as well as wireless spectrum in the 28 GHz to 31 GHz ranges.
Here's what that jargon means – all that new bandwidth greatly increases wireless speeds… and will play a central role in the coming 5G ecosystem.
If you've ever tried to access a busy cell network at a sports stadium or a big music festival, you've likely encountered dropped calls and slow speeds. Simply stated, the network can't handle all that traffic at once.
Something very similar but with much broader ramifications is happening at the national level.
It all gets back to the "convergence economy" we discuss so often at Strategic Tech Investor. Several key overlapping trends rely on wireless access to deliver results.
Take the intersection of advanced sensors and the Internet of Everything (IoE). Sensors now communicate such data as proximity, speed, pressure, audio, light, chemicals, and more.
In other words, they lie at the heart of the IoE, a field that Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) says will deliver $14 trillion in profits over the next several years.
Even without the IoE, the demand for bandwidth is growing rapidly. Forecasters at iGR estimate that for the five years ending in 2018, the total number of wireless connections will have grown by 38% to nine billion.
Existing 4G connections can't handle all that traffic efficiently, let alone deliver the smooth wireless streaming video so popular with young people.
There are roughly 80 million of these young people born around the turn of the century. They're not just a huge demographic group – they are mobile-centric consumers who communicate through wireless, text, chats, photos, and videos.
For its part, Verizon is touting its advances in 5G technology and is promising speeds 50 times that of present connections. The cellular carrier wants to get out in front of the market.
Analysts don't expect to see full deployment of 5G networks much before the end of the decade. But Verizon is investing heavily and expects to begin key field trials later this year.
The company is not alone in its growth projections. Indeed, it's a worldwide phenomenon in the making.
For instance, Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson (Nasdaq ADR: ERIC) says it expects to see 150 million users on its European 5G networks in the next five years. And South Korea is investing up to $1.5 billion in wireless infrastructure upgrades over the next few years.
Here at home, all four major wireless carriers intend to invest heavily in 5G deployments. The GSMA mobile trade group predicts carriers as a group will spend roughly $1.7 trillion on upgrades for both 4G and 5G systems.
As tech investors, we're seeking a way to play this huge growth market and generate gains on current wireless operations.
That's why tech investors ought to take a hard look at Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE: CCI).
This Pittsburgh-based wireless infrastructure provider of towers, antenna systems, and rooftop sites has racked up an amazing track record of success in a relatively short amount of time.
In 1998, the firm started out with just 908 towers. Today that figure stands at more than 40,000, making it the largest provider of "shared wireless infrastructure."

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