Google’s AdSense is an attractive revenue making opportunity for small, medium and large web sites since a long time now but it’s against the rule of Google’s AdSense if you are running any website only for AdSense earning for which you need to include a few Affiliate links or sell your own product, too.

Googlehas a lot of forbidden practices when it comes to AdSense, and too many user are finding out they spoiled Google’s policies after the fact – because they never bothered to read the AdSense policies in the first phase.

Google AdSense is the Google program where you can host pay-per-click ads on your Website. When someone clicks an ad, you earn money. So if you are one of those people that don’t like the idea of paying for a site, this is an excellent way to earn your money back and then some.

How Much You Can Earn With AdSense?

The amount you’ll earn depends largely on the amount of targeted traffic you receive to your own site, how well the ads match your audience’s interests, the placement of the ads on your pages, and of course the amount you receive per click.

Ideally, you should create a site on a topic you know a lot about. That way you’ll have a much easier time creating a generous amount of content on that subject.

Determine a goal for what you want to earn using AdSense. Of course, you want to earn a lot, but make sure it’s realistic.

    Be realistic Forget about the fantasy story you read on internet about earning big money from Google. If you think of making a website and getting to be instant rich, it is likely to disappoint you. Imagine that if you build a small website with 100,000 page views per month with 0.5% CTR and 5c average payout, you will only get US$25 (100,000 x 0.5% x 0.5c). To achieve 100,000 page views a month, you possibly need 500-1000 users. By theory, your website can reach more than billions of internet users in the whole world, but there are also 100 millions of websites competing for users.
    Website promotion techniques especially search engine optimization and article marketing will bring more traffic to your site. You also need to have content that will attract the ads with the highest Pay Per Click (PPC) rate that are relevant to that content. Google is at least as interested as you are in having your ads perform well on your site and therefore provide the info you need to optimize your AdSense.
    Start building keyword-rich pages containing well researched, profitable keywords, and get lots of high quality links to your site. For example, if your site is about topics such as debt consolidation, web hosting or asbestos-related cancer, you’ll earn much more per click than if it’s about free things. On the other hand, if you concentrate only on top-paying keywords, you’ll face an awful lot of tough competition. What you want are keywords that are high in demand and low in supply, So do some careful keyword research before you build your pages.

How to Join AdSense:

Once you have pages ready for your website, go to http://adsense.google.com to apply.

When you are accepted, simply copy and paste the provided HTML code into any page that you’d like to show the ads. If you’ve done a good job of defining the content on your web pages, the ads that show should be relevant to the content of your page…increasing the chances of click-thrus by your visitors.

You can either display the ads vertically along side the page like Google does or in a banner-like formation horizontally across your pages. The placement is up to you. You can even customize the colors to match your site’s theme. Google AdSense allows you to specify up to 200 URLs for sites you want to bar from placing ads on your pages. The problem is that most times you won’t know the competitors are out there until their ads appear.

Google Money Making Tips on Succeeding:

    Create a website with your Don’t try to use a free web host because your site will likely have banners and pop-ups and get rejected because it looks unprofessional. A free web host will give you a website address like this:

http://www.thefreewebhost.com/yoursite/member1234/home.html instead of… http://www.yoursite.com Start by registering your own domain and then select a web host.

    Quality is the most important part of any web site. If your site does not contain the content of expected quality the visitor might not come back, if the main goal of your site is to make money with AdSense, be sure to choose a topic that you know a lot about so you can write lots and lots of content. A variety of size and shape ads for placing in your content are available. These can be text or image ads or both – you specify what you’ll allow. Ad units are full ads. Link units are simply a strip of text links that your visitors might want to click. Google allows you to put up to 3 Ad Units and 1 Link unit on each page of your Web site.
    Get traffic. Once your site is up and running you’ll need to learn how to get your site listed in the major search engines.
    Google AdSense for Search – This place a search box on your Web site. When a user enters a term and conducts a search, a search results page opens, that hosts more pay-per-click ads. You can customize the color scheme of the search results page to harmonize with your web site. Although Google doesn’t release exact details as to how they determine the ads to serve on a given page, they do say that it’s the text content of the page that matters, not the Meta tags.
    Google Referrals – You canmake money by referring visitors to use a Google product, like AdSense, AdWords, the Google Toolbar and other Google software. For example Google generates the code that you paste into the desired location on your web page. You can choose from a wide variety of buttons and text links of different colors. If someone goes to your site and clicks the link and signs up for an AdSense account, when that person earns a $100 from Google AdSense and receives a payout from Google, you’ll also receive $100 for referring them, if an ad dynamo happens to visit your site and uses your referral link, you can make money anyway!

Google AdSense Payments:

Google will not issue an AdSense payment until your earnings exceed $100. Unfortunately, there are loads of Google AdSense Forum entries about website operators who accumulated $90 or more in click through earnings only to get banned from Google and not get paid anything at all before they ever reached $100. This may be because Google doesn’t take a close look to see if you’re complying with their guidelines until it comes time to pay you.

Don’t's:

    Do not click your ads. If Google catches you, they will suspend your account and retain any earnings you might have. However, if you, by mistakes, click your ads for one or two times, Google will keep that earning but rather not to punish you as long as it doesn’t happen constantly.
    Google has a lot of restrictions on how the ads have to be displayed. One of the major reasons for account suspension is that webmasters tried to blur the ads and mislead others to think that it’s “content”. For simplicity, never attempt to use CSS to hide Google’s logo unless you’re authorized to do it.

Patience is key with Google. It can take a few months. Don’t create a hodgepodge site with topics on everything under the sun. Stay focused and make sure your site has an obvious theme.

Getting into Google is completely free and can bring in hundreds or even thousands of visitors per day. Then do the same with Yahoo, MSN, etc. All The Best!

By emarketinguide

Read more »

FXstreet.com (Córdoba) – The Swiss Franc continues its rally against the Dollar. The USD/CHF fell further below 0.8900 and reached a new all time low at 0.8878. The pair remains trading near session low, holding a bearish bias. Greenback is headed toward the tenth daily decline out of the last 12 trading days.

The recovery of the Dollar earlier found resistance at 0.8930 and the pair resumed its downtrend as the Swissy strengthened across the board.

To the downside, support levels could be located at 0.8860 and below at 0.8820 while to the upside, probable resistance levels lie at 0.8890 and above at 0.8930 and 0.8965.

Read more »

FXstreet.com (Córdoba) – Stocks rose sharply in Wall Street with the Dow Jones ending at the highest level since June 2008. Gold reached fresh record highs above $1,500 an ounce as the Dollar posted losses across the board.

The DOW rose 1.52% on Wednesday and has risen more than 300 point in three days. Earnings reports and better-than-expected housing data triggered optimism in Wall Street.

In the currency market, the Aussie and the Swiss Franc were among the best performers. The Yen trimmed losses on American hours but finished mostly lower in the market.

The EUR/USD reached fresh 15-month highs at 1.4545, pulled back afterwards to 1.4485 but managed to rise back above 1.4500. Cable remained steady on American hours consolidating around 1.6400, barely below April highs.

The USD/CHF extended its decline to fresh record lows at 0.8870/80 and remains under pressure. Greenback is also trading at record lows against the Aussie.

Read more »

By: Jamie Coleman

Hopes for robust US growth have been dialed back further in the wake of the US trade data which has pressured US yields lower. The buck, which suffers from many woes, seems to latch on to the latest one to float across the screens, and yields are today's problem du jour for USD bears to hang their hats on... 10s are down 10 bp in yield with 5 over 12 bp lower.

Read more »

FXstreet.com (Córdoba) – The Euro rebounded on American hours at 1.4435 and rose to 1.4495. The EUR/USD has been steady in the last hours, hovering below 1.4500, consolidating a gain of 50 pips from the price it had at the beginning of the Asian session.

“The pair is trading above the critical support level at 1.4480 and so long the pair remains above this level, the target is set at the 1.4625 resistance level, but breaching the support at 1.4480 would send the pair to the support at 1.4375”, the ecPulse.com Analysis Team said.



The EUR/USD reached on European hours a fresh 14-month high at 1.4517, extending its rally from January lows that lie at 1.2865/70. Andrei Tratseuski from Forex Club attributes the rise to three main reasons: 1) interest rate differentials between the ECB and the FED, 2) European Union sovereign debt fears receding and 3) technical weakness in the Dollar Index.

Read more »

DailyFX provides forex news on the economic reports and political events that influence the currency market.

Read more »

The US Dollar finished the week lower against almost all G10 counterparts, continuing its multi-month downtrend ahead of a critical week of economic event risk. A fairly disappointing revision to Q4 GDP capped a week of mixed data, and all eyes now turn to the coming week’s critical US Nonfarm Payrolls report. The NFPs release needs little introduction as one of the most market-moving reports across global financial markets, and February’s result will be particularly significant given January’s sharply below-forecast jobs figure.

A busy week of economic event risk will shape expectations and likely force sharp short-term moves ahead of the NFP release, and it will be critical to monitor financial market moves as the US Dollar nears significant lows against major counterparts. Consensus forecasts currently call for a respectable 190k jobs gain through the month of February—consistent with expectations of substantial improvements on January’s clear disappointment. We will watch earlier-week ISM Manufacturing, ADP Employment Change, Initial Jobless Claims, and ISM Services results to gauge the likelihood that February payrolls meet lofty forecasts. Uncertainty surrounding the future of US Federal Reserve monetary policy puts all eyes on whether a broader economic recovery will be enough to produce similar improvements in the domestic labor market.

The US Federal Reserve shows little urgency in withdrawing extraordinary monetary policy stimulus amidst generally weak inflation and lackluster jobs growth. Controversial Quantitative Easing measures have been a major driving force behind US Dollar weakness, and it could arguably take a substantial shift in the Fed’s stance and rhetoric to force a sustained Greenback recovery. In the absence of such a change, the US Dollar may need a broader shift in financial markets to drive a major reversal.

The S&P 500 saw a sharp pullback on a broader flight to safety on geopolitical turmoil in the Middle East, and the USD rallied as one of the world’s foremost safe-haven currencies. Yet a later bounce in stock markets suggests bulls have yet to give up the fight, and we may need to see a more sustained shift to make any serious argument for a market top (and US Dollar bottom). CFTC Commitment of Traders data shows that Non-Commercial traders (typically large speculators) remain heavily net-short the US currency on a steady downtrend. And though such one-sided sentiment typically occurs near major market turns, sentiment extremes are only clear in hindsight and extremely difficult to time.

Trend traders will likely favor continued US Dollar weakness into the week ahead, and it is difficult to make the case for a substantive turnaround absent a material improvement in USD sentiment. FX Options market risk reversals likewise suggest that many traders have continued to bet on and hedge against Greenback weakness. It would likely take a material improvement in US economic data or a similarly large turn lower in ‘risk’ to force a substantive USD bounce. Given that the first week of the month quite often sets the pace for subsequent trading, we will pay special attention to whether the US currency shows any real signs of recovery through March.

Read more »

Forex - Survey: Sales of Distressed Homes increased in January
By: Calculated Risk on February 22 11 8:22 EST
From Campbell/Inside Mortgage Finance HousingPulse: HousingPulse Distressed Property Index Hits 49.6% in January

Perhaps the biggest news in the January data was a sharp rise in the HousingPulse Distressed Property Index or DPI, a key indicator of the health of the housing market. The DPI, or share of total transactions involving distressed properties, climbed from 47.2% in December to 49.6% in January. The increase was a continuation of a trend as the DPI registered just 44.5% back in November.
...
Already, in the key state of California, distressed property transactions account for 66% of the market. In Florida, distressed property transactions account for 63% of the market. And in the combined area of Arizona and Nevada, distressed property transactions are a stunning 72% of home sales.
...
The increase in distressed properties, combined with a reduction in first-time homebuyers, is causing downward pricing pressure to build in the market, especially for the categories of damaged REO and move-in ready REO.

This fits with other recent reports suggesting the percent of distressed sales was very high in January. The Case-Shiller house price data, to be released this morning, will be for last year (October, November and December) - and this survey suggests the repeat transaction house price indexes will show further weakness in 2011.

Read more »

Forex - Misc: Shiller says house prices could fall 15% to 25%, Solid Manufacturing Survey, Libya Updates
By: Calculated Risk on February 22 11 1:45 EST
House prices:
• From David Streitfeld at the NY Times: Home Prices Slid in December in Most U.S. Cities, Index Shows

Mr. Shiller, noting the unrest in the Middle East, a large backlog of foreclosed houses, the uncertain future of the mortgage holding companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and proposals to reduce the mortgage tax deduction, saw “a substantial risk” of declines of “15 percent, 20 percent, 25 percent.”

• Real House Prices fall to 2000 Levels, Update on NAR Overstating Sales
• Case-Shiller: National Home Prices Are Close to the 2009Q1 Trough

Other U.S. economic news:
• From the Richmond Fed: Manufacturing Activity Advanced at a Healthy Pace in February

In February, the seasonally adjusted composite index of manufacturing activity — our broadest measure of manufacturing — rose seven points to 25 from January's reading of 18. ... The manufacturing employment index added two points to end at 16, and the average workweek measure moved up three points to 20. Moreover, wage growth gained five points to 18. ... District manufacturers reported that raw materials prices increased at an average annual rate of 4.72 percent

All good news except prices.
• From MarketWatch: Consumer confidence jumps in February

The gauge for consumer confidence rose to 70.4 in February from 64.8 in January.

Libya updates:
• From the NY Times: Chaos Grows in Libya as Strife in Tripoli Intensifies

Libya appeared to slip further into chaos on Tuesday, as Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi vowed “to fight to the last drop of blood” and clashes intensified between rebels and his loyalists in the capital, Tripoli. ... Witnesses described the streets of Tripoli as a war zone.

Read more »

Now that we have a design document in hand, we can look at how these rules are put into code that a computer can understand. In this section, we'll break down a section of code and look at it piece by piece. For this example, we will use MetaTrader's programming language MetaQuotes II to build a very simple moving average trading system.

Defines: MATrendPeriod(100);

Var:MaCurrent(0),MaPrior(0);


If Bars < 100 Then Exit;

If FreeMargin < 1000 then Exit;


maCurrent =iMA(MATrendPeriod,MODE_SMA,0);

maPrior =iMA(MATrendPeriod,MODE_SMA,1);


If maCurrent > maPrior then

{SetOrder(OP_BUY,Lots,Ask,3,0,Ask+TakeProfit*Point,RED); Exit;};


If maCurrent < maPrior then

{SetOrder(OP_SELL,Lots,Bid,3,0,Bid-TakeProfit*Point,RED); Exit;};

The If/Then Format
After taking a brief look at this code, you should recognize a few elements that we touched on in the design phase. For example, you should recognize the If/Then format that we used when constructing our design. To get a better understanding of this code, let's break it down and analyze each part:

Defines: MATrendPeriod(100);

Var: MaCurrent(0),MaPrior(0);

Here, we're simply defining the moving average that we are using by saying that we want it to be an average of the last 100 bars. The Defines function here lets us do that for any type of data we want. After that, we simply invent two variables (items which we create to hold data) MaCurrent(0) and MaPrior(0). These two variables will hold the data that we will set in a later step.

If Bars < 100 Then Exit;

If FreeMargin < 1000 then Exit;

Here we see the If/Then format that we used in the design phase put to work. These two statements tell the computer to exit if certain conditions aren't met. Let's translate these two commands into English:

If Bars < 100 Then Exit; à "If there are fewer than 100 bars (data points) on the chart, then exit the program without doing anything.''

If FreeMargin < 1000 then Exit; à "If my account has less than $1,000 in available funds, then exit the program without doing anything.''

You can translate any criteria you want into this format and put it at the beginning of your program in order to adapt to certain situations.

Buy and Sell Signals

maCurrent =iMA(MATrendPeriod,MODE_SMA,0);

maPrior =iMA(MATrendPeriod,MODE_SMA,1);

Now let's make use of the two variables we described above. Let's take these statements apart to see what they are doing:

maCurrent = à Here we are telling the computer to assign the following information to "maCurrent''.

iMA(MATrendPeriod,MODE_SMA,0); à Here we are using a simple statement, which uses the following basic format: Study(TimePeriod,Mode,Start).

Note that you can replace iMA with MACD, RSI or any other studies your trading system may be using. You can also replace the parameters to suit your own system.

If maCurrent > maPrior then

{SetOrder(OP_BUY,Lots,Ask,3,0,Ask+TakeProfit*Point,RED); Exit;};

Now we are getting somewhere! Here is the part of the code that tells the computer when to buy. Notice that we are making use again of the If/Then format that we used in the design document. Let's translate this to English to see what's happening:

If maCurrent > maPrior then { à "If the current Moving Average is greater than the prior Moving Average, then…''

SetOrder( à "Create an order entry to …''

OP_BUY,Lots,Ask,3,0,Ask+TakeProfit*Point,RED à "Buy my defined number of lots at the ask price plus my take profit point, and mark it as a red point on the chart.''

); à "End the order.''

Exit; à "Exit the trading strategy.''

}; à "End the If/Then statement.''




Note that the Take Profit Point is something that is defined by users when they add the trading system to their charts. Also notice that we are buying at the ask price and selling at the bid price - this is a key feature, especially when creating a system for stocks.

If maCurrent < maPrior then

{SetOrder(OP_SELL,Lots,Bid,3,0,Bid-TakeProfit*Point,RED); Exit;};

Finally, we have our code that tells the computer when to take a short position. Note that this statement is almost identical to the "buy'' statement, aside from the OP_SELL instead of OP_BUY as well as the usage of the bid price as opposed to the ask price.

Conclusion
And there you have it - the bare bones of what a trading system code looks like. Please note that the above code is not a complete trading system, as it does not include any commands to close open positions. Such additional aspects can be implemented using a format similar to the code we've shown.

In the next section of this tutorial, we will go into greater depth regarding the specific ways in which your trading system can be converted to code.

Read more »

Read more »

A ceremony to send back the remains of four US soldiers was held at Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport on Tuesday, the 112th repatriation of its kind since 1973, according to the US Embassy.

The remains and their relics, which were sent in four coffins, were found during a cooperative search conducted between this October and November and were handed in by local people. Initial autopsies by the two countries’ experts showed that the remnants might belong to US soldiers who were lost in the Vietnam War. However, they were sent to Hawaii State for further examination. Speaking at the handing-over ceremony, the US Government’s representative expressed gratitude and appreciation for Vietnam’s human and goodwill policy as well as its effective cooperation in the search during the past years. Also on Tuesday a mass grave together with soldiers’ belongings was discovered during excavation work at the construction site of a drainage system in the central province of Quang Ngai. Nguyen Trong Luyen, head of Quang Ngai Town’s Army Steering Committee, said they are yet to identify the remains as also estimate their number. But local agencies suspect it was the grave of Vietnamese soldiers who died in an attack on Quang Ngai Prison under the US army’s control in 1968, according to Luyen. An excavation was planned on Wednesday to carry out further tests. Reported by Huong Giang – Hien Cu

Read more »

A stone yoni, considered to be the largest in Vietnam, at the exhibition The National Museum of Vietnamese History–Ho Chi Minh City launched an exhibition Sunday of some 300 of nearly 30,000 items collected since its establishment.

Running until the end of this year, the exhibition highlights various articles ranging from Vietnam’s largest stone yoni dating from the 12-13th century, to two Bertin vases made in the mid 19th century by France’s National Manufacture of Sèvres. Antiques belonging to Vietnamese royal families and Chinese pottery dating from the 18th century are also on display. Director Tran Thi Thuy Phuong said the items were gathered from different sources including collectors and police and customs officers who confiscated them in smuggling operations. Local and foreign benefactors, including famous antique collector Vuong Hong Sen, have also contributed to the collection, Phuong added. Titled Typical Antiques: 30 Years’ Collection, the exhibition marks the center’s celebration of its 30th anniversary. The museum is located at No.2 Nguyen Binh Khiem Street, District 1. Reported by Giao Huong

Read more »

Investors place orders at Viet Dragon Securities Corp. in Ho Chi Minh City. Foreign investment in Vietnamese stocks stands at US$5 billion, including shares in commercial banks, insurance firms and major companies, an industry report said Friday, up from $4.6 billion at the end of last year.

Earlier industry reports had shown a steep drop in portfolio investment from $7.6 billion in December 2007. The current investments included $1 billion by foreign strategic investors in financials and $4 billion from funds and institutions not based in the country, the Vietnam Association of Financial Investors’ report said. Vietnam caps foreign ownership in listed domestic banks at 30 percent, with a 15 percent limit for strategic investors that can be increased to 20 percent with government approval. Foreign investors now have shares in a number of Vietnamese banks, such as Saigon Thuong Tin Bank, Asia Commercial Bank and Vietcombank, the country’s largest partly private lender. The VN Index on the main Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange has risen 70 percent this year. It added 1.8 percent on Friday. Source: Reuters

Read more »

Multi-billion dollar foreign steel projects in Vietnam are likely to face delays because of the global economic slump, even though demand in the country is forecast to grow 20% this year and 10-15% next year.

Foreign investors, including Taiwan’s Formosa, India’s Tata Steel, South Korea’s Posco and Malaysia’s Lion Industries, have pledged to invest nearly US$30 billion in steel projects with total capacity of about 25-30 million tons by 2025. But Pham Chi Cuong, chairman of the Vietnam Steel Association, which groups the country’s major producers, said the global economic slump would hobble on those plans. “Most of the big foreign-invested steel mill projects are likely to be delayed because of their internal difficulties, such as finances,” he said in an interview on August 27. Cuong said the two partners in the country’s biggest steel project to date, a $10 billion joint venture between state-owned ship builder Vinashin and Malaysia’s Lion Group, had problems coming up with the money for the required investment. The only foreign company that had made any progress recently was Taiwan’s Formosa, with its $7.8 billion mill project in Vung Ang, in central Vietnam, Cuong said. India’s Tata Steel was still sorting out a “land allocation” issue for the plant’s site with authorities in Ha Tinh province for its $5 billion project, he said. No great leap forward Half of Vietnam’s annual consumption this year of about 11 million tons will be imported but domestic producers had already voiced concerns about oversupply once all proposed steel mills are up and running within the next five years. “There are many question marks around how realistic these foreign invested projects are, given all the problems they are facing, both internally and externally,” Cuong said. “There will not be a Great Leap Forward here for the steel industry,” he said. The industry had a painful start to the year, with a slump in prices and demand. Some companies slashed work shifts by as much as two-thirds and cleared inventories by selling at a loss to service bank debt, Cuong said. A chunk of money from the government’s stimulus package, which the Prime Minister’s office has valued at $8 billion, has gone into housing for the poor and infrastructure, buoying steel demand, which he said would rise more than 20 percent to 11 million tons in 2009. “The worst is behind us but we still cannot be too optimistic because of the uncertainty in the recovery and the fast rises in world commodity prices,” he said. Demand would increase 10-15 percent next year, he added. Prices have jumped nearly 40 percent so far this year and are set to rise around 5 percent between now and the end of the year thanks to robust demand, said Cuong, a former deputy director of top state-owned steel group Vietnam Steel Corp. Hence demand for scrap steel, the main source of feedstock for Vietnam’s mills, are expected to jump around 35 percent this year compared to 2008 to 2 million tons, Cuong said. At present the country does not import any iron ore as a few of its mills are designed to use iron ore but if the foreign-invested projects are completed they would have to import iron ores from mines in Laos, Australia and Brazil from 2012, Cuong said. Source: Reuters

Read more »

Vietnam’s leading retailer Saigon Co.op Thursday signed a deal with Tin Nghia Real Estate Company to take over its existing market in Bien Hoa Town and upgrade it into a supermarket.

The 3,000-square meter Co.opMart Tan Bien would be the retailer’s second outlet in Tan Bien Ward, an affluent business center in the city. Saigon Co.op said it is set to invest more than VND20 billion (US$1.1 million) to renovate Tan Bien market. Work would start next month, the retailer said, adding the supermarket would begin full operation in the third quarter. In July 2007, Saigon Co.op opened its first outlet in Dong Nai Province. Saigon Co.op’s revenues last year topped VND6.35 trillion ($372 million), a 48.9 percent year-on-year increase and it expects this to rise to VND9 trillion this year. It plans to have around 100 outlets by 2020. Reported by Vinh Bao

Read more »

The courtyard at the Rong Temple in Bac Ninh Province, recently razed as part of a project to reconstruct the 700-year-old structure An official in the northern province of Bac Ninh says a local People’s Committee knowingly deceived higher authorities when obtaining permission for the controversial leveling of a 13th century temple.

The 700-year-old Rong (Dragon) Temple was demolished in January under the approval of Dinh Bang Ward authorities, which said the temple was dilapidated and needed to be completely rebuilt for the celebration of Thang Long-Hanoi’s 1000th anniversary next year. But an official of Dinh Bang Ward, who wished to remain anonymous, told a different story. “The temple was not as dilapidated as the ward’s People’s Committee said it was when they reported to higher authorities,” the official said. The gate of the temple will also be destroyed as part of the “restoration” project He said parts of the temple had in fact been renovated as recently as last year before the site was conferred a Historic Heritage title by the local government. Retiling was the only work that needed to be done, he said, adding that the structure could have been kept the same. A local resident agreed that reconstruction was not necessary, saying many residents had already contributed their own money to repair minor damage to the temple. “It is unbelievable. They demolished the temple right after holding a ceremony to receive the Historical Heritage certificate,” he said. Do Thi Hao, chairwoman of the Hanoi Folk Arts Association, said she was frustrated by the affair. “Many similar ‘reconstructions’ have been done in the name of restoration,” she said. Meanwhile, Nguyen Thac Vinh, chairman of the Dinh Bang People’s Committee board overseeing the restoration project, said the temple was in very bad shape and reconstruction was necessary. He said the point of the project was to restore the temple to its original form as several major changes had been made over the years. Vinh told the Vietnam News Agency that Rong Temple had been rebuilt several times over the years, arguing that the entire five-room structure had been completely rebuilt only 30 years ago. He said the only “ancient” things at the temple were the bricks that made up the building’s foundation. Now, only the temple’s front gate and courtyard remain. “We’ll also have to destroy the gate and reconstruct it in its original shape,” said Vinh. Nguyen Dang Tuc, director of Bac Ninh Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, supported Vinh and said the most precious items at the temple were those kept inside, not the actual structure as it was no longer the same building that had been erected during the Ly Dynasty. But according to the 2001 Cultural Heritage Law, Historic Heritage sites may only be renovated, not destroyed and completely rebuilt. However, Vinh said the committee had been granted a permit to raze the temple in 2007, before the site had garnered the Historic Heritage certificate early this year. The Rong Temple had been built as a shrine to Empress Ly Chieu Hoang, Vietnam’s only queen regnant, who reigned from 1224-1225. Reported by Viet Chien - Si Ta

Read more »

Police on Tuesday arrested three poachers over the death of five endangered black-shanked douc in a nature reserve in central Khanh Hoa Province.

Rangers from Hon Ba Nature Reserve in Dien Khanh District, returning from a survey of the top of the mountain on Monday, spotted three men carrying guns near the edge of the park.

A search of the area uncovered the bodies of five eviscerated doucs. The biggest weighed about 20 kilograms and the smallest about three kilograms.

The poachers confessed they slaughtered the douc to make traditional medicine. They went hunting for the monkeys after hearing there was a group living in the nature reserve.

The black-shanked douc, Pygathrix nigripes, is found mainly in north-eastern Cambodia and southern Vietnam. The species is in Vietnam’s Red Book, which lists the nation’s threatened and endangered species.

About 500 black-shanked douc live in Nui Chua National Park in Ninh Thuan Province, believed to be the biggest population of the endangered monkey in Vietnam, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Police on February 27 arrested two poachers for killing two black-shanked douc in a forest in Khanh Hoa Province’s Ninh Hoa District.

Read more »

The world's fish stocks will soon suffer major upheaval due to climate change, scientists have warned.

Changing ocean temperatures and currents will force thousands of species to migrate polewards, including cod, herring, plaice and prawns.

By 2050, US fishermen may see a 50% reduction in Atlantic cod populations.

The predictions of "huge changes", published in the journal Fish and Fisheries, were presented at the AAAS annual meeting in Chicago.

Marine biologists used computer models to forecast the future of 1,066 commercially important species from across the globe.

"The impact of climate change on marine biodiversity and fisheries is going to be huge," said lead author Dr William Cheung, of the University of East Anglia in the UK.

"We must act now to adapt our fisheries management and conservation policies to minimise harm to marine life and to our society.

"We can use our knowledge to improve the design of marine protected areas which are adaptable to changes in distribution of the species," he told the conference.

Sinking feeling

The world's oceans are already experiencing changes in temperature and current patterns are changing due to climate change.

Existing patterns of catches will change

To quantify the likely impact on sea life, Dr Cheung and his team developed a new computer model that predicts what might happen under different climate scenarios.

While scientists have made projections of climate change impact on land species, this is the most comprehensive study on marine species ever published.

"We found that on average, the animals may shift their distribution towards the poles by 40km per decade," said Dr Cheung.

"Atlantic cod on the east coast of the US may see a 50% reduction in some populations by 2050."

The invasion of new species into unfamiliar environments could seriously disrupt ecosystems, the researchers warn.

Some species will face a high risk of extinction, including Striped Rock Cod in the Antarctic and St Paul Rock Lobster in the Southern Ocean.

Sea-saw

But of course, as fish migrate polewards, fishermen in some areas will see their stocks increase.

The model predicts an increased catch in the North Sea - benefiting fishermen from Nordic countries.

But fishermen in tropical developing countries will suffer major losses in catch.

The socio-economic impact could be devastating, according to another study published recently in the same journal.

Thirty-three nations in Africa, Asia and South America are highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change in fisheries, according to scientists from the World Fish Centre.

Of these, 19 were already classified by the United Nations as "least developed" because of their particularly poor socioenomic conditions.

"Economically, people in the tropics and subtropics likely will suffer most, because fish are so important in their diets and because they have limited capacity to develop other sources of income and food," said Edward Allison, director of policy, economics and social science at WorldFish.

"We believe it is urgent to start identifying these vulnerable countries, because the damage will be greatly compounded unless national governments and international institutions like the World Bank act now to include the fish sector in plans for helping the poor cope with climate change."

Read more »

A view of Dung Quat, the country’s first oil refinery. Deputy PM Hoang Trung Hai, who visited it Saturday, called for construction to be expedited so that it is finished in time by next February. With major sections of the Dung Quat oil refinery almost complete, contractors should continue to work quickly to make sure of meeting its February deadline, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said Saturday.

They should encourage workers to work during the Tet holidays, he said during a visit to the country’s first refinery in the central province of Quang Ngai. The refinery management told Hai that work on major tendering packages has almost been wrapped up. Quality inspections have been completed on tendering package 5A to build a breakwater, package 5B (oil products export jetty), and package 7 (administrative and service facilities), managers said. EPC (engineering-procurement-construction) tendering packages 1+4 and 2+3 for procurement and installation of equipment and facilities have seen 98.4 percent of the work completed, they said. Earlier this month the refinery received 80,000 tons of crude oil for a test run. PetroVietnam Oil Corporation (PV Oil) dispatched the oil from Bach Ho (White tiger) oil field off the Vietnamese coast. The management said 1,046 workers have been trained to work in the refinery, which is set to hire around 1,200 in all when commissioned. Hai urged the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), the monopoly state power supplier, to link the refinery’s power turbines to the national grid. He also instructed the Quang Ngai Province administration to complete site clearance for the Dung Quat Economic Zone. Safety and security first Hai also called on agencies concerned to ensure the site’s security. Many crimes were reported this year in the economic zone, where the refinery is located, including murders, stabbings, thefts of construction materials and drug deals. The zone, 870 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City, also houses many other petrochemical and heavy industries. Vietnam is Southeast Asia’s third-largest crude oil producer with output averaging 350,000 barrels per day. But it still imports most of its oil products in the absence of a refinery. Capitalized at US$2.5 billion, Dung Quat will have a capacity to refine 6.5 million tons of crude annually. PetroVietnam is seeking to raise that to 10 million tons. When fully operational, Dung Quat will supply more than 40 percent of the oil needs of Vietnam, which has a population of 86.5 million and more than 20 million motorbikes. Demand is expected to grow 13-15 percent annually. Later Saturday Hai visited Doosan Vina Company and called on the South Korean firm to fulfill its commitments to workers and set up a labor union soon to avert future industrial action like the wildcat strike that hit the firm earlier this month. Two weeks ago around 1,300 workers gathered in front of the company to demand proper treatment and payment of allowances. They agreed to go back to work after the firm, which makes cranes, pressure tanks and filtering devices, promised it would soon set up a labor union, improve the quality of food, guarantee safety, and behave better with employees. Source: TN, Agencies

Read more »