Vietnam Interested in CN-295 aircraft Made in Indonesia

Vietnam has expressed interest in purchasing CN-295 military transport aircraft manufactured by Indonesia’s state-owned airplane company PT Dirgantara Indonesia (DI) and Spain’s Airbus Military.

Vietnamese Defense Minister Gen. Phung Quang Thanh also plans to send a delegation to study Indonesia’s aviation industry, Antara news agency reported on Monday.

Thanh recently met with Indonesian Deputy Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin in Hanoi.

Sjamsoeddin and other officials from the ministry and PT DI flew to Vietnam for a three-day visit as part of a six ASEAN country road show to promote CN-295 aircraft.

The delegation will also visit the Philippines, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia from May 22-31.

Picking winners: Why so many new firms love awards

But this is actually a real-life version of TV show Dragon's Den (or Shark Tank as it is known in the US), and the four nervous finalists are waiting to find out which of them will be walking away with £3,000 of investment and - most importantly - the ability to say they are the 2013 winners of a competition called Pitch to Rich.

Trying to become a successful entrepreneur has never been more fashionable and thousands of new business competition schemes like this have sprung up around the world.

For while business start-ups of the past went to work to try to make lots of money, today they seemingly all want to also be award-winning.

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“Start Quote

The prize money and advice will be very useful, but you can't put a price on the publicity we should get”

John Okungbaiye, rightCo-winner of Pitch to Rich 2013

And there are plenty of opportunities - Harvard University in the US has the New Venture Competition, South African Breweries has its KickStart scheme, and in the UK there is the Growing Business Awards. The list is almost endless.

But why are would-be entrepreneurs so keen to enter such competitions, and how do the organisers benefit?

'Make people listen'

Sir Richard Branson, perhaps the UK's best-known entrepreneur, didn't enter any competitions for start-up businesses as a young man - such award schemes barely existed back in the 1970s - but he now runs his own, Pitch to Rich.

Organised by Virgin Media Pioneers, the initiative was set up by telecommunications business Virgin Media to support would-be entrepreneurs. In addition to the £3,000 of investment, the annual winner also gets mentoring, as well as legal, branding and marketing advice.

The four 2013 finalists - whittled down from hundreds of entrants who each submitted a one-minute video pitch - are:

• a woman who wants support for her houses made from straw
• two brothers who have launched theft-resistant rucksacks
• a gourmet sweets start-up
• a man who has invented a new type of engine.

Each had four minutes in which to pitch to Sir Richard and four other judges - including Thea Green, founder and owner of beauty business Nails Inc.

After four impressive pitches, the winner is High Spirit, a business that makes theft-resistant leather rucksacks.

It is run by London-based brothers Joshua, 25, and 23-year-old John Okungbaiye. John is very clear on why they entered.

"The prize money and advice will be very useful, but you can't put a price on the publicity we should get," he says.

"Winning the competition will help publicise the brand, help convey the message, and make people listen."

'Very competitive'

A few days later, across in the City of London, another group of would-be entrepreneurs were pitching before a panel of potential investors in a real-world version of TV's The Apprentice.

This time it was young people, typically graduates, who had succeeded in gaining a place on a year-long intensive start-up support programme run by a charity called New Entrepreneurs Foundation (NEF).

Now in its second year, more than 600 applicants had initially applied online for one of the 26 places. Some 350 were then picked for phone interviews, before the final 26 were chosen following 250 face-to-face interviews.

The year-long NEF programme comprises four parts - a paid work placement with a successful entrepreneur for each finalist, regular business-skills workshops, monthly speaker and networking events, and one-to-one mentors.

The entrants then compete for investment by pitching their business ideas to potential backers, such as angel investor Ed Wray, co-founder of gambling website Betfair.

Amelia Boadle, 25, who is on this year's NEF programme, says: "It certainly was very competitive to get on, that was tough.

"During the year itself, it has still been competitive, but not cut-throat," adds Ms Boadle, who is pitching for backing for her helmet-mounted cycle light Cycle.in.sight.

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“Start Quote

Chris Sheldrick, 24, who is pitching to secure backing for his luxury sugar company, Sheldrick's of London, says he has benefited from the networking opportunities that NEF provides.

"I was always destined to run my own company, NEF has accelerated it, you can do in a year on the scheme what would otherwise take many [years]."

NEF's chairman, Oliver Pawle, says NEF's core aim is simply to create the entrepreneurs of the future to boost the UK's economy.

"We are unashamedly looking for the brightest and the best," he says.

'Advertising courses'

But why do so many large companies and universities now run competition schemes for would-be entrepreneurs?

Brian Morgan, professor of entrepreneurship at Cardiff Metropolitan University, takes a rather cynical view.

"Corporates run such competitions because they can log it as part of their CSR [corporate and social responsibility] strategy, and it helps market them to the younger customer." he says.

"Universities largely do it because they are tasked with engaging with the local economy. At the same time, they can use the award scheme to advertise their courses to potential students."

With so many business start-up and entrepreneurship competitions now in existence, Prof Morgan says "there are beginning to be too many of them".

"You do have to worry that the sheer number of competitions and other schemes, and whether they devalue a young entrepreneur saying he or she won this or that," he says.

"But then at the same time, they are raising awareness of entrepreneurship, so at the end of the day the net impact is good."

Back at the Pitch to the Rich final in central London, how does Sir Richard think his young self would have fared in such a competition?

He says it reminds him of when, as a teenager, he met executives of a newspaper group to see if it would back his then student magazine.

"They were quite interested in getting involved in the magazine, and [then] I started talking about student hotels, student airlines, student this, student that," says Sir Richard.

"After a while they showed me to the door, they thought I was completely off my head.

"Anyway, I was talking ahead of myself in those days, so I suspect I would have lost by talking ahead of myself - which I often do and did."

Half of EU members 'oppose China solar tariffs'

The revelation, made on Monday, shows a split among the EU bloc's 27 members.

The European Commission - the EU's executive arm - argues that Chinese firms are unfairly undercutting rivals.

It claimed China was pressuring members to oppose the duties, a day after German Chancellor Angela Merkel hinted in favour of a negotiated agreement.

EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said such pressure was a "waste of time" on the part of the Chinese authorities.

"They [the Chinese] are not going to impress me by putting pressure on member states," he told the European Parliament's trade committee.

France and Italy are among those in favour of the duties, while Germany, the UK and the Netherlands are in the opposite camp, according to Reuters, citing diplomats.

One source, who asked not to be named, told the AFP agency that 17 member states "have come out in opposition".

"In view of this considerable opposition, it is clear that the European Commission must step up efforts to find a negotiated solution," the person said.

'Chinese pressure'

Following high-level talks on Sunday between the German leader and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Mr De Gucht met China's vice-minister of commerce Zhong Shan for informal talks on Monday.

Mr De Gucht is proposing levies averaging 47% on the panels, arguing they are being sold below cost and therefore damaging competition.

The provisional duties are expected to take effect from 6 June for a period of time until December during which they could be blocked if both sides reach a negotiated settlement.

The anti-dumping case is the biggest ever undertaken by the Commission, and affects 21bn euros ($27bn; £18bn) worth of Chinese-made solar panels sold in the EU.

The Commission said China was pressuring some EU countries to oppose the tariffs.

"Commissioner De Gucht ... made it very clear to the Vice-Minister that he was aware of the pressure being exerted by China on a number of EU member states, which explains why they are positioning themselves as they are in their advisory positions towards the European Commission," the Commission said in a statement.

German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler on Monday said after a meeting with Mr Li: "There is no need for more sanction measures."

'Balanced relationship'

Germany's latest position is an about-face from its initial support for Mr De Gucht's proposed duties, as it was a German company, Solar World, which first raised the complaint against China.

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“Start Quote

Countries that use protectionism, and China is one of them, should accept reciprocal rules”

Arnaud MontebourgFrench Industry Minister

On Sunday, Mrs Merkel said she wanted to reach an agreement with China over import tariffs in order to avoid triggering a damaging trade war.

She said that Germany would work for the issues to be resolved as quickly as possible because she did not believe that tariffs would help either side.

And Mr Li has warned that any attempt to impose tariffs would be seen as protectionist and ultimately hurt consumers.

On Monday, French Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg said: "We want to see a balanced relationship between China and the European Union.

"Countries that use protectionism, and China is one of them, should accept reciprocal rules," he told reporters.

Separately, the EU is also investigating subsidies provided

Gold slips as fund shift seen intact

Gold edged lower on Monday after rising by the most since November in the previous session on poor U.S. jobs data, with funds expected to continue cutting bullion holdings for better investment yields elsewhere.

But gold futures in Tokyo jumped almost 5 percent to near all time-highs after the yen dropped to near four-year lows on reports that the Bank of Japan would begin buying longer-dated bonds immediately to beat deflation.

Spot gold slipped 0.2 percent to $1,579.06 an ounce by 0309 GMT, also hurt by a firmer dollar versus a basket of currencies.

Gold jumped nearly 2 percent on Friday after data showed U.S. employers hired at the slowest pace in nine months in March, backing expectations the Federal Reserve will sustain its bullion-boosting monetary stimulus programme.

Monday's price drop shows the fund shift out of gold remains intact with the U.S. economy generally expected to perform better in the longer term, said Joyce Liu, investment analyst at Phillip Futures.

"People are really pulling funds out of gold for better investments such as equities and real estate in emerging economies," said Liu.

"The kind of rally that we saw from 2009 to 2011 is no longer going to be there anymore. We are more or less used to having so much money flowing around in the economy."

Liu said she sees gold testing a support level of $1,530 possibly over the next two weeks.

Gold hit a 10-month low of around $1,539 last week and is down nearly 6 percent this year. In contrast, the S&P 500 stock index has gained almost 9 percent.

ETF OUTFLOWS

Others are more bearish towards gold's prospects.

"The lack of investment interest is currently a key drag on the market," Credit Suisse analysts said in a note.

"With technical momentum turning negative, there is a risk for a shift lower towards $1,520 and ultimately $1,500, which is a critical technical area that needs to hold for the sideways trend to remain intact."

U.S. gold futures were up 0.2 percent at $1,578.90 an ounce.

Bullion holdings at the world's major gold exchange traded funds continued to fall, hitting their lowest since August 2012.

In Tokyo, gold futures surged as much as 4.8 percent to 5,025 yen per gram, near the record high of 5,081 yen touched in February, as the yen faltered. The most-active February contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange was last up 4.4 percent at 5,007 yen.

The Japanese currency slid to its weakest versus the dollar since June 2009 on reports that the central bank would buy 1.2 trillion yen of government bonds with a maturity of over five years this week, showing a sense of urgency never before seen in the BOJ.

Last week, the BOJ promised to inject about $1.4 trillion into the economy in less than two years, a gamble that sent bond yields plummeting as prices rose on the prospect of massive purchases of debt by the central bank.

Huawei sees sales up 10 pct on cloud computing, smartphones

China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's No.2 telecom equipment maker, said on Monday it expects a compound growth rate of 10 percent in annual sales over the next five years, lifted by cloud computing and smartphone sales.

Rotating Chief Executive Officer Guo Ping was speaking at the company's headquarters in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen where he confirmed a 32 percent rise in Huawei's 2012 net profit to 15.4 billion yuan.

Revenue rose 8 percent to 220.2 billion yuan. Unaudited figures were released in January.

"Information and communications technology will continue to grow, with new opportunities coming from cloud computing, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), and big data, and feature phones being replaced by smartphones at a faster rate," the company said in a statement.

The revenue breakdown showed Chinese sales up 12.2 percent to 73.6 billion yuan. Sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa rose 6.1 percent, Asia Pacific sales climbed 7.2 percent, while revenues in the Americas gained 4.3 percent.

Privately held Huawei and its crosstown rival ZTE Corp have been expanding their footprint in the global telecom equipment and mobile phone sectors over the past few years.

ZTE, the world's No.5 telecommunications equipment maker, in March posted its first annual net loss, totalling 2.8 billion yuan, due to project delays and falling margins in emerging markets.

While Huawei has boosted sales and gained market share in Europe, Africa and Asia, it ran into a few obstacles last year in other markets such as the United States and Australia due to national security and cyber espionage concerns. 

4 Big Mistakes You Do Money Management

Not everyone can manage money well. Many of us who have no savings, no emergency fund, and drowning in debt pile. We asked entrepreneurs and financial blogger Fitz Villafuerte: What major mistakes we are, and what to do to fix it?


1. We prioritize spending rather than savings so as not leaving anything.

"Every time they get their pay, they usually spend it first, and if there's the rest, that's what they save," said Fitz Villafuerte. "In general, there is nothing left at the end of the month."

Solution: Reverse the process. First separate the portion of your salary to save money, then please spend the rest. Villafuerte also recommended to ask your company's HR department for help: "You can automatically debit your savings. Ask your HR department to send a portion of your paycheck to another account at the bank payroll (payroll) office." This proactive method makes saving money is not so bothersome. "That way you do not feel that you are saving money," said Villafuerte. "You do not feel guilty if you spend what is left. Saving feels lighter and more profitable."

2. We're investing before making an emergency fund.

Villafuerte observed that the second mistake that people often do when they get the extra money is invested before they set aside a portion for emergency funds. "They do not use them beforehand to prepare an emergency fund," he said. Emergency fund is the basic foundation of the portfolio each person, the number is: money worth six times the cost of your monthly household expenses, saved for emergency needs.

Solution: Villafuerte recommend having a fund before you invest your money. Not that he did not consider it important to make your money grow, but like the previous problem, the problem to be faced is something that is a priority. "The cost of a hospital, a home or car repairs sudden you can not set aside." Without an emergency fund, you will be looking for debt or dilute your investment immediately.

3. We avoided the stock market.

Villafuerte considers stocks confused many people. "When you talk about the stock market, people think about trading stocks, and they got scared, because they think it's like gambling," he explained. "That's the reason why it is less empowered as an investment vehicle."

Always remember: Trading stocks is only a small part of the stock market. "There is also a stock market investment, the more of a long-term," said Villafuerte. "If people are more educated about investing [about buying stock or hold it for five to seven years] you'll see if you get more than if you just put your money in time deposits."

However Vilafuerte not give advice about the stock market. He prefers to refer a broker: "They offer a free seminar on stock market investments." There are many quality entries out there - but you should be careful about it.

4. We get financial advice from the wrong people.

Villafuerte has seen this too often - new entrepreneurs ask their friends for free business advice and hit the rock. "We like to take shortcuts," he added. "They do not see things from a business standpoint, they do not ask a businessman, 'how do you run your business?' so it increases their risk of failure. "

Always remember: There is a reason why certain information is free and readily available, Villafuerte said: "Because it's not the best advice you can get." Quality business information more difficult to obtain. He remembered his friends who wanted to do business

Your path to earning a salary over £40,000

Fancy earning £40,000 plus a year? We reveal six well-paid roles that pay £40,000-£45,000 on average (according to the latest Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings), what it takes to get them - and what kind of starting salary to expect.

1. Solicitors: £44,552 Solicitors advise their clients - who might be individuals, organisations, companies or government departments - about the law, act on their behalf in legal matters and represent them in a variety of court settings.

How to become one: You will need to meet certain academic standards and complete vocational training. In England and Wales, you can gain a qualifying law degree, or if you have a non-law degree, take a law conversion course. Alternatively, you can qualify as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives (ILEX). Once you have passed the Legal Practice Course, which takes a year full-time, you must then complete a two-year, on-the-job training contract with a firm of solicitors and pass the Professional Skills Course.

Starting salary: The minimum salary for trainee solicitors is £18,590 for those working in London and £16,650 for the rest of England and Wales. Once qualified, you can expect to earn around £25,000.

2. Marketing managers: £44,163 Marketing managers plan, organise and direct marketing campaigns - which may include media advertising, direct mail, websites and promotional events. They also manage budgets and other team members, including marketing executives and assistants.

How to become one: You will need solid experience as a marketing executive before progressing into management. While a degree is not a pre-requisite (skills, track record and industry knowledge are just as relevant as formal qualifications), a business-related degree or marketing qualification, such as the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Professional Diploma in Marketing, may be an advantage.

Starting salary: Management salaries usually start around £25,000, more depending on the location and size of the company.

3. Hospital and health service manager: £43,523  Also known as clinical managers, health service managers plan, organise and direct resources and activities of healthcare providers and purchasers to ensure a hospital, or other health organisation, runs efficiently and effectively. That includes supervising staff, setting and maintaining budgets, and making sure government guidelines are followed.

How to become one: There are a number of routes in the role. One of the most direct is the NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme, which is open to applicants with a degree (minimum 2:2) or an equivalent qualification in a health or management-related subject. Others work their way up from an administrative post by taking in-service training courses. To become an administrator you need five GCSEs (grade A-C) and may require A-levels. 

Starting salary: On completion of a graduate scheme, health service managers can expect to earn £27,000 to £37,000, rising to around £43,000 with experience.

4. Train drivers: £42,527
Train drivers transport passengers and goods on over-ground and underground local and national rail networks, driving diesel, diesel-electric, electric and steam engines.

How to become one: Although specific qualifications are not required (GCSEs in maths and English are generally sufficient), the application procedure is rigorous. If your initial application is successful, you will be tested on your basic mechanical knowledge, reaction times and concentration skills at a training centre. If you pass, you will then progress to the interview stage and be required to take a medical/fitness check.

Starting salary: Trainee drivers earn around £17,500, newly qualified drivers £30,000.

5. Higher education teaching professionals: £42,263 Higher education teachers work in universities and colleges, delivering lectures and teaching students over the age of 18 to undergraduate and postgraduate level. They may also undertake research and write articles and books in their specialist field.

How to become one: Most employers require you to have a degree (first or 2:1), a PhD (or be working towards it) and prefer you to have had work published, or see that you have the ability to carry out original research. You also need experience of teaching, which it may be possible to gain by working as a Graduate Teaching Assistant while you carry out research. For vocational subjects, you need a relevant degree and solid work experience.

Starting salary: Full-time university lecturers earn around £33,000, rising with experience.

6. Construction manager: £40,484 Construction managers, also known as contracts managers, site managers or site agents, supervise and direct operations on construction and structural engineering projects (such as houses, factories, roads, bridges, tunnels, railway works, harbours, and drainage and sewage works), to make sure work is completed safely, on time and within budget.

China confident G20 will see IMF get $430 bn firewall

Major emerging economies will pitch in funds at the G20 summit to complete the IMF (Berlin: MXG1.BE - news) 's planned 430-billion-dollar (380-billion-euro) firewall to protect indebted states, China said Sunday.
China's Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said the BRICS group of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa would meet on Monday ahead of the start of the summit in the Mexican resort of Los Cabos.
Major European and Asian governments have already pledged around 340 billion dollars to the bailout fund, and Zhu said: "China is confident that the IMF will realize its 430 billion and China will pitch in."
Zhu cited the summit's host President Felipe Calderon of Mexico as having suggested the IMF might end up with even more than the 430 billion dollars that it requested, but did not put a precise figure on the Chinese contribution.
The IMF has already scaled back its ambitions for a larger firewall of 500 to 600 billion dollars, with the United States notably refusing to stump up for a fund that is seen essentially as a protection for debt-ridden eurozone states.
But officials arriving in Los Cabos appeared confident a deal was near.
Zhu repeated China's position that the final IMF fund would not be "earmarked for any special region" but added that Beijing "supports a strong and prosperous euro and a unified eurozone."

APBN 2011 Sebesar Rp1.229,6 Triliun

 

 DPR menyetujui pengesahan RAPBN 2011 menjadi APBN 2011. Pengesahan tersebut dilaksanakan dalam rapat paripurna DPR di gedung DPR-RI, Senayan, Jakarta, Selasa 26 Oktober 2010.

Persetujuan itu tercapai dengan sejumlah catatan antara lain dihapuskannya Pasal 8 ayat 2b yang mengatur penetapan tarif tenaga listrik (TTL) tahun 2011. Pasal tersebut awalnya diinterupsi karena dianggap sebagai pasal siluman.
Ketua Badan Anggaran DPR Melchias Markus Mekeng menyebutkan, belanja negara dalam tahun 2011 ditetapkan sebesar Rp1.229,6 triliun. Jumlah itu terdiri atas belanja pemerintah pusat Rp836,6 triliun dan transfer ke daerah Rp393,0 triliun.
Berdasarkan jenisnya, belanja pemerintah pusat terdiri atas belanja pegawai Rp180,6 triliun, belanja barang Rp132,4 triliun, belanja modal Rp121,9 triliun, pembayaran bunga utang Rp115,2 triliun, subsidi sebesar Rp187,6 triliun, belanja hibah Rp771,3 miliar, bantuan sosial Rp61,0 triliun, dan belanja lain-lain Rp15,3 triliun.
Sementara subsidi sebesar Rp187,6 triliun, terdiri atas subsidi energi sebesar Rp136,6 triliun, subsidi listrik Rp40,7 triliun dan subsidi non energi sebesar Rp51,0 triliun.
Melchias mengatakan, subsidi non energi terdiri atas subsidi pangan Rp15,3 triliun, subsidi pupuk Rp16,4 triliun, subsidi benih Rp120,3 miliar, subsidi/bantuan PSO sebesar Rp1,9 triliun dan subsidi pajak ditanggung pemerintah sebesar Rp14,8 triliun.
Sementara itu, Menteri Keuangan Agus Martowardojo yang hadir sebagai pemerintah dalam rapat yang dipimpin Wakil Ketua DPR Priyo Budi Santoso itu menyebutkan, belanja negara mengalami kenaikan Rp27,5 triliun dari pagu awal.
“Belanja negara meningkat Rp27,5 triliun dari semula Rp1.202,15 triliun menjadi Rp1.229,6 triliun,” kata Menkeu.