Hanoi – The top diplomats of Vietnam and China on Wednesday pledged to strengthen relations despite territorial conflicts over the South China Sea.
As current chair of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Vietnam would “do our best to strengthen strategic relations between ASEAN and China generally, and between Vietnam and China in particular,” Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem told Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.
Continue reading Vietnam and China to strengthen relations despite territory dispute
July 20 (Bloomberg) — Southeast Asian nations should take the lead in promoting regional peace, Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said ahead of a security forum this week involving the world’s biggest powers.
“Asean should further demonstrate its ability and role as a leading force for the promotion of dialogue and cooperation,” Dung said at the opening ceremony in Hanoi of a meeting of the group’s foreign ministers.
Continue reading Asean Should Take Lead to Promote Peace, Vietnam Says
Vietnam is located in a region considered a cradle of mankind, one of the earliest agricultural centres practicing wet rice farming, where the stone and metallurgical revolutions took place.
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On the basis of socio-economic development in the time of the Đong Son culture and given the struggle with nature and against aggression, Van Lang State, the first State in Vietnam was established in the 7th century B.C.
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US lawmakers have asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to raise human rights when she visits Vietnam next week, saying that the issue should be at the heart of the nations’ growing relationship.
In a letter to Clinton sent Thursday, 19 members of the House of Representatives wrote that Vietnam “holds in its cells hundreds of prisoners whose only crime is to peacefully advocate for social justice.”
Clinton’s visit “represents a crucial opportunity not only to raise pressing concerns for imprisoned activists but to integrate human rights issues into the core of US-Vietnam bilateral policy,” they wrote.
Continue reading US lawmakers ask Secretary of State Clinton to raise human rights issues in Vietnam
July 9, 2010 – Vienna Airport
Continue reading Spy swap – Mỹ và Nga trao đổi tù nhân gián điệp
By Martha Ann Overland / Ho Chi Minh City
For much of the past year, residents of a village in Vietnam’s southern Ca Mau province heard a child screaming in terror in a nearby house, but no one alerted the authorities. As 14-year-old Nguyen Hoang Anh was being branded with hot irons, had solvents poured in his wounds and had his teeth pulled out with pliers, those who heard him ignored his cries. Neighbors feared the couple that employed the boy on their shrimp farm might retaliate against them if they notified officials. Others, knowing police rarely interfere in domestic issues, did not know whom to call.
Continue reading Child-Abuse Case Reveals Vietnam’s Lax Social Services
Mike Ives
12 July 2010
Vietnam has announced ambitious plans to develop a nuclear power industry, with the aim of having eight nuclear reactors up and running by 2030.
According to the official Vietnamese newspaper Thanh Nien officials announced last month (22 June) that the reactors would be located in five central provinces, and would generate 15,000 megawatts of power — enough to meet ten per cent of the country’s power demand.
The first reactor at the first plant, in Ninh Thuan province, will be operational by 2020, according to the plans, putting Vietnam on track to be the first country in South-East Asia to use nuclear power.
Oxford Analytica, 03.15.10, 06:00 AM EDT
From French to anti-communist to communist, each regime has put its imprint on street names. Take Saigon — oops, Ho Chi Minh City — where nearly all 60 French-named streets have been renamed.
 A historic photo, from the early 1900s, of the Rue Catinat, which later became the Tu Do (Freedom) Street, and still later Dong Khoi (Uprising) Street. Believed to have been taken between 1900-1910Credit: Collection Philippe Chaplain – Fédération Nationale du Patrimoine] *** [] (Collection Philippe, Federation Nationale / July 4, 2010) |
By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times July 5, 2010
Literature lovers who come looking for Rue Catinat in this city once known as Saigon better hope they happen upon a Francophile octogenarian.
The street, made famous in Graham Greene’s “The Quiet American,” hasn’t been called that in more than half a century. These days, it’s called Dong Khoi (Uprising) Street. (And before that, it was called Freedom Street. But more about that later.)
HANOI, Vietnam – An acupuncturist who claims she can detect a man’s virginity based on a small dot on the ear has become a minor celebrity in Vietnam, where she is credited with helping to free three convicted rapists from prison.
Traditional medicine practitioner Pham Thi Hong started lobbying for the men’s release, pleading their case all the way to the president, because she believes all three men are virgins and therefore could not be guilty of rape.
“They all had small red spots on the back of their ears,” said Hong, 54. “The spots should have disappeared if they had had sex. My many years of experience told me that these men did not have sex before.”
Continue reading ‘Virginity test’ helps free 3 in Vietnam rape case
By Jason Folkmanis
July 1 (Bloomberg) — Vietnam’s economic growth accelerated in the second quarter as revived bank lending helped boost manufacturing and consumer spending.
Continue reading Vietnam GDP Growth Quickens to 6.4% on Bank Lending
500 Greatest Songs of All Times
California Dreamin’ là bài hát do John Phillips và vợ là Michelle Phillips viết, và đầu tiên do Barry McGuire hát và ghi âm. Nhưng phải đợi khi ban The Mamas and the Papas, là ban nhạc hát phụ họa cho Bary McGuire trong phiên bản ghi âm trước, ghi âm lại năm 1965 thì bài hát mới thành nổi tiếng.
Ban nhạc The Mamas and The Papas gồm các thành viên như: John Phillips (nhạc sĩ sáng tác bài này, qua đời năm 2005), Denny Doherty (qua đời năm 2007), Michelle Phililips (vợ của John), Cass Elliot, Scott McKenzie, Jill Gibson. Ban nhạc này nổi lên vào năm 1966 với thành công vang dội của California Dreamin’ khi nó lọt vào top 10. Ca khúc này được phát hành lần đầu tiên vào tháng 11, năm 1965 và được báo nhạc Rolling Stone xếp hạng thứ 89 trong 500 Bài hát hay nhất trong mọi thời đại.
Qua tiếng hát của The Mamas and The Papas của thập niên 60, ca khúc kinh 
điển California Dreamin’ đã trở thành nhạc phẩm thịnh hành được nhiều người yêu chuộng. Vào giữa thập niên 90, nhạc phẩm California Dreamin’ lần nữa được dùng làm ca khúc chính trong phim “Chungking Express”, một trong 100 cuốn phim được tuần báo Time của Mỹ chấm là hay nhất. Trong phim này, đạo diễn Wong Kar Wai đã mượn nhạc phẩm này để nói lên ước mơ về vùng trời xa xăm của cô bồi bàn trong một tiệm ăn nhỏ ở Hong Kong.
Continue reading California Dreaming – California mộng mơ
| Young volunteers promote gender equality in Dong Xuan Market in Ha Noi. Viet Nam is drafting two national programmes to promote gender equality and social development. — VNA/VNS Photo Duong Ngoc |
HA NOI — In an effort to promote gender equality in Viet Nam, the country is creating a national strategy in order to eliminate gender discrimination.A 10-year national project on gender equality and a five-year national programme, which would encourage women to contribute to the development of the family, community and entire society, are being drafted.
Both projects have been discussed at a number of conferences and workshops held by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), with the participation of domestic and international experts and relevant organisations.
Đọt Chuối Non 