Part of the Van Mieu (Temple of Literature), located in the northern province of Vinh Phuc, which costs a whopping VND271 billion (US$12.45 million) – Tuoi Tre
TTN – A project to build a multimillion-dollar cultural facility, which is intended to worship a highly revered Chinese philosopher/educationist and several noted Vietnamese academics of ancient times, in northern Vietnam has been frowned upon for its wastefulness.
An eroded section at the Cua Dai Beach in Hoi An. Photo: Hoang Son
TNN – Hydropower dams on the Vu Gia – Thu Bon River system has hindered sedimentation downstream, causing severe erosion that could wipe out a popular beach in Hoi An town, experts warn.
Ethnic children in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai’s Man Than Primary School. Boosting support for poor ethnic people is one of goals targeted in a national programme on sustainable poverty reduction by 2020. — VNS Photo Thai Ha
HA NOI (VNS) — The national programme on sustainable poverty reduction until 2020 will be aimed at speeding up the process, preventing people from re-entering poverty situations – and creating conditions for the poor to access basic social services.
EAF – The South China Sea dispute has become the new normal in ASEAN meetings. The dispute, with its overlapping claims on various land features in the South China Sea, has started to figure as the most important territorial disputes in Asia, one that risks becoming a major power confrontation in the region. With this in mind, ASEAN must take a collective stand on the South China Sea.
TNN – Ho Huu Hanh, 16, in Ho Chi Minh City’s neighbor province of Dong Nai, was born without arms. His mother said her family was very sad at his birth while neighbors boycotted him as a “monster.” But since he turned 3, he started to make his legs come in to help. Continue reading Nothing’s impossible: Vietnamese teen boy does it all without arms→
AMTI – Secretary of Defense Ash Carter’s address at this weekend’s Shangri-La Dialogue was generally well received by conference attendees and Asia-security watchers. A few critics have argued that Carter was “just talk.” What none have noted, however, is the fact that the Secretary’s remarks were the latest installation in a series of moves by the administration to articulate a fact-based approach to the South China Sea. This approach is a nuanced one and does not necessarily constitute a “strategy” for countering China’s recent moves. It is, however, a wise way to engage two key audiences to whom Carter was speaking at Shangri-La: other states in the region and China itself. Let me explain.
By Ralph Ellis, Jethro Mullen and Steven Jiang, CNN
Updated 3:19 PM ET, Tue June 2, 2015
Story highlights
Tornado hit part of Yangtze River where ship capsized, China Meteorological Center says
Survivor says he barely had time to grab a life jacket before escaping ship, report says
Authorities confirm 14 survivors and seven deaths
Jianli County, China (CNN)Most of the passengers on the Eastern Star cruise ship had gone to bed. A violent storm struck and rain pounded the windows with such force that water seeped into the cabins, survivor Zhang Hui told Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency.
The ship began tilting, Zhang told the agency, reaching an angle of 45 degrees at one point. Small bottles rolled off the table in his cabin.
“Looks like we are in trouble,” he remembers telling a colleague.
When the ship with more than 458 people aboard overturned late Monday, he said, it happened so quickly he only had 30 seconds to grab a life jacket and get out of his cabin. He went into the dark and choppy waters of the Yangtze River during the middle of the storm, later confirmed to be a tornado. Continue reading Survivor: Chinese cruise ship capsized quickly during violent storm→
A golfer at a course in the central coastal town Phan Thiet, which used to force locals to make a long detour to the beach before being shut down. File photo
Vietnam’s government is putting the environment at huge risks by approving many riverside and seaside golf courses, whose uses of fertilizers and pesticides are alarmingly high, experts said.
AMTI.CSIS – Since China first sent a senior military officer to participate in the Shangri-la Dialogue (SLD) in 2007, it has come to the annual security meeting prepared with a carefully crafted strategy to deflect criticism and advance Chinese interests. This year was no exception. Continue reading China’s missed opportunity at the Shangri-La Dialogue→
Elderly people in the front garden of the Social Support Center No. 4, located in Tay Dang Commune, Ba Vi District, Hanoi
TTN – A little six-year-old girl has been counting down the days until she will be taken out of the orphanage she is living in as promised by her parents.
Nguyen Thi Kim Quyen (not pictured) holds an exercise book from which she selected the viral math puzzle at her house in Lam Dong Province, located in Vietnam’s Central Highlands.
TTN – Advice for Vietnamese teachers: do not waste time finding interesting and good materials outside the textbook to intrigue students, as doing so may lead to punishment.
May 26, 2015 6:54 AM • Updated: May 26, 2015 12:13 PM
The following is the first public Chinese Military Strategy white paper outlining a new policy of “active defense,” released by the Chinese Ministry of National Defense on May 26, 2015.
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China’s Military Strategy
The State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China
Đọt Chuối Non 
