MO CAY, Vietnam– In the dead of night, the entire front half of shopkeeper Ta Thi Kim Anh’s house collapsed. Perched on the sandy banks of the Mekong River, it took just a few minutes for one half of everything she owned to plunge into its murky depths.
“Our kitchen, our laundry room, our two bedrooms, all gone,” said Kim Anh, speaking amongst the twisted metal and rubble of her house, from which she still sells eggs, soap and instant noodles to villagers in Ben Tre, a province in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region.
As Chinese gangs, Latin American cartels and Nigerian brokers widen their international networks, a rising number of vulnerable women and children are being tangled in their web.
It was one of those hot summer days in early August when the skin has no rest from the burning sun, drier than usual. Daniela, from Venezuela, was landing for the first time in Hong Kong, wearing a black jacket, white shirt, bell-bottomed jeans, and high heels.
She was pregnant, but that wasn’t all she was carrying. Strapped to each of her legs were four packs of cocaine.
Garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Photo by Tareq Salahuddin/Wikimedia Commons
Think about how many sweaters, scarves and other clothes were given as gifts this holiday season. How many times will people wear them before throwing them out?
Probably far fewer than you think. One garbage truck of clothes is burned or sent to landfills every second! The average consumer bought 60 percent more clothes in 2014 than in 2000, but kept each garment for half as long.
If you ask me what is the most important thing for our Viet Nam’s development? I will say immediately, “The most important thing is our ethics, and the second most important thing is our English.” I talk everyday about ethics. Let me talk about English today. Continue reading You, Your English, and the Country→
I like that place.
I like read a book there
with doves around.
Many doves are there.
Some drink water in puddles.
Some eat something on the ground.
Some sunbathe.
Some talk in small groups.
Some seem to be dating in pairs… Continue reading Prayer 592→
Still stuck on coal, the region is missing out on massive price cuts in renewables, writes Courtney Weatherby.
A coal-fired power plant in Henan, China. While China is shifting from heavy coal reliance to renewable sources, it continues to invest in coal-fired power plant projects overseas. Image: V.T. Polywoda, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Southeast Asia’s energy demand is expected to grow by two-thirds by 2040, requiring massive investment in new energy generation and transmission. Installed capacity will double from 240 gigawatts to 565 gigawatts, which amounts to adding a bit more than Japan’s total electricity capacity.
To meet their growing needs, countries have to make pivotal choices. They will either lock the region into a carbon-intensive energy future or open up a more sustainable, flexible path based on renewables and energy trading. Outside investors – in particular China – will play a key role in the outcome.
Some of the region’s poorest developing countries face the greatest pressures. Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos can expect their energy demand to grow every year by double digits. Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam project 6-10 per cent annual growth rates.
The Ministry of Transportation is collecting comments on the draft of a plan to enhance aviation connectivity with tourist markets.
Direct flights between Vietnam and US to open in 2020.
National carrier Vietnam Airlines will only launch direct air service to the United States in 2020, two years later than a prime minister-approved plan, according to the transport ministry’s new draft plan, VnEconomy reported.
The first destination in the US will be one city on the West Coast, either San Francisco or Los Angeles, according to the draft plan.
BREAKING: EU MEMBER STATE ANNOUNCE SCHEME TO TERMINATE ALL INTRA-EU BITS AND WARN INVESTOR COMMUNITY TO NOT INITIATE NEW CLAIMS – BUT VIEWS DIFFER WITH RESPECT TO WHETHER ACHMEA DECISION APPLIES TO ENERGY CHARTER TREATY
Jan 17, 2019 |By Damien Charlotin And Luke Eric PetersonIAreporter
European Union Member States have issued a political declaration (dated January 15, 2019) addressing the consequences of the European Court of Justice’s Achmea decision in relation to intra-EU bilateral investment treaties – and highlighting a series of new efforts to be taken to bring an end to claims under such treaties
She said,
“I only want to ride on huge winds,
kick intense waves,
kill killer whales in South China Sea,
take back the country,
build independence,
take off the yoke of slavery,
and not bend my back to be a concubine for a man.”* Continue reading Prayer 588→