US eases trade and travel restrictions to Cuba — Talk Vietnam

(VOVworld) – New travel and trade rules between the US and Cuba took effect on Friday, as part of the implementation of last month’s agreement on re-establishing diplomatic ties.

A sign shows the departure times for flights to Cuba at Miami International Airport on December 19, 2014. (Photo: Getty Images)

The new rules will allow Cubans to access US telecommunications, construction, and financial services and allow Americans to travel to Cuba without approval from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control.



















US eases trade and travel restrictions to Cuba — Talk Vietnam

Al-Qaeda suspects arrested in Saudi Arabia: ministry — TalkVietnam

Al-Qaeda suspects arrested in Saudi Arabia: ministry — TalkVietnam

RIYADH – Saudi Arabia arrested two suspected members of Al-Qaeda who may have been plotting against Western embassies in the Middle East, the interior ministry announced on Thursday.
The two men, a Yemeni and a Chadian national, had contacts with the Yemeni branch of the terror network, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, state news agency SPA quoted ministry spokesman General Mansour al-Turki as saying.
The Chadian suspect had been expelled from Saudi Arabia but returned with a passport issued by another country, Turki added. “The two suspects may have been implicated in the threats against Western embassies in the region,” he said.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, at the heart of the security alert that has shut a number of US and Western missions in Sanaa, the Middle East, Asia and Africa, is seen by Washington as the most active branch of the jihadist network.
It was formed in January 2009 as a merger of the Yemeni and Saudi branches of Al-Qaeda and is led by Nasser al-Wuhayshi–AFP.

Vietnam invites foreign native English teachers

The Ministry of Education and Training has signed two cooperation agreements on January 16 in Hanoi for implementation of the National English Teaching Project 2020.

At the signing ceremony

The first agreement was signed with an English Language Company in Sydney in Australia to supply native English teachers from the US, Canada, New Zealand, and Ireland.
Native English teachers will be assigned to primary schools, junior high schools, colleges and universities under the program ‘Teach and Travel Vietnam (TTV).’
Staff preparing for the National English Teaching Project 2020 will work with the English Language Company to provide training, management and allocation of foreign teachers to schools, as and when needed.
This year there are plans for around 300-500 native English teachers to come to Vietnam.
The second agreement was signed with Greg Ellis, an Australian teacher, who has been developing teaching software for English language and IELTS tests.
Under the agreement with the Ministry, Ellis will give the software for the National English Project 2020 for teaching of the four skills in the English language.
Ellis has written the software based on 10 year research of students in Ho Chi Minh City as well as students in Melbourne, Australia.
The software has already been used to teach students preparing for IELTS tests at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Ellis has also helped the University of Pedagogy in HCMC in English teaching methodology.
The Ministry believes that the participation of foreign teachers and the new teaching software will enhance English learning in students in Vietnam.

Vote of confidence on PM and President scheduled in May

Posted:

VietNamNet Bridge – On January 16, the National Assembly Standing Committee agreed on the resolution guiding the implementation of the vote of confidence on the titles elected or ratified by the National Assembly and the People’s Council.

The first vote of confidence will be held in May 2013.

The resolution also guides the titles that are the subjects of the vote of confidence at the commune, ward or township levels. These positions include Chairs and Vice Chairs of the People’s Council and the People’s Council of communes, wards and townships.
If a person simultaneously holds multiple positions elected or ratified by the National Assembly, the People’s Council, the vote of confidence shall be made to the highest position.
The time for the periodical vote of confidence is at the first annual meeting since the second year of each term of the National Assembly and People’s Councils at all levels.
About the contents on the report and accountability of the officials who are subjects to the vote of confidence, the National Assembly Standing Committee requested the compilation board to amend in the direction of simplifying explanation contents.
NA Standing Committee’s members also made suggestion on the contents of the regulations.
Because some comments were collected at the meeting on January 16, the guiding resolution on the vote of confidence will be signed and promulgated by National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung to take effect from February 1, 2013, the time that National Assembly’s resolution on the vote of confidence vote of confidence takes effect.
Le Nhung

Vietnam economy

War-nostalgia no cure for ailing Vietnam economy

Motorcyclists pass a poster marking the 40th anniversary of the US Christmas bombing campaign, Hanoi, Vietnam, December 21, 2012. For years the country's leaders have leant on war-era nostalgia to shore up authority but now face a modern-day threat -- anger over the economy.

An employee prepares a funeral wreath for a customer in Hanoi on December 21, 2012. For years the country's leaders have leant on war-era nostalgia to shore up authority but now face a modern-day threat -- anger over the economy.

Posters of US bombers crashing in flames festoon Hanoi to mark another anniversary in a long-finished war, December 21, 2012. But behind the usual propaganda Vietnam's rulers face a modern-day threat -- anger over the economy.

AFP - Posters of US bombers crashing in flames festoon Hanoi to mark another anniversary in a long-finished war. But behind the usual propaganda Vietnam's rulers face a modern-day threat -- anger over the economy.
For years the leaders of the one-party state have leant on war-era nostalgia to shore up authority anchored in battlefield victories.
With the state-dominated economy floundering, experts say touting decades-old military successes is no longer enough to shield the regime from growing public frustration.
"The communist party is skating on thin ice," said David Koh, a Vietnam analyst from the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.
"They must expect newer generations to look beyond these great moments of the past in deciding whether their political system is worth supporting."
A key way to strengthen the party's legitimacy would be through serious economic reforms, Koh told AFP.
Despite tight controls over the media and demonstrations there are signs of rising public dissatisfaction -- from a growing chorus of online criticism to daily, if small-scale, protests over corruption and land disputes in Hanoi.
"The government should spend less time and money on celebrating historic events and pay more attention to improving people's lives," retired state official and ex-soldier Tran Van Duong, 65, told AFP.
"Everyone seemed to earn less this year, everyone is complaining. People are not happy with the government's performance," he said, as the city marks the 40th anniversary of the 1972 "Christmas Bombings".
The aerial bombardment saw American B-52s and other aircraft drop 20,000 tons of bombs on or near Hanoi after peace talks with North Vietnam broke down.
Once touted as the next "Asian Tiger", Vietnam's economy has run aground -- its banking system drowning in toxic debts, foreign direct investment down sharply and dozens of major state-owned companies hovering near bankruptcy.
From exorbitant healthcare costs and substandard education to traffic congestion, experts say the deep flaws in Hanoi's version of state-mandated capitalism are surfacing in all areas of daily life.
"The formal political system doesn't work.... You can't run a country like this. It is sclerotic," said Adam Fforde, a professorial fellow at the Centre for Strategic Economic Studies at Victoria University in Melbourne.
"People have lost confidence in the idea that there is somebody there who can pull levers and make things happen," he said.
Over the past 20 years, Vietnam has used a Chinese-style mix of free markets and authoritarian governance to achieve rapid growth, but experts say deeper economic as well as political reforms are needed.
The current economic sluggishness is intensifying pressure on the leadership. Around a million young people enter the workforce each year and economists warn job creation and skills training are not keeping pace.
"The state apparatus is in a bit of a stupor," said Jonathan London, an assistant professor in the Department of Asian and International Studies at City University of Hong Kong.
Despite being a one-party state, Vietnam has an "extremely fragmented power structure" within its vast communist apparatus, which means tough decisions are often not taken when needed, he said.
From the World Bank to party economists, there is widespread recognition of what needs to be done to lift competitiveness and boost GDP growth that was this year the weakest since 1999.
Reform the state sector, recapitalise banks and tackle corruption or "the dream of the economic miracle in Vietnam, which seemed like such a sure and palpable thing 10 years ago, will continue to dissipate," London said.
The communist party itself seems aware of the problems -- at a plenum in October mistakes were admitted in the stewardship of the economy but no officials were sanctioned.
Vietnam needs leaders who can stop powerful interest groups -- from the military to the major state-owned enterprises down to provincial officials -- running amok, in order to get the economy back on track, London said.
"It is not clear who is capable of doing such a thing," he added.
Instead, Vietnam is stuck with "a sort of corrupt, patrimonial style of rule that leads to Bentleys and Rolls-Royces on the one hand, and tens of millions of people who aren't doing so well on the other", London said.

China protests US State Department remarks on South China Sea - World News

BEIJING - China's Foreign Ministry has called in a senior U.S. diplomat to protest remarks by the U.S. State Department raising concerns over tensions in the disputed South China Sea.

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In a statement released late on Saturday, China's Foreign Ministry said Assistant Foreign Minister Zhang Kunsheng summoned the U.S. Embassy's Deputy Chief of Mission Robert Wang to make "serious representations" about the issue.
The State Department on Friday said it was monitoring the situation in the seas closely, adding that China's establishing of a military garrison for the area runs "counter to collaborative diplomatic efforts to resolve differences and risk further escalating tensions in the region."

Advertise | AdChoicesThe South China Sea has become Asia's biggest potential military flashpoint as Beijing's sovereignty claim over the huge area has set it against Vietnam and the Philippines as the three countries race to tap possibly huge oil reserves. Beijing and Washington are already at odds over numerous issues, including the value of China's currency, Tibet and Taiwan.

Zhang said the U.S. statement "disregarded the facts, confused right with wrong, sent a seriously wrong signal and did not help with efforts by relevant parties to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea or the Asia Pacific.
"China expresses its strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition, urges the U.S. side to immediately to mend the error of its ways, earnestly respect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and do more to genuinely benefit stability and prosperity in the Asia Pacific," he added.
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A separate statement by ministry spokesman Qin Gang repeated that China had absolute sovereignty over the sea and its myriad islands and had every right to formally set up a city to administer the region, which it did last month.
"Why does the U.S. turn a blind eye to the facts that certain countries opened a number of oil and gas blocks, and issued domestic laws illegally appropriating Chinese islands and waters?" Qin said.
"Why does the U.S. avoid talking about the threats of military vessels to Chinese fishermen by certain countries and their unjustified claims of sovereignty rights over Chinese islands?" he added.
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In all, six parties have rival claims to the waters, which were a central issue at an acrimonious ASEAN regional summit last month that ended with its members failing to agree on a concluding statement for the first time in 45 years.
The stakes have risen in the area as the U.S. military shifts its attention and resources back to Asia, emboldening its long-time ally the Philippines and former foe Vietnam to take a bolder stance against Beijing.
The United States has stressed it is neutral in the long-running maritime dispute, despite offering to help boost the Philippines' decrepit military forces. It says freedom of navigation is its main concern about a waterway that carries $5 trillion in trade -- half the world's shipping tonnage.

Vietnam latest news - | Three shark species attacked swimmers in central Vietnam: study

Vietnamese scientists have identified three shark species that have attacked people at least ten times off the coast of Binh Dinh Province's Quy Nhon Town from 2009-2010.

According to a report released by the Nha Trang Oceanography Institute on July 13, a pigeye shark (Carcharhinus amboinensis) attacked Nguyen Quang Huynh on July 18, 2009 causing a deep cut in his foot. Huynh was swimming some 150 meters off shore.

A blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus) attacked Mang Duc Hanh on January 9, 2010 when he was swimming just ten meters from shore. Hanh suffered severe injury in his hand.

Meanwhile, the graceful shark (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchoides) may be responsible for eight other attacks.

Vo Si Tuan, deputy director of the Nha Trang Oceanography Institute, who led the research team, said the sea off the coast of Quy Nhon Town is the natural habitat of several tropical sharks that often search for food near the shore.

“The Quy Nhon Bay offers easy access for sharks to swim near the shore,” he said.

Tuan said nearby lobster farms have also attracted hungry sharks to the area while the El Nino (from July 2009 to June 2010) increased the water's temperature and solidity causing many sharks to mistake human beings as prey.

The report proposed solutions like moving lobster farms farther away from beaches and creating a protective the swimming zone enclosed by a large net.

According to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), the 79 unprovoked attacks of 2010 was the highest total since 2000, when 80 attacks were recorded. 

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“The number of shark-human interactions occurring in a given year is directly correlated to the amount of time humans spend in the sea. As world population continues its upsurge and interest in aquatic recreation concurrently rises, we realistically should expect increases in the number of shark attacks and other aquatic recreation-related injuries,” it said.

As in recent years, North American waters had the most unprovoked attacks in 2010 with 32. Elsewhere, 14 attacks occurred in Australia, eight in South Africa, six in Vietnam and Egypt, with a single incidents occurring of the coast of the Bahamas, Brazil, Fiji, Madagascar, Mascarene Islands, Solomon Islands, Canary Islands, Tonga and the United Arab Emirates.

Surfers, swimmers and waders were the recreational groups most often involved in shark attacks in 2010 as those involved in snorkeling, scuba diving and those using inflatable rafts and inner-tubes were less likely to become victims of shark attacks.

4 Vietnamese Photographers 'meet' at A glance on Paris

Four Vietnamese photographers ‘meet’ at A glance on Paris

June 19, 2012

LookAtVietnam – Hoang The Nhiem, Nguyen Phuong, Pham Le Quan and Le Quang Bien introduce a charming Paris through their lens, at a photo exhibition entitled ‘Mot thoang Paris’ (A glance on Paris) at Idecaf, 31 Thai Van Lung Street from June 14 to June 22.

Photographer Nguyen Phuong (left) and Hoang The Nhiem.

The four Vietnamese photographers share with viewers their passion for the city of love as they focus on buildings, people, interesting activities and daily life. They also present their admiration and excitement for beauty and also point out the city’s dark side.
Nhiem become a photographer in 1992 and majors in landscapes. He has displayed his works in Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi and in the U.S., France, Belgium and the U.K. His works prove a meticulous working process and quality techniques.
As a retired mechanical engineer, Phuong discovered his passion of photography late in life but has joined many exhibitions in Italy and France from 2010 to 2012.
Quan and Bien are photographic journalists who have delivered exhibitions in France, Hong Kong and Hanoi.
Photos by Le Bien

Police officers on the street.

The city of light

The victory gate at night

The Eiffel tower

The La Concorde square.

Photos by Le Quan:

Luxembourg park

Luxembourg park

Eiffel tower

Sein River at night

Élysées avenue

Photos by Hoang The Nhiem

Street music

Panthéon palace

“The church on Montmartre hill.

Sacr̩ РCoeur Church.

Eiffel tower

Paris at night.

Love locks.

The autumn.

Emmanuel bell

Photos by Nguyen Phuong

A green house.

Sein River

La Défense square

Paris library.

“La Sein”.

Paris subway.

Champs-Élysées evenue.

Thanh Van