Vovinam included in 26th SEA Games in Indonesia

Vietnamese martial art Vovinam will be an official event at the 26th South East Asian Games in Indonesia next year, according to an announcement made at a three-day meeting which ended in Jakarta May 30.

At first, most representatives at the meeting agreed to the proposal, but officials from Malaysia and the Philippines did not.

However, as the host of the next biennial SEA Games, Indonesia strongly supported the idea and the Vietnamese delegation eventually persuaded everyone to agree.

Other events like Muay Thai kickboxing and body building were proposed but they were not accepted.

The SEA Games Vovinam competitions will take place on the island of Bali.

The World Vovinam Federation and Vietnam Vovinam Federation will send leading instructors and coaches to the countries in the region to provide training.

Reported by M. Hien

Binh Duong remains at the top of V-League

Binh Duong remains at the top of Vietnam’s top-tier V-League after a 2-0 away win over low-ranked side Nam Dinh in the 15th round at Nam Dinh Stadium on Sunday.

The hosts Nam Dinh led an attack from the start, meaning that visitors Binh Duong had to play defensively.

After being under pressure for the first few minutes, the 2007-08 V-League champs Binh Duong improved their defense, started attacking and created chances.

Binh Duong took the lead after Nigerian defender Egbo Osita headed home a free kick by Vu Phong from the right.

The visitors Binh Duong scored again four minutes later after striker Anh Duc’s header defeated Nam Dinh’s goalkeeper Ngoc Tu for the second time.

Binh Duong now leads the league with 31 points while Nam Dinh, with only eight points, are very likely to be relegated to the country’s second-tier First Division.

Reigning champs Da Nang slid one spot to third with 28 points after being held to a 1-1 draw by the Mekong Delta team Dong Thap on home soil at Chi Lang Stadium.

The draw kept Dong Thap in fourth position, three points adrift of Da Nang, who have booked their berth in Asia’s second-tier AFC Cup quarterfinals.

Hanoi T&T climbed one place to second with 28 points after taking a 3-1 away victory at Nha Trang Stadium over Khanh Hoa, who remains in eighth position.

In other action, 2003-04 league champions Hoang Anh Gia Lai (HAGL) drew 1-1 with Hoa Phat Hanoi at Hang Day Stadium.

HAGL remained in tenth position while the Hanoi side fell three spots to twelfth out of the 14 teams in the league.

The league’s 2005-06 champions Dong Tam Long An (DTLA) took a 1-0 away win over the 2001 champions Nghe An at Vinh Stadium.

DTLA climbed one place to 11th with 18 points while Nghe An remained in seventh with 20 points.

Ninh Binh moved one place up to fifth after a 3-0 home win over Navibank Saigon, who remains in penultimate place with 11 points.

Thanh Hoa defeated Hai Phong Cement 4-1 and jumped two places to ninth with 19 points while Hai Phong slid one position to sixth with 23 points.

Source: Thanh Nien

Singer threatens paper with defamation suit

Vietnam’s Queen of Pop and mother-to-be Ho Ngoc Ha is filing a lawsuit against a newpaper for running a story about her teenage marriage that the diva said was “untrue and defamatory.”

“I cannot keep silent,” Ha said.

“Personally, as an artist, I can choose silence when my private life is being severely violated. But when the stories were run for the purpose of defaming my entire family, my parents cannot keep silent.”

Ha and her family on Friday began working with lawyer Nguyen Minh Thuan in Ho Chi Minh City to file a lawsuit against Phap Luat va Cuoc Song (Law and Life), which ran the story on May 12.

The story came after Ha gave media interviews confirming her recent pregnancy in April.

The father is playboy and car collector Nguyen Quoc Cuong, or Cuong Dollar, the son of one of the richest women in Vietnam.

Ha said the recent story lied when it said she had previously married at 16 and had lied about being pregnant to marry another rich playboy in Hanoi.

Ha, 26, said the story by Nguyen Huu Nung, 52, an acquaintance of her mother-in-law in Hanoi, not only violated her private life but deliberately reviled her family.

She said her marriage in 2001 occurred when she was 17, not 16, and that she didn’t lie about being pregnant to force a marriage.

Her grandmother died in 1996 but Nung described her grandmother at the wedding as looking sad for not being placed in a good seat, Ha’s mother Nguyen Thi Huong said.

And the story said that Ha’s mother-in-law wanted to end the marriage and forced Ha to sign a paper that she would leave without any assets from her in-laws.

But Huong said she was married under the legal age of 18, so there was no point in asking her to sign a paper as she had no legal protection to ask for anything anyway.

“To share their private life or not, that’s a person’s right. Reporters can exploit artists’ lives, but they must not lie or defame a person’s family,” Huong told Thanh Nien.

Ha said unless Phap Luat va Cuoc Song apologizes publicly, she and her family would follow the case to “the very end.”

But experts in the field are debating whether or not victory is possible.

Article 38 in the Criminal Code states that individuals have the right to keep their private life secret.

The publication of information about people’s private life must be approved by the people in question, according to the law.

Lawyer Phan Ngoc Bang from the HCMC Bar Association said further considerations were needed in this case to see if any private life violation had been committed because the wedding mentioned in the report was known about publicly.

“If the report contained untrue details, the singer can complain to the publication, asking for a correction and apology. If the details cause some damage, she can ask for compensation under the law,” Bang said.

Attorney Nguyen Ngoc Hung, also from the association, said the writer had gone too deep into sensitive matters of Ha’s life and had caused “spiritual damage” by affecting her reputation and dignity.

A judge from HCMC People’s Court who didn’t want to be named said Ha needed to prove that the report had contained private details that she didn’t want to be published, “and that the publication has affected her reputation, and her image without bringing any benefits to the community.”

But the judge said the concept of a “secret private life” was an abstract subject to define in court.

He said personal secrets were protected under laws, as long as they are not a threat to the government, the community or any other individual, he said.

Prosecutor Vo Van Them from the Supreme People’s Procuracy, Vietnam’s top prosecutor’s office, said false details contained in a report could be tried in court.

Reported by Le Nga – Nguyen

Economic crime robs Vietnam of $9.3 bln in 12 years: report

Since a national program against economic crime was launched 12 years ago, more than 152,000 cases of financial malfeasance have caused more than VND177 trillion (US$9.3 billion) in losses to the economy.

But the actual number of economic transgressions is likely to be far higher as the figures represent only those cases uncovered by authorities, Le The Tiem, deputy minister of the Ministry of Public Security, said.

The cases include nearly 18,000 instances of corruption and copyright violations, Tiem told an online conference in Hanoi on Wednesday.

According to the ministry, traditional crimes are becoming more complicated, and new crimes are being imported from foreign countries with advanced equipment and devices.

In separate news on Wednesday, Mai Quoc Binh, deputy chief of the Government Inspectorate, said investigators would launch an inspection into the Lang – Hoa Lac Expressway project in Hanoi.

He said they were especially interested in checking for dodgy site clearance and compensation activities.

Work on the 30-kilometer road began ten years ago, but the construction site is still “a mess,” Binh said explaining why he was launching the unscheduled inspection.

He said the Inspectorate was interested in finding out what the project's money was being spent on. He said he was also concerned that the project had no completion date attached to it.

Last month the government also announced an investigation into the country’s first cars-only expressway, the Ho Chi Minh City – Trung Luong Highway, following allegations that the road was built using unsuitable technologies that had wasted hundreds of billions of dong.

Source: Thanh Nien, Tuoi Tre

TV channel told to remove film on ‘wildlife delicacy’

Lam Dong authorities and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Vietnam have strongly protested the broadcasting of a documentary promoting illegal wildlife meat consumption in Vietnam as a delicacy by the US Travel Channel.

Tran Xuan Viet, program officer with the WCS Vietnam said they would officially demand that the television channel to remove the film from its website and not re-broadcast it.

“We have contacted the Director of the Channel in the US and would encourage all Vietnamese citizens to contact the channel through their website” he told Thanh Nien Weekly on the phone June 8. The program’s site can be found at www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Anthony_Bourdain

According to WCS, the documentary titled “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations” aimed to introduce culture, tourist spots and food in Lam Dong Province’s resort town of Da Lat in the Central Highlands, and describes the meat of the Javan mouse deer (Tagulus javanicus) as a traditional specialty.

It can be seen quite clearly in the documentary that an eatery is serving wildlife meat and two people in the film crew are eating mouse deer meat, Viet said. The documentary was also posted on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeOei7OphcE.

Viet said mouse deer belongs to Group IIB of Decree 32/2006/ND-CP that means no wild individuals can be hunted or sold for commercial purposes. Only registered traders are allowed to sell its meat and violators are punishable by fines of up to VND500 million (US$26,000), he added.

“The Travel Channel’s introduction of wildlife meat could have a bad impact on ongoing wildlife conservation activities in Vietnam. They have encouraged both locals and foreign tourists to consume the meat of endangered wildlife species as a delicacy in Da Lat”.

“This would increase difficulties for involved agencies in inspecting and preventing wildlife crimes, reduce the number of individuals of wildlife species and promote the illegal hunting and trading of wildlife,” he said.

On June 8, Lam Dong Forest Protection officers raided the Thu Khoi eatery in the province’s Lac Duong District after identifying it to be the one in the documentary and found the eatery illegally selling wildlife meat.

The officers confiscated two Asiatic brush-tailed porcupines (Atherurus macrourus) weighing 1.2 kilograms in total, 4.8 kilograms of wild boar meat and ten kilograms of other meat that had been partially processed.

Nearly 50 kilograms of frozen meat were later found at another facility of the eatery that the owner, Thu, claimed to be horse meat that she used to fake deer meat. Local law enforcement officers are investigating to find out if it is wildlife meat or not.

This is the second case of wildlife crimes over the past weeks in Lam Dong Province. A rare Javan rhino was found dead in the central highlands of Vietnam on April 29 and it was very likely shot by poachers and further investigations is underway. On May 27, local people in the southern province of Dong Nai found a baby elephant weighing one ton dead in a mango garden. The three-year-old animal was found lying some 100 meters away from the forest of Vinh Cuu Nature and Heritage Reserve in Phu Ly Commune.

Related agencies have taken samples for investigations into the animal’s death. It was the seventh elephant to be found dead in Dong Nai province over the past year.

A recent survey of 2000 Ha Noi residents conducted by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network demonstrated that consumption of wild animal products is not only widely prevalent, but also generally accepted among a large portion of the population, despite past awareness-raising efforts and the enactment of legislation to protect particular threatened species.

Reported by Thanh Nien staff

Life floats by

Chai Village, a little fishing village hidden behind a mountain in the Tri Nguyen islands off Nha Trang, offers tourists an attractive seascape and tasty cuisine.
There are around 50 families in the village, most of which live in floating houses built on rafts. Others raise fish in cages under rafts on the sea but they live on the island.
They earn their living not only by selling seafood to traders but also by serving it to tourists.
Telling us about the history of the village, locals said Tri Nguyen was deserted not too long ago.
But fishermen from some central provinces like Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, and Binh Dinh arrived with their boats to avoid strong storms.
A tourist catches cuttlefish at the Chai floating fishing village near Nha Trang
These people then chose this site to reside, forming Chai Village.
From Cau Da Port, we hired a canoe to travel to Chai Village. The air was cool. The wind was light. Gliding on the sea water and gazing up at the nearby mountain made for a pleasant five-minute trip.
The village and its numerous fish farms and rafts appeared in front of us rather suddenly.
Han, our canoe driver, said tourists could stop at any raft they liked to catch fish. The owner would supply rods and bait and then make a meal from the tourists’ catches.
Sitting in one of the village’s floating houses to enjoy the seascape when the sun goes down and savoring steamed and grilled seafood is a memorable experience.
There are also some seafood restaurants in the village but many travelers prefer to challenge themselves by fishing for their meals. The restaurant staff does the cooking.
We stopped at Chai Village Restaurant. Its owner, Tam, eagerly welcomed us, and invited us to visit his farm.
The 150-meter raft was divided into many holding tanks, each of which was home to a different kind of creature.
We were amazed at a world of fish, cuttlefish, snails, and sea urchins. Some of them weighed about several kilograms.
It was not easy to catch them but it was exciting to watch them bite at our bait: small crabs.
After the fishing but before the meal, we explored island walking paths. Locals travel only by foot, as the paths are too small for motorbikes or bicycles.
Then we came back to the restaurant. The meal was more delicious with wine made from noni fruit. The bottles of noni wine have been soaked under the sea before being used to enhance the taste, Tam said.
After a meal, tourists can paddle around on the sea in a coracle. They may find it difficult to control the small round boat if they have never steered it before. It’s nearly impossible for a novice to keep it from spinning around.
In the shade of a sunset, Chai Village looks both seductive and shy with gentle waves lapping up against the bobbing boats and the laughter of fishermen ringing in the distance.
Reported by Phan Huy Tram

The poetry of a waterfall in the spring

From Duc Pho Town in the central province of Quang Ngai, we went west across seven kilometers of road through thick sugarcane fields.
We passed through a forest before the road let out into a poetic clearing of rocks and water. We had reached Da Giang Spring in Pho Nhon Commune.
We followed the spring that runs smoothly through rocks as the sound of crashing water grew louder and louder.
Then we hit the cascade, dozens of meters high. The waterfall created dazzling white spumes when it hit the spring.
It was easy to find large and flat rocks to use as small picnic tables. We were given shade by the leafy canopy of the old-growth forest.
My friend, who lives in the area, used a local trick to chill our beers: he placed them in a small hollowed out space in the rocks that filled with cool spring water. Ten minutes later, we were quenching our thirst with cold beer.
Orchids in yellow, purple, and pink jutted out from cliffs. Such a soft beauty in such a mighty forest!
Reported by Tran Cao Duyen

Hotel occupancy up 30 pct in Vietnam

Hotel occupancy rose around 30 percent in the first four months of this year on the back of a recovering tourism sector, an industry official said.
Local hotels were 65 percent full on average during the period, compared to the usual 50 percent, Do Thi Hong Xoan, director of the Hotel Department at the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism was quoted by the Vietnam Economic Times as saying.
Luxury hotels in resort cities like Nha Trang and Phan Thiet fared much better than average, posting occupancy rates of more than 90 percent, Xoan said.
She said foreign arrivals to Vietnam increased 35.7 percent in the four month period, while the number of local tourists also grew steadily.
Hotel supply will fall short of demand during high season as investors have become cautious in developing new hotels since the downturn last year, she said.
Source: Thanh Nien

Tour operators form responsible travel club in Vietnam

Eight local tour operators recently gathered in Hanoi to officially launch the Responsible Travel Club of Vietnam (RTC), with the goal of promoting tourism that respects the ecosystem, biodiversity and local cultural values.
The members include Footprint Travel, Indochina Travelland, Active Travel, Blue Swimmer Adventures, Freewheelin’ Tours, La Vie Vu Linh, I Travel and Sisters Tours Vietnam.
According to Dang Xuan Son, product manager for Footprint Travel and chairman of the club, RTC aims at working closely with travel firms, NGOs, communities and authorities to promote responsible tourism in Vietnam, design and market tourism products.
“Working together is key to the success of responsible travel, which is about giving something back,” he said.
Currently, RTC is working with SNV Netherlands Development Organization in an on-going responsible travel project in Chieng Yen Commune, Moc Chau District in Son La Province.
Reported by Huong Le

Neither gone nor forgotten

Old Vietnam is alive and well at one of the country’s most sacred pagodas
Clay statues depict 18 Arhats (Buddhist monks post-enlightenment) at Chuong Pagoda
Chuong Pagoda, the centerpiece of Vietnam’s largest port in the 17th and 18th centuries, still stands as a tall reminder of Vietnam’s not so distant past: a time of spirituality, tradition and simple beauty.
Still the most scenic spot in the former town of Pho Hien, now a part of the town of Hung Yen, the pagoda has lost none of its historic allure.
Pho Hien was once the north’s premier port city and a vibrant commercial and cultural melting pot of Vietnamese and foreign peoples. It was second only to the capital city of Thang Long (now Hanoi) in terms of commercial activity.
Today, visitors to Hung Yen can see the unique historical and cultural remains of the past at Chuong (Bell) Pagoda.
Built in the 15th century under the Le Dynasty, the pagoda was then restored in 1707 in the architectural style of the post-Le period.
The pagoda’s name came from a legend:
In the days of myths and folk tales, a golden bell drifted to the shore of the Red River in Nhan Duc Village during a flood and when the waters receded it began to sink in the mud.
Throngs of residents of neighboring villages rushed to Nhan Duc to save the bell but they could not make it budge, it was too heavy.
Eventually a group of Nhan Duc villagers were able to take the bell home. Believing they had been granted the charm by God, the villagers then built a pagoda to worship the bell, whose toll could be heard for miles around.
Also known as Kim Chung Tu (Golden Bell Pagoda), the religious complex was built with meticulous attention to detail.
After entering the Cong tam quan (three-entrance gate), which has eight roofs, visitors cross a stone bridge over a lotus pond. The bridge will lead them to a brick patio made of bricks from Hanoi’s famous Bat Trang handicraft village.
Walking across the stone walkway in the middle of the patio is like walking through time. The path leads to a courtyard in front of the sanctuary compound. The bell tower and altar house, where local residents worship their ancestors, follow next
HOW TO GET THERE
- Chuong Pagoda is located in Nhan Duc Village, Hien Nam Ward, Hung Yen Town, Hung Yen Province, 64 kilometers south-east from Hanoi.
- From Hanoi, tourists can take buses 205, 208, or 209 from the Luong Yen and Giap Bat bus stations to get to the pagoda.
- They can also book private buses at Hanoi’s Gia Lam bus station for the trip.
- Another way is to travel by boat on the Hanoi – Pho Hien route from the Red River tourism wharf.
Cong tam quan (Three-entrance gate) at Chuong Pagoda in the northern province of Hung Yen
The pagoda, recognized as a National Architectural Relic by the government in 1992, has many carved Buddha statues, including the Tam The (three Buddhas of the Past, Present and Future), A-di-da (Amitabha), and four Bo-tat (Bodhisattvas).
Next is a startling wood relief depicting the Thap Dien Diem Vuong (Ten Courts Managed by the 10 Kings of Hell).
In it, sinners are depicted serving out punishments for their crimes: some are being dumped into a cauldron of boiling oil; others are having their tongues cut out.
But the Thap bat La Han (18 Arhats), made of clay, are much more peaceful. Each one depicts a wise monk expressing a different attitude.
The Arhats are Buddhists who have achieved full spiritual fulfillment. They have reached “Nirvana,” the state of absolute freedom from worldly cravings, and thus they are no longer subject to reincarnation.
Tourists can go up to the bell tower before contemplating a stele which dates back to 1711, built under the reign of King Le Du Tong. On the stele is engraved a picture of Pho Hien and the city of Thang Long.
The stele helped researchers locate the commercial road that once connected Pho Hien and Thang Long. It used to pass right by the Chuong Pagoda gate. The map also helped historians locate the borders of Pho Hien’s original 20 wards
The mad hatters of Chuong Village
Chuong Village has been the home of Vietnam’s famous non la (conical leaf hat) for centuries.

The small village, around 30 kilometers from downtown Hanoi, is often crowded with people buying non la and also watching local craftswomen make it.
The village’s Non Market is open from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., six times a month, on the 4th, 10th, 14th, 20th, 24th, and 30th days of the lunar calendar.
Most non la are made from palm leaves. The leaf is cleaned with sand before being left in the sun to whiten. It is then evened by a blade.
The hat makers of Chuong Village, all women, then place the leaves over a frame made of bamboo circles. The leaves are tied into place with string and sewn from top to bottom. The excess leaves are then trimmed. Strong sewing makes the most durable hats.
Finally, to make the hat whiter and protect it from mold, the hats are singed with burning matches.
Reported by Thanh Chung - Lam Linh

Vietnam, Indonesia urged to join forces for tourism

Vietnam and Indonesia should work together to attract international tourists as both countries have popular destinations, an official said.
Companies can offer package tours to Bali, Yogyakarta, Ha Long and Hue, Ambassador of Indonesia to Vietnam, Pitono Purnomo, said at a press briefing in Ho Chi Minh City Tuesday.
In order to boost tourism, national carrier Garuda Indonesia will launch a direct route linking Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City, said Purnomo. He said Vietnam Airlines should also offer similar services.
Purnomo said around 400,000 Indonesians want to visit Vietnam every year.
Apart from tourism, the ambassador said Indonesia is encouraging Vietnamese companies to invest in rubber, pepper and seafood projects in Indonesia.
Trade between the countries reached US$2.5 billion last year, official statistics showed. Purnomo said Indonesian investors have invested more than $2 billion in Vietnam.

Kyrgyz violence rages for second day, 50 dead

Kyrgyz violence rages for second day, 50 dead
Last updated: 6/12/2010 15:00
Men walk past a burning building in the city of Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan June 11, 2010.
Parts of Kyrgystan’s second-largest city were ablaze on Saturday as the death toll rose to 50 in a second day of ethnic conflict, the Central Asian state’s worst violence since the president was toppled in April.
The interim government in Kyrgyzstan, which hosts US and Russian military bases, said it was powerless to stop armed gangs from burning down the homes and businesses of ethnic Uzbeks in one part of Osh. Gun battles raged throughout the night.
“Entire streets are on fire,” Interior Ministry spokesman Rakhmatillo Akhmedov said. “The situation is very bad. There is no sign of it stopping. Homes have been set ablaze.”
Kyrgyzstan, a poor ex-Soviet state of 5.3 million people, declared a state of emergency in Osh and several local rural districts early on Friday after rival ethnic gangs fought each other with guns, iron bars and petrol bombs.
Renewed turmoil in Kyrgyzstan will fuel concern in Russia, the United States and neighbor China. Washington uses an air base at Manas in the north of the country, about 300 km (190 miles) from Osh, to supply its forces in Afghanistan.
A Reuters correspondent in Osh said gun battles had taken place through the night in an Uzbek neighborhood. Gas was shut off to Osh and some neighborhoods have no electricity.
Ethnic Uzbeks were fleeing to the border, said Farid Niyazov, spokesman for the interim Kyrgyz government.
One witness said some women and children had made it across to the Uzbek town of Marhamat, 60 km (38 miles) from Osh, and camps had been set up for those without family in Uzbekistan.
A spokeswoman for the Kyrgyz Health Ministry said at least 50 people had been killed and 663 wounded in the violence, which is taking place in the southerly power base of former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, deposed in April by a popular revolt.
“Everywhere is burning: Uzbek homes, restaurants and cafes. The whole town is covered in smoke,” local human rights worker Dilmurad Ishanov, an ethnic Uzbek, said by telephone from Osh.
“We don’t need the Kyrgyz authorities. We need Russia. We need troops. We need help.”
Helpless
The interim government, led by Roza Otunbayeva, sent in troops and armored vehicles and declared a night-time curfew in Osh. But Niyazov said law enforcement bodies had been unable to quell the violence and would require reinforcement.
Kyrgyzstan, which won independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, has been in turmoil since the revolt that toppled Bakiyev on April 7, kindling fears of civil war.
Supporters of Bakiyev, now in exile in Belarus, briefly seized government buildings in the south on May 13, defying central authorities in Bishkek.
While these clashes were motivated by politics, the latest violence has stoked fears of a repeat of the bloodshed in 1990, when hundreds of people were killed in clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in Osh.
Ethnic unrest is a concern in the Fergana Valley, where Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan intertwine. While Uzbeks make up 14.5 percent of the total Kyrgyz population, the two groups are split roughly equally in the Osh region.
On May 19, two people were killed and 74 wounded in clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in the city of Jalalabad. On the same day, Otunbayeva said she would rule the country until the end of 2011, scrapping plans for presidential polls in October.
Her interim government, which plans a national referendum on June 27 to vote on changes to the constitution, now faces a major test in trying to reassert control in Osh, said Lilit Gevorgyan, analyst at IHS Global Insight:
“The explosive combination of a counter-revolution and an ethnic conflict poses the greatest threat to the future of the Kyrgyz revolution.”
Source: Reuters

Swine flu death toll at 18,156 a year after pandemic: WHO

Swine flu death toll at 18,156 a year after pandemic: WHO
Last updated: 6/12/2010 9:30
People cover their faces with masks to protect themselves from the swine flu virus at the entrance of a hospital in Mexico cityin 2009.
The World Health Organization said Friday that 18,156 people had died from swine flu, a year after the influenza was declared a pandemic.
The virus is now “globally less active,” Gregory Haertl, a spokesman of the UN health agency told AFP, but he warned that children and pregnant women in particular should remain vigilant.
Haertl also said that the figures on swine flu are “without doubt underestimated. It will be probably several times more than that.”
“It is difficult to say what is the exact number, we’ll have it within two years” after the disappearance of the virus, he added.
The WHO has been defending its handling of the pandemic in recent weeks, with a top medical journal becoming the latest to challenge it earlier this month.
The British Medical Journal found that WHO guidelines on the use of antiviral drugs were prepared by experts who had received consulting fees from the top two manufacturers of these drugs, Roche and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).
But the head of the WHO defended the agency, rejecting claims that its handling of the pandemic was marred by commercial interests.
“At no time, not for one second, did commercial interests enter my decision-making,” said Margaret Chan, WHO director-general, in a letter sent to the British Medical Journal, following the publication’s article.
Source: AFP

Australian artists perform ‘Divine Imagination’

Australian artists perform ‘Divine Imagination’
Last updated: 6/10/2010 16:00

A renowned Australian fire performance art group, the Carnival of the Divine Imagination, will have a one-night show in Ho Chi Minh City on June 15.
The troupe will put on performances that combine circus, fire performance and body movement reflected in UV light at the 23/9 Park Circus Center in District 1, the Australian Consulate General said in a statement.
During this event the group will introduce their newest work titled “Elixia”. The performance is a fable that tells the tale of two companions’ depravation, separation, escape and reunion. “Elixia” is suitable for audiences of all ages.
Tickets for the Tuesday evening arts event are free and available at the 23/9 Park Circus Center.
The Carnival of the Divine Imagination, which has been captivating audiences around the world with their striking and energetic displays of fire and luminescence, will also participate in a workshop with the Ho Chi Minh City Circus Group.
The workshop will provide an excellent platform for skills exchange and encourage a better understanding of each other’s culture, according to the statement.
Reported by Huu Tho

Vietnam may step up pace of equitization, gov’t leader says

Vietnam may step up pace of equitization, gov’t leader says
Last updated: 6/12/2010 17:05
State-owned Vietnam Airlines said in June it would not be able to finish its equitization process by July 1 as planned
Vietnam’s program of selling stakes in state-owned companies may be accelerated as the global economy recovers, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung said.
The so-called equitization program has been slow as the government didn’t want to sell shares at low prices and on low demand, Hung said at the National Assembly in Hanoi Saturday.
The Southeast Asian country has been selling shares in state-owned companies since the early 1990s.
The sales “may need to play a greater role” as the government seeks funds for infrastructure projects, the International Monetary Fund said in May.
Source: Bloomberg

Economic crime robs Vietnam of $9.3 bln in 12 years: report

Economic crime robs Vietnam of $9.3 bln in 12 years: report
Last updated: 6/10/2010 17:05
A render of the Lang-Hoa Lac Expressway in Hanoi. Government inspectors will launch an inspection into the Lang – Hoa Lac Expressway project.
Since a national program against economic crime was launched 12 years ago, more than 152,000 cases of financial malfeasance have caused more than VND177 trillion (US$9.3 billion) in losses to the economy.

But the actual number of economic transgressions is likely to be far higher as the figures represent only those cases uncovered by authorities, Le The Tiem, deputy minister of the Ministry of Public Security, said.

The cases include nearly 18,000 instances of corruption and copyright violations, Tiem told an online conference in Hanoi on Wednesday.

According to the ministry, traditional crimes are becoming more complicated, and new crimes are being imported from foreign countries with advanced equipment and devices.

In separate news on Wednesday, Mai Quoc Binh, deputy chief of the Government Inspectorate, said investigators would launch an inspection into the Lang – Hoa Lac Expressway project in Hanoi.

He said they were especially interested in checking for dodgy site clearance and compensation activities.

Work on the 30-kilometer road began ten years ago, but the construction site is still “a mess,” Binh said explaining why he was launching the unscheduled inspection.

He said the Inspectorate was interested in finding out what the project's money was being spent on. He said he was also concerned that the project had no completion date attached to it.

Last month the government also announced an investigation into the country’s first cars-only expressway, the Ho Chi Minh City – Trung Luong Highway, following allegations that the road was built using unsuitable technologies that had wasted hundreds of billions of dong.
Source: Thanh Nien, Tuoi Tre

Cameron and Clegg join the fray as US steps up attacks on embattled BPread more The Independent

Cameron and Clegg join the fray as US steps up attacks on embattled BPread more The Independent
As scientists served cruel notice that more than twice as much crude oil than previously thought may have been leaking from the sea bed in the Gulf of Mexico, the BP oil crisis was threatening last night to overwhelm the so-called "special relationship" between Britain and the United States. David Cameron will telephone President Barack Obama this...