Conversations on Vietnam Development
VietNamNet Bridge – The massive mineral exploitation at four sites in Dong Hy district in Thai Nguyen province has led to serious consequences: the houses of 133 families have been affected by subsidence and cracking, and locals do not have water for daily life.
A pit belonging to Thai Nguyen Black Metallurgical JSC is located in a residential quarter.
Continue reading “Thai Nguyen: uncontrolled mineral exploitation pushes locals to the wall”
Last update: Sept. 18, 2017
Việc Hội đồng Bảo an Liên Hợp Quốc (“HĐBA”) vừa thông qua nghị quyết do Mỹ đề nghị trừng phạt Bắc Hàn được xem là một thắng lợi lớn cho cộng đồng quốc tế trong vấn đề ứng xử với Bắc Hàn ngỗ ngáo và nguy hiểm. Đây cũng là một dấu hiệu cho thấy Trung Quốc đang cố gắng đi cùng Mỹ và cộng đồng thế giới: Trung Quốc không dùng quyền phủ quyết của mình tại HĐBA để chống lại mọi người.
TQ đột nhiên trở thành anh chàng tử tế và có trách nhiệm? TQ hiểu là một Bắc Hàn điên rồ có tự do là một đại họa cho thế giới? Continue reading “Việt Nam cần đồng minh quân sự”
Chủ tịch UBND Hà Nội Nguyễn Đức Chung cùng đoàn công tác tới hội trường UBND xã Đồng Tâm lúc 10h20 ngày 22/04/2017. Ảnh: Công Khanh.
Chỉnh sửa lần cuối: 24/4/2017 7:11am
Vấn đề đất đai ở Đồng Tâm cho chúng ta cơ hội rà lại luật lệ về sử dụng và quản lý đất đai để may ra thì có thể thấy con đường hợp tình, hợp lý và hợp luật để giải quyết không chỉ vụ này mà còn có thể là những vụ khác đang tiềm ẩn ở nhiều nơi trong nước. Continue reading “Phân tích pháp lý về đất đai trong vụ Đồng Tâm”
globalwitness – Press release / Oct. 26, 2015
Rubber giant Vietnam Rubber Group (VRG) has been expelled from the world’s leading forest certification body, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), following an investigation into illegal land and forest clearance in Cambodia. Responding to a complaint submitted by Global Witness last November, the FSC found that the state-owned company had illegally destroyed at least 50,000 hectares of forest for its rubber plantations in Cambodia alone, including wildlife sanctuaries and protected areas.
“The FSC investigation provides further evidence that VRG has destroyed some of South East Asia’s most important remaining forests, with indigenous communities forcibly displaced in the process, and is forcibly taking land from its rightful owners and destroying livelihoods – with untold and irreversible effects,” said Patrick Alley, a Founding Director of Global Witness. “The FSC has done the right thing by dropping them from its certification scheme. Now VRG needs to urgently take action to address the damage it has caused.” Continue reading “Vietnam Rubber Group stripped of Forest Stewardship Council certification for forest destruction, illegal land grabs and human rights abuses”
By South China Sea Expert Working Group | September 13, 2017
AMTI Update
This is the first product of the CSIS Expert Working Group on the South China Sea, which seeks to chart a feasible model for claimants to manage the maritime disputes.
The South China Sea is one of the world’s top five most productive fishing zones, accounting for about 12 percent of global fish catch in 2015. More than half of the fishing vessels in the world operate in these waters, employing around 3.7 million people, and likely many more engaged in illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing. But this vital marine ecosystem is seriously threatened by overfishing encouraged by government subsidies, harmful fishing practices, and, in recent years, large-scale clam harvesting and dredging for island construction.
On the top, the relatively healthy but overfished reef flat surrounding Thitu Island; on the bottom, a reef flat approximately 1.5 nautical miles away destroyed by Chinese clam harvesters. Both photos dated February 2016, courtesy of John McManus. Continue reading “A Blueprint for Fisheries Management and Environmental Cooperation in the South China Sea”
VietNamNet Bridge – The hill town of Da Lat has long been the most popular location in the region for getaway holidays since French colonial times.
Da Lat City (photo: travel sense asia)
Situated on a plateau 1,500 metres above sea level, this retreat town offers a good change of atmosphere with a refreshingly cool climate while other cities in Vietnam can be very hot and humid especially during summer.
Da Lat is famous for its wide variety of flowers, vegetables and fruit from its surrounding farmlands as well as countless nature sites; its beautiful landscape, evergreen forests and minority villages.
The area’s main sources of income are from agriculture and the tourism industry but the city is also very proud of being an education centre that produces multi-field professionals each year including doctors and architects. Continue reading “Discover Da Lat – Vietnam’s most romantic city”
The ship is equipped with a helipad and can also participate in search and rescue missions
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| The patrol vessel 924 of the Vietnam People’s Navy was launched on September 15, 2017. Photo: Tuoi Tre |
Trước thảm cảnh của người Rohingya theo đạo Hồi bị đàn áp bởi quân đội Myanmar, Sư Cô Chân Không – người chị cả của Dòng tu Tiếp Hiện – đã viết lá thư dưới đây gửi những người đứng đầu Nhà nước Myanmar, kêu gọi chấm dứt bạo lực đối với người Rohingya theo đạo Hồi tại đất nước này.
Đạo tràng Mai thôn, ngày 16 tháng 2 năm 2017
Kính gửi: Ngài Tổng thống U Htin Kyaw
Nước Cộng hòa Liên bang Myanmar
Văn phòng phủ Tổng thống
Văn phòng số 18, Nay Pyi Taw
Myanmar
Đồng kính gửi: Bà Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
Cố vấn Nhà nước của Cộng hòa Liên bang Myanmar
Văn phòng Cố vấn Nhà nước
Văn phòng số 20, Nay Pyi Taw
Myanmar
Kính thưa Ngài Tổng thống U Htin Kyaw,
Kính thưa Bà Cố vấn Nhà nước Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,
Chúng tôi xin gửi đến Ngài Tổng thống và Bà Cố vấn lời chào trân kính nhất.
Trong nhiều năm qua chúng tôi luôn khâm phục những cố gắng hết lòng của quý vị trong việc sử dụng những biện pháp hòa bình để đem lại dân chủ, nhân quyền và tái hòa giải cho đất nước Myanmar. Con đường tranh đấu bất bạo động của quý vị đã truyền cảm hứng cho rất nhiều người ở mọi lứa tuổi, quốc tịch, tôn giáo và sắc tộc trên toàn thế giới.
Trong giờ phút này đây, người dân Rohingya tại đất nước quý vị đang phải chịu những đau khổ lớn lao và sự áp bức nặng nề. Chúng tôi biết quý vị chắc hẳn cũng đang bức xúc trước cách cư xử tàn nhẫn đang giáng xuống những người dân vô tội này, bởi quý vị cũng như là cha mẹ, như là người anh, người chị của họ.
Continue reading “Giọt nước từ bi: Thư của Sư Cô Chân Không gửi Chính phủ Myanmar và Aung San Suu Kyi”
Update: September, 17/2017 – 09:00
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| Part of the destroyed forest in Điện Biên District in the northern mountainous province of Điện Biên. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of this province confirms a serious case of deforestation has occurred in more than 6,500 sq.m of special forest in Pá Khoang Commune of the district. – Photo nhandan.vn |
ĐIỆN BIÊN — Authorities have confirmed a serious case of deforestation has occurred in this northern mountain province, resulting in the destruction of about 80 percent of the special forest areas in Pá Khoang Commune. Continue reading “Authority confirms serious deforestation in Điện Biên”
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| The book is the brainchild of Phạm Kiều Oanh, a social worker and community developer, who first encountered the concept of social enterprises more than 10 years ago. — Photo baomoi.com |
Viet Nam News “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” This aphorism, coined more than 100 years ago by George Bernard Shaw in his play Man and Superman, sums up the essence of the 27 women and men whose stories are told in Vietnamese and English in a newly published compilation entitled Redefining Success. Continue reading “Unreasonable people: The genesis of social entrepreneurship in Việt Nam”
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| Friend of the war dead: Ngô Thị Thúy Hằng, Founder and Vice director of Centre of Legal Consultancy and Assistance for Families of Martyrs (MARIN). — Photo courtesy of CSIP |
Viet Nam News by Nguyễn Hữu Phùng Nguyên
Ngô Thị Thúy Hằng gave up her stable, high-paid job in Hồ Chí Minh City to move to Hà Nội, almost 1,800 kilometres away. She has seemingly forsaken her youth in the quest for martyrs’ remains, leading the Centre of Legal Consultancy and Assistance for Families of War Martyrs (MARIN) through a long development journey of trials and tribulations.
The stable present
Ten years after we first met, Hằng is still a slim woman, but wrinkles have appeared in the corners of her eyes. I was startled to realise that this woman really had spent all her youth on MARIN, forsaking marriage and wealth. Hằng still lives in a rented apartment, with recognition certificates and profiles covering the walls. I know Hằng will never stop that journey. Continue reading “Hằng continues an endless journey”
Vietnam’s start-up scene, especially in Ho Chi Minh, has received much interest. Anh-Minh Do discusses if it lives up to its hype.
SINGAPORE: Vietnam’s start-up ecosystem lately has received considerable accolades and interest from international media over recent years, from commentary lauding its technology talent, the BBC asking whether Vietnam is the next Silicon Valley or Al Jazeera’s feature on a rising start-up ecosystem. Continue reading “Commentary: Beware the seducing calls of Vietnam’s start-up sirens”
Cambodia has shut down Pentagon programs in the southeast Asian country searching for the remains of US Vietnam War soldiers after Washington denied visas for senior Cambodian foreign ministry officials and their families – a response to Phnom Penh’s refusal to accept dual-Cambodian/US citizens who have been convicted of crimes in America.
Reacting to a new set of visa sanctions slapped on Phnom Penh by Washington on September 13 for the southeastern nation’s refusal to accept people deported by the United States, Cambodia has announced that it will no longer support US missions in the country searching for remains of Vietnam War combatants claimed to be missing in action.
According to a Thursday statement by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Phnom Penh has cancelled Pentagon MIA missions in the country, a move reported by Cambodia’s Fresh News media outlet and later confirmed by government spokesman Phay Siphan, cited by APnews.com. Continue reading “Tit-for-Tat in a Tete-a-Tete: Cambodia Stops US MIA Searches After Visa Ban”
Assisting Tehran with sidestepping an ongoing Washington sanctions regime against the country, China has opened a $10 billion line of credit intended to finance energy, transportation, water and other key Iranian infrastructure projects.
Following the ground-breaking 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and Russia, the US, China, France, the UK, as well as Germany and the EU, to end its nascent nuclear weapons program, Tehran — in honoring the terms of the unprecedented treaty — has nonetheless seen Washington implement a host of new sanctions against the Middle Eastern country, including asset freezes and limits on global financial transfers. Continue reading “US Sanctions Continue to Backfire: China Opens $10 Billion Credit Line for Iran”
Vietnam has tremendous potential solar energy resources estimated at more than 20,000 megawatts. In April, Vietnam’s Prime Minister issued Decision 11 that supports solar power development and provides a feed-in-tariff of 9.35 cents per kilowatt hour. This new mechanism is attracting a lot of interest from the solar power investment community. On Aug 29-30, USAID Vietnam Low Emission Energy Program together with the USAID Clean Power Asia organized the workshop “Developing, Financing, and Investing in Solar PV Projects in Lower Mekong Countries” in Ho Chi Minh City. More than 160 participants, including developers, investors, policy makers, and financial institutions gathered to share experiences and challenges to developing bankable solar power projects. The workshop highlighted two case studies of successful projects deployed in the Kingdom of Thailand. So What? While Vietnam’s demand for energy is growing by 10 to 12 percent annually, there is a tremendous opportunity for solar energy to help meet this demand and thereby support sustainable economic growth, strengthen energy security and minimize environmental impact.
internationalrivers – The Son La Hydropower Project is the largest and most complex dam project ever built in Vietnam. The project will displace more than 91,000 ethnic minority people, requiring the largest resettlement in Vietnam’s history. Most of these people will be moved between 50 to 100 kilometers away from their current homes and without access to the Da River—a source of livelihood for most of them.
The affected people include ten different ethnic groups, of which the Thai people comprise the majority. These people live mainly by the river and practice wet rice cultivation. One of the major concerns is a shortage of arable land for resettling the tens of thousands of displaced people. Continue reading “Son La Dam”
