News Archive
» Border demarcation between Cambodia, Viet Nam to be completed by 2012
Posted 03/5/2008
Cambodia and Viet Nam have affirmed their determination to speed up the demarcation of the land border between the two nations, local media reported Tuesday. The work will be completed by 2012, the Mekong Times newspaper said, citing Var Kim Hong, Cambodian Senior Minister in charge of border affairs and Chairman of the Cambodian-Viet Nam Joint Border Commission. The contentious Cambodia-Viet Nam border demarcation began in 2005 and was supposed to be finished in 2007, the newspaper said.
» Party leader calls for renewal of mass mobilisation
Posted 03/5/2008
Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh has urged mass organisations at all levels to renew their operations to increase the effectiveness of their work. Addressing a national conference on mass mobilisation on March 4, the party leader stressed that mass organisations should intensify communication with their constituents to understand important issues in their lives. He said mass mobilisation work should focus more on private and foreign-invested sectors and areas with religious followers and ethnic minority groups, as well as isolated and remote areas. He also stressed that party organisations and authorities should consider mass mobilisation work as a strategic task in building the party and administration, and enhancing closer ties between the party, State and people.
» Vietnam to establish first stem cell bank
Posted 03/5/2008
HANOI, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's first stem cell bank will be set up in southern Ho Chi Minh City by the end of April, local newspaper Vietnam News reported Tuesday.
The bank, to be established by Vietnam's Mekophar Chemical Pharmaceutical Co. and Singapore's Cord Labs Co., will be able to store 3,600 samples of umbilical cords.
The bank will receive samples from babies without infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis B, and with normal blood index.
Stem cells, unspecialized cells that can be developed into specific specialized cells, such as blood cells, would be used to treat skin diseases and injuries caused by burns and diabetes in the next one or two years, and cartilage, bone, nerve and heart diseases, and others gradually, said Phan Toan Thang, a Vietnamese scientist working for the Singaporean company.
» Vietnam protests Chinese military exercise in disputed islands
Posted 11/28/2007
HANOI (AFP) - Vietnam has protested over a Chinese military exercise in the disputed Paracel archipelago and reasserted its claim over the islands, state media reported Saturday.
"China's act to conduct military exercises in the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago violates Vietnam's sovereignty," foreign ministry spokesman Le Dung said according to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA).
"It is not in line with the common perception of senior leaders of the two countries as well as the spirit of the recent meeting between the two prime ministers on the sidelines of the 13th ASEAN Summit in Singapore and not beneficial to a bilateral friendly relationship," he said according to VNA.
VNA said China held the military exercise from November 16 to 23.
The Paracels -- a group of small islands and reefs with potential oil and gas reserves and rich fishing grounds -- were controlled by French Indochina and have since been claimed by Vietnam, China and Taiwan.
China has administered them since 1974 when its troops overran a South Vietnamese outpost shortly before the end of the Vietnam war.
Dung reaffirmed Vietnam's claim over the Paracels as well as the disputed Spratly archipelago and stressed Vietnam's wish to resolve the disputes "with the aim of keeping peace and stability" in the region.
» Yahoo adds media playing, languages to messaging
Posted 10/31/2007
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Internet media company Yahoo Inc said on Tuesday it is adding media-playing features, large file transfers, new languages and other tools to its instant messaging service.
The move comes as a growing number of rivals -- from incumbents like AOL to social network sites like News Corp's MySpace -- boost their positions in the market for instant messaging services.
Yahoo Messenger 9.0 launched as a test version and has added features similar to ones seen on social networks or media-sharing sites, including extra room to post a picture or other image next to contact names and the ability to share video or photos within a message screen.
The service is adding languages from six new markets, including the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, India and Vietnam, for a total of 25 international markets.
Users can also forward messages to their mobile phones when they are away from the computer.
"This makes it easier for people to stay connected and grow their friendships," said Sabrina Ellis, vice president of Yahoo Messenger. "We added several personalization features. We think a lot of the media-sharing will really help."
Yahoo is one of the largest instant messaging service, with about 27.7 million users in September, up 19 percent from a year earlier, according to data from tracking firm comScore. Time Warner Inc's AOL reported about 30.2 million users.
» eBay has Eye on Southeast Asia
Posted 10/30/2007
Sam McDonagh, director of eBay Southeast Asia, told ZDNet Asia in an interview: "We're very optimistic about the growth of the market, and it is not just Singapore but the Southeast Asia region."
eBay currently operates three full-fledged sites, where members can buy and sell online, in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, as well as what it calls "promotional sites" which have no trading functions in emerging markets like Vietnam.
The online auction service company has been busy these past months, engaging in activities to shore up its position in the region. These include a tie-up with the recently held Singapore Fashion Week, where it created a microsite offering eBay's 240 million members worldwide a window into Singapore fashion, and a partnership with Singapore operator M1 to make the online marketplace easily accessible on mobile phones.
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» IT Week commences in Ha Noi
Posted 10/29/2007
HA NOI — The 16th Information Technology Week Viet Nam opened in Ha Noi on Thursday. It is geared toward today’s youth, and will include activities on current ICT trends and a contest for Viet Nam’s best blogs of 2007.
The event also includes an information and communication technology (ICT) exhibition, an IT Gold Cup and numerous ICT seminars.
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» Terry Fox Run
Posted 10/29/2007
The Terry Fox Run in Hanoi this year will be held at Thien Quang Lake at 7:45 AM on Sunday November 4, 2007. All the money raised from this year’s Run will go towards a research project led by the Hanoi Cancer Hospital.
See details in forum link below for register.
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» Nation celebrates UN Day and 30 years of ties with UN
Posted 10/26/2007
HA NOI — United Nations Day and the 30th anniversary of Viet Nam’s joining of the UN were marked at a ceremony held in Ha Noi yesterday.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said the three decades had witnessed great progress in Viet Nam-UN comprehensive co-operation. He reiterated that Viet Nam was striving to be a responsible member and was committed to supporting principles and targets of the UN charter and the UN’s central role in maintaining peace and security and settling global development problems.
PM Dung said the country greatly appreciated the UN’s assistance to Viet Nam’s socio-economic development.
After being elected to the UN Security Council for the 2008-09 term, Viet Nam would do its utmost to contribute to the work of the Security Council in particular and the UN in general, PM Dung said.
John Hendra, UN resident co-ordinator for Viet Nam, stressed that the UN was a proud partner of Viet Nam and praised the great changes Viet Nam has made over the past 30 years. — VNS
» More than 16 percent of Vietnamese adults obese
Posted 10/25/2007
A total of 16.3 percent of the Vietnamese adult population is obese, and 32.5 percent of those living in urban areas are over-weight, according to 2005 statistics.
These figures were announced in a conference entitled “Overweight and Obesity: Facilitator of Modern Diseases” held recently in Ho Chi Minh City.
According to the National Nutrition Institute, the number of overweight and obese people worldwide is one billion. 24.1 percent of Asian adults suffer from obesity.
The US, with 100 million overweight and obese people, has the highest percentage of obesity in the world.
Overweight is defined by Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI gauges total body fat by dividing weight by height squared. A BMI over 23 is considered overweight, and over 30, obese.
Obesity is linked to such problems as heart disease, diabetes and even cancer, according to reports announced at the conference.
Source: thanhniennews.com
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