Gesellschaft - Kultur / Society - Culture (2015)

16.06.2015 (taz) - Wovor sich das Regime in Vietnam auch heute noch fürchtet: eine Graphic Novel über den Krieg aus der Perspektive der Verlierer. Die kindliche Perspektive ermöglicht dem 1957 in Manila geborenen Illustrator Marcelino Truong (Foto swr), einem von vier Kindern eines vietnamesischen Diplomaten und einer Französin, in seiner Graphic Novel „Ein schöner kleiner Krieg“ ein Stimmungsbild von Saigon, der Hauptstadt Südvietnams, zwischen 1961 und 1963 zu geben. Während die Kinder die nicht überhörbaren Berichte über Kämpfe gegen die Vietcong durch eigene „Scharmützelspiele“ verarbeiten, schaukelt sich der Bürgerkrieg immer weiter hoch. Durch die Lektüre ergibt sich ein differenzierteres, ausgewogenes Gesamtbild. Truong betrachtet beide Konfliktparteien kritisch, verdeutlicht auch die zwiespältige Rolle, die der meist allzu einfach als Marionette der USA abgestempelte Präsident Diêm gespielt hat – einerseits verlieh er dem Süden zeitweise eine relative Stabilität, andererseits betrieb er Vetternwirtschaft – gab Familienmitgliedern Funktionen in der Regierung und bevorzugte Katholiken gegenüber anderen Religionsgruppen. - (Das Interview führte Ralph Trommer) [Weiterlesen]

Vietnam: New HIV Cases Reach 5,500 In Six Months

16.06.2015 (Bernama) - HANOI -- Vietnam has discovered 5,500 more people living with HIV since the beginning of this year, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported an official of the Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control as saying.

This was revealed by Director of the Health Ministry's Department of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Nguyen Hoang Long at a meeting last week in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue. [read more]

Vietnamese River Dwellers in Cambodia Ask For Hold on Eviction

15.06.2015 (RFA) - Dozens of Vietnamese families illegally residing in floating homes on the Mekong River in southeastern Cambodia’s Kandal province have urged local authorities to postpone their eviction by eight months so they can sell the fish they are raising and avoid financial ruin.

Provincial authorities announced earlier this month that the 43 families, whose homes are anchored to the bank of the river in Lvea Aem district’s Akrei Khsat commune, just downstream from the capital Phnom Penh, would have until June 22 to vacate the area and take their fish-breeding pens with them.

But the residents of Akrei Khsat, which has come to be known as “Vietnamese Village,” called on them to push back the deadline to February next year when their breeding stocks reach maturity, so that they can sell the fish in the capital and steer clear of thousands of U.S. dollars in losses. [read more]

Five Things About the Internet in Vietnam

12.06.2015 By James Hookway (The Wall Street Journal) - Vietnam has seen a surge in Internet use in recent years. It now has more users than any other country in Southeast Asia, many of whom first went online through mobile devices. The surge is sparking a boom in mobile e-commerce and data consumption that’s changing the way the country and businesses work. Here are five things to know.

1/ Vietnam’s government hasn’t always been keen on the Internet

A few years ago, it launched its own social media site to lure people away from the free-for-all that is Facebook. Called Go.vn, it required users to use their real names and register with their government-issued identity card numbers. Not many Vietnamese took up the state’s offer to friend them. Now, Vietnam is one of the fastest-growing markets for Facebook. [read more]

Why I Can't Live Without Fish Sauce: Author Kim Thy on the Tastes of Vietnam

20.05.2015 Brigid Delaney (Guardian) - Kim Thúy’s second novel, Mãn, is an immigrant story with food at the heart of it. She discusses food and writing with Guardian Australia.

Arriving in Canada from Saigon as a child after the Vietnam war, author Kim Thúy, parlayed the love of food from her home country into a restaurant and later her book, Mãn. She is appearing at the Sydney writers festival talking about food and writing.

Brigid Delaney: what’s your favourite Vietnamese dish, and why?

Kim Thúy: Fresh spring rolls. A traditional roll contains at least six different herbs: garlic chives, fish mint, Vietnamese basil, peppermint, Thai basil, a kind of shiso. When you bite into this roll, a bouquet of different perfumes opens up. [read more]

Chemnitzer Online-Reisevermittler hadert mit Korruption in Vietnam

18.05.2015 (Freie Presse) - Ein Chemnitzer ist in Vietnam um seine Firmenanteile betrogen worden. Wirtschaftsminister Gabriel hat sich deshalb eingeschaltet. Doch die Behörden schauen weiter weg.

Grimm, 49, ist ein Online-Reisevermittler aus Chemnitz. Im August 2012 hatte er sich mit seiner ITI-Holiday bei einem kleinen Veranstalter in Ho-Chi-Minh-Stadt eingekauft. 30.000 Euro war ihm die 40-prozentige Beteiligung an AP Travel wert, um die Vorortbetreuung seiner Kunden zu verbessern. Doch als das Geld geflossen war, präsentierte ihm der Mehrheitseigner plötzlich Verluste - und forderte Geld für die Renovierung eines Hotels. Von dem wusste Grimm aber gar nichts, zumal AP Travel gar keine Lizenz hatte, eine Herberge zu betreiben. Als ihm dann auch noch der Einblick in die Unterlagen verwehrt wurde, schaltete er Anwälte ein.

Die staunten Anfang 2014, als sie entdeckten, dass der Mehrheitsinhaber den Chemnitzer bei der Investitionsbehörde schon im April 2013 als Anteilseigner hatte wieder aus- und an dessen Stelle seine eigene Ehefrau hatte eintragen lassen. Offensichtlich war dazu Grimms Unterschrift gefälscht worden.

"Je tiefer meine Anwälte in diesen Sumpf aus Betrug und Korruption vordringen, desto unglaublicher wird diese Geschichte." [Weiterlesen]

The sacrifice and gratitude of Vietnam’s refugees

18.05.2015 By Thuy Vu (The Seattle Times) - Vietnamese Americans must not forget to pay back moral debt to the American people who came to their rescue during their time of need.

In the annals of the Vietnamese migration history, May 19th, 1975, is remembered as the day the first Vietnamese refugee families began arriving in the state of Washington under a humanitarian project initiated by former Gov. Dan Evans.

It also marks the beginning of an era during which hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese were forced to leave their homeland in search of safe haven in neighboring Southeast Asian countries. This first wave of refugees was soon followed by subsequent migrations of more than 1 million people in the following years, both from South and North Vietnam. [read more]

8.580 Euro für Kinderhilfe Bethlehem

15.05.2015 (Bistum Aachen ) - Aachen, (iba) – Einen Scheck über 8.580 Euro hat Nguyen-Van-Ri, Vorstandsvorsitzender der Vinzenz-von-Paul-Gemeinschaft, gemeinsam mit Johannes von der Vorst, Pfarrer in Ruhestand aus der Gemeinde Heilig Geist in Mönchengladbach, an Bischof Dr. Heinrich Mussinghoff übergeben.

Die Spende ist bestimmt für die Kinderklinik in Bethlehem.

Bischof Mussinghoff bedankte sich herzlich für die großzügige Spende. Er kenne die Kinderklinik schon seit vielen Jahren. Sie sei für die dort lebenden Menschen eine sehr schöne und wichtige Einrichtung. Die Spende sei auch deshalb bedeutsam, weil die Klinik nicht von staatlichen Stellen unterstützt werde, sondern sich ausschließlich über Spenden finanzieren müsse.

Nguyen-Van-Ri lebt seit seiner Flucht aus Vietnam 1981 mit seiner Familie in Mönchengladbach. Er engagiert sich in vielfältiger Weise ehrenamtlich.

Für seinen sozialen Einsatz wurde er 2005 als erster vietnamesischer Bootsflüchtling mit der Verdienstmedaille der Bundesrepublik Deutschland ausgezeichnet. [Weiterlesen]

Vietnamese man offers reward for finding missing sister

06.05.2015 Writer: Trinai Jansrichol (Bangkok Post) - A Vietnamese man is offering a cash reward of 500,000 baht for information leading to the discovery of his missing sister, taken by pirates who attacked a vessel carrying asylum seekers to Nakhon Si Thammarat 34 years ago Vo Hoang Dao, 49, a Vietnamese man with US citizenship, filed a complaint with Pol Lt Col Taweesak Suathong, a police investigator at Chon Buri’s Pattaya police station, on Tuesday seeking help in finding Ms Vo Hoang Thuy Ai, who has been parted from the family for more than 30 years. He told police that his parents, along with his four siblings and himself, had fled their house in Vietnam during the invasion of what was then Saigon by North Vietnamese soldiers. His family, along with other Vietnamese nationals, had boarded a vessel heading to Thailand on May 15, 1981, planning to seek asylum in a third country. [read more]

How Tippi Hedren made Vietnamese refugees into nail salon magnates

03.05.2015 By Regan Morris BBC News, Los Angeles (BBC) - When actress Tippi Hedren visited a Vietnamese refugee camp in California 40 years ago, the Hollywood star's long, polished fingernails dazzled the women there.

Hedren flew in her personal manicurist to teach a group of 20 refugees the art of manicures. Those 20 women - mainly the wives of high-ranking military officers and at least one woman who worked in military intelligence - went on to transform the industry, which is now worth about $8bn (£5.2bn) and is dominated by Vietnamese Americans.

"We were trying to find vocations for them," says Hedren, who is perhaps best known for starring in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds and for running a wildcat sanctuary at her home in Southern California. [read more]

The Ex-Refugee Bringing Google-Like Data Tech to Everyone

30.04.2015 Cade Metz (Wired) - Christopher Nguyen escaped from Vietnam in the summer of 1978.

His father, a former officer in the South Vietnamese army, was interned in a labor camp, and on a moonless night, he, his four sisters, and his mother took a boat down the Mekong river, alongside about thirty other refugees. As the boat reached the mouth of the river, they were spotted by the border patrol—“I remember the red streaks of hot bullets in the sky,” Nguyen says—but they reached the open sea.

Nguyen was 13 years old at the time, and he carried the compass. It was the height of the monsoon season, and the odds of reaching a safe haven were slim. “It was a dangerous time to be at sea. That’s why we picked it,” he says. But with that compass—and a slice of luck—the boat arrived in Malaysia after just three days on the water. [read more]

Factbox: Vietnamese immigration to Australia

28.04.2015 By Jason Thomas (SBS) - More than 80,000 Vietnamese people moved to Australia in the decade following the Vietnam War, many as refugees.

The surge in Vietnamese immigration to Australia was the first test for multiculturalism after the White Australia Policy ended.

Fewer than 700 Australians reported Vietnam was their birthplace in the 1971 census but that number grew to more than 80,000 15 years later.

At the most recent census in 2011 more than 180,000 Australians said Vietnam was their place of birth.

The actual number of Vietnamese-born Australians is estimated to be more than 200,000 since many people did not declare their place of birth in the national survey. [read more]

SBS's interactive graphic novel The Boat brings Vietnamese refugee experience to life

28.04.2015 By Joel Meares (WA Today) - The Vietnamese refugee experience comes to vivid, harrowing life in The Boat, an interactive online graphic novel based on Nam Le's short story about a 16-year-old refugee sent off alone by her parents after the fall of Saigon. As she moves from boat to camp, readers scroll through ink panels – Mai on a sun-starched deck; seagulls stalking the top of the ocean for fish – to sounds designed by Animal Kingdom's Sam Petty. Click an image and you may be treated to archival imagery as the story dives into a character's memory.

Illustrated by New York-based Sydney artist Matt Huynh​ – whose parents, like Le's, fled Vietnam after the war – The Boat forms part of SBS's commemoration of 40 years of Vietnamese resettlement in Australia. For Huynh, 29, adapting Le's Prime Minister's Literary Award-winning story was familiar territory: one of his previous comics, Ma, tells the story of his parents' time in Pulau Bidong refugee camp in Malaysia. But it was also a challenge. [read more]

Twist statt Napalm

25.04.2015 Von Matthias Heine, Feuilletonredakteur (Die Welt) - Jenseits des Ho-Chi-Minh-Pfades: Marcelino Truong zeigt in "Ein schöner kleiner Krieg" das andere Vietnam.

Die Geschichte des Vietnam-Kriegs ist in den Massenmedien fast immer aus der Sicht der Amerikaner erzählt worden. Etwas anders war es in der DDR, wo mit importierten Vietcong-Propagandafilmen wie "Die Bäume von Fräulein Tham" oder linientreuen Comics wie "Hoa trocknet seine Tränen" immerhin die Perspektive der Kommunisten im Norden dargestellt wurde. Die Südvietnamesen waren dagegen bisher nicht nur die Verlierer des realen Krieges, sondern auch des Ringens um die Erinnerung: Sie kommen im kollektiven Gedächtnis nur als GI-Nutten oder in der Gestalt des Polizeichefs von Saigon vor, der einen Gefangenen erschießt.

Es gehört nicht zu den geringsten Vorzügen des Comics "Ein schöner kleiner Krieg" von Marcelino Truong, dass er nun diejenigen ins Licht rückt, die sich ein ganz anderes Vietnam wünschten. Die Geschichte von Truong spielt in der Welt der alten südvietnamesischen Elite, die kulturell eng mit den 1956 vertriebenen Kolonialherren verbunden war: Marcelinos Vater ist mit einer Französin verheiratet, man betet in einer katholischen Kirche und liebt französische Schlager und Bücher [Weiterlesen]

10.000 Kilometer für eine Ausbildung

23.04.2015 Julia Lappert (Freie Presse) - Seit September leben 19 vietnamesische Azubis in der Region. Ihre überbetriebliche Ausbildung absolvieren sie in Glauchau. Dass das Projekt ausgerechnet zwischen Sachsen und Vietnam stattfindet, ist auch ein Resultat der DDR-Zeit.

Im September sind 19 Hoch- und Tiefbaulehrlinge, zwölf Pflege-Azubis und eine Kauffrau für Büromanagement nach Sachsen gekommen. In ihrer Heimat haben sie bereits eine Ausbildung absolviert, viele haben auch Abitur. Sie sind Teil eines Pilotprojektes, das helfen soll, dem Fachkräftemangel entgegenzuwirken. Andererseits will das Projekt den jungen Vietnamesen eine praxisorientierte, weltweit anerkannte Ausbildung ermöglichen.

Im Landkreis Zwickau leben 700 Vietnamesen, im gesamten Freistaat sind es rund 9000. [Weiterlesen]

Krieg aus Kinderperspektive: Spiel mit beim Lied vom Tod

20.04.2015 Von Moritz Piehler (Spiegel-Online) - Die absurde Normalität des Aufwachsens inmitten einer grausamen, weltweit beachteten Auseinandersetzung zwischen Ost und West: Marcelino Truongs Comic "Ein schöner kleiner Krieg" erzählt aus Jungensicht vom Vietnamkrieg.

Der Vietnamkrieg ist 40 Jahre nach seinem Ende längst zur Folklore verkommen, zur Legendenbildung der Alt-68er-Mobilisierung und gleichzeitig überschattet von der US-amerikanischen Perspektive auf die neuzeitlichen Kriege. Und in Vietnam selbst dienen die Kriegsreliquien heute hauptsächlich als Touristenmagnet.

Die Graphic Novel "Ein schöner kleiner Krieg" versetzt die Leser noch einmal zurück in die Anfangsjahre dieses Krieges. Marcelino Truong, Diplomatensohn und Illustrator, reist mit seinem autobiografischen Buch in das Saigon der frühen Sechzigerjahre.

Zwischen TET-Offensive und mondänem Dasein in der vietnamesischen Oberschicht erzählt Truong mit der Perspektive des Kindes vom Krieg. Dabei changiert sein Zeichenstil zwischen naiv-sozialistischer Bildsprache und Fünfzigerjahre-Printwerbung - Ausdruck für eine Kindheit zwischen zwei Identitäten. [Weiterlesen]

Vietnamese workers get hit with eggs in Tainan

19.04.2015 (The China Post) - TAIPEI--Separate assaults on Vietnamese workers were reported two days in a row in Taiwan's southern city of Tainan, raising concerns from their employers, the police said Saturday.

A Vietnamese worker was struck by eggs on April 15, while another three were assaulted in a similar fashion the following day, the police said. [read more] - [tiếng Việt]

49 Vietnamese citizens and their 13 smugglers detained in 2 weeks in Latvia

17.04.2015 (The Baltic Course) - Over the past two weeks, the State Border Guard in Latvia has detained 49 Vietnamese citizens and 13 of their smugglers for crossing the border illegally, the State Border Guard informed LETA.

On April 14, the border guards responded to a movement detector signal, and went to check the specific area. They found footprints and items left behind by several persons. Reinforcements were called up, and with the help of a canine tracker, the trespassers were intercepted. Heretofore having crossed into ten countries, the Vietnamese and their smuggler – a Russian citizen – were finally apprehended in a swamp about 500 meters from the state border. [read more]

Immigration inspectors arrest 33 illegal Vietnamese workers

17.04.2015 (Focus Taiwan) - Taipei (CNA) Immigration inspectors have arrested 33 runaway Vietnamese workers in the Taichung area who were found to be working illegally at a machine tool factory in Houli District, the Taichung City Brigade said Friday.

The illegal foreign workers were nabbed on March 26 in their hideout in a neighborhood with many dead-end alleys that made access difficult, said Hsu Ching-ju (徐靜儒), who heads the National Immigration Agency unit.

The runaways drew the attention of people in the community because of the noise they made in the evenings when they apparently drank and sang, judging from the many empty liquor bottles scattered around the site, Hsu said. [read more]

Vietnam is being flooded with gay Chinese pulp erotic novels

17.04.2015 By Andrew Potts (Gay Star News) - Authorities in Vietnam are concerned about the surging popularity of extremely graphic Chinese erotic novels among younger people, with many of the most popular novels having gay themes.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communication is concerned about the popularity of ‘oversentimental sex fiction of Chinese origin’ among young Vietnamese people and is trying to stop the pulp novels’ sale and publication in the country.

Vietnamese publishers typically acquire the publishing rights to the novels and then run them through translation software before manually editing them so that they read properly in Vietnamese. [read more]

Disturbing boom in pet cats being snatched off Vietnamese streets to be served illegally in restaurants as 'baby tiger' with noodles

16.04.2015 (Daily Mail) - Pet cats are being snatched off the streets and killed in their ten of thousands across Asia - to feed the booming appetite for their meat in Vietnam. Restaurants serving domestic cats – sold as a delicacy known as 'baby tiger' – are springing up across northern Vietnam, despite laws against eating the animals.

Although eating cat meat is illegal, police officers and lawyers are among Vietnam's biggest customers.

Animal welfare groups blasted the illegal trade – and claim the animals are transported in appalling conditions across large distances before being skinned alive, the bones removed and eaten.

In January a lorry with three tonnes of cats crammed into bamboo cages stacked one on top of another was seized by police on its way to Hanoi from China.

Some of the animals perished in searing heat during the journey – and the rest were crushed to death after they were rescued amid fears they might spread disease.

Le Duc Chinh, Vietnam coordinator of the Asia Canine Protection Alliance (ACPA) which campaigns against the eating of both cats and dogs, said: 'Sadly, the people who should be enforcing the law are eating in cat restaurants. [read more]

„Soi Dog Foundation“ startet Kampagne in Vietnam gegen Hundefleischhandel

16.04.2015 (Wochenblitz) - Phuket/Vietnam - Die „Soi Dog Foundation“ auf Phuket, Thailands größter Schutzorganisation für Hunde und Katzen, hat gemeinsam mit ihrem Partner „Asia Canine Protection Alliance“ (ACPA) eine große Kampagne in Vietnam gestartet, um die vietnamesische Regierung dazu zu bewegen, den Lebensmittel-Handel mit Hunden zu verbieten.

Der Kampagne haben sich eine Reihe von berühmten Popstars, Musikproduzenten und Filmregisseuren aus Vietnam angeschlossen, die in einem speziell angefertigten Video erklären, weshalb der Hundefleischhandel verboten werden sollte.

John Dalley, Mitbegründer und Vize-Präsident von Soi Dog, sagte: „Jeder Aspekt dieses Handels verursacht extreme Grausamkeiten an den Tieren. Viele der Hunde, die in Vietnam in die Nahrungskette gelangen, werden aus benachbarten Ländern eingeschmuggelt.“ [Weiterlesen]

23 Vietnam stowaways found in the seas off Hsinchu coast

16.04.2015 By Sun Hsin-hsuan (The China Post) - TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Twenty-three Vietnamese stowaways were found aboard a tiny wooden boat only just slightly larger than a bamboo raft the night before yesterday in the seas off Nanliao Fishing Harbor (南寮漁港), said Hsinchu coastguardsmen.

The coastguardsmen detected an unidentified object on their radar around 11 p.m. on April 14, discovering the wooden boat drifting in waters outside Nanliao Fishing Harbor. The stowaways were waiting for the best time to bring the boat ashore, officials said.

It is now understood that the stowaways came from Pingtan (平潭), mainland China. Many of the stowaways had already illegally immigrated to Taiwan, but were later deported. [read more]

Vietnamesisches Ministerium verbietet Alkohol während der Arbeit

08.04.2015 (MOZ) - Hanoi (dpa) Angesichts wachsender Sorgen vor Missbrauch hat das vietnamesische Transportministerium das Trinken von Alkohol vor und während der Arbeit verboten. Ein entsprechender Erlass wurde am Dienstag (Ortszeit) auf der Webseite der Behörde veröffentlicht.

Vietnam gilt beim Bierkonsum seit 2010 als führendes Land in Südostasien. Allein im vergangenen Jahr seien hier 3,14 Milliarden Liter Bier getrunken worden, teilte Vietnams Getränkeindustrie jüngst mit. [Weiterlesen]

Aging Asia scrambling for nursing workforce

07.04.2015 Toshihide Takeda and Minoru Satake, Nikkei staff writers (Nikkei Asian Review) - TOKYO/MANILA -- As Japan's population rapidly ages, the country will probably face greater difficulties securing enough manpower for their care.

Despite measures such as expanded technical internship programs that train workers from overseas, Japan may soon lose foreign nursing workers to other Asian countries that are quickly aging, too.

In March, a Vietnamese government official warned Osamu Nimonjiya that it will be difficult for Japanese employers to retain enough care workers from that country, as the value of the yen declines. The money such workers earn in Japan has declined in value by 10-20% when converted into Asian currencies since the second half of last year.

The need for elder care staff is growing across Asia much faster than in Japan. [read more]

Vietnam's thirst for beer raises health concerns

05.04.2015 (dpa) - Hanoi - Vietnam's growing thirst for beer is causing increasing health problems, from traffic accidents to various forms of cancer, local media reported Friday.

With draft beer often cheaper than bottled water, Vietnam's per capita beer and wine consumption has almost doubled over the last decade, a health expert said at a conference to confront alcohol-related problems on Thursday.

Vietnam has been South-East Asia's leading beer consumer since 2010. [read more]

5-Jährige suchte verzweifelt nach dem Tier, fand es geschlachtet

31.03.2015 (buzz) - Ein Foto von einem trauernden Mädchen hat sich in Vietnam auf Facebook wie ein Lauffeuer verbreitet. Die Aufnahme zeigt die 5-Jährige in Tränen, neben ihr ein toter Hund. Der Hund, heißt es auf der Webseite saynotodogmeat.net, ist ihr geliebtes Haustier. Wie internationale Medien berichten, war das Tier vor einigen Tagen verschwunden. Das junge Mädchen habe den Hund schon verzweifelt gesucht. [Weiterlesen]

Aussie hero saving trafficked Vietnamese kids sold as sex slaves

22.03.2015 (news.com.au) - SLEEPING rough on the street before being picked up and exploited by traffickers, these are the children the world ignores.

But an Australian hero has made it his life’s work to rescue and protect Vietnam’s forgotten street kids.

Michael Brosowski and his team save young girls and boys sold as sex slaves and into child labour. His charity gives children a new chance at life after they have suffered through these traumatic experiences in their formative years. [read more]

The Vietnamese refugee with so much to thank former prime minister Malcolm Fraser for

22.03.2015 Tim Barlass (The Sydney Morning Herald) - Malcolm Fraser was the greatest Australian prime minister for human rights, compassion and social justice, former asylum seeker says.

Released in 1978, Dr Tien Manh Nguyen tried unsuccessfully to flee the country several times before finally escaping in 1980 in a small boat with his fiancee and her 13-year-old brother who had to leave their sick mother behind.

The threesome braved rough seas and visits by Thai fishermen-turned-pirates and after a 10-day voyage managed to reach Malaysian shores. But it was prime minister Malcolm Fraser and his two immigration ministers who were the real heroes according to Dr Nguyen. Thanks to Mr Fraser's reversal of Gough Whitlam's policy on refugees Dr Nguyen and his fiancee, Ai-Minh, now his wife, and her brother were allowed to settle in Australia. [read more]

Drei Romane aus Vietnam - Über die Hölle ist viel Gras gewachsen

20.03.2015 Katharina Borchardt (NZZ) - Mit der Einnahme von Saigon durch nordvietnamesische Truppen endete 1975 der Vietnamkrieg. Der Autor Bao Ninh war damals aufseiten des Vietcong dabei, und er lässt auch Kien, die Hauptfigur seines Romans «Die Leiden des Krieges», an der finalen Erstürmung des Saigoner Flughafens teilnehmen. Bao Ninh wird dieses Jahr 63 Jahre alt. So alt muss ein vietnamesischer Schriftsteller heute sein, um noch aus eigener Erfahrung über den Krieg schreiben zu können. Autorenkollegen, die vierzig Jahre oder jünger sind, wurden erst nach dem Krieg geboren.

Den Vietnamkrieg haben Lê und Thúy als Kinder erlebt. In ihren Büchern spielt er daher nur eine randständige Rolle: als chaotische, entbehrungsreiche Zeit, in der vor allem die Elterngeneration gelitten hat. Weder den Krieg noch die sich anschliessende kommunistische Herrschaft analysieren oder kommentieren sie genauer. Auch in ihren neuen Romanen «Flutwelle» und «Der Geschmack der Sehnsucht» geht es vor allem um den Alltag in der neuen Heimat und die Frage, ob das funktionieren kann: Vietnam nicht vergessen und trotzdem woanders heimisch werden. Darin ähneln ihre Werke übrigens jenen von Lê Thi Diem Thúy und Monique Truong, die in den siebziger Jahren ebenfalls aus Vietnam fliehen mussten und in ihren Romanen von Flucht und Ankunft erzählen. [Weiterlesen]

Danish-Vietnamese artist Danh Vo awarded the DKK 100,000 ARKEN Prize 2015

20.03.2015 (artdaily) - SKOVVEJ .- This year’s winners of The ARKEN Prize and Travel Grants offer grand narratives scattered in a thousand parts, vulnerable spelling mistakes and playful urban spaces. On 19 March the prizes were awarded for the tenth time in a festive presentation at ARKEN.

This year’s recipient of the ARKEN Prize of DKK 100,000 was Danh Vo, while the two travel grants of DKK 50,000 went to Gudrun Hasle and Karoline H Larsen. The ARKEN Art Prize and Travel Grant are donated by Annie & Otto Johs. Detlefs’ Philanthropic Foundation.

The grand narrative split into atoms

The Danish-Vietnamese artist Danh Vo (b. 1975) is one of the really big names on the contemporary art scene. His works are exhibited all over the world, and this year he represents Denmark at the Venice Biennale. Danh Vo works with personal documents, found objects, photography and sculp¬ture which refers to the past and our shared cultural heritage. As in an unsolved jigsaw puzzle, however, the pieces are never assembled. The fragmentary form of the work is a point that Danh Vo associates with the fundamental condition of modern humanity. A central issue is how identities are created and influenced by political, religious and cultural circumstances. By splitting structures apart, Danh Vo opens his works up for broader reflection over how personal memory is entangled with collective history. [read more]

Drone Captures Jaw-Dropping Footage Inside Hang Son Doong, The World's Largest Cave

17.03.2015 By Dominique Mosbergen (The Huffington Post) - Hang Son Doong in Vietnam is the largest cave in the world. It's more than 5.5 miles long, comes complete with its own jungle and river and is so gargantuan that it could apparently hold an entire block of 40-story skyscrapers within its walls.

In this video, created by photographer Ryan Deboodt, embark on an aerial and ground tour of this stunning cave. [read more]

Vietnam: Little Girl’s Pet Dog Now Dog Meat

15.03.2015 (saynotodogmeat.net) - If you remember what it was like to lose your first ever pet, you can feel for this little Vietnamese girl. Look at the tender embrace she is giving the dog, who she is clearly distraught about. Do her tears cut straight to your heart?  Don’t you want to pick her up and comfort her? Don’t you wish you could bring her dog back to life, to see her smile again and wipe away her tears?

Could you imagine watching your own pet be tortured in front of you, by your own parents? She is too young to have been able to stop them from hurting her dog; too young to vocalise what the pain in her face shows! [read more]

Going to debt mountain - Working abroad is no bargain

14.03.2015 (The Economist) - BROKERS’ billboards outside Tan Lieu, a poor rural community in northern Vietnam, advertise “Labour Export”—jobs abroad. Vietnam’s youthful population of 90m adds up to 1.5m each year to the growing work pool. But economic growth, at 6%, is not fast enough to keep all of them employed. Dreaming of fortune, young Vietnamese are pouring overseas as maids, builders and factory workers.

Than Thi Hang is a daughter of Tan Lieu farmers. She flew to Taiwan when she was 18. Assembling mobile phones on 12- and 16-hour graveyard shifts was “easier than farming”, she says. Yet to finance the trip, her family borrowed close to $5,000 to pay a labour broker. Ms Hang spent more than a year nervously working off her debts.

Futaba Ishizuka, a researcher at the Institute of Developing Economies in Japan, says the government lacks the political will to regulate the labour agencies, which are often unlicensed affiliates of state-owned enterprises. [read more]

Most of Taiwan's naturalized citizens come from Vietnam

14.03.2015 (Focus Taiwan) - Taipei (CNA). Nearly eight out of 10 newly naturalized citizens of Taiwan come from Vietnam and more than 91 percent of Taiwan's new nationals in 2014 were spouses from other countries, the Ministry of the Interior said Saturday.

There were 4,399 people who became naturalized citizens of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in 2014, 650 fewer than in the previous year, the ministry said [read more]

How tourism completely changed this Vietnamese baker’s life

14.03.2015 by Jarryd Salem (Matador Network) - Between the walls of a nondescript timber building in Tan Hoa, a young man named Trung vigorously kneads his dough mix. He keeps one eye on the clock hanging above the unhinged door. In three minutes his latest batch of baguettes will be ready, and he’ll have to begin baking his next lot. There is a large quota to meet and he is determined not to miss it. His close friends call out from inside the house to come join them for a shot of rice wine, but their pleas are ignored. Despite their jubilant protests, he can’t afford to skip this deadline. Rice wine won’t pay the bills, and Trung is intent on paying his.

The province of Quang Binh, in which Tan Hoa is a part, is one of the poorest regions in all of Vietnam. While around 50% of the population in the communist nation are classified as low-income farmers, more than 70% of Quang Binh’s residents work in the agricultural industry. [read more]

Seven Out of 10 Kids Across Five Asian Nations Experienced Violence at School

03.03.2015 Rishi Iyengar (Time) - Seven out of 10 children in Asia have experienced violence in school, a study of over 9,000 students across five countries revealed.

Conducted by children’s-rights group Plan under its Promoting Equality and Safety in Schools initiative, the study collected data from male and female students ages 12 to 17, as well as others involved in their education like parents, teachers and headmasters, in Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan and Nepal.

The study has several disturbing implications, with emotional violence being the most prevalent form of school harassment, followed by physical violence. More boys reported facing physical violence than girls did, and regressive gender attitudes are a significant contributor to school violence overall. [read more]

Vietnam - Tradition, Aufschwung und DDR-Kaffee

28.02.2015 von Monique Pierard (MDR) - Die mit Vietnam verbündete DDR-Regierung geriet 1977 in eine "Kaffee-Krise". Die Bohne war für weitere Importe zu teuer. Es blieb nur eine einzige Lösung: Die Regierung musste sich selbst um den Anbau kümmern. Dies geschah Ende der 70er Jahre in Vietnam.

Sämlinge wurden im Leipziger Institut für Pflanzenschutz herangezogen und im Tropeninstitut begutachtet, bevor sie schließlich auf die weite Reise gingen. Experten der damaligen DDR wurden beauftragt, geeignete Anbaugebiete zu finden. Ebenso mussten Maschinen, Nutzfahrzeuge, Arbeitskräfte und Unterkünfte für die bevorstehenden Arbeiten organisiert werden. [Weiterlesen]

5 Vietnamese nationals arrested for human smuggling

27.02.2015 (Mainichi) - Five Vietnamese nationals have been arrested on suspicion of smuggling other Vietnamese people into Japan to have them work as they raked off much of their wages, investigative sources said.

The five suspects, including Le Thi Ha Lan, 49, and her common-law husband Nguyen Van Vinh, 54, stand accused of violating the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act.

A joint investigation task force of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and Chiba Prefectural Police is probing the allegations that the ring collected approximately 2.5 to 4 million yen from each of the illegal immigrants as "immigration fees," netting over 100 million yen in total. [read more]

Vietnamese pair get suspended sentences for Gifu goat thef

27.02.2015 (The Asahi Shimbun) - GIFU--A court here handed down suspended sentences on Feb. 27 to two Vietnamese who stole and ate goats that were kept in a park in Minokamo, Gifu Prefecture.

“Although their motive was selfish and thoughtless and the responsibility they shoulder is heavy, they regret their actions and have expressed a desire to better themselves,” the judge at the Gifu District Court said in the ruling.

Le The Loc, 30, and Bui Van Vy, 22, both unemployed residents of Kasugai, Aichi Prefecture, were sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for three years.

The two goats, which had a combined market value of 70,000 yen ($587), were kept there for the purpose of research on weeding by a Gifu University professor. [read more]

Humanitäre Großtaten

26.02.2015 Von Jochen Arntz (Frankfurter Rundschau) - Rupert Neudeck erhält den Bürgerpreis der deutschen Zeitungen. Man vergisst das ja leicht: Aber Rupert Neudeck, der sein Leben lang so vielen Menschen geholfen hat zu überleben, der Mann, der an diesem Donnerstag in Berlin den Bürgerpreis der deutschen Zeitungen bekommen hat, er ist – ein Journalist. Also ein Mensch des Wortes und der Tat. Mit der „Cap Anamur“ hat er tausende vietnamesische Flüchtlinge aus dem Südchinesischen Meer gerettet, in den 70ern und 80ern. Noch heute hilft der 75-Jährige mit seinen „Grünhelmen“ in Afrika und im Nahen Osten.

Und so würde dem Journalisten Neudeck die Geschichte der jungen Frau gefallen, die am Tag der Preisverleihung im Foyer der Bertelsmann-Repräsentanz in Berlin steht. Sie trägt den Vornamen Amur; und kurz bevor Neudeck den Preis erhält, erzählt sie, dass sie auf der Cap Anamur geboren wurde, dem Schiff der Rettung, das damals auf dem Weg nach Singapur war. [Weiterlesen]

Police nab gang growing cannabis in Greek capital

26.02.2015 (Kathimerini) - Police in Attica on Thursday arrested six suspected members of a cannabis ring – five Vietnamese nationals and one Greek – who are alleged to have made some 50 million euros in profits by producing high-quality cannabis in three maisonettes in Pendeli, Pikermi and Lagonissi. [read more]

Asiaten kaufen Markt leer : Nach Skandal in China: Itzehoe geht das Milchpulver aus

25.02.2015 (Norddeutsche Rundschau) - Itzehoe - Die Nachfrage ist enorm. Sogar so groß, dass in den vergangenen Monaten in Itzehoe einige Supermarkt-Regale leer blieben. Die Rede ist von Säuglingsnahrung, genauer gesagt Milchpulver. Verantwortlich für die große Nachfrage sind unter anderem in Deutschland lebende Chinesen, die Freunden und Verwandten in der Heimat das Pulver schicken.

Auch Nguyen Quoc Tuan hat es schon getan. Der Besitzer des chinesischen Restaurants Rickshaw in Itzehoe hat Milchpulver für Verwandte in der Heimat besorgt. Dabei stammt er gar nicht aus China, sondern aus Vietnam. Doch die chinesischen Verhältnisse seien eins zu eins auf den Nachbaarstaat zu übertragen, so Nguyen Quoc Tuan. Denn 95 Prozent der Waren in Vietnam kämen aus dem „Reich der Mitte“.

Doch warum kaufen so viele Ostasiaten das deutsche Milchpulver? „Die Menschen vertrauen der Qualität in China nicht“, sagt Nguyen Quoc Tuan. [Weiterlesen]

Blutige Tradition (Bilder des Tages)

24.02.2015 (stern) - Nem Thuong, Vietnam. Trotz scharfer Kritik von Tierschutzorganisationen und lokaler Medien bereitet sich das kleine Dorf in der Nähe Hanois auf das traditionelle Schweineschlachtfest vor. Bei der Zeremonie, die immer am sechsten Tag des neuen Mondjahres stattfindet, werden die Tiere vor den Augen der Dorfbewohner geschlachtet. Anschließend tauchen sie Geldscheine in das Blut - in der Hoffnung, im folgenden Jahr viel Glück zu haben. [Weiterlesen]

Pig sacrifice festival in Vietnam goes ahead despite opposition

24.02.2015 Hanoi (dpa) - A Lunar New Year festival featuring a pig sacrifice in northern Vietnam went ahead as scheduled Tuesday despite protests from animal rights activists who condemned it as "barbaric".

"We organised the pig-halving festival this morning as usual because we want to preserve our traditions," deputy chief of the Thuong village festival's organising committee Nguyen Dinh Loi said.

Animal welfare groups called the festival "extremely barbaric." An online poll conducted by VN Express newspaper showed 79 per cent of respondents calling for an end to the ritual. [read more]

No trademark? Sriracha is cool with that

23.02.2015 By David Pierson (The Seattle Times) - LOS ANGELES — As the cult-hit chili sauce goes mainstream, its Vietnamese refugee creator is watching sales climb and welcomes spinoff products as free advertising for his original Sriracha.

Wander down almost any supermarket aisle and it’s easy to spot one of the food industry’s hottest fads. Sriracha, the fiery, red, Asian chili sauce, has catapulted from a cult hit to flavor du jour, infusing burgers, potato chips, candy, vodka and even lip balm.

David Tran, a Vietnamese refugee who built the pepper empire from nothing, never trademarked the term, opening the door for others to develop their own sauce or seasoning and call it Sriracha.

He says it’s free advertising for a company that’s never had a marketing budget. It’s unclear whether he’s losing out: Sales of the original Sriracha have grown from $60 million to $80 million in the last two years alone. [read more]

So geht Komasaufen in Vietnam!

20.02.2015 (news.de) - Freitagabend, das Wochenende wird eingeläutet - so auch in diesem Club in Ho-Chi-Minh-Stadt in Vietnam. Und natürlich gehört ein Bierchen dazu, wobei es hier nur selten bei einem bleibt. Schließlich ist der Sinn des Trinkens, betrunken zu werden.

Alles andere ist rausgeschmissenes Geld."Na dann, hoch die Tassen, immerhin bedeutet "Hangover" "Kater": An nur wenigen Orten der Welt ist Bier so billig wie in Vietnam und der Alkoholkonsum wächst rapide.

Exzessiver Alkohol-Konsum gehört zu den Hauptursachen für tödliche Verkehrsunfälle und Lebererkrankungen; laut offizieller Statistik ist er der Grund für 60 Prozent aller Fälle von häuslicher Gewalt. [Weiterlesen]

More Southeast Asian parents investing in their children

16.02.2015 By Kosuke Terai (Nikkei Asian Review) - TOKYO -- More parents in Southeast Asia are signing up their children for language and music lessons as well as other after-school programs.

According to an estimate by U.K. research company Euromonitor International, the number of middle class households in six major ASEAN countries in 2014 increased 70% from 2000, to roughly 100 million. A middle class household is defined as one that has between $5,000 and $35,000 worth of disposable income per year. Currently, the middle class represents 71% of all households.

Rising living standards in the countries, however, is apparently outpacing education standards.

A survey conducted by American MasterCard in 2014 shows 47% of Thai households have sent children to foreign language classes. The figures were 46% in Vietnam, 21% in Indonesia and 17% in Japan. [read more]

Survey: Gay Vietnamese Come Out Early, But Face Battles at Home

08.02.2015 Lien Hoang (VOA) -  Gay Vietnamese are coming out at an early age and doing so in a more welcoming environment, according to a new survey.

Of those who participated in the online study, 78 percent had come out already, and 74 percent recognized their sexual identity between ages 10 and 20. The results are not an accurate sample of Vietnam overall, because the average age of respondents was 22.

But ICS, an advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, which released the data Jan. 27 said it was promising that 56 percent of people in the survey needed less than a year to accept their sexuality.

“It was an interesting surprise because in my time, it took years,” ICS director Tran Khac Tung said at the study’s unveiling. “But the youngsters take less than a year.” [read more]

Petition calls for 'Chinese New Year' name change

08.02.2015 By Brianna Roberts (SBS) - Sydney - It’s one of the biggest events on the lunar calendar. But it's not just the Chinese community who celebrate what is widely known as "Chinese New Year".

A number of communities have launched petitions - to have the name changed.

Vietnamese man, Anthony Ngo has attracted almost 2,000 signatures for his petition to the city of Sydney to stop calling the event Chinese New Year.

"If I greet some Chinese man with 'Hey happy Vietnamese new year - it's not right. It's just like greeting a Vietnamese man with Happy Chinese New Year,” he said

Many organisations and local councils across Australia already refer to the event as ‘Lunar New Year.’ [read more]

Vietnam plans to relocate 26,000 from Hanoi's Old Quarter

06.02.2015 By Tan Qiuyi (Channel NewsAsia) - HANOI: Vietnam is planning to ease the squeeze in Hanoi's historic Old Quarter by trying to relocate more than 26,000 residents away from the area in the next five years.

The move in the capital city of more than 5.6 million people comes amid rapid population growth. A World Bank report said Hanoi's population has been growing at nearly 5 per cent annually, outpacing many regional cities.

The population density in the Old Quarter is a dozen times greater than Hong Kong, with more than 800 people crammed into every hectare. But all this is expected to change in 2017, when authorities start relocating thousands from the quarter's crowded back alleys.

properties in the Old Quarter are worth US$14,000 per square metre on average. Compensation details for the residents are still unclear, as are future development plans for the Old Quarter. [read more]

Vietnamese refugee Kim Thúy's second chance in Granby

C'est la vie series profiles Vietnamese immigrants, 40 years after the fall of Saigon

30.01.2015 By Alison Cook, Amanda Klang (CBC News) - When 10-year-old Kim Thúy Lý Thành stepped off the bus in Granby, Que. on a March day nearly 40 years ago, she had never felt more beautiful in her life.

She and her fellow Vietnamese refugees hadn't been able to wash properly for months. They had skin infections and lice in their hair.

But the people of Granby rushed to embrace them. [read more]

Chu thanks Vietnamese residents in Tet celebration

02.02.2015 (The China Post) - TAIPEI -- New Taipei and Vietnam's representative office held a special event in Taiwan's most populous city Sunday to celebrate the Vietnamese New Year.

Speaking at the city's fifth annual celebration of Tet, New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) thanked migrant workers and immigrants from Vietnam for their contributions to Taiwan's economy and society.

The mayor noted that his city of nearly 4 million people is home to 22,887 Vietnamese workers and 16,502 Vietnamese who have settled down there. [read more]

Vietnamese Lunar New Year - 'Spiritual spending' peaks ahead of February

29.01.2015 (Nikkei Asian Review) - HO CHI MINH CITY -- Vietnam experiences an upsurge in spiritual activity every year as February's Lunar New Year celebrations approach. Rituals such as buying votive, or joss, paper, ghost money to burn as offerings to Buddha, local gods as well as ancestors and dead people add up to tens of millions of dollars annually.

There are no official statistics for spiritual spending. However, according to surveys by local media, 50,000 tons of votive paper is burned every year and the annual average spending for each household on spiritual items is around $100. Hanoi residents are among the biggest spenders, outlaying some $20 million every year. [read more]

Vietnamese immigrant says 'Thank You, Merci Canada' — in a song

23.01.2015 Robert Bostelaar  (Ottawa Citizen) - Hung Vu fled Vietnam on the day Saigon fell, clinging not to a helicopter skid but to the deck of a boat with a balky engine.

Four decades later, the Ottawa technology entrepreneur-turned-public servant has recorded a song about his journey and the country he says so warmly adopted him. Its unabashed title: Thank You, Merci Canada.

“I’ve been here 40 years and owned a business and wanted to do something, but I never had the ability or courage,” Vu explained this week. “In the end I said ‘I’m a musician, so why not write a song about it and put it on YouTube?'” [read more]

Vietnam’s crying need: Education system overhaul

21.01.2015 (Gulf Time) Hanoi - Wearied by the rampant cheating, endless rote learning and mandatory Leninist ideology classes, Vietnam’s middle-classes are fleeing the country’s school system for overseas education.

Every year, Vietnamese parents spend more than $1 billion sending their children to schools and colleges abroad, according to data from independent monitors, shunning a local system so backwards that experts say it is impeding economic growth.

From teenagers sent to secondary schools in Singapore to university students studying at prestigious American institutions, at least 125,000 Vietnamese students are studying overseas, according to ICEF Monitor, which tracks the international education industry.

Authorities have kept in place a system heavy on rote learning, regurgitation of facts to pass exams, and obedience to authority — with little room for critical thinking.

Students rely on outdated, leaden text books, cheating is routine in exams while underpaid teachers are renowned for withholding chunks of the syllabus to instead impart in private classes they can charge for. [read more]

Akamai Technologies : Vietnam's Internet connection speed among Asia-Pacific's lowest

20.01.2015 (4-traders) - Vietnam ranks almost at the bottom among countries and territories in the Asia-Pacific region when it comes to Internet connection speed, a cloud service provider said in a report earlier this month.

The average connection speed in Vietnam was only higher than the Philippines and India in the third quarter of last year, Akamai Technologies, Inc. said in its Third Quarter, 2014 State of the Internet Report, released on January 8.

The Internet speed in Vietnam dropped 12 percent from a quarter earlier to 2.5 Mbps. The figure, however, was a 22 percent increase compared to Q3/2013, according to Akamai. [read more]

Vietnamese Film Reaches For Gold At Berlinale

20.01.2015 (Bernama) - HANOI -- Vietnamese director Phan Dang Di's latest film will premiere at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), becoming the first Vietnamese film to compete for the top prize at the film fest.

Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported that the film entitled, Cha, Con Va (Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories) stars Do Thi Hai Yen (Quiet American, Pao's Story and Adrift), Le Cong Hoang and Truong The Vinh. Do is also the producer of the film

"Cha, Con Va" is one of three Asian films competing at the 65th Berlinale, including Gone with the Bullets by Wen Jiang (China) and Taxi by Jafar Panahi (Iran). [read more]

Integrationspreis verliehen: Preisträger spricht die Sprache des Herzens

16.01.2015 Von Harald Wendler (MG-Heute) - Integrationspreis 2014 der Stadt Mönchengladbach geht an die Katholische Grundschule Waisenhausstraße. Oberbürgermeister Hans Wilhelm Reiners überreichte der Schulleiterin Ursula Stegemann-Hirsch im Rahmen einer Feierstunde im Jugendclubhaus Westend vorgestern die Auszeichnung, die für besondere Leistungen in der Integrationsarbeit verliehen wird.

Die Jury für den Integrationspreis, der als Maßnahme aus dem vom Rat 2013 verabschiedeten Integrationskonzept der Stadt im vergangenen Jahr ins Leben gerufen wurde, hatte insgesamt 16 Bewerbungen nach zahlreichen Kriterien, unter anderem Innovativer Ansatz, Nachhaltigkeit, ehrenamtliches Engagement und Verbesserung der Kommunikation aller Beteiligten untereinander zu prüfen. „Sie alle haben gewonnen. Ohne sie wäre Mönchengladbach ein bisschen ärmer und das soziale Klima ein wenig kälter“, betonte Oberbürgermeister Hans Wilhelm Reiners bei der Überreichung der Urkunden an die Bewerber.

Folgende Personen und Projekte waren für den 2. Integrationspreis der Stadt vorgeschlagen: ...

... Van Ri Nguyen, 1982 als Bootsflüchtling aus Vietnam nach Deutschland gekommen, war bis 2003 insgesamt 20 Jahre Vorsitzender der vietnamesischen Gemeinde Mönchengladbach und Umgebung e.V. und bis 2011 18 Jahre stellvertretender Vorsitzender der Vereinigung der vietnamesischen Katholiken in Deutschland. Außerdem war er sechs Jahre Vorsitzender des Vereins der vietnamesischen Flüchtlinge in Mönchengladbach und ist seit April 2012 Mitglied des Exekutivkomitees des Bundesverbands der vietnamesischen Flüchtlinge in der BRD. Er ist seit Juli 2012 im Kap Anamur Komitee, Grünhelme e. V., katholischen Miseor sowie in der vietnamesischen und deutschen Caritas tätig, Träger des Landesverdienstordens des Landes NRW und des Bundesverdienstkreuzes. Van Ri Nguyen sammelt immer wieder Spenden für verschiedene Opfergruppen, so zum Beispiel für die Flutopfer (Juni 2013) in Süd- und Ostdeutschland, für die philippinischen Taifun-Opfer (September 2013) und für die Kriegsopfer in Syrien und im Irak. ... [Weiterlesen]

Beschädigtes Unterseekabel bremst südostasiatische Verbindungen

07.01.2015 (NZZ) - Ein beschädigtes Unterseekabel wird vielen Menschen in Südostasien in den kommenden Wochen deutlich langsamere Internetverbindungen bescheren. Vietnams grösster Mobilfunkbetreiber Viettel Mobile teilte mit, die Reparaturen würden abhängig vom Wetter bis zu einem Monat dauern. Der Grund für den Schaden, der im vietnamesischen Bereich des 20'000 Kilometer langen Systems liegt, war unbekannt. [Weiterlesen]

Gigant unter den Insekten: Forscher entdecken 54 Zentimeter lange Stabschrecke

02.01.2015 (derStandard) - Brüssel - Eines der größten Insekten der Erde: Allein der Körper von Phryganistria heusii yentuensis misst 32 Zentimeter. Mit nach vorne ausgestreckten Beinen misst ein neu entdeckter Vertreter der Stabschrecken gewaltige 54 Zentimeter. Der Körper selbst ist immer noch beeindruckende 32 Zentimeter lang. Damit ist Phryganistria heusii yentuensis wohl eine der größten heute lebenden Insektenarten der Erde.

Die bisher unbekannte Unterart wurde kürzlich von einer Gruppe belgischer Forscher vom Museum für Naturwissenschaften in Brüssel (Muséum des sciences naturelles de Belgique) in den Regenwäldern Vietnams ausgemacht.

Die hohe Bevölkerungsdichte der Region stellt eine wachsende Bedrohung für die lokale Biodiversität dar. [Weiterlesen]