Vietnam ethanol plant to be merged with oil refinery to cut costs

The Dung Quat Bio-Ethanol plant in the central province of Quang Ngai

Vietnam’s only remaining ethanol plant will be merged with the oil refinery at Dung Quat as a cost-cutting measure at a time of low demand.
BSR, a PetroVietnam subsidiary that owns the Dung Quat oil refinery, and Petrosetco, another subsidiary that owns the Dung Quat Bio-Ethanol, are wrapping up procedures for the merger.
The ethanol plant, which has a capacity of 330 tons per day, has been on a trial run since the start of last year.
The US$80-million plant, while awaiting the country’s switch to biofuels by 2015, has been exporting most of its output. 
News website VnExpress quoted BSR chairman Nguyen Hoai Giang as saying the company plans to produce E3 fuel, a blend of 3 percent ethanol and 97 percent gasoline, for use in the local Quang Ngai Province this year, and E5 for the whole central region a year later.
The cost of producing ethanol is around VND15,000 per liter while the export price is VND13,000.
Low domestic demand and the losses on exports caused the country's two other producers – Binh Phuoc Ethanol and Dai Tan Ethanol -- to temporarily close down and others to stop construction.
Biofuels remain unfamiliar to most people while their prices are nearly high as that of 92-RON, the most popular gasoline variety grade in the country.
The government plans to make the use of biofuels obligatory in seven cities by 2015.
The country, which produces 30 percent of the gasoline needed for domestic consumption, is expected to less rely on imports once it switches to domestically-made ethanol.
Vehicles using ethanol emit less pollutants than normal.
Source: thanhniennews.com

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Posted in: Business,Vietnam

Let the online buyer beware

Vietnamese law struggles to keep pace with the boom in online shopping

A man browses for cell phones online. The rapid development of Vietnam’s e-commerce industry has led an increase in fraud, while a new government decree lacks punitive measures. Photo: Diep Duc Minh

Tran Minh Tan was delighted to find a used Sony Vaio laptop for just VND5 million (US$236) online.
The computer technician from Ho Chi Minh City’s Go Vap District transferred money to the seller’s account and was promised he would receive the computer within two days.
“It wasn’t until the fourth day that I realized I’d been cheated,” he said, adding that he found the laptop on a popular IT site.
Similar instances of fraud are becoming more commonplace in Vietnam, where the increase of Internet users has resulted in booming online consumerism, the management of which has been lax.
Vuong Ngoc Tuan of the Vietnam Standards and Consumers Association (Vinastas) said his agency has received an increase in complaints from online consumers over the past year.
Among them, Vo Thi Anh Hong said she ordered 15 pairs of contact lenses from the VickyDinh Company in Hanoi and transferred money into the account of Nguyen Thi Hoa, per instructions provided by the company’s site.
When Vinastas later made inquires to VickyDinh, the company responded by saying it had no record of any transactions involving Hong and that it has no knowledge of Hoa.
In another case, Nguyen Xuan Hiep of Bac Ninh Province bought a Lancaster watch from the BrandsFavor online store that arrived with scratches.
After repeated complaints, the online shop agreed to refund half of the money Hiep paid without providing further explanation.
Tuan said common e-commerce problems include the unclear origin of products, fake products, and those which arrive without receipts or which differ from how they were advertised.
“This enables sellers to easily evade responsibility after delivering products,” he said.
Tuan said the increased number complaints simply reflect the increase in online shopping.
According to the Vietnam Internet Network Information Center, the country had more than 31.3 million Internet users by the end of 2012, a significant segment of the country’s population of around 90 million.
A report by the Vietnam E-commerce and Information Technology Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade shows e-commerce revenues last year totaled VND7 trillion ($354 million), excluding those of unregistered online stores.
The agency estimated that Vietnam’s e-commerce revenues is on pace to reach $1.3 billion by 2015.
A report by the Ministry of Information and Communications found the proportion of local residents who buy goods online had risen by nearly 14 percentage points, up to 79.2 percent in 2012.
The proportion of residents to make payments online or use online banking were 57.3 percent last year, a threefold increase from 2011 and 11 times higher than 2010.
Risks well-publicized
Although Vietnam does not keep official statistics on the number of consumers victimized by e-commerce fraud, many cases have been reported widely by the local media of late.
Last month, police in Lao Cai arrested Nguyen Thuy Hien of the Muaban24 Online Trade and Training Company (MB24). She was just the latest MB24 employee to be arrested since last August. The firm is being investigated for fraud alleged to have cheated customers out of a total of more than VND700 billion ($32.92 million).
Police said while working for MB24 from July 2011 to September 2012, Hien worked her way up to become deputy director of the firm’s Lao Cai branch. During this time, she allegedly swindled more than VND2 billion from local consumers, transferring VND1.6 billion to the company and pocketing the rest.
Since being founded in August 2011, MB24 has been accused of persuading thousands of people, including farmers, students and teachers, into buying shops on the company’s online store. By the time the Lao Cai branch closed, it had sold 8,274 shops for approximately VND43 billion ($2 million), police said.
According to police findings, MB24 defrauded people by offering them online shops for VND5.2 million ($245.43), promising the opportunity to buy and sell goods at cheap prices.
But while people paid real money to the company, they received credit vouchers in return. Although they were told initially that the virtual money could be exchanged into cash, when shop owners attempted to cash in their credit, they were told to sell their credits to other shop owners.
In another case, customers who purchased coupons from the Nhom Mua Company were left high and dry after it shut down without warning late last year.
Many suppliers have refused its coupons, saying Nhom Mua still owes them money. The company resumed operations soon afterward.
Incomplete decree
In response to the burgeoning e-commerce crisis, the government issued a decree that took effect on July 1, but which has been criticized for its lack of comprehensiveness and punitive measures.
At a recent conference on implementing the decree, Nguyen Huu Linh, director of the Vietnam E-commerce and Information Technology Agency, admitted that it does not cover all e-commerce activities, only the most common issues.
The decree bans multilevel marketing, the sale of fake and illegal products, swindling; and the hacking and sale of consumers’ confidential information.
Websites selling coupons must give customers refunds if their coupons are rejected by relevant retailers.
According to the decree, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is responsible for publishing a list of online trading websites that violate the decree, as well as those that receive complaints.
Nguyen Van Tuan, e-commerce director of the Vietnam Communications Corporation, said the decree only covers half the problems the industry currently faces.
“There are no penalties and insufficient regulations regarding payment systems,” VOV news website quoted him as saying.
“For example, it is still difficult to calculate the actual value of many online deals,” he said, adding that his company has six years experience in the field and found several problems.
He also said it is wrong for the decree to stipulate that online firms merely accused of wrongdoing be publicized.
Deputy minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said the government will amend the decree after it is implemented, explaining that Vietnam’s e-commerce industry still lags behind those of the region and the world.
“The ministry is drafting penalties against e-commerce fraud that are expected to be approved by the year’s end.”
source: thanhnienews.com

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Posted in: Business,Vietnam

US House votes to continue NSA's phone surveillance

The US House of Representatives has narrowly voted to continue collecting data on US phone calls, in the first legislative move on the programme.

In a 205-217 vote, lawmakers rejected an effort to restrict the National Security Agency's (NSA) ability to collect electronic information.
The NSA's chief had lobbied strongly against the proposed measure.
The vote saw an unusual coalition of conservatives and liberal Democrats join forces against the programme.

Republican Justin Amash attached the amendment to a defence spending bill

The details of the NSA dragnet were made public by Edward Snowden, a former contractor for America's electronic spying agency. He is now a fugitive, seeking asylum in Moscow.
'Fear' The rejected amendment would have blocked funding for the NSA programme which gathers details of every call made by or to a US phone, unless the records were part of a specific investigation.

It was introduced by Michigan Republican Justin Amash, who warned during Wednesday's debate that the proposal's critics would "use the same tactic every government throughout history has used to justify its violation of rights: fear.

"They'll tell you that the government must violate the rights of the American people to protect us against those who hate our freedom."
Despite the White House's lobbying against the amendment, a majority of House Democrats - 111 - voted for it. Eighty-three Democrats voted against.
Among Republicans, 94 voted for the Amash amendment and 134 against.
'We've gone overboard' Before Wednesday's vote there were fierce exchanges on the House floor during what was the first sustained legislative debate on the NSA's reach since Mr Snowden's revelations.

The National Security Agency (NSA) began collecting Americans' phone records in 2001, as part of far-reaching surveillance programmes launched by then-President George W Bush in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
But the scope of the practice, continued under President Barack Obama, only became apparent in June when ex-CIA contractor Edward Snowden leaked classified US surveillance files.
It emerged that a US secret court had ordered phone company Verizon to hand over to the NSA the phone records of tens of millions of American customers.
This information, known as metadata, includes the numbers of the originating and receiving phone, the call's duration, time, date and location (for mobiles, determined by which mobile signal towers relayed the call or text).
The contents of the conversation itself, however, are not covered, US intelligence officials say. The surveillance applies to calls placed within the US, and calls between the US and abroad.

"We've really gone overboard on the security side," said Democratic Representative Peter Welch of the surveillance, which is part of a classified $30bn (£19.5bn) intelligence budget.

But others said the practice was essential in America's efforts against terrorism.
"Have 12 years gone by and our memories faded so badly that we forgot what happened on September 11?" said Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee.
Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann, not usually noted for her support of President Obama, also backed the administration's stance.
"Let us not deal in false narratives," she said. "Let's deal in facts that will keep Americans safe."
But Republican Jim Sensenbrenner, one of the original authors of the Bush-era Patriot Act, said "the time has come" to stop harvesting phone records.
On the eve of the vote, in a rare statement against a legislative amendment, the White House called the Amash proposal a "blunt approach" that would hamper US anti-terrorism efforts.
NSA director Gen Keith Alexander held separate, closed-door sessions with Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday to lobby them against the bill.
Another NSA surveillance programme, Prism, allows the agency to sweep up global internet usage data through nine major US-based providers.
The programmes' supporters say such surveillance has helped thwart at least 50 terror plots in 20 countries, including up to a dozen directed at the US.
Divided opinion in the US about the snooping was highlighted by a CBS News poll on Wednesday.
The survey found that 67% of Americans opposed the government's collection of phone records, but 52% said it was necessary to counter terrorism.
source:  BBC

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Posted in: Society,USA

China charges disgraced politician Bo Xilai

Mr Bo was removed from his post in March 2012

China has charged disgraced politician Bo Xilai with bribery, corruption and abuse of power, state media say.

Bo Xilai, formerly the Communist Party chief of Chongqing, was expelled from the party after a scandal surrounding the murder of a British businessman.
His wife Gu Kailai was jailed in August for the killing of the Briton, Neil Heywood.
Mr Bo was charged by prosecutors on Thursday in Jinan in Shandong province, state media said.
The scandal was one of the biggest to rock China in years.

Source: bbc

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Posted in: China,Society

North Korea to reopen hotline with South

North Korea says it will restore a key hotline with South Korea, as the two Koreas discuss where to hold talks on a jointly-run industrial zone.

Pyongyang said it would reopen a Red Cross hotline which it cut in March.

Operations at Kaesong came to a halt after the North withdrew its workers and restricted access

It also invited officials to come to Kaesong for talks on Sunday on restarting operations at the factory zone, after the two sides agreed in principle to talks on Thursday.
Work at Kaesong has been halted since April, amid high regional tensions.
Ties between the two Koreas deteriorated earlier this year in the wake of the North's 12 February nuclear test.
North Korea's nuclear ambitions are expected to be on the table when the US and Chinese presidents meet in California later today for an informal summit.
'Mistrust' The Kaesong factory complex is seen as a symbol of North-South co-operation. Around 53,000 North Korean workers are employed there by more than 120 South Korean factories.
The zone is a key source of revenue for the North and the biggest contributor to inter-Korean trade.

However, Pyongyang withdrew its workers in April, apparently angered by tightened UN sanctions in the wake of its nuclear test and annual South Korea-US military drills.

It had already cut a military hotline with South Korea, and another line used to communicate with the UN Command at Panmunjom in the Demilitarised Zone that divides the two Koreas, in addition to the Red Cross hotline.
On Thursday, however, it offered talks with the South on the resumption of operations and said it would reconnect the Red Cross hotline if Seoul - which had been seeking such talks - agreed.
Pyongyang's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) said the Red Cross link would be restored from 14:00 local time (0500 GMT), AFP news agency said.
The two sides are still working out details of the talks on the industrial zone. The South suggested ministerial-level talks in Seoul on Wednesday, but North Korea has asked for lower-level talks on Sunday in Kaesong, which is located just inside North Korea.
In a statement, Pyongyang said that working-level talks were needed first, "in the light of the prevailing situation in which the bilateral relations have been stalemated for years and mistrust has reached the extremity".

Kaesong Industrial Zone

• Launched in 2003, largely financed by the South to increase co-operation
• More than 120 factories employ North Koreans in manufacturing industries, with goods exported to the South
• Complex as a whole produced $470m worth of goods in 2012 - the biggest contributor to inter-Korean trade
• South Korean companies pay more than $80m a year in wages to North Korean workers

 Source BBC

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Posted in: Korea,Politics

Afghans angry at 'lenient' Robert Bales massacre sentence

Residents of Afghan villages where a US soldier went on a rampage last year have reacted with anger that he has escaped the death penalty.

At a US military hearing on Wednesday Staff Sgt Robert Bales, 39, admitted killing 16 civilians in March 2012.
A jury will decide in August whether he is sentenced to life with or without the possibility of parole.

Some of the victims' bodies were burned by Bales after he had shot them

The villagers in Kandahar province argue that he has been treated far too leniently and should be hanged.
Most of the victims were women or children, and many of them were shot in the head. Some of the bodies were piled up and burnt.
'Full of blood' Friends and family members of those killed say they were stunned to learn that he has escaped capital punishment.
"It is our firm demand that Afghanistan, the US and the international community condemn this American to death. He martyred our family members... and went back with his body full of blood of his victims to his camp," bereaved villager Mullah Baran told the BBC.
Another villager, Haji Baqi, whose brother was killed by Bales, said: "We want him to be hanged. The international community should not ignore our grief."
Villager Samiullah said the life sentence meant that justice had not been done. His mother, uncle and cousin were killed.
"The criminal is not being punished," he said. "We want him to be dealt with as his deeds deserve."
At Wednesday's hearing, Bales read from a statement describing each killing in the same terms:
"I left the VSP [Village Stability Platform] and went to the nearby village of Alkozai. While inside a compound in Alkozai, I observed a female I now know to be Na'ikmarga. I formed the intent to kill Na'ikmarga, and I did kill Na'ikmarga by shooting her with a firearm. This act was without legal justification, sir."
When asked by military judge Col Jeffery Nance why he had carried out the murders, Bales responded: "There's not a good reason in this world for why I did the horrible things I did."
Defence lawyers have said Bales is contrite about the killings, and described him as "crazed" and "broken" on the night of the attack.
At the time, he was serving his fourth tour of duty and had been drinking alcohol and snorting Valium.
In addition to the 16 murdered, six Afghans were injured.
While prosecutors originally said they would seek the death penalty, no US service member has been executed in more than 50 years.

Source BBC

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Posted in: Politics,violence

Foreign sex workers could be expelled from Vietnam

The security ministry is proposing fines of up to US$476 for clients indulging in paid sex “of an obscene nature”, starting July 1. If the prostitute is a foreigner, that person will be fined up to $47 and can be deported from Vietnam.
According to a draft decree proposed by the Ministry of Public Security on administrative punishment in social order, fire and domestic violence prevention, sex buyers will be fined from VND500,000 to VND1 million (up to $47).
The fine will be increased to VND2 million - VND5 million (up to $238) if the client has sex with many prostitutes at a time.

If the sex is “of an obscene nature”, or the client incites others to buy sex together, that person will be fined from VND5 million to VND10 million (from $238 to $476). However, the ministry does not explain or define what “obscene” activities constitute. The original Vietnamese phrase is “co tinh chat doi truy” , which can be roughly translated as “having elements of an obscene [or lewd or lecherous or debauched] nature”.
Meanwhile, the security ministry also suggests fines to sex workers but at a much lower rate. Accordingly, the act of selling sex will incur non-monetary warnings or pecuniary fines of VND100,000-VND300,000 (up to $14).
But if a prostitute has sex with many clients at a time, that sex worker will be fined VND300,000-VND500,000. If the sexual activities are “of an obscene nature”, the prostitute will be fined from VND500,000 to VND1 million (up to $47).
If the sex worker is a foreigner, that person will be fined from VND100,000 to VND1 million (up to $47) and can be deported from Vietnam. Sex procurers will be fined up to VND5 million, with repeat offenders to be fined VND10 million.
The security ministry is now gathering opinions from other ministries and agencies and the public for feedback on this draft decree before officially submitting it to a higher body for approval.

Source tuoitrenews.vn

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Posted in: Society

In the world of beer girls

More pretty girls, including students, who drink well now earn quite a lot from waiting on and sharing a table and drinks with their male customers.

The main difference between these ‘beer attendants’ and ‘bia om’ (beer hug) girls is that these ‘beer attendants’ usually don’t offer sexual services to customers. However, the difference blurs sometimes.

A Tuoi Tre undercover reporter recently disguised herself as a beer attendant to penetrate this world.

She got to know Ha, a seasoned beer attendant, who agreed to let her tend to one of her patrons after the reporter boasted that she can drink up to 10 beer bottles in one go.

“The more you can drink and the prettier and sexier you are, the more tips you receive from your clients,” Ha shared with the reporter.

As soon as they arrived, Ha quickly gave one of the male clients an intimate hug before introducing the reporter to Sau, another of her patrons.

After a while, Sau hugged the reporter and insisted that she down her drink. She had no choice but to obey amidst the clients’ laughter.

Sau quickly put a VND200,000 (US$10) note into her hand.

During the drinking session, the men kept discussing business while forcing the beer attendants to gulp beer amidst laughter, chatter and applause.

Sau then asked Ha to sing a song before complimenting her on her performance with a kiss on her cheek and a VND500,000 (US$25) note.

“You shouldn’t drink any amounts of beer that clients request, but should refuse tactfully instead. If choosy clients insist, just ask to share their glasses,” Ha advised the reporter after the drinking session ended.

Who are beer attendants?

Beer attendants in Ho Chi Minh City come in three types. The first type is professional beer attendants who work at bars as PR staff.

The second is ‘call’ beer attendants, who offer their services only after receiving phone calls from their clients or bar managers.

The last is amateur beer attendants, who are rather well-educated, pretty and serve clients who give generous tips.

A beer girl, who is a college student, and her client
 at a restaurant on Nguyen Thong street, district 3.

Bartenders and waitresses from bars and cafés also switch to this occupation for higher pay. College students and workers sometimes take this job for extra income.

The girls, who are usually aged between 15 and 30, survive solely on their clients’ tips, which typically fluctuate between VND200,000 and VND1 million (US$50), depending on their physical attractiveness, drinking, singing and communication abilities, and the clients’ ranks. Girls with good social knowledge and education usually earn more as they can converse and debate with clients on various issues.

Over four weeks of working as a beer attendant at bars in HCMC, the Tuoi Tre undercover reporter got to know several young ‘colleagues’.

Many girls who are under 16 years old are precocious and professional in the way they dress, communicate and tend to clients.

“No one looks down on us for our job. We do nothing wrong, we just earn money at the risk of doing harm to our health from overdrinking,” shared Ut Hong, 21, from southern Tien Giang province, a beer attendant at L. bar on Phan Dang Luu street in Binh Thanh district.

Hong confided that during her three years in the business, she has sent all her income to her parents back home to pay off their debt and build a house.

She plans to do this job for several more years before getting married and settling down.

Hong, who is living with her boyfriend in a rented room, said her boyfriend has learned to come to terms with her job.

Hong pointed to Phuong, 19, from Ben Tre province, saying that Phuong’s husband, whose monthly salary as  a construction worker is lower than her weekly income, now brings her to ‘work’ every day, though initially he was often green with jealousy.
 Source Tuoitrenews.vn

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Posted in: Society

Michael Jackson daughter Paris 'tries to kill herself'

Paris Jackson, the daughter of late pop legend Michael Jackson, is in hospital after attempting to kill herself, a publicist has confirmed.

Paris, 15, is physically fine, her grandmother's lawyer told the Associated Press news agency.

Paris is a prolific user of Twitter

Emergency officials said they responded to a reported overdose in the Calabasas area of Los Angeles where Paris lives, but did not identify the patient.

Local media say she left the family home at about 02:00 PST (09:00 GMT).

Earlier on Wednesday, Angel Howansky, a long-time publicist for Joe Jackson - Michael Jackson's father and the girl's grandfather - could not confirm reports of a possible drug overdose or multiple cuts on her wrist.

Paris, Michael Jackson's only daughter, is currently part of a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the concert promoters AEG Live, who the Jackson family says bears responsibility for her father's death from an accidental drug overdose in June 2009.

The BBC's Regan Morris in Los Angeles says Michael Jackson went to great lengths to shield his children from the public eye, shrouding them in masks and baggy clothes so they could not be recognised.

He wanted to give them the chance for a more typical childhood than he had as a child star, but after being sheltered for years, Paris Jackson has lived a very public life since his death, our reporter says.

Paris is a cheerleader at her private school and seems comfortable in the limelight - appearing poised and articulate at Michael Jackson tribute events with her grandmother and her two brothers, known as Prince and Blanket.

She is also a popular target for the paparazzi and tabloids, our reporter adds.

Paris also has a popular Twitter account where she discusses music and homework and dispenses make-up tips to her million-plus followers.

Her most recent tweet was a quote from a famous Beatles song: "yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away now it looks as though they're here to stay."

Source BBC

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Posted in: Society

Vietnam Detains Blogger Over Anti-State Criticism

HANOI — Vietnamese police have detained a former journalist who ran a blog containing anti-state views, authorities said on Monday, part of a widening crackdown on dissent in the Communist-run country.

Truong Duy Nhat, 49, was taken into custody on Sunday and police searched his house in the central city of Danang. He complied with an urgent warrant issued against him, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement on Monday. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in jail.

Online dissent has grown in the past year as Vietnam wrestles with deep economic woes that have shattered its image as one of Asia's hottest emerging markets. Some bloggers have harshly criticized Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, accusing him of cronyism and economic mismanagement - which he denies.

The ministry said Nhat violated a clause of the penal code on abusing democratic freedoms with acts against the state. It did not elaborate on his actions.

Nhat, a former journalist at state-run newspapers, including one run by the Danang police force, was moved to Hanoi for further investigation, state media said.

He quit his journalist job in 2010 and ran a blog titled "Truong Duy Nhat - a different viewpoint" that was known for criticism of top government officials including the prime minister.

He also conducted an online opinion poll just weeks before the National Assembly's first-ever confidence vote on top officials, scheduled for early June. 

Source: voanews.com

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Posted in: Society

Blogger Truong Duy Nhat arrested

Blogger Truong Duy Nhat is pictured at 3:10 pm at Da Nang Airport on May 26, 2013

Police from the Ministry of Public Security have arrested the owner and chief writer of the blog “Một góc nhìn khác” (“Another viewpoint”), for his illegal actions. 

The site’s owner, Truong Duy Nhat, 49, was arrested yesterday, May 26, on charges of “abusing rights to freedom and democracy to infringe upon State interests and the legitimate interests of organizations and/or citizens,” under Article 258 of the Penal Code, police said.

The arrest was made at about 9 am at his home in Hoa Cuong Bac Ward, Hai Chau District, in the central city of Da Nang. Police also searched his home for hours.

At 3:30 pm, police escorted Nhat to the Da Nang Airport to board a flight to Hanoi for investigation.

The arrest and house search were carried out in accordance with applicable laws, and investigators are continuing to look into Nhat’s actions and handle them according to law, the ministry said.

After graduating from the Philology Department of Hue University, Nhat worked as a journalist for Cong an Quang Nam Da Nang (Quang Nam Da Nang Police) newspaper for years before joining the Dai Doan Ket (Great Solidarity) newspaper in Da Nang.

In mid-2010, Nhat left Dai Doan Ket and opened his own blog, Mot goc nhin khac.

The blog has not been accessible after Nhat’s arrest.

Source: tuoitrenews.vn

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Posted in: Society

52% of homosexual-heterosexual marriages end in divorce

52% of marriages between homosexuals and heterosexuals in Vietnam end in divorce, the Institute for Studies of Society, Economy and Environment (iSEE) announced on May 14.

Titled “Same-sex relationships in Vietnam,” the study was carried out with the participation of 2,500 people, 23% of whom were homosexuals, bisexuals, transgender and people of unknown gender from 2012 to early 2013.

Homosexuals seen in a photo of the collection
The Pink Choice of Vietnamese photographer
Nguyen Thanh Hai, aka Maika Elan

According to the study, most homosexuals agree to marry heterosexuals due to pressure from their family, their wishes to have a marriage like other people, and to have children, or their filial duty. Half of the 52% who divorced said their marriages were unhappy, 17% said their partners did not accept that their wives/husbands are homosexuals, 21% were rejected by family members, and the rest divorced for some other reasons.

Though the homosexual couples involved in the study are young, they have had a long and stable relationship, especially between lesbian couples. 37% of lesbians in the study and 38% of homosexuals shared that their relationships have lasted from two to five years. Most of them have lived together to spiritually support each other with the hope of a long life together.

The study showed that none of the homosexual couples involved said they have asset disputes since they place a high priority on love. 28.9% of homosexual couples living together co-own valuable assets such as cars and bank accounts, 18.40% run a business together, and 7.9% have signed co-ownership agreements over their houses and properties.

Also according to the study, 61% of homosexuals and transgender of a marriageable age want to have children. However, the social stigma and legal impossibility are big challenges for them.

In addition, 63% of homosexuals taking part in the research shared that they have been discriminated against through vulgar language, disdain and physical abuse.

Vietnam has about 1.6 million homosexuals, bisexuals and transgender who are facing difficulties in identification, cohabitation, birth-giving and adoption, iSEE said early this month. 73% of the nation’s homosexuals live in Ho Chi Minh City and southern provinces.

source tuoitrenews.vn

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Posted in: Society

IRS targeting of conservative groups intolerable - Obama

US President Barack Obama has said the federal tax agency's targeting of conservative groups for extra scrutiny was "intolerable and inexcusable".

The treasury department's inspector general
 will release a report on the matter this week

He said those who carried out the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) actions would be held responsible.

Mr Obama spoke after a treasury department report placed the blame on "ineffective management" at the agency.

The US attorney general earlier ordered an FBI inquiry into the IRS conduct before the 2012 presidential election.

Eric Holder told a news conference that agents would determine if any laws had been broken.

The actions of tax officers, if not criminal, were "certainly outrageous and unacceptable", Mr Holder added.

'Inappropriate criteria'

The IRS had used key words such as "Tea Party" and "Patriot" to subject applications by groups seeking tax-exempt status for extra scrutiny.

On Tuesday evening, Mr Obama said in a statement on the treasury department's investigation: "The report's findings are intolerable and inexcusable.

"The IRS must apply the law in a fair and impartial way, and its employees must act with utmost integrity. This report shows that some of its employees failed that test."

He spoke as a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report found that senior IRS officials had told inspectors the decision to focus on Tea Party and other groups based upon their names or policy positions was not influenced by any individual or organisation outside the agency.

But it found managers had allowed "inappropriate criteria" to be developed and stay in place for more than 18 months, resulting in "substantial delays" in processing applications for tax-exempt status, and requests for "unnecessary information", such as lists of past and future donors.

Of the 296 total applications reviewed by TIGTA, 108 were approved, 28 were withdrawn by the applicants, and 160 were still open, the report said.

In response, the acting IRS Commissioner of the Tax Exempt and Government Entities, Joseph Grant, said: "We believe the front line career employees that made the decisions acted out of a desire for efficiency and not out of any political or partisan view point."

'Targeting political enemies'Continue reading the main storyMr Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, said earlier that no-one at the White House had known about the matter until lawyers were told several weeks ago TIGTA would publish a report.

This is big brother come to life”

At least three Congressional committees are planning hearings into the matter.

The House Ways and Means committee will hold a hearing on Friday. The Senate finance and investigations committees have also said they will hold hearings.

"This was a targeting of the president's political enemies, effectively, and lies about it during the election year so that it wasn't discovered until afterwards," senior Republican Congressman Darrell Issa told CBS on Tuesday.

Two high-profile Republican governors called on President Obama to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether any laws were broken.

"This is big brother come to life and a witch hunt to prevent Americans from exercising their first amendment [free speech] rights," Governors Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Scott Walker of Wisconsin wrote.

Ahead of the 2012 presidential election, conservative groups complained to the IRS and to members of Congress that their applications for tax-exempt status were being held up.

Some groups have said they were asked to provide lists of donors and volunteers, statements of their activities, and lists of legislators they had contacted.

Source: bbc.co.uk

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Posted in: Business

Money-mad teens will do anything for money

Suggestive pictures are seen on a community page on Facebook

Imagine you are a father or mother relaxing at home believing that you are safe in the knowledge that your two teenage girls are upstairs, having harmless fun with friends on social networking sites.

But you have had a nagging doubt for a while and decide to keep an eye on them once in a while. They are impressionable young girls after all who can get themselves into trouble with amorous young males, if they are not careful.

You have managed to secretly join their friends’ list and decide to see what is going on. You log on to your smartphone and there standing before you is your worst nightmare.

Your daughter - nude. Now that is bad enough but not only is she naked but she is offering herself for sale to any bidder able to come up with VND4 million. Two hundred dollars to go in a cheap hotel room with your little angel. Two hundred dollars. You can just imagine how they would feel.

This is not just scaremongering, though, this is happening in Vietnam right now. So come back from behind the curtains parents, wake up to the reality of social networking and real life. You might think you know what your sons and daughters are doing online but you don’t know the half of it. I shudder to think how I would cope with bringing up teenagers, some even younger these days, desperately wanting mobile phones, Ipads and with them comes access to the internet and the awaiting beasts, lurking behind the personas of similar aged boys as they get ready to groom young boys and girls.

In some ways, I am actually glad I am not a parent when you see headlines like the ones that rocked a nation to its core recently when a 20-year-old Facebook madam was revealed to Vietnam.

Hanoi police arrested Do Thi Huyen who was charged with running a prostitution ring on Facebook – the first case of its kind on the social networking site in this country.

Huyen, the young madam, uploaded sexually explicit images of herself and her business associates on the site. According to Tien Phong, customers were given a price after they chose a girl they like and the only stipulation is that they take the girls to at least a three-star hotel. These girls are not that cheap.

The girls allegedly charged VND4 million (US$200) for sexual services, one million ($50) of which went to Huyen for her advertising services, not bad eh, according to police.

After watching her in action online for about four weeks, the police nabbed Huyen and an associate soliciting themselves at a hotel on Mai Hac De Street, Hai Ba Trung District last month.

However, according to a senior police source on Tien Phong, prostitutes only get administrative fines
for advertising or selling themselves. In this particular case, they were fined only VND100,000 ($5) to VND300,000 ($15).

Hardly a deterrent when they can make that kind of money in seconds.

I had a discussion the other day with a group of friends, when one piped up to claim that any photograph that you post online on Facebook, the company automatically owns fifty per cent of the copyright.

So what happens if one of these social networking firms has the ‘copyright’ to a nude picture of an underage girl? They are supposed to be monitoring these pages after all.

Pornography, sexual images and nudity is now rampant on Facebook in Vietnam, with most of the account users young people, including teenagers. They post nude images of themselves or with girlfriends or boyfriends to attract ‘likes’ from the online community. The likes obsession is not as weird as it sounds, as the more likes you have on your page, then you can maybe start to make money from advertising.

Some even promise that they will keep posting sex clips if they receive 30,000 ‘likes’. In another case last week a young man named Manh Tran posted pictures of himself and his girlfriend wrapped in a bath towel with the caption, “If we get 30k ‘likes’ we will post our clip, OK darling?”
After a couple of days, the image had received over 30,000 ‘likes’.

These pages are not hard to find as if you type in nguoi lon (adult) orlau xanh (brothel), hundreds of
community pages appear, with numerous sexual pictures and stories.

On a locally-based site a female user named Yen Nhi posted a linkClip nong sinh vien vao hotel (Hot clip of students in hotel). Nhi’s page has 4.5 million members.

Similar groups and communities have mushroomed on social networks, where a user only needs a few minutes to set up their own page.

This shock news again brought it home to parents whose worst fears are being realized on a daily basis. They cannot control what goes on online. They just have to hope and pray that they have brought up their children well enough to make the right decisions for themselves.

In Vietnam, though, it seems to some that money is everything and it doesn’t matter what some young people have to do, they will literally do anything for money.

TUOITRENEWS.VN

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Posted in: Society

Taxi driver sacked for fleecing Irish couple

A Hanoi taxi firm has fined and sacked a cabbie who has been found guilty of overcharging an Irish couple, said its inspector.

James Murtagh and his wife

Tran Duc Tri, inspector of Thanh Nga taxi firm, Saturday confirmed with Tuoi Tre that Pham Van Linh, 38, the accused cabbie, has been fined VND5 million ($250) and sacked.

Linh has also been summoned to local police station for further investigations, Tri added.

As previously reported, James Murtagh and his wife from Ireland were asked to pay VND480,000 ($23) for a distance of two kilometers from a hotel on Hang Bong street to a restaurant on Ma May street. The maximum fee should have been VND40,000 ($1.9).

According to Murtagh, he handed the driver a 500,000 banknote but the driver gave back only VND20,000 to him. Upon being asked why, the driver replied he received just VND50,000.

Murtagh then took a photo of the taxi’s number plate as evidence and reported this case to the Hanoi Taxi Association through its hotline. 

The association later apologized to the couple for the overcharging and required Thanh Nga to identify the driver concerned and to return the overcharged money to them as soon as possible.

Taxi scams have gone rampant in both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, causing headache to local authorities.

On Apr 12, a taxi driver in the southern hub charged a Japanese passenger VND650,000 (US$31.1), ten times higher than the actual fee, and even punched the foreigner in the face when the latter refused to pay.

More recent, on Apr 28, a cabbie of Hanoi-based Trung Viet taxi firm charged two Australian tourists VND980,000 (roughly US$43), 10 times higher than the normal fare, for a distance of just 7 km, from the Military History Museum to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology.

In an effort to promote a “safe Hanoi” to international travelers, Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, deputy chairman of Hanoi’s People Committee, has pledged to impose heavy punishments on cheating taxis.

Meanwhile, Cao Bich Lan, deputy chairman of the People’s Committee of Hoan Kiem District, admitted that taxi scams have a bad influence on promotional tourism campaigns to attract more international tourists to the capital. She called on all tourism authorities to work together to deal with taxi scams.

Source tuoitrenews.vn

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Posted in: Society

National Observers Note Irregularities in Pakistan Elections

Pakistani election staff count ballots at a polling
station in Islamabad, May 11, 2013.

Sharon Behn

May 12, 2013

ISLAMABAD- Pakistan’s Election Commission on Sunday endorsed the country’s landmark elections that will see the first civilian-to-civilian transfer of power via the ballot box in the country's history. It declared the country’s elections for a new national assembly and government leadership as “largely free and fair.” But Pakistani non-governmental observers noted voting irregularities and terror attacks in parts of the country meant that not everyone’s voice was heard.

Free and Fair Election Network CEO Muddassir Rizvi says there were serious incidents of voting irregularities, fraud and intimidation in areas such as in the southern city of Karachi.

"In general, we are not questioning the legitimacy of the process in most parts of Pakistan except for certain constituencies in Karachi, and perhaps some constituencies in Baluchistan where the anti-election campaign was so active that in many instances the election commission could not even set up polling stations," said Rizvi.

The Election Commission said due to threats, the vote in 43 polling stations in the city would have to be re-held.

The FAFEN network deployed 41,000 observers across the country for the May 11 poll, including high-risk areas that international observers could not reach.  But the group said the level of terror threats in the northwestern tribal areas and the adjoining Khyber-Patunkhwa province made it difficult to determine how fair the elections were in those regions.

Prior to voting day, Taliban and other militant attacks killed more than 100 people, targeting political candidates and supporters of parties they perceived as secular and anti-Islamic.

Jinnah Institute director of policy and programs Raza Rumi says the attacks skewed the political playing field.

“Whatever happened, happened before the polls, because the Taliban had very clearly stated that they would not want the PPP,  the outgoing government, and the liberal ANP and MQM to form the next government or even to campaign, so they had severe campaign challenges.  They could not freely campaign.  There were only two parties that vigorously campaigned, Nawaz Sharif’s Muslim League and Imran Khan’s PTI - so we can see the results, that you know, both these parties have done well," said Rumi.  

Initial, unofficial, results show veteran politician and two-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Party far in the lead, and Sharif looks set to lead the country once again.  Former cricketer Imran Khan’s party, that made its political debut in the elections, had a stronger than expected showing, and handed him a strong regional foothold, but not enough to challenge Sharif’s party.

Accountant Abdul Qadeer says although he did not vote for Sharif, he feels the elections were a success.

"I am proud that I casted my vote and that was the indication of my vote. My whole family voted. We voted for Imran Khan, but my full sympathies and full support is for Nawaz Sharif and he should come up and take this nation with him, and he should leave his faults in the previous governments and he should come up with new ideas and new things that will make us a proud nation," said Qadeer.

The challenges for any new government are considerable. Pakistan has a weak economy, major energy shortages, and powerful extremist and militant groups that the past government was unable to control

The hope appears to be that Sharif, a protégé of Pakistan’s powerful military until he challenged them and found himself in jail, will draw upon his past political experience to tackle these problems.

With expectations running high, Sharif and his party could quickly come under pressure to show effective leadership.

Source: voanews.com

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Posted in: Politics

Vietnam Politburo Selects First U.S.-Educated Member

Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan (L) shakes hands with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during a meeting at the Zhongnanhai compound in Beijing, May 10, 2013.

Reuter- 12 May 2013.
HANOI — Vietnam's ruling Communist Party has appointed for the first time a U.S.-educated official to its powerful politburo, a landmark decision as pressure mounts to reform an economy stagnating after years of boom growth.

The top decision-making body of the party that has ruled Vietnam since 1975 voted to increase its membership and bring in Nguyen Thien Nhan, a deputy prime minister overseeing education, health and technology, it said on its website (dangcongsan.vn).

Nhan, 59, has a master's degree in public policy from the University of Oregon and joins an elite group long dominated by politicians educated locally or in the former Soviet Union.

Vietnam's ruling party is facing its toughest economic challenges in years and has vowed reforms to tackle crippling debt in its banking system, and mismanagement at scores of cash-sapping state-owned firms.

Economists say policymakers have acted effectively to rein in inflation but have been too slow, or reluctant, to implement the sweeping structural changes needed to revive what was a promising ``tiger'' economy now growing at its slowest pace in 13 years, and put Vietnam back on foreign investors' radar.

Vietnam's economy is hamstrung by weak credit growth and consumer demand that has forced 113,000 businesses to close since 2011, when inflation soared to over 20 percent and foreign investors delivered only a sixth of the $64 billion pledged.

The politburo also picked its second female member, Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, a deputy chairwoman of parliament. Ngan, also 59, is a former deputy minister of trade and finance. The two appointments will increase the politburo's size to 16 members.

Nhan studied in the former East Germany in the 1970s before being awarded a scholarship to the United States. He also served as vice mayor of Ho Chi Minh City.
SOurce VOAnews

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Posted in: education

Former Pakistani PM’s Son Kidnapped at Election Rally

Ali Haider Gilani, son of former Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, who is contesting in the upcoming general election, speaks during a campaign meeting at a house on the outskirts of Multan, May 9, 2013, before his abduction by unidentified gunm

Sharon Behn

May 09, 2013

SLAMABAD — The son of former Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has been taken hostage by gunmen during a political rally in his home area of Multan. It's the latest incident in what has been a violence-marred election campaign in the run up to the May 11 national assembly elections.

Amid a spray of gunfire, unidentified men on motorbikes Thursday sped up to the rally and kidnapped Ali Haider Gilani, who was addressing his supporters.

Gilani had just finished speaking to his People’s Party of Pakistan supporters in the eastern town when the attack took place. Party official Malik Aamir Dogar said three men then pushed Gilani into a car and drove away.

“When he finished the meeting, he go outside. Some people came on motorcycle and straight away they start the firing, and one guard is killed at the movement, and his private secretary is injured at the movement, and there are total of three people and they pulled out to Haider Gilani into the car and they go out,” said Dogar.
Candidates have been holding their final rallies before voters head to the polls to elect a new national assembly on May 11. Gilani was running for a provincial assembly seat in Multan.
 
Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari immediately condemned the attack, saying it was a “reprehensible act of a cowardly enemy.” Zardari called on the Election Commission and caretaker government to ensure the elections were not hijacked by extremist elements.
 
The kidnapping is the latest incident in what has turned out to be the most violent election campaign in Pakistan’s history.
 
Militants and extremists with differing objectives have attacked and killed candidates and party supporters in different areas of the country, targeting not only moderate and secular parties like the PPP, but also religious and nationalist parties.
 
Dogar, who called off his own political rally as a result of the attack, said the Taliban most likely was behind Gilani’s abduction.
 
Multan city Police Chief Ghulam Muhammad Dogar, who is not related to Malik Aamir Dogar, said the police were moving swiftly to find the captors.
 
He said police have sealed all the roads joining the district of Multan, and that district police officers are out in force. He also noted that they are making every effort to ensure that all vehicles crossing district boundaries are being checked.
 
Militant groups, such as the Sunni extremist Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and other pro-Taliban organizations, are known to operate in the southern Punjab area where Multan is located.
 
Despite the violence, elections are expected to go ahead as planned on May 11.

VOAnews.com

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Posted in: USA,violence