German politician caught stealing toilet paper

A German politician has been caught short after janitors collared him red-handed pilfering toilet roll A German politician has been caught short after janitors collared him red-handed pilfering toilet roll from the gents in the town hall during a sting operation, authorities said on Wednesday. Janitors' suspicions were raised when more than 200 rolls vanished and they laid a trap for Frank-Michael John, 24, a member of the far-left Die Linke party in the regional council of Stralsund, northern Germany. They discovered him exiting the toilet with one roll in his hand and another in a backpack, according to several media. "We are investigating the theft of several low-value items," Ralf Lechte, from the Stralsund prosecutors' office,...

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Posted in: Entertainment

ASEAN Summit and related summits close

The 17th ASEAN Summit and related summits successfully closed in Hanoi Saturday after three intensive and effective working days. Delivering the closing speech, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung stressed that building the ASEAN Community is the central and overarching task of the association. He stated that the 17 th ASEAN Summit made real progress in turning the organisation’s vision into concrete and practical actions. The association is determined to make greater efforts to effectively implement agreements, especially by strengthening the monitoring and outcome assessment mechanisms as well as resources mobilization in the implementation of the Charter, the Roadmap for the ASEAN Community and other important plans and programs,...

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Posted in: Politics,Vietnam

9 none-Communists shortlisted to run for House

Actress Hong Anh 41 candidates from Ho Chi Minh City have been shortlisted to be qualified to run for the National Assembly - Vietnam’s parliament - including nine people who are not members of the Communist Party of Vietnam. The 41 qualified candidates also include 12 women, 2 minority ethnic people. Of these official candidates, 20 are post-graduates and 21 have university degrees. Famous actress Hong Anh is included in the list after she got support at a consultative conference yesterday. At the third consultative conference, held by the Ho Chi Minh City Fatherland Front Committee, Pham Thi Hong Anh was among 22 candidates who won 100 percent of votes from the conference’s participants. Hong Anh was assessed as a young active...

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Posted in: Politics,Society,Vietnam

Don't judge VN tourism from your own experience

Over the last few days the more I thought about the article “What’s wrong with tourism in Vietnam?”, the more it annoyed me. Not everyone sees the world through American eyes. “Vietnamese are like Australians and perhaps find serving people demeaning or beneath them”- what a ludicrous statement. Perhaps it’s more the case that both nationalities see it as shallow to greet every customer with “Hello, how are you, how can I help you today” and “Enjoy your meal, have a good day” and saying these things as some automaton gesture renders them meaningless. Of course you find good and bad in Vietnam- are there not rip-offs in every country? Restaurants are welcome to sell seafood at any price they like at Ha Long bay. It’s a free economy....

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Posted in: Tour in Vietnam,Vietnam

Pakistan militants killed 2,500 in 2010, report says

Hundreds were injured in militant attacks - most victims were civilians More than 2,500 people were killed in militant attacks in Pakistan in 2010, according to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). Nearly half of victims were civilians killed in suicide blasts. There were 67 such attacks last year, the group said. The report also said at least 900 people had been killed in US drone strikes during the same period. The number of people killed by the army is not mentioned, but it estimated to be in the region of 600-700. Pakistani troops are battling insurgents across the north-west. Many of those it has killed are believed to be militants, but civilian lives have been lost too. ...

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Posted in: Politics,Society

China's inflation hits 5.4%, the highest since 2008

The government has been trying to rein in food and property prices Inflation in China accelerated in March to the fastest rate since 2008, despite government efforts to cool prices. Consumer prices rose by 5.4% in March compared with a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said. In February, the annual figure was 4.9%. Growth figures were also released. China's economy grew 9.7% between January and March from the same period a year earlier. It was faster than expected, but slower than 9.8% in the final quarter of 2010. "The figures are higher than market expectation, especially the CPI (consumer prices index), which means the inflationary pressure is really big," said Nie Wen from Hwabao Trust in...

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Posted in: Business

Italian activist found dead in Gaza after abduction

Vittorio Arrigoni was kidnapped on Thursday morning An Italian pro-Palestinian activist has been found dead in the Gaza Strip hours after being abducted, security sources in the Hamas-governed territory say. Vittorio Arrigoni was seized on Thursday morning by a radical group seeking the release of their leader, who was arrested last month. Hamas said Arrigoni was found hanged, after police received a tip-off. He was the first foreigner kidnapped in Gaza since BBC journalist Alan Johnston was snatched in 2007. At least one person has been arrested, and others are being sought, a Hamas official said. Arrigoni had been dead for several hours when he was found, the official added. Arrigoni, 36, was...

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Posted in: Politics

Japan's Kan Faces Calls to Quit Over Handling of Disasters

Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan attends a news conference in Tokyo, April 12, 2011 Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan is facing new calls for his resignation from senior opposition and ruling party lawmakers angered by his response to the country's earthquake and tsunami-triggered nuclear crisis. Japan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party leader Sadakazu Tanigaki said Thursday it was time for Kan to decide whether to resign because of what Tanigaki called the prime minister's poor handling of relief operations. He said continuing with Japan's current leadership would be "extremely unfortunate" for the Japanese people. Kan's opponents initially refrained from criticizing him after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and massive tsunami...

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Posted in: Politics,Society

Air Strikes Hit Libya As Diplomats Consider Options

Smoke rises from an area in southeast Tripoli, Libya, April 14, 2011 Witnesses in Libya say a series of explosions rocked the Tripoli area on Thursday shortly after NATO warplanes flew overhead. Meanwhile, rebels have warned of what they call a "massacre" in the western city of Misrata unless NATO provides them more support against government forces. A rebel spokesman said at least 23 people were killed in attacks by forces loyal to leader Moammar Gadhafi near Misrata Thursday.In Washington, State Department acting spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. remains confident in NATO's ability to oversee air operations in Libya.  He commented after France asked for the United States to resume air raids. France made the request on Thursday...

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Posted in: Afica,Politics

A New Reason for Why the Deaf May Have Trouble Reading

Easter Faafiti uses sign language to communicate with a teammate during practice by the women's basketball team at Gallaudet University in January This is the VOA Special English Health Report. Deaf people may have no trouble communicating English words through American Sign Language, or ASL. But studies of ASL users show that, on average, educated deaf adults are likely to read at the level of a nine-year-old. The explanation has always been that this is because they never learned to connect letters with sounds. But a recent study shows that deaf readers are just like other people learning to read in a second language. Linguist Jill Morford led the study. JILL MORFORD: “The assumption has always been that the problems with reading were...

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Posted in: Learning English

VOA Correspondent Reaches Crippled Fukushima-1 Nuclear Plant

Guards read a whiteboard near the Fukushima-1 nuclear plant's main gate, Futaba, Japan VOA correspondent Steve Herman was the first of two American reporters to gain entry to the grounds of the crippled Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant on Wednesday. But the duo was permitted no farther than the main gate.Since the March 11 magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami destroyed part of the Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant here, few reporters seem to have attempted to reach the facility.Correspondents are usually the first to race to any disaster site or combat zone, but fear of bodily harm by an invisible culprit seems to have restrained typical reportorial instincts.There is, actually, no legal reason barring us despite a perception...

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Posted in: Health,Society

Motorola Solutions and Huawei Settle Claims Over Intellectual Property

A worker at Huawei Technologies in Shenzhen, China, a telecommunications equipment maker. SHANGHAI — Motorola Solutions and the Chinese company Huawei Technologies said Wednesday that they had agreed to settle a pair of lawsuits over intellectual property.  The agreement is expected to clear the way for Motorola Solutions to complete the sale of its networking division to Nokia Siemens Networks. Analysts say that deal has been delayed partly because of the legal disputes. Separately, in a filing Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Motorola Solutions and Nokia Siemens said they expected to close the sale by April 29, pending approval by Chinese regulators. The companies also said the...

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Posted in: Technology

Policeman shoots civilian, fires multiple shots

Tran Thanh Chuong Tran Thanh Chuong, 29, a worker from Bien Hoa 2 Industrial Zone in Dong Nai province Wednesday had one bullet removed from his belly. One is still lodged inside his left hipbone. * A policeman admitted he shot three shots into the victim * Angry locals attacked the shooter who is also hospitalized * The cop/shooter took out a gun and fired multiple shots * The cop's group and victim's group had some argument * The shooting cop refused to let locals rush the victim to hospital * No one arrested However, according to the shooter – a police sergeant, he shot three shots at Chuong, not two. Chuong’s bowels were punctured, said doctors in Bien Hoa. But his health is now stable. He can talk. However, according...

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Posted in: Society,Vietnam

Particle Hunt Nets Almost Nothing; the Hunters Are Almost Thrilled

Elena Aprile, right, a Columbia professor, is on a quest for dark matter with a team of graduate and postdoctoral students. This could have been the day they discovered dark matter. On the morning of April 4, a dozen or so graduate students and postdoctoral fellows gathered in the offices of Elena Aprile, a physics professor at Columbia University, to get their first look at the data from an experiment on the other side of the world. In a tunnel deep under Gran Sasso, Italy, Dr. Aprile and an international team of scientists had wired a vat containing 134 pounds of liquid xenon to record the pit-pat of invisible particles, the so-called dark matter that astronomers say constitutes a quarter of the universe....

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Posted in: Science

Exercising for Two

 By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS Almost anyone who’s been pregnant remembers the profound link that can develop between a mother-to-be and her unborn child. You feel that life inside you, both physically independent and braided with your own. Now, new research suggests that the bond may be stronger than had been suspected. When you exercise during pregnancy, your baby is not, as most of us would have thought, a passive, floating passenger (and ballast on the bladder). Instead, he or she may be actively joining in the workout, with the fetal cardiac system growing stronger and healthier as a result of the workouts. This training response lingers apparently even after birth, the new science shows. Babies born to mothers who exercised while...

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Posted in: Health

FDI starts 2011 strong in Philippines

Foreign direct investments (FDI) to the Philippines surged in January this year on the back of improved risk appetite for emerging Asian assets.In a statement, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said it registered net FDI inflows of $207 million in first month of the year, up by 21.8 percent from the year-ago level of $170 million.The central bank noted that all FDI components registered net inflows during the month, reflecting buoyant prospects for the global economy during the year.“The strong economic performance in 2010, combined with a cautiously optimistic outlook in 2011, also helped drive FDI inflows into the country,” Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said.“FDI flows are expected to remain positive in 2011 with the continued global economic recovery and the national...

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Posted in: Business

The future of Asian rice

By  David Swartzentruber What does it take to attain global food security? This is a question for which rice provides part, if not most, of the answer. Rice—a staple food for the world’s poor—is grown on more than 155 million hectares and accounts for one-fifth of the global calorie supply. In the past decade, changes such as rapid economic growth, especially in parts of Asia, rising wage rates, increasing diversification of diets, global climate change, and a greater integration of the food economy with other sectors of the global economy, including both energy and financial markets, have converged to shape the way rice is produced today and will be produced in the future. Faced with more challenges in the years ahead, the world now needs a new vision for future rice farming...

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Posted in: Business,Society

Obama Unveils Deficit-Fighting Plan

President Barack Obama outlines his plan for cutting federal spending during an address at George Washington University in Washington, April 13, 2011 In a major speech on fiscal policy in Washington, President Barack Obama has set goals of reducing deficits, and the more than $14 trillion national debt, over the next dozen years. Mr. Obama says getting the nation's fiscal house in order will require shared sacrifice.  The speech came at a pivotal moment, with the country's debt and deficit spending at historic levels, and opposition Republicans challenging Mr. Obama to sharply reduce spending while not raising taxes.Key points in the president's plan include a phased reduction of future deficits by $4 trillion over 12 years...

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Posted in: Politics,Society

Vietnam needs thousands of English teachers

Vietnam needs 24,000 teachers of English for primary schools by 2018 under a proposal to start teaching the language to pupils from third grade onwards, Nguyen Ngoc Hung, an education official, said at Tuesday’s conference on teaching English at primary education level in Ho Chi Minh City. The country expects all of its third graders to have been taught English by 2020, as the Ministry of Education and Training proposes. Pedagogical junior colleges are currently not offering courses training students to become English teachers at primary education level. Hung admitted this is a tricky situation but the country could think of impromptu solutions like recruiting graduates majoring in English or encouraging university pedagogic sophomores who love to become high school teachers...

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Posted in: Society,Vietnam

KKR's first investment in Vietnam

Global private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co LP has agreed to buy 10 percent of Vietnam's Masan Consumer Corp for $159 million, valuing the company at $1.6 billion, the companies said in a joint statement on Wednesday. KKR's investment is the largest-ever private equity deal in Vietnam, and comes as increasing competition for assets pushes private equity firms into wider frontier markets around Asia-Pacific. "This investment demonstrates our strong conviction in the business prospects of Masan Consumer, as well as in Vietnam as a whole," said Ming Lu of KKR. The deal comes just a couple of months after U.S. private equity firm Mount Kellet Capital Management invested $100 million in Masan Group's mining unit, Masan Resources.Masan has raised about $500 million...

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Posted in: Business,Vietnam

Libya: Nato foreign ministers to hold talks in Berlin

Libyan rebels have been battling Col Gaddafi's forces along the country's northern coast Foreign ministers from Nato countries are due to meet in Berlin, with Libya at the top of the agenda. The UK and France have been pushing for other countries to increase the military pressure on Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Airstrikes led by the US, France and Britain began last month. Nato has since taken leadership of the mission. Ahead of the Berlin talks, the "contact group" on Libya issued a statement calling on Col Gaddafi to stand down. The BBC's Stephen Evans reports from Berlin that foreign ministers will be trying to find a coherent strategy whilst holding different views over what the role of...

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Posted in: Afica,Politics

Huawei settles Motorola Solutions trade secrets dispute

Huawei, a Chinese telecom equipment maker, and Motorola have settled their dispute over trade secrets. Technology companies like Motorola are keen to protect their innovations Huawei had objected to the sale of one of Motorola's business units, Motorola Solutions, to Nokia, saying the deal may see some of its trade secrets ending up with its competitor. Motorola said it had agreed to pay an unspecified transfer fee to Huawei as a part of the settlement. The deal clears the way for Motorola to complete the sale. Motorola also said it had reduced the sales price of the unit from $1.2bn (£737m) to $975m in a bid to push it through. However, Motorola Solutions' spokesman Nick Sweers said that the deal...

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Posted in: Business,Entertainment

Libya: Gaddafi must step down, says 'contact group'

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr Al Thani: "The Gaddafi regime is now weak" The newly formed international "contact group" on Libya has called for Muammar Gaddafi to stand down as leader. It said his continued presence threatened any resolution of the crisis in the country, and that Libyans should be allowed to determine their future. The call came in a final statement read out by Qatar's prime minister at a summit on Libya in Doha. Rebels seeking to topple Col Gaddafi made their first high-profile diplomatic appearance at the summit. The contact group also agreed to continue to provide the rebels with "material support" - a form of words described as ambiguous by the BBC's Jon Leyne - and also to consider...

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Posted in: Afica,Politics