Prince William and Kate Middleton say they have been "incredibly moved" by the affection shown to them since they announced their engagement. In a message in their official wedding programme they thanked "everyone most sincerely for their kindness". During Friday's Westminster Abbey ceremony Miss Middleton will vow to "love, comfort, honour and keep" Prince William but will not vow to obey him. The service will be the epitome of "Britishness", St James's Palace said. Meanwhile, the Foreign Office says the invitation for the Syrian ambassador in London has been withdrawn following reports that up to 400 pro-democracy protesters have been killed in Syria by security forces in recent weeks. A Foreign...

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Posted in: Entertainment,Society

Storms kill scores in Alabama and other south US states

Tornadoes and storms in the south-eastern United States have killed at least 201 people, officials say. In Alabama, the worst-hit state, 131 have died in recent days - including 15 killed by a tornado that devastated the city of Tuscaloosa. Deaths and widespread devastation are also reported in Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia and Virginia. Tornado footage - courtesy Crimson Tide Production/University of Alabama A state of emergency has been declared in seven states, and federal aid money is being sent to Alabama. In Alabama, as many as one million people were without power on Thursday morning, as emergency workers and 2,000 soldiers scoured the wreckage for survivors. Governor Robert Bentley said...

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Posted in: Entertainment,Society,USA

Survey: US Companies 'Harmed' by Chinese Bureaucracy

America Chamber of Commerce in China says its members have been suffering from Chinese protectionism in key sectors Chinese workers set up a signboard for a shop selling American motorcycles in Beijing, April 16, 2011  In Beijing, the American Chamber of Commerce says U.S. companies operating in China are suffering from protectionism, bureaucracy and corruption. The business group released its annual white paper Tuesday, calling on Beijing to reconsider industrial policies that discrimiate in favor of domestic companies. But, American enterprises are still turning a profit in the world’s second biggest, and still booming economy.The 2011 annual white paper, published Tuesday says the majority of its members have been suffering...

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Posted in: Business,China,USA

13th NA to convene first session in July

The first session of the 13th National Assembly is expected to open on July 21 and close on August 16, 2011. This information was released at the 39 th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12 th National Assembly, which opened in Hanoi on April 25 to review the results of the 12 th NA’s ninth session and discuss preparations for the first session of the 13 th NA. During the first session, the NA will spend 14 days working on State agencies’ organisation and personnel, including electing the Chairperson and Vice Chairpersons of the NA, members of the Standing Committee, the Council of Ethnic Minorities and committees of the NA; the State President and Vice President, the Prime Minister, the Chief Judge of the Supreme People’s...

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Posted in: Politics,Society,Vietnam

Foreign investment falls by half

Foreign direct investment in Vietnam in the first four months topped US$4.02 billion, down by almost half compared to the same period last year, the Foreign Investment Agency said. Investment in new projects was worth $3.205, 55 percent down from last year. Actual disbursement was, however, 0.6 percent higher at $3.62 billion. Manufacturing attracted the highest investment of $2.45 billion. Singapore was the biggest investor followed by Korea. Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Japan followed. Japan, despite the disaster in March, invested $174 million in April to take the four-month total to $305 million.   tuoitren...

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Posted in: Business,Vietnam

Law catches up as woman preys on kindness

A woman was arrested and fined a few days ago in Ho Chi Minh City after she pretended to collapse with some foodstuff she was carrying to prey on the kindness of passers-by and extract money from them. Tuoi Tre was reported of the case and secretly witnessed the scene with police from start to finish last Sunday morning on Saigon bridge. Dang Thi Ky, 57, from the central province of Quang Ngai – as Tuoi Tre discovered later at the police station -- intentionally overturned her large vessel full of tofu soup and began to sob while pretending to scoop up the food from the street. Within an hour dozens of people had stopped by and given her VND700,000 (US$33), clearly much more than the value of the food. Each passer-by gave her at least...

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Posted in: Society,Vietnam

Libya: UN team to start probe of human rights abuses

There are many reports Libyan forces have shelled the rebel-held city of Misrata indiscriminately A UN team has arrived in Tripoli to investigate allegations of human rights violations in Libya since the start of the conflict in February. The team was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council following the Libyan government's crackdown on protesters. The government has said it will co-operate with the inquiry. The three investigators say they will look at all alleged abuses, including those the government says have been committed by rebels or Nato forces. The original mandate - to examine human rights violations allegedly committed by the forces of Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi - remains the priority, says the BBC's Imogen Foulkes...

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Posted in: Afica,Politics

The Aflac Duck's New Voice Comes From a Minnesota Sales Manager

NEW YORK — Aflac is betting a sales manager from Minnesota has the voice to drive the name "Aflac" into the recesses of your brain and keep it there. Daniel McKeague, 36, a father of three from Hugo, Minn., beat out 12,500 other contestants to replace actor Gilbert Gottfried and become the new voice of the reinsurance company's duck mascot. Gottfried voiced Aflac's duck for U.S. audiences for 11 years but was ousted in March after making insensitive remarks on Twitter about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which produces about 75 percent of Aflac's revenue. Aflac soon announced a contest for Gottfried's replacement, though the actor who has long offered a gentler interpretation of the duck for Japanese audiences will continue. The...

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Posted in: Entertainment,USA

PlayStation data theft hits 70m gamers

Users trying to connect to the PlayStation Network are met with an error message Sony has warned users of its PlayStation Network that their personal information, including credit card details, may have been stolen. The company said that the data might have fallen into the hands of an "unauthorised person" following a hacking attack on its online service. Access to the network was suspended last Wednesday, but Sony has only now revealed details of what happened. Users are being warned to look out for attempted telephone and e-mail scams. In a statement posted on the official PlayStation blog, Nick Caplin, the company's head of communications for Europe, said: "We have discovered that between April 17 and...

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Posted in: Computer,Technology

Thousands flock to funeral of India guru Satya Sai Baba

The late guru attracted followers across India's religious divide Nearly half a million people gathered in the southern Indian town of Puttaparthi for the funeral of the revered Indian spiritual leader Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Sai Baba has been buried, unlike most Hindus, who are cremated. However, burial is the custom for people Hindus esteem as holy men. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi were among thousands of mourners paying their respects to the guru. Sai Baba was buried with full state honours inside the public hall in the ashram - or spiritual centre - in Puttaparthi, the southern town where he was born and from where he blessed the millions of devotees who visited...

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Posted in: Asia,Religion,Society

April Vietnam CPI reaches 20-year high

Vietnam’s consumer price index (CPI) in April soared 3.32 percent against last month, making it the highest month-on-month increase since 1991. The General Statistics Office report, released yesterday, said the rise exceeded that of the April 2008 high of 2.2 percent, which was blamed on the global economic crisis. The inflation rate in the first four months of 2011 soared 9.64 percent higher than the yearly target of 7 percent. The office director Nguyen Duc Thang attributed the April increase to the price hike of essential goods such as food, foodstuffs and petrol. "Political uncertainties in North Africa and the Middle East, as well earthquakes and the nuclear crisis in Japan, have caused commodity prices to soar worldwide. Vietnam is not immune," he said. He added that...

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Posted in: Business,Society,Vietnam

US supports Vietnam’s higher technical education

American aid and educational organizations will work with three more Vietnamese universities to improve higher education and technological development in Vietnam, according to the American embassy in Vietnam. The US Agency for International Development (USAID), Arizona State University (ASU), Fulton Schools of Engineering, Siemens, Intel and other industry partners will cooperate with a total of eight top technical universities and colleges in Vietnam to improve the quality of higher education curriculum and support a growing hi-tech industry, the release said. The existing Higher Engineering Education Alliance Program (HEEAP) has been expanded through 2014 to facilitate this support. “Competitive economies...

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Posted in: Society,Technology,USA,Vietnam

Head of India's Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee Arrested

New Delhi Commonwealth Games organizing committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi, who was fired from his job in January, arrives at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) office in New Delhi, Apr 25 2011 The former head of the Organizing Committee of the Commonwealth Games, Suresh Kalmadi, was taken into custody Monday after being summoned for questioning by federal police.   A spokeswoman for the Central Bureau of Investigation, Dharini Mishra, said Kalmadi has been arrested for allegedly favoring a Swiss firm which was awarded a contract for timers and scoring equipment.  "It is alleged that the officials of the organizing committee had conspired with representatives of the private firm in Switzerland and the contract...

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Posted in: Asia,Entertainment

White House Condemns Latest WikiLeaks Disclosure

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney briefs reporters at the White House in Washington (File Photo - April 14, 2011) The White House on Monday condemned the disclosure of hundreds of U.S. military documents originally obtained by the website WikiLeaks that detail secret reports about more than 700 people held since 2002 at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  Information about people held at Guantanamo Bay was contained in Detainee Assessment Briefs written by the Department of Defense between 2002 and 2009.The documents originally were obtained by WikiLeaks. Reports on their contents were published by several news organizations, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Daily Telegraph newspapers,...

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Posted in: Society,USA

Chernobyl nuclear disaster: Ukraine marks anniversary

Ukraine is marking the 25th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear accident - at the Chernobyl power plant. An explosion at one of the plant's reactors sent a plume of radiation across Europe and killed at least 30 people in its immediate aftermath. A disputed number of others died later from radiation-related illnesses. The anniversary comes amid renewed global protest over nuclear power and as Japan struggles to contain radiation leaks at its crippled Fukushima plant. It was on 26 April 1986 that Number Four reactor at Chernobyl, which was then in the Soviet Union, exploded. The accident forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in Ukraine, western Russia and Belarus. There is still a 30km (19 miles)...

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Posted in: Politics,Society

Vietnam PM chairs investment conference in Cambodia

PM Nguyen Tan Dung chairs the second Vietnam-Cambodia Investment Promotion Conference in Phnom Penh on April 24. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his Cambodian counterpart Samdech Hun Sen co-chaired the second Vietnam-Cambodia Investment Promotion Conference in Phnom Penh on Sunday. “The second Vietnam-Cambodia Investment Promotion Conference is significant and necessary for the current period as the event will serve as a channel for regular information exchange between the two countries and business circles,” Dung said. Dung, who was on a two-day visit to Cambodia that wrapped up Sunday, praised the outcomes of economic and trade cooperation attained by the two countries after the first conference, describing them as the...

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Posted in: Asia,Business,Vietnam

Vietnam plans fund to promote tra fish exports

Vietnam is the world's largest tra fish (pangasius) supplier The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has proposed creating a new fund to promote and support Vietnamese tra fish exports. Under the plan, tra fish (pangasius) exporters will contribute 1-2 US cents on every kilogram of fish they sell to the fund, which will also receive local and international donations. The fund will be used to promote the fish in the US and EU markets and develop strategies to protect Vietnamese exporters against false safety allegations and unfair trade barriers. Vietnam is the supplier of more than 95 percent of tra fish on the global market with an annual output of 1.5 million tons, the Vietnam Economic Times reported...

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Posted in: Business,Society,Vietnam

North Korea: Jimmy Carter arrives for nuclear talks

Former US President Jimmy Carter has arrived in the North Korean capital Pyongyang as part of a push to resolve the stand-off over the country's nuclear programme. The Elders group - seen here in Beijing - was formed four years ago by Nelson Mandela Mr Carter is taking part in a three-day visit by the group of former world leaders known as the Elders. They hope to meet North Korea's reclusive leader, Kim Jong-il. The group includes former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari and former Irish President Mary Robinson. As he left for Pyongyang, Mr Carter said that the group also hoped to meet Kim Jong-il's son and heir-apparent Kim Jong-un, according to AP. But he said he was unsure whether that would...

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Posted in: Asia,Politics,Society

Libya: Berlusconi backs Nato strikes by Italy jets

 Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has approved the use of his country's air force in Nato's Libya mission. Italy was ready to allow its jets to take "targeted military action", he said in a statement. Mr Berlusconi informed US President Barack Obama of his government's decision in a phone call Earlier, a Nato air strike badly damaged buildings in Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli. Nato is enforcing a UN resolution to protect civilians in Libya amid a revolt that began in February, inspired by other uprisings in the Arab world. Mr Berlusconi announced the decision after a telephone call with US President Barack Obama, and would also call other European leaders to brief them personally, said his statement. Italy...

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Posted in: Afica,Politics

China and US plan economic talks amid rising tensions

The value of yuan has become a hot political issue between China and US China and the United States have agreed to hold economic talks as tensions between the world's two biggest economies continue to rise. Top officials will meet in the US next month to discuss differences over trade and currency policies, says the US Treasury Department. The United States has accused China of keeping the value of its yuan currency artificially low to help exporters sell products or services abroad. China is the world's largest exporter. Currency wars The growth of the Chinese economy over the past few years has been powered by the success of its export sector. However, China's major trading partners, notably...

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Posted in: Asia,China,Society

Disguised karaoke and sex shops flourish

Tuoi Tre reporters recently visited illegal karaoke and sex shops that are operating under music recording licenses in Ho Chi Minh’s notorious districts. One of them was a business at No. 16 Nguyen Thai Binh Street in District 1. Outside this building were two sign boards that read “Restaurant Model” and “Thien Thien Thanh Restaurant Ltd” and inside were lots of sexy girls. On the evening of April 20, all of the 6 rooms inside the building were packed with foreigners who were served enthusiastically by young girls wearing short skirts. At a room on the second floor, 2 foreigners were drinking wine while ogling at scantily clad girls who were singing and twisting their bodies. At MN, another unlicensed karaoke shop on Phan...

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Posted in: Society,Vietnam

Storekeeper found hanging in police custody

The warehouse head of Korean tire maker Kumho in Binh Duong was yesterday found hanging at a local police station where he had been held for questioning over missing goods. The Ben Cat District police found Nguyen Cong Nhat, 30, dead, apparently after he had hanged himself with a telephone wire in the meeting room of the police station. Nhat, 30, of Tien Giang Province, had been head of a finished goods warehouse at the local My Phuoc III Industrial Park from where Kumho had lost some 6,000 tires worth over VND6 billion (US$289,000) last year. Last Thursday the Ben Cat police had called in Nhat for questioning, Nguyen Thi Thanh Tuyen, his wife, said. Nhat’s family has yet to agree to an autopsy on his body. The police are investigating. Tuoitrenews...

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Posted in: Business,Society,Vietnam

Syrian Tanks Roll Into Cities as Security Crackdown Kills At Least 18

Soldiers take up position near a tank on a street in a location given as Daraa on April 25, 2011, in this still image taken from an amateur video. Witnesses say several thousand Syrian army troops, flanked by special forces, shot their way into the southern city of Daraa before dawn Monday, causing numerous casualties. Tanks reportedly began the assault, shelling the city as they moved in from four sides.Videos distributed by human rights activists show black smoke over the city center and fires burning as shell-fire crackled in the background. Reports say Syrian special forces stormed private homes to make arrests, Witnesses say snipers began shooting from rooftops and many victims remain lying in the streets.Jordanian authorities...

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Posted in: Mid-East,Politics