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