Two of them have climbed the rankings compared with last year.
Five Vietnamese universities have retained their places in Asia’s top 400 this year, with one keeping its spot unchanged, two securing higher positions and two falling in the rankings.
Vietnam National University-Hanoi maintained its 139th position, the highest of the five Vietnamese schools in the QS Asia University Rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), a UK-based company specializing in education and overseas studies.
Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City climbed five spots to 147th in the rankings, while Hanoi University of Science and Technology made it into the top 300.
Can Tho University and Hue University both slipped into the top 400.
This is the first year that QS has expanded its Asia rankings to 400 schools.
It uses ten indicators to compile the rankings: academic reputation, employer reputation, faculty/student ratio, citations per paper and papers per faculty, staff with a PhD, proportion of international faculty and proportion of international students, proportion of inbound exchange students and proportion of outbound exchange student.
The first five criteria account for 85 percent of the scores.
Leading the way at the top of this year’s rankings are two universities from Singapore, with Nanyang Technological University (NTU) pipping last year’s number one National University of Singapore (NUS) to claim top spot.
In the rest of the top 10, Hong Kong was the most represented country with four universities. In total, 17 different countries were included in this year’s rankings.
In September, Vietnam released its first-ever university ranking with Vietnam National University-Hanoi topping the list of 49 schools.
The Vietnamese ranking was compiled by a group of independent experts based on three criteria: scientific research, education quality, and infrastructure and management, with the first two accounting for 80 percent of the scores.
H&M, the world’s leading fashion company, is making preparations for the opening of its second store in the Vietnamese market on November 11.
The new outlet follows the success of their flagship store which opened in HCM City two months ago.
Located at the centre of Vincom Mega Mall Royal City, the new store will introduce H&M’s latest designs for women, men, and kids, with shoes and accessories at reasonable prices, including a range of Basics products, which are favoured by customers.
Fredrik Famm, country manager of H&M Southeast Asia said the company is constantly looking for new locations to open additional stores and bring the best quality fashion products to Vietnamese consumers at affordable prices.
The new store will raise the curtain for shoppers from 10:30am to 10:00pm with live performances from DJs, and gifts for the first visitors. After the opening day, customers can enjoy shopping from 9:30am to 10:00pm every day.
Meanwhile, Zara is also stepping up preparations to open its second store in Hanoi on November 9 at Vincom Ba Trieu. Zara launched its first store in HCM City in September 2016.
The central city of Da Nang will host the Asia Pacific Golf Summit (APGS) on November 14, following the APEC Economic Leaders Week.
Vice Director of the city’s tourism department Nguyen Xuan Binh said the golf summit would draw together developers, golf course owners and operators, club general managers, golf course superintendents and the golf trade from Asia Pacific member economies.
He said the Asia Pacific Inter-Club Golf Tournament would be staged at the Da Nang Golf Resort on that day.
The event will be a fun-filled networking opportunity for ASEAN member economies, including Vietnam.
This is the eleventh Asia Pacific Golf Summit. It will continue to provide a platform for debate on the opportunities for the golf industry in the Asia Pacific.
Vietnam has 32 golf courses nationwide. Sixty others are planned, but golfers accounted for a mere half of one per cent of the 10 million tourists visiting Vietnam in 2016.
At the sixth Asia Golf Tourism Convention (AGTC) in Da Nang last year, the city announced that it earned 68 million USD in 2016 from golf tourism. It expects to increase this to 186 million USD in the next five years when three more golf courses open.
According to the International Association of Golf Tour Operators, 169 golf tourism companies operating in Asia plan to expand into Vietnam.
The International Association of Golf Tour Operators in cooperation with Da Nang’s Tourism department has built a strategy to develop golf tourism for Da Nang in 2017-22.
Da Nang and the neighbouring provinces of Quang Nam and Thua Thien-Hue are popular sites in central Vietnam, with beautiful golf courses designed by Nick Faldo, Greg Norman, Collin Montgomerie and Luke Donald.
Last year, the Ba Na Hills Golf Club in Da Nang was named Best New Golf Course in Asia and the Pacific at the Asian Golf Awards of the Asian Golf Association, and was first runner-up as Best Golf Course in Vietnam.
Researcher said the flaw may also allow an attacker ‘to inject ransomware or other malware into websites.’
A newly discovered flaw in the widely used Wi-Fi encryption protocol could leave millions of users vulnerable to attacks, prompting warnings Monday from the US government and security researchers worldwide.
The US government’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) issued a security bulletin saying the flaw can open the door to hackers seeking to eavesdrop on or hijack devices using wireless networks.
“Exploitation of these vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to take control of an affected system,” said CERT, which is part of the US Department of Homeland Security.
The agency’s warning came on the heels of research by computer scientists at the Belgian university KU Leuven, who dubbed the flaw KRACK, for Key Reinstallation Attack.
According to the news site Ars Technica, the discovery was a closely guarded secret for weeks to allow Wi-Fi systems to develop security patches.
Attackers can exploit the flaw in WPA2 — the name for the encryption protocol — “to read information that was previously assumed to be safely encrypted,” said a blog post by KU Leuven researcher Mathy Vanhoef.
“This can be abused to steal sensitive information such as credit card numbers, passwords, chat messages, emails, photos, and so on. The attack works against all modern protected Wi-Fi networks.”
The KRACK vulnerability allows attackers to circumvent the “key” on a Wi-Fi connection that keeps data private.
The Belgian researchers said in a paper that devices on all operating systems may be vulnerable to KRACK, including 41 percent of Android devices.
‘Be afraid’
The newly discovered flaw was serious because of the ubiquity of Wi-Fi and the difficulty in patching millions of wireless systems, according to researchers.
“Wow. Everyone needs to be afraid,” said Rob Graham of Errata Security in a blog post.
“It means in practice, attackers can decrypt a lot of Wi-Fi traffic, with varying levels of difficulty depending on your precise network setup.”
Alex Hudson, of the British-based digital service firm Iron Group, said the discovery means that “security built into Wi-Fi is likely ineffective, and we should not assume it provides any security.”
Hudson said Wi-Fi users who browse the internet should still be safe due to encryption on most websites but that the flaw could affect a number of internet-connected devices.
“Almost certainly there are other problems that will come up, especially privacy issues with cheaper Internet-enabled devices that have poor security,” Hudson said in a blog post.
Researchers at Finland-based security firm F-Secure said in a statement the discovery highlights longstanding concerns about Wi-Fi systems’ vulnerability.
“The worst part of it is that it’s an issue with Wi-Fi protocols, which means it affects practically every single person in the world that uses Wi-Fi networks,” F-Secure said in a statement.
The F-Secure researchers said wireless network users can minimize the risks by using virtual private networks, and by updating devices including routers.
The Wi-Fi Alliance, an industry group which sets standards for wireless connections, said computer users should not panic.
“There is no evidence that the vulnerability has been exploited maliciously, and Wi-Fi Alliance has taken immediate steps to ensure users can continue to count on Wi-Fi to deliver strong security protections,” the group said in a statement.
“Wi-Fi Alliance now requires testing for this vulnerability within our global certification lab network and has provided a vulnerability detection tool for use by any Wi-Fi Alliance member.”
Microsoft said it released a patch on October 10 to protect users of Windows devices.
“Customers who have Windows Update enabled and applied the security updates, are protected automatically,” Microsoft said.
A Google spokesman said, “We’re aware of the issue, and we will be patching any affected devices in the coming weeks.”
The city and its Southeast Asian peers Jakarta and Manila prop up the index in the bottom 10.
Vietnam’s southern metropolis Saigon has been ranked 56th out of 60 cities around the world in the latest Safe Cities Index compiled by The Economist, which measures cities’ personal, health, infrastructure and digital risks.
The only Vietnamese city named on the index, Saigon finished in the bottom 10 along with its Southeast Asian peers Yangon, Manila and Jakarta. Bangkok was ranked 49th while Kuala Lumpur made it to 31st, according to the report released last week.
The city was placed in 48th position out of 50 cities measured in 2015, when the index was first launched.
Despite being considered Vietnam’s largest commercial center and one of the biggest cities in Southeast Asia, Saigon is described in the report as among the low-income cities that “often lack technology skills, where competing challenges such as tackling infectious diseases can push cyber security lower on the list of priorities.”
Saigon is the most crowded city in Vietnam and home to 13 million people. Traffic, flooding and air pollution are possibly its biggest problems, besides food safety and street crime.
The city scored badly in terms of personal security, only above Caracas in Venezuela and Pakistan’s capital Karachi. It also scored badly in the digital security category, while its health score ranked 48th and infrastructure performance was 46th.
The city, which has become a popular destination recommended by many international travel sites, received around 4.2 million foreign visitors in the first half of this year, up 16 percent from a year ago.
It’s not clear how much the new report will affect tourism development or investment.
The Economist said the world’s urban population has grown by more than 150 million people since it launched the index, raising the total number of people living in cities to more than four billion. Most of the urbanization occurred in the developing world where massive migration from rural areas has been seen, it said.
The top half of the index is filled up entirely by developed cities except for Buenos Aires, which ranked 29th.
Tokyo topped the index as the world’s safest city, followed by Singapore and Osaka. The top 10 was completed by Toronto, Melbourne, Amsterdam, Sydney, Stockholm, Hong Kong and Zurich.
US President Donald Trump will travel to Hanoi for an official visit after participating in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Danang next month, according to a statement from the White House.
The statement from the US Press Secretary on President Trump’s upcoming travel to Asia released on October 16 said that Trump will travel to Danang on November 10 to participate in the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting and deliver a speech at the APEC CEO Summit.
“In the speech, the president will present the United States’ vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific region and underscore the important role the region plays in advancing America’s economic prosperity, the statement said.
On November 11, Trump will travel to Hanoi for an official visit and bilateral engagements with President Tran Dai Quang and other senior Vietnamese leaders.
The White House’s statement said that President Trump will commence his visit to Asia beginning with Japan on November 5. He will also visit the Republic of Korea on November 7, and China on November 8.
After two days in Vietnam on November 10 and 11, President Trump will arrive in Manila, Philippines, on November 12 to participate in the Special Gala Celebration Dinner for the 50th Anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). On November 13, the President will celebrate the 40th anniversary of U.S.-ASEAN relations at the U.S.-ASEAN Summit and participate in bilateral meetings with President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines and other leaders
A total of 380.22 million shares are offered in an indicative range of $1.63-1.79 each.
Vincom Retail, the shopping mall subsidiary of Vingroup, launched on Monday Vietnam’s largest-ever initial public offering (IPO), in a deal worth up to $713 million, International Financial Review reported, citing a term sheet of the deal.
The IPO consists of 380.22 million shares in the institutional tranche and another 19 million for the retail tranche, offered in an indicative range of VND37,000 to 40,600 ($1.63-1.79) each, added IFR, a Thomson Reuters publication.
That would put the offering at up to VND16.2 trillion ($713 million), with all proceeds going to Vincom Retail’s private equity investors and other shareholders.
Vingroup did not immediately responded to a request for comment on the IPO terms.
Vincom Retail JSC, the Vietnamese mall operator backed by American private equity firm Warburg Pincus, has expanded its portfolio from fewer than five properties to around 40 malls totaling 1.1 million square meters (11.8 million square feet) since 2013, Bloomberg said in a report.
The company has more than 60 percent market share in the country’s modern retail industry, it said.
Suck it up and forget what’s on the plate in front of you for a lively taste of Vietnam.
Diverse in tastes and ingredients, Vietnamese cuisine has won the hearts of many foreigners for its elegance and novelty.
But if you only try the eye-catching, attractive looking dishes, you are definitely missing out on one of the best things about Vietnamese cuisine: adventure!
So, we dare you to try all these dishes.
Coconut worms
Coconut worm, a form of beetle larvae, are a specialty of the Mekong Delta. There are at least 10 different ways of cooking them, but some people believe that coconut worms taste best when they are still alive.
It may be a little scary at first when the worms are still wiggling in your chopsticks, but don’t worry and just enjoy the explosive taste.
Want more flavor? Try it with a little fish sauce and don’t forget a glass of cold beer.
Blood pudding
As the name suggests, this dish is made from the blood of mostly pigs and ducks and seasoned with fish sauce.
It is served as an appetizer. However, the dish is not highly recommended since it may contain harmful bacteria that can lead to foodborne diseases.
Fermented shrimp paste
Shrimp paste is an indispensable part of Vietnamese cuisine. It’s smelly but tasty.
Sometimes compared to Australia vegemite, fermented shrimp paste is a popular dipping sauce served along with rice vermicelli dishes.
Thanks to the increased popularity of Vietnamese food, shrimp paste has won over many foreign fans.
Cobra heart wine
Do you have the courage to drink a glass of Vietnamese rice wine with a beating snake heart inside? It sounds scary but not to worry, just breathe and drink. And remember, do not chew the heart, just swallow it.
This kind of wine is believed to have many health benefits, including enhancing men’s sexual prowess.
“Kong” director Jordan Vogt-Roberts and chef Gordon Ramsey tried it. How about you?
Following Oppo, other Chinese smartphone brands have been entering Vietnam, creating competition for other brands.
The list of best sellers in the first six months of the year made public by The Gioi Di Dong and FPT Shop, the two largest smartphone distribution chains, includes the products of three manufacturers – Samsung, Oppo and Apple.
The list has stayed unchanged for the last few years.
However, a new name unexpectedly turned up in the Q3 list. In FPT Shop’s list of top 10 models, one can see Y55S, a model of Vivo, in the eighth position.
As such, for the first time, a Chinese name joined the ranks of the most powerful manufacturers in Vietnam.
While other giants such as Sony, HTC, Asus and LG have disappeared from the list, a new Chinese brand has appeared. Analysts commented that in Vietnam, like other markets, Chinese smartphone makers are turning up pressure on Apple and Samsung as phone sales rise.
Huawei recently appointed a new director in Vietnam and stated that the Chinese brand would be in top two smartphone manufacturers by 2020, a very ambitious plan.
In the market survey by GfK in May 2017, Huawei and Vivo were in the sixth and seventh positions. However, there was a very small gap between them and Vietnam’s Mobiistar. This means that the two Chinese brands may outstrip the Vietnamese brand one day.
The Chinese brands may also target the third position, but this is a difficult task. The two brands now hold 2 percent of market share, while Apple, which is now in the second position, has 8.88 percent of market share.
At a new model launching ceremony, when Xiaomi’s Donovan Sung was asked about the users’ attitude towards Chinese brands like Xiaomi, he said he knows Vietnamese users’ attitude toward Chinese products is changing step by step.
“We are trying to create products with high quality which bear comparison with global brands,” he said.
Xiaomi introduced Mi Mix, a model with a design different from most models available in the market with integrated technologies.
Jim Xu, vice president of Huawei, said one year ago that Huawei will invest in R&D, and would make products for the European and US markets first, and once its quality is confirmed, will enter smaller markets.
“It seems that the more they are discriminated against, the more Chinese manufacturers are determined to prove their capability,” a distributor said.
The launch of the first foreign-own petrol station last week is expected to introduce changes in Viet Nam’s fuel retail market, contributing to making it truly competitive, however, there are early warning signs.
Idemitsu Q8, a joint venture between Japan’s Idemitsu and Kuwait Petroleum International Ltd, opened its first petrol station on October 5 at Thang Long Industrial Park in Ha Noi’s Dong Anh District.
With Japanese-quality services and guarantee to sell petrol with a less than 0.01 litre margin for error, Idemitsu Q8 has impressed Vietnamese buyers, who had got accustomed to the services of local sellers. The image of Idemitsu Q8 general director Hiroaki Honjo standing in the rain bowing in gratitude to customers visiting the petrol station earlier this week, in particular, made a notable impression.
Le Thi Hong Van, a worker who visited Idemitsu Q8’s station to buy gasoline, told HCM City Law Newspaper: “I am surprised by the friendly manner of the staff here. I hope gasoline stations of Vietnamese companies can improve their service quality.”
Expert Ngo Tri Long said the participation of a wholly foreign-owned retailer in the petrol market was like a breath of fresh air and posed both opportunities and challenges for players in the market.
Long said it was critical for local players to make changes to compete, which would drive the retail petrol market towards more competitiveness and transparency.
What made Idemitsu Q8 gain customers’ trust was service quality, Long said, adding that Vietnamese consumers were particularly concerned about fuel quantity, quality, prices and service quality.
Long said there was modest room for players to compete in terms of prices because the Government of Viet Nam still set a ceiling price for petrol.
Phan The Rue, chairman of the Viet Nam Petrol and Oil Association, said the fuel market was only partially competitive, adding that only if retailers were allowed to decide prices, would it could create real competition.
Rue said the Government should not set the ceiling price, but instead set the price range for each period.
Rue also warned that foreign firms should not be given a free hand to dominate the domestic fuel market because fuel was a strategic product.
Based on Viet Nam’s commitments to trade agreements, the country has not opened up its petrol retail market to foreign companies as energy is vital to a country, Long said.
However, Viet Nam encouraged foreign companies with investments in oil refinery in the country to sell products in the market, according to Long. Thus, Idemitsu Q8, which currently holds 35.1 stake at Nghi Son Oil Refinery, has invested in petrol retailing.
Tran Thi Phuong Lan, deputy director of the Ha Noi Department of Industry and Trade, was quoted by the newspaper as saying that licensing for Idemitsu Q8 was compliant with the established law.
A representative from Petrolimex, which holds nearly half the market share in petrol retailing with around 2,700 stations nation-wide, said it was ready for fair and transparency competition in the market.
According to economic expert Luu Bich Ho, a similar competition lesson was seen in the way car-hailing services firms Uber and Grab with advanced technologies, convenience and appropriateness to customers’ demand won the market shares from traditional taxi firms.
Ho said that the petrol retailing market should have an operation mechanism which encourage firms to compete and develop.
Petrol and oil retailing is now regulated by the Government’s Decree No 83/2014/ND-CP.
There are now around 30 wholesalers, 120 traders and 14,000 petrol stations nation-wide.
The Navigos Group, the leading recruitment company in Vietnam and the owner of online recruitment portal VietnamWorks and executive search firm Navigos Search, released a report on October 10 on recruitment demand for senior and middle-level managers in Vietnam during the third quarter of this year, based on recruitment requests to Navigos Search.
Recruitment demand for senior and middle-level positions by Navigos Search clients are continuously increasing. In the third quarter of this year, the number of such job orders rose 19 per cent year-on-year.
Industries that have the highest recruitment demands for these positions include manufacturing, consumer goods and retail, ICT, banking and finance, and services. Demand for senior and middle-level managers in manufacturing continued to dominate, with 35 per cent of the total, primarily in construction and electrical and electronics.
Consumer goods and retail followed, with the majority of recruitment requests coming from food and beverage and fashion businesses.
ICT was third, mostly in IT services and systems integration. Most positions sought to be filled were managers and engineers experienced in different programming languages.
In banking and finance, the greatest recruitment demand was from banks, insurance companies, and consumer finance companies. In services, recruitment demand was mainly from companies in advertising and marketing.
Renewable energy forecast to grow in near future
Vietnam has great potential for solar power as it’s in the equatorial region. There were not many opportunities for renewable energy projects in the past, however, due to the high cost of solar cells, raising investment costs. Recently, the cost of buying and installing solar panels has fallen significantly, and at the same time the government has mechanisms to encourage investment in solar energy, which has in turn attracted more investors.
Many solar energy projects from foreign investors are being proposed in a large number of localities throughout the country. Thermal power is also forecast to continue to expand to meet electricity demand for production and life.
With the potential for remarkable development in the years to come, the labor market in the power sector is expected to thrive after a long period of quiet.
‘Everything darkened around me as Mr. Harvey Weinstein stood there smiling at me with just a towel on his hip.’
A Vietnamese actress who appeared briefly in the 2010 thriller “Shanghai” produced by Harvey Weinstein has accused the now notorious Hollywood producer of harassing her while offering to give her a bigger role.
Vu Thu Phuong, an actress and supermodel, shared the story for the first time on her social media page a week after leading U.S. newspapers revealed a history of sexual harassment allegations against Weinstein that prompted the company he co-founded to fire him.
It all happened nine years ago when she was cast for the drama mystery thriller whose release reportedly hit some delays due to problems with the Chinese government.
“I read a report about Mr. Harvey today and memories threw back like it was yesterday. I think I cannot be silent anymore,” the 32-year-old said in her post.
This is her story.
In 2008, she took an audition in Saigon and was originally cast for a supporting role in “Shanghai” as a spy who speaks both Chinese and English and appears alongside the world-famous Li Gong in several scenes.
That was the first time she met Weinstein, and their encounters picked up nicely. He visited her fashion store in Saigon, offering to promote her designs in Hollywood and gifting her design books.
Several days after filming started in Thailand, Weinstein told her that her English was not good enough and that she would be switched to a smaller role, which appeared for just a few seconds in the final production.
Vu Thu Phuong (left) appears as an extra in “Shanghai”.
The production unit explained that many of her scenes had to be removed for political reasons and offered to recruit her for another Hollywood project.
For further discussion, she agreed to meet with Weinstein at his hotel room in Hollywood.
“His assistant asked me to wait for him as he was on a conference call. She sat with me for around five minutes and then she asked to go fetch some documents.
“I was there alone and felt pretty anxious thinking what the new movie would be like.
“I browsed through several books and when I heard someone clearing their throat, I looked up.
“Everything darkened around me as Mr. Harvey Weinstein stood there smiling at me with just a towel on his hip.”
He asked if she was ready to step into Hollywood and play some sex scenes, Phuong claims.
He told her that the new movie would require some sex scenes and he could teach her, asking her to see it as an experience she needed to go through to be stronger and advance her career.
Phuong stumbled with her words as she asked to go back to her room.
“My legs and arms were trembling. I had to press one hand on another to keep them calm. It felt terrible. My head was so strained I thought it could pop out any time.”
He let her leave and she never returned, either to him or Hollywood.
Phuong said that when she arrived back in Vietnam, she was unable to talk about the hotel incident and was forced to listen to numerous media reports calling her a “liar” who had exaggerated her role, reports that left her wanting to die.
She said that after nine years of struggling with many difficult moments, she has almost forgiven Weinstein, and accepted that it is a rule of Hollywood.
But after reports of the investigation, she decided that he should be punished.
“There have been so many victims who have been living with much worse memories than me.
“I think I have a responsibility to speak up,” said Phuong, now married with two daughters.
Weinstein, a 65-year-old New York-born producer, has had a distinguished career in Hollywood. He is best known for “Gangs of New York” (2002), “Pulp Fiction” (1994) and “Shakespeare in Love” (1998), the latter winning him an Academy Award.
But all of that seems to have faded after a New York Times investigation earlier this month chronicled a hidden history of sexual harassment allegations against him and settlements he paid over three decades up to 2015. Many assaults involved former employees.
On October 10, The New Yorker also published a report that included multiple allegations of sexual assault, including forced oral and vaginal sex. Some of them date back to the 1990s.
Oscar winners Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow have joined a long list of actresses who have shared stories of harassment involving the movie mogul.
U.S. film producer Harvey Weinstein at London Fashion Week in 2014. Photo by Reuters/Olivia Harris
In a video shot outside his daughter’s Los Angeles home, his first public statement since the scandal broke, Weinstein said: “Guys, I’m not doing OK but I’m trying. I got to get help. You know what, we all make mistakes.”
“A second chance, I hope,” he said, as reported by ABC News on Thursday.
His spokeswoman Sallie Hofmeister earlier said, as cited by the Times, that “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. He will not be available for further comments as he is taking the time to focus on his family, on getting counseling and rebuilding his life.”
His wife since 2007, Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman, is reportedly looking for lawyers to file a divorce.
Vietnam’s veteran shooter, Hoang Xuan Vinh, retained his position at the top of the world men’s 10m air pistol rankings for October, which was recently announced by the International Shooting Federation (ISSF).
Vinh claimed the no. 1 place in the discipline following his triumph at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The Vietnamese marksman currently has 1,878 points, 377 points ahead of Tomoyuki Matsuda of Japan and nearly 700 points above the Olympic silver medalist, Felipe Almeida Wu of Brazil.
Another Vietnamese athlete, Tran Quoc Cuong, is placed in 26th place with just 130 points.
With regards to the 50m slow fire pistol event, Xuan Vinh ranks second in the world with 1,229 points, behind the Republic of Korea shooter, Jin Jongoh, with 2,231 points.
Le Thi Hoang Ngoc is the highest ranking female Vietnamese shooter this month, at 45th position in the women’s 10m air pistol standings.
Despite being the greatest hope of Vietnam’s shooting team at the recent 29th Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia, Hoang Xuan Vinh did not live up to expectations, missing out on the title in both of his favourite events, the 10m air pistol and 50m slow fire pistol.
The shooting star is expected to reclaim his top form at the 2018 Asian Games, scheduled to be held in Indonesia from August 18 to September 2.
A year-long cycling trip from Hungary to Viet Nam expands horizons and strengthen bonds and understanding. Hong Van has an endearing story.
As love stories go, there was nothing particularly surprising about Hungarian Peter Sas and Vietnamese Dong Thi Huong Linh meeting and tying the knot after a period of courtship.
Happens all the time.
However, that the affair started in Thai Nguyen Province is somewhat unusual. It is not often that a foreign exchange student chooses to do study in a locality based on his love for tea. The fact that the affair picked up again in Finland is a bit of a surprise too.
But what the couple did for their honeymoon a year after getting married makes their story something to write home about.
So, this love story begins in 2011, when Sas first came to Viet Nam under a student-exchange programme. The tea lover chose Thai Nguyen, the country’s largest tea producing province. He spent six months at Thai Nguyen University, where Linh was studying Environmental Engineering.
“I had visited several tea farms before yet the methods I saw at home and from tea connoisseurs were different from Viet Nam.
“In India and Nepal, people boil it with milk; in China, locals steep tea only for a few seconds for a light taste.
“But there, everyday, locals use way more tea leaves for one pot than anywhere else, and the leaves are well-steeped for a few minutes. The strongest and most bitter green tea can only be found in Viet Nam. The fresh tea is also unique here.”
After finishing his stint, Sas returned home, to Hungary, not knowing if he would meet Linh again.
“It was fate that six months after he left, I got a scholarship to pursue a masters degree in Finland. Sas then travelled from Hungary to Finland to see me, a day after I arrived,” said Linh.
In Finland, the relationship blossomed and led to marriage in 2015. But it was in 2014, in a pub in Hungary, that the seeds of an unusual honeymoon were sowed.
“The idea evoked slowly. We were in a pub, calculating how much money we had, how far we could travel and by which means of transport. Slowly, an idea came to me. Why don’t we do it on a bicycle, as I’d seen many others cycling around the world,” said Sas.
“We checked our finances, how big challenge we wanted… and then we decided that we would go from my home (Győr) to her home in Viet Nam. This route motivated us a lot, especially Linh, as it would be the first time she returned to Viet Nam since our marriage.”
Before starting off, the couple went on two biking trips around Europe, each lasting a week, so as to test their equipment and durability.
They eventually set off from Győr in August 2016. Despite preparing well, things get difficult.
“During the first week, I was mentally weak,” said Linh.
Sas had to encourage his wife a lot.
“From the next week, biking became a routine, just the destinations changed.” said Linh.
Iran, unmatched hospitality
To prepare for the trip, the couple spent half a year researching, reading reviews and learning from the experience of cyclists; and making logistics purchases.
They cycled through Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, and China before arriving at Linh’s home in August this year.
“With this trip, we have been through many difficult situations together: when one got sick and we couldn’t find any hospital; travelling through a sandstorm in Iran; experiencing other harsh weather conditions together. This made us understand the other much better,” said Linh.
No day was like another, but the general rule was to cycle in the morning, sightsee from 3 to 4pm, and finding lodging.
“Finding lodging was always stressful, but still a fun and interesting part of the day. We often roamed around, talking to random people. We found different solutions in different countries,” said Sas.
“In Europe, sometimes yes, sometimes no. In India, locals would show cheap hotels for us and in China, police were very helpful in finding accommodation for us,” Linh said.
“Most of the time in China, we went to the police to ask a place to camp. They found a hotel for us and sometimes even bargained for us or dropped us in a fancy hotel and offered us to stay there for free. Once, the police invited us to have dinner and we enjoyed the meal in a canteen with lots of police officers,” said Linh.
Meanwhile, in Iran, locals were willing to host whenever the couple asked.
“In the two months in Iran, we stayed either with locals or in the mosque. Every time we asked, there was always something we could find,” said Linh.
“The local hosts never charged us for lodging. If we tried to pay, they would get angry. Sometimes they even gave us money, jewellery and lots of gifts when they learnt we were on our honeymoon.
“From the first day, we enjoyed their kindness, and when our days were hard, we were down, there was always someone coming to help us out and make our day unbelievable.
“We have to tell people that it’s all wrong in the media. Iran is super safe and friendly. We didn’t have any problem during our stay here, not even the slightest,” said Linh.
The Ariyana International Convention Centre, a key facility in service of the upcoming APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting 2017, was officially inaugurated and put into use in the central coastal city of Da Nang on October 15, in the witness of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the Da Nang municipal leaders.
Work began on the convention centre in March 2016 and was completed ahead of schedule after 22 months, with the utmost aesthetic quality.
Covering an area of 12,000 square metres and being connected with the Furama Da Nang International Convention Palace, the Ariyana International Convention Centre has become the largest convention and workshop complex in Vietnam, accommodating up to 5,000 seats and 15 functional rooms, with the grand ballroom alone offering 2,500 seats.
Possessing unique and harmonious architectural works, the Ariyana International Convention Centre now stands ready for the largest international-level events.
The Ariyana and Furama Da Nang International Convention Centres complex will be the hosting venues for most of the events within the framework of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting 2017, including the APEC CEO Summit 2017.
The APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, which is the most important event of the Vietnam APEC Year 2017, is expected to welcome the leaders of 21 APEC member economies, together with around 10,000 domestic and international delegates, including leaders of leading regional and international groups and representatives from prestigious international organisations.
