Category Archives: Vietnam

Theatre group pulls play from Sheffield venue staging Miss Saigon

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New Earth Theatre said ‘damaging tropes, misogyny and racism’ in show contradict its values

A touring theatre company has pulled a play from the Sheffield Crucible because of the venue’s decision to also stage Miss Saigon, a musical often criticised for its portrayal of the Vietnam war and Vietnamese people.

In a statement, New Earth Theatre, a company of British east and south-east Asian (BESEA) artists and co-producers Storyhouse said: “Miss Saigon remains a very contentious musical since its release over 30 years ago … The damaging tropes, misogyny and racism inherent in the show completely contradict [our] values and beliefs.”

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Albanese meeting with Chinese premier heralds potential thaw in diplomatic freeze

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Meeting with Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, is first between leaders of Australia and China since 2019

Anthony Albanese has met the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, at a gala dinner in Cambodia, opening the first leader-to-leader dialogue between the two countries since 2019.

The Australian prime minister’s office confirmed on Sunday the two leaders had a brief exchange after arriving at the dinner in Phnom Penh. The last conversation between the leaders of the two countries occurred when Scott Morrison and Li met in 2019.

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‘Nature is striking back’: flooding around the world, from Australia to Venezuela

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Heavy rain and rising waters continue to take a deadly toll in countries including Nigeria, Thailand and Vietnam

It has been a drenched 2022 for many parts of the world, at times catastrophically so. A year of disastrous flooding perhaps reached its nadir in Pakistan, where a third of the country was inundated by heavy rainfall from June, killing more than 1,000 people in what António Guterres, the UN secretary general, called an unprecedented natural disaster.

While floods are indeed natural phenomena, a longstanding result of storms, the human-induced climate crisis is amplifying their damage. Rising sea levels, driven by melting glaciers and the thermal expansion of water, are increasingly inundating coastal areas, while warmer temperatures are causing more moisture to accumulate in the atmosphere, which is then released as rain or snow.

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BBC accused of endangering World Service Vietnamese staff

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Cost-cutting plan to move staff from London to Bangkok will put them at risk of abduction, reporters say

Journalists at the BBC World Service have said plans to move its Vietnamese service from London to Thailand pose a danger to press freedom.

Several reporters at the World Service raised concerns that the Vietnamese state had a history of abducting journalists from Thailand. They also suggested that BBC bosses failed to comprehend that just because both countries were in south-east Asia, it did not mean Vietnamese people were naturally at home in Thailand.

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Weather tracker: Typhoon Noru wreaks havoc across south-east Asia

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As Hurricane Ian hits the Americas, Noru has been ripping through the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand

Hurricane Ian has been in the headlines but it is not the only storm that has been causing havoc in the past week.

On Tuesday, Typhoon Noru struck south of the city of Da Nang in Vietnam, heading westwards to Thailand. Initially a tropical storm, Noru originated in the Philippine Sea on 23 September, propagating westwards while gathering moisture and strengthening.

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Myanmar model who criticised junta says Canada has granted her asylum

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Thaw Nandar Aung, AKA Han Lay, feared being sent home after she was stopped at Thai border last week

A Myanmar fashion model who was denied entry to Thailand and feared arrest by the military government in Yangon if she was forced back home from exile has flown to Canada, which she says has granted her asylum.

Thaw Nandar Aung, also known as Han Lay, left on a flight from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport early on Wednesday, according to Archayon Kraithong, a deputy commissioner of Thailand’s Immigration Bureau. He said he was not authorised to reveal her destination.

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Leading environmentalists decry crackdown on Vietnam climate activists

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Letter from Goldman prize winners aims to block country’s bid to join UN’s human rights council over its jailing of campaigners

More than 50 winners of the world’s most prestigious environmental prize are calling on the UN to reject a bid by Vietnam to join the international organization’s human rights council (UNHRC) amid a crackdown on the country’s climate activists.

In a letter sent on Wednesday, 52 past winners of the Goldman prize for environmentalists have urged the UNHRC to vote against the application from Vietnam, where authorities have this year jailed four climate leaders on disputed tax charges.

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Vietnam urged to free green activist Nguy Thi Khanh as it bids to join UN rights body

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Goldman laureates raise concerns over Vietnam’s record on suppressing environmental protest

More than 50 Goldman environmental prize laureates from 41 countries have written to the UN human rights council as it considers admitting Vietnam as a new member.

In the letter, which comes as the council meets for its 51st session (12 September – 7 October), the prize winners raise concerns over Vietnam’s human rights record, in particular the sentencing in June of Nguy Thi Khanh, a fellow Goldman prize winner and Vietnam’s best-known environmental advocate, to two years’ imprisonment for alleged tax evasion.

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‘A leader of the world’: south-east Asian countries open to Putin pivot

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Only Singapore has imposed sanctions, while others have been receptive to Moscow’s offers of friendship

The head of Myanmar’s military junta beamed with joy as he shook hands with Vladimir Putin this week. “We would call you not just the leader of Russia but a leader of the world because you control and organise stability around the whole world,” Min Aung Hlaing said.

His remarks came as Putin claimed in a defiant speech that European efforts to isolate Russia would fail: instead, he would pivot to Asia.

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Vietnam declares being LGBTQ+ is ‘not an illness’ in victory for gay rights

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Campaigners hail landmark decision as a ‘huge paradigm shift’ in attitudes towards sexuality

Being gay, bisexual or transgender should not be considered an illness and cannot be treated, the Vietnam government has announced in “a huge paradigm shift” in LGBTQ+ rights in the country.

The Ministry of Health said medical professionals should treat LGBTQ+ people with respect and ensure they are not discriminated against.

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New arrival to UK among four victims of Oldham mill fire

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Police name four Vietnamese nationals who died in Greater Manchester in May

A 21-year-old man who arrived in Britain only eight months ago is believed to be among four Vietnamese nationals who died in a mill fire in Greater Manchester in May.

Greater Manchester police (GMP) have released the identities of the four men for the first time after the remains of three victims were recovered from the building in Oldham.

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‘Napalm girl’ Phan Thi Kim Phuc receives final burn treatment after 50 years

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Phuc, pictured in 1972 running from napalm attack during Vietnam war, has final laser treatment in Miami

Phan Thi Kim Phuc, whose photograph became a symbol of the horrors of the Vietnam war, has had her final skin treatment with a burn specialist, 50 years after her village was struck by napalm.

Phuc was photographed aged nine as she ran, unclothed and screaming in agony, after napalm was dropped by a South Vietnamese Skyraider attack aircraft. Nick Ut, the photographer who captured the image in June 1972, drove her away to find medical treatment.

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US calls on Vietnam to release environmental activist Nguy Thi Khanh

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Award-winning founder of green development centre was arrested on tax evasion charges in February

The US government has said it is “deeply concerned” by the sentencing of the Vietnamese environmental advocate and activist Nguy Thi Khanh and called on Vietnam to release her.

Khanh, Vietnam’s first recipient of the prestigious Goldman environmental prize, was reported in February to have been arrested on tax evasion charges. The founder of the Green Innovation and Development Centre was detained in January.

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Vietnamese man extradited to Germany over oil executive kidnapping

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Fugitive Vietnamese state company official Trinh Xuan Thanh was abducted from Berlin park in July 2017

A Vietnamese man has been extradited to Germany to face charges of taking part in a brazen cold war-style kidnapping of an oil executive ordered by Hanoi, prosecutors have said.

The suspect, identified only as Anh TL, was sent to Germany from the Czech Republic after he was detained in Prague last month on the basis of German and European arrest warrants.

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Vietnamese man tries to row dinghy from Thailand to India to see wife

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Ho Hoang Hung set off with no navigation system after spending two years apart because of Covid restrictions

A Vietnamese man who tried to row 2,000 kilometres (1,240 miles) from Thailand to India to see his wife has been taken into custody after being rescued off the Thai coast.

Ho Hoang Hung set off from the holiday island of Phuket in an inflatable rubber dinghy, equipped with water and instant noodles but no navigation system, planning to cross the Bay of Bengal not long before the start of cyclone season.

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At least 13 people dead after tourist boat sinks off Vietnam coast

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Two children are among four people missing after the boat capsized as it was returning to Hội An

At least 13 people were killed and four others are missing after a tourist boat capsized on Saturday in bad weather off the coast of Hội An, a world heritage-listed Vietnamese city, an official said.

The accident occurred as the vessel carrying 39 local tourists and crew members was returning to Hội An from Cu Lao Cham island – a popular spot for diving, snorkelling and water sports.

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Vietnamese activists routinely placed under house arrest, report finds

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Authorities regularly detain environmentalists, rights campaigners and dissidents to prevent them travelling or attending events, says Human Rights Watch

The Vietnamese government is routinely placing activists under arbitrary house arrest, employing tactics including stationing guards outside their homes, setting up roadblocks nearby and using superglue and padlocks to jam their doors shut, according to a report.

The study by Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented cases involving 170 rights activists, bloggers, dissidents and their family members who were prevented from domestic and international travel between 2004 and 2021. The real number of those affected is likely to be higher, the report warned.

Those targeted had worked on various issues, from land rights and environmental activism, to advocating for media freedom and the rights of political prisoners, to participating in anti-China protests.

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Award-winning Vietnamese environmentalist arrested as rights groups fear ‘clamp down’

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Green energy activist Nguy Thi Khanh, recipient of the Goldman prize, is latest activist to be detained on tax-related charges

Nguy Thi Khanh, Vietnam’s first recipient of the prestigious Goldman environmental prize, has been arrested on tax evasion charges.

The founder of the Green Innovation and Development Centre was detained last month, but her detention was confirmed by state media on Wednesday.

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Covid live news: Canadian capital declares state of emergency over protests; Vietnam reopens schools after year-long closure

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Residents furious as protesters opposed to Covid-19 restrictions paralyse Ottawa; more than 17 million Vietnamese students due to return to school

Sajid Javid, the UK health secretary, has said he believes the NHS waiting list is going to grow even more due to 8-9 million people who have stayed away during the pandemic.

Speaking on Sky News, he urged those who have stayed away to “please come forward”.

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‘It has been three years’: Australian activist’s wife pleads for government help in freeing him from Vietnam jail

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Chau Van Kham’s family urges Australian government to intervene as 72-year-old remains in prison for his pro-democracy work

The Vietnamese New Year, Tet Nguyen Dan, is a time of family reunion and feasting, of wishes of good fortune and health.

For three years now, Quynh Trang Truong has spent the Tet festival without her husband, Chau Van Kham, who languishes in a Vietnamese prison on terrorism charges, described by human rights groups as a “travesty of justice”.

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