<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><atom:link href="http://www.movevietnam.com/rss/newsen.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /><title>Move &amp; Buy Vietnam</title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com</link><description>The First International Market Place in Vietnam!</description><copyright>Copyright M&amp;B 2006</copyright><language>en</language><image>	<title>Move &amp; Buy Vietnam</title>	<url>http://www.movevietnam.com/design/logo-move-and-buy-vietnam.gif</url>	<link>http://www.movevietnam.com</link></image><pubDate>Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:01:02 +0100</pubDate><item><title><![CDATA[Jetstar Pacific to cut flights to Nha Trang]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-jetstar-pacific-to-cut-flights-to-nha-trang-en-577.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-jetstar-pacific-to-cut-flights-to-nha-trang-en-577.html</guid><pubDate>Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Vietnam’s second-largest airline Jetstar Pacific, 18-percent owned by Australia’s Qantas Airways Ltd., said it will drop flights to the central beach city of Nha Trang from next month due to rising fuel costs.

Instead, the unlisted airline would open three flights in late October and early November to link Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s commercial center, with Bangkok, Cambodia’s Siem Reap and Singapore, it said in a statement.

Oil fell 1.1 percent to settle at US$113.77 a barrel Friday, but it is still well above the $70 level used by Jetstar Pacific, Vietnam’s only low-cost airline, to build its operation plans last year.

Flights to Nha Trang will cease from September 5.

The route opened in June.

Fuel accounts for 60 percent of Jetstar Pacific’s flight costs, Deputy CEO Nguyen Thi Thuy Binh said.

“Building a new business plan will focus on prioritizing to tap the routes on which travel demand is high, so that would help the airline ease the financial impact from fuel prices,” Binh said in the statement.

Nha Trang is a popular beach resort in central Vietnam, 450 km (280 miles) northeast of HCMC.

National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines said it had started collecting a fuel surcharge of up to VND180,000 ($11) on one-way tickets for domestic flights as from Friday as a measure to cope with the rising fuel cost.

The airline said in July it made a loss of $5 million during the first half of this year after high oil prices forced it to spend more than its revenue.

Jetstar Pacific said it would gradually shift its fleet from Boeing 737-400 aircraft to fuel-saving Airbus planes under a plan to have 30 A320s by 2014, the first of which will be delivered late this month or in early September.

Qantas, which owns low-cost Jetstar airline, bought an 18 percent stake in Vietnam’s Pacific Airlines last year and said it will increase its holding to 30 percent by 2010.

Pacific Airlines renamed itself to Jetstar Pacific after the share sales.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Vietnam’s advertising sector facing hard sell]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-vietnam’s-advertising-sector-facing-hard-sell-en-576.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-vietnam’s-advertising-sector-facing-hard-sell-en-576.html</guid><pubDate>Sun, 17 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[The going gets tough as companies respond to economic factors by cutting their advertising budgets.

Newspaper and television advertising sales are down as businesses react to Vietnam’s high inflation and slower economic growth.

The director of a media planning and buying agency, who wished to be unnamed, said his company’s revenue from advertising had dropped 30 percent over the past few months because some agents had cut spending on advertising.

Some businesses that had signed long-term contracts with the agency had recently broken the deals, preferring to pay break fees rather than honoring the deals, she said.

The director said her company had several pages of advertising space in newspapers but was not attracting enough ads to fill the space.

Not long ago, Vietnamese TV series were considered a fertile land for commercials.

But now businesses, with their tightened advertising budgets, have become less interested in buying air time during TV series, especially after so many serials were panned by both critics and viewers.

One advertising executive said a television series produced by his company was set to be aired soon but he cannot find enough clients to sell advertising spots.

“We are allocated air time during each episode for commercials and if we cannot find clients we suffer losses,” said the executive, who wished to remain anonymous.

Some agencies have been offering discounted advertising rates so they have some money to pay the production costs of their series.

“We have to try everything to attract clients because TV series have become less popular recently,” an advertising agency executive said.

Another agency said it was focusing on selling advertising spots and spaces to large companies first.

After it reaches a certain level of sales, the TV channels and newspapers often offer discounted rates, which can then be offered to smaller companies.

Nicole Vooijs, chief executive officer of advertising agency GroupM Vietnam, said her clients used to increase their advertising budgets every year but now she expected some of them will cut this year’s budgets by 1 or 2 percent.

Hoang Kim, director of another media planning agency, said his clients had become more demanding lately.

They wanted to reduce the size of their advertisements in newspapers, reduce the frequency of television commercials and start promoting their products on radio, he said.

Kim said the clients’ decision to cut their advertising budgets was taking a toll on his company’s bottom line.

At a recent seminar in Ho Chi Minh City, Professor John Quelch from Harvard Business School said when businesses cut spending on advertising it did not mean they no longer wanted to promote their products and services.

These businesses needed the help of advertising companies to promote their images in less expensive ways, for example through public relations and sponsorship activities.

Vooijs said local businesses often had limited financial resources and didn’t allocate much money to advertising campaigns.

She said during the first six to nine month phase of an advertising campaign these businesses could organize events and conferences to present themselves to the public.

After assessing the results of the first phase, her advertising company selects the best media platform available to promote their products and services in the long term, Vooijs said.

Sabyasachi Mishra, managing director of LOWE Vietnam, said during a time of economic difficulty people tended to return to their families and so advertising campaigns were most effective when they focused on family values instead of individual heroism.

Also, as a result of price fluctuations, consumers now often choose to buy products that can be used for a long time.

Therefore, commercials should highlight the high quality and durability of products, he said.

Mishra said advertisements that promoted luxury and the gap between rich and poor may fail to win over the public when times were tough economically.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Moscow expat meeting ends]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-moscow-expat-meeting-ends-en-575.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-moscow-expat-meeting-ends-en-575.html</guid><pubDate>Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Moscow expat meeting ends
The “Moscow Meeting 2008” program, held by the Committee for Overseas Vietnamese in coordination with Vietnam Youth Federation and the Vietnamese embassy in Russia, closed in Moscow Wednesday.

Vietnamese expats from 15 European nations attended the three -day meeting.

As part of the program, youth federation representatives attended a Moscow secondary school with 270 Vietnamese expat students and donated Vietnamese text books.

Lam Phuong Thanh, standing secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Union Central Committee and chairwoman of the Association of Vietnamese Students, gave certificates of merit and badges to Vietnamese young people and students, for academic achievements and community activities.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Michael Phelps, the billion dollar man?]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-michael-phelps-the-billion-dollar-man-en-574.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-michael-phelps-the-billion-dollar-man-en-574.html</guid><pubDate>Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Weighed in gold, Michael Phelps is worth about $3 million. In reality the face of the Beijing Olympics is probably worth 10 times that amount each year.

Marketing experts said the 23-year-old American, who is now the most successful Olympian with 11 gold medals, will become the richest professional swimmer ever, far surpassing the money earned by the former most decorated U.S. swimmer, Mark Spitz.

"He's the greatest Olympian in the world and he'll be able to earn money everywhere as he's an international brand," Australia-based celebrity agent Max Markson told Reuters.

"He's a billion dollar man. He won't have to get a job ever. He can live off this for 50 years."

Olympic sports have meant big business since the Olympic movement allowed professional athletes to compete 20 years ago.

But none has banked the sums earned by charismatic megastars like Tiger Woods, David Beckham or Michael Jordan whose names are globally known and set cash registers ringing everywhere.

Eli Portnoy, chief brand strategist at the Portnoy Group, a U.S. consultancy specialized in branding, doubted Phelps -- or any Olympian -- would match the earning power of Woods who is estimated to become the first billionaire athlete by 2010.

Phelps reportedly earns about $5 million a year from endorsements although his agency Octagon declined to comment. Portnoy forecast this rising to about $30 million, short term.

"In the heat and intensity of this event it may seem that his earning power is limitless, but you have to pull back and look at someone like Tiger Woods who has performed at a top level for years and years in front of the world," he said.

"The Olympics is only held once every four years. After a year to so Americans forget about the Olympics and move to stars they see more. Kids want someone else on their Weetabix box."

THE PHELPS PHENOMENON

Phelps is already the epitome of the modern American corporate Olympian with the Phelps Machine in full swing before he topped the record nine gold tally held by Spitz and Carl Lewis, Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi and Soviet gymnast Larysa Latynina.

Phelps, who became a professional swimmer at 16 and a millionaire by 18, has sponsors, agents, lawyers, accountants, charities, his own website in English and Chinese, and even his own logo with a wave-like blue M and red P over his name.

An Octagon spokesman said his sponsors were credit card company Visa Inc., Speedo, watch maker Omega, AT&T Wireless, energy food company PowerBar. Kellogg's, Rosetta Stone, and PureSport. He declined to say what they paid Phelps.

Within seconds of Phelps's snapping up his 10th gold medal, Visa released a special edition television commercial commemorating his title as the most decorated Olympian.

"You need to be out there early and establish your affiliation with the property, Michael Phelps," said Michael Lynch, head of global sponsorship management at Visa whose relationship with Phelps dates back to 2002.

"His performance here will benefit us as it will add to the visibility we will get through this affiliation ... and his earning ability will increase, there's no question of that."

Portnoy said Phelps's youth and composure under pressure made him a marketer's dream. The only blotch on his record was an arrest for drinking and driving in 2004 for which he apologized.

"In the short term, he is a gold mine because he represents everything that is pure, young, strong and visionary about America. We haven't had anyone of this significance since Mark Spitz," said Portnoy.

"Guaranteed there will be marketers wanting a piece of him that make no sense and it will interesting to see how his handlers cope with this and if they get greedy because the Olympics has a narrow avenue of marketability."]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[A second look at Vietnam]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-a-second-look-at-vietnam-en-573.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-a-second-look-at-vietnam-en-573.html</guid><pubDate>Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Drawn here by memories of the war, the veterans who visited last week were glad to see the country prospering.

Anthony Cantone, a logistics soldier based in central Vietnam in 1968-69, was taken aback.

“[There are] so many American stores and businesses all over the country,” he said. “It’s unbelievable.”

Cantone and a group of American war veterans and their families spent 10 days touring the country on an annual trip organized by the US-based Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF).

The group, led by former US envoy to Vietnam, Michael Marine, wrapped up its tour last Saturday at the Cu Chi tunnels, the amazing network right beneath the enemy in Ho Chi Minh City used by “Viet Cong” (VC) forces to hide and move supplies.

For many veterans in the group, this was their first trip back after almost four decades.

The tour includes meetings with government officials and a visit to the VVMF’s project site in the central province of Quang Tri where landmines are being cleared.

Some, like retired marine lieutenant John Schwartz, never thought coming back would be so easy.

“It feels funny when I see the [Vietnamese national] flag,” said Schwartz, who served as an advisor to the First Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) Division in Hue in 1965-66.

“That was the reason we were here — to stop that, but we didn’t. So why were we here?”

But Schwartz saw and heard things on his return that made him question what the war meant.

During the field trip to Quang Tri, he met a former “Viet Cong” commander, Le Huy Vu.

They took pictures, exchanged emails, talked war, and became “friends.”

Schwartz said he had learnt a very important lesson from his new friend.

“[To] the American government back then, it was more a question of stopping communism,” he said.

“To the Vietnamese, it was a matter of independence, Vietnam’s independence.”

Growing up in Quang Tri during the war, Vu told Schwartz, he had only two choices: to fight for either the Saigon government or VC.

Vu chose the latter and spent the next 15 years “in the jungles” like other VC guerillas.

Schwartz remembers the guerillas were very difficult to catch.

“We all wanted to be advisors to the VC because we had such respect for them,” he said.

Other members in the VVMF group ended their trip with less unsettled feelings.

Ralph Swain, who was a clerk in Saigon in 1969-70 and is now head of the humanities department at Western Iowa Tech Community College, said during the tour he was able to collect valuable materials for an online course about the war.

Until now, whenever he has taught about Cu Chi, he shows students photos of the tunnels taken by VC fighters and a memoir written by an American soldier who went down there to search for the guerillas.

But Swain can now show his own pictures of the tunnels.

Dorothy Woods, whose husband fought in Vietnam and later died of cancer, didn’t enjoy crawling down the tunnels though she gathered enough courage to do so for the sake of experience.

“In the tunnels, it stopped all of a sudden because somebody in the front of the line was taking pictures,” Woods said after her underground tour.

“I grabbed the belt of the guy in front of me because it was total darkness and I wasn’t moving.”

Even now, to Americans, Vietnam is not a country but a “war,” she said.

Yet, having seen Vietnam’s natural beauty, she now thought about it as a “country.”

“It does help to remove the stigma of the war,” she said.

“The veterans who came back — I don’t know if they can relate to it, but I can. I can’t see there was a war in this country.”

The veterans’ memories of Vietnam aren’t all bloodshed.

Cantone said during his one-year term building an airbase in the Tuy Hoa area, 350 miles from Saigon he didn’t see any major battle or casualties.

Every morning he woke up and saw the ocean because his unit was stationed on a beach.

Swain remembered taking orphans to the Saigon zoo.

There were around 300,000 orphans and 35 or 36 orphanages in Saigon at the time.

Swain still keeps pictures of some of the orphans and a tape recording of an eight-year-old orphan girl singing.

The Saigon he knew has changed.

The Notre Dame Cathedral remains the same but the old streets, vendors and smells are gone.

But the sight of progress in Vietnam is a welcome one for them.

Cantone likes the improved roads and Schwartz saw a country that is “doing just fine.”

“Everybody seems so nice that it makes you almost feel ashamed,” Schwartz said.

“Because, in our country, people have anger. But in this country, you have yin and yang and the Buddha and everything is more in balance.”

Schwartz said his friend Vu didn’t think about the war now though he had fought so long in it and had more cause to remember it than he did.

Vu, who married late and now works as a tour guide, has a son and a daughter and his main goal is to provide them a good education.

Woods has taken pictures with some Vietnamese people to show a seven-year-old Vietnamese boy back home.

Her friend adopted him when he was five months old.

“When he learned I was coming here, he said to his mother, ‘Mommy, when [she] goes to Vietnam, is she going to see my people?” Woods said.

“So I’m going back to say, ‘Jackson, I’ve met your people:”

DELEGATION GETS UP CLOSE AT LANDMINE SITE

The veterans visited the site of Project Renew (or Restoring the Environment and Neutralizing the Effects of the War), a joint project between WMF and Quang Tri Province to remove landmines and unexploded ordinance left from the war.

Quang Tri, among the fiercest theaters of the war, has the most landmines and unexploded ordinance in Vietnam.

Over 92 percent of its land area remains to be cleared of ordinance compared to 20 percent for the whole country.

Since 1975, over 2,600 people have been killed here, and 4,400 injured or disabled by ordinance.

A third of them were children.

In eight years, Project Renew has removed over 7,000 pieces of ordinance, cleared a large area of land, and provided vocational training and loans to 1,000 poor victims.

The project now needs more funding to clear five priority sites identified by local authorities.

For more information on Project Renew, visit www.landmines.org.vn.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[First training course starts at Vinamilk-Arsenal soccer school]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-first-training-course-starts-at-vinamilk-arsenal-soccer-school-en-566.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-first-training-course-starts-at-vinamilk-arsenal-soccer-school-en-566.html</guid><pubDate>Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[The head of the Arsenal Soccer School, Paul Shipwright, arrived in Vietnam on August 6 to present Vinamilk-Arsenal Soccer School’s first activity – a training course for coaches.

The course from August 7-9 at Hoa Lu Stadium, 02 Dinh Tien Hoang Street, District 1, HCMC will provide the school’s Vietnamese coaches with training programs standardized and popularized by Arsenal Soccer School around the globe.

Qualified Vietnamese coaches will attend the program including Tran Duy Long, Pham Huynh Tam Lang, Nguyen Van Long, Nguyen Hong Pham, Ha Vuong Buu, Nguyen Hung, Luu Ngoc Mai and Nguyen Thi Kim Hong.

The Arsenal Soccer School was opened 20 years ago to inspire children and coaches by developing close links between them and Arsenal FC.

The schools have operated in many countries such as Spain, Indonesia, Australia, Singapore, Israel, Egypt and China.

It has the support and co-operation of the HCMC Culture, Sports and Tourism Department and HCMC Football Federation.

The Vinamilk-Arsenal Soccer School welcomes all boys and girls under 17, regardless of ability.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Vietnamese brides find support in RoK]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-vietnamese-brides-find-support-in-rok-en-565.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-vietnamese-brides-find-support-in-rok-en-565.html</guid><pubDate>Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[In Seoul, sign boards advertising matchmaking services with Vietnamese girls have been replaced by multi-lingual radio ads promoting help lines for foreign wives.

During a dinner at the Seoul house of the Vietnamese – Korean Association Chairwoman Huynh Thi Thai, the hostess surprised her guests with a special dish: Vietnamese chopstick beans fried with meat.

In the land of kimchi, it is rare, if not impossible, to see chopstick beans.

“A Vietnamese girl married to a Korean man in the countryside grows them,” Thai said.

“She sent them as a gift to thank me for advising her when she quarreled with her in-laws.”

Thai said she didn’t feel happy receiving the beans for free so she asked for the girl’s bank account and sent her some money.

“I wanted to tell her to continue being happy and grow chopstick beans,” she said.

For several years, Thai has been part of an expanding private and government network that provides counseling and other support services to Vietnamese wives.

Women like Thai and her two friends, Loan and Nghin, who have been living in the Republic of Korea (RoK) for decades, say it is hard to be a foreign wife in the RoK.

It was so hard that in 2006, the Seoul government opened the Emergency Support Center for Immigrant Women.

Center Director Kang Sung Hea said though most foreign wives in the RoK were Chinese, it was the Vietnamese brides that called the center most often for help.

“Most Chinese wives come from the China-RoK borders so they speak Korean and have few problems,” Kang said.

“Vietnamese brides, on the contrary, don’t speak Korean and are young and inexperienced.”

Outside Seoul, local authorities have also established Korean language centers, culture and cooking classes for foreign wives, as well as field trips and tours for multicultural families.

But the Emergency Support Center for Immigrant Women is the only place to offer phone counseling services to foreign wives in the RoK.

Kang said next year the government will open similar centers in other cities.

At Kang’s center, foreign wives who speak fluent Korean and have successfully integrated into Korean families are trained to become hotline counselors.

“We do everything, from interpreting and arbitrating to answering questions about residency, social welfare and legal matters,” hotline counselor Thanh Quy said.

“We also call the police when necessary.”

Quy, who has worked at the center for two years, said she has heard many sad stories told by Vietnamese brides.

One was scratched black and blue with a comb by her sister-in-law.

One was forced to work in the field immediately after giving birth.

Another complained her husband’s family threatened to deport her whenever she quarreled.

Many who married after using matchmaking services were disappointed to find their husbands were quite old.

Quite a few resented their husbands for not helping their poor families back home in Vietnam.

And others were forced to work hard to make up for the thousands of dollars their husbands had to pay to bring them to the RoK.

“Once, a mother-in-law called to ask why Vietnamese brides were so stubborn and answered back whenever their in-laws spoke,” Quy said.

“I had to tell her Vietnamese and Korean cultures are a little different. In Vietnam, daughters-in-law have more of a right to speak.”

In April alone, the center received 551 phone calls, a large part of which were about daily problems.

Twenty of the calls were about violence and 22 reported brides running away.

Kieu Oanh, a college graduate who worked for a Korean company for five years before following her Korean husband to live in Incheon city, said over the past two years, Koreans had started to perceive foreign wives more positively.

She said RoK media used to call families with foreign brides “families who have immigrants.” These families are now called “multicultural families.”

Popular KBS World TV channel have also started two new shows about love and marriage with foreigners.

HOMELAND SUPPORT

Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Women Confederation’s Marriage Support Center, Nguyen Thi Bach Tuyet, said since 2002 provincial women’s associations have been authorized to open marriage support centers to provide matchmaking services for foreigners and Vietnamese.

Many such centers have been opened but most only offer services for Vietnamese.

Tuyet said it was partly because little effort had been made to advertise these centers and partly because many girls still believed it was faster and easier to use private services.

Tuyet said her center now offered language, cooking and culture classes to Vietnamese brides married to foreigners.

“We get them to memorize the Seoul hotline and the Vietnamese Embassy numbers before they leave us,” she said.

But she added few of them had used the center.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[United Airlines offers cheap tickets]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-united-airlines-offers-cheap-tickets-en-562.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-united-airlines-offers-cheap-tickets-en-562.html</guid><pubDate>Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[United Airlines has announced a promotion with low fares on its flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Hong Kong and the US.

A round ticket to Hong Kong will cost US$178 plus taxes – of roughly $94 – against a normal fare of $325.

A ticket to any of the three American cities it flies to from HCMC will be $855 plus tax of $380-410 instead of the normal $1,350.

Tickets have to be bought by August 27 and the journey undertaken between September 3 and November 11.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Intel, US university hold tech seminar in Vietnam]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-intel-us-university-hold-tech-seminar-in-vietnam-en-561.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-intel-us-university-hold-tech-seminar-in-vietnam-en-561.html</guid><pubDate>Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Intel Products Vietnam (IPV) and US-based Arizona State University has held a seminar to introduce a microelectronics packaging syllabus to a group of Vietnamese professors.

During the seminar on Monday in Ho Chi Minh City, the curriculum was presented to 35 lecturers from central Da Nang City, Hanoi, and HCMC.

The syllabus, composed by senior Intel specialists and professors, is currently used by Arizona University.

The tutorial aimed to develop sustainable cooperation between Intel and Vietnam, and seek qualified employees to work in Intel’s assembly and test manufacturing (ATM) chipset factory, which will come into operation in 2009.

IPV has operated in Vietnam since 1997 and started building its chipset factory worth US$1 billion in 2007.

In June and July this year, IPV offered 55 scholarships worth $27,500 to students at five top universities through its 2008 Intel Vietnam Engineering Scholarship.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Central bank stops licensing joint-stock banks]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-central-bank-stops-licensing-joint-stock-banks-en-558.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-central-bank-stops-licensing-joint-stock-banks-en-558.html</guid><pubDate>Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Permits will no longer be issued to establish joint-stock commercial banks, according to a statement posted on the central bank’s website Friday.

The State Bank of Vietnam would stop receiving applications until further notice, the statement said.

It said the decision is based on the government’s instruction last month to “amend the conditions for setting up a joint-stock commercial bank.”

“Pending the revisions, the issue of permits for establishing new joint-stock commercial banks will be stopped temporarily,” the instruction, dated July 29, said.

Vietnam, where about 10 percent of the 86.5 million population have bank accounts, has 37 joint-stock banks, some of them owned by private companies and individuals.

The central bank said it has received more than 20 applications to establish banks, but only two have been licensed and begun operations.

The government has ordered state-owned corporations to focus on their core businesses instead of entering all kinds of industries from real estate to banking.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Youth leave to touch base with Vietnamese students in Europe]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-youth-leave-to-touch-base-with-vietnamese-students-in-europe-en-557.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-youth-leave-to-touch-base-with-vietnamese-students-in-europe-en-557.html</guid><pubDate>Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Vietnamese youth representatives travel to Russia today to attend a four-day meeting with Vietnamese youths living and studying in Europe.

The meeting is expected to draw around 160 Vietnamese youth and students on the continent.

There will be a photo exhibition, a music festival, a sports contest and a camping night.

The program is being organized by the Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs, the Russian embassy in Hanoi and the Vietnam Youth Association (VYA).

It is aimed at strengthening the bonds between Vietnamese students in Europe and their European peers and students in Vietnam.

The delegation will be led by Lam Phuong Thanh, the VYA president.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Overseas Vietnamese, workers send more money home]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-overseas-vietnamese-workers-send-more-money-home-en-541.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-overseas-vietnamese-workers-send-more-money-home-en-541.html</guid><pubDate>Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Vietnamese guest workers are going out in increasing numbers while “Viet kieu” are sending more money to invest in business.

As more Vietnamese go abroad to work, the inflow of remittances through money transfer companies and banks has jumped.

Tran Van Trung, director of Dong A Money Transfer Company, said Southeast Asia and the Middle East have emerged as the hotspots with remittances sent to Vietnam increasing sharply.

Nguyen Thu Ha, deputy general director of Vietnam Commercial Bank (VCB), said most of the money used to come from the US, Australia and Europe but now Vietnamese guest workers in Asia and the Middle East are also sending a lot of money home.

Moreover, she said, overseas Vietnamese now send money not only to their family but also to invest in business.

Dong A Money Transfer Company received remittances of US$631 million in the first half.

The company expects the whole year figure to be $1.2 billion, a 20 percent rise year-on-year.

Sai Gon Thuong Tin Bank and VCB reported remittances of $420 million and $730 million respectively.

Asia Commercial Bank reported a 125 percent increase.

Many money transfer companies and banks in Vietnam now consider guest workers going to Asia and the Middle East their target customers.

Some try to contact them before they leave, while others attract customers by offering to lend money for their flight tickets.

Some even accompany art troupes going abroad to perform for Vietnamese workers so that they can promote their services at the shows.

For the companies, patience is the key factor in persuading the workers to use their services.

Vietnamese guest workers in Malaysia, for instance, often send money home through global companies like Western Union and MoneyGram.

Vietnamese-based money transfer companies, therefore, have to spend a whole week in Malaysia to market their services to them.

Tran Van Trung, deputy director of Dong A Money Transfer Company, said in the Middle East his agency faces tough competition from foreign companies.

Last month Dong A Bank tied up with the US-based MoneyGram International to launch a free additional service under which remittances will be delivered directly to the receivers’ homes.

With more than 3 million overseas Vietnamese living around the world, Vietnam is now a promising remittance market, Nick Cunnew, MoneyGram’s senior regional director for Asia Pacific and South Asia, said.

According to the Overseas Labor Management Bureau, more than 43,000 guest workers went abroad in the first half of the year.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Central bank stops licensing joint-stock banks]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-central-bank-stops-licensing-joint-stock-banks-en-540.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-central-bank-stops-licensing-joint-stock-banks-en-540.html</guid><pubDate>Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Permits will no longer be issued to establish joint-stock commercial banks, according to a statement posted on the central bank’s website Friday.

The State Bank of Vietnam would stop receiving applications until further notice, the statement said.

It said the decision is based on the government’s instruction last month to “amend the conditions for setting up a joint-stock commercial bank.”

“Pending the revisions, the issue of permits for establishing new joint-stock commercial banks will be stopped temporarily,” the instruction, dated July 29, said.

Vietnam, where about 10 percent of the 86.5 million population have bank accounts, has 37 joint-stock banks, some of them owned by private companies and individuals.

The central bank said it has received more than 20 applications to establish banks, but only two have been licensed and begun operations.

The government has ordered state-owned corporations to focus on their core businesses instead of entering all kinds of industries from real estate to banking.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Hanoi to host French study abroad forum]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-hanoi-to-host-french-study-abroad-forum-en-539.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-hanoi-to-host-french-study-abroad-forum-en-539.html</guid><pubDate>Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[The Association of Vietnamese students in France (UEVF) will join with Campus France to hold a forum in Hanoi on studying abroad next Saturday.

The annual forum aims to provide information to students who aspire to study in France while allowing them to speak with others who have studied there previously.

Seminars topics will include: the French educational system, accommodation, scholarships, and jobs.

The information will be provided by representatives from the Ministry of Education and Training in Vietnam, the France University Agency (AUF), the French Embassy, and Campus France.

The seminar will run from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on August 16.

Information booths will also be set up where students can ask questions from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Sponsors of the event include the AUF, the International School-Vietnam National University (IS-VNU), Vietnam Airlines, French national student health insurance provider LMDE and the BRED bank of France.

The forum will take place at the French cultural center L’Espace at 24 Trang Tien, Hanoi.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[American critical after fatal Beijing knife attack]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-american-critical-after-fatal-beijing-knife-attack-en-538.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-american-critical-after-fatal-beijing-knife-attack-en-538.html</guid><pubDate>Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[The mother-in-law of the US men's volleyball coach remained critical on Sunday after a stabbing attack that left her husband dead, as the stunned team struggled to come to terms with the murder.

Head coach Hugh McCutcheon's father-in-law, Todd Bachman, was killed on Saturday after being attacked by an unemployed Chinese man at Beijing's Drum Tower monument while sightseeing with his wife and daughter Elisabeth.

Their daughter was not hurt, although police said the Chinese guide who was with them was injured. The attack has raised new fears about security at the Games.

Australian Olympic athletes have been urged to wear team uniforms outside the Olympic village for security reasons following the fatal knife attack.

The assailant, a 47-year-old man from eastern China, then jumped to his death off the second storey of the monument, police said in a statement, without giving details as to why he carried out the attack.

"The United States Olympic Committee is saddened to confirm the death of Todd Bachman, father-in-law of United States Olympic Men's Indoor Volleyball Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon," the USOC said on their website.

"Mr. Bachman and his wife Barbara were visiting the Drum Tower in Beijing, China, when they were attacked shortly after noon by an assailant wielding a knife.

"Their daughter Elisabeth was with them at the time of the attack.

"Mr. Bachman died as a result of injuries sustained in the attack. Mrs. Bachman suffered serious injuries and was transported to a local hospital for emergency treatment. Her injuries are serious and life-threatening."

The USOC added that the Bachmans were not wearing apparel that identified them as relatives of members of the US Olympic team and cited police as saying the killer acted alone.

Lang Ping, the coach of the US women's volleyball team, said the players were stunned when they heard of the death just before their opening win over Japan.

"We were shocked," said the coach. "Most of the players called their parents. I told them to be strong."

The attack occurred despite China deploying massive security in Beijing for the Olympics, with more than 150,000 police and other personnel on patrol across the city.

An estimated 450,000 foreigners are expected to come to Beijing for the Olympics, which opened on Friday night and will finish on August 24.

The killing also happened as US President George W. Bush was in the city to attend the Games and he expressed his condolences.

"The President has been informed and his heart goes out to the families of the victims," a White House official travelling with Bush said

"The White House and US embassy have offered whatever assistance the family needs. US officials have also been in touch with Chinese authorities on the matter."

Acts of violence against foreigners in Beijing and throughout China are extremely rare, with expatriates happy to wander around the streets of the capital late at night.

However, foreigners have been victims of some high-profile attacks this year.

Last month, a Chinese man murdered a 22-year-old model in Shanghai and a Japanese embassy employee was slightly wounded in a knife attack in Beijing.

Chinese authorities have been clearly on edge over security in the lead-up to the Olympics, warning of a wide range of threats to people coming to Beijing for the event.

China has expressed most concern about Islamic terrorists trying to wreck the Games, and Chinese authorities said militants attacked and killed 16 policemen in the Muslim-populated far northwest of the country last week.

There was no indication that Saturday's incident had anything to with terrorism.

The Drum Tower is in the historic heart of Beijing. Together with the Bell Tower, the sites were once used for banging of drums and bells to tell time.

Now the Drum and Bell towers are tourist sites, with visitors able to stroll from them to the city's famed old lakes and other historic areas.

Police identified the attacker as Tang Yongming, from the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou.

The Xinhua news agency said Tang was unemployed and had no previous criminal record. He was divorced and had a 21-year-old son.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Brave art]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-brave-art-en-537.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-brave-art-en-537.html</guid><pubDate>Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[No cost seems too high for singers making albums though the returns are uncertain.

More singers seem to be willing these days to spend money and effort to make albums, a complicated and demanding process.

It may take more than two years to complete one because the singer does not have enough songs or the arranger dawdles.

Or it could be the mixer’s fault meaning the singer will have to start all over again.

But all this does not deter singers from spending a small fortune on albums.

Little-known singer Ly Hai put on a live show last year merely to add some portions to his DVD Tron doi ben em (By your side all my life.)

Including the show the album cost almost VND1 billion (US$ 60,300).

Thuy Tien, nicknamed “The Snow Princess,” whose album last year, Giac mo tuyet trang (The Dream of White Snow), was a hit among teens, had sold her house to raise money.

“An album of average quality can cost dozens of millions of dong,” the teenage icon said.

“But the more money one spends, the more professional it is likely to be,” she added.

Several singers also choose to have music composed exclusively for them since the songs will then suit their voices and add originality.

A budding composer demands around VND3-5 million for a song and an established one much more.

Phuong Uyen, a member and composer of the popular Ba Con Meo (Three Cats) girl band, for example, charges $800.

The cost notwithstanding, competent musicians are a limited breed in Vietnam, meaning a wait of months, even years, to get songs rearranged.

But many opt for a more economical way: They gradually record their favorite songs one by one before collecting them into an album.

Famous composer Quoc Bao recently compiled his existing songs into an album called “My Guitar and Friends.”

Foreign influence

The quality of albums is becoming more varied with more singers having their albums made abroad.

My Tam, the first Vietnamese singer to be sponsored by a foreign enterprise, recorded her album Vut bay (Soaring) with the Republic of Korea’s Narimaru Pictures Co. last year.

She went on to record her next album, Tro ve (Return), in South Korea earlier this year where she worked with leading musicians and producers.

Pop singer Tran Thu Ha took arranger Thanh Phuong to the US where they worked on her latest albums, Doi thoai ‘06 (Dialogues ‘06) and Tran Tien (the name of Ha’s celebrated composer-uncle).

According to many in the industry, Tam’s and Ha’s albums are technically superior to those made at home.

Ha’s Doi thoai ‘06 won the 2007 Cong hien(Contribution) award.

Foreign musicians living and working in Vietnam also help enhance the quality of local albums.

After cooperating with several local singers, French arranger Laurent Jaccoux recently worked with singer-MC Nguyet Anh on her latest album “Saigon Lounge,” Vietnam’s first on lounge music.

But despite their huge costs and superior sound quality, such albums do not fare well since foreigners’ arrangements are sometimes difficult for local audiences to appreciate.

Until a few years ago it was common for renowned singers like Thanh Lam and My Linh to sell up to 100,000 copies.

But that golden era is gone as piracy and online music take their toll.

Today an album must sell at least 5,000 copies to recoup costs. Heavily invested albums need to sell twice that number.

Favorite singers like My Tam, Ho Ngoc Ha, Dam Vinh Hung and Quang Dung are among those whose albums achieve the highest sales.

Dung’s album Khi (When) sells more than30,000 copies a year.

Albums of upcoming singers like Tung Duong, Le Hieu and Khanh Linh and well-known composers like Do Bao and Quoc Bao also have steady sales — of 5,000-10,000 copies a year.

But not all singers do well.

Most novice singers and those who have been in the industry for long without gaining recognition usually lose on their albums.

Sales are limited to 3,000 copies or even less.

Barely profitable, why still do it?

Whether or not they are stars, the profits singers make from releasing albums stand no comparison with earnings from shows and it takes a few years at least to recoup the investment.

Many even suffer heavy losses.

Nevertheless singers continue to make albums for a number of reasons.

For novices, debut albums open the door to the industry and help them forge a career as a singer.

They will present their first albums to the press, show managers, cabaret owners and producers to publicize their names and showcase their voices.

Earnings from these song collections are usually little more than zero.

Most established singers make a point of releasing albums as it is an effective way to retain a high profile.

Then there is the media coverage of their new albums and the fact they now have more new songs for their shows.

It’s thus a cycle: Singers use their earnings from shows to invest in their albums, which in their turn helps cement their reputation in the performing industry.

Many singers also consider their albums musical experiments or attempts to expand or change their hardcore audiences.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[73 dead in northern Vietnam floods, landslides]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-73-dead-in-northern-vietnam-floods-landslides-en-536.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-73-dead-in-northern-vietnam-floods-landslides-en-536.html</guid><pubDate>Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Floods and landslides triggered by storms have killed at least 73 people, injured 29 and left 34 others missing in northern provinces, and devastated infrastructure and cut off many major roads.

Storm Kammuri, which made landfall in China’s southwestern Guangdong Province Wednesday, has caused flash floods and landslides in Vietnam’s northern mountains since Thursday.

Lao Cai Province is the hardest hit, with 31 people dead and nine injured. 32 others are missing, local authorities said.

In Bat Xat District alone 18 people died. Heavy rains have also cut off traffic to the district since Sunday.

The floods also cut off some other districts in Lao Cai and triggered widespread landslides. Dykes have been damaged in many places.

“Landslides have hit many areas, but flash floods have caused the largest number of deaths,” AFP cited Pham Van Quang, an official with the provincial flood and storm control committee, as saying.

“At least 800 houses have been destroyed or damaged. We are still trying to get in touch with local authorities to help residents. Rescue efforts are going on but they are being held up by the severe weather.”

Elsewhere, in the northern Yen Bai Province, Yen Bai Town and several districts have been heavily flooded. Reports said 29 people are dead and two missing.

The floods destroyed 1,100 hectares of crops and cut off traffic to major areas.

In Phu Tho Province a 2,800-meter stretch of dikes has been destroyed by the floods which also submerged at least 1,500 houses.

Five people were killed.

In coastal Quang Ninh eight people died, including a five-year-old boy whose family home was buried in a landslide, and seven construction workers whose roadside tent was buried under an avalanche of mud and rocks, AFP reported.

The floods also derailed a train in Yen Bai, halfway between Hanoi and Lao Cai, Sunday, holding up two other trains.

The derailed train has not been moved yet due to heavy rains and traffic continues to be held up.

More floods to come, says official

People in the northern mountains should be vigilant against more flashfloods and landslides since heavy rains are expected to continue for the next two days, Bui Minh Tang, director of the Central Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting Center, said Sunday.

The Phu Tho Province’s Thao River is approaching the level that had caused the historic flooding in 1971, Tang said.

The water levels in Hanoi’s Red River are the highest since 2002, he added.

The center forecast rivers in Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Phu Tho, Thai Binh, and Hanoi to continue to rise today.

They are expected to rise 1.5 meters above emergency level III, the highest in the country.

Soldiers have joined rescue and relief activities, carrying water and instant noodles to flood victims in several provinces.

The government has ordered local authorities to take steps against flash floods and landslides and to protect the extensive river and coastal dike systems.

Kammuri is the fourth storm to hit the East Sea this year.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[City authorities throw out toxic import consignment]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-city-authorities-throw-out-toxic-import-consignment-en-535.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-city-authorities-throw-out-toxic-import-consignment-en-535.html</guid><pubDate>Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[The 18 containers of scrap steel that arrived in Da Nang last month contain toxic substances and have to be returned to their point of origin, city authorities said Sunday following fresh tests.

Customs officials at Tien Sa Port had discovered July 11 that the 434 tons of steel also contained rubbish like plastic bags, clothes, waste paper and tar.

They sent it for a test to the state-owned Quality Assurance and Testing Center II. The center first reported the high presence of toxic substances but later denied it.

The authorities ordered a second test at Vinacontrol Da Nang. It has revealed significant quantities of toxic substances – 4.882 milligrams of arsenic per kilogram of scrap steel, 6.795 mg of mercury and 9.573 mg of Selenium.

Nguyen Dieu, director of the city Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said the importing company, Thanh Loi Steel Joint Stock Company, would be ordered to return the entire shipment to the port of origin and possibly face a fine of VND15 million to VND70 million (US$902-4,200).

In a press briefing Sunday, department officials were asked why the Quality Assurance and Testing Center II had issued inaccurate test results.

Dieu said the center has agreed to pay Vinacontrol Da Nang the entire cost of retesting the materials but that it is unclear if it would be fined.

Officials said the city might consider destroying the 18 containers if it is unable to track the place of origin.

The Italian embassy in Hanoi has denied the consignment was imported from Italy as claimed by Thanh Loi, which also said it paid nearly $240,000 for it.

The customs documents slip at Da Nang port indicate Thang Loi has, in fact, imported 1,000 tons of scrap metal, meaning a further 566 tons are en route to Da Nang.

Dieu said the city would continue to test imports and prohibit any toxic substances from entering its port.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Be contrarian, advises expert on Warren Buffet]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-be-contrarian-advises-expert-on-warren-buffet-en-534.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-be-contrarian-advises-expert-on-warren-buffet-en-534.html</guid><pubDate>Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Robert Miles, an expert in investment and on Warren Buffet, says the investment guru’s secret is to buy when the market is depressed and sell when it is “happy.”

“(Buffet) would say investing is simple,” he told Thanh Nien Daily on the sidelines of a seminar about the billionaire investor, which was held in Ho Chi Minh City last Wednesday.

Miles, who came to Vietnam to talk about Buffet’s investing “genius,” has written several best-selling books about him.

He says Buffet is a successful investor because he does what others don’t.

“(Most investors) buy when everyone else is buying … and they sell when everyone else is selling.”

Buffet, on the other hand, is “fearful when everyone else is greedy and greedy when everyone else is fearful.”

And when it comes to picking a business to invest, Buffet also looks at its management.

If the management is outstanding but the business is poor or the price is unattractive, Buffet isn’t interested.

“If the business is really good but with a bad management, he’s not interested [either] because he doesn’t want to run the business. He can’t. He’s only got less than 20 people at headquarters.”

He only buys businesses and managers with abilities and long experience.

Buffet is not a risk taker, Miles says. “He’s always trying to reduce risk. To reduce risk by a margin of safety, by buying things for less than he thinks they are worth.”

Miles says Buffet invests chiefly in the US market because he understands it thoroughly.

As for developing markets like Vietnam, the “nuances” of the market may be too complicated for outsiders to master.

Or they are too small. “He has US$200 million a week that he needs to invest and the Vietnamese stock market is just not big enough.”

For Buffet, basic industries like insurance, railroad, food, beverages and banks are more attractive because they have earnings and their earnings are predictable.

“To value an investment, he’ll go out 10 years. If he goes out in 10 years, like with Microsoft, he doesn’t know where Microsoft will be in 10 years, so he can’t value it, so he doesn’t invest.”

But with a basic industry, like a Vietnamese bank, investors can predict where it will be after 10 years.

“(A basic industry) has been around since the beginning and it’s going to stay around.”

Miles predicts Buffet will soon make a very large investment – probably $10 billion or more – because he’s sitting on $38 billion in cash, and with the economy declining he will find more attractive investments.

“It will probably be a wholly-owned business not a publicly-listed company. But the valuations are the same — the way you buy a whole company, you’d figure it out the same way you’d buy a stock.”

Miles cautions Vietnamese investors against buying stocks in Buffet’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, because of the currency risk of investing in the US

If the Vietnamese dong appreciates 20 percent and Berkshire Hathaway gains 20 percent, there’s no net gain, he explains.

Miles says the most important thing for Vietnamese investors is to study Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffet and apply the lessons in Vietnam, rather than to buy Berkshire Hathaway.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Vietnam coffee production to drop, association says]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-vietnam-coffee-production-to-drop-association-says-en-533.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-vietnam-coffee-production-to-drop-association-says-en-533.html</guid><pubDate>Sun, 10 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Coffee production in Vietnam, the world's biggest grower after Brazil, will be less than expected because of dry weather and rising fertilizer costs, according to the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association.

Output for the year ending September 30, 2009, would be 950,000 tons, below a previous estimate of 1 million tons, Luong Van Tu, chairman of the association, said in an interview Thursday. Vietnam may produce 1.3 million tons, Fortis, a Belgian financial services firm, said in a report June.

“Production can't be that high since the crop was hurt by unseasonable rains earlier this year, dry weather and high fertilizer prices,” Tu said in Hanoi.

A drop in production in Vietnam, mostly a grower of the bitter-tasting robusta variety used in espresso and instant coffee, may boost bean prices in London. Robusta has climbed 30 percent in the past year.

“The dry period in July with much less rain than previous years meant some trees shed fruit, but I don't think the damage will be that much,” said Hoang Tuan Khai, chairman and chief executive officer of Vietnam General Import Export No.1 Joint-Stock Co., known as Generalexim. Khai, whose main business is exporting coffee, said the harvest would be 1 million tons.

Lower rainfall

Rainfall fell last month in the provinces of Dak Lak, Lam Dong and Dak Nong, which grow three-quarters of Vietnam's coffee.

In Dak Lak, the largest growing area, rainfall was 16 percent lower from a year earlier at 1,436 millimeters, the Dak Lak Hydrology and Meteorology Office said.

Neighboring Lam Dong province, the second-biggest grower, got 2,180 millimeters of rain last month, 27 percent below July 2007, according to the local weather office. Rainfall in Dak Nong declined 28 percent to 2,856 millimeters.

“The region is not yet seeing any dramatic reduction in crop potential,'' said Joel Widenor, meteorologist for MDA EarthSat Weather Services in Rockville, Maryland. “But good August rains will be important to ensure recent drier trends don't become a more dramatic issue.”

Vietnam's Coffee and Cocoa Association estimates production at 900,000 tons in the crop year ending next month, said Tu, a former deputy trade minister responsible for negotiating Vietnam's entry into the World Trade Organization last year.

Dry weather, fertilizer

Fortis said in June output may total 19.5 million bags, or 1.17 million tons, while the International Coffee Organization and the agricultural attaché’s office at the U.S. embassy in Hanoi expect 2007-08 production to total 17.5 million bags.

A report last May from the U.S. agriculture office forecast an increase in production to 21.5 million bags in 2008-09, citing higher yields and an increase in growing areas.

The dryness and high fertilizer costs have hurt production in Vietnam, Nguyen Xuan Thai, director of Dak Lak-based Thang Loi Coffee Co., the largest grower, said. Output from his plantations dropped by as much 30 percent because of trees shedding their fruit, Thai said.

Huu Thanh Hong, business manager of Dak Lak-based September 2nd Import-Export Co., Vietnam's third-biggest exporter, said the amount of coffee fruit in some areas of Dak Lak and neighboring provinces has dropped by about a quarter.

Beans shed

“The dry weather was part of the reason the beans shed,” Cao Van Tu, director of Dak Lak-based Ea Pok Coffee Co. “In addition, when there is no rain, you can't put fertilizer on the trees. If you do, the chemical will burn the tree.”

Ha Dac Thuy, Hanoi-based vice chairman of the Vietnam Fertilizer Association, said the costs of fertilizer in Vietnam have doubled this year because of a three-fold increase in international prices. The country imports about 40 percent of its annual fertilizer needs of 1.7 million tons, he said.

An increase in bank lending rates to as much as 21 percent also means the country's fertilizer producers and importers raised prices, Thuy said.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Overseas Vietnamese, workers send more money home]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-overseas-vietnamese-workers-send-more-money-home-en-532.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-overseas-vietnamese-workers-send-more-money-home-en-532.html</guid><pubDate>Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Vietnamese guest workers are going out in increasing numbers while “Viet kieu” are sending more money to invest in business.

As more Vietnamese go abroad to work, the inflow of remittances through money transfer companies and banks has jumped.

Tran Van Trung, director of Dong A Money Transfer Company, said Southeast Asia and the Middle East have emerged as the hotspots with remittances sent to Vietnam increasing sharply.

Nguyen Thu Ha, deputy general director of Vietnam Commercial Bank (VCB), said most of the money used to come from the US, Australia and Europe but now Vietnamese guest workers in Asia and the Middle East are also sending a lot of money home.

Moreover, she said, overseas Vietnamese now send money not only to their family but also to invest in business.

Dong A Money Transfer Company received remittances of US$631 million in the first half.

The company expects the whole year figure to be $1.2 billion, a 20 percent rise year-on-year.

Sai Gon Thuong Tin Bank and VCB reported remittances of $420 million and $730 million respectively.

Asia Commercial Bank reported a 125 percent increase.

Many money transfer companies and banks in Vietnam now consider guest workers going to Asia and the Middle East their target customers.

Some try to contact them before they leave, while others attract customers by offering to lend money for their flight tickets.

Some even accompany art troupes going abroad to perform for Vietnamese workers so that they can promote their services at the shows.

For the companies, patience is the key factor in persuading the workers to use their services.

Vietnamese guest workers in Malaysia, for instance, often send money home through global companies like Western Union and MoneyGram.

Vietnamese-based money transfer companies, therefore, have to spend a whole week in Malaysia to market their services to them.

Tran Van Trung, deputy director of Dong A Money Transfer Company, said in the Middle East his agency faces tough competition from foreign companies.

Last month Dong A Bank tied up with the US-based MoneyGram International to launch a free additional service under which remittances will be delivered directly to the receivers’ homes.

With more than 3 million overseas Vietnamese living around the world, Vietnam is now a promising remittance market, Nick Cunnew, MoneyGram’s senior regional director for Asia Pacific and South Asia, said.

According to the Overseas Labor Management Bureau, more than 43,000 guest workers went abroad in the first half of the year.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Plastic surgeon’s 40-year legacy lives on]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-plastic-surgeon’s-40-year-legacy-lives-on-en-531.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-plastic-surgeon’s-40-year-legacy-lives-on-en-531.html</guid><pubDate>Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Emily Barksy saw tears in the eyes of one of the nurses who met her and her father when they visited Ho Chi Minh City-based National Hospital of Odonto-Stomatology (NHO) 10 days ago.

“They used to work with my grandfather,” she said.

Much has changed at the hospital since her grandfather, the late American plastic surgeon, Arthur J. Barsky II, founded it 39 years ago during the Vietnam War.
Emily Barsky

What was known as the “Barsky Unit” – the only plastic and reconstructive surgery unit for children in Vietnam during the 1970s – has grown into a leading hospital in its field.

“We now treat both adults and children and are the center [of treatment, research and training] for 32 provinces and cities in the south,” NHO’s general planning director Le Trung Chanh said.

For the American doctors at the Barsky Unit who were flown out of Vietnam when the war ended, it would be good to know that locals had picked up where they left off.

“Given their hasty departure, the American physicians feared their efforts to create a sustainable clinic might have failed,” said Emily, a first year student at Harvard Medical School who has written a research project about her grandfather’s work in Vietnam.

Barsky’s efforts began as a result of a series of articles published in the Manchester Guardian about victims of the Vietnam War in the late 1960s.

An American lawyer, Tom Miller, was so moved by these stories that he asked Barsky to come to Vietnam with him to see what they could do, especially for the child war casualties.

Barsky was then a famous plastic surgeon in New York and had been the chief surgeon for the Hiroshima Maidens Project which provided surgery for young Japanese women burned by the atomic bomb during World War II.

Emily said as much as 60 percent of the war casualties in Vietnam were children.

“Practically, all the children’s suffering was war related – not just direct injuries from gunfire, shrapnel and napalm, but problems such as noma, a disease which eats away a child’s face in a matter of hours and was last seen in Nazi concentration camps,” Miller recalled.

In 1969, Miller and Barsky started the Center for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the “Barsky Unit.”

The center’s mission was twofold: to treat the child victims of the war, and train Vietnamese staff.

From its opening until the American doctors left in 1975, the center, with 54 beds and three operating rooms, treated around 1,200 children.

One of these was Phan Thi Kim Phuc, whose world famous photo of her running naked down a road with her back burned by napalm, shocked the world and won photographer Nick Ut a Pulitzer Prize.

The center, funded mostly by the US Agency for International Development (AID), treated the children free of charge.

The center itself is admired for its apolitical mission by those who know it.

Chanh said humanitarian work is still a big part of the hospital today.

Once or twice every year, it sends doctors to give free training and dental treatment in rural and remote areas, and neighboring countries like Laos and Cambodia.

With the same three operating rooms from its early years, the hospital conducts 45 to 50 surgeries a day and many of them are free as they are paid for by the government.

But the demand is so great that NHO is building three more operating rooms.

A new 11-story building will soon be built on the site of the old Barsky Unit.

NHO’s director Lam Hoai Phuong told Emily she felt saddened to tear down the place and would find some way to honor Barksy’s memory.

Some of the equipment used in Barsky’s time like lights, operating beds, signs and plaques and patients’ record card holders was still in good shape today.

And the veteran nurses still talk about the “Barsky techniques” which they are passing down to younger ones.

Chanh said only in recent years has NHO started to return to its American founder’s philosophy: to “give back a completely healed person to society.”

“For many years, we didn’t pay much attention to restoring functions [for damaged facial parts] but focused on giving patients normal looks,” Chanh said.

NHO now has a comprehensive care center which provides post-operation services such as speech therapy for children with cleft lips and cleft palates.

As for the present state of plastic and reconstructive surgery in Vietnam, Chanh said things have improved a lot with time.

When Barksy started his project, no plastic surgery unit existed in the country.

Today, in HCMC, there is one Odonto-Stomatology doctor for every 15,000 people.

“We can say Vietnam’s plastic and reconstructive surgery is almost catching up with the world’s,” Chanh said.

“What Vietnamese doctors can’t do, we invite foreign ones to come and do.”]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Exports to Cambodia hit potholes in Mekong Delta]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-exports-to-cambodia-hit-potholes-in-mekong-delta-en-524.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-exports-to-cambodia-hit-potholes-in-mekong-delta-en-524.html</guid><pubDate>Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Businesses have complained of the excessive cost of transporting export goods from Ho Chi Minh City to Cambodia because of the appalling condition of the roads in the Mekong Delta.

The excessive costs discourage domestic firms who want to expand their business into the neighboring country, they said.

Hoang Hai, a car driver who delivers goods from HCMC to Mekong Delta’s border provinces of An Giang and Kien Giang, said the road, Highway No. 80, was very rough.

It takes eight hours to drive 290 kilometers from HCMC to Tinh Bien border gate in An Giang Province, and 10-11 hours to Ha Tien border gate in Kien Giang Province, which is 340 kilometers, he said.

Vehicles on the highway can average 65-70 kilometers per hour so if the highway was better it would only take four hours to travel to Tinh Bien and five hours to Ha Tien.

Traffic is held up repeatedly by construction work along the highway, Hai said, adding many vehicles also got bogged in the worst sections.

Twelve bridges on Highway No. 80 are in danger of collapsing, restricting vehicles over 20 tons from using them, according to Road Management Zone No. 7.

The bridge problems hit exporters hardest putting transport fees for one ton of iron from HCMC to Tinh Bien border gate up to VND700,000 (US$42), steel and iron exporter Hong Phuc Ltd.’s Nguyen Thien Chi said.

Trucking firms said they were cautious about delivering goods to Mekong Delta because the rough roads damage their trucks.

Drivers said they usually drove in fear that they’d hit a big pothole caused by last years flood, but the upgrade for No. 80 is still waiting for Ministry of Transportation’s instruction.

Canal hidden dangers

An official from a domestic steel exporter, Hoang Dung, said the volume of exported construction materials to Cambodia would increase when dredging was done on Vinh Te Canal, which leads to the Tinh Bien border gate in An Giang Province.

An Giang Province has begun a VND2 billion ($119,000) dredging project in the canal.

They expect to clear it by next month so vessels over 500 tons can use the waterway.

At present only barges of 250 tons and less can use it, because there are many submerged rocks and snags.

In addition canal loading fees of VND75,000 per ton ($4.50), push the cost of transport up, impacting export business’s competitiveness.

An investor, who wanted to be anonymous, has agreed to help the provincial authority build a port on the canal to speed up shipping.

An Giang Province Custom Office bureau director Le Viet Thai said infrastructure at border areas had improved at a snails pace over the past five years.

Thai said it was also time that the eight ton rated Huu Nghi Bridge on Vinh Te Canal was upgraded.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Solar eclipse to be visible across Vietnam]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-solar-eclipse-to-be-visible-across-vietnam-en-523.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-solar-eclipse-to-be-visible-across-vietnam-en-523.html</guid><pubDate>Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[People all over Vietnam will have a chance to view part of a four-hour total solar eclipse on Friday.

Nguyen Duc Phuong, from the Vietnam Astronomy Association, said the eclipse would start at 15:04:06 and end at 19:38:37 Hanoi time.

This rare natural phenomenon will be viewed first by those in the north, then those in the central area and then in the south of Vietnam.

People in the northernmost province of Cao Bang will be able to see 73 percent of the event, the best view of an eclipse ever seen from Vietnam.

Residents in Hanoi will be able to observe 67 percent of the totality at 18:35 Hanoi time.

It is more difficult for people in the south to observe the eclipse because when the phenomenon occurs in the sky over the region the sun will be on the verge of setting.

The total eclipse will be visible from a large area on earth, from northern Greenland to the Arctic Ocean, then central Russia, Mongolia and China.

People living in the northeast Africa, North America, almost the whole of Europe and many countries in Asia will be able to see a part of the eclipse, the fifth of the 21st century.

Phuong said people should wear special glasses or use X-ray film and welder’s glasses rather than look directly at the event with their naked eyes, which could cause blindness, he said.

In related news, Phan Van Dong from the Vietnam Astronomy Association said Tuesday at the end of this month, people all over Vietnam will be able to see a meteor shower.

Phuong said the shower, named Delta Aquarids, will last from July 14 to August 18.

It would “rain” most heavily on the last days of July, during which time people will be able to see falling stars from the Aquarius constellation every three to five minutes.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Party leader welcomes French Senate president]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-party-leader-welcomes-french-senate-president-en-522.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-party-leader-welcomes-french-senate-president-en-522.html</guid><pubDate>Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Communist Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh spoke highly of French Senate President Christian Poncelet’s contributions to boosting Vietnam-France ties.

Manh also praised the positive developments in the relationship between the legislative bodies of the two countries.

The Party leader received the visiting French Senate President and his entourage in Hanoi Tuesday.

General Secretary Manh briefed his guests on Vietnam’s major policies and stressed that Vietnam was focusing on lifting the country from its underdeveloped status to be an industrial country by 2020.

He affirmed that Vietnam placed high importance in promoting a cooperative relationship with EU member countries, including France.

He said he hoped the two countries would continue their efforts to take the traditional friendly and cooperative Vietnam-France relationship to new heights.

He believed that France, in its capacity as chair of the EU in the last six months of this year, would actively help improve the cooperation between Vietnam and the EU.

Senate President Poncelet expressed his delight at the great achievements of the Vietnamese people in the nation’s renovation process.

He informed the Vietnamese Party leader of activities of the France-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group to promote the two countries’ friendship and cooperation and the results of his meetings with the Vietnam National Assembly leadership.

He praised the time-honored friendly ties between France and Vietnam.

Poncelet also said his nation placed great importance on boosting relations with Vietnam, saying that the two countries should enhance coordination of activities to solve global challenges, such as energy and food security.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Vietnam draws record US$45 billion of foreign investment]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-vietnam-draws-record-us$45-billion-of-foreign-investment-en-521.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-vietnam-draws-record-us$45-billion-of-foreign-investment-en-521.html</guid><pubDate>Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Vietnam received a record US$45.3 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) pledges in the first seven months – more than double the total of last year, the government said Tuesday.

Taiwan topped the list of investors with FDI pledges worth $8.4 billion, a figure that includes a $7.8 billion steel plant by the Formosa Group, said the state-run General Statistics Office (GSO).

Next came Japan – the partner with Kuwait in a $6-billion oil refinery project – with a total of $7.2 billion in FDI pledges, and Malaysia with $5.1 billion, said the GSO.

The inflow of pledged capital comes in the year after Vietnam joined the World Trade Organization, promising to level the playing field for foreign companies in a variety of industrial sectors.

From January to July, Vietnam’s government licensed 654 new projects worth a total of $44.5 billion and approved $788.6 million in additional spending for 188 existing projects.

The total FDI pledges of $45.3 billion represent a 373 percent rise over the same period last year and more than double the record $21.3 billion in FDI pledged for the whole of last year.

Of the total, 381 projects worth $21.5 billion were in the industrial sector, 243 projects worth $22.8 billion in services, and the remainder in agriculture, forestry and aquaculture, said the GSO.

Disbursed FDI for the seven-month period reached $6 billion, up 43 percent against the same period last year, the GSO said.

The GSO also said that Vietnam’s industrial production in the first seven months of the year reached more than VND380 trillion ($22 billion), up by 16.4 percent year-on-year.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Malaysia's Anwar eyes parliamentary seats: party]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-malaysia-s-anwar-eyes-parliamentary-seats-party-en-514.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-malaysia-s-anwar-eyes-parliamentary-seats-party-en-514.html</guid><pubDate>Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Malaysian opposition figure Anwar Ibrahim plans to run for parliament, his party said on Tuesday, as he seeks to sustain an opposition drive to unseat the government that appears to lose momentum.

Anwar, who is facing a criminal investigation over sodomy allegations, would contest in either the Kulim Bandar Baharu seat in northern Kedah state or Bandar Tun Razak near the Malaysian capital, said People's Justice Party spokesman Tian Chua.

The Kulim seat was won by a member of Anwar's party in the March election but the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party wants the court to disqualify him on the grounds that he did not submit his account of expenditure after the last poll in 2004, Chua said.

"If the seat's empty we need someone to go and stand and he should be in parliament," Chua said, adding that the court would hear the case on Aug 19.

Anwar, a former deputy premier turned de facto opposition leader, is leading an effort by the opposition to win power for the first time in Malaysian history.

Public anger against rising prices and political scandals involving the government have eroded the ruling coalition's popularity but a recent sodomy allegation against Anwar could derail the opposition's rise, some analysts have said.

Anwar was barred from running for public office until this April because of a conviction for corruption. He was sacked by then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in 1998 and jailed on what he says were fabricated charges of corruption and sodomy.

A court quashed the sodomy charges and freed Anwar from jail in September 2004, soon after he finished serving the corruption sentence. Anwar has dismissed the latest sodomy allegation as a political conspiracy to thwart the opposition.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Shakespeare parallel]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-the-shakespeare-parallel-en-513.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-the-shakespeare-parallel-en-513.html</guid><pubDate>Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Nguyen Nghieu Khai Thu was a medical student at Stanford University in the US before she did what her heart always desired – research the performing arts.

She is now preparing her doctoral thesis at University of California, Berkeley on Vietnamese theater.

At first when Thu researched the works of William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe for her master thesis she thought Shakespeare and Vietnamese traditional performing arts did not bear much resemblance.

But she went on to find that there are striking similarities.

“I learned a lot about literary and artistic values in Shakespeare’s works which I can also find in traditional Vietnamese arts.”

“Art has no frontier,” Thu said.

For example, both the Bard and traditional Vietnamese arts incorporate stereotypes and narration in the first person.

Art theories formulated by Western theater practitioners such as German playwright and theater director, Bertolt Brecht, are profoundly influenced by traditional Oriental performing arts, she added.

A doctorate on her homeland’s arts

The main subject of her doctoral thesis is the progression of romantic, sentimental elements in different forms of Vietnamese stage productions including cai luong (traditional Vietnamese opera); theatrical productions during the Vietnam war; and Luu Quang Vu’s plays.

In 2007 she spent a year in Vietnam on a Fulbright Hays scholarship researching the genres and learning from traditional theater practitioners and critics in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The more research she did, the more she was mesmerized by the works by the late Luu Quang Vu, a celebrated playwright, poet and author, who passed away in August 1988 at the age of 40.

Vu’s works are highly regarded for their topical, realistic themes and highly literary language.

Thu’s love for cai luong has also grown since she saw it performed live.

“In the US, I watched a lot of cai luong plays on video tapes. But the genre proves much more captivating seen onstage,” she said.

A form of modern Vietnamese folk theater, cai luong evolved from don ca tai tu (music of the talents) a type of improvisational chamber music that originated in southern Vietnam during the second decade of the twentieth century.

“What fascinates me most about cai luong is its incorporation of melodramatic details and foreign elements, such as Western drama and music.

“As appealing as it is as an art form, cai luong remains little known outside Vietnam. I hope my project will help popularize the genre to the rest of the world.”

Thu, who as a child, would stay in her room for hours pretending to be a character in a play, has also published her research on Vietnamese arts in a 150-page book in the US

Traditional and contemporary

Together with Norwegian theater director Cliff Moustache and renowned playwright and actor Nguyen Thi Minh Ngoc, Thu has initiated an exciting new project called Hanh trinh qua ban sac (The Journey through Cultural Identities) which aims to combine elements of traditional Vietnamese arts and physical theater into modern Vietnamese plays

As part of the project, Thu and Moustache founded a physical theater troupe called NEWS last June whose core members are artists from the HCMC Hat boi Theater and students from the HCMC College of Stage and Cinematography.

In physical theater, which was first introduced in Vietnam in the late 1990s, artists rely primarily on highly stylized body gestures.

The theater type involves skills such as dancing, puppetry, ballet, acting and singing.

The troupe aims to produce plays which blend Vietnam’s traditional and the world’s modern elements.

Their first production was a play titled Hanh trinh va Dich den (Journeys and Destinations) which premiered last month.

The play employs music, poetry and physical theater in hat boi (formerly one of Vietnam’s most popular forms of classical opera) and vong co (a type of song from cai luong, or songs which express longing for the past).

The play is constructed “from the actors and actresses’ life experiences which are narrated and linked in an innovative way.

Thu said she will return to Vietnam often and stage more new plays to promote the country’s art to audience at home and abroad.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Vietnam’s top male badminton player gets first round Olympics bye]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-vietnam’s-top-male-badminton-player-gets-first-round-olympics-bye-en-512.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-vietnam’s-top-male-badminton-player-gets-first-round-olympics-bye-en-512.html</guid><pubDate>Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Vietnam’s top male badminton player Nguyen Tien Minh will be exempted from playing in the first round of the Beijing Olympics badminton competition, set to begin on August 9.

In the second round, Minh, who is ranked 24th in the world, will play against either Taiwan’s number one player Hsieh Yu Hsin, ranked 49th in the world, or Iranian Mehrabi Kaveh, ranked 91st.

If Minh wins, he will compete against either defending Olympics champion Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia or Malaysian Wong C. Haan, ranked 17th.

In the women’s first round singles, Vietnam’s best female player Le Ngoc Nguyen Nhung, ranked 72nd in the world, will face 91st-ranked Sri Lankan Jayasinghe Thilini.

If Nhung defeats Thilini, she will encounter either Japanese Eriko Hirose, ranked 22nd, or Ragna Ingolfsdottir of Iceland, ranked 61st.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Vietnam, France strive for closer ties]]></title><link>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-vietnam-france-strive-for-closer-ties-en-511.html</link><guid>http://www.movevietnam.com/news-vietnam-france-strive-for-closer-ties-en-511.html</guid><pubDate>Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100</pubDate><description><![CDATA[Vietnam National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong wants the relationship between Vietnam and France to become an exemplary partnership between developing and developed countries.

He made the comment Monday during talks in Hanoi with French Senate President Christian Poncelet who agreed with Trong’s vision.

Trong praised Poncelet for his contributions to the relations of the two legislative bodies and the two countries as well, calling the French senate president “a close friend to Vietnamese people.”

He noted that the longstanding Vietnam-France relationship is growing well and the two countries, which share a historical and cultural connection, can support each other in a wide range of areas.

Highlighting France’s strength, Trong asked for the European country’s cooperation in oil and gas exploitation, education and training, science and technology, infrastructure, and transport and communication.

Poncelet stressed the two countries need to cooperate more closely in addressing global challenges like food and energy crises, suggesting Vietnam, as the world’s second largest rice exporter, should work together with France, a major cereal exporter, to ensure food security.

He also expressed his interest in promoting other areas such as: health care, clean drinking water, water treatment and child adoption.

Poncelet lauded Vietnam for clearly demonstrating its viewpoints against the use of nuclear power for military purposes while working as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

“France will work to support Vietnam to expand its multidimensional cooperation with the European Union,” the French senate president said.]]></description></item></channel></rss>