ASSURICH VIET NAM

Leading economists have forecast pepper exports to remain at high levels this year, amounting to 150,000 tonnes in volume and raking in more than US$1 billion in total revenue. At a four-day international pepper conference, which concluded in Ho Chi Minh City on October 30, they projected that Vietnam would retain its position as the leading pepper exporter in the global market. They also estimated Vietnam exporters would produce 30% of the world market share of peppers this year. Those in attendance discussed measures for sustainable development of the local pepper industry, with a focus on increasing product quality and export value, building the Vietnamese pepper trademark, and meeting requirements of importers from the US, Europe and Japan. They reported Vietnam currently has more than 60,000 ha under pepper cultivation in 28 provinces and cities nationwide, principally in the south-eastern and central highland regions. Despite its high export volume, the pepper exp

China is "vulnerable" to the deadly Ebola outbreak due to the soaring number of Chinese working in Africa and poor infection control at home, a co-discoverer of the virus warned Thursday. Women work on the CT1SL428, a protective suit for use in handling people infected with Ebola, in a sewing room of Lakeland Industries Inc in Anqiu, 500km south of Bejing on October 23, 2014. Belgian microbiologist Peter Piot also said experience with other viral outbreaks showed that airport screening was largely ineffective, and repeated his earlier criticism of the World Health Organization's initially "slow" response to the crisis. China is Africa's largest trading partner and Beijing's diplomatic footprint across the continent has expanded hugely in recent years as it seeks resources to drive the world's number-two economy. "Thousands and thousands of Chinese workers and people are in Africa now," Piot told an Ebola-focused seminar in Tokyo.

I was impressed by so much when I first came to Vietnam. Unfortunately, music was not one of them. Music has always been a big part of my life. I’ve written about it for years, and on some days I could not get by without it. Each time there was an opportunity to travel I would keep my ear out for new songs and forms of music that were foreign to me. They were to be found in almost every country, except for new music in Vietnam. Granted, that is a massive generalization. I’ve come to appreciate music from Vietnamese opera, or cheo. I also like the music they play at funerals (friends say I’m crazy, but whatever). Still, in the end new forms of music here like “V-pop” are excruciatingly unexciting to me. The point is that I have not seen any type of music scene that would bring to mind words like ‘vibrant’, ‘creative’ or,  especially, ‘new’. For a long time I thought I was missing something. But after more than four years living here and countless searches, for me at least, the answer w

In preparing for the 24th Asean Summit in Myanmar, member states studied ways to respond positively to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's October 2013 proposal for an Asean-China Treaty on Good Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation. They also looked at his proposal for the joint construction of a peaceful "Maritime Silk Road for the 21st Century".   A Chinese ship (right) firing water cannon at a Vietnamese Sea Guard ship on the South China Sea, in this handout photo taken on May 3 and released by the Vietnamese Marine Guard on May 8. Such confrontations are contrary to China's promises of restraint and win-win cooperation last year. --PHOTO: REUTERS Then, just before the summit, China demonstrated its "friendliness" to Asean with the silkiest present of all. It sent a billion-dollar floating oil drilling platform deep into Vietnam's exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. It also rammed Vietnamese surveillance vessels and fired at them with

The ‘48h Photo Project’ themed ‘I love my city, my people’ will offer young people in Hanoi a chance to show their love of Hanoi through their photos. One of outstanding works of the ‘48h Photo Project’  in Ho Chi Minh City in 2013 (Photographer Tran Thi Thiem). The remark was made by Maika Elan, one of three leaders of the project, at a press conference in Hanoi on October 30. Along with Maika Elan, well-known French photographer Nicolas Cornet and Binh Dang will also host the competition. The project is open to talented young photographers aged 18-27, who currently reside in Hanoi. The event is comprised of three phases. The first phase is the online photo contest at www.facebook.com/ilovemycitymypeople, from October 28-November 2. Each entrant can submit a photo set of seven to 12 photos responding to the contest’s theme, captured using digital cameras or smartphones. 12 outstanding contestants will then advance to the second phase of the project, ‘48h Hours Photo Mar

How exactly does the chief executive of the most valuable company in world announce that he is proud to be gay? Write a corporate blog post? Sit down for a TV interview? Invite tech journalists for a very special announcement? Tim Cook , the chief executive of  Apple , chose to write a sober, conscientious essay for Bloomberg Businessweek  that invoked the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and used the word “privacy” again and again. The headline did not address the news head on — “Tim Cook Speaks Up.” “The back story on it is pretty simple,” Businessweek’s editor, Josh Tyrangiel, said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. “He called and asked, ‘If I could come out.’ ” Mr. Tyrangiel said that the essay, which appeared on the Businessweek website on Thursday morning, was “not precipitated by any event, it’s not a reaction to anything,” but rather was something “he has been thinking about for a while.” Continue reading the main story RELATED COVERAGE Apple’s Tim Cook Says That

President Obama is shown a 3D printer by Andy Leer, right, during a tour of TechShop Pittsburgh, a community-based workshop and prototyping studio in Pittsburgh, Pa., on June 17, 2014. Watching at left is General Manager Matt Verlinich. (Chuck Kennedy/White House) Decorating the White House for Christmas is a long-held tradition, with generations of first ladies showing of confections in the shape of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue  and sparkly ornaments atop Douglas fir trees throughout the residence. So prepare yourself: modern tinkerers  are about to enter the fray. On Thursday, the administration launched the "First-Ever White House 3D-Printed Ornament Challenge," a nationwide competition aimed at harnessing new technology to produce an old-school tchotchke. (Granted, it's debatable whether a Christmas ornament can actually be described by a Yiddish term, but you get our drift.) The contest, which the White House is undertaking along with the Smithsonian, "invi

Is killing ISIS leader a good idea?

STORY HIGHLIGHTS Hundreds or thousands of babies were stolen or given away in Chile, authorities say The illegal adoptions occurred during the Pinochet dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s The missing became known as the "Children of Silence" CNN's Rafael Romo's documentary "The Children of Silence" will air on CNNi at 9:30 a.m. GMT and 3:30 p.m. GMT on Friday. Santiago, Chile (CNN)  -- Nearly four decades have passed, but Cecilia Rojas cries for her son as if she had lost him yesterday. Rojas, a 58-year-old resident of the Chilean capital of Santiago, said her baby was taken shortly after she gave birth. He was born two months early, but doctors and nurses assured Rojas that he was healthy and would soon be sent home with her. "The nurse put the baby on my chest while she finished the paperwork," Rojas recalled in an emotional interview with CNN. "Then she told me they were going to take him to an incubator because he was

Israel said it will allow limited access to the Muslim shrines on a contested  Jerusalem  hilltop, after closing it for the first time since 2000 in a move likened by Palestinians to a declaration of war. Police said in a text message late yesterday that the shrine, known to Jews as the  Temple Mount  and to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, would be reopened to a limited number of Muslims for Friday prayers today. Only worshipers who are 50 or older will be admitted, the police said. The earlier announcement of the site’s closure came as Israel tightened a security clampdown in Arab areas of Jerusalem, after the Oct. 29 shooting of a prominent Jewish religious activist, Yehuda Glick, who was seriously injured. A Palestinian suspected of carrying out the attack was killed in a gun-battle with police. Glick, an American immigrant, heads a group demanding rights for Jewish prayer at the hilltop shrine. The compound has seen repeated clashes over the past few months between Palestinians