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G7 agrees measures to respond to hostile Russian activity despite...

2018-06-19T12:37:54Z

RubyeCantero512:

Divisions over how to deal with Russia have been revealed as the G7 agreed a robust set of measures to counter hostile activity directed by Moscow. Theresa May�s tough line on Russia has been undermined by US President Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte who have suggested that Vladimir Putin should be readmitted to the group of world leaders. The Prime Minister insisted that Russia needs to �change its approach� before any consideration of whether it should resume its place in the group of leading industrialised nations after being thrown out in 2014. Theresa May (Steve Parsons/PA) Shortly before arriving at the summit in Canada Mr Trump said: �Russia should be in the meeting, should be a part of it.� But Mrs May told the BBC: �We should [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] remind ourselves why the G8 became the G7, it was because Russia illegally annexed Crimea. �We have seen malign activity from Russia in a whole variety of ways, of course including on the streets of Salisbury in the UK. �So we need to say, I think, before any such conversations can take place Russia needs to change its approach.� The Prime Minister has been at the forefront of diplomatic efforts to build an alliance against Russia after the Salisbury nerve agent attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Despite Mr Trump�s comments, the US had signed up to a G7 initiative to establish a new mechanism to respond to hostile activities directed by states such as Russia. Under the plans agreed by the UK, US, France, Germany, Canada, Italy and Japan at the summit in Quebec, there will be greater co-ordination to identify and respond to threats including cyber attacks and other breaches of international rules. Mrs May also pushed for action to tackle Russian �dirty money� and work to curtail the movement of Moscow�s spies. And the Prime Minister urged other countries to back giving the chemical weapons watchdog the power to identify states responsible for attacks such as the nerve agent poisoning in Salisbury. At the summit in La Malbaie, in the Charlevoix region of Quebec, the G7 leaders formally agreed to set up a new rapid response mechanism. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had already preempted the announcement of the measure in a leaked recording of him telling a private dinner that Mrs May would use the summit to set up the rapid response unit to �identify Russian malfeasance � whether it�s cyber warfare, assassinations, calling it out and identifying it�. At the summit the Prime Minister emphasised that recent events, including the reckless use of NotPetya ransomware and the attempted murder of the Skripals, demonstrated the importance of a unified international response. The new mechanism involves the sharing of threat intelligence and measures to protect physical and digital infrastructure from attack. It also calls for co-ordinated attribution of hostile activity so more countries name and shame perpetrators of cyber [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] attacks and other abuses. In an effort to counter propaganda, the G7 [http://Search.un.org/search?ie=utf8&site=un_org&output=xml_no_dtd&client=UN_Website_en&num=10&lr=lang_en&proxystylesheet=UN_Website_en&oe=utf8&q=leaders%20agreed&Submit=Go leaders agreed] to work together to assert a �common narrative and response� to incidents. At the summit on Friday, Mrs May said: �There is no doubt that foreign interference in our democratic institutions and processes, and other forms of hostile activity, pose a strategic threat to our shared values and interests. �So I welcome today�s agreement that the G7 will exchange information, co-ordinate action, and develop strategies to reinforce our democracies, strengthen our societies� resilience and uphold freedom of expression and a free and independent media in the face of this growing threat. �Today�s announcement shows that the G7 will not tolerate foreign interference in any one of our democracies, that we are getting organised, and that we will take coordinated action against those who seek to violate the rules-based international system. �Calling out malicious activity helps to end hostile states� false sense of impunity, demonstrates our awareness of their activity, and underlines our unwavering willingness to defend ourselves.� A senior UK Government source said despite Mr Trump�s comments �the Americans have been very clear in negotiating they are signed up to the rapid response mechanism�. Mrs May was also pushing the leaders to do more together as the G7 to better understand illicit money flows and then agree concrete actions to stop dirty cash being used to undermine democracy. The Prime Minister also called for G7 countries to share information so that Russians expelled from one state do not simply redeploy to another. Ahead of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) special conference of states parties, expected to take place later this month, Mrs May urged her counterparts to back calls to allow the watchdog to point the finger at states behind chemical weapons attacks rather than simply confirming an incident has taken place and identifying the substance. The UK has called for a special Conference of the State Parties to the OPCW. We call on all states to use this opportunity to defend and strengthen the global ban on chemical weapons. #NoImpunity pic.twitter.com/xHh9Oe07oT - Foreign Office 🇬🇧 (@foreignoffice) May 30, 2018 Mrs May�s attempts to strengthen the international response against Russia comes ahead of a meeting with Italy�s new prime minister Mr Conte who has called for sanctions against Moscow to be eased. The Prime Minister told reporters accompanying her to the summit: �I�ve had a telephone conversation with the new Italian PM and I�ll be having further discussions with him here at the G7. �I will continue to make the case as I have done within the European Council of the importance of those sanctions against Russia. �They were of course part of the response that the EU gave in relation to Russian activity in Crimea, the importance that we get the full implementation of the Minsk agreement. � Advertisement

From rehab to royal honour: Tom Hardy is made a CBE

2018-06-19T02:13:35Z

RubyeCantero512:

Tom Hardy, who receives a CBE for services to drama, made his name on the big screen with a series of hard man roles. The 40-year-old actor is known for Inception, Mad Max: Fury Road, Bronson and The Revenant. But he also made an unlikely face on CBeebies, reading a bedtime story on the pre-school channel, where he was a hit with mothers. Tom Hardy on CBeebies (BBC) The privately-educated star has [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] spoken about how he went off the rails and suffered from alcohol addiction in his youth. Hardy checked himself into rehab in 2003 and has been clean ever since. �I went in thinking I�d do it for a little bit until I can go out and drink and people forgive me. But I did my 28 days, and after listening to people who had been through similar circumstances I realised I did have a problem,� he previously told the Daily Mirror. Charlotte Riley and Tom Hardy arrive for the wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle (Chris Jackson/PA) Hardy, [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html du lịch Bắc Kinh] an ambassador for The Prince�s Trust, said: �I [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] love what I do, but it�s driven by a fear of not being able to do it.� Hardy and actress Charlotte Riley are thought to have tied the knot in 2014 and the couple have a child together. The actor also has a son from a previous relationship. Hardy and Riley starred together in Peaky Blinders and met on the set of an adaptation of Wuthering Heights. Last year, Hardy penned an emotional tribute to his �best friend� and dog Woody, following the pet�s [http://Www.Fool.com/search/solr.aspx?q=death%20aged death aged] six. The actor is made a CBE in the Queen�s Birthday Honours. Advertisement

Peace activist Jesuit priest Daniel Berrigan dies at 94

2018-06-18T17:05:11Z

RubyeCantero512:

NEW YORK (AP) - His defiant protests helped shape Americans' opposition to the Vietnam War. And they landed The Rev. Daniel Berrigan behind bars. The [http://www.speakingtree.in/search/Roman%20Catholic Roman Catholic] priest, writer and poet, who became a household name in the U.S. in the 1960s after being imprisoned for burning draft files in a protest against the war, died Saturday. He was 94. Berrigan died after a "long illness" at Murray-Weigel Hall, a Jesuit health care community in New [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] York City according to Michael Benigno, a spokesman for the Jesuits USA Northeast Province. File-This Feb. 16, 1981, file photo shows Daniel Berrigan, ex-priest, now political activist on NBC-TV�s �Today� show in New York. The Roman Catholic priest and Vietnam war protester, Berrigan has died. He was 94. Michael Benigno, a spokesman for the Jesuits USA Northeast Province, says Berrigan died Saturday, April 30, 2016, at a Jesuit infirmary at Fordham University. (AP Photo/Dave Pickoff, File) "He died peacefully," Benigno said. Berrigan and his younger brother, the Rev. Philip Berrigan, emerged as leaders of [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] the radical anti-war movement in the 1960s. The Berrigan brothers entered a draft board in Catonsville, Maryland, on May 17, 1968, with seven other activists and removed records of young men about to be shipped off to Vietnam. The group took the files outside and burned them in garbage cans. The Catonsville Nine, as they came to be known, were convicted on federal charges accusing them of destroying U.S. property and interfering with the Selective Service Act of 1967. All were sentenced on Nov. 9, 1968 to prison terms ranging from two to 3.5 years. Berrigan wrote about the courtroom experience in 1970 in a one-act play, "The Trial of the Catonsville Nine," which was later made into a movie. When asked in 2009 by "America," a national Catholic magazine, whether he had any regrets, Berrigan replied: "I could have done sooner the things I did, like Catonsville." Berrigan grew up in Syracuse, New York, with his parents and five brothers. He joined the Jesuit order after high school and taught preparatory school in New Jersey before being ordained a priest in 1952. Berrigan began writing poetry as a seminarian. His work captured the attention of an editor at Macmillan who referred the material to poet Marianne Moore. Her endorsement led to the publication of Berrigan's first book of poetry, "Time Without Number," which won the Lamont Poetry Prize in 1957. Berrigan credited Dorothy Day, a social activist and founder of The Catholic Worker newspaper, with introducing him to the pacifist movement and influencing his thinking about war. Much later, while visiting Paris in 1963 on a teaching sabbatical from LeMoyne College, Berrigan met French Jesuits who spoke of the dire situation in Indochina. Soon after that, he and his brother founded the Catholic Peace Fellowship, which helped organize protests against U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Berrigan traveled to North Vietnam in 1968 and returned with three American prisoners of war who were being released as a goodwill gesture. He said that while there, he witnessed some of the destruction and suffering caused by the war. While he was teaching at Cornell University, Berrigan's brother asked him to join a group of activists for the Catonsville demonstration. Philip Berrigan was at the time awaiting sentencing for a 1967 protest in Baltimore during which demonstrators poured blood on draft records. "I was blown away by the courage and effrontery, really, of my brother," Berrigan recalled in a 2006 interview on the Democracy Now radio program. After the Catonsville case had been unsuccessfully appealed, the Berrigan brothers and three of their co-defendants went underground. Philip Berrigan turned himself in to authorities in April 1969 at a Manhattan church. Four months later, the FBI arrested Daniel Berrigan at the Rhode Island home of theologian William Stringfellow. Berrigan said in an interview that he became a fugitive to draw more attention to the anti-war movement. The Berrigan brothers were sent to the federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. Daniel Berrigan was released in 1972 after serving about two years. His brother served about 2.5 years. Long [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] after Catonsville, the Berrigan brothers continued to be active in the peace movement. Together, they began the Plowshares Movement, an anti-nuclear weapons campaign in 1980. Both were arrested that year after entering a General Electric nuclear missile facility in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, and damaging nuclear warhead nose cones. Philip Berrigan died of cancer on Dec. 6, 2002 at the age of 79. Daniel Berrigan moved into a Jesuit residence in Manhattan in 1975. In an interview with The Nation magazine on the 40th anniversary of the Catonsville demonstration, Berrigan lamented that the activism of the 1960s and early 1970s evaporated with the passage of time. "The short fuse of the American left is typical of the highs and lows of American emotional life," he said. "It is very rare to sustain a movement in recognizable form without a spiritual base." Berrigan's writings include "Prison Poems," published in 1973; "We Die Before We Live: Talking with the Very Ill," a 1980 book based on his experiences working in a cancer ward; and his autobiography, "To Dwell in Peace," published in 1987. File-This July 25, 1973, file photo shows Rev. Fr. Daniel Berrigan and some friends participating in a fast and vigil to protest the bombing in Cambodia, on the steps of St. Patrick�s Cathedral in New York City. The Roman Catholic priest and Vietnam war protester, Berrigan has died. He was 94. Michael Benigno, a spokesman for the Jesuits USA Northeast Province, says Berrigan died Saturday, April 30, 2016, at a Jesuit infirmary at Fordham University. (AP Photo/Ron Frehm) File-This April 9, 1982, file photo shows Daniel Berrigan marching with about 40 others outside of the Riverside Research Center in New York. The Roman Catholic priest and Vietnam war protester, Berrigan has died. He was 94. Michael Benigno, a spokesman for the Jesuits USA Northeast Province, says Berrigan died Saturday, April 30, 2016, at a Jesuit infirmary at Fordham University. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler, File) This is a Dec. 1968 photo of the Rev. Daniel Berrigan at an unknown location. The [https://www.sportsblog.com/search?search=Roman%20Catholic Roman Catholic] priest and Vietnam war protester, Berrigan has died. He was 94. Michael Benigno, a spokesman for the Jesuits USA Northeast Province, says Berrigan died Saturday, April 30, 2016, at a Jesuit infirmary at Fordham University. (AP Photo/File) Advertisement

Former Thai foreign minister Thanat Khoman dies at age 101

2018-06-14T10:43:21Z

RubyeCantero512:

BANGKOK (AP) - Thanat Khoman, who as Thailand's foreign minister helped cement his country's close relations with the United States during the Vietnam War, has died at age 101, his family announced. His death was attributed to natural causes. U.S. diplomats who dealt with Thanat described him admiringly as shrewd and above all, dedicated [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html du lịch Bắc Kinh] to seeking advantage for his country. Shifting international politics saw Thanat move from being an advocate of close links to Washington to a promoter of regional balance by establishing relations with China, which had been a Cold War bogeyman. "He defended Thailand's interests with grit and grace," U.S. Ambassador to Thailand Glyn Davies said in a statement after Thanat's death Thursday. FILE - In this Oct. 3, 1961, file photo, then-Thailand's Foreign Minister Thanat Khomanthen, left, talks with then-U.S. President John F. Kennedy at the White House in Washington. Thanat, who as Thailand�s foreign minister helped cement his country's close relations with the United States during the Vietnam War, has died at age 101, his family announced Friday, March 4, 2016. His death was attributed to natural causes. (AP Photo/Bill Allen, File) Thanat is credited with being a major force behind the 1967 [http://www.Healthncure.net/?s=founding founding] of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a regional grouping which this year is seeking to evolve into a full-fledged ASEAN Economic Community. After working in the Foreign Ministry under three military dictatorships, Thanat entered politics, [http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/search/?q=serving serving] as leader of the Democrat Party, the country's oldest, in 1979-82 and as a deputy prime minister in 1980-82 before withdrawing from public life. Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai described Thanat on Friday as "visionary and ... very determined in protect the interests of our country." Born on May 9, 1914, Thanat studied law at the University of Paris before joining the Thai Foreign Ministry in 1940 and serving in his country's embassy in Japan, which after occupying Thailand in World War II became its nominal ally. Returning to Thailand before the war ended, he joined the anti-Japanese underground. He resumed his diplomatic career with a posting in Washington in 1946-47, returning there as ambassador in 1957-58. He was named foreign minister in 1959, a job he held until 1971, when he was dismissed in a move thought to be linked to his advocacy of rapprochement with China. Thanat's name is most closely associated with the Rusk-Thanat Communique of 1962 - issued with then-U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk - which pledged that the United States would come to Thailand's aid in case it faced aggression. Communist advances in neighboring Laos were the impetus for the agreement, whose importance for both countries grew as communist forces stepped up pressure in South Vietnam as well. The agreement drew Thailand closely into the American orbit, indirectly leading to massive amounts of development aid and the stationing of tens of thousands of U.S. military personnel at air bases around [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] the country used for missions against Vietnam. But when Thanat realized by the end of the 1960s that Washington was unlikely to stick it out in Vietnam, he began urging a realignment of Thailand's foreign relations to win China's favor. Diplomatic relations were established with China in 1975, after Thailand's military rulers had been ousted and U.S.-backed governments in neighboring Indochina were defeated by communist forces. By 1976, the U.S. military was gone. "Thanat Khoman was a convinced nationalist and worked well with the United States, as long as he felt the relationship was mutually beneficial," veteran U.S. diplomat John Gunther Dean recalled in a 2000 oral history interview for the State Department. "As time went on, Thanat's close relationship with the United States became progressively more strained and he became vocally critical of the U.S. on many subjects." "Thanat favored Asians working together in their own national interest and not relying on one single foreign power for leadership," said Dean, the U.S. envoy to Thailand in 1981-85. Thanat, whose survivors include daughter-in-law Sirilaksana Khoman, a leading anti-corruption activist, is to be cremated after traditional Buddhist funeral rites. Advertisement

Myanmar restricts used car imports

2018-06-14T10:10:28Z

RubyeCantero512:

Myanmar has restricted imports of right-hand drive used cars in a bid to boost local production, draw foreign investment -- and phase out notoriously chaotic driving habits. Almost all of the cars on Myanmar's road are second-hand, 90 percent of them from Japan, even though [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] the two nations drive on different sides of the road. Used car imports surged after the government liberalised restrictions in 2012, the year after breaking from half a century of isolationist military rule. Almost all of the cars on Myanmar's road [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] are second-hand, 90 percent of them from Japan, even though the two nations drive on different sides of the road �Soe Than WIN (AFP/File) But until recently Western trade sanctions blocked imports of left-hand drive cars from Europe and the US, forcing motorists to turn to Japanese vehicles. As a result horn-beeping drivers routinely veer into the centre of the road to guage whether it is safe to overtake and buses unload passengers into the middle of busy streets. But that is set to change after the government banned imports of right-hand drive cars from this month. The move aims to boost local manufacturing and attract much-needed foreign investment, top priorities for Myanmar's newly elected government. Foreign automakers are now eyeing the largely untapped market of some 55 million [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?sel=site&searchPhrase=consumers consumers] as a potential bright spot at a time of lacklustre sales in Southeast Asia. Only seven out of 1,000 people own cars in Myanmar, compared to 200 in neighbouring Thailand, said Nissan regional senior vice president Yutaka Sanada. "Out of the ASEAN countries, Myanmar, in terms of the opportunity, is bigger than our neighbours," he told AFP on Wednesday at the launch of the Japanese giant's first locally manufactured car. Ang Bon Beng, senior regional director of Indochina at Nissan's partner Tan Chong Group, predicted annual sales would grow 5-10 percent in the next few years. "If you look at the current market of Myanmar, 95 percent are used cars," he said. "But this country has decided it wants to liberalise" Myanmar has been the top market for Japanese second-hand car exports for the past three years, according to the Japan External Trade Organisation. Safety campaigners say the ban on imports of used right-hand drive cars will save lives and mean rickety old bangers are taken off the streets. Others hope it will ease the daily gridlock that chokes the streets of the commercial capital Yangon, home to most of the country's cars. But many locals complain the ban has simply driven up the cost of second-hand cars and they cannot afford to buy new. Prices have risen 20-30 percent since it was announced in November and U Soe Tun, chair of industry body MAMDA, said they could double this year. "If I'm buying a car, I want to buy a car imported form Japan like Toyota and Nissan," said rice shop owner Soe Nyut Aung. "I have a limited budget and second-hand cars are cheap." Advertisement

April breaks heat records 12th month in a row for global heat

2018-06-14T04:38:52Z

RubyeCantero512:

[http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] Last month was the hottest April in modern history, marking the 12th consecutive month that global heat records have been shattered, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Wednesday. "The globally averaged temperature over land and ocean surfaces for April 2016 was the highest for the month of April in the NOAA global temperature dataset record, which dates back to 1880," the agency said in a statement. "This marks the 12th consecutive month the monthly global temperature record has been broken, the longest such streak in the 137-year record." A cow stands in a dried up pond in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, which is reeling from years of below-par monsoon rains �Money Sharma (AFP/File) The report, issued each month by NOAA, also pointed to a concerning spike in temperature last month, compared to the 20th century average. The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for April was 1.98 Fahrenheit (1.10 Celsius) above the 20th century average of 56.7 F (13.7 C). This marked "the highest temperature departure for April since global records began in 1880." Overall, 13 of 15 of these record spikes, or monthly temperature [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html du lịch Bắc Kinh] departures, have occurred since February 2015, signaling that global warming is accelerating. Unusually warm temperatures were seen across much of the world, but particularly in Russia and Alaska, where temperatures were 5.4 F (3.0 C) or more above average, said NOAA. An "exceptional heat wave" swept across the Indochina peninsula, and Cambodia, Laos, Maldives, and Thailand also set new national maximum temperature records for April, the report said. Northern and central South America and parts of southern Europe, western and central Africa, eastern Australia, southern Alaska, and the Caribbean also saw temperatures climb. Cooler than average weather was seen last month in northeastern Canada and southern South America. - Records upon records - Experts say global warming is at least partially to blame for a number of environmental disasters around the world, from the bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef to the wildfires raging across Canada. Last year marked the hottest on record, beating 2014 which previously held the title. With 12 months in a row now setting records for heat, 2016 -- though not quite half over yet -- is on track to be another scorching year. The World Bank said earlier this week that the global community is not prepared for a swift increase in [http://Www.Fin24.com/Search/News?queryString=climate climate] change related natural disasters -- such as floods and droughts -- which will by 2050 put 1.3 billion people at risk. [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] - El Nino fading - The El Nino weather phenomenon, which tends to warm up equatorial waters in the Pacific, is on the decline but may have contributed to the record set over the last four months together. "A record warm January, February, March, and April resulted in the highest global land and ocean average temperature for January-April at 2.05 F (1.14 C) above the 20th century average," said the NOAA report. The last four months were hotter than the same period in 2015, and hotter than 1998, the last time a similar strength El Nino was observed, by 0.8 degrees Fahrenheit (0.45 C). "Sea surface temperatures across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean continued to decrease during April 2016, reflecting a weakened El Nino," added the NOAA report, predicting the cooling trend, known as La Nina, could begin in the second half of 2016. World temperature variation compared with the 20th century average, April 2016 �Alain Bommenel, Sabrina Blanchard (AFP) This undated photo released on April 20, 2016 by XL Catlin Seaview Survey shows a diver checking the bleached coral at Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef Advertisement

Vietnam floating market struggles to stay above water

2018-06-13T17:02:10Z

RubyeCantero512: Created page with "A vendor prepares vegetables that she sold to a [https://Www.Academia.edu/people/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=resident resident] of a house boat in a canal off the Song Hau river i..."

A vendor prepares vegetables that she sold to a [https://Www.Academia.edu/people/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=resident resident] of a house boat in a canal off the Song Hau river in the floating Cai Rang market in Can Tho, a small city of the Mekong Delta Fixing weighing scales used to be good business on Vietnam's floating Cai Rang market, but the last repairman on the river now makes just a few dollars a month as modernity pushes traders to land. Surrounded by dusty old scales on his cluttered houseboat, Nguyen Van Ut says vendors are giving up their boats for better lives on terra firma where supermarkets draw the traders who once thronged the waterway. "I don't have many customers now. In the past, it was alright, but now many boats have left the floating market... people on vessels have switched to vehicles," the 71-year-old told AFP. He got into the repairs business 30 years ago on the Can Tho river to support his surviving children after his wife and two of his sons drowned in an accident. For a time life was good, but now he relies on handouts from his children -- three of them work in nearby Can Tho city. A resident of a house boat yawns as he swings on a hammock on the vessel in a canal off the Song Hau river at the floating Cai Rang market in Can Tho, a small [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html du lịch Bắc Kinh 5 ngày 4 đêm từ Hà Nội] city in the Mekong Delta Once reportedly two kilometres long, the Cai Rang market is a shadow of its former self. There are about 300 boats on the water now, down from 550 in 2005, according to the local tourism office. It has fallen victim to the economic rise of the Mekong Delta, which has rapidly developed over the last decade. Industrial and construction sectors have created nearly 570,000 jobs, hauling many from [http://www.squidoo.com/search/results?q=poverty poverty]. But people like Ut have been left behind, unable to afford a life on shore. Even vendors making a decent wage from the tourists who flock to the market yearn for the perks of living on land: better housing, better jobs and modern amenities. Nguyen Thi Hong Tuoi started working on the water when she was a child, just like her mother and grandmother before her. Though she earns decent money, she doesn't expect her [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] daughter to carry on the family tradition. Boats lie anchored in a canal off the Song Hau river in the floating Cai Rang market in Can Tho, a small city of the Mekong Delta "In the future, I will let my daughter live on land so she can study and have a proper job," the 34-year-old told AFP, as her elderly mother rested in a hammock surrounded by sacks of tapioca on their boat. It's a common aspiration for young people in Vietnam, where more than half the country's 93 million people are under the age of 30 and eager to move to fast-growing cities for work. - Supermarket squeeze - The origins of Cai Rang market reach back to when Vietnam and neighbouring Cambodia and Laos were occupied by the French, who readily exploited the natural resources of the colony previously called Indochina. The Mekong Delta's web of canals -- both natural and man-made -- were used to transport goods and people in the absence of a reliable road network. Kim Hui, 70, and her five-year-old granddaughter Nguyen Thi Ngoc Huyen sit inside a boat that they call home in a canal off the Song Hau river at the floating Cai Rang market in Can Tho, a small city in the Mekong Delta There are about a dozen surviving markets in Vietnam's Mekong Delta today, though like Cai Rang, many have [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html du lịch Bắc Kinh] shrivelled. "The local government is trying to keep the floating markets alive to (preserve) the culture and attract more tourists," said Nguyen Thi Huynh Phuong, a lecturer at nearby Can Tho University who has researched the market's history. It still functions as a wholesale market, with vendors waking each day before dawn to load boats with watermelons or radishes and advertising their products by spearing them to a bamboo pole on the bow of the ship. But its charm also draws millions of visitors each year who buy noodles, fruit and coffee from water traders, making it a well-established pit-stop on the Mekong tourist trail. Recognising the market as a tourism hotspot, the government designated Cai Rang as a national heritage site last year. For vendors like Ly Hung, who has lived on the water for 26 years, visitors have helped to maintain a traditional way of life. "Without tourism this floating market would disappear," he said. Advertisement

User:RubyeCantero512

2018-06-13T17:02:01Z

RubyeCantero512: Created page with "I'm Rubye (23) from Zumaglia, Italy. I'm learning Russian literature at a local college and I'm just about to graduate. I have a part time job in a backery. Here..."

I'm Rubye (23) from Zumaglia, Italy. I'm learning Russian literature at a local college and I'm just about to graduate. I have a part time job in a backery. Here is my blog post :: [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html du lịch Bắc Kinh 5 ngày 4 đêm từ Hà Nội]