Tieng Viet lovers club

[jackbl]

Hot and spicy
===========================

A fiery Cham curry is a must for visitors to Cham villages in the Mekong Delta’s An Giang and Soc Trang provinces and the central region’s Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan provinces.

Cari cha (cha curry) is a Cham dish, usually served with com ni (rice cooked with coconut juice and spices).

Cha curry is similar to an Indian curry but it has a thicker sauce. Its main ingredients are beef, goat meat or mutton but sometimes duck or chicken is used as a substitute.

The different types of meats create a unique flavor but goat meat is regarded as the most delicious.

Goat meat, usually plentiful in Cham villages, can smell bad if processed the wrong way. To remove this strong smell, people usually either make goats sweat by beating them and making them run around or they press acupuncture points on their body before slaughtering them.

Cha curry is considered delicious if it is very hot. This fire is created by combining fresh capsicums, chili powder and other spices. The fatty taste of coconut juice also makes the dish attractive.

The Cham-style curry is usually accompanied with rice vermicelli or bread, even though the best accompaniment is com ni.

Visitors to Cham villages in the Mekong Delta’s An Giang and Soc Trang provinces and the central region’s Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan provinces should try Cha curry for themselves. It is great to sit on the floor of an airy stilt house to enjoy this Cham specialty.

Reported by Diem Thu

[jackbl]

越南将封禁　泄漏国安或经济机密博客

（2008-12-25）

（河内路透电）越南信息与通讯部昨天宣布，所有透露国家安全或经济秘密的博客将一律被禁止。
　　报道这项消息的《新河内报》引述该部所发出的通告说，博客应该促进联系以及信息的分享。

　　此外，在创作博克时必须按照越南的传统和法律，并使用“干净”的越南语。该通告也指出，作为博克主机的 互联网服务供应商必须为这些博客的内容负责。

　　互联网的使用在近年来已越来越普遍，而博客更是广受越南人的欢迎。据信息与通讯部的越南互联网中心透露 ，目前越南约有2100万名互联网用户，占了越南总人口的25%。去年，越南的互联网用户只有1770万， 2006年则是1470万人。

　　据《越南青年报》本月初的报道，该部计划与雅虎和谷歌合作，以便为博客们“创造最良好和健 康的环境”。

　　今年8月，越南政府颁布了一项新法令，以有效管理互联网和电子商务信息的供应和使用。

[jackbl]

HCMC and Hanoi will ROCK if VN win the Cup on Sunday!!!

Vietnam brings AFF Cup within reach
==============================
Fans nationwide were delirious last night after Vietnam posted a dream victory over Thailand in the first leg of the 2008 ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup final at Bangkok’s Rajamangala Stadium. 2 -1

[carmeo88]

Originally Posted by jackbl

HCMC and Hanoi will ROCK if VN win the Cup on Sunday!!!

Vietnam brings AFF Cup within reach
==============================
Fans nationwide were delirious last night after Vietnam posted a dream victory over Thailand in the first leg of the 2008 ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup final at Bangkok’s Rajamangala Stadium. 2 -1

Yes, we now can support Vietnam. Vietnam! Vietnam! Vietnam!

[jackbl]

Official calls for delay in personal income tax law
=====================================

The Personal Income Tax Law is due to take effect in a week but one senior government official has suggested delaying the tax to stimulate investment and consumer spending in the face of continued economic difficulties.

Le Quoc Dung, deputy director of the National Assembly’s Economic Committee, said the Ministry of Finance (MOF) had prepared two options for the implementation of the law – delaying the introduction of the law to July 1 next year or implementing the law, as originally planned, on January 1 but with exemptions for some sectors.

“We will have time to check and make the law more effective if we delay its implementation,” Dung said. “In the second option, the MOF plans to reduce the capital gains tax for stock trading. But in my opinion, the economic slowdown hasn’t only hit stock market investors, it’s affected everyone.

“So people will be hit hard if we don’t delay the implementation of the law.”

Dung said some regulations of the law, such as deductions for dependants, were not “suitable” for the current economic climate.

“Under the Personal Income Tax Law, the deduction for each dependant is VND1.6 million (US$100) and the tax-free threshold is VND4 million ($238) a month. But these levels are not appropriate because double-digit inflation has devalued incomes of employees by one-quarter,” he said.

Delaying the tax to give workers more take-home pay would increase consumer spending, he said.

Problems clarifying dependants

Local people found the definition of a dependant too complicated. According to the Personal Income Tax Law, the dependant can include children aged under 18 years of age, disabled people of all ages, unemployed spouses and retired and unemployed parents.

A citizen named Dinh in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Phu District said he was struggling to prove his grandmother, who he takes care of, was a dependant.

Dinh used his and his father’s birth certificates to prove she was his grandmother but her name isn’t on his permanent resident registration so he isn’t sure whether the local administration or the office which issued his grandmother’s permanent resident registration will confirm the dependency.

Thanh, who lives in HCMC’s District 1, said she supported her brother, who earns low income, to raise his two kids, by giving him a monthly allowance. But according to the law, she is not allowed to make deductions for the children because their parents are still alive.

Many people have also written to Thanh Nien expressing their unhappiness with the Personal Income Tax decree on dependant deductions, particularly the clause that states a person can only be counted as a dependant only if their monthly income is less than VND500,000 ($30).

HCMC Tax Department Chief Nguyen Dinh Tan said taxpayers could ask their local administration or the agency that issued their dependants’ permanent resident registration to confirm their relationship.

Source: TN, TT

[jackbl]

Officials call for new laws against prostitution
=====================================
A five-year campaign to eliminate the sex industry has increased public awareness but new laws are needed to make the campaign more successful.


Many new anti-prostitution forces have been created to stop prostitution in Vietnam, Le Duc Hien, deputy head of the Anti-Social Evil Bureau under the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, said at a press conference Tuesday.

The 2003-2008 campaign has helped more than 6,500 or 60 percent of wards and communes nationwide to be free from prostitution, according to Hien.

However, the Bureau reported that the number of sex workers has increased 0.9 percent over the five-year period to nearly 31,000 in 2008, while those sent to reeducation centers decreased from 3,700 in 2003 to 1,500 this year, pointing out that 70 percent of women who left the centers returned to prostitution.

According to the bureau, there are no specific penalties for pornographic acts, making the campaign less effective.

Hien said the ministry this month will recommend “setting up laws against prostitution,” at the national conference, with an emphasis on child sex-abuse, to replace the current anti-prostitution legislation.

Statistics from the bureau showed that Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City top the list of prostitution cases.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, around 4,500 women in Hanoi were suspected of prostitution involvement while HCMC had 20,000.

The ministry’s investigation also revealed that the industry recently has made cross border connections with foreigners organizing sex worker operations.

Reported by Thai Uyen

[jackbl]

The match will be play on Sunday 28 Dec 2008, 8pm. Will show LIVE in Starsport, not not on Channel 5

Originally Posted by carmeo88

Yes, we now can support Vietnam. Vietnam! Vietnam! Vietnam!

[carmeo88]

Go GL there to watch lah...

[jackbl]

Festooned streets set the mood in Vietnamese cities
======================================
Expats prepare to celebrate the difference on Christmas Eve.

Residents of major cities in Vietnam have been taking to the streets in large numbers to soak up the festive mood created by glittering props, brilliantly lit Christmas trees and any number of jolly Santas greeting them.

In Ho Chi Minh City, major commercial centers have emerged the favorite haunts.

As the countdown to Christmas Eve begins, many foreign expatriates living in HCMC are also planning a night out on the town to enjoy the festival in a country that bears few similarities with their own.

Victoria Roe, a UK designer teaching in Vietnam, said it would be fun to go out with friends and watch people revel in the atmosphere, a far cry from her country where people would go to pubs with their families and friends to celebrate the festival.

“We want to walk around the streets to celebrate. We also want to move around to see people thronging the streets. It is fun to go out to see what is happening,” Roe said.

But Roe also admitted she would feel homesick, and would make sure she would go back home next year.

Roe and her boyfriend, who works for the British Consulate General in HCMC, plan to meet with his colleagues and others from different countries to enjoy Christmas Eve.

“There is a real mixture of people not going home, so we will gather together.”

For Kimberly Brennan, a US volunteer who works for the Saigon Children’s Charity, tonight will be her first Christmas Eve in Vietnam.

Like Roe, Brennan finds it very interesting to watch people on the streets.

“I particularly like looking at the children wearing Santa outfits, which does not happen in my country. They look very cute,” Brennan said.

Like Brennan, Australian Nadia, an English teacher, is also going to spend her first Christmas Eve in Vietnam.

Nadia said the major difference between Christmas in Vietnam and Australia is that in her own country, people can only see Christmas lights in their separate communities while in Vietnam, they can go downtown.

David Henry, who teaches at the Vietnam International School, said he would have dinner at his friend’s house instead of taking to the streets.

“I’m too afraid of the traffic in HCMC,” he said.

Police advisory

HCMC police have warned foreign visitors to be vigilant about their possessions because many pickpockets and other thieves will be in the crowds on festive days like Christmas Eve, particularly at the downtown area in District 1.

Handbags or cell-phones are particular targets. Expats are thus advised not to carry handbags on their shoulders but hold them in their right hand instead.

Valuables and important documents should not be kept in the handbags.

Foreign tourists are also asked to remain alert about vendors pestering them to buy goods.

Foreigners who are robbed can dial (08) 3 838 7200 to report the incident to the city police’s investigative agency (PC14), the police department said.

Those who are staying in the backpacker area can go to the Pham Ngu Lao Ward police station, at 66 Bui Vien Street in District 1 for assistance.

Colder weather

While it will not be a white Christmas in Vietnam, it is going to be colder than usual everywhere in the country, according to weather experts.

Southern provinces are expected to experience the lowest temperature this year at around 17 degrees Celsius.

Deputy director of the Southern Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting Center (SHMFC), Le Thi Xuan Lan, said a cold weather spell originating from Russia’s Siberia had swept through southeastern China and reached northern provinces on Sunday.

Lan said temperatures in northern provinces will drop dramatically, as low as zero degrees Celsius in Lai Chau and Son La provinces.

In Hanoi, the temperature will continue to fall and hover around 10 degrees Celsius in the coming days.

In central provinces, the cold spell will linger on, while temperatures in the resort town of Da Lat in the Central Highland’s Lam Dong Province will drop to eight degrees Celsius.

In southern provinces, two tropical turbulence systems have developed southeast of the Spratly Islands and are forecast to cause rain in coastal provinces. The systems could combine with the strengthening northeastern wind to cause rough weather in the East Sea.

The lowest temperature in southern provinces is forecast in Binh Phuoc and Dong Nai provinces in the coming days at 16 degrees Celsius.

Two other cold spells are forecast for Vietnam between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

[jackbl]

This will help the locals to improve their foreign languages

HCMC radio to broadcast in foreign languages
======================================

Voice of HCM City People radio (VOH) will launch some foreign language channels next year, including in English, French and Chinese, its director Nguyen Chau Ky said.

Speaking at a press conference December 25, he said the launch follows suggestions by foreign diplomats interested in knowing more about Vietnam’s economy, law, culture and other aspects.

VOH also plans to broadcast in Korean, Japanese, and Khmer, he said, promising existing channels would improve quality and broadcast longer.

Starting January 1, AM 610 KHz news channel would be on the air 20 hours a day compared to 18 ½ now, while FM 99.9 MHz entertainment trade information channel would become 24x7, up from 19 hours a day now, he announced.

VOH would set up a station in Soc Trang Province to broadcast FM 99.9 MHz channel to the Mekong Delta, he said.

Bui Van Quoc, former sales manager of TNS Media Vietnam, revealed the results of a survey on the habits of VOH’s listeners: “Despite the increasing popularity of the Internet and cable television, many Vietnamese are still keen on popular radio programs.”

[jackbl]

Activities to welcome New Year in HCM City
=============================

Many festivities and special events have been organized in the center of the Ho Chi Minh City and in remote areas to welcome 2009.

A merry festival themed “Ho Chi Minh, a civilized, modern and humane city” will take place at the September 23 Park on Le Lai Street in Pham Ngu Lao Ward of District 1. The event includes a series of cultural, artistic, entertainment and cuisine activities.

During the festival, participants will enjoy special shows of both traditional and modern music performed by some of the city’s most well–known artists. There will be funny traditional games, traditional dances, singing and dancing contests for children and teenagers.

At an exhibition to showcase the political, economic, cultural and social achievements of the city, people will be able to see photos, models and posters that demonstrate the city’s determination to integrate into the global economy.

A section of Le Lai Street will be transformed into an “Art Road” displaying traditional musical instruments. Southern folk operas (cai luong) and shows of don ca tai tu (a combination of ancient southern tunes, Binh Dinh classical opera and Hue ceremonial songs) will be performed on a floating stage on an artificial pond in the park and on wooden barges on the banks of the pond.

The festival will begin at 8 p.m. on December 26 and end at 12 a.m. on January 2, 2009.

Aside from such festival, many other activities will be organized on streets in the center of the city, including Dong Khoi, Nguyen Hue, Le Loi, Le Duan, Nguyen Thi Nghia and the Ben Thanh Market roundabout, in Phu My Hung Urban zone, Tan Thuan Processing and Export Zone in District 7, Linh Xuan Processing and Export Zone in Thu Duc District, Tan Binh Industrial Park, District 12 Cultural Center, Gia Dinh 2 Park and in amusement parks in remote areas.

On January 1, 2009, city authorities will organize a special event at Tan Son Nhat Airport to welcome the first tourist of year.

Maybe got ESCORT to show u around the HCMC

[jackbl]

City attempts to cut down on crimes perpetrated by foreigners
=============================================

Ho Chi Minh City police will work with the municipal Immigration Department to investigate and deal with foreigners residing illegally and committing crimes in the city, HCMC Police deputy head Colonel Phan Anh Minh said.

Some aliens sleep on outdoor benches in HCM city

Most of the criminals are from African countries, Colonel Minh told Sai Gon Giai Phong newspaper.

He said any foreigner found without a passport or valid identity papers will be deported.

If they don’t leave the country and keep committing crimes, they will be prosecuted for entering the country illegally, he said.

Colonel Minh said the country needed to work with the International Organization for Migration to ensure such criminals were returned to their home countries.

He called on city residents not to unintentionally assist by renting houses or motorbikes or exchanging foreign currencies without sighting valid papers.

Crimes committed by foreigners are increasing in the city. Colonel Minh said, with foreigners using many tricks to swindle money, such as using false papers to withdraw money from banks and stealing money while pretending to buy something at shops.

[jackbl]

Vietnam population reaches 86 million
===========================
Vietnam’s population has topped 86 million while its density has risen to 260 persons per square kilometer, the General Department of Population and Family Planning announced at a meeting held to mark Vietnam Population Day (December 26) in Ha Noi on December 25.

In the first nine months 864,000 babies were born, 5 percent higher than in the same period last year. The number of third children was 93,053, which was 10 per cent increase over the same period last year.

2008 is the second when the fall in the birth rate does not meet the Government’s target. The crude birth rate thus dipped by just 0.1 percent over the Government target of 0.3 percent.

Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan was among those who attended the meeting.

[jackbl]

More teenagers get HIV, says official
=========================
A campaign held in the countryside to raise public awareness of HIV/AIDS
The number of under 16-year-old children infected with HIV in Vietnam has increased for years, said a health official.

Dr. Nguyen Thanh Long, head of the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Department, Ministry of Health, said that 756 HIV-afflicted children were reported last year, and at present, all provinces and cities in the country have teenage HIV carriers.

Dealing with the situation, the Ministry of Health is working other ministries and agencies to strengthen medical care for HIV infected mothers and treatment for children. Its target is that 90 per cent of HIV mothers and their children receive treatment during the pregnancy period and take anti-HIV medicine for their lifetime.

[jackbl]

Central bank weakens dong to drive exports, economy
===================================

The central bank Thursday fixed the dong’s rate 3 percent down against the dollar to boost exports, as the country’s economy expanded at its slowest pace in nine years and the trade deficit widened.


The State Bank of Vietnam fixed the daily reference rate at 16,989 dong to the dollar from 16,494 Wednesday.

Policy makers have retained the currency trading band at 3 percent a day, said Nguyen Quang Huy, head of the bank’s foreign-exchange department.

Gross domestic product grew 6.2 percent in 2008, after expanding by a record 8.5 percent last year, the government said in a statement Wednesday.

Export growth slowed in the last three months as stagnating global economies cut back on the import of Vietnamese garments and coffee as currencies in neighboring markets weakened.

Vietnam’s currency has fallen 5.5 percent this year against the dollar compared with an 18 percent slide in the Indian rupee, 14 percent decline for the Indonesian rupiah and a 13 percent slump in the Philippine peso.

The move is necessary since the government is trying to boost exports, said Do Ngoc Quynh, chairman of the Vietnam Bond Forum in Hanoi and head of currency and debt trading at the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, the nation’s second-biggest lender by assets.

“Other currencies in the region have declined considerably against the dollar, but the dong hasn’t dropped that much.”

The currency has tumbled 35 percent since the end of 1994.

“The State Bank of Vietnam will take necessary action to maintain the dong at this rate,” the bank said in a statement on its website.

Following the central bank’s decision, local banks started adjusting their foreign exchange rates.

The dong was quoted at 17,260/17,400 per dollar on Vietcombank’s website Thursday afternoon, up from 16,985/16,989 Wednesday.

The dong traded at 17,200 to 17,300 a dollar at Vietinbank, or Vietnam Bank for Industry and Trade.

Free-market rate

At moneychangers’ in Hanoi, or the so-called black market, the currency traded at between 17,230 and 17,520, local newswire VnExpress reported.

Commercial banks said their dollar supply has fallen since moneychangers offer higher rates for the greenback.

Nguyen Phuoc Thanh, general director of Vietcombank, the country’s largest lender, said dollar banks’ inflows have tumbled since export earnings are down as are remittances, foreign portfolio investment and tourism arrivals.

He admitted that the dollar is being traded at much higher prices on the black market than at banks, who are unable to attract sellers despite fixing the buying price at the allowed ceiling rate.

Meanwhile, the plunge in global prices has boosted imports, according to Thanh.

Nguyen Duc Vinh, chief executive officer of the Hanoi-based Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank, or Techcombank, said after the banks’ recent cuts in lending rates and extension of loans, more import contracts are being signed, keeping demand for the dollar high.

A HCMC-based footwear company said it had failed to buy US$50,000 to pay for imported consignments despite continuously contacting banks for the past week.

While commercial banks do not have enough dollars for selling to businesses, they have a surplus of dollars set aside for lending after some of their customers failed to prove they could raise dollars for repayment.

Bui Thi Mai, general director of the Hanoi Building Bank, or Habubank, said, as a result, though banks are unable to find customers for dollar loans, they remain cautious.

“If there is an assurance that the exchange will be stable at a certain level, businesses and banks can calculate their risks and the dollar supply will increase since speculation will reduce,” she explained.

Trade deficit widens, inflation slows

Vietnam’s trade deficit widened to a record $17 billion in 2008, from $14.1 billion last year, according to preliminary figures provided by the government Thursday.

The current account deficit may grow to $12.1 billion, or 12.3 percent of GDP, next year from an estimated 11.7 percent this year, according to a Credit Suisse Group research report dated December 17.

“The dong is facing downward pressure due to the current-account deficit,” said Yuichi Izumi, an economist at Nomura Securities Co. in Tokyo. “The State Bank wants to guide the dong lower to support exports.”

A slowdown in the rise of consumer prices may have provided more room for the central bank to weaken the dong.

Consumer prices are estimated to fall 0.68 percent this month from November, only the third decline since March 2007, on the back of lower food and fuel prices, according to figures released by the General Statistics Office Thursday.

Consumer prices rose 19.9 percent in December from a year earlier. The annual inflation rate was 24.2 percent in November after reaching 28.3 percent in August, the highest since at least 1992.

Overall, food and beverage prices, which account for nearly 43 percent of the goods basket used to calculate the consumer price index, fell 0.13 percent in December, with grain prices declining 2.36 percent.

Prices in the category including transportation fell 6.77 percent from November, according to the statistics office report.

Plummeting world oil prices have led to a sharp cut in retail prices for gasoline.

The government has cut petrol prices twice this month, adding to a series of reductions since August that have left the most commonly used grade of gasoline 42 percent cheaper from its peak last July.

Prices in the category including construction materials declined 2.36 percent month-on-month, the office said.

Domestic steel companies are facing difficulties due to slowing demand, with the government using higher import tariffs to allow producers to clear stockpiles, the Vietnam Steel Association said last week.

Property projects are short on working capital, economist Scott Robertson of the HCMC-based Dragon Capital wrote in a note last week.

Slowing inflation has allowed the central bank to cut its benchmark interest rate by 5.5 percent since October to 8.5 percent now.

“The government’s cooling measures were perhaps too successful,” Joseph Lau, a Hong Kong -based economist at Credit Suisse Group AG, wrote in a note dated December 17. “Domestic demand is reportedly waning.”

But consumer prices are expected to increase in January, when demand surges during the Lunar New Year festival (Tet) late next month, economist Le Dang Doanh told Thanh Nien Daily Thursday.

The consumer price index (CPI) is estimated to have risen 22.97 percent this year, down from the government’s initial forecast of 24 percent.

“Decelerating inflation is a good sign, but the economy still shows worrying signs, as the trade deficit is high and government revenues are down due to decreasing prices of some major export items like rice, rubber and crude oil,” he said.

The government may keep the inflation rate down to a single-digit level in 2009, but it has to assign top priority to combating an economic slowdown, Doanh said.

“With commodity prices falling, headline inflation is expected to drop to single digits by end-2009, although core inflation (excluding raw food and energy) could fall more gradually,” Ben Bingham, Senior Resident Representative of the International Monetary Fund, said in a statement December 18.

Reported by Thanh Nien staff (With inputs from Bloomberg)