Tag Archives: Vietnam

The Washington Post reports: Vietnamese government agents tried to plant spyware on the phones of members of Congress, American policy experts and U.S. journalists this year in a brazen campaign that underscores the rapid proliferation of state-of-the-art hacking tools, according to forensic examination of links posted to Twitter and documents uncovered by a consortium of news outlets that includes The …

Variety reports: Authorities in Vietnam have banned commercial screenings of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie.” The Warner Bros. film starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, one of the most anticipated movies of the summer, was set to have been released in the country on July 21. The film contains a scene that depicts a map with the “nine dash line,” a representation …

Human Rights Watch reports: Vietnam’s Health Ministry officially confirmed that same-sex attraction and being transgender are not mental health conditions, Human Rights Watch said today. The decision brings Vietnam’s health policy in line with global health and human rights standards. Vietnam’s new directive states that “the American Psychiatric Association and the World Health Organization (WHO) have confirmed that homosexuality is …

The Washington Post reports: In America, the tech CEO is a champion of free speech, reluctant to remove even malicious and misleading content from the platform. But in Vietnam, upholding the free speech rights of people who question government leaders could have come with a significant cost in a country where the social network earns more than $1 billion in …

Reuters reports: Vietnam jailed a man on Monday for five years for breaking strict COVID-19 quarantine rules and spreading the virus to others, state media reported. Le Van Tri, 28, was convicted of “spreading dangerous infectious diseases” at a one-day trial at the People’s Court of the southern province of Ca Mau, the state-run Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported. “Tri …

The Washington Post reports: Vietnam’s Health Ministry announced Saturday that it had detected a highly transmissible new variant of the coronavirus that has helped fuel a recent wave of infections in the country. Genetic sequencing indicated that the new variant was a mix of the coronavirus strains first detected in the United Kingdom and India, said Health Minister Nguyen Thanh …

The Washington Post reports: A former senior administration official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly, confirmed to The Washington Post that the president frequently made disparaging comments about veterans and soldiers missing in action, referring to them at times as “losers.” In one account, the president told senior advisers that he didn’t understand why …

Reuters reports: Vietnam is evacuating 80,000 people, mostly local tourists, from the central tourism hot spot of Danang after three residents tested positive for the coronavirus at the weekend, the government said on Monday. The evacuation will take at least four days with domestic airlines operating approximately 100 flights daily from Danang to 11 Vietnamese cities, the government said in …

The Hill reports: President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen will testify Wednesday that Trump dodged military service in Vietnam with false claims about a medical condition. In his opening statement before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Cohen will say that Trump told him there “was no surgery” for bone spurs and instructed him not to answer reporters’ specific questions …

Reuters reports: U.S. President Donald Trump has arrived in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, on Tuesday for his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, eight months after their historic first meeting in Singapore. The two leaders are expected to discuss how to implement a North Korean pledge to give up its nuclear weapons and how to improve their …

Reuters reports: For those who like to push the cutting edge of style, two of the world’s most talked-about haircuts are now available for free, in Vietnam. In honor of an upcoming summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Feb. 27-28, a Hanoi barber is offering free haircuts to anyone wanting to copy …

The Guardian reports: Vietnam has introduced a new cybersecurity law, which criminalises criticising the government online and forces internet providers to give authorities’ user data when requested, sparking claims of a “totalitarian” crackdown on dissent. The law, which mirrors China’s draconian internet rules, came into effect on 1 January and forces internet providers to censor content deemed “toxic” by the …

Rolling Stone reports: Galt MacDermot, who composed the hit Broadway musicals Hair and Two Gentlemen of Verona, died Monday, a day before his 90th birthday. His death was confirmed to Playbill by his granddaughter, though a cause of death was not revealed. With a plot that questioned the Vietnam War, the production of Hair was a timely smash and earned …

Vanity Fair reports: For all the norms and traditions and basic standards of human behavior Donald Trump has broken in his 10 months as president, there is one pastime he couldn’t get away from. At the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, held this year in Vietnam, Trump donned an oversize, bright blue, traditional Vietnam shirt alongside his fellow world leaders …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump embarked on the longest trip of his presidency Friday — a five-country, 10-day tour of Asia designed to strengthen diplomatic and economic partnerships while contending with North Korea’s nuclear threat. The president heads overseas during a time of what some experts see as a decline of U.S. influence in the region and they suggest …

CNN reports: President Barack Obama announced Monday that the United States is fully lifting a decades-long ban on the sale of military equipment to Vietnam. In a joint news conference in Hanoi with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, Obama said that the removal of the ban on lethal weapons was part of a deeper defense cooperation with the country and …

This week Vietnam’s repeal of its constitutional ban on same-sex marriage went into effect. But marriage still isn’t legal or recognized. Same-sex couples can now hold symbolic weddings and cohabitate without interference or fines from authorities. However, they will not receive the same rights as straight married couples, a halfway point some lawmakers have hailed as the first step towards …

Yesterday Ted Osius was sworn in as the US ambassador to Vietnam and in the clip below he introduces himself in Vietnamese. Featured in the video is his husband and their son. Osius is the seventh openly gay ambassador to take office during the Obama administration.

The third-ever gay pride event was held in Hanoi this weekend. Around 300 activists led a colourful parade through Hanoi on Sunday in the nation’s largest ever gay pride event, as communist Vietnam shows signs of increasing tolerance of sexual difference. The city streets were awash with rainbow flags, as a mainly young crowd cycled and danced through the capital …

As of yesterday, it’s no longer illegal to stage gay weddings or commitment ceremonies in Vietnam. The south-eastern Asian country has officially allowed same-sex couples to organize weddings and have the right to live together. While the unions won’t be legally recognized, gay rights campaigners believe it is a large step on the path to equal marriage. The Government has …