What Happened in April 2013: Some News and Events

What happened in April 2013: news and events relating to Vietnamese at home and in the diaspora.

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Events


Asian Heritage Street Celebration The 9th annual Asian Heritage Street Celebration, Saturday, May 18, 2013, will have all types of Asian ethnic groups, including Vietnamese.


Asian-Pacific American Heritage month May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. [WH]


Viet Kieu in the news


Vietnamese refugees in 1975 Andrew Lam reflects on the Vietnamese diaspora.


• Vietnamese Australian lawyer Hoi Trinh reflects on events after April 1975.


Families of organ recipient and donor Bone marrow recipient, Vicky Tran, meets her donor. [NBC]


Actress Huong Hoang Vietnamese-American actress Huong Hoang lost privacy case against the Internet Movie Database. [Photo by Huong Hoang]

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The San Francisco Global Vietnamese Film Festival The San Francisco Global Vietnamese Film Festival (April 26-28, 2013) had showcased many Vietnamese filmmakers in Việt Nam and in the diaspora. [AW]


Dilemma of choosing A Vietnamese American reflects about looking back or not looking back and about hoping “not to be consumed.”


Charles Phan wins IACP Award Charles Phan is among the winners of the IACP Awards. He was also involved with Mission Dolores Academy’s annual benefit luncheon.


Chau-Giang Thi Nguyen and R. Couri Hay Vietnamese Artist Coco Holds Gallery Show. [Photo by Patrick McMullan]


Human rights activists at hearing Human rights campaigners testified on Vietnam’s human rights situation at a House Foreign Affairs Committee.


Hui Danh testifies Hui Danh, on behalf of her sister, testified before a global human rights panel of the U.S. House of Representatives. [Photo by RFA]


Thao Nguyen Thao Nguyen performed “We The Common” from her “Thao & The Get down Stay Down” album.


•A U.S. bipartisan commission proposed that the State Department blacklist Vietnam because of its violations of religious freedoms. Read a related story.


News about Vietnam


Bi-lingual education are offered to minority studens Some schools in Vietnam are experimenting with bilingual education for Khmer, Hmong and Jarai students. [Photo by Truong Viet Hung/Unicef Vietnam]


Proposed elevated Metro station A new metro system for Vietnam would provide an efficient mass transportation and would “be a more potent symbol of modernization.” [ANN]


Pregnant women fear Agent Orange affects Vietnamese pregnant women are concerned about about birth defects from Agent Orange, an example of the American’s so-called “high value for human lives.” [Photo by Hoang Dinh Nam/AFP/Getty Images]


Bomb bunker under Hanoi's Metropole Hanoi’s legendary colonial hotel, the Metropole, has opened its discovered bomb shelter to daily tours. [Photo by David Lamb]


Real threat from gender imbalance Vietnam’s gender imbalance poses “a real threat to the country’s future socioeconomic development and social welfare.”


Same-sex marriage The Health Ministry and some other government agencies advocate same-sex marriages, “since it is a human right.”


Mortar shells left form American forces Two Vietnamese boys were killed and six children were by old mortar shell left by Americans during the Second Indochina War. [VBN]


Lower districts at high risk of flooding With nearly 70% of HCMC vulnerable to extreme flooding, flood risks are rising in the city’s lower-lying districts. [Photo by Alamy]


Vietnam is directionless With rising unemployment and increasing government corruption, “Vietnam is directionless.


Map of dam location Contention between officials over dam water adds to severity of drought in central Vietnam


Thich Quang Do of the Giac Hoa Pagoda Without explanation, a “gang” of plainclothes agents blockaded monks in the Giac Hoa Pagoda.


Discovered lava cave Dong Nai Province Researchers have discovered a system of lava caves in the southern province of Dong Nai, Vietnam. [VNB]


Deforestation among greater Mekong countries A report shows Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam have lost nearly 40m hectares (ha) of forest cover since 1980. [VOA] [Photo by Adam Oswell]


Vietnam's first satellite Vietnam launched its first remote sensing satellite, VNREDSat-1. Plan for a second satellite is announced. [ST]


Chinese quacks practicing in HCMC Once again, so called Chinese “doctors” are found practicing without practitioners’ licenses and selling unapproved medicine in HCMC.


Farmers fight police Complaints from Van Giang’s residents concerning the government seizure of their farmland have not yet been addressed by officials. [Photo by a citizen journalist]


Vietnamese boycott Coca-Cola Vietnamese consumers boycott drinking Coca-Cola, which has been evading paying taxes in Vietnam.


Goi la The Central Highlands offers many delicious cuisines with special flavors.


Vietnam modernizing after 1975 Some photos show Vietnam moving towards modernization after April 30, 1975.


A street vendor working in Hanoi Photos of some people working in Hanoi’s Old Quarter. {photo by VOV]


Russia will help Russia has agreed to help train the Vietnamese Navy and build new ships for Vietnam as Hanoi seeks to counterbalance China’s maritime aggression. [Photo by AFP]


•HCM City’s Nutrition Programme for 2013-15 will combat rising child obesity.


Proof that the Chinese have already invaded and taken over Vietnam.


Other News


Apocalypse Now's surfing scene The film Apocalypse Now inadvertently created the Philippines’ surfing culture.


Disputed islands A Chinese ship carrying Chinese tourists–known to everyone as saboteurs, spies and soldiers–headed for the disputed Paracels islands.


Pygmy slow loris in Na Hang Nature Reserve A researcher at the American Museum of Natural History details her discoveries at the Na Hang Nature Reserve. [Photo by Minh Le]


Belgians' home outside HCMC A Belgian couple makes a home for themselves in “an alternate universe” on the outskirts of HCMC. [Photo by Marcel Lam]


Geography of Hate map See an interactive map of racist and other hateful Tweets in America. Click on “Racist” at the top of the map. Read the article about the map.


Jane Irish's 'Yellow and Red' Artist Jane Irish‘s artworks in her “Sông Hương: Withdrawing Room” exhibition depict “actual places along the Sông Hương river.”


Trader Joe's sriracha Trader Joe’s offers its own Sriracha brand. [Photo by Michelle Woo]


• Surveys revealed stress rankings among the fifty states.


• A Verizon annual report cites Chinese cyber-espionage is rising.


• A writer opines on the dangers of waiving constitutional rights.


Special thanks to Viet Thanh Nguyen for providing many of the news items.

Peace!
RP
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