Ambassador Nguyen Phuong Nga, head of the Permanent Vietnam Mission to the United Nations, presented five proposals to eradicate wildlife trade during an event on the sidelines of a ceremony marking UN World Wildlife Day (March 3). 

She suggested launching strategies to curb demand for wildlife products, holding communications campaigns to exert influence on consumers’ behaviour and raise public awareness of the consequences of wildlife hunting and smuggling, refining laws and strengthening law enforcement to prevent wildlife product purchase, and fostering partnership at both local and global levels in the effort. 

The sideline event was co-hosted by the Vietnam Mission and the Missions to the UN of the UK, Botswana, Thailand, Germany and Gabon; the Wildlife Conservation Society; the UN Office on Drugs and Crime; and the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. 

This year, World Wildlife Day took the theme “Listen to the Young Voices” to highlight that the fate of wildlife will be soon in the hands of the next generations. 

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on youngsters to protect their inherited assets by saving endangered species of wild fauna and flora from the verge of extinction.

According to the UN, illegal wildlife trade is the fourth most lucrative trans-national crime after drug, human and arms trafficking. It is estimated that the world loses 48-153 billion USD to wildlife trade each year, compared to the annual global official development assistance worth 135 billion USD. -VNA 

The first Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM-1) and related meetings successfully wrapped up in Nha Trang city, the central province of Khanh Hoa after two weeks of sitting – a good start for the APEC Year 2017 in Vietnam.

The event attracted more than 1,900 delegates from 21 member economies, representatives from the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council, the APEC Business Advisory Council, regional and global organisations, and businesses. 

It was the first plenary meeting of APEC in 2017 with nearly 60 sessions, seminars and dialogues of 38 APEC committees and working groups. 

Participants agreed to maintain APEC’s leading role in connecting economies and addressing global challenges via accelerating the fulfillment of the Bogor Goals by 2020, increasing open trade and investment in the region, and continuing to implement APEC’s long-term cooperation strategies and plans. 

They were highly unanimous on four priorities of the APEC Year 2017, namely promoting sustainable, innovative and inclusive growth; deepening regional economic integration; strengthening micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs)’ competitiveness and innovation in the digital age; and enhancing food security and sustainable agriculture in response to climate change.

They reviewed the progress and efficiency of cooperation initiatives and projects and proposed a series of new measures training young scientists, promoting technological transfer and application to mitigate disaster risks, facilitating entrepreneurs’ travelling in the region and legal trade in wood products, and strengthening supply chain connectivity towards sustainable growth. 

On the occasion, four APEC committees and 38 out of 53 APEC working groups adopted their respective focuses of cooperation. 

As the host of the APEC 2017, Vietnam made practical contributions to common concerns regarding regional economic connectivity, support for MSMEs in joining the global supply chain, human resources development and response to emergencies and natural disasters, among others. 

Delegates also approved the APEC Year 2017 agenda, including SOMs, ministerial meetings and the APEC High-Level Week slated for November in the central city of Da Nang. 

During the SOM-1 and related meetings, the authorities of Khanh Hoa province organised a number of cultural-art activities to introduce the culture of Vietnam and the south central region in particular, including an exhibition in venues of APEC meetings that showcased 30 photos of Nha Trang scenic landscapes, as well as cultural and folk art festivals. 

A book, DVD and a clip featuring Nha Trang and Khanh Hoa in general were also presented to delegates as gifts.-VNA

An uncompromising struggle

 Yet we are unlikely to prevail in this battle if we treat the problem of fake news as a creature of the internet—or, for that matter, as a problem unto itself. Fake news is part of a larger problem of “click journalism”: media that focuses on getting online click-throughs, or on “clicking” with our pre-conceived bias.

In Vietnam, there are many click journalists now who self-claim themselves as journalists or reporters but without any legitimate license. On behalf of pro- human rights and democracy, these so-called journalists have posted many distorted articles that go against the country’s policies and interests, and they have been punished strictly.

There are many more cases such as:

- Last year, in March, the People’s Court of Hanoi sentenced blogger Nguyen Huu Vinh and his assistant Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy to five and three years in prison each for blogging against the state. An appeals court upheld the sentences in September; In October, police in the central province of Khanh Hoa arrested Nguyễn Ngọc Như Quỳnh for publishing posts and videos designed to denigrate the government and the Communist Party on a blog and Facebook page "Mẹ Nấm" (Mother Mushroom) she had run since 2012; In November last year, Hồ Văn Hải, who is known by his Facebook name “Ho Hai”, was also arrested for distributing documents and information designed to undermine the state from a house in Ho Chi Minh City.

On December 16th, the Investigation Agency under the Thanh Hoa Provincial Police decided to prosecute the criminal case and immediately arrested Nguyễn Danh Dũng (aged 29, residing at No.9, Phuong Dinh 3 St., Tao Xuyen ward, Thanh Hoa city) on charge of “abusing civil democratic freedom to undermine the State interests,” under Article 25 of the Criminal Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. At the Investigation Office, Dũng admitted his offence, confessing  that, in October 2015, Dung created and started to run a Youtube account called Thien An TV, Facebook page “Thien An” and Blog tinhhinhdatnuocvietnam.blogspot.com to upload his home-made videos and false information about the State of Vietnam, and State and Party leaders. In doing so, Dung often collected images of Vietnamese Party and State leaders from the Internet and made changes to the images before compiling them into video clips labeled with Thien An logo. Initial investigation results show, more than 700 video clips that feature distorted, false and fake information about the Party and State and the country’s leaders have been uploaded by Dung on social networks.

- And, early this year, on January 11, the police of Ha Tinh province arrested Nguyễn Văn Hóa, who had took advantage against the Formosa Steel Company for causing an environmental disaster in April 2016, abusing the rights to freedom and democracy to infringe upon the interests of the State, under article 258 of the penal code; On January 19, 2017, the police of Nghe An province arrested a former political prisoner, Nguyen Văn Oai, for allegedly violating his probation. He had been arrested in August 2011, for alleged involvement with the outlawed overseas political party Viet Tan and sentenced to four years in prison. After completing his sentence in August 2015, he was placed on probation for another four years.

Recently, on January 21, 2017, Trần Thị Nga (also known as Thuy Nga), 40, was arrested and charged with conducting propaganda against the state under article 88 of the penal code. Nga, who lived in Ha Nam province, accessed the Internet to post a number of video clips and articles to propagandize against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

At this point, the Investigation Agency continues investing these cases to find out any involved elements. These cases once again demonstrate that the Government of Vietnam always fights distorted-information crimes in a serious and resolute manner, to ensure national security. These are also warnings for those who try to carry out propaganda campaigns against the State and Party of Vietnam.

Journalism, especially now social networks, has established itself as a venue for people from all walks of life to express their aspirations and give suggestions on national-building and the process of safeguarding the country. Press are asked to raise a high sense of responsibility in disseminating the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policies and laws. The Vietnam revolutionary press has relentlessly developed, significantly contributing to the struggle for the national independence and the cause of national construction and defence. It’s hoped that press would continue to play key role in building and protecting the country against toxic propaganda./.

The Australian Embassy in Vietnam has officially announced a series of events aiming to bring the spirit of the famous Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival to Hanoi. 

To start the event, candidates living in Vietnam are invited to take part in two competitions – Road to Mardi Gras, an online story-telling contest and Colours of Mardi Gras, a costume contest for members of LGBT communities in Vietnam. The contests have been running from February 18 to March 24. 

Two lucky entrants will win tickets to the 2018 Sydney Mardi Gras Festival. The best stories and costumes will be on display at the main event. 

The March 24 main celebration will be a feast for the senses as well as the story exhibition and fashion show. The event will showcase memorable moments of the 2017 Sydney Mardi Gras Festival, with lively musical performances by both Vietnamese and Australian artists. 

“Promoting gender equality is a top priority for both the Vietnamese and Australian governments, and we are proud to support Vietnam’s efforts, including through our development cooperation programme here. Through this event, we hope to bring the spirit of Sydney’s famous Mardi Gras to Vietnam, helping to raise awareness about the rights of LGBT people,” said Craig Chittick, Australian Ambassador to Vietnam.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for my organisation and other NGOs to cooperate with the Australian Embassy on gender equality. Hanoi Mardi Gras Festival is not simply a fun celebration but also a very meaningful event of diversity and self-expression for the LGBT community,” said Vu Kieu Oanh, founder of LGBT Community Development Center 6+ and a representative of LGBT community in Vietnam. 

Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras is a famous and well-loved annual celebration of LGBT communities across the globe. Since its founding in 1978, it has achieved an iconic status as a statement of pride and a platform to promote the broad message of diversity and acceptance. With this year’s theme of “Creating Equality”, the Mardi Gras promises to not only bring  colourful and dazzling performances but also promote a world where everyone is treated fairly regardless of their sexuality, gender identity, race, belief, age, ability and social status.

Over 20 years of development, Vietnam’s internet has made sustainable contributions to society and Government policies have resulted in 60 percent of the population using the web, said Phan Tam, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications at the ongoing APRICOT 2017 conference in Ho Chi Minh City.

This is the first time APRICOT (Asia Pacific Regional Internet Conference on Operational Technologies), the leading internet forum in the Asia-Pacific region, is being held in Vietnam.

It is co-organized by the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC), Asia Pacific Internet Association (APIA), Vietnam Internet Network Information Centre (VNNIC) and the Vietnam Internet Association (VIA) under the auspices of the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications (MIC).

The conference attracted about 700 delegates from more than 50 countries and territories gathering to share experience and transfer technology with the purpose of developing and operating internet infrastructure and consolidating cyber security in the Asia-Pacific region.

"The workshop is part of preparations for the fourth industrial revolution. I believe that with more than 700 guests at APRICOT 2017, this will be a useful opportunity for the experts, engineers and technical staff to discuss policies, standards and tools for the revolution. I believe we need a new breakthrough in the development, stability and security of the network to meet the requirements of an industrial revolution,” said the deputy minister.

In addition, to meet the increasing demand of the digital economy, Vietnam has been gradually moving to IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) since 2008 in accordance with national plans on IPv6 transition for the period 2008 to 2020. Currently, more than six per cent of internet users in Vietnam are using IPv6 and Vietnam is among the countries with the highest rate of IPv6 usage in the region.

However, VNNIC Director Tran Minh Tan said that new IPv6 services have not been developed properly. “Besides Vietnamese internet content providers, social networks and e-paper also need to transfer to IPv6 synchronously to meet the demands of user connection in the future."

U.S. President Trump is preparing to roll out his new version of a temporary travel ban targeting seven majority Muslim countries as early as Wednesday.

Trump's first attempt to block travel from those countries was shot down by federal courts, prompting a fuming Trump to blast the judges who halted his ban. The White House has been reworking the order and could implement it Wednesday, according to two administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to get ahead of Trump's announcement.

Trump said his new executive order would be "very much tailored" to those rulings to ensure it passes legal muster this time. But Stephen Miller, a senior policy adviser, said last week that the new order would "have the same basic policy outcome."

The new order was delayed as the administration sought to pursue its stated goal of suspending immigration from the seven countries because of security concerns while complying with the legal concerns raised by the judges.

District Judge James Robart in Seattle and a unanimous panel of three judges of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco found no credible national security threat posed by refugees and other immigrants from the countries targeted in the ban.

An internal Department of Homeland Security analysis came to the same conclusion. The memo, first obtained by the Associated Press, found that relatively few people from the seven countries have carried out, or been involved in, terrorism-related activities in the US since Syria's war started in 2011.

The new measure is expected to curtail immigration from the same seven, predominately Muslim countries listed in the original order: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

However, unlike the current measure, the new restrictions are expected to explicitly exempt green-card holders, dual U.S. citizens who also hold citizenship in any of the seven named countries, and travelers who already have U.S. visas.

The new executive order is also not expected to specifically bar Syrian refugees from entering

Details of the new order were first reported by the Associated Press, which cited an unnamed senior administration official. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, whose agency oversees immigration enforcement, said Saturday at a security conference in Munich that the new "streamlined" order will focus on seven countries, which he did not name.

The secretary previously testified before a House committee that the administration is "not contemplating" adding more countriesto the travel ban.

Kelly and the Trump administration have disputed that the original executive order, signed Jan. 27, amounts to a travel ban or that it explicitly targets Muslims as civil rights groups, immigration advocates and Democratic lawmakers have alleged – concerns that have also been raised by some congressional Republicans. Reiterating remarks from a press conference earlier this month, Kelly said in Munich that the orders represented a "temporary pause," which would allow the administration to "see where our immigration and vetting system has gaps – and gaps it has – that could be exploited."

The original measure suspended the U.S. refugee program for 120 days, prohibited entry by Syrian refugees indefinitely, and halted entry for 90 days by citizens of the seven nations listed in the order.

Coming with little warning and containing few details, it sparked chaos and protests at international airports, as hundreds of travelers found themselves delayed or detained, and some ordered back to their native countries. Adding to the confusion, legal permanent residents – or green-card holders – and dual U.S. citizens with citizenship in any of the listed countries were also initially seen as affected by the order, but the administration later clarified that they would generally be exempt.

Opponents of the travel ban say it discriminates against citizens of certain countries and the Muslim religion. They point to a 1965 law that prohibits discrimination against immigrants based on their country of origin, and claim the ban violates the establishment clause of the Constitution that protects freedom of religion.

One of the options for the White House is to issue an order that allows all people from those countries who are already lawful permanent residents of the U.S. or hold valid visas to continue traveling without interruption. That way, the ban would only affect citizens of those countries who have never stepped foot on U.S. soil, which legal experts say would make the revised ban more difficult to challenge in court.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the Department of Justice will engage in a "dual-track" defense strategy by continuing to defend the initial order in court while also defending the upcoming one against expected lawsuits./.

After wars, under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), the country has been developing toward the socialism. However, there are quite a lot of people do not comprehend the socialist goals and therefore do not totally believe in those targets. Especially, some even assume that the socialism has no democracy. So, this article would clarify what is social democracy? And, how it is more advanced than capitalist one?

First, social democracy is a political, social and economic ideology that supports economic and social interventions to promote social justice within the framework of a capitalist economy, and a policy regime involving collective bargaining arrangements, a commitment to representative democracy, measures for income redistribution, regulation of the economy in the general interest and welfare state provisions. Social democracy thus aims to create the conditions for capitalism to lead to greater democratic, egalitarian and solidaristic outcomes; and is often associated with the set of socioeconomic policies that became prominent in Northern and Western Europe—particularly the Nordic model in the Nordic countries—during the latter half of the 20th century.

Social democracy originated as a political ideology that advocated an evolutionary and peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism using established political processes in contrast to the revolutionary approach to transition associated with orthodox Marxism. That’s what has happened in Vietnam, though the country evolved from feudalism, skipping capitalist phase. Now, CPV, armed with the Ho Chi Minh’s thought, has firmly led the nation to social democratic values, equality, social justice and freedom.

Moreover, drawing experience from the collapse of Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, CPV has reformed and adapted the Marxism on socialism in a modern way that is suitable with the country’s background and circumstance. Modern social democracy is characterized by a commitment to policies aimed at curbing inequality, oppression of underprivileged groups, and poverty; including support for universally accessible public services likecare for the elderly, child care, education, health care, and workers' compensation. The social democratic movement also has strong connections with the labour movement and trade unions, and is supportive of collective bargaining rights for workers as well as measures to extend democratic decision-making beyond politics into the economic sphere in the form of co-determination for employees and other economic stakeholders.

Karl Marx—whose work is particularly relevant in our era of “globalization”—recognized that capitalism represented an increase in human freedom and productive power. Under feudalism, political and economic life had been merged. Born a serf, one remained a serf, subject to the political and economic domination of one’s lord. Capitalism freed the economic sphere from the domination of the political. Under capitalism, the worker and capitalist contracted with one another free of the burdens of traditional religious or status relations. Though the rise of capitalist economic relations in Europe predates political democracy by over two centuries, the rhetoric of freedom of contract and legal equality that arose during capitalism’s infancy in the 17th century contributed to the growth of movements for political democracy. In a capitalist democracy, one’s economic status, in theory, does not affect one’s political and legal status. All members of society are to be judged equally before the law and have the equal right to participate politically (one person, one vote). But Marx illustrated that the inequalities in “civil society” (or economic life) undercut the promise of political equality. In the political “free market” for votes, capital has more influence than labor, and this structural inequality erodes the promise of political democracy.

We cannot accept capitalism’s conception of economic relations as “free and private,” because contracts are not made among economic equals and because they give rise to social structures which undemocratically confer power upon some over others. Such relationships are undemocratic in that the citizens involved have not freely deliberated upon the structure of those institutions and how social roles should be distributed within them (e.g., the relationship between capital and labor in the workplace or men and women in child rearing). We do not imagine that all institutional relations would wither away under socialism, but we do believe that the basic contours of society must be democratically constructed by the free deliberation of its members.

Marx did not only argue that capitalism undermined democracy. He argued against the very essence of it as an economic system. In his analysis, capitalism was an exploitative mode of production in which the capitalist class extracted “surplus value” from the working class. For the first time in human history, labor power itself was sold as a free commodity on the market. No longer were people slaves or serfs to their masters. Workers were free to sell their labor power to whatever capitalist chose to employ them. But the asymmetry of power in this alleged “free exchange” is that while the capitalist class owns the means of production, the working class only has their labor power to sell. This asymmetry means that while capitalists pay labor a “living wage,” the value of this wage (the value of labor power) is always less than the value of the commodities produced by the workers’ labor—if capital could not make a profit it would not employ labor. Workers’ needs under capitalism are always subordinate to the bottom line.

In Vietnam now, the social democracy aims to overcome these disadvantages and provide all workers a fair constract to benefit themselves and the country./.

Chaos of social networks and fake news

Recently, there were some articles and video clips with distorted information about the Party’s and State’s policies as well as about State and Party leaders on social networks, such as Facebook and Youtube, leaving negative impacts on the public opinion.

As more citizen journalists have taken to social media and blogs to write articles and express opinions, more and more toxic websites have appeard illegally on the Internet. Before there are Dan Lam Bao (the People Report) and Quan Lam Bao (Senior Officials Working as Journalists) have recently run a number of articles focusing on an intensifying battle between factions in the communist country’s ruling class which almost are distortions. The authorities said that they have slandered the country's leadership, fabricated and distorted information, agitated against the party and the state, and caused suspicion and mistrust in society. The blogs were described as villainous ploys of hostile forces, calling civil servants not to read them and appealled for serious punishment for those responsible.

However, these kinds of websites have not reduced but flourished due to the development of social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc. These new type of websites are even more dangerous with fake information they spread. Fake news is the latest culprit in the continuing saga of How The Internet Ruined Everything.

On Youtube, you can see many accounts like “Mr.Lêcongnhan” operated since 2010 spreading more than 1.700 clips with 180 million views; “Đất nước Việt Nam” operated since 2010 spreading more than 800 clips with 60 million views; “DTV” operated since 2014 spreading more than 400 clips with 110 million views. In 2016, there are new ones like “108TV Channel” operated since August spreading more than 500 clips with 20 million views; “Tin nóng Việt Nam” operated since July spreading more than 800 clips with 15 million views; “NHD TV” operated since September spreading more than 500 clips with 14 million views.

On Facebook, many artists in Vietnam have to raised their concern about numerous fake profiles on Facebook that are using their names to commit fraud. Comedian and TV personality Tran Thanh posted on his own Facebook page that there were too many people following a fake account. “Why do so many people believe in a fake account that is tricking people into giving them money? Calm down and be careful everyone,” he wrote on his page.

Comedian Hoai Linh has as much as 200 fake Facebook pages. He has complained numerous times and warned people to not trust fake pages to avoid unfortunate situations. “A Facebook page is calling for charity donations in my name. Please be careful with frauds like this. I’m asking the authorities to investigate this page and those behind it. My only official page has a verification sticker by the name and six million followers. Thanks everyone,” he said.

Most of the fake pages cheat people into fraudulent charity scams while others were used to earn profits from advertising. Some pages are created to have high numbers of followers to be sold at high prices. The mother of an anonymous beauty queen said various fake pages had been created after her daughter won a runner-up title. A fake page’s owner asked them to pay VND50m (USD2,200) to hand over the page or shut it down.

Kieu Anh Vu from Le Nguyen Law Office in HCM City said such actions could face fines of VND10m to VND20m. People that distort information to slander and insult the reputation of individuals or organisations can be prosecuted and face from three to seven years imprisonment.

As you’ve likely heard by now, Facebook has taken its war against ‘fake news’ to a whole other level — employing third party media and fact-checking organizations to judge whether news items are legitimate — to the consternation of countless users who see the platform overstepping red lines./. (to be continued)