Trying to teach and inspire youngsters is a daunting task. Many teachers tend to suffer from a harrowing, bad conscience, obliged as they are to follow routines, rules, and regulations set down by their employers while knowing that these are difficult to apply and provide with desired results. Worst is a nagging feeling of inability to reach out to the students. Most teachers want their pupils to be good learners, critically thinking individuals who feel gratified and keen to change things for the better.

Occasionally, I return to my original profession as a high school teacher. Long intervals between such experiences make it possible for me to perceive attitude changes among students and myself. When I two years ago had another stint of teaching in Sweden I found a new obstacle to students´ interest in direct social interaction and learning – smartphones. In many schools, they are now banned from lessons, though not from the one where I was working. Many of the teachers were quite young and belonged to the mobile phone generation. They explained that smartphones had become an essential part of their lives and instead of being banned they ought to be integrated into education.

Smartphones infringed on many students´ attention. Several felt forced to look at them over and over again – texting, checking things on the web, playing games, doing selfies, nothing of which had anything to do with school work. I found some of my pupils to be incapable of concentrating on a specific task, listening to me or even watch a movie for more than five minutes. No matter how exciting they originally had found the film, they soon felt an uncontrollable urge to switch on and check their smartphones. When I asked what could be so extremely urgent, they generally lied and said it was their mother calling, or that they had been alerted about some kind of emergency. However, I soon found out that several of the girls were checking out Kim Kardashian´s website, while boys often had become absorbed in some inane game, like directing a rolling ball through meandering tunnels.

Before my latest teaching experience, I had been happily unaware of Kim Kardashian´s influence on women's´ lives, but now I know that she and other members of her family have a combined Instagram-following of more than 536 million and that Keeping Up With the Kardashians, a reality television series following the lives of Kim and her four sisters, is running on its 16th season. However, Kim´s coffee table book Selfish from 2015, presenting selfies she had taken over the time of nine years, "flopped" – selling "only" 125,000 copies.

Apart from "acting" in a reality show and posting entries on Instagram, Kim has a line of clothing and other items mirroring the Kardashians´"aspirational and over-the-top lifestyle", celebrating a body image of slim waists, large breasts and hips, "a hyper-feminised, high-glamour look that seems calculated to entice the male gaze, sexy rather than being fashionable,"¹ while Keeping Up With the Kardashians pays hommage to a fake existence of staged worries, petty concerns and idle gossip, where "having fun" equals expensive activities at luxury resorts and spas, or the planning of and participation in clamorous, superficial and glittering parties. Kim Kardashian´s influence cannot be ignored, her fame and wealth make even a notoriously bad listener like U.S. President Donald J. Trump willing to lend her an ear.

The Kardashian style, as the family´s approach to life is called in the TV-series, is reflected by an app that was immensely popular among many of my female students. It is a role-playing game in which participants are invited to impersonate an "up-and-coming" Hollywood celebrity climbing a status ladder passing "levels of stardom" from E to A, completing tasks like posing for magazines and going on dates. This while the more enterprising among my school-tired male students were engaged in complicated and violent role-playing video games like Grand Theft Auto V and Player Unknown's Battlegrounds. It felt as if the entire school system was under a massive attack from commercial interests, which apart from being mind-numbing are cementing prejudicial gender roles.

Antiquated attitudes about gender roles among several of my students made me doubt if they had participated in an obligatory subject of the Swedish elementary school system – home and consumer knowledge, which for several years train boys and girls in managing household chores and childcare. No one who has received that training might claim to be unknowledgeable about elementary household chores. Furthermore, in Swedish schools, both boys and girls are trained in needlework, as well as metal- and wood handicraft. I find this approach highly commendable as it benefits a sense of responsibility and gender equality. However, these admirable gains may be counteracted by mass communication supporting bigoted gender roles that limit and predispose abilities and perspective of both girls and boys.

If human development is to be achieved, the best resolution of any nation would be to promote general wellbeing and prosperity by providing effective and affordable health care and education to all of its citizens, irrespective of gender, wealth and social standing. Furthermore, such education has to benefit gender equality and encourage personal accountability. Most of my students were well aware of the concept of human rights, i.e. their own rights, though they were often unaware that this concept includes human duties, i.e. concerns about the welfare of others.

I recently came to think of this after reading a well-written Italian novel Sei Mia: Un amore violento by Eleonora de Nardis, which describes the suffering of a mother of three under the brutal and degrading regime of a spouse, who furthermore is married to and sharing a family with another woman. I am convinced that this novel illustrated the suffering of women all around the world. Women who on their own carry the entire responsibility of running a home and taking care of children engendered together with an irresponsible man, who furthermore, as in Sei Mia, abuses, maltreats and controls the mother of his own offspring under the feeble pretext that this is his right as a man, assuming that his gender excludes him from cooking, childcare, and expressions of emotional care for his family, as well as compassion and responsibility for the wellbeing of others.

It is scientifically proven that domestic violence generally occurs when an abuser assumes he is entitled to behave as a selfish tyrant. A male perpetrator of domestic violence is often supported, accepted and even justified by his socio-cultural upbringing and ambiance. A background and attitude that tends to be shared by his victims, who are unlikely to report this kind of violence to authorities that often condone the abuser´s behaviour. Several legal systems make a difference between "domestic" and "common" law and it is quite common that it is up to a victim to report domestic violence, under the pretext that this cannot be done by an "outsider". An absurdity considering that it often proves to be fatal for a victim to even consider accusing a violent, capricious abuser who exercises total control and to whom she is entirely dependent.²

Such a state of affairs produces an intergenerational cycle of abuse in children and other family members, who are brought up to consider such abuse as acceptable. Attitudes that may only be changed through an obligatory education, which breaks down gender inequalities. Efforts that have to be combined with the strict application of laws penalizing domestic abuse, while safeguarding male responsibilities for support of their households, making it obligatory to participate in the care of their children, for example by guaranteeing not only maternal leave from work but paternal leave as well.

There is a direct correlation between a country´s level of gender equality and rates of domestic violence, where countries with less gender equality experience higher rates of domestic abuse. Domestic violence is an abominable crime that not only cripples the ability for victims to participate ihe creation of genern tal, social wellbeing, it also tends to destroy or frustrate children´s development as compassionate and progressive human beings. Apparently, has Swedish education had a beneficial impact on gender equality and when it comes to the condemnation of domestic violence. However, I hope the impact of stereotyped gender roles propagated by trendsetters and some influential video game developers will not be able to diminish such achievements.

With the efforts of Security forces, the exile organization "Dai Viet Dynasty" (Triều Đại Việt) to this point has basically been struggled, broken, split. But with extreme opposition, Ngô Văn Hoàng Hùng and Huỳnh Thanh Hoàng will continue to take advantage of the Internet, social networks Facebook and Youtube to distort the truth; slander the Party and the State.

The organization of exile reactionary "Dai Viet Dynasty" was established by the former objects of the terrorist organization "Provisional Vietnam National Government" in January 2016, headquartered at 31 RVE Meunited Wesst. Laval, Quebec, Canada. Currently, due to conflicts between Ngo Van Hoang Hung and Huynh Thanh Hoan, the exile organization "Dai Viet Dynasty" split into two organizations, "Dai Viet Dynasty" led by Ngo Van Hoang Hung and "Nam. "Dai Viet National " is run by Huynh Thanh Hoang and Ngo Manh Cuong.

The policy of "Dai Viet Dynasty" was active, destructive terrorism with the motto "clean burning", "killing clean", "breaking clean", "robbery clean" to overthrow the regime in Vietnam. The intention is to establish secret bases in the Vietnam-Cambodia border area to transport weapons and explosives into the country; support money, direct the number of domestic establishments to procure weapons, build bombs and mines to conduct terrorist acts and sabotage to provoke people to take the streets to occupy police offices, military, and rob weapons to island. Main robbery of power.

In order to do that, the audience thoroughly used the facilities on the cyberspace, especially Youtube, Facebook posted video clips in the form of livestream to propagate the organization, inciting people to stand up and fight. pictures of violence, overthrow of the regime, support of "Dai Viet Dynasty". Subjects are aimed at propaganda and recruitment mainly the number of children, the number of dissatisfied people with the regime, the number of people who do not have stable jobs and financial needs; the number of young people who completed military service, criminal objects ... were willing to perform their duties, regardless of consequences.

In order to carry out the intrigue and intention to conduct terrorist acts, sabotage, promote the world, causing instability in the security and political situation, to provoke demonstrations, riots, and armed attacks. pouring the socialist regime in the country, from June 2016, the number of leaders of the exile "Dai Viet Dynasty" sponsored nearly 20,000 USD, 250 million VND; at the same time, urgently directing local establishments to set up "military zones", "secret bases", procuring weapons, manufacturing explosives, surveying offices, state agencies, police and military units, private houses of leaders, public places that are easy to resonate ... to attack, terrorize, assassinate officials. But most of the tricks of the objects have been prevented, contributing to ensuring peace and happiness for the people.

It can be mentioned as the early investigation, clarifying the target group Nguyen Khanh (born in 1962, residing in Dong Nai), the perpetrator causing the explosion at ward 12 police, Tan Binh district, Ho Chi Minh City. Minh in June 2016; The target group was Nguyen Minh Tan (born in 1980, residing in Tien Giang), the culprit exploded at the back gate of Hau Giang provincial police but did not cause damage to people and property.

In the future, Security forces will continue to prevent the conspiracies and activities of hostile forces against Vietnam. At the same time, support the international community's efforts to fight terrorism and extremist activities on the basis of respect for the United Nations Charter on the basic principles of international law; expose the conspiracy and tricks of exile activists with terrorist and destructive activities such as "Dai Viet Dynasty".

Every citizen more than ever needs to raise vigilance against manipulative and provocative moves of hostile, reactionary forces, especially in cyberspace, Internet. Do not gather, illegally march, performing democratic rights, supervising and criticizing society in accordance with law. Absolutely do not listen to reactionary organizations in the form of participating in illegal associations and groups on the Internet; do not share articles and images of organizations and groups with content that defame the Party and State, defame President Ho Chi Minh, the leaders of the Party, the State and the armed forces ... contribute to preventing, repelling, ending anti-State activities./.

The Standing Office of the Government’s Steering Committee for Human Rights held a workshop on human rights for the southern provinces and cities in Tay Ninh city on August 8.

Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Thanh, member of the Party Central Committee, Vice Head of the Standing Committee, chaired the meeting. The event also saw the presence of Mr. Nguyen Thanh Ngoc, Vice Chairman of the Tay Ninh Provincial People’s Committee and Head of the Tay Ninh Provincial Steering Committee on Human Rights.

Participants in the meeting were briefed on the building and implementation of the laws on protecting and ensuring the practice of human rights in Vietnam; diplomatic debates on human rights, and information about human rights.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister Nguyen Van Thanh appreciated the efforts by the provincial/municipal police departments in advising the local Party committees and authorities to issue human rights policies, ensure the practice of human rights and deal with human rights issues in their localities while fighting activities of anti-revolutionary forces abusing human rights to cause social disturbances and counter the authorities.

Deputy Minister Thanh warned that reactionary and hostile forces would continue to make use of the democratic and human rights issues to sabotage the Party, State and people of Vietnam. He urged the Public Security Forces to advise the local Party committees and authorities in Southern provinces and cities to promote information about the achievements in implementing policies on human rights of the Party and State, and define the work of ensuring human rights as a long-term and important task in couple with the task of developing local socio-economy. 

The local police forces should also deny political opportunists and extremists from taking advantage of human rights to sabotage the revolutionary cause of the Party./.

At enterprises in Vietnam, it is still common to see a senior manager or human resources manager doubling as that company's trade union chairman.

Although trade unions are supposed to represent and protect the rights and interests of labourers, the union leaders are usually employed by businesses, which in principle, would undermine their works.

An international expert on employee-employer relations has said making unions independent from the interference of management is key to building harmonious, stable and progressive industrial relations.

Pham Thi Hang, chairwoman of Hai Phong Economic Zone’s trade union, is well known for her initiatives to help improve benefits for labourers and make trade unions free from management interference.

She has advocated establishing trade unions with workers as the core members so they no longer depend on employers to make decisions related to labour rights and for these efforts, she became one of the 10 outstanding trade union officials honoured in the Nguyen Van Linh awards held for the first time in July by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour.

Hang and trade union officials of the economic zone have approached each and every factory to listen to labourers’ difficulties and recommendations and encourage them to apply for trade unions.

Among 220 companies located in the economic zone, 188 have established grassroots trade unions. So far, about 100,000 out of 130,000 workers in the economic zone have become union members, a testament to the non-stop efforts of chairwoman Hang and her colleagues, who realised that Vietnam's international agreements allow for workers to freely choose which organisations they would like to join.

Hang has also pioneered collective bargaining with Foreign Direct Investment enterprises to provide better benefits for labourers.

Since 2016, Hang has directly negotiated a collective bargaining agreement with a group of enterprises from the Republic of Korea. By June this year, 19 businesses had signed the agreement.

The agreement offers better benefits for workers at firms in the Hai Phong Economic Zone. It sets the meal allowance at a minimum of 21,000 VND (0.9 USD) per worker per day. The Tet (Lunar New Year) bonus is equal to at least one month's wage. The monthly travel allowance is 400,000 VND per worker. Female workers in their menstrual period are paid overtime for their hours according to the Labour Code. Each month, labourers must have at least one week working for 40 hours.

The negotiation process was not easy. To persuade business representatives, Hang and the leaders of the trade unions had to analyse the advantages and disadvantages of increasing wages and meal allowances to make sure employers understood the benefits of the changes.

ILO Vietnam country director Chang-Hee Lee has praised Hang’s creative and unique approach, calling the agreement at Hai Phong Economic Zone a new milestone in developing labour relations among businesses and their employees.

Hang was honoured last month by the VGCL as one of the ten most outstanding individuals who contributed to trade union activities./.

More than 5,000 volunteers of the Vietnam Red Cross Society (VNRC) as well as local residents participated in a fundraising walk for Agent Organge (AO)/Dioxin victims and impoverished people with disabilities in Ho Chi Minh City on August 10.

The walk formed part of a month-long campaign launched by the VNRC in support of AO victims and the disabled that began on August 5. The event has been annually held for 13 consecutive years, conveying the message “Do Not Forget Them,” to raise funds for better care of these people.

Speaking at the event, chairman of the HCM City Red Cross Society Tran Truong Son said the city is currently home to close to 4,700 veterans directly exposed to Agent Orange during the war and 688 children of these victims alongside more than 56,600 people with disabilities.

In recent years, the HCM City Red Cross has provided various support for these people in terms of healthcare, education, legal assistance, soft loan provision, house repair, scholarship and more to help them have a better life, Son said.

Many AO victims and disabled people still struggle to make ends meet every day so they need sharing and support from the society, he added.

Last year the HCM City Red Cross has spent more than 1 billion VND (44,000 USD) on presenting gift packages, wheel chairs and breeding cows and helping repair houses for over 2,000 AO victims.

On the same day, about 400 AO victims received free medical checkups and medicines in Thuong Kiem commune, Kim Son district, the northern province of Ninh Binh during a charity event to mark the Day for AO/Dioxin Victims (August 10) and the 58th year of the Agent Orange Disaster (August 10, 1961).

The event was joined by 40 doctors and nurses from the Hanoi-based Vietnam – Germany Hospital./.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the meeting

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had a meeting in the central city of Da Nang on August 9 with religious dignitaries who made outstanding contributions to the national construction and safeguard, during which he affirmed that interests of each religion are intertwined with those of the nation.

Phuc affirmed that religious unity, national harmony, and respecting and ensuring people’s right to belief and religion freedom are basic policies related to belief and religions of the Party and State.

He highly valued and acknowledged contributions by religious organisations to the nation, adding that recognized religious organisations have followed the State’s policies and laws, and promoted good moral and cultural values in the society.

The Government leader underlined several difficulties and challenges that need to be solved in State management over religious affairs, including incomplete legal framework, overlapping policies and mechanisms, and the ineffective implementation of several contents of the Law on Belief and Religions.

He noted that authorities in several places have paid little attention to locals’ legitimate belief and religious needs.

There also exist heresies and superstitious activities that affect people’s health, time and money, the leader pointed out.

Therefore, he expressed his hope that dignitaries and leaders of religious organisations will continue standing side by side with the Government and local authorities at all levels to address issues related to religious affairs in the spirit of respecting the rule of the law, and ensure all people’s right to belief and religion freedom.
He asked the religious dignitaries to promote their role to set example for the implementation of religious policies and law, while encouraging followers to join socio-economic development movements.

They should work to prevent outside forces from taking advantage of religious freedom to sow division and hamper the country’s national development and international integration, the leader asked.

The PM also directed ministries, sectors and localities to continue completing policies and laws on religious affairs.

According to the Government Committee for Religious Affairs, Vietnam has recognised and granted licences to 43 religious organisations belonging to 16 religions which group about 26 million followers, including nearly 56,000 dignitaries, and over 29,300 worshiping facilities.

Many religious activities have contributed to introducing the image of Vietnamese land, cultures and people to international friends, helping affirm the State’s consistent policy of respecting and ensuring the right to belief and religion freedom.

Notably, there are over 500 charitable medical facilities set up by religious organisations across the nation.

Ambassador Duong Chi Dung, head of Vietnam's permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva, has affirmed Vietnam’s support for efforts to disarm nuclear weapons through regional and international multilateral mechanisms.

The ambassador made the statement when chairing a plenary session of the Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva on July 29, one among a series of sessions chaired by Vietnam during its term as CD President (from June 24-28 and from July 29 to August 18).

He told participants that Vietnam is currently a member of all international treaties on nuclear weapon disarmament such as the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), and most recently the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).

Dung called for intensified international cooperation to carry out these treaties more effectively, contributing to putting an end to the nuclear arms race and completely disarming nuclear weapons.

Participants highly valued Vietnam’s organisation of a CD session on ending the nuclear arms race and disarming nuclear weapons, as well as its invitation of a representative of the CTBT Organisation (CTBTO) to the session.

They said that CTBT is one of the main pillars in disarmament and nuclear weapon non-proliferation efforts. They stressed the need to soon put the treaty into practice, considering it an important step toward a goal of a nuclear weapon-free world.

CTBTO Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo stated that the treaty has been signed by 184 nations, of which 164 have been ratified it.

More than one million children in kindergartens and primary schools in Hanoi have joined the school milk programme

More than one million children in kindergartens and primary schools in the capital city of Hanoi have joined the school milk programme up to now, equivalent to 87.7%.

The information was released at a conference held on August 6 to review the school milk programme for 2018-2019 academic year.

The School milk program has been implemented at all kindergartens and primary schools in Hanoi since January 2019 and lasts until 2020 on the principle of voluntariness.

In the first year, the Vietnam Dairy Product JSC (Vinamilk) was chosen as a supplier of milk according to public bidding results.

The children joining the programme will receive a 180ml box of fresh milk at their school daily.

The State and supplier supported 53% for the value of a milk box while the children’s family contributed 47% of the cost.

Especially, students who are living in poverty, near the poverty line, ethnic minority groups and policy beneficiaries are provided with free milk.

Hanoi has successfully developed the programme, under the implementation of Decision No. 1340/QD-TTg, dated July 8, 2016, by the Prime Minister approving a school milk programme aiming at improving children’s nutrition and stature in kindergartens and primary schools by having them drink milk every day to reduce the prevalence of malnutrition, improve their health and physical strength and contribute to human resource development in the future.

Vietnam has now 13 provinces and cities implementing the school milk programme, contributing to the physical and intellectual development of children.