Lunar

Speaking at the event, head of the association Duong Trung Duc reviewed negative effects caused by COVID-19 for Vietnamese in Macau, saying many lost their jobs and others could not return home due to the postponement of commercial flights. According to him, receiving assistance from the Vietnamese Consulate General in Hong Kong and Macau and recognition of the local administration, the association, established in November last year, has so far operated well and significantly supported Vietnamese expatriates in legal consultations, organization of flights, and unemployment aid, among other aspects. The gathering aims at reminding the community about their responsibilities for the home country, particularly via building a good image of Vietnamese people overseas and making efforts to overcome obstacles and contribute to Vietnam. Macau now hosts more than 22,000 from Vietnam or those of the Vietnamese origin. The lion’s share of the number are people working as housemaids or at casinos. Source: VNA …

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Loading rice for export at Sai Gon port (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNA) - Increasing global demand , stable domestic production , and better rice quality count among the reasons Vietnam can be confident its rice exports will prosper again in 2021 and surpass the 3.1 billion USD in revenue posted in 2020, despite a significant decline in the first two months of this year. According to figures from Vietnam Customs , Vietnam earned 192 million USD from shipping nearly 348,000 tonnes of rice overseas in January, down 34.2 percent in value and 36.4 percent in volume against December and 2.4 percent and 15.4 percent, respectively, year-on-year. As the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday fell in February, the month’s export turnover is expected to be down. Nguyen Van Don, Director of Tien Giang province’s Viet Hung Limited Company, said the beginning of the year is never the peak time for trade, as consumers have already purchased rice for the long holiday period at the end of the previous year. Rice prices in the Mekong Delta are also at a high level, so purchasing businesses and foreign customers are all waiting for them to fall. General Director of the Trung An Hi-tech Farming JSC Pham Thai Binh said that transportation problems have also hampered rice exports in recent times. He pointed out that the country is facing a serious shortage of empty containers and cargo ships for exports. According to the Vietnam Food Association (VFA), there are high hopes being pinned on Vietnam’s rice exports in 2021, with major export markets such as the Philippines and Africa continuing to sign contracts, while many others have significant demand for fragrant rice and sticky rice, in which Vietnamese enterprises hold an advantage. Packaging rice for export (Photo: VNA) VFA Vice President and General Secretary Nguyen Trung Kien said that bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) such as the EU-Vietnam FTA and the UK-Vietnam FTA, which contain …

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Walking their dog after dinner has always been a favorite daily activity of Tho Pham and his wife, a Vietnamese couple who live with their 39-year-old son in Garden Grove City, California. But not in the last few months as the wave of anti-Asian violence and harassment has terrified him. "I do not dare go out without my children because I am afraid someone will knock me to the ground or stab me to death just because I am Asian," he laments, adding that the hate crimes have disrupted his daily life. Many other Vietnamese share his apprehension, especially older people. Wally Ng, a member of the Guardian Angels, patrols with other members in Chinatown in New York City, New York, U.S., May 16, 2020. Photo by Reuters. Violence and hatred directed at Asian Americans, which also includes mugging, have surged across California since the beginning of the Covis-19 pandemic as Asians are blamed for its origin in Wuhan, China. Videos of an Asian woman being punched in the face on a subway platform and a Thai man being pushed to the ground in San Francisco have sparked fears, and the Vietnamese community is traumatized. Hoai Nguyen, a housewife in San Jose, home to the largest Vietnamese population in America, says: "It is annoying and scary when you go out and have to keep looking behind your back to see if you are being followed by someone suspicious." She has been called "coronavirus" several times while walking and shopping, but she had not expected the discrimination and hatred to turn violent and even murderous. Last month the Vietnamese community in San Jose was shocked after a 64-year-old woman was robbed in front of Dai Thanh Supermarket during the Lunar New Year holidays. Nguyen says with a sigh: "I cannot do that (go out) on my own because they may kill me. How weak I am and how cold-hearted those people are." Since older people are targeted, no one is comfortable letting their parents or grandparents go out alone though the first …

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