Matt campbells

Christmas & New year away from home For months people had been hoping the pandemic was squashed enough for them to be able to enjoy a normal Christmas – but tight restrictions in many countries have put paid to this. In addition, nations like England are offering looser restrictions around Christmas, but with the certainty of an even tougher January. For many foreigners living and working in Vietnam, the decision to travel home for Christmas was largely made for them – it simply is not possible or safe enough for them to do so, and that does not even include making it back into Vietnam after the festivities are over with. Leigh Redemer, head of language and literature at an international school in Hanoi, has been used to living and working in different countries, but unlike this year she has always been with her family during the holiday season. “This time around, my parents, my sister, and I are all on different continents. I’ll still celebrate with friends here on Christmas Day, but usually I’d be with my family baking cookies, going to Christmas markets, and wearing ugly festive sweaters.” Despite the sadness at missing out on family-oriented events, many foreigners in Vietnam have expressed their gratitude at the country’s mostly excellent response to the ongoing pandemic. Even though in many ways Vietnam is waiting for the rest of the world to catch up in order to truly thrive, in other respects the Christmas season here can be celebrated as normally as possible. “I feel grateful to be able to travel domestically and feel safe in Vietnam at this time, whereas I wouldn’t feel that back home in the US,” explained Leigh. “People in my profession get a few weeks off work and that’s always fun.” Indeed, a large section of the expat community in Hanoi and elsewhere have been planning mini getaways to celebrate Christmas with their friends, with Phu Quoc Island being a particular favourite. Lisa Cole, an education co-ordinator also based in Hanoi, …

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LOS ANGELES -- NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance, the most advanced astrobiology lab ever sent to another world, streaked through the Martian atmosphere on Thursday and landed safely inside a vast crater, the first stop on a search for traces of ancient microbial life on the Red Planet. Mission managers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near Los Angeles burst into applause, cheers and fist-bumps as radio beacons signaled that the rover had survived its perilous descent and arrived as planned on the floor of Jezero Crater, site of a long-vanished Martian lake bed. The six-wheeled vehicle came to rest about 2 kilometers from towering cliffs at the foot of a remnant fan-shaped river delta etched into a corner of the crater billions of years ago and considered a prime spot for geo-biological study on Mars. “Touchdown confirmed,” Swati Mohan, the lead guidance and operations specialist announced from the control room. “Perseverance safely on the surface of Mars.” The robotic vehicle sailed through space for nearly seven months, covering 293 million miles (472 million km) before piercing the Martian atmosphere at 12,000 miles per hour (19,000 km per hour) to begin its descent to the planet’s surface. Moments after touchdown, Perseverance beamed back its first black-and-white images from the Martian surface, one of them showing the rover’s shadow cast on the desolate, rocky landing site. Members of NASA’s Perseverance rover team react in mission control after receiving confirmation the spacecraft successfully touched down on Mars, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, U.S. February 18, 2021. Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls/Handout via REUTERS Because it takes radio waves 11 minutes to travel from Mars to Earth, the SUV-sized rover had already reached Martian soil by the time its arrival was confirmed by signals relayed to Earth from one of several satellites orbiting Mars. The spacecraft’s self-guided descent and landing …

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Foreign media and international institutions say that Vietnam is an attractive choice for manufacturers and investors who are seeking to diversify supply chains in Asia. According to Nikkei, Intel has invested $475 million in its Intel Products Vietnam (IPV), the largest chip assembling and testing center in the world. The additional investment was made in the second half of 2020. It aims to produce 5G products and Intel Core processors with Intel Hybrid technology, and the 10th Intel Core processor. IPV’s CEO Kim Huat Ooi said IPV had manufactured more than 2 billion products to provide to clients all over the world as of the end of 2020. The figure showed the important role played by IPV in helping Intel satisfy customer requirements. This also explains why Intel continues to develop facilities and staff in Vietnam. IPV is one of Intel’s 10 production facilities in the globe. The plant in the HCMC High-Tech Park (SHTP), with 2,700 workers, is an ATM (assembly, test and manufacturing) plant with the largest cleanroom in Intel’s system. Its export value has reached $50.2 billion in the last 10 years. Export turnover reached a record high of $13.1 billion in 2020, which accounted for 68 percent of export turnover of SHTP. Intel is the biggest hi-tech investor in Vietnam. The American company has poured $1 billion into Vietnam since 2006 and another $475 million in the last 17 months. Vietnam is becoming an increasingly important link in the global technology supply chain with the presence of many manufacturers, from Samsung to Pegatron, in the country. Foreign media and international institutions say that Vietnam is an attractive choice for manufacturers and investors who are seeking to diversify supply chains in Asia. Nikkei reported that Apple is speeding up the diversification of production activities with two major destinations, namely Vietnam and India. The US technology giant will make iPads in Vietnam, slated for mid-2021. …

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