The exhibition is part of a project by S River, a group of young people passionate about Hang Trong folk paintings and keen to preserve traditional values.Hang Trong folk paintings cover such topics as religion, the Lunar New Year, social practices and illustrations of popular stories. Hang Trong is a unique style representing the aesthetic, spiritual, and religious values of the people of ancient Hanoi. The folk paintings are generally colorful and feature major colors like red, orange, yellow, pink, green, and blue. The basic colors are used to create hundreds of paintings in vivid ways that makes Hang Trong folk paintings unique. The exhibition consists of a space for iconic paintings on three topics: worshipping the Lunar New Year (Tet), patterns and creative designs that may be applied in contemporary design, and products featuring ancient Hang Trong patterns and colors. Trinh Thu Trang, a lecturer at Hanoi Architectural University, is the founder of the S River group: “At … [Read more...] about Hang Trong folk painting exhibition “The New Classics”
New
Iran to start new nuclear plant ‘early next year’
Iran will start building a new uranium enrichment plant early next year, the country's top nuclear official said on August 16. The plant is one of 10 new uranium enrichment facilities Iran has said it is planning. Vice-President Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran has now found sites for all the new plants. Western powers say Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon. Iran denies this and says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes. The Islamic republic is already enriching uranium at a plant in Natanz in central Iran, and has been building a second enrichment site near Qom, further to the north. Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran's nuclear programme, told state television that "studies on finding locations for the construction of 10 new sites are going through their final stages". He added that construction would begin on one of these "by the end of the current Iranian year (in March 2011), or shortly afterwards." The UN and the EU have passed several rounds of sanctions … [Read more...] about Iran to start new nuclear plant ‘early next year’
Earthquake in New Zealand causes devastation
New Zealand is recovering from a powerful earthquake that cut power and caused significant damage to infrastructure, but no deaths. Officials say the 7.1 magnitude quake shook the city of Christchurch on New Zealand's South Island just before dawn August 4. The city's second largest earthquake on record threw people out of bed and sent frightened residents running into the streets. The quake and its aftershocks ruptured underground lines for natural gas, water and sewage. Powerful tremors also damaged bridges and disrupted power supplies and phone networks. But only two serious injuries were reported - one man hit by a falling chimney and another hurt by flying glass. Authorities declared a state of emergency in Christchurch with an overnight curfew in the rubble-littered city center. Prime Minister John Key flew to Christchurch to inspect the damage. He said it was an absolute miracle that no one died. But he said it could take months to repair the damage, which is … [Read more...] about Earthquake in New Zealand causes devastation
Chile’s Bachelet to head new US women’s entity
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the appointment of former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet on September 14 to head a new UN body that will seek to improve the lives of women and girls around the world. The body will be known officially as the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, but officials say it will be referred to as UN Women (www.unwomen.org). The General Assembly voted in July, after years of difficult negotiations, to set up the entity, which will merge four separate UN divisions now dealing with women's and gender issues. Bachelet, 58, headed a center-left administration in Chile from 2006 until March of this year, when she was replaced by conservative Sebastian Pinera. Last year, Forbes magazine rated her the 22nd most powerful woman in the world. Bachelet, who attended two years of high school in the United States, was arrested in Chile in 1975 along with her mother by the rightist military junta that took over the country in a … [Read more...] about Chile’s Bachelet to head new US women’s entity
US prepares new offer for Iran nuclear talks
The United States and its European allies are preparing a new offer to Iran on a possible nuclear fuel swap that would include tougher conditions than those Tehran rejected last year, the US State Department said on October 29. "We expect and hope that we would be able to offer a revised (fuel swap) proposal to Iran should there be talks in the near future, but we are still working on the specific details," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said. The New York Times cited a senior US official as saying Washington and its allies were close to an agreement on a proposed deal, an assessment echoed by a Western diplomat in Washington. Crowley cautioned that even if the fuel exchange plan for the Tehran Research Reactor, or TRR, is revived, possibly in talks the Western powers hope to hold with Iran in Vienna next month, it would still not resolve wider concerns about Iran's nuclear intentions. "There is a recognition that an updated TRR proposal can be helpful as a … [Read more...] about US prepares new offer for Iran nuclear talks