Tourism in southeast asia

Foreign visitors get on a train to tour Da Lat city, the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong (Photo: VNA) Quang Nam (VNA) – The Smoke-free Cities ASEAN Network (SCAN) convened the 6th regional meeting in Hoi An city, the central province of Quang Nam, on November 20, focusing on reshaping tourism through smoke-free environments. The event was attended by more than 100 foreign delegates from smoke-free tourism cities of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Malaysia, the Philippines, China and Mongolia. It also saw the presence of the Fund for Tobacco Harms Prevention and Control of the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance and the World Health Organisation (WHO) Western Pacific Regional Office. Addressing the meeting, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien, member of the management council of the Fund for Tobacco Harms Prevention and Control, said in Vietnam, the building of smoke-free tourism cities began in Hoi An city in … [Read more...] about ASEAN cities seek to promote smoke-free tourism environments

Vietnamese sprint star Le Tu Chinh - dubbed Southeast Asia's Queen of Speed - will face a tough test in the defense of her 200m Southeast Asian Games title on Saturday after Filipina Kristina Marie Knott set a new competition record in the heats. Both runners won their respective qualifying races in the morning session of the first full day of athletics at the 20,000 capacity stadium at the Games' main hub in New Clark City on Saturday. Knott, 24, clocked a time of 23.07 seconds to break the SEA Games best, while the 22-year-old Vietnamese came in on 23.61. Chinh won a sweep of sprint titles in the 2017 Games in Kuala Lumpur - the 100m, 200m, and 4 x 100m relay - and is aiming to defend all three in the Philippines in the coming days. Medals will also be decided on Saturday in the men's pole vault, long jump, 200m and 10,000m, and the women's hammer and triple jump. Men's and women's teams will also contest the 4 x 400m relay. Le Tu Chinh finishes first in the second qualifying … [Read more...] about Vietnam’s ‘Queen of Speed’ faces stern test in SEA Games title defense

Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, head of the Vietnamese Permanent Mission to the UN (Photo: VNA) New York (VNA) – Ambassador Dang Dinh Quy, head of the Vietnamese Permanent Mission to the UN shared Vietnam’s experience in promoting collaboration with partners to support the deployment of level-2 field hospitals in South Sudan at a discussion on enhancing the efficiency of UN peacekeeping in New York on December 6. Vietnam, the co-organiser of the event, is considered one of the countries with strong performance in building efficient partnership in UN peacekeeping operations in South Sudan. Quy said that Vietnam started sending personnel to UN peacekeeping missions in 2014. So far, 40 Vietnamese officers have been deployed to the UN peacekeeping missions in South Sudan and Central Africa. The first level-2 field hospital of Vietnam replaced the UK’s hospital in October 2018 and operated effectively in the host country, he noted. The Vietnam Peacekeeping Department has … [Read more...] about Vietnam share experience in building peacekeeping partnerships

Jakarta (VNA) - An Indonesian anti-corruption investigator said that a new law governing the country’s anti-graft agency could unleash a spike in corruption in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. In September, Indonesia’s parliament approved changes to a law overseeing the Corruption Eradication Commission, one of the country’s most respected agencies. Under the new law, the agency, known by its Indonesian initials KPK, will be overseen by an Oversight Council, handpicked by President Joko Widodo, and investigators will lose their right to wiretap suspects without a warrant. “The trend of corruption will increase,” Novel Baswedan said in an interview with Reuters, arguing the new law increased the potential for leaks over investigations. Nonetheless, Baswedan said he still hoped Widodo would issue a regulation to restore the KPK’s powers, something which Widodo appeared to rule out last month. Since its establishment in 2002, the KPK has … [Read more...] about Indonesia: New law warned to affect anti-corruption activities