Seventy-year-old Ta Tri Hai on violin The elderly but healthy man with a ponytail and a long, silky white beard is not busking but simply playing for the joy of it.

Now into his seventies, Ta Tri Hai has become a fixture of April 30th Park on Han Thuyen Street in the morning and September 23rd Park on Pham Ngu Lao Street at night. With his trademark cowboy’s hat, Hai is a familiar sight to the people who live in this part of Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1 and a welcome surprise to the tourists and other pedestrians who happen to be passing by. Street airs Hai has been playing his violin, mandolin and harmonica in the great outdoors for going on 60 years. Born in Hanoi, he has lived in this southern metropolis for 32 years. The retired engineer and self-taught musician is proficient on his chosen instruments and has a vast repertoire that includes many songs from other countries. Every day for five years, Hai has been performing in April 30th Park in the morning and September 23rd Park in the evening. “I spend more time playing out here than staying home,” he says. “I’m getting old. The music keeps me occupied and makes life more interesting.” Many passers-by stop to listen and sing along with him or accompany him on their own instruments, young people particularly. Hai always has his violin, mandolin and harmonica with him when he goes to the park. “I carry the musical instruments here. The young people who can play them seem very adept and natural,” he says. “I choose to sit in the park as few areas of this noisy city have a quiet place for people to sit together with the plants and grass and enjoy music.” Ngan Sao Club So many people were coming to hear Hai play and to learn from him that he gave them a collective name: the Ngan Sao Club, whose name means “a thousand stars.” Anyone who likes good music can join, and instrumentalists of every kind are welcome to play along with Hai while the other spectators sing. In the shade of the trees, Hai and the Ngan Sao crowd liven up the park and adjoining street with their music. Sometimes they perform for hours at a stretch, and at any one time there can be up to 100 musicians and singers. Global contact Besides his musical prowess, Hai can speak English and French. Many foreign students and tourists stop to listen and chat with him, and it’s always a crowd-pleaser when he takes a foreigner’s request and plays one of their folk songs. “Some tourists still send me emails with photos regularly. They stay in touch,” he says. Hai keeps a notebook with him for people to write down their thoughts and feelings, as well as their names, addresses and phone numbers. Turning over the pages, one can see comments in Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, English, French, Thai, Arabic and so forth left by Quang Thanh, Martin, Jessica, Amy... Hai says he’s onto his ninth notebook. He probably doesn’t know exactly how many people have written in his notebooks and how many languages they contain. Obviously he cannot understand all the comments but he holds them in high regard without exception as their authors came from all over the world. Every night after his public show, Hai returns to his small rented room in an old building on Ngo Duc Ke Street in District 1. When he returns to the park the next morning, a sizeable crowd has already assembled in anticipation. And so the music resumes. Reported by Diem Thu-Ha Dinh Nguyen

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Đông Nhi nổi tiếng nhờ cộng đồng mạng trước rồi mới chính thức bước vào sân khấu chuyên nghiệp.

Cô sở hữu nhiều ca khúc hit làm mưa, làm gió các bảng xếp hạng như “Khóc”, “Lời thú tội ngọt ngào”, “Bối rối”…

Không chỉ biết đàn, múa, hát… Đông Nhi còn có khả năng sáng tác. Đó là điểm đặc biệt của cô so với các ca sĩ trẻ khác hiện nay.

Tuy được nhiều khán giả trẻ mến mộ, nhưng Đông Nhi không chọn nhạc teen để theo đuổi. Cô chỉ hát một số ca khúc mang hơi hướng teenpop, còn lại đa phần vẫn là những bản tình ca đầy tính tự sự.

Thời gian tới Đông Nhi sẽ “lột xác” với hình ảnh nữ tính để phù hợp với lứa tuổi của mình.

Trong sáng tác cũng vậy, cô sẽ chú ý nhiều hơn về ca từ và giai điệu để ca khúc có chiều sâu, thể hiện rõ nét cá tính của cô hơn.

Không chỉ hát pop, cô còn thử nghiệm dòng R&B và rock alternative. Đó là cách để cô làm mới chính mình.

Hiện Đông Nhi rong ruổi cùng “Thế giới Vpop” đến các tỉnh miền Trung và Tây Nguyên cùng các hot girl Phạm Quỳnh Anh, Hoàng Thùy Linh, Khổng Tú Quỳnh.

Sau khi trở về, cô sẽ tiếp tục hoàn tất CD đầu tay vẫn còn dang dở. Hiện CD đã thu xong phần audio gồm 8 ca khúc, trong đó hầu hết là những sáng tác của chính Đông Nhi.

Cô cho biết, vì album đã “ngâm” quá lâu nên cô sẽ quay thêm vài video clip tặng kèm để “chuộc lỗi” với khán giả.

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Một nhân viên kiểm tra cốc thủy tinh trong phòng tiệc ở cung điện Buckingham.

Lính gác tuần hành tại cung điện vào mùa đông tháng 2/2009.

Chiếc xe đưa Thủ tướng Anh Tony Blair rời cung điện sau khi đến thăm Nữ hoàng Elizabeth để xin phép về việc giải tán quốc hội trước khi bầu cử, ngày 5/4/2005.

Tổng thống Mỹ George W. Bush bước qua phòng tranh của cung điện với Nữ hoàng Elizabeth, ngày 19/11/2003.

Nhân viên chuẩn bị đĩa ăn có dấu hiệu hoàng gia tại bữa tiệc trong cung điện, ngày 25/7/2008.

Nữ hoàng Elizabeth chuẩn bị thu âm bài phát biểu chúc mừng Giáng sinh tại cung điện, hôm 12/12/2007.

Các bộ váy của Nữ hoàng Elizabeth II được trưng bày trong cung điện.

Khách khứa trong phòng khiêu vũ của cung điện tại bữa tiệc sinh nhật lần thứ 50 của Thái tử Charles.

Một chuyên gia lau chùi chiếc đèn chùm thủy tinh có từ thế kỷ 19 trong phòng khiêu vũ của cung điện.

Chiếc bàn cổ kính được chạm hoa văn tinh xảo.

Khách khứa tham dự bữ tiệc mừng sinh nhật lần thứ 80 của Nữ hoàng Elizabeth II tại phòng khiêu vũ của cung điện, hôm 19/4/2006.

Chiếc cầu thang cổ điển.

Phòng ngai vàng.

Một bức tranh cổ.

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Vietnam’s first entrant in Miss Bikini International knows she can please the judges.

Huynh Thanh Tuyen is ready to take on the world at the 36th Miss Bikini International competition in Hainan, China this month. “I did a lot of thinking and considered how the public would react before deciding to take part in the pageant,” says the 22-year-old model with an 85- 60-93 figure. She realizes that its name is rather sensitive in a tradition-bound society like Vietnam’s, but Miss Bikini International also judges talent, speaking skills and national costume, so the only major difference between it and other beauty contests is the more exacting physical side of things. “Because of the prestige, a contestant in Miss World, Miss Universe or Miss Earth gets generous support from everyone, but Miss Bikini International does not have the same standing so I’m not that fortunate.” says Tuyen. “After the contest, my name will be associated with the bikini for sure, which is an undesirable thing for a woman, especially a Vietnamese woman. “But what counts is that I know what I’m doing and believe in myself. I pretty well ignore public opinion.” Publicity shots of Vietnam’s first contestant in Miss Bikini International Huynh Thanh Tuyen Though she’s never competed in an international beauty contest, Tuyen is confident of doing well in China. True, the contest will be full of gorgeous gals, 89 of them in fact, but Tuyen believes she’s in with a real chance. “It’s not easy to win an international contest as it takes talent, preparation, opportunity and a bit of luck. But I’m confident of myself and know where I stand. “I realize that I cannot be physically on a par with the Western contestants, but as far as I know we will be divided into continents when we wear our bikinis. I believe I can win if my body is judged alongside other Asian contestants.” When the start of the 15-day pageant was postponed from April 13 to May 18, it meant Tuyen had more time to prepare, but she thinks it isn’t necessary in her case. “Social knowledge and life skills cannot be acquired overnight; they must be learned in our day-to-day lives. “I’m not trying to stuff my head with knowledge or work out intensively as the contest gets nearer. So I feel no pressure at all.” Still, she is making thorough preparations for everything from costumes to make-up. Tuyen says she never goes out of her way to land a modeling contract or a spot in a television commercial. Instead, she waits for offers to come to her. This attitude partly explains why her modeling career hasn’t really taken off after three years in the industry. “Though I’m ambitious and always want to be in the lead, I’d rather take it slow and steady. There are some things I’m terrible at, so I don’t try to do many things at the same time. I know my limitations.” Many models make the leap from photo shoot to film to the recording studio in one fell swoop, but Tuyen would rather stay focused on one thing until it is perfect. “I want to reach the summit of this mountain before going on to scale other peaks. I give my best in everything I do. If I feel I’m no good at something, I leave that opportunity to others. “Being a perfectionist means I miss many opportunities, but I want everyone to acknowledge that I have real talent, that I am not a phony. “Some celebrities try to draw attention to themselves by driving expensive cars, strutting about on the concert stage, or creating scandals, but they will end up nowhere if they have no genuine abilities.” Tuyen, who was born in 1987, has a head-turning height. When she was younger, Tuyen felt so embarrassed by her “abnormal” height that she stopped swimming, her favorite sport, because she was afraid it would make her taller. It took a modeling class while she was in the eleventh grade to change her thinking. The class, which was run by the Vietnamese modeling agency Professional Look, taught her to use height to her advantage. The head of Professional Look, Tran Thanh Long, noticed Tuyen and said “the tall girl” had the potential to become a successful model. After the class, he offered Tuyen an exclusive contract. She took it and has been on the agency’s books ever since.

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South Korea-based Samsung Electronics, the world’s No. 2 mobile phone maker, will put a handset factory in northern Vietnam into operation this month, a company executive said.

Most of the factory’s products will be exported and Southeast Asian countries would be the first markets, the executive told TBKTSG Online. Earlier, the Vietnam News Agency had said the plant, located in Yen Phong Industrial Park in Bac Ninh Province, would initially produce 30 million handsets a year and step-by-step increase its annual production capacity to 100 million units. The agency also said the factory’s total investment capital was US$670 million. The investment is in line with Samsung’s efforts to cut costs to improve global price competitiveness and meet fast-growing demand in Southeast Asia. In addition to the company’s domestic handset plant in Gumi City, about 250 kilometers from Seoul, Samsung also runs handset facilities in China, India and Brazil. Source: Thanh Nien

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The remains of a nghien tree in Hao Nghia Commune forest in Bac Kan Province. Deep inside the Hao Nghia forest, the sounds of nature are absent.

No bird chirps, no insect buzzes, not even the sound of wind rustling the leaves can be heard. The sounds of the forest are completely drowned in the roaring and buzzing of electric saws that are felling huge nghien trees that flourish in more than 400 hectares of limestone forest in Na Ri District’s Hao Nghia Commune in the northern province of Bac Kan. The forest is considered the province’s treasure because of the nghien trees, whose timber is hard, heavy and fairly worm-resistant. It is suitable for making tools, vehicles, ships and furniture. Scientifically known as Burretiodendron hsienmu, this species is also found in China, where it is called xianmu. In China, over-felling of both young and large xianmu trees have pushed it to the edge of extinction. Guided by a Nung ethnic minority resident, Thanh Nien found four fresh stumps in an area less than 0.05 hectares, each measuring more than a meter in diameter. The guide, Lam Truong Ngang, estimates that the biggest tree, would have weighed more than 30 cubic meters before felling. At least 100 nghien trees in the forest have been chopped down in the past two months, says Nung, who has lived in the area for about 40 years. Nguyen Ba Ngai, acting director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, admits “the forest of Hao Nghia Commune is being devastated. “The price of nghien timber chopping-blocks sold to China has surged almost double over the past two weeks.” A block 20 centimeters thick and around 50 centimeters in diameter can sell for VND200,000 (US$11) inside the forest and VND350,000 ($20) when brought to the main street. “It’s hard to protect the forest then,” Ngai says ruefully. Locals say illegal logging in the forest became rampant last November after the department allotted the Agriculture and Forestry Development Investment Company 56 hectares to gather burnt, spoilt and dry wood left behind by the loggers. More locals have become loggers since then, fearful of losing the timber pie to the company under Vietnam Timber and Forest Products Association. Quite a few people have lost their protective spirit, saying authorities have made it easy for the company to destroy the forest. Ngai rejects this. “Our supervisors can guarantee that the company doesn’t abuse the permit,” he says. Last February, Na Ri District administration appointed a team of six officials of the Hao Nghia Commune to take turns to oversee 100 workers and 20 electric saws deployed by the company at all times. The supervisors were supposed to work independently, but they have received VND4.5 million ($254) a month from the company from November to February. Head of the team, Hoang Khai Chien, who is also chairman of the commune’s People’s Committee, says he did this work only on the weekends. He adds that the team only signed written receipts for being paid as a “kind of salary for supervision.” No labor contract exists between the parties, yet Ngai says: “There’s no mystery here. “The supervisors cannot work for no payment, and they’re not allowed to get paid from the state budget.” The team has given the company a clean chit while the provincial Forest Management agency recently found more than four cubic meters of nghien timber in the company area and more than 38 cubic meters just outside, all newly felled. Farmland invasion In the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, many hectares of forests have been, and are being cleared for use as farmland for growing cash crops like coffee, cashews and pepper. The impacts of forest loss have been obvious - severe droughts, floods and the loss of groundwater. Droughts every year for the past 12 years have caused losses of more than VND8 trillion ($451.6 million) for local farmers, while floods in the same period have killed 127 people, damaged houses, orchards and fields worth some VND1.4 trillion ($79 million), according to the provincial agency responsible for disaster mitigation and flood and storm prevention. Yet the flow of immigrants is unchecked, and they continue to replace forests with farmland. Nguyen Dai Nguong, director of the provincial weather bureau, says immigrants first destroy the forests for farmland, which are in turn damaged by droughts and floods caused by deforestation. The rapid loss of forests over the past 10 years has loosened the soil and caused rainwater to flow straight into the rivers and lakes instead of recharging the groundwater, he says. This also robs the area of its topsoil, which can have disastrous implications for agriculture in the long run. Le Cuoc of the provincial Forest Management agency says the coverage of forests in Dak Lak has dropped to 45.8 percent from 70 percent 20 years ago. Districts that grow a lot of coffee are also the ones that have small coverage of forests, Cuoc says. Coffee has taken over more than 170,000 hectares of forestland. The province’s capital city Buon Ma Thuot used to be surrounded with thousands of hectares of forests. “Wild animals wandered into the city sometimes,” he says. But now, the city only has 551 hectares left, covering 1.5 percent of the area. Of these, less than a tenth is natural forest. Reported by Vu An – Tran Ngoc Quyen

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The procedures to get the subsidized loans would be very quick and simple to ensure loan applicants do not miss the chance to recover from the economic downturn, said Cao Sy Kiem, a member of the National Advisory Council for Monetary Policy. The central bank Wednesday announced guidelines for the 4 percent loan subsidies the government announced for companies, with most commercial banks saying they are clear and adequate.

The subsidy, part of a US$1 billion economic stimulus package, will be provided for loans taken by both state-owned and private businesses, except those operating in 13 specified industries like entertainment, real estate and securities. According to a circular posted on the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) website, commercial banks have to register for the subsidies no later than the 10th day of every quarter. For loan support in February and March this year, the deadline is February 10. Banks have also been told to report monthly subsidies no later than the 10th day of the following month. Based on these reports, the central bank will transfer 80 percent of the subsidies every month. The rest will be transferred after the banks submit the whole year’s report. Eligible firms will get the subsidies for up to eight months on short-term loans taken between February and December this year. Chairman of the state-owned Vietinbank, Pham Huy Hung, said since the central bank’s guidelines are clear, his bank would immediately inform customers of the subsidy program. Hung said 60 percent of his clients are small and medium-sized enterprises and the subsidy would help them remain in business. Vietinbank is Vietnam’s fourth-largest lender by assets. Vietcombank CEO Nguyen Phuoc Thanh said his bank would start implementing the subsidy scheme. One fourth of the customers at his bank are small or medium companies. Dau Tu Chung Khoan (Securities investment) magazine Wednesday quoted him as saying the government’s decision would get credit flowing and, more importantly, lower prices. He also noted that local banks are flush with liquidity. The SBV is aiming to keep credit growth in the banking system at around 20 percent in 2009 after a rise of 21-22 percent last year. A senior official at HSBC Vietnam Wednesday told Thanh Nien Daily the bank is waiting for more detailed instructions from the central bank concerning eligibility criteria. The central bank held a meeting with commercial banks in Ho Chi Minh City Wednesday to discuss implementation of the scheme. Cao Sy Kiem, a member of the National Advisory Council for Monetary Policy, told Thanh Nien Daily the procedures to get the subsidized loans would be very quick and simple to ensure loan applicants do not miss the chance to recover from the economic downturn. Kiem, a former central bank governor, said, however, SBV needs to keep the procedures uniform at all banks so that none of them cause difficulties to borrowers. Last month the benchmark rate was lowered to 7 percent from 8.5 percent, the sixth rate cut since October. Commercial banks use it to calculate their lending rates, which should not exceed 150 percent of this rate. Some businesses said, however, they would not benefit from lower interest rates since orders have declined sharply, they have cut back on production, and do not need new loans. Reported by Thanh Nien staff

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Ngoài danh hiệu cao nhất "Người mẫu xuất sắc"...

Vũ Thu Phương còn được ghi nhận là "Người mẫu tài năng".

"Người mẫu của năm" thuộc về Á hậu Hoàn vũ Võ Hoàng Yến.

Cô cũng nhận được danh hiệu "Người mẫu ảnh".

Khổng Lan Phương - Giải "Thể hình đẹp".

"Người mẫu cống hiến" Kim Minh.

Giải "Phong cách" được trao cho Ngọc Quyên.

Phan Như Thảo được chọn là "Gương mặt triển vọng".

Quỳnh Thư nhận được nhiều bình chọn qua mạng.

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Paris Hilton.	Vật cưng của Paris cũng điệu đà như cô chủ.
Mandy Moore dịu dàng với chú chó.	Nicole Richie và hai chú chó làm duyên.
Cô phù thủy nhỏ Melissa Joan Hart.	Người đàn bà đẹp Elizabeth Taylor.
Sao nhí Dakota Fanning.	Mẹ con diễn viên Teri Hatcher.
Jessica Biel thư thái dạo chơi.	Tài tử Jake Gyllenhaal.
Diễn viên Sienna Miller.	Ca sĩ Britney Spears.
Diễn viên Jessica Simpson.	Ca sĩ Lance Bass.
Diễn viên Eva Longoria.	Diễn viên Jennifer Aniston.
Ca sĩ Joss Stone.	Ca sĩ Kerry Katona.
Jorge Garcia "khổng lồ" và chú chó bé con.	Diễn viên Mischa Barton.

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