Japan

Winner of Best New Age Album at the 2015 Grammys, Kej will perform during the third night of the festival, alongside many Vietnamese artists. "His music fuses fanciful melodies, the unique rhythms of traditional Indian percussion and Western electronica," according to HOZO 2019 organizers. Both composer and music producer, Kej won the award for his album "Winds of Samsara", which topped the Billboard charts for New Age music in August 2014. Ricky Kej will perform in HCMC on December 15. Photo by "HOZO 2019". HOZO 2019 runs from December 13-15 on Nguyen Hue pedestrian street, featuring artists from France, Belgium, Spain, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Greece, Cuba and Vietnam performing traditional folk and world music on the opening night, to include Spanish group Vocal Tempo. Renowned Vietnamese singers as well as South Korean band Cheeze are set to sway music lovers on the second night. With the message "More music, less plastic," organizers of HOZO 2019 hope to minimize … [Read more...] about Grammy winner to bring Saigon music fest to climax

The bill, proposed by the Ministry of Health last year, will prohibit online sales of beverages with alcohol content of more than 15 percent. Beverages with less than 15 percent alcohol content can be sold online, but should be blocked from the electronic devices of people under 18. Nguyen Thuy Anh, Chairwoman of the National Assembly (NA) Committee for Social Affairs, said that the regulations are meant to prevent the negative effects of alcohol in "the most effective and inexpensive way." Nguyen Thanh Hai, Chairwoman of the NA’s Ombudsman Committee, agreed, saying the bill is needed so that citizens can live in an environment without negative effects of alcohol. She cited data from the Ministry of Health that says Vietnam’s revenue from alcohol is VND50 trillion ($2.15 billion) each year, but spending on diseases caused by alcohol is even higher at VND65 trillion ($2.8 billion). Thirty-six percent of traffic accidents and 30 percent of incidents of public disturbance … [Read more...] about Ban or promote online liquor sales? Vietnam lawmakers at odds

The government is drafting a bill to raise the retirement age by two years for men to 62 and by five years for women to 60. But textile firms firmly oppose this proposal. Bui Duc Thinh, chairman of Song Hong Garment JSC, said at a recent forum that an increase of five years would cause too much stress for female textile workers, who work up to 10 hours a day in a job that requires intense focus. Many women workers in fact want to retire at 45, so the existing retirement age of 55 is already unreasonable, he said. "Some even bribe doctors to have medical grounds for early retirement." A representative of the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (LEFASO) said women textile workers tend to retire at 35-40 and use their retirement benefits to open their own small business like a garment or barber shop. "Most of them quit before 50." Truong Van Cam, general secretary of the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, said the retirement age should be increased first … [Read more...] about Textile industry unhappy with government plan to raise retirement age

The agro-forestry-aquatic sector boasts great potential to attract more investment, while also contributing to the country’s export turnover (Photo: Le Toan) Over the past few months, TH Group has spent millions of US dollars on beefing up production of fresh milk products. Not only being locally consumed, these products are also exported to China, where TH has become the first Vietnamese enterprise to be allowed by China’s authorised agencies to export fresh milk products into this gigantic market with a population of 1.4 billion people. Under a protocol signed in April between Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and China’s General Administration of Customs on veterinary and health requirements for dairy products to be exported, TH Group has met all strict requirements and conditions set by China. Also, in April, TH Group inked an MoU for a strategic partnership on market development and consumption of foodstuffs, farm produce, … [Read more...] about Agriculture driving economic growth

Hong Kong's only travel fair, ITE, well covers southern China tooTOKYO, JAPAN - Media OutReach - 12 December 2019 - Amid social unrest, Hong Kong outbound by number of departures kept growing in summer albeit by a small percentage but inbound into Hong Kong dropped significantly!  In fact, Hong Kong citizens from July to September this year made 23 million departures (outbound), up 1.7%, over same period last year, of which 3.3 million via airport, down 0.8%, and 131101 via cruise terminal, up 0.45%! Perhaps proof of overseas holiday as part of life style remains unchanged! From June till now, convention centers of HKCEC and AWE accessible and fully operational, and all international exhibitions there, with only one exception, held as planned! Apparently, convention centers and international exhibitions not target of protests! Around 7.4 million people but spending US$26.5 billion on outbound in 2018, Hong Kong rank World's 11st and Asia's 3rdlargest … [Read more...] about Paradoxically more outbound in summer despite social unrest