Remarkable Daily News (Today: Từ tháng 7: Bắt đầu tổ chức thi TOEFL iBT tại Việt Nam )

It?Ts fine for husbands to give wives a hand with housework
HA NOI ?" A survey of women working in scientific research shows that 12.5 per cent of these professional women have had to sacrifice some tra***ional family responsibilities, like doing the housework, says Phan Thi Thanh Mai, a senior official of the Family and Gender Institute.
These women, the survey found, devote long hours to their work, sometimes up to one-and-a-half or even double the time spent on the job by their male counterparts.
However, 70 per cent of these women responded to the survey that they are able to harmonise work and family obligations. Many of their families, they said, accommodate their careers because husbands and family members are willing to lend a helping hand with the housework.
Nguyen Van Minh, a former student of Ha Noi University of Social Science and Humanities, is now the father of a five-month-old daughter. He said that he started cooking the family meals when his wife was five months pregnant.
Minh recalled that his pregnant wifê?Ts health had begun *****ffer while she was studying at the National Economics University for a second degree.
"Seeing her do both the housework and studying extra after work every day, I felt sorry for her and volunteered to help her cook," he smiled. "Now I am the main cook and quite good at it."
Complications arose in the family, Minh admitted, but most of them came from his mother. One day, Minh?Ts mother visited and was incensed to see her daughter-in-law sleeping in while her son was engrossed in cleaning house and cooking.
"My mother changed her attitude and said that, if a couple loves and respects each other, the man doing housework is okay," Minh said.
Nguyen Thi Thu, working in an international company, said her husband, a worker at a local machine manufacturing factory, had an income one-twentieth the size of hers but that she was always proud of him.
"I was worried in the first part of my marriage," Thu said, "but it?Ts been wonderful. My husband brags about me to his parents and friends."
Her husband has also encouraged her to have futher study because the children would benefit from a well-educated atmosphere. Despite comments from relatives that quarrels would arise in a family where the wifê?Ts income was higher than husband?Ts, Thu?Ts husband said women with capabilities were entitled to earn more than men and that if the husband earned less than his wife, it was no problem. ?" VNS



A Nung man of northern Ha Giang Provincê?Ts Quyet Tien commune helps his wife and two children with cultivation. ?" VNA/VNS Photo Duong Ngoc

Massive tourist fair kicks off in Binh Thuan
by Lan Lan
This month, southern Binh Thuan Province is aiming to introduce visitors to its abundant natural beauty and other attractions by hosting the provincê?Ts largest tourism fair.
Nguyen Van Thu, deputy chairman of the provincial Peoplê?Ts Committee, says the festival, entitled Binh Thuan: A Home by the Sea, should attract 1.7 million local and foreign travellers to the region, with an estimated turnover of VND450 billion (about US$28.5 million) this year.
"The other objective is to get our attractive tourism sites onto local and foreign companies?T lists, which is an important step in promoting tourism," adds Thu, who is also the head of the festival?Ts Organising Committee.
Pristine Phu Quy
Only 32sq.km and with a population of 20,000, Phu Quy Island occupies a small dot on the map of Binh Thuan. The locals call it Hon Thu or Mackerel Island, because from the southwest direction, the islet looks like a cod emerging from the sea. Within a few years, Phu Quy has changed drastically, due to the burgeoning seaport at Trieu Duong Beach. The buildings are climbing higher, and an asphalt road, instead of the old sandy path, now circles the island.
Nevertheless, Phu Quy has preserved its natural features ?" the warm sand glistens with shells and coral and the water is teeming with sea life. This tiny islet has huge unexploited tourist potential. It still has no rated hotels, but tourists can enjoy a peaceful night under the starry sky and explore nearby ****s. They can eat fragrant corn cobs and fresh fish grilled over a roaring campfire. In the northern areas of Hon Tranh, the coast is rocky with large crevices perfect for fishing, and on the southern end, travellers can sprawl on the sand and swim in the blue water. Coconut orchards provide shade for camping and coconut milk and copra for meals.
Diving is also a possibility in Hon Tranh. According to locals, the sea floor around Phu Quy is covered with coral and rocks that are home to many sea creatures.
Oddly shaped mountains pepper Phu Quy Island?Ts interior. On top of Mountain Cao Cat, Linh Son Pagoda rests peacefully under a banyan tree, and on Mountain Cam, the island?Ts lighthouse, built in 1997, signals approaching boats. The lighthouse is one of two in the whole country that runs on solar energy.
But despite all this potential for eco-tourism, Phu Quy remains a sleepy town.
"A comprehensive project to promote tourist activities on Phu Quy is now underway," reports a district official. Tours to the island have been slowly increasing, but the island will need more facilities if it is going to accommodate more tourists.
Breezy cape Mui Ne
When a French tourist visited Mui Ne in Phan Thiet more than a decade ago, he was so impressed by its beauty that he decided to stay and open a resort. Coco Beach?Ts shady coconut trees, winding narrow paths through lush green lawns and utter serenity make it an ideal spot to recharge your batteries. The cosy, air-con***ioned bungalows complete the feel of paradise.
The Straw Village, built by Pham Thi Nam, a retired dentist, started off as a small cottage for personal use in 1979, when Nam bought a plot of empty land in Mui Ne. For over a decade she lived on her hill overlooking the beach, not realising the tourism potential. But in October 1995, thousands of people, Vietnamese and foreigners, came to Mui Ne to watch the solar eclipse, inspiring Nam to expand her property into a resort.
Those who want a little more luxury should check out the Victoria Resort. Opened in 1997, this 50-room colonial-style resort comprises more than 7ha covered with fruit trees. At night, the paths leading to the resort?Ts private beach are lit by torches.
But the real draw of Mui Ne is the wind. Because of its advantageous location along the coast, there is nearly always a breeze, making the beach a perfect spot for windsurfing, kite surfing and sailing. The Mui Ne Sailing Club has a gorgeous tile pool and fantastic restaurant overlooking the beach, where guests can rent a variety of water sports equipment.
Only a few years ago, few foreign tourists made the three-hour drive from HCM City, but as the numbers have increased, so have the buses, and an international airport is in the works.
Island paradise
About 50 minutes by speed boat off the coast of Phan Thiet city lies Cu Lao Cau (Cau Island). It looks like a great warship surrounded by thousands of rocks of different shapes and colours.
Ba Trao festivities on the island celebrate the Southern Sea God (Whale) every year on the full moon of the fourth lunar month. The island will soon become a marine preserve to promote eco-tourism.
In the first half of the 17th century, the Cham people built a temple to worship Goddess Ana, the Goddess of the Champa Kingdom, on nearby Hon Ba (Lady?Ts Island). Every year, on the 23rd day of the third lunar month, Goddess Anâ?Ts birthday is feted, which is called The Lady?Ts Day.
Other activities
This month?Ts Home by the Sea festival will also include unique spectacles, such as a special performance of the longest dragon in Southeast Asia. On the Ca Ty River, which runs through Phan Thiet city, there will be tra***ional boat races and a coracle race. Sky lanterns will be released and there will be a Waves and Sea fashion show.
And finally, the Binh Thuan: 10th Tourism Anniversary Show will be broadcast on live television nationwide on the last night of the festival, October 24, at 8pm. ?" VNS

Blissful: Binh Thuan?Ts Ke Ga Cape is famous for its sea scape.

Shaky event: Fishermen throng the shore of Ca Ty Estuary off Phan Thiet town awaiting the start of an annual boat race, which requires racers to shake and twist their round bamboo boats to move. ?" VNS Photos Hoang The Nhiem

Unspoiled: A canoe sails off Doi Duong, a pristine beach on the outskirts of Phan Thiet town

Romantic ballads all the rage for Vietnamese pop fans
HCM CITY â?" Forget hip-hop and R&B. Itâ?Ts soft music and ballads that are attracting Vietnamese singers and young audiences. Written in a western modern style, the songs combine tra***ional music and pop.
"I like this kind of music which many people here said is a kind of world music. It suits my voice," said pop singer Hong Nhung.
Nhung is one of Viet Namâ?Ts first singers to promote this kind of music. She experimentally performed the music in her album entitled Khu Vuon Yen Tinh (A Quiet Garden) released in May. "The album won acclaim from fans, beyond my expectations, " Nhung said.
A Quiet Gardenâ?Ts success has prompted two well-known composers, Duong Thu and Quoc Trung to write new songs, ballads with touches of tra***ional melodies.
Pop star Thanh Lam is at work on her new album, Em Va Dem (The Night and I), which features songs written by composer Le Minh Son. The album will be released next November. "I hope Vietnamese audiences will like the soft songs on the album," Lam said.
Quang Linh, who has been well-known for his performance of Vietnamese folk songs for over a decade, released an album entitled Ngo Dau Trang Da Qua Doi (Didnâ?Tt Think The Moon Has Passed Away). Performing soft music in a new style, Linhâ?Ts album has also attracted a wide audience.
Pop singer My Le is also jumping on the bandwagon with a ballad album. "I hope my fans will like it," Le said.
Rising pop singer Ho Quynh Huongâ?Ts album entitled 2222 will be released next month. Huong is known for her beautiful performance of songs featuring the combination between rock and Vietnamese folk singing ca tru.
"I donâ?Tt think that world music would attract young fans for a long time like other kinds of music like pop or rock," Huong said. "However some touches of classic and tra***ional music in a song written in a modern style may raise music quality," she said.
"After the success of my first soft music album entitled Ve Que (Return To My Village), Iâ?Tm preparing to make two new albums entitled Ru Rung (Music For Forests) and Lang Toi (My Village)," said saxophonist Tran Manh Tuan who is well-known for jazz music.
"The albums will feature music combining sounds of a piano, saxophone, Vietnamese 18-string zither, flute and one-stringed zither," Tuan said.
"My music will describe scenes of Viet Namâ?Ts primeval forests and simple countryside markets," he said.
"Iâ?Tm looking forward to the concert Duong Xa Van Dam (Ten Thousands Miles of Road) featuring composer Quoc Trungâ?Ts world music songs," said Nguyen Thu Thuy, a fan of Trungâ?Ts music. The concert is slated for HCM City in November.
"With the combination of modern Western music with the tra***ional, Vietnamese singers and songwriters are contributing to the preservation of Viet Namâ?Ts tra***ional musical heritage," said music researcher To Vu. â?" VNS

New goals set for IT, telecom sector
HA NOI ?" The IT and telecommunications industry expects to earn an estimated US$6-7 billion by 2010 and $15 billion by 2015 due to a plan recently approved by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai.
Advanced IT applications and technologies are expected to be widely utilised throughout major economic sectors as early as 2010 as a result of governmental initiatives and strategies for developing the IT and telecommunications industry.
Continued IT and telecommunications industry growth will facilitate introduction of e-government and spur e-business, particularly in the areas of transaction processing and retailing.
Viet Nam?Ts IT and telecommunications industry is expected to become a key economic sector, displaying annual growth of between 20-25 per cent by 2010 and more than 20 per cent by 2015.
Viet Nam anticipates that rapid IT and telecommunications industry growth can be leveraged to improve social and economic con***ions. This would enable Viet Nam to achieve its modernisation goals and become a developed country by 2020.
The Government?Ts strategy for developing the sector covers eight areas, with five major programmes designed to carry out four main missions. These include improving IT and telecommunications infrastructure, developing new applications and technologies, expanding IT competency and increasing human resource utilisation.
Under the PM?Ts decision, the Post and Telematics Ministry has been tasked to co-ordinate implementation of the project with relevant ministries, such as the Interior, Planning and Investment, Finance, Trade, Education and Training, and Science and Technology.
Ministries, public agencies, and provincial and city Peoplê?Ts Committees across the country have been requested to develop overall plans for 2005-10 in response to IT and telecommunications issues. ?" VNS
World Bank to lend $94 million
for IT development
The Government has approved a US$93.72 million World Bank developing cre*** agreement for the Information and Communication Technology Development project.
The objectives of the proposed project are to enhance the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, stimulate innovation and development of the IT service sector and to build sustainable and replicable delivery and communication through e-applications.
The loan will be used to implement the projects of Viet Nam Post and Telecommunication Corporation (VNPT), and the projects of the Peoplê?Ts Committees of Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang.
Government approval for the project has affirmed the efforts and determination by Viet Nam to develop the ICT sector aiming to develop e-government, e-businesses and e-citizens in the near future, as well as applying ICT in the economic sector ?" VNS

New supply of bird flu vaccine eases fears
HA NOI ?" Another 6 million doses of vaccine to inoculate domestic birds against bird flu have arrived from China easing fears that there would be a shortage for the programme now underway.
They would be followed by 6 million doses each day until they totalled 260 million, said National Veterinary Company (Navetco) director Pham Quang Thai.
The vaccines, delivered by air, would be used for the second phase of the national vaccination programme to start next Tuesday.
Director of the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry?Ts Animal Health Department, Bui Quang Anh, said risky southern delta provinces as well as Ha Tay, Hai Duong and Ha Noi in the north would be given priority in the use of the vaccines.
"Vaccinations would be postponed until early next month in provinces such as Thanh Hoa and Bac Giang that had reported scattered outbreaks last year," he said.
Anh attributed the shortage of the vaccine to Viet Nam?Ts dependence on exports.
In ad***ion, the importers had to complete numerous procedures before taking delivery, he said.
These included devising plans for the vaccines use, approving the plans, calling tenders for the supply of the vaccine and then choosing the maker.
"I think that long-term domestic researchers and scientists will need to study how to produce vaccines," he said.
He also suggested that the Finance Ministry raise the allowance for veterinarians who vaccinate the birds.
But vaccination was only a last resort in the prevention of a bird flu outbreak, he told the Vietnam News Agency.
The senior official emphasised the need for the synchronised implementation of preventive measures that should include the building of poultry farms, abattoirs and trading facilities far from residential areas.
Although building plans had been made in some localities, their implementation was yet to begin.
Except for Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Ha Tay, all remaining localities, including Ha Noi, were executing their plans at a snail?Ts pace, he said.
Anh also wanted Viet Nam to disseminate more information so as to raise public awareness about the disease.
"Many agencies and localities do not consider preventing bird flu important," he said.
"They don?Tt spend the appropriate time, manpower and funds for the work."
Random slaughtering and contact with fowls of unclear origins could cause another outbreak, he warned.
The vaccination of fowls against the deadly H5N1 virus is among the measures Viet Nam has taken to prevent any bird flu epidemic during the coming winter.
It is planned to have programme finished by the end of next month.
The Animal Health Department reported earlier this week that more than 56 million doses of the vaccine have been used in 37 provinces and cities since August.
Trials in Nam Dinh and Tien Giang provinces had been completed.
But officials in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta warned that they faced difficulties in fulfilling the plan because of a shortage of the vaccine.
Dong Thap Provincê?Ts Animal Health Department director Vo Be Hien reported that only 10 per cent of 2 million birds had been vaccinated during the first phase of the programme.
In Vinh Long Province, where the domestic flock totals 5 million, about 1.3 million chickens and ducks had been vaccinated.
Soc Trang Province needed 200,000 doses.
Hien said the pro-longing of the programme would make it difficult to control the transport of birds and their consumption while making it more difficult to have farmers accept the programme. ?" VNS

With pumpkins, white is the new orange
CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- These pumpkins look like something scared them.
Eerie white pumpkins -- naturally white, not painted -- are finding their way into more and more homes this Halloween season.
The albinos are called ghost pumpkins, snowballs, luminas or Caspers -- presumably a reference to the friendly ghost. And the ones about the size of a baseball? Baby Boos.
White pumpkins are slightly more expensive than their orange cousins, but parents and party planners say they''re more ghoulish and offer a better canvas for drawing or painting jack-o''-lantern faces.
Victoria Pericon, author of "Mommy Land: Entering the Insanity of Motherhood," spotted white pumpkins this year for the first time in New York City and thinks her crayon-wielding 2-year-old daughter "will be crawling all over this thing."
Those who carve the pumpkins will find they still have orange flesh beneath the white rind, adding to their ghostly appeal when a candle is put inside.
"When you get a dark night, I think they''re going to look pretty cool outside," said Karla Neely, a Dallas public relations account executive who bought a white pumpkin for her home last week. "They seem like they will almost glow."
White pumpkins -- simply another variety of the autumn favorite -- have been around for a while, but what was once a curiosity at farmers markets is now making the scene at larger groceries and pumpkin patches.
Gensler Gardens, a family farm near Rockford, grew 6,000 white pumpkins this year because the 1,000 it cultivated last year were such a hit. But more than a week before Halloween, all 6,000 had been sold, and the Genslers will probably grow 20,000 next year, Scott Gensler said.
"White has become a strong decorating element in people''s homes," said Nancy Soriano, e***or-in-chief of Country Living magazine, which put pumpkins that had been painted white on its cover last October. "They might have white pottery, sofas, and white pumpkins add a very iconic look."
Deborah Racicot, the executive pastry chef at Gotham Bar and Grill in New York, has been carving white pumpkins for years to display at her house.
"People that are throwing parties tend to buy them," Racicot said, adding that those hosting soirees "are looking for the coolest thing to make their party a little more chic than normal."
(CNN)

Janet Jackson: Child story ''false''
NEW YORK (AP) -- Janet Jackson says she is not a mother.
In a terse statement released Wednesday, the 39-year-old singer denied a former brother-in-law''s claim that she has a "secret" 18-year-old daughter.
"I do not have a child and all allegations saying so are false," Jackson said in a statement released to the syndicated "Access Hollywood" TV show.
A call to Jackson''s publicist by The Associated Press Wednesday wasn''t immediately returned. Brian Oxman, an attorney for the Jackson family, told E! Online Monday that he asked the Jackson family years ago if the story was true.
"The answer is no way, no how," he told E! "From the sisters to the mother, every last one of them said it never happened."
On Friday, Young DeBarge, the brother of Jackson''s ex-husband, James DeBarge, said Jackson and his brother had a child named Renee that was living with Rebbie Jackson, Janet''s oldest sister.
"James and the Jackson family kept everything real close, real tight," Young DeBarge said on New York radio station WQHT, known as Hot 97.
Jackson and James DeBarge, a singer in the former R&B family group DeBarge, were married for three months in 1984, when Jackson was just 18.
Jackson secretly married Rene Elizondo Jr. in 1991. They separated in 1999. She is now dating Jermaine Dupri.
Young DeBarge, 28, is promoting his debut album.

Janet Jackson

Chinâ?Ts President Hu Jintao due today
HA NOI ?" China Communist Party General Secretary and President Hu Jintao is due to arrive in Ha Noi today at the start of a three-day official friendship visit.
The visit is being made at the invitation of Viet Nam Communist Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh and President Tran Duc Luong and although Hu Jintaô?Ts third to Viet Nam visit, it will be his first as General Secretary and President.
He will be given a red-carpet welcome at the Presidential Palace and will hold talks with both the general secretary and the president.
The Chinese president is expected to meet with Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Van An tomorrow.
He is also scheduled to address the National Assembly and talk with young Chinese and Vietnamese.
The president will leave for Da Nang on Wednesday before returning to China the same day. ?" VNS

China Communist Party General Secretary and President Hu Jintao. ?" VNA/VNS Photo

Apple sells a million videos
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Apple Computer Inc. Monday said its iTunes online service has sold a million videos in under 20 days.
iTunes, the most popular online music store, began selling about 2,000 music videos and episodes of ABC''s "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" for $1.99 October 12.
The debut coincided with the launch of a new generation of Apple''s iPod digital music player that can play video on its 2.5-inch color screen.
Technology, media and Wall Street analysts are eyeing Apple''s performance for validation that a market for legal downloading of videos exists.
Topping the list of big sellers were music videos by Michael Jackson, Fatboy Slim and Kanye West, as well as episodes of ABC shows.
"Selling one million videos in less than 20 days strongly suggests there is a market for legal downloads," Steve Jobs, Apple CEO, said in a statement. "Our next challenge is to broaden our content offerings."
At the service''s launch, Walt Disney Co.''s ABC was the only nonmusic programming provider aside from Jobs'' Pixar Animation Studios Inc., which is also providing short films for the service.
Sources have said Apple is in discussions to lure more television networks to provide programming.

Apple''s latest iPod plays 150 hours of video on a 2.5-inch color display.

Number of traffic accidents come down in ten months
HA NOI â?" The number of traffic accidents has come down drastically in the first ten months of this year compared to the same period last year, reported the National Traffic Safety Committee.
Accidents came down by over 2,500 cases, fatalities by 600 and the injured by over 3,000, reducing accidents, deaths and injuries by 18, 6 and 23 per cent, respectively, the committee reported.
This was achieved thanks to the efforts of sectors and provinces in eliminating accident-prone areas, implementation of strict regulations for managing passenger vehicles and because of increasing public awareness.
Also, according to the report of the committee, the number of registered vehicles increased strongly, with 80,000 cars and 1.8 million motorbikes being registered in the last 10 months alone.
This takes the number of cars and motorbikes registered in the country to 850,000 and 16 million, respectively. One among five people now own a motorbike in the country. This was high compared to the world standard, the committee added. â?" VNS