Miss Earth tickets on sale

Green and beautiful: (From left) Miss Earth 2008 Karla Paula Henry, Miss Earth 2009 Larissa Ramos, Miss Earth Philippines Kris Psyche O Resus, and Miss World Viet Nam 2010 Luu Thi Diem Huong pose for a photo at an event promoting the next Miss Earth pageant in Nha Trang. — VNS File

HA NOI — More than 5,000 tickets are still available for the final round of the Miss Earth contest in Nha Trang coastal resort on December 4.

The environmentally based competition will be broadcast live on VTV1, VTV4, ABS, CBN and Channel Philippines.

It will draw together 90 beauties from around the world. Miss Viet Nam World 2010, Luu Thi Diem Huong, will represent Viet Nam.

"I have equipped myself with knowledge on current environmental problems and solutions," Huong said, "I have also practised my English."

Huong has chosen designer Nguyen Quynh Nhu for her competition costumes, which will focus on the message of protecting the environment.

At a talent show being held as part of the event, she will perform a three-minute dance combining the folk dances of north, central and south Viet Nam.

Huong has accompanied Miss Earth 2009, Larissa Ramos, Miss Earth 2008 Karla Henry, and Miss Earth Philippines 2010, Psyche Resus, to the southern province of Phu Yen for the Miss Earth bikini competition next month.

Entrants must be single women aged between 18 and 26 without children and with a minimum height of 1.65m.

Tickets for the final night are available in Nha Trang, Ha Noi and HCM City. The tickets can also be purchased at www.missearth.vn.

Tickets range in price from VND700,000 to 4 million (US$35-200). Some tickets are available for VND450,000 ($22.5) for visitors to the Vinpearl Land Recreational Park. — VNS

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New TV show dramatises great escape

HCM CITY — A television series on the life of Vietnamese revolutionaries in Con Dao Prison will be filmed this month by the Viet Nam Film Studio (VFS) and HCM City Television (HTV).

The 30-part series, Cuoc Vuot Nguc Than Kyø (Perfect Gaolbreak), is based on a screenplay by Dinh Thien Phuc. It cost VND10.8 million (US$500,000).

The series' film production manager is Vuong Duc, the director, Vu Xuan Hung, and the cameraman, Vu Quoc Tuan.

The story is about the life of Vietnamese revolutionaries sent to Con Dao Prison during 1948 and 1950 while the war of resistance against the French colonialists was at its height.

It recounts a gaolbreak of a group of prisoners led by Hoang Bach, a revolutionary who was sentenced to 20 years.

Located on Con Dao Island, Con Dao Prison is known as the "Hell on Earth" where more than 200,000 prisoners, including leading Vietnamese revolutionaries, were jailed and nearly 20,000 died in atrocious conditions under the French and US-backed Sai Gon regimes.

Today, many cells and areas of the prison are preserved in memory of the country's national heroes.

"Through the film, we wanted to spotlight Vietnamese revolutionaries' remarkable spirit and work in achieving the country's freedom," Hung said.

After casting the roles, Hung and his crew will begin filming in Con Dao Prison later next month and then in HCM City.

To complete the film, Hung and his staff have conducted research on the prisoners.

"We wanted to help young audiences understand the spirit and revolutionary cause of Con Dao prisoners in Vietnamese history," he said. Post-production work on the film will be completed in February. — VNS

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Postal stamp set salutes ASEAN Summit

HA NOI — A stamp set entitled Viet Nam in the ASEAN Community was unveiled on Wednesday at the National Convention Centre in Ha Noi to commemorate the ASEAN Summit being hosted in Viet Nam.

Artist Nguyen Du's designs beat out 22 other entrants to be chosen for the stamps, which feature the national flags of the ten ASEAN member states arranged in the shape of a flying dragon.

The image reflected the stability and prosperity of ASEAN due to the sound policies applied during Viet Nam's ASEAN presidency in 2010, Du said.

The stamp set was offset printed on gummed standard paper by the Postal Stamps Printing Co in HCM City.

Award winning French pianist to play in Ha Noi

HA NOI — French pianist Jean Gabriel Ferlan will perform pieces by Beethoven, Chopin, Faure and Franck next Tuesday at the French Cultural Centre in Ha Noi. Ferlan has won prizes at international piano festivals in Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Spain and France.

HIV/AIDS exhibition to open in capital

HA NOI — An exhibition called HIV/AIDS in Viet Nam: 20 Years of Changes and Challenges will be held at the Museum of Ethnology in Ha Noi on November 22 to mark HIV/AIDS prevention month (November 10-December 10).

The event will be jointly organised by the museum, the Centre for Community Health Research and Development (CCRD), the Ford Foundation and Columbia University in New York.

According to the CCRD, the event will spotlight the HIV/AIDS problem in Viet Nam, past and present, with the recollections and experiences of HIV/AIDS victims as well as the difficulties faced by health staff, policy makers and researchers.

Since the first case of HIV was discovered in the country in 1990, the virus has quickly spread on a national scale and affected many aspects of Vietnamese society, it said.

It is just one of 10 events being held across the country to mark the 20th year of Viet Nam's HIV prevention campaign. — VNS

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Airlines transport supplies to flood victims

Vietnam’s low-cost carrier Jetstar Pacific and national flagship Vietnam Airlines are transporting relief aid items for free to families in the central flood-hit areas.

Jetstar Pacific said it would deliver for free all legitimate aid supplies from organizations and agencies on its daily flight from HCMC to Vinh, for families in Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces until November 15.

Vietnam Airlines said it would collect donations for flood victims on its flights from HCMC and Hanoi to Vinh, Dong Hoi, Hue and Danang. It announced it would also transport supplies donated by Vietnam Fatherland Front, the People’s Committee of cities and provinces, the Vietnam Red Cross as well as local and foreign charities.

The national carrier has collected VND1.2 billion and basic necessities from staff to help the flood victims. It has distributed VND50 million to families and donated books and notebooks to children in the region.

Every week, Vietnam Airlines has 126 flights to Danang, 49 to Hue, 28 to Vinh and eight to Dong Hoi. Jetstar Pacific currently operates a daily flight between HCMC and Vinh, but will double the service from October 31 after delivery of a new Airbus A320 brings its aircraft fleet to seven.   

Vietnam Airlines asked organizations and agencies to call either Luu Minh Viet on 0975316886 or (04) 39742808 or Nguyen Cao Cuong on 0912 827 777 or (08) 62 555 777; ext 7756 and 7776 to register for relief aid transportation.

Interested organizations and agencies can contact Jetstar Pacific via 0989609600 or visit its headquarters at 112 Hong Ha in HCMC’s Tan Binh District.

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Airlines transport supplies to flood victims

Vietnam’s low-cost carrier Jetstar Pacific and national flagship Vietnam Airlines are transporting relief aid items for free to families in the central flood-hit areas.

Jetstar Pacific said it would deliver for free all legitimate aid supplies from organizations and agencies on its daily flight from HCMC to Vinh, for families in Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces until November 15.

Vietnam Airlines said it would collect donations for flood victims on its flights from HCMC and Hanoi to Vinh, Dong Hoi, Hue and Danang. It announced it would also transport supplies donated by Vietnam Fatherland Front, the People’s Committee of cities and provinces, the Vietnam Red Cross as well as local and foreign charities.

The national carrier has collected VND1.2 billion and basic necessities from staff to help the flood victims. It has distributed VND50 million to families and donated books and notebooks to children in the region.

Every week, Vietnam Airlines has 126 flights to Danang, 49 to Hue, 28 to Vinh and eight to Dong Hoi. Jetstar Pacific currently operates a daily flight between HCMC and Vinh, but will double the service from October 31 after delivery of a new Airbus A320 brings its aircraft fleet to seven.   

Vietnam Airlines asked organizations and agencies to call either Luu Minh Viet on 0975316886 or (04) 39742808 or Nguyen Cao Cuong on 0912 827 777 or (08) 62 555 777; ext 7756 and 7776 to register for relief aid transportation.

Interested organizations and agencies can contact Jetstar Pacific via 0989609600 or visit its headquarters at 112 Hong Ha in HCMC’s Tan Binh District.

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Airlines transport supplies to flood victims

Vietnam’s low-cost carrier Jetstar Pacific and national flagship Vietnam Airlines are transporting relief aid items for free to families in the central flood-hit areas.

Jetstar Pacific said it would deliver for free all legitimate aid supplies from organizations and agencies on its daily flight from HCMC to Vinh, for families in Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces until November 15.

Vietnam Airlines said it would collect donations for flood victims on its flights from HCMC and Hanoi to Vinh, Dong Hoi, Hue and Danang. It announced it would also transport supplies donated by Vietnam Fatherland Front, the People’s Committee of cities and provinces, the Vietnam Red Cross as well as local and foreign charities.

The national carrier has collected VND1.2 billion and basic necessities from staff to help the flood victims. It has distributed VND50 million to families and donated books and notebooks to children in the region.

Every week, Vietnam Airlines has 126 flights to Danang, 49 to Hue, 28 to Vinh and eight to Dong Hoi. Jetstar Pacific currently operates a daily flight between HCMC and Vinh, but will double the service from October 31 after delivery of a new Airbus A320 brings its aircraft fleet to seven.   

Vietnam Airlines asked organizations and agencies to call either Luu Minh Viet on 0975316886 or (04) 39742808 or Nguyen Cao Cuong on 0912 827 777 or (08) 62 555 777; ext 7756 and 7776 to register for relief aid transportation.

Interested organizations and agencies can contact Jetstar Pacific via 0989609600 or visit its headquarters at 112 Hong Ha in HCMC’s Tan Binh District.

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Money exhibition marks artist’s death

An exhibition in Hanoi to mark the one year death anniversary of artist Vu Dan Tan (1946-2009) will show his pro-humanism paintings of money.

Tan created his money series over a period of nearly a decade from 1994. It’s iconography, in combination with the work’s conceptual premise of exchange, can be understood on many levels. Embodying Vu Dan Tan’s unfailing humanism, the work is pan-cultural in reach.

The artist depicted his own interpretations of the euro, Hong Kong dollar, the Iraqi dinar, and English pound, amongst others. The series also honored the connections between peoples and their cultures.

Unwilling to accept the power of real money in the real world, Vu Dan Tan fabricated their more valuable substitutes, loudly announcing his faith that it was beauty and nothing else, which would save the world, said Natasha, wife of the late artist.

Vu Dan Dan was a great innovator and craftsmen and often worked with salvaged or available materials, cryptically telling the story of the times.

The exhibition runs till November 14 at Salon Natasha at 30 Hang Bong Street in Hanoi.

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