Vietnam&nbsp;will remove its&nbsp;COVID-19 restrictions on&nbsp;international&nbsp;passenger&nbsp;flights&nbsp;with all markets starting&nbsp;Feb.&nbsp;15, with no limitation on the number of&nbsp;flights, the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper reported on Sunday.

The Southeast Asian country imposed tight border controls at the start of the pandemic to keep out&nbsp;COVID-19, with some initial success, but that dealt a blow to its burgeoning tourism sector which accounted for about 10% of gross domestic product.

"Vietnam&nbsp;will lift restrictions on&nbsp;international&nbsp;flights&nbsp;starting&nbsp;February&nbsp;15. The frequency of&nbsp;flights&nbsp;will be restored to pre-pandemic level," Tuoi Tre said, citing Dinh Viet Son, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of&nbsp;Vietnam.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/norway-scraps-all-social-distancing-measures-amid-a-surge-in-omicron-cases-452657">Also read |&nbsp;Norway scraps all social distancing measures amid a surge in Omicron cases</a>

Vietnam&nbsp;has already informed its partners about that new policy and only China has not yet agreed to resume commercial&nbsp;flights&nbsp;with&nbsp;Vietnam, Son was quoted as saying.

Vietnam&nbsp;had already begun gradually resuming&nbsp;international&nbsp;flights&nbsp;with&nbsp;15&nbsp;markets&nbsp;from&nbsp;the beginning of this year while easing quarantine requirements, with vaccinated passengers now needing only three days of self-isolation.

The Southeast Asian country has recorded nearly 2.5 million&nbsp;COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, and around 39,000 deaths. Nearly 98% of its 98 million people have received at least two vaccine doses, official data showed.

Vietnam will remove its COVID-19 restrictions on international passenger flights with all markets starting Feb. 15, with no limitation on the number of flights, the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper reported on Sunday.

Vietnam will remove its COVID-19 restrictions on international passenger flights with all markets starting Feb. 15, with no limitation on the number of flights, the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper reported on Sunday. The Southeast Asian country imposed tight border controls at the start of the pandemic to keep out COVID-19, with some initial success, but that dealt a blow to its burgeoning tourism sector which accounted for about 10% of gross domestic product. "Vietnam will lift restrictions on international flights starting February 15. The frequency of flights will be restored to pre-pandemic level," Tuoi Tre said, citing Dinh Viet Son, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam. Also read | Norway scraps all social distancing measures amid a surge in Omicron cases Vietnam has already informed its partners about that new policy and only China has not yet agreed to resume commercial flights with Vietnam, Son was quoted as saying. Vietnam had already begun gradually resuming international flights with 15 markets from the beginning of this year while easing quarantine requirements, with vaccinated passengers now needing only three days of self-isolation. The Southeast Asian country has recorded nearly 2.5 million COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, and around 39,000 deaths. Nearly 98% of its 98 million people have received at least two vaccine doses, official data showed.

Vietnam to scrap all Covid curbs on international flights from Feb 15

Vietnam opened most of its schools on Monday (February 7) to welcome 17 million students across the country. Country's health ministry announced plans to start vaccinating children five-years and older against Covid. Most of the Covid curbs in the country were lifted in October but almost all students were taking online classes since last year.

Health ministry said that almost all schools in the country would reopen by mid-February.

On Monday, Vietnam reported 16,815 new COVID-19 cases, including 16,809 locally transmitted and six imported, according to its Ministry of Health.

The Vietnamese capital Hanoi reported the highest number of infections on Monday with 2,988 cases, followed by central Nghe An province with 1,247 cases and central Da Nang city with 935 cases.

The infections brought the country`s total tally to 2,35,8786 with 38,424 deaths. Nationwide, 2,122,380 COVID-19 patients have so far recovered.

Some 182.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including 29 million third shots, have been administered, said the ministry.

Vietnam has by far gone through four coronavirus waves of increasing scale, complication and infectivity.As of Monday, the country has registered over 2.35 million locally transmitted COVID-19 cases since the start of the current wave in late April last year, according to the ministry.

Vietnam opened most of its schools on Monday (February 7) to welcome 17 million students across the country. Country's health ministry announced plans to start vaccinating children five-years and older against Covid.

Vietnam opened most of its schools on Monday (February 7) to welcome 17 million students across the country. Country's health ministry announced plans to start vaccinating children five-years and older against Covid. Most of the Covid curbs in the country were lifted in October but almost all students were taking online classes since last year. Health ministry said that almost all schools in the country would reopen by mid-February. On Monday, Vietnam reported 16,815 new COVID-19 cases, including 16,809 locally transmitted and six imported, according to its Ministry of Health. The Vietnamese capital Hanoi reported the highest number of infections on Monday with 2,988 cases, followed by central Nghe An province with 1,247 cases and central Da Nang city with 935 cases. The infections brought the country`s total tally to 2,35,8786 with 38,424 deaths. Nationwide, 2,122,380 COVID-19 patients have so far recovered. Some 182.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including 29 million third shots, have been administered, said the ministry. Vietnam has by far gone through four coronavirus waves of increasing scale, complication and infectivity.As of Monday, the country has registered over 2.35 million locally transmitted COVID-19 cases since the start of the current wave in late April last year, according to the ministry.

Schools open in Vietnam, more to open by middle of month

It has been four days since the start of the Beijing Olympics 2022, what was expected to be grand affair has been low-key and controversial despite the zero-Covid policy.

China locks down city on Vietnam border as COVID cases surge

Defending champions Japan beat Vietnam 3-0 at the Women`s Asian Cup in Pune on Monday to book their place in the quarter-finals alongside Australia and South Korea.

Yui Narumiya scored twice, with her goals coming either side of an effort from former Asian Women`s Player of the Year Saki Kumagai.

Victory means Japan go into their final game in Group C against South Korea on Thursday guaranteed a top-two finish. 
Futoshi Ikeda`s side had to wait until the 38th minute to take the lead when Narumiya netted from close range, while Kumagai claimed a rare international goal from similar range five minutes into the second half.

Narumiya beat Vietnam goalkeeper Tran Thi Kim Thanh to her left in the 58th minute to put the seal on a comfortable win for the 2014 and 2018 winners.

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The result ensures South Korea also advance after their 2-0 win over Myanmar earlier in the day. 
The Koreans struggled to break down their defensively disciplined opponents but finally opened their account five minutes into the second half when Lee Geum-min netted following Cho So-hyun`s cushioned header.

Chelsea midfielder Ji So-yun was instrumental in the second goal six minutes from time when her header back across the target brushed against defender Tun Khin Mo Mo before crossing the line via the inside of the post. 
The Australians confirmed their place in the next round when a decisive second-half showing saw Tony Gustavsson`s side defeat Philippines 4-0 in Mumbai.

After a goalless first half, Sam Kerr opened the scoring with a 51st-minute header before Dominique Randle`s own goal two minutes later put the Matildas in control of the Group B encounter.

Emily van Egmond and Mary Fowler were also on target as the Australians defeated a Philippines side directed by former Matildas coach Alen Stajcic.

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The win, coupled with their 18-0 thrashing of Indonesia on the opening day, means the Australians are guaranteed a place in the last eight ahead.

Thailand kept alive their hopes of a quarter-final place with a comfortable 4-0 win over Indonesia. 
Kanyanat Chetthabutr scored a hat-trick before Dee Makris scored her side`s fourth as the Thais moved level on three points with the Philippines, with Australia on top of the group.

The top two finishers in each of the three groups will advance to the knockout rounds along with the two third-place finishers with the best records.

The competition is doubling up as Asia`s qualifier for next year`s Women`s World Cup, with the continent awarded five guaranteed spots at the finals in Australia and New Zealand. 
Australia qualify for the World Cup as co-hosts while two other Asian nations will feature in an intercontinental playoff round.

Defending champions Japan beat Vietnam 3-0 at the Women`s Asian Cup in Pune on Monday to book their place in the quarter-finals alongside Australia and South Korea.

Defending champions Japan beat Vietnam 3-0 at the Women`s Asian Cup in Pune on Monday to book their place in the quarter-finals alongside Australia and South Korea. Yui Narumiya scored twice, with her goals coming either side of an effort from former Asian Women`s Player of the Year Saki Kumagai. Victory means Japan go into their final game in Group C against South Korea on Thursday guaranteed a top-two finish. Futoshi Ikeda`s side had to wait until the 38th minute to take the lead when Narumiya netted from close range, while Kumagai claimed a rare international goal from similar range five minutes into the second half. Narumiya beat Vietnam goalkeeper Tran Thi Kim Thanh to her left in the 58th minute to put the seal on a comfortable win for the 2014 and 2018 winners. Read Also | Premier League reports COVID-19 cases falling for fourth consecutive week The result ensures South Korea also advance after their 2-0 win over Myanmar earlier in the day. The Koreans struggled to break down their defensively disciplined opponents but finally opened their account five minutes into the second half when Lee Geum-min netted following Cho So-hyun`s cushioned header. Chelsea midfielder Ji So-yun was instrumental in the second goal six minutes from time when her header back across the target brushed against defender Tun Khin Mo Mo before crossing the line via the inside of the post. The Australians confirmed their place in the next round when a decisive second-half showing saw Tony Gustavsson`s side defeat Philippines 4-0 in Mumbai. After a goalless first half, Sam Kerr opened the scoring with a 51st-minute header before Dominique Randle`s own goal two minutes later put the Matildas in control of the Group B encounter. Emily van Egmond and Mary Fowler were also on target as the Australians defeated a Philippines side directed by former Matildas coach Alen Stajcic. Read Also | Premier League: Liverpool fend off Crytal Palace fightback to close gap on Manchester City The win, coupled with their 18-0 thrashing of Indonesia on the opening day, means the Australians are guaranteed a place in the last eight ahead. Thailand kept alive their hopes of a quarter-final place with a comfortable 4-0 win over Indonesia. Kanyanat Chetthabutr scored a hat-trick before Dee Makris scored her side`s fourth as the Thais moved level on three points with the Philippines, with Australia on top of the group. The top two finishers in each of the three groups will advance to the knockout rounds along with the two third-place finishers with the best records. The competition is doubling up as Asia`s qualifier for next year`s Women`s World Cup, with the continent awarded five guaranteed spots at the finals in Australia and New Zealand. Australia qualify for the World Cup as co-hosts while two other Asian nations will feature in an intercontinental playoff round.

Women's Asian Cup: Japan advances to quarterfinals with win over Vietnam

Seeking escape from grinding poverty in northern Vietnam, the 43-year-old farmer labored for years on construction sites in Kuwait and Uzbekistan before being offered a ticket to what he was told would be “the promised land” — Europe, and a job with a good salary.

“I wanted to go to the West to change my life,” the farmer, a father of three who asked that his name not be used to avoid retribution from his employer, recalled in an interview.

His life certainly changed: It got much worse.

The job turned out to be in Serbia, one of Europe’s poorest nations, with a Chinese company whose gigantic tire factory under construction in the northern city of Zrenjanin has become a symbol of the chasm between the alluring promise of investment from China and the sometimes grim reality on the ground.

Touted as China’s biggest industrial investment in Europe, the $900 million Ling Long Tire factory is a magnet of criticism for a Serbian government that opponents accuse of no-questions-asked subservience to China. Workers and activists say problems like human trafficking, prisonlike working conditions and environmental abuse are endemic.

About 400 Vietnamese work in Zrenjanin, along with hundreds more Chinese, who get higher salaries and better living conditions, according to the workers and local labor activists. The former farmer from Vietnam described his work conditions in Serbia as “miserable and dangerous” and said he was housed in a decrepit shack crammed with other Vietnamese workers and bullied by Chinese supervisors.

The Ling Long Tire project first took shape in September 2018 during meetings in Beijing between Serbia’s populist president, Aleksandar Vucic, and Xi Jinping, China’s leader.

Xi, who has looked to Serbia as China’s most dependable European friend at a time when other nations are souring on his country, praised the Balkan nation as a “good, honest friend and good partner.”

Vucic predicted that the tire factory, which plans to produce more than 130 million tires a year in Zrenjanin, and other planned ventures would make Serbia “the port for Chinese investments throughout the region.”

Serbia said Chinese investment helped it achieve economic growth of over 7% last year, among the highest in Europe.

But the furor over working conditions has set back Serbia’s yearslong effort to join the European Union, whose view of China has become increasingly jaundiced. The European Parliament last month demanded an investigation into treatment of Vietnamese laborers in Zrenjanin and voiced alarm “over China’s increasing influence in Serbia and across the Western Balkans.”

It has also aggravated what has become Vucic’s biggest political headache: public anger over damage to the environment widely blamed on the government’s drive to juice the economy at all costs. Tens of thousands of people gathered late last year for weeks of street protests across Serbia against the development of a lithium mine project by the Anglo-Australian company Rio Tinto. The protests forced a rare retreat by the government, which on Jan. 20 canceled licenses for the project.

Chinese ventures in Serbia, which include a smoke-belching steel works near Belgrade, the capital, and a copper mine and smelter in the southern town of Bor, have helped stoke this anger. Despite gushing praise of Beijing in the pro-government Serbian media, they have made China synonymous in the minds of many Serbs with environmental degradation.

Unlike Rio Tinto, highly vulnerable because of its links to Australia, a country widely reviled in Serbia after the recent expulsion of tennis star Novak Djokovic, Chinese companies have enjoyed unwavering support from Vucic as indispensable for the creation of jobs and economic growth.

But Marina Tepic, a leader of the main opposition party, said in an interview that the tire factory would “provide a few jobs to Serbs but kill many more with its pollution.”

Strong support from the leaders of both Serbia and China, she added, has put the project largely off limits for government regulators and allowed construction workers there — deprived for a time of their passports, housed in squalor and fearful of retribution — to be kept in “modern slavery.”

The government denies protecting the Chinese project from scrutiny, with the construction minister, Tomislav Momirovic, declaring on a recent visit to Zrenjanin that the Chinese factory was Serbia’s most closely monitored building site. Officials say that Vietnamese workers have all been given their passports back and are now free to leave if they want.

A few of the workers have fled. But for most of them, leaving would mean breaking their contracts and leaving family members in Vietnam in hock to labor brokers and loan sharks who paid their way to Serbia, the workers say.

A statement from Ling Long Tire cited in Serbian media said the company was “committed to full respect for and a humane and dignified approach to all employees.” Yet it stressed that none of the construction workers are employees, and work for subcontractors. Ling Long said it had asked the contractors to provide better accommodations. The tire company did not immediately respond to requests for comment at its head office in China.

The Serbian government, which granted 240 acres of farmland free of charge to Ling Long Tire for its factory and pledged $85 million in state subsidies, says the factory will eventually generate 1,200 jobs. It declared the venture a “project of national importance,” a classification that critics see as a move to shield the venture from environmental and other inspectors.

“They behave as if the Chinese factory were a military site,” said Ivan Zivkov, a member of a network of activist groups in Zrenjanin that has been pressing authorities, mostly unsuccessfully, to release information about the factory and its likely impact on the environment.

Zoran Dedic, a retiree in Zrenjanin who attended a recent public meeting hosted by Zivkov, said he did not object to foreign investment. But he expressed alarm that so much information about the Chinese tire factory, particularly future levels of pollution, had not been made public and that Ling Long, while donating money to send local children to soccer camp, had not engaged in serious discussion with residents.

“We know nothing about what is going on over there,” he said.

Marija Andjelkovic, the head of Astra, an independent group in Belgrade that monitors and lobbies against human trafficking, said she visited the construction site late last year and found Vietnamese workers sleeping in hovels without heat or clean water. “It was like a prison camp,” she said.

Labor contracts signed by Vietnamese workers with China Energy Engineering Group, a Ling Long subcontractor overseeing construction, commit each worker not to engage in trade union activities, and to “refrain from anything that would detract from his reputation or the reputation” of the Chinese company.

Even more restrictive are the terms set by recruitment agencies in Vietnam. One agency, Song Hy Gia Lai International, demanded that all workers going to Europe sign a document pledging never to go on strike or protest.

The document appears to have been copied and pasted from agreements originally drafted for laborers recruited in Vietnam for work in the Middle East: It warns that workers going to Serbia risk having their hands cut off if they steal.

Danilo Curkic, program director for A11, a Belgrade research group, said contracts signed by Vietnamese workers were “far away from anything that is legal under Serbian law” and left them in indentured servitude. “It is impossible that Serbian state authorities did not know what was happening,” he said.

One Vietnamese worker who spoke to a Serbian TV station in November about what he described as inhumane living conditions was taken in for questioning by the Serbian police and released after signing a statement asserting that he had no complaints. Another who spoke to a Serbian media outlet was fired.

“This is all part of the process of intimidation,” Curkic said.

Vietnamese workers who agreed to be interviewed by The Times through an interpreter said they had lived for months in squalid barracklike shelters previously used by a local farm to raise pigs and chickens.

The former farmer from northern Vietnam said conditions had improved somewhat in recent weeks. Many workers now live in a two-story concrete block surrounded by a metal fence and watched over by Serbian security guards who bar entry to outsiders.

One resident, a 40-year-old Vietnamese construction worker who requested anonymity, said he shared a tiny room with seven others and that their kitchen was crawling with rats. Salaries of about $900 per month, higher than what he could earn in Vietnam, were often paid late and slashed for days not worked because of sickness or inclement weather, he said.

He previously worked for different Chinese companies for 15 years in Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia and Taiwan, but said he had never endured conditions as bad as at the Ling Long Tire construction site in Serbia.

“It’s like hell on Earth here,” he said.

Seeking escape from grinding poverty in northern Vietnam, the 43-year-old farmer labored for years on construction sites in Kuwait and Uzbekistan before being offered a ticket to what he was told would be “the promised land” — Europe, and a job with a good salary.

Seeking escape from grinding poverty in northern Vietnam, the 43-year-old farmer labored for years on construction sites in Kuwait and Uzbekistan before being offered a ticket to what he was told would be “the promised land” — Europe, and a job with a good salary. “I wanted to go to the West to change my life,” the farmer, a father of three who asked that his name not be used to avoid retribution from his employer, recalled in an interview. His life certainly changed: It got much worse. The job turned out to be in Serbia, one of Europe’s poorest nations, with a Chinese company whose gigantic tire factory under construction in the northern city of Zrenjanin has become a symbol of the chasm between the alluring promise of investment from China and the sometimes grim reality on the ground. Touted as China’s biggest industrial investment in Europe, the $900 million Ling Long Tire factory is a magnet of criticism for a Serbian government that opponents accuse of no-questions-asked subservience to China. Workers and activists say problems like human trafficking, prisonlike working conditions and environmental abuse are endemic. About 400 Vietnamese work in Zrenjanin, along with hundreds more Chinese, who get higher salaries and better living conditions, according to the workers and local labor activists. The former farmer from Vietnam described his work conditions in Serbia as “miserable and dangerous” and said he was housed in a decrepit shack crammed with other Vietnamese workers and bullied by Chinese supervisors. The Ling Long Tire project first took shape in September 2018 during meetings in Beijing between Serbia’s populist president, Aleksandar Vucic, and Xi Jinping, China’s leader. Xi, who has looked to Serbia as China’s most dependable European friend at a time when other nations are souring on his country, praised the Balkan nation as a “good, honest friend and good partner.” Vucic predicted that the tire factory, which plans to produce more than 130 million tires a year in Zrenjanin, and other planned ventures would make Serbia “the port for Chinese investments throughout the region.” Serbia said Chinese investment helped it achieve economic growth of over 7% last year, among the highest in Europe. But the furor over working conditions has set back Serbia’s yearslong effort to join the European Union, whose view of China has become increasingly jaundiced. The European Parliament last month demanded an investigation into treatment of Vietnamese laborers in Zrenjanin and voiced alarm “over China’s increasing influence in Serbia and across the Western Balkans.” It has also aggravated what has become Vucic’s biggest political headache: public anger over damage to the environment widely blamed on the government’s drive to juice the economy at all costs. Tens of thousands of people gathered late last year for weeks of street protests across Serbia against the development of a lithium mine project by the Anglo-Australian company Rio Tinto. The protests forced a rare retreat by the government, which on Jan. 20 canceled licenses for the project. Chinese ventures in Serbia, which include a smoke-belching steel works near Belgrade, the capital, and a copper mine and smelter in the southern town of Bor, have helped stoke this anger. Despite gushing praise of Beijing in the pro-government Serbian media, they have made China synonymous in the minds of many Serbs with environmental degradation. Unlike Rio Tinto, highly vulnerable because of its links to Australia, a country widely reviled in Serbia after the recent expulsion of tennis star Novak Djokovic, Chinese companies have enjoyed unwavering support from Vucic as indispensable for the creation of jobs and economic growth. But Marina Tepic, a leader of the main opposition party, said in an interview that the tire factory would “provide a few jobs to Serbs but kill many more with its pollution.” Strong support from the leaders of both Serbia and China, she added, has put the project largely off limits for government regulators and allowed construction workers there — deprived for a time of their passports, housed in squalor and fearful of retribution — to be kept in “modern slavery.” The government denies protecting the Chinese project from scrutiny, with the construction minister, Tomislav Momirovic, declaring on a recent visit to Zrenjanin that the Chinese factory was Serbia’s most closely monitored building site. Officials say that Vietnamese workers have all been given their passports back and are now free to leave if they want. A few of the workers have fled. But for most of them, leaving would mean breaking their contracts and leaving family members in Vietnam in hock to labor brokers and loan sharks who paid their way to Serbia, the workers say. A statement from Ling Long Tire cited in Serbian media said the company was “committed to full respect for and a humane and dignified approach to all employees.” Yet it stressed that none of the construction workers are employees, and work for subcontractors. Ling Long said it had asked the contractors to provide better accommodations. The tire company did not immediately respond to requests for comment at its head office in China. The Serbian government, which granted 240 acres of farmland free of charge to Ling Long Tire for its factory and pledged $85 million in state subsidies, says the factory will eventually generate 1,200 jobs. It declared the venture a “project of national importance,” a classification that critics see as a move to shield the venture from environmental and other inspectors. “They behave as if the Chinese factory were a military site,” said Ivan Zivkov, a member of a network of activist groups in Zrenjanin that has been pressing authorities, mostly unsuccessfully, to release information about the factory and its likely impact on the environment. Zoran Dedic, a retiree in Zrenjanin who attended a recent public meeting hosted by Zivkov, said he did not object to foreign investment. But he expressed alarm that so much information about the Chinese tire factory, particularly future levels of pollution, had not been made public and that Ling Long, while donating money to send local children to soccer camp, had not engaged in serious discussion with residents. “We know nothing about what is going on over there,” he said. Marija Andjelkovic, the head of Astra, an independent group in Belgrade that monitors and lobbies against human trafficking, said she visited the construction site late last year and found Vietnamese workers sleeping in hovels without heat or clean water. “It was like a prison camp,” she said. Labor contracts signed by Vietnamese workers with China Energy Engineering Group, a Ling Long subcontractor overseeing construction, commit each worker not to engage in trade union activities, and to “refrain from anything that would detract from his reputation or the reputation” of the Chinese company. Even more restrictive are the terms set by recruitment agencies in Vietnam. One agency, Song Hy Gia Lai International, demanded that all workers going to Europe sign a document pledging never to go on strike or protest. The document appears to have been copied and pasted from agreements originally drafted for laborers recruited in Vietnam for work in the Middle East: It warns that workers going to Serbia risk having their hands cut off if they steal. Danilo Curkic, program director for A11, a Belgrade research group, said contracts signed by Vietnamese workers were “far away from anything that is legal under Serbian law” and left them in indentured servitude. “It is impossible that Serbian state authorities did not know what was happening,” he said. One Vietnamese worker who spoke to a Serbian TV station in November about what he described as inhumane living conditions was taken in for questioning by the Serbian police and released after signing a statement asserting that he had no complaints. Another who spoke to a Serbian media outlet was fired. “This is all part of the process of intimidation,” Curkic said. Vietnamese workers who agreed to be interviewed by The Times through an interpreter said they had lived for months in squalid barracklike shelters previously used by a local farm to raise pigs and chickens. The former farmer from northern Vietnam said conditions had improved somewhat in recent weeks. Many workers now live in a two-story concrete block surrounded by a metal fence and watched over by Serbian security guards who bar entry to outsiders. One resident, a 40-year-old Vietnamese construction worker who requested anonymity, said he shared a tiny room with seven others and that their kitchen was crawling with rats. Salaries of about $900 per month, higher than what he could earn in Vietnam, were often paid late and slashed for days not worked because of sickness or inclement weather, he said. He previously worked for different Chinese companies for 15 years in Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia and Taiwan, but said he had never endured conditions as bad as at the Ling Long Tire construction site in Serbia. “It’s like hell on Earth here,” he said.

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In a first for a country that considers cat and dog meat delicacies, officials in a popular Vietnamese tourist city announced they will start phasing out the sale of these animal's meat.

Hoi An, a world heritage site and a historic trading port, has signed an agreement with animal rights group Four Paws International pledging to phase out sales and consumption of cat and dog meat.

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"We want to help promote animal welfare through rabies eradication, phasing out the dog and cat meat trade, and making the city a premier destination for tourism," vice city mayor Nguyen The Hung said.

Every year, Vietnam consumes an estimated five million canines - the second-highest consumption in the world after China - with some believing the meat can help dispel bad luck.

It was a watershed moment, said Julie Sanders from Four Paws International, that could set an example for other places in Vietnam.

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The animal rights group commissioned a national poll this year that found that only 6.3 per cent of 600 Vietnamese surveyed consume the four-legged creatures, with 88 per cent in favour of banning their consumption.

In parts of the country, dog meat is considered a delicacy to be eaten with rice wine or beer. Although less popular, cats are also served on some menus and are referred to as "little tigers."

Although the practice has waned as incomes rise and more affluent people keep dogs as pets, dog meat remains readily accessible in Hanoi with some dismissing animal welfare concerns.

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<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-saudi-festival-disqualifies-40-botoxed-camels-435621/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

"I don't think anyone should ban the eating of dog meat. It's our culture," says one Hanoi resident Phan Van Cuong.

Officials in Hanoi encouraged people to stop eating dog meat in 2018 because it was damaging the capital's reputation and was associated with the potential to expose people to deadly rabies infections.

(With inputs from agencies)

In a first for a country that considers cat and dog meat delicacies, officials in a popular Vietnamese tourist city announced they will start phasing out the sale of these animal's meat.

In a first for a country that considers cat and dog meat delicacies, officials in a popular Vietnamese tourist city announced they will start phasing out the sale of these animal's meat. Hoi An, a world heritage site and a historic trading port, has signed an agreement with animal rights group Four Paws International pledging to phase out sales and consumption of cat and dog meat. Also read | Study shows that away from human touch, tropical forests can regenerate in 20 years "We want to help promote animal welfare through rabies eradication, phasing out the dog and cat meat trade, and making the city a premier destination for tourism," vice city mayor Nguyen The Hung said. Every year, Vietnam consumes an estimated five million canines - the second-highest consumption in the world after China - with some believing the meat can help dispel bad luck. It was a watershed moment, said Julie Sanders from Four Paws International, that could set an example for other places in Vietnam. Also read | This miracle drug claims to help you get rid of your glasses The animal rights group commissioned a national poll this year that found that only 6.3 per cent of 600 Vietnamese surveyed consume the four-legged creatures, with 88 per cent in favour of banning their consumption. In parts of the country, dog meat is considered a delicacy to be eaten with rice wine or beer. Although less popular, cats are also served on some menus and are referred to as "little tigers." Although the practice has waned as incomes rise and more affluent people keep dogs as pets, dog meat remains readily accessible in Hanoi with some dismissing animal welfare concerns. Watch | Gravitas: Saudi festival disqualifies 40 botoxed camels "I don't think anyone should ban the eating of dog meat. It's our culture," says one Hanoi resident Phan Van Cuong. Officials in Hanoi encouraged people to stop eating dog meat in 2018 because it was damaging the capital's reputation and was associated with the potential to expose people to deadly rabies infections. (With inputs from agencies)

Vietnamese tourist city Hoi An to phase out a 'delicacy' — dog and cat meat

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Thousands of people have been evacuated as heavy rains trigger floods in Vietnam, people have been advised to move to higher grounds as the rains are expected to continue in the coming few days.

Heavy rains trigger floods in Vietnam, thousands evacuated

Heavy rains have triggered rainfall and landslides in Vietnam, at least three people were killed in the northern and central provinces, three others are reported missing.

Rains lead to severe flooding in Vietnam, at least three people killed

Ho Chi Minh City on Friday lifted a stay-at-home order that had kept its nine million residents indoors for three months and devastated business in Vietnam's economic hub.

To curb a fast-spreading wave of COVID-19 -- which struck the southern metropolis particularly hard -- residents have been unable to leave home, even for food, and almost all travel in and out of the area was suspended.

Almost half of Vietnam's total 790,000 virus cases were reported in the city, along with three-quarters of the country's deaths.

But after a gradual fall in cases, soldiers began dismantling road barriers on Friday and removing hundreds of checkpoints that had separated city districts.

"I am happy," said Tran Van Vu, who owns a store selling fruit, vegetables and meat and had planned to expand his business before the pandemic.

"During the lockdown our company was affected a lot... we didn't have enough delivery men as they had to be tested every two days and it was costly for the company."

Roads were busy for the first time in months after most businesses were given the go-ahead to reopen and vaccinated people permitted to move freely within the city.

Although authorities have kept a ban on travel to other provinces, thousands of families travelling by motorbike gathered at a checkpoint on the way out of the city, hoping to return to their hometowns.

Vietnam was once hailed as a model for virus containment, but the country struggled to stop the spread of a fourth wave of infection that began in April in northern industrial parks and quickly travelled south.

More than a third of Vietnam's 100 million people were under stay-at-home orders this summer, bringing the country's important manufacturing industry to its knees and breaking supply chains.

Its economy suffered its heaviest contraction on record in the third quarter, officials said Wednesday.

Factories in industrial parks and goods transportation services are among businesses allowed to open, authorities have said.

Less than 10 percent of Vietnamese are fully vaccinated but Ho Chi Minh City had been allocated the biggest number of jabs with almost all the city's adults inoculated.

 
&nbsp;

Ho Chi Minh City on Friday lifted a stay-at-home order that had kept its nine million residents indoors for three months and devastated business in Vietnam's economic hub.

Ho Chi Minh City on Friday lifted a stay-at-home order that had kept its nine million residents indoors for three months and devastated business in Vietnam's economic hub. To curb a fast-spreading wave of COVID-19 -- which struck the southern metropolis particularly hard -- residents have been unable to leave home, even for food, and almost all travel in and out of the area was suspended. Almost half of Vietnam's total 790,000 virus cases were reported in the city, along with three-quarters of the country's deaths. But after a gradual fall in cases, soldiers began dismantling road barriers on Friday and removing hundreds of checkpoints that had separated city districts. "I am happy," said Tran Van Vu, who owns a store selling fruit, vegetables and meat and had planned to expand his business before the pandemic. "During the lockdown our company was affected a lot... we didn't have enough delivery men as they had to be tested every two days and it was costly for the company." Roads were busy for the first time in months after most businesses were given the go-ahead to reopen and vaccinated people permitted to move freely within the city. Although authorities have kept a ban on travel to other provinces, thousands of families travelling by motorbike gathered at a checkpoint on the way out of the city, hoping to return to their hometowns. Vietnam was once hailed as a model for virus containment, but the country struggled to stop the spread of a fourth wave of infection that began in April in northern industrial parks and quickly travelled south. More than a third of Vietnam's 100 million people were under stay-at-home orders this summer, bringing the country's important manufacturing industry to its knees and breaking supply chains. Its economy suffered its heaviest contraction on record in the third quarter, officials said Wednesday. Factories in industrial parks and goods transportation services are among businesses allowed to open, authorities have said. Less than 10 percent of Vietnamese are fully vaccinated but Ho Chi Minh City had been allocated the biggest number of jabs with almost all the city's adults inoculated.

Vietnam's commercial hub back in business after 3-month lockdown

According to reports, lockdown in Vietnam has prevented Apple's new iPhone 13 phone from reaching customers since the camera modules are made in the country.

Vietnam has been hit by the fierce Delta wave resulting in lockdowns. The country's southern region namely Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong province are the main areas where the components are made, however, it has been hit by the virus resulting in many companies shutting operations in the area.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/vietnamese-fleeing-virus-found-in-refrigerated-truck-media-412752">Also Read:&nbsp;Vietnamese fleeing virus found in refrigerated truck</a>

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had said last week that the curbs will be lifted soon since the economy has been hit hard. The country has reported 746,600 coronavirus cases and 18,400 fatalities so far.

Ho Chi Minh city also hosts a port to export coffee which has been hit due to the lockdown. Vietnam is the second-largest producer of coffee and a major export hub. It produces coffee beans which is widely used in instant coffee.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/vietnams-ho-chi-minh-city-to-enact-social-distancing-388478">Also Read:&nbsp;Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City to enact social distancing</a>

The supply chain in clothes has also been disrupted. International&nbsp;brands Nike and Adidas are reportedly looking to temporarily move production as factory activity has shrunk in Vietnam.

Vietnam's state media reported that it had decided to delay reopening Phu Quoc which is a resort island with vaccination levels at a low. Tourism revenue has also been hit badly in Vietnam with lockdowns underway.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/vietnam-extends-quarantine-for-arrivals-after-new-virus-outbreak-383059">Also Read:&nbsp;Vietnam extends quarantine for arrivals after new virus outbreak</a>

Car companies have also not been spared with Vietnam being a major player in auto parts. Toyota said it relies on Vietnam's factories for wires, frames and chairs which has been in short supply.&nbsp;

(With inputs from Agencies)

According to reports, lockdown in Vietnam has prevented Apple's new iPhone 13 phone from reaching customers since the camera modules are made in the country. Vietnam has been hit by the fierce Delta wave resulting in lockdowns.

According to reports, lockdown in Vietnam has prevented Apple's new iPhone 13 phone from reaching customers since the camera modules are made in the country. Vietnam has been hit by the fierce Delta wave resulting in lockdowns. The country's southern region namely Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong province are the main areas where the components are made, however, it has been hit by the virus resulting in many companies shutting operations in the area. Also Read: Vietnamese fleeing virus found in refrigerated truck Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had said last week that the curbs will be lifted soon since the economy has been hit hard. The country has reported 746,600 coronavirus cases and 18,400 fatalities so far. Ho Chi Minh city also hosts a port to export coffee which has been hit due to the lockdown. Vietnam is the second-largest producer of coffee and a major export hub. It produces coffee beans which is widely used in instant coffee. Also Read: Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City to enact social distancing The supply chain in clothes has also been disrupted. International brands Nike and Adidas are reportedly looking to temporarily move production as factory activity has shrunk in Vietnam. Vietnam's state media reported that it had decided to delay reopening Phu Quoc which is a resort island with vaccination levels at a low. Tourism revenue has also been hit badly in Vietnam with lockdowns underway. Also Read: Vietnam extends quarantine for arrivals after new virus outbreak Car companies have also not been spared with Vietnam being a major player in auto parts. Toyota said it relies on Vietnam's factories for wires, frames and chairs which has been in short supply. (With inputs from Agencies)

Vietnam lockdown hits iPhone delivery; shoe & car companies also suffer

Pushed on the brink due to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the tourism industry, the governments of Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, are mulling to open their borders and public spaces for foreign tourists.

According to Reuters, Vietnam plans to reopen the resort island of Phu Quoc to foreign tourists starting next month. The tourism minister, Nguyen Van Hung, said the pandemic had “seriously hurt” the tourism industry.

The decision comes as only 6.3 per cent of Vietnam’s 98 million people have received at least two shots.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/thailand-downgrades-2021-outlook-as-covid-19-hampers-recovery-405958">Thailand downgrades 2021 outlook as COVID-19 hampers recovery</a>

Foreign arrivals to Vietnam slumped from 18 million in 2019, when tourism revenue was $31 billion, or nearly 12% of its gross domestic product, to 3.8 million last year.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh conceded that Vietnam was facing a lengthy battle against the coronavirus, which has infected over 5,70,000 people and killed 14,400, so could not just rely on lockdowns and quarantine.

Neighbouring Thailand has also announced its intentions to reopen Bangkok and other major destinations to foreign tourists by October, while hoping to revive its tourism industry, which accounted for more than 11% of the country's GDP in 2019,&nbsp;according to Reuters.&nbsp;

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/spreads-through-air-vietnam-reports-new-variant-of-coronavirus-388243">'Spreads through air': Vietnam reports new variant of coronavirus</a>

So far, only 22% of the estimated 72 million people living in Thailand have been fully vaccinated, according to local media reports.

Indonesia, which has inoculated more than 16% of its population, has also eased its restrictions, allowing public spaces to reopen, and permitting factories to return to its full capacity.

Foreign tourists might be allowed into certain parts of the country, including the resort island Bali, by October, according to&nbsp;Reuters.

Watch

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/thailand-protesters-clash-with-riot-police-over-govts-pandemic-response-404768/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

There are many Southeast Asian nations who have been planning to open their borders as Covid-induced lockdown continue to cripple their economies.

However, there have been concerns among the health activities as the island nations have been struggling to inoculate their population owing to short supply of Covid vaccines, and their over-reliance on Chinese-made vaccines—which showed lower efficacy than those made by Western and Indian companies.

Brazilian trials have shown that Sinovac has about 50% efficacy&nbsp;against symptomatic Covid-19, and 100% effectiveness against severe disease, according to trial data submitted to WHO.

Sinopharm, another vaccine from China, has an efficacy of about 79% for symptomatic and hospitalized disease,&nbsp;according to WHO.

According to&nbsp;Duke University,&nbsp;Thailand has bought more than 40 million doses of the Sinovac drug, while the Philippines and Malaysia have around 20 million each. Cambodia has bought another 16 million.

Meanwhile, Indonesia has bought 15 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, while Malaysia has got another 5 million.

Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the US-based Council on Foreign Relations think tank, told CNN that if vaccination rates aren’t high enough with high-efficacy vaccines before restrictions are lifted, health care systems in Southeast Asia could quickly become overwhelmed.

“You're going to see this spike of severe cases then it's going to overwhelm the ICU ... beds, ventilators, there's going to be a shortage capacity challenge,” he was said quoted as saying.

(With inputs from agencies)

Pushed on the brink due to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the tourism industry, the governments of Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, are mulling to open their borders and public spaces for foreign tourists.

Pushed on the brink due to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the tourism industry, the governments of Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, are mulling to open their borders and public spaces for foreign tourists. According to Reuters, Vietnam plans to reopen the resort island of Phu Quoc to foreign tourists starting next month. The tourism minister, Nguyen Van Hung, said the pandemic had “seriously hurt” the tourism industry. The decision comes as only 6.3 per cent of Vietnam’s 98 million people have received at least two shots. Also read | Thailand downgrades 2021 outlook as COVID-19 hampers recovery Foreign arrivals to Vietnam slumped from 18 million in 2019, when tourism revenue was $31 billion, or nearly 12% of its gross domestic product, to 3.8 million last year. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh conceded that Vietnam was facing a lengthy battle against the coronavirus, which has infected over 5,70,000 people and killed 14,400, so could not just rely on lockdowns and quarantine. Neighbouring Thailand has also announced its intentions to reopen Bangkok and other major destinations to foreign tourists by October, while hoping to revive its tourism industry, which accounted for more than 11% of the country's GDP in 2019, according to Reuters. Also read | 'Spreads through air': Vietnam reports new variant of coronavirus So far, only 22% of the estimated 72 million people living in Thailand have been fully vaccinated, according to local media reports. Indonesia, which has inoculated more than 16% of its population, has also eased its restrictions, allowing public spaces to reopen, and permitting factories to return to its full capacity. Foreign tourists might be allowed into certain parts of the country, including the resort island Bali, by October, according to Reuters. Watch There are many Southeast Asian nations who have been planning to open their borders as Covid-induced lockdown continue to cripple their economies. However, there have been concerns among the health activities as the island nations have been struggling to inoculate their population owing to short supply of Covid vaccines, and their over-reliance on Chinese-made vaccines—which showed lower efficacy than those made by Western and Indian companies. Brazilian trials have shown that Sinovac has about 50% efficacy against symptomatic Covid-19, and 100% effectiveness against severe disease, according to trial data submitted to WHO. Sinopharm, another vaccine from China, has an efficacy of about 79% for symptomatic and hospitalized disease, according to WHO. According to Duke University, Thailand has bought more than 40 million doses of the Sinovac drug, while the Philippines and Malaysia have around 20 million each. Cambodia has bought another 16 million. Meanwhile, Indonesia has bought 15 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, while Malaysia has got another 5 million. Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the US-based Council on Foreign Relations think tank, told CNN that if vaccination rates aren’t high enough with high-efficacy vaccines before restrictions are lifted, health care systems in Southeast Asia could quickly become overwhelmed. “You're going to see this spike of severe cases then it's going to overwhelm the ICU ... beds, ventilators, there's going to be a shortage capacity challenge,” he was said quoted as saying. (With inputs from agencies)

Economies on the brink due to Covid, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam mulling to reopen borders

Japan and Vietnam have signed a defence transfer deal amid worries about China's growing military influence in the region. Japan's Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi and his Vietnamese counterpart Phan Van Giang also planned to deepen defence ties through high‑level engagement and multilateral cooperation.

Japan, Vietnam sign defence transfer deal amid tensions with China

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has met with Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to discuss about dispute of south China Sea.

China asks Vietnam to avoid magnifying sea dispute

In the backdrop of China’s growing assertiveness in the South China seas, Japan and Vietnam signed a new defence deal for the transfer of Japanese-made defence equipment and technology to Hanoi.

The accord was inked in Hanoi on Saturday during Japanese Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi’s first trip overseas after assuming the post last year.

Japan will speed up talks with Vietnam to sell Self-Defence Forces’ vessels, Kishi said in an online press conference, following a meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart Phan Van Giang.

Vietnam, one of the key members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is reportedly the 11th country to sign such an agreement with Japan, at a time when China growing military influence in the Southeast Asian region.

Vietnam has territorial disputes with China over the Spratly and Paracel island groups in the South China Sea.

Watch

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/china-asks-vietnam-to-avoid-magnifying-sea-dispute-412500/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Japan and China are also embroiled in a territorial dispute, with Tokyo regularly protesting against the Chinese coastguard’s presence in the East China Sea near the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands, which Beijing also claims and calls Diaoyu.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/have-a-stronger-military-presence-in-asia-to-tackle-china-japan-urges-european-nations-392843">Have a stronger military presence in Asia to tackle China: Japan urges European nations</a>

Japanese officials say Chinese vessels routinely violate Japanese territorial waters around the islands, sometimes threatening fishing boats.

Vietnam has strong defence ties with Russia and relies on it for most of its equipment, including submarines and fighter jets, as it was part of the former Communist bloc during the Cold War.

Tokyo is also looking to expand military cooperation beyond its longtime ally, the United States, and has signed similar agreements with the United Kingdom, Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia.

“The accord will strengthen Japan’s defence industrial base and is expected to contribute to the country's security," Kishi was quoted by local news outlets in Hanoi.

He added they agreed to work together for a rules-based order and reaffirmed the importance of freedom of navigation and overflight, as well as to abide by international law, in a veiled counter against Beijing.

(With inputs from agencies)

In the backdrop of China’s growing assertiveness in the South China seas, Japan and Vietnam signed a new defence deal for the transfer of Japanese-made defence equipment and technology to Hanoi.

In the backdrop of China’s growing assertiveness in the South China seas, Japan and Vietnam signed a new defence deal for the transfer of Japanese-made defence equipment and technology to Hanoi. The accord was inked in Hanoi on Saturday during Japanese Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi’s first trip overseas after assuming the post last year. Japan will speed up talks with Vietnam to sell Self-Defence Forces’ vessels, Kishi said in an online press conference, following a meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart Phan Van Giang. Vietnam, one of the key members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is reportedly the 11th country to sign such an agreement with Japan, at a time when China growing military influence in the Southeast Asian region. Vietnam has territorial disputes with China over the Spratly and Paracel island groups in the South China Sea. Watch Japan and China are also embroiled in a territorial dispute, with Tokyo regularly protesting against the Chinese coastguard’s presence in the East China Sea near the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands, which Beijing also claims and calls Diaoyu. Also read | Have a stronger military presence in Asia to tackle China: Japan urges European nations Japanese officials say Chinese vessels routinely violate Japanese territorial waters around the islands, sometimes threatening fishing boats. Vietnam has strong defence ties with Russia and relies on it for most of its equipment, including submarines and fighter jets, as it was part of the former Communist bloc during the Cold War. Tokyo is also looking to expand military cooperation beyond its longtime ally, the United States, and has signed similar agreements with the United Kingdom, Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia. “The accord will strengthen Japan’s defence industrial base and is expected to contribute to the country's security," Kishi was quoted by local news outlets in Hanoi. He added they agreed to work together for a rules-based order and reaffirmed the importance of freedom of navigation and overflight, as well as to abide by international law, in a veiled counter against Beijing. (With inputs from agencies)

Japan, Vietnam ink defence transfer deal amid China’s growing assertiveness in disputed regions

A Vietnamese man has been sentenced to five years in jail for spreading Covid-19 after he breached home quarantine rules.

Le Van Tri was convicted of "spreading dangerous infectious diseases to other people" after he travelled to his home province Ca Mau from coronavirus hotspot Ho Chi Minh City in July, according to a report on the website of the provincial People's Court.

The 28-year old was accused of breaching a 21-day home quarantine regulation in the southern province, which had a lower case rate than Ho Chi Minh City, and he tested positive for Covid-19 on July 7.

"Tri's breach of the home medical quarantine regulation led to many people becoming infected with Covid-19 and one person died on 7 August 2021," according to the court report.

State media said eight people became infected because of Tri.

After keeping case numbers low last year, Vietnam is now dealing with its most serious Covid-19 outbreak so far, with nearly 540,000 infections and more than 13,000 deaths recorded.

The vast majority of infections and deaths have been reported since the end of April, and Vietnam's capital Hanoi and commercial hub Ho Chi Minh city have been in strict lockdown for most of the past few months.

Several people have been sentenced for spreading Covid-19 to others in Vietnam.

A 32-year old man in Hai Duong was sentenced to 18 months in prison in July and a Vietnam Airlines flight attendant was handed a two-year suspended jail term in March for the same charge.

A Vietnamese man has been sentenced to five years in jail for spreading Covid-19 after he breached home quarantine rules. Le Van Tri was convicted of "spreading dangerous infectious diseases to other people" after he travelled to his home province Ca Mau from coronavirus hotspot Ho Chi Minh City in July, according to a report on the website of the provincial People's Court.

A Vietnamese man has been sentenced to five years in jail for spreading Covid-19 after he breached home quarantine rules. Le Van Tri was convicted of "spreading dangerous infectious diseases to other people" after he travelled to his home province Ca Mau from coronavirus hotspot Ho Chi Minh City in July, according to a report on the website of the provincial People's Court. The 28-year old was accused of breaching a 21-day home quarantine regulation in the southern province, which had a lower case rate than Ho Chi Minh City, and he tested positive for Covid-19 on July 7. "Tri's breach of the home medical quarantine regulation led to many people becoming infected with Covid-19 and one person died on 7 August 2021," according to the court report. State media said eight people became infected because of Tri. After keeping case numbers low last year, Vietnam is now dealing with its most serious Covid-19 outbreak so far, with nearly 540,000 infections and more than 13,000 deaths recorded. The vast majority of infections and deaths have been reported since the end of April, and Vietnam's capital Hanoi and commercial hub Ho Chi Minh city have been in strict lockdown for most of the past few months. Several people have been sentenced for spreading Covid-19 to others in Vietnam. A 32-year old man in Hai Duong was sentenced to 18 months in prison in July and a Vietnam Airlines flight attendant was handed a two-year suspended jail term in March for the same charge.

Vietnam jails man for five years for spreading Covid

As coronavirus rages on in different parts of the world, coffee lovers may soon be hit with another crisis — shortage of some of their favourite beans.

Vietnam is world’s second biggest coffee exporter but is&nbsp;currently in lockdown due to the Covid pandemic.&nbsp;

Vietnam provides nearly 20 per cent of the EU’s coffee imports. It&nbsp;mainly produces the robusta coffee which is mainly used to make instant and espresso coffee.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/drinking-coffee-regularly-decreases-chances-of-chronic-liver-diseases-study-393155">Drinking coffee regularly decreases chances of chronic liver diseases: Study</a>

During the first wave of coronavirus, Vietnam had managed to control the virus and even reported one of the highest rates of economic growth in 2020. However, this year, as the virus spread rapidly due to the Delta variant, the government imposed strict lockdowns.

Ho Chi Minh City is the centre of the outbreak this year and the country had observed a peak in June. However, the restrictions had been extended till August to make sure the spread can be contained.

The strict restrictions have led to disruption of supply chains for coffee distribution around the world as the traders have been unable to transport beans to ports for export.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/drinking-coffee-reduces-risk-of-contracting-coronavirus-study-397490">Drinking coffee reduces risk of contracting coronavirus: Study</a>

Now, Vietnam Coffee-Cocoa Association has urged the government to ease these restrictions to make sure the coffee export, which plays a huge part in country’s economy, does not get disrupted.

Brazil is the biggest coffee producer of the world. However, this year due to the unreasonable weather in the country, crops had been severely damaged that has led to an increase in coffee prices.

As coronavirus rages on in different parts of the world, coffee lovers may soon be hit with another crisis — shortage of some of their favourite beans. Vietnam is world’s second biggest coffee exporter but is currently in lockdown due to the Covid pandemic.

As coronavirus rages on in different parts of the world, coffee lovers may soon be hit with another crisis — shortage of some of their favourite beans. Vietnam is world’s second biggest coffee exporter but is currently in lockdown due to the Covid pandemic. Vietnam provides nearly 20 per cent of the EU’s coffee imports. It mainly produces the robusta coffee which is mainly used to make instant and espresso coffee. Also read | Drinking coffee regularly decreases chances of chronic liver diseases: Study During the first wave of coronavirus, Vietnam had managed to control the virus and even reported one of the highest rates of economic growth in 2020. However, this year, as the virus spread rapidly due to the Delta variant, the government imposed strict lockdowns. Ho Chi Minh City is the centre of the outbreak this year and the country had observed a peak in June. However, the restrictions had been extended till August to make sure the spread can be contained. The strict restrictions have led to disruption of supply chains for coffee distribution around the world as the traders have been unable to transport beans to ports for export. Also read | Drinking coffee reduces risk of contracting coronavirus: Study Now, Vietnam Coffee-Cocoa Association has urged the government to ease these restrictions to make sure the coffee export, which plays a huge part in country’s economy, does not get disrupted. Brazil is the biggest coffee producer of the world. However, this year due to the unreasonable weather in the country, crops had been severely damaged that has led to an increase in coffee prices.

Vietnam's Covid crisis leading to disruption in global coffee supply

Vietnam's envoy to India Pham Sanh Chau has said that his country's PM&nbsp;Phạm Minh Chính will visit India by the end of this year, which will be his foreign visit since taking charge earlier this year.

Speaking to our diplomatic correspondent Sidhant Sibal, envoy Chau said, it "will be very important visit because India will be the first country he will pay visit bilaterally."&nbsp;

Earlier on Wednesday the bust of Vietnam's founding father &amp; President Ho Chi Minh was unveiled at park in Delhi's Diplomatic enclave Chankyapuri.&nbsp;

WION: The installation of the bust of Ho Chi Minh, how significant it is?

Pham Sanh Chau:&nbsp;There are number of messages when we install bust in heart of Delhi. Number one, Ho Chi Minh is the great friend of India, he loved India, he loved Indians. During my speech I quoted all his nice words for India. For him, Indians are brothers and sisters. For him India is the great country, for him Indian civilisation is one of the oldest and&nbsp;most respected civilisation, so the first message is that he wants to be continued to be present here in order to increase bilateral relations between the two&nbsp;countries.

Second, as madam minister Lekhi said, President Ho Chi Minh and Mahatma Gandhi never met, but they met in there thought. President Ho Chi Minh respected Mahatma Gandhi and that is why when he came to pay tribute Mahatma, he brought flowers from Vietnam. 63 years ago, how difficult to get flowers from Vietnam. And 3rd thing is, we need to be together in this world which is so unforeseeable.

WION: Plans to also install a bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Vietnam?

Pham Sanh Chau:&nbsp;I hope one month from now if the situation goes well, in terms of pandemic, the bust of Mahatma Gandhi will be installed in the heart of the city named after him--Ho Chi Minh. It is the biggest city. In a beautiful open park. It will be a very happy moment for us.

WION: Any plans for a high-level visit between India and&nbsp;Vietnam?

Pham Sanh Chau:&nbsp;According to our programme, my PM is scheduled to visit India by the end of the year. After the talks between two&nbsp;prime ministers, talks with PM Modi, both of them discussed ways to strengthen comprehensive strategic partnership. I think that will be a very important visit because India will be the first country he will pay visit bilaterally.

WION: INS Airavat arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam with Covid relief supplies..Vietnam also helped India during the second wave..how is the cooperation going?

Pham Sanh Chau:&nbsp;This is a very very good news. The whole country of Vietnam, whole population are so moved and touch that government and people of India have sent oxygen and oxygen concentrators right in time, straight to Ho Chi Minh City in order to provide to the patient who needs them. A friend in need is a friend indeed.&nbsp;

Vietnam's envoy to India Pham Sanh Chau has said that his country's PM Phạm Minh Chính will visit India by the end of this year, which will be his foreign visit since taking charge earlier this year.

Vietnam's envoy to India Pham Sanh Chau has said that his country's PM Phạm Minh Chính will visit India by the end of this year, which will be his foreign visit since taking charge earlier this year. Speaking to our diplomatic correspondent Sidhant Sibal, envoy Chau said, it "will be very important visit because India will be the first country he will pay visit bilaterally." Earlier on Wednesday the bust of Vietnam's founding father & President Ho Chi Minh was unveiled at park in Delhi's Diplomatic enclave Chankyapuri. WION: The installation of the bust of Ho Chi Minh, how significant it is? Pham Sanh Chau: There are number of messages when we install bust in heart of Delhi. Number one, Ho Chi Minh is the great friend of India, he loved India, he loved Indians. During my speech I quoted all his nice words for India. For him, Indians are brothers and sisters. For him India is the great country, for him Indian civilisation is one of the oldest and most respected civilisation, so the first message is that he wants to be continued to be present here in order to increase bilateral relations between the two countries. Second, as madam minister Lekhi said, President Ho Chi Minh and Mahatma Gandhi never met, but they met in there thought. President Ho Chi Minh respected Mahatma Gandhi and that is why when he came to pay tribute Mahatma, he brought flowers from Vietnam. 63 years ago, how difficult to get flowers from Vietnam. And 3rd thing is, we need to be together in this world which is so unforeseeable. WION: Plans to also install a bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Vietnam? Pham Sanh Chau: I hope one month from now if the situation goes well, in terms of pandemic, the bust of Mahatma Gandhi will be installed in the heart of the city named after him--Ho Chi Minh. It is the biggest city. In a beautiful open park. It will be a very happy moment for us. WION: Any plans for a high-level visit between India and Vietnam? Pham Sanh Chau: According to our programme, my PM is scheduled to visit India by the end of the year. After the talks between two prime ministers, talks with PM Modi, both of them discussed ways to strengthen comprehensive strategic partnership. I think that will be a very important visit because India will be the first country he will pay visit bilaterally. WION: INS Airavat arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam with Covid relief supplies..Vietnam also helped India during the second wave..how is the cooperation going? Pham Sanh Chau: This is a very very good news. The whole country of Vietnam, whole population are so moved and touch that government and people of India have sent oxygen and oxygen concentrators right in time, straight to Ho Chi Minh City in order to provide to the patient who needs them. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

Vietnam PM to visit India in his first foreign visit: Envoy Chau

Vietnam, a key producer&nbsp;of robusta, which is used in some espresso blends and instant coffee,&nbsp;is in lockdown, causing global coffee supply concerns.&nbsp;

As a result of a spike in Delta variant cases, strict travel restrictions have been imposed in Ho Chi Minh, a major exporting hub that operates from China to Europe.&nbsp;

The result is that exporters are having difficulty transporting commodities around the world.&nbsp;

Several trade organisations, including the Vietnam Coffee-Cocoa Association, are calling on the government to relax the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/coronavirus">COVID-19</a> regulations, so as to prevent further delays to shipments and to reduce related costs.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/drinking-coffee-reduces-risk-of-contracting-coronavirus-study-397490">Drinking coffee reduces risk of contracting coronavirus: Study</a>

However, it is unclear how long the Vietnamese government will impose such a tight lockdown on Ho Chi Minh.&nbsp;

The disruption of shipments from such a major producer country as Vietnam follows the loss of Brazil's coffee crop, which&nbsp;is now hitting coffee supplies.

Brazil, the world's biggest producer of coffee, is bracing for coffee losses as it continues to monitor its crops but is expecting significant damage to them.&nbsp;

Alos read |&nbsp;​​​​​​​<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/drinking-coffee-regularly-decreases-chances-of-chronic-liver-diseases-study-393155">Drinking coffee regularly decreases chances of chronic liver diseases: Study</a>

Due to recent droughts and frosts that have severely harmed Brazil's coffee-growing regions, future prices also look set to spike.&nbsp;Reports claim that many farmers face replanting their trees because of the harsh frosts, which will set back their production by several years.&nbsp;

In light of all this, it is predicted that the price of imported coffee beans will rise, which will affect the cost to the consumer.&nbsp;

Vietnam, a key producer of robusta, which is used in some espresso blends and instant coffee, is in lockdown, causing global coffee supply concerns. As a result of a spike in Delta variant cases, strict travel restrictions have been imposed in Ho Chi Minh, a major exporting hub that operates from China to Europe.

Vietnam, a key producer of robusta, which is used in some espresso blends and instant coffee, is in lockdown, causing global coffee supply concerns. As a result of a spike in Delta variant cases, strict travel restrictions have been imposed in Ho Chi Minh, a major exporting hub that operates from China to Europe. The result is that exporters are having difficulty transporting commodities around the world. Several trade organisations, including the Vietnam Coffee-Cocoa Association, are calling on the government to relax the COVID-19 regulations, so as to prevent further delays to shipments and to reduce related costs. Also read | Drinking coffee reduces risk of contracting coronavirus: Study However, it is unclear how long the Vietnamese government will impose such a tight lockdown on Ho Chi Minh. The disruption of shipments from such a major producer country as Vietnam follows the loss of Brazil's coffee crop, which is now hitting coffee supplies. Brazil, the world's biggest producer of coffee, is bracing for coffee losses as it continues to monitor its crops but is expecting significant damage to them. Alos read | Drinking coffee regularly decreases chances of chronic liver diseases: Study Due to recent droughts and frosts that have severely harmed Brazil's coffee-growing regions, future prices also look set to spike. Reports claim that many farmers face replanting their trees because of the harsh frosts, which will set back their production by several years. In light of all this, it is predicted that the price of imported coffee beans will rise, which will affect the cost to the consumer.

Vietnam lockdown threatens global coffee supplies, may affect your Java costs

India delivered 100 metric tons of liquid medical oxygen and 300 oxygen containers to Vietnam on Monday to help the country fight the coronavirus infection, officials said.

The supplies were transported to the Ho Chi Minh City port by Indian Navy ship INS Airavat.

"INS Airavat reaches Vietnam with Oxygen supplies. Indo-Pacific approach in practice," External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar tweeted.

Indian Navy Spokesperson Commander Vivek Madhwal said the ship, carrying 100 metric tons of liquid medical oxygen in five containers and 300 oxygen concentrators, reached the Ho Chi Minh City port on Monday.

He said the medical supplies were sent in accordance with the requirements projected by the Vietnamese government.

Last week, INS Airavat delivered medical supplies to Indonesia.

"As part of India's vision of SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region), the Indian Navy has been proactively engaging with countries in the region and has been at the forefront of numerous humanitarian missions spanning the entire extent of the Indian Ocean," the official said.

Also read |<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/india-hands-over-vietnam-first-high-speed-boat-under-100-million-defense-credit-line-351429">&nbsp;India hands over Vietnam first high-speed boat under $100 million defense credit line</a>

The ties between India and Vietnam are on an upswing, particularly in the areas of defence and security.

India's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Vietnamese counterpart Sr Lt Gen Phan Van Giang held extensive talks virtually last month during which they vowed to further enhance military-to-military cooperation.

Vietnam, an important country of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), has territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea region.

India has oil exploration projects in the Vietnamese waters in the South China Sea.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/spreads-through-air-vietnam-reports-new-variant-of-coronavirus-388243">'Spreads through air': Vietnam reports new variant of coronavirus</a>

"The two navies cooperate in various areas, including a composite training programme in the fields of submarine, aviation and technical training, and regularly carry out joint naval exercises in the form of bilateral exercises," Commander Madhwal said.

"The current deployment of the ship aims to further strengthen the strategic relationship," he added.&nbsp;

India delivered 100 metric tons of liquid medical oxygen and 300 oxygen containers to Vietnam on Monday to help the country fight the coronavirus infection, officials said.

India delivered 100 metric tons of liquid medical oxygen and 300 oxygen containers to Vietnam on Monday to help the country fight the coronavirus infection, officials said. The supplies were transported to the Ho Chi Minh City port by Indian Navy ship INS Airavat. "INS Airavat reaches Vietnam with Oxygen supplies. Indo-Pacific approach in practice," External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar tweeted. Indian Navy Spokesperson Commander Vivek Madhwal said the ship, carrying 100 metric tons of liquid medical oxygen in five containers and 300 oxygen concentrators, reached the Ho Chi Minh City port on Monday. He said the medical supplies were sent in accordance with the requirements projected by the Vietnamese government. Last week, INS Airavat delivered medical supplies to Indonesia. "As part of India's vision of SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region), the Indian Navy has been proactively engaging with countries in the region and has been at the forefront of numerous humanitarian missions spanning the entire extent of the Indian Ocean," the official said. Also read | India hands over Vietnam first high-speed boat under $100 million defense credit line The ties between India and Vietnam are on an upswing, particularly in the areas of defence and security. India's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Vietnamese counterpart Sr Lt Gen Phan Van Giang held extensive talks virtually last month during which they vowed to further enhance military-to-military cooperation. Vietnam, an important country of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), has territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea region. India has oil exploration projects in the Vietnamese waters in the South China Sea. Also read | 'Spreads through air': Vietnam reports new variant of coronavirus "The two navies cooperate in various areas, including a composite training programme in the fields of submarine, aviation and technical training, and regularly carry out joint naval exercises in the form of bilateral exercises," Commander Madhwal said. "The current deployment of the ship aims to further strengthen the strategic relationship," he added.

India provides medical supplies to Vietnam

Vietnam will not enter an alliance to confront China, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has told Beijing before he met US Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday. &nbsp;

On Tuesday, the Vietnam’s prime minister met Chinese envoy to Hanoi Xiong Bo and said, Vietnam has always maintained an independent foreign policy that prioritised self-reliance, multilateralism and diversification of ties, said a report by Vietnam News Agency.&nbsp;

Watch |&nbsp;Russia, China, US ready to serve as mediators in Afghanistan says Sergey Lavrov

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“Vietnam would not ally with one country to fight another, and wished to enhance political trust with China, promote exchange and uphold cooperation,” Pham said.&nbsp;

US Vice President Kamala Harris met Vietnam's top leaders on Wednesday. She offered support in several key areas, including the enhancement of the country's maritime security in an effort to counter Beijing's increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea.&nbsp;

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/china-to-add-xi-jinping-thought-to-national-curriculum-408158" hreflang="en">China to add 'Xi Jinping Thought' to national curriculum</a>

Harris also offered more visits by US warships during her talks with Vietnam's President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.&nbsp;

During a meeting with the Vietnamese president in Hanoi, Harris said there was a need to increase pressure on Beijing over its maritime claims.&nbsp;

During the talks, Harris offered Vietnam vaccines and aid to tackle COVID-19. She also announced the launch of several programmes to help combat climate change, a White House official said.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;

Vietnam will not enter an alliance to confront China, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has told Beijing before he met US Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday.

Vietnam will not enter an alliance to confront China, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has told Beijing before he met US Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the Vietnam’s prime minister met Chinese envoy to Hanoi Xiong Bo and said, Vietnam has always maintained an independent foreign policy that prioritised self-reliance, multilateralism and diversification of ties, said a report by Vietnam News Agency. Watch | Russia, China, US ready to serve as mediators in Afghanistan says Sergey Lavrov × “Vietnam would not ally with one country to fight another, and wished to enhance political trust with China, promote exchange and uphold cooperation,” Pham said. US Vice President Kamala Harris met Vietnam's top leaders on Wednesday. She offered support in several key areas, including the enhancement of the country's maritime security in an effort to counter Beijing's increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea. Also Read: China to add 'Xi Jinping Thought' to national curriculum Harris also offered more visits by US warships during her talks with Vietnam's President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. During a meeting with the Vietnamese president in Hanoi, Harris said there was a need to increase pressure on Beijing over its maritime claims. During the talks, Harris offered Vietnam vaccines and aid to tackle COVID-19. She also announced the launch of several programmes to help combat climate change, a White House official said. (With inputs from agencies)

Will not enter an alliance to confront China, Vietnamese PM tells Beijing 

An anomalous health incident potentially related to the mysterious Havana syndrome delayed the flight of US Vice President Kamala Harris to Vietnam. However, Harris pushed through her tour and arrived in the Southeast Asian country's capital

Kamala Harris' Vietnam trip delayed over possible 'Havana syndrome' case

The Southeast Asian nation of Vietnam is currently witnessing a resurgence of COVID-19 infections fuelled by the Delta variant cases, with over 11,000 new cases and 737 deaths in 24 hours.

Vietnam COVID-19: Over 11,000 cases and 737 deaths in 24 hours

Vietnam authorities deployed soldiers on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City on Monday to enforce lockdown amid rise in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/pandemic-increased-aggression-six-to-eight-times-among-couples-study-407698">coronavirus</a> cases&nbsp;in the country.

Health officials say the Delta variant has been responsible for the rise in&nbsp;cases with&nbsp;movement restrictions imposed in Ho Chi Minh City last month.

Lockdown measures have become stricter from today with people not allowed to leave homes even&nbsp;as panic buying was witnessed over the weekend at supermarkets in Ho Chi Minh City with long queues outside markets.

Watch:

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Soldiers have been put in street corners with checkpoints set up at various points even as additional doctors and nurses were sent to Ho Chi Minh City in an attempt to combat the virus.

Ho Chi Minh City accounts&nbsp;for half of <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/iran-reports-record-covid-deaths-as-country-lifts-all-restrictions-407649">coronavirus</a> cases recording 176,000 infections and 6,670 deaths. The vaccination drive in the country hasn't taken off with just 1.8 per cent people vaccinated in the country so far totalling&nbsp;744,000 people in a population of 98 million.

Vietnam has so far recorded 323,000 coronavirus infections and 7,540 deaths since the pandemic took hold in the country last year.

Reports had earlier claimed that workers were trying to leave Ho Chi Minh City due to extended restrictions.&nbsp;

Healthcare facilities have taken a hit due to rising cases with hospitals reporting shortage of staff even though officials have told health agencies not to turn back patients.

Health officials have asked patients suffering from mild coronavirus infection to isolate at home as pressure grows on hospitals.

The country has closed its borders to all visitors apart from citizens, foreign experts, investors and diplomats. All travellers are required to undergo 14-day mandatory quarantine at government facilities.

(With inputs from Agencies)

Vietnam authorities deployed soldiers on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City on Monday to enforce lockdown amid rise in coronavirus cases in the country. Health officials say the Delta variant has been responsible for the rise in cases with movement restrictions imposed in Ho Chi Minh City last month.

Vietnam authorities deployed soldiers on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City on Monday to enforce lockdown amid rise in coronavirus cases in the country. Health officials say the Delta variant has been responsible for the rise in cases with movement restrictions imposed in Ho Chi Minh City last month. Lockdown measures have become stricter from today with people not allowed to leave homes even as panic buying was witnessed over the weekend at supermarkets in Ho Chi Minh City with long queues outside markets. Watch: Soldiers have been put in street corners with checkpoints set up at various points even as additional doctors and nurses were sent to Ho Chi Minh City in an attempt to combat the virus. Ho Chi Minh City accounts for half of coronavirus cases recording 176,000 infections and 6,670 deaths. The vaccination drive in the country hasn't taken off with just 1.8 per cent people vaccinated in the country so far totalling 744,000 people in a population of 98 million. Vietnam has so far recorded 323,000 coronavirus infections and 7,540 deaths since the pandemic took hold in the country last year. Reports had earlier claimed that workers were trying to leave Ho Chi Minh City due to extended restrictions. Healthcare facilities have taken a hit due to rising cases with hospitals reporting shortage of staff even though officials have told health agencies not to turn back patients. Health officials have asked patients suffering from mild coronavirus infection to isolate at home as pressure grows on hospitals. The country has closed its borders to all visitors apart from citizens, foreign experts, investors and diplomats. All travellers are required to undergo 14-day mandatory quarantine at government facilities. (With inputs from Agencies)

Troops deployed in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City to enforce lockdown amid virus surge

It was the end of a decadeslong American military engagement overseas, and thousands of U.S. allies were clamoring to board the last planes leaving for, they hoped, eventual resettlement in the United States. Their capital had fallen. Deadly reprisals for those who stayed behind were almost certain.

It was 1975, the tumultuous backdrop was Southeast Asia, and Washington largely opened America’s doors, letting in some 300,000 refugees from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia over the next four years. Joe Biden, then a young U.S. senator from Delaware, co-sponsored landmark legislation that won unanimous passage in the Senate and was signed into law in 1980, divorcing refugee admissions from U.S. foreign policy and generally expanding the number allowed into the country each year.

Now, as similar scenes of chaos and desperation unfold in Kabul with the conclusion of America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan, most analysts say there is little chance the country will repeat the extensive refugee-resettlement effort that accompanied the end of the war in Vietnam.

Decades of lukewarm public sentiment over refugees, a toxic political stalemate over immigration and contemporary concerns over terrorism and the coronavirus pandemic have all but eliminated the possibility of a similar mass mobilisation.

Since the 1930s, polling by Gallup has shown time and again that Americans are ambivalent toward accepting refugees. As recently as 2018, amid a surge of Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans seeking safe haven, Americans said they would rather accept ordinary immigrants coming to look for better lives than refugees fleeing war and violence, according to the Pew Research Center — the opposite of respondents in 16 other Western countries.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-plus-who-created-the-taliban-407485">WATCH</a>

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The refugee law that Biden co-sponsored calls for the president to determine the number of refugee admissions for a given year based on humanitarian concerns or what is otherwise in the national interest, giving the White House wide latitude.

When the program began in 1980, the U.S. capped the number of refugees at 234,000. But that limit has trended generally downward since, hitting what many thought would be a low of 15,000 in the last year of the presidency of Donald Trump, whose hostility to all kinds of immigration was a cornerstone of his administration.

Biden ran on a pledge to adopt a more humane policy and rebuild the resettlement program, but the country is poised to admit the lowest number of refugees in the history of the program — there have been 6,246 through July 31 — partly because the pandemic closed consulates and delayed processing of applications.

The crisis conditions in Afghanistan have prompted urgent calls to resettle Afghans who are trying urgently to leave before a Taliban crackdown, starting with the translators and others who face retribution because of their work with the U.S. military.

“President Biden has said, ‘America is back’ — is the city on the hill. Now he has the chance to prove it,” said Ryan Crocker, whose long diplomatic career included stints as U.S. ambassador to both Iraq and Afghanistan.

More than a dozen governors from both parties have expressed a willingness to receive refugees, and faith-based groups across the country are volunteering to help sponsor Afghan families. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, said the state had “a long history of welcoming refugees from around the world” and was “eager to continue that practice” with Afghan refugees.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/afghan-parliament-member-nabiullah-baz-speaks-with-wion-407506">WATCH</a>

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/afghan-parliament-member-nabiullah-baz-speaks-with-wion-407506/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

But with large numbers of people fleeing violence and poverty in Central America and other countries pushing recently across the border with Mexico, some conservatives are calling for a hard line against large numbers of Afghan refugees.

Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., said he was “deeply disturbed” that thousands of Afghans could be transported to Fort McCoy in his state without appropriate screening and called on the White House to abandon “this dangerous ready-fire-aim plan.”

And Fox News’ Tucker Carlson warned that admitting refugees now could eventually result in “millions” of Afghan immigrants. “So first we invade, and then we are invaded.”

What obligation, if any, does the United States have to accept people from other countries who are fleeing for their lives? None legally. There is no international law that requires the United States to take in refugees.

Yet, since the aftermath of World War II, it has played a leading role in welcoming refugees, especially from countries where it engaged militarily in the service of strategic and geopolitical considerations.

Between 1945 and 1950, the United States admitted about 350,000 Europeans, mainly Jews who survived the Holocaust.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower paroled some 40,000 Hungarians into the United States, and President John F. Kennedy went on to allow several hundred thousand Cubans opposed to the regime of Fidel Castro. Then came Vietnam and the exodus of hundreds of thousands of boat people after the fall of Saigon.

Also read :&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/switzerland-postpones-evacuation-plans-as-security-at-kabul-airport-worsens-407480">Switzerland postpones evacuation plans as security at Kabul airport worsens</a>

In all of those cases, refugees were casualties of America’s Cold War campaign against communism, and they enjoyed a certain amount of public support.

“During the ’80s, refugees are relatively popular because they are seen as a symbol of the superiority of our political and economic system,” said Serena Parekh, author of two books on refugees, including “No Refuge: Ethics and the Global Refugee Crisis,” published last year. “They are part of Cold War politics and play well into national interests.”

In the late 1980s, the United States received tens of thousands of Soviet Jews and other religious minorities for whom the American public had sympathy. In the 1990s, there was an influx from the conflict in the former Yugoslavia.

But by the late 1990s, the Congressional Black Caucus was criticizing the program for not assisting enough Africans fleeing bloodshed in countries such as Somalia, forcing them to remain parked in teeming camps. Public attitudes toward refugees already were shifting, said Parekh, a professor at Northeastern University.

“Refugees start to look more foreign or dissimilar to people in the U.S.,” she said. “Instead of being seen as people courageously fleeing persecution, they are seen as people who will be an economic burden.”

Also read :&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/from-narco-terrorism-to-informal-economy-the-state-crime-nexus-of-afghanistans-opium-dilemma-407432" hreflang="en">From narco-terrorism to informal economy: The state-crime nexus of Afghanistan’s opium dilemma</a>

In response to 9/11, the United States invaded Afghanistan; two years later, it invaded Iraq.

Back home, public concern grew when immigrants — not refugees — were involved in a handful of other deadly terror attacks. The administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama added layers of security checks to the application process.

“The refugee program became so mired in red tape and extreme vetting that it looks like a program designed to keep people out of the United States rather than rescue them,” said Mark Hetfield, CEO of HIAS, a resettlement agency founded as Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and who has worked in the field for 32 years.

After terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015, more than 20 governors announced that their states would not accept refugees from Syria, fearing terrorist infiltrators.

Not long after taking office, Trump slashed the refugee cap to 50,000 from the 110,000 set by Obama, and issued an executive order barring the entry of people from several predominantly Muslim countries. The next year, he set a ceiling of 45,000; fewer than half arrived amid tighter background checks and restrictions.

Biden quickly began to undo his predecessor’s immigration policies, but rising public concern over the rapid increase in unauthorized crossings on the southwestern border prompted him to defer a plan to increase the cap on refugees this year.

The delay forced 700 refugees, already screened and holding tickets, to be pulled off flights. There was swift rebuke from human rights activists and fellow Democrats, and within hours, the White House announced that the 2021 cap would be raised to 62,500. But it was not clear whether — given the pandemic, the program’s depletion by his predecessor and soaring numbers at the border — this number would be achieved.

As of March 31, the latest data available, 20,829 Afghans, plus 52,799 family members, had received special immigrant visas since 2014 under a separate program created by Congress for those who could face reprisals for their work with U.S. troops.

One of the Afghans who was evacuated and arrived in Houston this month, a 32-year-old interpreter who worked with a U.S. Marines platoon, said he managed to escape only days before his city, Gardez, south of Kabul, fell to the Taliban.

“I am just worried for so many people still there,” said the man, who wanted to be identified only by his English nickname, Harry, out of fear for the relatives he left behind. “They are hiding, or moving their families from place to place.”

Biden on Wednesday said the United States hoped to evacuate between 50,000 and 65,000 Afghan allies, including their families, and had approved an additional $500 million to help with “urgent refugee and migration needs.”

Many of them will be directed to other countries for processing. How many Afghans will eventually be welcomed into the United States remains an open question, one that Crocker, the former diplomat, said is key to everything the United States tried to achieve during the war.

“We owe it to Afghan females, the free media,” he said. “It’s for all those people we basically said to, ‘You go ahead and build a new, free open society and we will be here to see you get that done and that you get it done safely.’

“We have the moral obligation and the capacity to do it.”

It was the end of a decadeslong American military engagement overseas, and thousands of U.S. allies were clamoring to board the last planes leaving for, they hoped, eventual resettlement in the United States.

It was the end of a decadeslong American military engagement overseas, and thousands of U.S. allies were clamoring to board the last planes leaving for, they hoped, eventual resettlement in the United States. Their capital had fallen. Deadly reprisals for those who stayed behind were almost certain. It was 1975, the tumultuous backdrop was Southeast Asia, and Washington largely opened America’s doors, letting in some 300,000 refugees from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia over the next four years. Joe Biden, then a young U.S. senator from Delaware, co-sponsored landmark legislation that won unanimous passage in the Senate and was signed into law in 1980, divorcing refugee admissions from U.S. foreign policy and generally expanding the number allowed into the country each year. Now, as similar scenes of chaos and desperation unfold in Kabul with the conclusion of America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan, most analysts say there is little chance the country will repeat the extensive refugee-resettlement effort that accompanied the end of the war in Vietnam. Decades of lukewarm public sentiment over refugees, a toxic political stalemate over immigration and contemporary concerns over terrorism and the coronavirus pandemic have all but eliminated the possibility of a similar mass mobilisation. Since the 1930s, polling by Gallup has shown time and again that Americans are ambivalent toward accepting refugees. As recently as 2018, amid a surge of Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans seeking safe haven, Americans said they would rather accept ordinary immigrants coming to look for better lives than refugees fleeing war and violence, according to the Pew Research Center — the opposite of respondents in 16 other Western countries. WATCH The refugee law that Biden co-sponsored calls for the president to determine the number of refugee admissions for a given year based on humanitarian concerns or what is otherwise in the national interest, giving the White House wide latitude. When the program began in 1980, the U.S. capped the number of refugees at 234,000. But that limit has trended generally downward since, hitting what many thought would be a low of 15,000 in the last year of the presidency of Donald Trump, whose hostility to all kinds of immigration was a cornerstone of his administration. Biden ran on a pledge to adopt a more humane policy and rebuild the resettlement program, but the country is poised to admit the lowest number of refugees in the history of the program — there have been 6,246 through July 31 — partly because the pandemic closed consulates and delayed processing of applications. The crisis conditions in Afghanistan have prompted urgent calls to resettle Afghans who are trying urgently to leave before a Taliban crackdown, starting with the translators and others who face retribution because of their work with the U.S. military. “President Biden has said, ‘America is back’ — is the city on the hill. Now he has the chance to prove it,” said Ryan Crocker, whose long diplomatic career included stints as U.S. ambassador to both Iraq and Afghanistan. More than a dozen governors from both parties have expressed a willingness to receive refugees, and faith-based groups across the country are volunteering to help sponsor Afghan families. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, said the state had “a long history of welcoming refugees from around the world” and was “eager to continue that practice” with Afghan refugees. WATCH But with large numbers of people fleeing violence and poverty in Central America and other countries pushing recently across the border with Mexico, some conservatives are calling for a hard line against large numbers of Afghan refugees. Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., said he was “deeply disturbed” that thousands of Afghans could be transported to Fort McCoy in his state without appropriate screening and called on the White House to abandon “this dangerous ready-fire-aim plan.” And Fox News’ Tucker Carlson warned that admitting refugees now could eventually result in “millions” of Afghan immigrants. “So first we invade, and then we are invaded.” What obligation, if any, does the United States have to accept people from other countries who are fleeing for their lives? None legally. There is no international law that requires the United States to take in refugees. Yet, since the aftermath of World War II, it has played a leading role in welcoming refugees, especially from countries where it engaged militarily in the service of strategic and geopolitical considerations. Between 1945 and 1950, the United States admitted about 350,000 Europeans, mainly Jews who survived the Holocaust. President Dwight D. Eisenhower paroled some 40,000 Hungarians into the United States, and President John F. Kennedy went on to allow several hundred thousand Cubans opposed to the regime of Fidel Castro. Then came Vietnam and the exodus of hundreds of thousands of boat people after the fall of Saigon. Also read : Switzerland postpones evacuation plans as security at Kabul airport worsens In all of those cases, refugees were casualties of America’s Cold War campaign against communism, and they enjoyed a certain amount of public support. “During the ’80s, refugees are relatively popular because they are seen as a symbol of the superiority of our political and economic system,” said Serena Parekh, author of two books on refugees, including “No Refuge: Ethics and the Global Refugee Crisis,” published last year. “They are part of Cold War politics and play well into national interests.” In the late 1980s, the United States received tens of thousands of Soviet Jews and other religious minorities for whom the American public had sympathy. In the 1990s, there was an influx from the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. But by the late 1990s, the Congressional Black Caucus was criticizing the program for not assisting enough Africans fleeing bloodshed in countries such as Somalia, forcing them to remain parked in teeming camps. Public attitudes toward refugees already were shifting, said Parekh, a professor at Northeastern University. “Refugees start to look more foreign or dissimilar to people in the U.S.,” she said. “Instead of being seen as people courageously fleeing persecution, they are seen as people who will be an economic burden.” Also read : From narco-terrorism to informal economy: The state-crime nexus of Afghanistan’s opium dilemma In response to 9/11, the United States invaded Afghanistan; two years later, it invaded Iraq. Back home, public concern grew when immigrants — not refugees — were involved in a handful of other deadly terror attacks. The administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama added layers of security checks to the application process. “The refugee program became so mired in red tape and extreme vetting that it looks like a program designed to keep people out of the United States rather than rescue them,” said Mark Hetfield, CEO of HIAS, a resettlement agency founded as Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and who has worked in the field for 32 years. After terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015, more than 20 governors announced that their states would not accept refugees from Syria, fearing terrorist infiltrators. Not long after taking office, Trump slashed the refugee cap to 50,000 from the 110,000 set by Obama, and issued an executive order barring the entry of people from several predominantly Muslim countries. The next year, he set a ceiling of 45,000; fewer than half arrived amid tighter background checks and restrictions. Biden quickly began to undo his predecessor’s immigration policies, but rising public concern over the rapid increase in unauthorized crossings on the southwestern border prompted him to defer a plan to increase the cap on refugees this year. The delay forced 700 refugees, already screened and holding tickets, to be pulled off flights. There was swift rebuke from human rights activists and fellow Democrats, and within hours, the White House announced that the 2021 cap would be raised to 62,500. But it was not clear whether — given the pandemic, the program’s depletion by his predecessor and soaring numbers at the border — this number would be achieved. As of March 31, the latest data available, 20,829 Afghans, plus 52,799 family members, had received special immigrant visas since 2014 under a separate program created by Congress for those who could face reprisals for their work with U.S. troops. One of the Afghans who was evacuated and arrived in Houston this month, a 32-year-old interpreter who worked with a U.S. Marines platoon, said he managed to escape only days before his city, Gardez, south of Kabul, fell to the Taliban. “I am just worried for so many people still there,” said the man, who wanted to be identified only by his English nickname, Harry, out of fear for the relatives he left behind. “They are hiding, or moving their families from place to place.” Biden on Wednesday said the United States hoped to evacuate between 50,000 and 65,000 Afghan allies, including their families, and had approved an additional $500 million to help with “urgent refugee and migration needs.” Many of them will be directed to other countries for processing. How many Afghans will eventually be welcomed into the United States remains an open question, one that Crocker, the former diplomat, said is key to everything the United States tried to achieve during the war. “We owe it to Afghan females, the free media,” he said. “It’s for all those people we basically said to, ‘You go ahead and build a new, free open society and we will be here to see you get that done and that you get it done safely.’ “We have the moral obligation and the capacity to do it.”

50 years after Vietnam, thousands flee another lost American war

Just as US forces struggle with the desperate evacuation from Afghanistan, Vice President Kamala Harris embarks Friday on a trip to Vietnam, site of perhaps an even more infamous American military debacle.

The Southeast Asia trip, also taking in Singapore and a virtual meeting with ASEAN regional representatives, was planned long before a Taliban victory last weekend triggered the US scramble from Afghanistan.

Harris has taken some flak, especially from right-wing commentators who see the choice of Vietnam as, at best, tone-deaf.

The writers of "Veep," a television comedy series satirizing a hapless vice president, "could not have scripted this better," tweeted Sean Spicer, a former White House press secretary for president Donald Trump.

But US officials emphasize that the choice of Vietnam concerns geo-political challenges to come -- not the distant trauma of 1975 Saigon, when US helicopters ferried final evacuees from the embassy roof, as Viet Cong troops advanced.

The vice president "is focused on the threats of the future, not of the past," said a senior White House official, who asked not to be named.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/capitol-hill-bomb-threat-standoff-ends-as-suspect-surrenders-407037">Also read |&nbsp;Capitol Hill bomb threat standoff ends as suspect surrenders</a>

The official acknowledged that President Joe Biden's foreign policy focus is currently fixed on the crisis at Kabul airport, where a few thousand US troops are trying to evacuate potentially tens of thousands of US citizens and local allies.

But at a time when China is challenging US political sway and naval dominance in the Indo-Pacific region, Southeast Asia is "strategically important and economically important to this country. That hasn't changed with Afghanistan," the White House official said.

"We can do more than one thing at a time."

Officials expressed confidence that the debacle in Afghanistan will not harm allies' trust in US commitment to far-reaching strategic goals across Asia.

"We are confident that our partners throughout the Indo-Pacific see the United States as a steadfast partner. And that's certainly going to be one of the things the vice president emphasizes on this trip," an official said.

Harris, an Asian-American whose mother was of Indian origin, will be the first US vice president to visit Vietnam.

Before arriving in Hanoi late Tuesday, Harris will visit Singapore and meet, starting Monday, with President Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

She will also stop at the Changi Naval Base, where she'll address US sailors aboard the visiting USS Tulsa, underscoring American security commitments to Singapore.

Harris is set to hold Vietnamese government meetings on Wednesday and will attend the opening of a Southeast Asian regional branch of the US Centers for Disease Control.

The global response to the coronavirus pandemic is set to dominate a meeting of ASEAN nations that Harris will join.

In her final events on Thursday, Harris will meet civil society representatives in communist Vietnam to "underscore the importance we place on supporting civil society as a driver of social change," an official said.

Just as US forces struggle with the desperate evacuation from Afghanistan, Vice President Kamala Harris embarks Friday on a trip to Vietnam, site of perhaps an even more infamous American military debacle.

Just as US forces struggle with the desperate evacuation from Afghanistan, Vice President Kamala Harris embarks Friday on a trip to Vietnam, site of perhaps an even more infamous American military debacle. The Southeast Asia trip, also taking in Singapore and a virtual meeting with ASEAN regional representatives, was planned long before a Taliban victory last weekend triggered the US scramble from Afghanistan. Harris has taken some flak, especially from right-wing commentators who see the choice of Vietnam as, at best, tone-deaf. The writers of "Veep," a television comedy series satirizing a hapless vice president, "could not have scripted this better," tweeted Sean Spicer, a former White House press secretary for president Donald Trump. But US officials emphasize that the choice of Vietnam concerns geo-political challenges to come -- not the distant trauma of 1975 Saigon, when US helicopters ferried final evacuees from the embassy roof, as Viet Cong troops advanced. The vice president "is focused on the threats of the future, not of the past," said a senior White House official, who asked not to be named. Also read | Capitol Hill bomb threat standoff ends as suspect surrenders The official acknowledged that President Joe Biden's foreign policy focus is currently fixed on the crisis at Kabul airport, where a few thousand US troops are trying to evacuate potentially tens of thousands of US citizens and local allies. But at a time when China is challenging US political sway and naval dominance in the Indo-Pacific region, Southeast Asia is "strategically important and economically important to this country. That hasn't changed with Afghanistan," the White House official said. "We can do more than one thing at a time." Officials expressed confidence that the debacle in Afghanistan will not harm allies' trust in US commitment to far-reaching strategic goals across Asia. "We are confident that our partners throughout the Indo-Pacific see the United States as a steadfast partner. And that's certainly going to be one of the things the vice president emphasizes on this trip," an official said. Harris, an Asian-American whose mother was of Indian origin, will be the first US vice president to visit Vietnam. Before arriving in Hanoi late Tuesday, Harris will visit Singapore and meet, starting Monday, with President Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. She will also stop at the Changi Naval Base, where she'll address US sailors aboard the visiting USS Tulsa, underscoring American security commitments to Singapore. Harris is set to hold Vietnamese government meetings on Wednesday and will attend the opening of a Southeast Asian regional branch of the US Centers for Disease Control. The global response to the coronavirus pandemic is set to dominate a meeting of ASEAN nations that Harris will join. In her final events on Thursday, Harris will meet civil society representatives in communist Vietnam to "underscore the importance we place on supporting civil society as a driver of social change," an official said.

In midst of Afghan crisis, US VP Harris visits Vietnam

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet virtually with Southeast Asian officials every day next week, a senior state department official said on Saturday, as Washington seeks to show the region it’s a US priority while also addressing the crisis in Myanmar.

The top US diplomat will attend virtual meetings for five consecutive days, including annual meetings of the 10 foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and other nations and separate meetings of the Lower Mekong subregion countries Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/singapore-says-asean-aims-to-speed-up-plan-to-end-myanmar-crisis-396602">Singapore says ASEAN aims to speed up plan to end Myanmar crisis</a>

"I think it's a clear demonstration of our commitment to the region," said the official, who briefed Reuters on the condition of anonymity.

In recent years top US officials have not always attended&nbsp;ASEAN&nbsp;meetings and have sometimes sent more junior officials to the region's summits.

The virtual meetings come after the Biden administration in its early days was seen as paying little attention to the region of more than 600 million people, which is often overshadowed by neighbouring economic giant China, which the administration sees as its major foreign policy challenge.

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/us-secretary-of-state-antony-blinken-to-attend-asean-meetings-402222/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

But that has been partly addressed by recent visits to the region. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman visited Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand in May and June, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was in Vietnam and the Philippines this week, and Vice President Kamala Harris is set to visit Singapore and Vietnam.

"That steady flow of high-level engagement is going to pay dividends. It's noticed," the official said, adding that countries in the region "notice when we don't show up and that's when you start hearing some complaining maybe about not taking them seriously or taking them for granted."

The official said that donations of COVID-19 vaccines to the region had been a "game changer in terms of how our image is perceived."

On Sunday, the United States shipped 3 million doses of the Moderna <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/coronavirus-vaccine">COVID-19 vaccine</a> to Vietnam and it has sent doses to other Southeast Asian countries too, but an agreement it reached in March with Japan and Australia and India to provide a billion doses to the region stalled due to an Indian export ban

By mid-next week the United States will have donated 23 million doses to countries in the region, which is experiencing a surge of the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/coronavirus">coronavirus</a> with vaccination rates well below countries in the West, the official said.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/myanmar-army-ruler-pledges-elections-asean-cooperation-in-speech-six-months-after-coup-402105">Myanmar army ruler pledges elections, ASEAN cooperation in speech six months after coup</a>

But none of those doses have gone to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, where military generals staged a coup on Feb. 1 and detained elected leaders including Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking sanctions from Washington and other Western capitals.

The meetings next week will see Blinken in the same virtual meetings as representatives of Myanmar’s military government, but the official said rather than bestowing legitimacy on those officials, this was an opportunity to get messages to the military government.

"We're not prepared to walk away from&nbsp;ASEAN&nbsp;because of the bad behavior of a group of generals in Burma," the official said, adding that US officials were also engaging with the National Unity Government that opposes the military government there.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet virtually with Southeast Asian officials every day next week, a senior state department official said on Saturday, as Washington seeks to show the region it’s a US priority while also addressing the crisis in Myanmar.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet virtually with Southeast Asian officials every day next week, a senior state department official said on Saturday, as Washington seeks to show the region it’s a US priority while also addressing the crisis in Myanmar. The top US diplomat will attend virtual meetings for five consecutive days, including annual meetings of the 10 foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and other nations and separate meetings of the Lower Mekong subregion countries Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. Also read | Singapore says ASEAN aims to speed up plan to end Myanmar crisis "I think it's a clear demonstration of our commitment to the region," said the official, who briefed Reuters on the condition of anonymity. In recent years top US officials have not always attended ASEAN meetings and have sometimes sent more junior officials to the region's summits. The virtual meetings come after the Biden administration in its early days was seen as paying little attention to the region of more than 600 million people, which is often overshadowed by neighbouring economic giant China, which the administration sees as its major foreign policy challenge. But that has been partly addressed by recent visits to the region. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman visited Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand in May and June, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was in Vietnam and the Philippines this week, and Vice President Kamala Harris is set to visit Singapore and Vietnam. "That steady flow of high-level engagement is going to pay dividends. It's noticed," the official said, adding that countries in the region "notice when we don't show up and that's when you start hearing some complaining maybe about not taking them seriously or taking them for granted." The official said that donations of COVID-19 vaccines to the region had been a "game changer in terms of how our image is perceived." On Sunday, the United States shipped 3 million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam and it has sent doses to other Southeast Asian countries too, but an agreement it reached in March with Japan and Australia and India to provide a billion doses to the region stalled due to an Indian export ban By mid-next week the United States will have donated 23 million doses to countries in the region, which is experiencing a surge of the coronavirus with vaccination rates well below countries in the West, the official said. Also read | Myanmar army ruler pledges elections, ASEAN cooperation in speech six months after coup But none of those doses have gone to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, where military generals staged a coup on Feb. 1 and detained elected leaders including Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking sanctions from Washington and other Western capitals. The meetings next week will see Blinken in the same virtual meetings as representatives of Myanmar’s military government, but the official said rather than bestowing legitimacy on those officials, this was an opportunity to get messages to the military government. "We're not prepared to walk away from ASEAN because of the bad behavior of a group of generals in Burma," the official said, adding that US officials were also engaging with the National Unity Government that opposes the military government there.

US top diplomat Blinken to court Southeast Asia in virtual meetings next week

HMS Queen Elizabeth, a British aircraft carrier, and its Carrier Strike Group have entered the South China Sea, a territory predominantly claimed by China, reports the UK Defence Journal.

China claims practically the whole 1.3 million-square-mile South China Sea as its sovereign territory, and it has blamed foreign warships for escalating tensions in the region.

Freedom of navigation operations (or FONOPs) are routinely conducted by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia to counter what Washington refers to as "attempts by coastal states to unjustly limit access to the seas."

Both the US and the UK have previously enraged China by conducting FONOPs in the South China Sea to assert freedom of navigation rights. 
 
Watch | Gravitas: British warship to challenge Beijing in South China Sea

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gravitas-british-warship-to-challenge-beijing-in-south-china-sea-399814/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

The HMS Queen Elizabeth is escorted by six Royal Navy ships, a Royal Navy submarine, a US Navy destroyer, and a Dutch frigate, and is carrying eight F-35B Lightning II fast jets, four Wildcat maritime attack helicopters, seven Merlin Mk2 anti-submarine and airborne early warning helicopters, and three Merlin Mk4 commando helicopters on deck.

China has been carrying out incursions, sinking foreign ships, establishing new districts, giving Chinese names to islands, building new artificial islands and using fishing vessels as maritime militias in the South China Sea.

The South China Sea is a strategic waterway surrounded by six nations, such as China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. &nbsp;

Two groups of islands here are at the centre of a fierce territorial dispute. The first is the Paracel Archipelago, contested by China, Taiwan and Vietnam.

The second is the Spratly Islands, disputed between China and all other five nations. These islands are strategic because they are surrounded by waters teeming with marine life and are rich in oil and gas resources. &nbsp;

One-third of the world's shipping traffic also passes through the South China Sea. Beijing claims sovereignty over nearly the entire sea.

(With inputs from agencies)

HMS Queen Elizabeth, a British aircraft carrier, and its Carrier Strike Group have entered the South China Sea, a territory predominantly claimed by China, reports the UK Defence Journal.

HMS Queen Elizabeth, a British aircraft carrier, and its Carrier Strike Group have entered the South China Sea, a territory predominantly claimed by China, reports the UK Defence Journal. China claims practically the whole 1.3 million-square-mile South China Sea as its sovereign territory, and it has blamed foreign warships for escalating tensions in the region. Freedom of navigation operations (or FONOPs) are routinely conducted by the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia to counter what Washington refers to as "attempts by coastal states to unjustly limit access to the seas." Both the US and the UK have previously enraged China by conducting FONOPs in the South China Sea to assert freedom of navigation rights. Watch | Gravitas: British warship to challenge Beijing in South China Sea The HMS Queen Elizabeth is escorted by six Royal Navy ships, a Royal Navy submarine, a US Navy destroyer, and a Dutch frigate, and is carrying eight F-35B Lightning II fast jets, four Wildcat maritime attack helicopters, seven Merlin Mk2 anti-submarine and airborne early warning helicopters, and three Merlin Mk4 commando helicopters on deck. China has been carrying out incursions, sinking foreign ships, establishing new districts, giving Chinese names to islands, building new artificial islands and using fishing vessels as maritime militias in the South China Sea. The South China Sea is a strategic waterway surrounded by six nations, such as China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. Two groups of islands here are at the centre of a fierce territorial dispute. The first is the Paracel Archipelago, contested by China, Taiwan and Vietnam. The second is the Spratly Islands, disputed between China and all other five nations. These islands are strategic because they are surrounded by waters teeming with marine life and are rich in oil and gas resources. One-third of the world's shipping traffic also passes through the South China Sea. Beijing claims sovereignty over nearly the entire sea. (With inputs from agencies)

UK warship ignores Beijing warnings and enters the South China Sea

Even as the trip details are not yet&nbsp;finalised,&nbsp;Vice President Kamala Harris&nbsp;may visit&nbsp;Vietnam and Singapore in&nbsp;coming&nbsp;August, a Reuters report said, citing&nbsp;a source familiar with the matter.&nbsp;

Harris agenda of the travel is highly likely to be&nbsp;the coronavirus pandemic, said&nbsp;the source on condition of anonymity.&nbsp;

Earlier, Harris visited a border patrol facility near the US-Mexico border and urged a focus on children and practical solutions to migration, in a trip meant to blunt Republican criticism of White House immigration policies.&nbsp;

The visit, her first since becoming vice president five months ago, came amid a rise in migrants caught crossing the border, which has sparked outrage from Republicans, who&nbsp;favour&nbsp;the stricter immigration policies implemented by former president Donald Trump.&nbsp;

President Joe Biden, a Democrat, tasked Harris with spearheading his administration's handling of the broader issue of people fleeing Central American countries for the United States. She visited Guatemala and Mexico earlier this month.&nbsp;

"This issue cannot be reduced to a political issue. We're talking about children, we're talking about families, we're talking about suffering. And our approach has to be thoughtful and effective," Harris said at the conclusion of her short trip.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;

Even as the trip details are not yet finalised, Vice President Kamala Harris may visit Vietnam and Singapore in coming August, a Reuters report said, citing a source familiar with the matter.

Even as the trip details are not yet finalised, Vice President Kamala Harris may visit Vietnam and Singapore in coming August, a Reuters report said, citing a source familiar with the matter. Harris agenda of the travel is highly likely to be the coronavirus pandemic, said the source on condition of anonymity. Earlier, Harris visited a border patrol facility near the US-Mexico border and urged a focus on children and practical solutions to migration, in a trip meant to blunt Republican criticism of White House immigration policies. The visit, her first since becoming vice president five months ago, came amid a rise in migrants caught crossing the border, which has sparked outrage from Republicans, who favour the stricter immigration policies implemented by former president Donald Trump. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, tasked Harris with spearheading his administration's handling of the broader issue of people fleeing Central American countries for the United States. She visited Guatemala and Mexico earlier this month. "This issue cannot be reduced to a political issue. We're talking about children, we're talking about families, we're talking about suffering. And our approach has to be thoughtful and effective," Harris said at the conclusion of her short trip. (With inputs from agencies)

US Vice President Kamala Harris may visit Vietnam, Singapore in August: Report 

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