A translation of Trinh Cong Son’s “Xin Cho Toi.” I don’t know who the translator is.
Please let clouds protect man’s fate
Please give me a morning’s shine
Please give me a one bright full smile
To forget the recent grave
I’ve begged for myself a thousand times
I, who only knows to fool around
I just ask to have peace
Please let me sleep soundly for once
Please let the night be without bombs
Please let the birds sing in the sky
I wish to be like flying clouds
Please release me from our life
Until peace has returned to the world
I wish to have my life back
Please let me rebuild my love
Please let me revive peace
Please let me forego obstacles
To see the blood stream in his heart
Please give me mother’s embracing arms
Please let me hear the joyful sound of children’s footsteps
Please let my country have a peaceful sleep
I’ll love you from that moment on.
Please let me come back in one body
To let me hear nature’s songs
Please let me forget imprisonment
To let me be the bitter wine
Please give me the whole life
So one day when a child sings in his cradle
Please, just give me one day.
Cute, simple tagline: “Twitter + history. And that’s really it.” In reality, just slightly more robust than that: this new service grabs your tweets and formats them as a subscribe-able calendar file that plays nice with iCal, Google calendar, etc. It’s clever, but if there’s a business model in there, I can’t see it. Via John Niedermeyer.
By the time Round About Midnight released, Miles Davis had disbanded his group and moved on to a new musical direction. Nevertheless, this album is one of his finest works. His Harmon-muted solos on Thelonious Monk’s “’Round Midnight” are just achingly beautiful. Every note he played is streamlined and refined to create a deep emotional impact. Unlike Charlie Parker, Davis stripped down everything on “Au Leu-Cha” and only played the most essential notes. It’s the thoughtfulness in his phrasings that made him stood out.
Vietnamese will receive Dual Passports similar to this picture of Thai and American passports.
Vietnam has amended its nationality law to legalize dual citizenship, a change that could affect many in the Vietnamese diaspora of more than three million people, officials said Friday.
The legislature of the communist country on Thursday passed a revised law that maintains Vietnam's long standing single-nationality principle but, for the first time, allows for a number of exceptions.
The change means that many post-war refugees and other overseas Vietnamese who have become citizens of second countries can officially reclaim their lapsed Vietnamese nationality without losing their new citizenship.
"Those who apply to regain Vietnamese nationality can retain their foreign citizenship if they have justified cause and with permission from the state president," reported the state-run Vietnam News Agency (VNA).
The law also says that children born overseas to at least one Vietnamese parent will be able to claim citizenship of the Southeast Asian country.
The amendment brings the decade-old law in line with what has long been common practice, as many Vietnamese immigrants in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and elsewhere hold two or more passports.
Vietnam has in recent years stepped up efforts to lure back overseas Vietnamese or 'Viet Kieu' -- many of whom still harbor a deep distrust of the state they once fled -- along with their capital and expertise.
Many of them fled their homeland during and after the Vietnam war, which ended in 1975, often surviving harrowing journeys as boat people followed by years in crowded refugee camps to start new lives in about 100 countries.
The VNA report said a strict single-nationality rule "no longer conforms to real-life, practical situations" and had led to many violations.
The text of the amended law said that those who regain their Vietnamese nationality are "assured... all rights of citizenship and must obey all citizens' duties towards the state and society according to its laws."
This would suggest that those who regain their Vietnamese nationality will enjoy full rights, such as being able to buy property, but may also be subject to obligations such as military service for males.
However, the law also states that further government decrees will be issued to clarify some of the finer points of the amended law.
National Assembly deputy and Vietnamese historian Duong Trung Quoc told AFP legislators had debated whether those who regain citizenship could buy property, vote in elections and would have to do military service.
"These are not simple issues and deputies only dealt with them in principle," he said. "Ensuring their full rights to citizenship is a huge task.
"Legal conflicts will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis and in concrete circumstances, depending on Vietnamese laws and international conventions signed by Vietnam."
Arthur Booker was camping with his wife in Queensland when he was taken by a crocodile
The human remains found inside a 14ft crocodile in Queensland have been confirmed as that of missing British Vietnam War veteran Arthur Booker.
Mr Booker, who was born in Banffshire, Scotland and immigrated to Australia in 1959, went missing while on a camping trip with his wife Doris at the Endeavour River in Cooktown, north Queensland on September 30.
The 62-year-old disappeared when he returned to the river – home to dozens of large crocodiles - to collect his crab pots. A three-day search uncovered only his wristwatch and one of his sandals.
Rangers later caught three large crocodiles in the river, and conducted x-rays and an endoscopy on one, a 14ft (4.5m) bull croc. Human remains and a wedding ring were found inside the reptile.
Related Links Service held for 'croc victim' Arthur Booker Remains found in croc stomach War veteran 'taken' by monster croc Police have confirmed that DNA tests proved the remains were Mr Booker’s and the investigation into his death has now been referred to the coroner.
Mr Booker was remembered by his family and friends, including veterans who served with him during the Vietnam War, at a service Carbrook, south of Brisbane, last month.
The crocodile which took Mr Booker, was classified as ‘iconic’ by local authorities because of its age and size, and therefore cannot be harmed or killed.
It is currently being looked after by members of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) in at a secure facility in Townsville, north Queensland.
It will not be released to the wild, but is expected to be offered to a crocodile farm or zoo on the strict condition that it must never go on public display.
It was claimed last week that the EPA’s crocodile relocation scheme – where rangers catch problem crocodiles and move them to a different location, usually out of harm’s way for humans - led to Mr Booker’s death and that of Barry Jeffries three years ago.
Mr Jeffries was killed by a crocodile in the Lakefield National Park in 2005. An informant claimed the suspected crocodile which killed him had been caught and relocated by the EPA.
The EPA has denied the claims that their wildlife program is at fault for the deaths of the two men, and the case has been referred to the Crime and Misconduct Commission. The Agency has also been ordered to review all aspects of crocodile relocation.
Mr Booker’s death is the first fatal crocodile attack in Australia since 2006, when an eight-year-old girl was taken in the Blythe River, in the Northern Territory.
Between 1985 and 2007, there were 17 attacks by crocodiles in Australia, five of which were fatal.
