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HANOI — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis praised the expected visit of a U.S. aircraft carrier to Vietnam, as he wrapped up a visit to Hanoi Thursday. "We thank you for the increasing partnership, with our carrier coming into Danang here in March," Mattis told Vietnam's Communist Party chief, Nguyen Phu Trong. The carrier visit, the first of its kind to a Vietnamese port, would be a tangible sign of expanding military ties between the former war-time enemies. Pentagon officials stress that Vietnam's prime minister, its official head of state, has the final sign-off on a U.S. carrier visit. "It's not...

As we approach its 50th Anniversary, please allow me to share with you my memories of the Vietnam War’s 1968 Tet Offensive, and the “Butterfly Effect” spawned by this Tet Offensive. The Chinese New Year celebration was called Tet in Vietnam and it was the only holiday they celebrated during the year. Tet celebrations lasted for two weeks, and it wasn’t just a time for drinking, feasting, and partying, it was a time for family reunions where Vietnamese traveled great distances to be with their families during those two weeks. Prior to Tet 1967, a truce had been negotiated with...

During the Vietnam War, American troops discovered a wide range of Communist-Bloc small arms in service with the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese armies. One of the more interesting and little-known firearms used during the conflict—but well-remembered by many American veterans of the Vietnam War—is the North Vietnamese K-50M submachine gun. It represented the Vietnamese ability to modify and locally produce effective infantry arms in simple cottage workshops. The K-50M used the Soviet PPSh-41 (produced by the Communist Chinese as the Type 50 SMG), chambered in 7.62x25 mm Tokarev, as the basis for the home-built submachine gun. North Vietnamese and...

At 2.47 on the morning of January 31, 1968, an American military policeman sent an emergency radio message from his post outside a U.S. embassy on the far side of the world: ‘Signal 300! They’re coming in! Help me! Help me!’ — before being shot dead, along with another guard. The soldier’s terrified warning, out of the darkness half a century ago, signalled the onset of the most devastating attack on American pride and prestige since Pearl Harbor in 1941. Viet Cong commandos spilled out of a taxi and a small truck in front of the embassy compound in Saigon,...

January 24 – Vietnam booked a place in the final of the AFC U-23 Championship against Uzbekistan defeating Qatar in the semi-finals on penalties. Akram Afif, who plies his trade at KAS Eupen in Belgium, opened the score for the Qataris from the penalty spot after Almoez Ali had been dragged down inside the penalty box. In the 69th minute Nguyen Quang Hai equalized after a blunder in Qatar’s defence. Bassam Al-Rawi and Ahmad Moein allowed Hai too much space. Qatar seemed to have won the game when Almoez Ali scored late on, but there was to be a twist...

In a post-war first, the United States is poised to send an aircraft carrier to Vietnam in March, officials of both sides said on Thursday, dramatic evidence of deepening military ties between them, more than four decades after the Vietnam War. The announcement came during a two-day visit to Hanoi by U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis that had been expected to focus on shared concerns about China. The proposed visit is set for March at the central port of Danang, Vietnam’s defence ministry said in a statement. Such a visit by a U.S. aircraft carrier could bring the most U.S....

STARTLING new evidence has virtually pinpointed the location of MH370 — 1258 days since it disappeared. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has today released an explosive new report that effectively narrows the search zone for the missing plane down to an area half the size of Melbourne. GeoScience Australia has been examining four satellite images taken in the weeks after the plane went missing in the area identified late last year as MH370’s likely resting spot. They found 12 objects in those images that they deemed man-made and 28 that they regard as possibly man-made. The images were taken by...

A remote part of the Indian Ocean has become, by chance, one of the best-mapped parts of the underwater world. The ocean is vast, deep, and unexplored. When Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared three years ago this week, the search brought the ocean’s vastness into sharp relief. This is how deep and dark it is three miles down. This is how unlikely you are to spot a downed airliner in 120,000 square nautical miles of open ocean. This is how much we know about the ocean floor—less than we know about the surface of Mars. As the search dragged on...

A MASSIVE new search for the doomed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 using underwater drones has begun today.The aircraft vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014 in one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries. The southeast Asian nation has now agreed to pay US firm Ocean Infinity up to $70 million if it finds the plane within 90 days. Its search vessel, the Seabed Constructor, today reached the remote spot in the Indian Ocean where Australian scientists believe the plane went down. Eight drone-like underwater vehicles will now scour the ocean floor for wreckage in an area...

My occupations for you are endless so don't box yourself in, just allow my spirit to lead you into each pasture of revelation knowledge with out fear of reprisal or resistance for as I AM in and through you nothing can ever harm your life in Me . Allow me to flow freely as you saturate yourself in My word daily so that you understand completely just what it is I plan to accomplish through you . There is no need to confide in the Ephod for I AM your complete armor and eyes for now as you trust me...

US-based company Ocean Infinity dispatched a search vessel this past week to look in the southern Indian Ocean for debris from the plane. "The basis of the offer from Ocean Infinity is based on 'no cure, no fee,'" Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said on Saturday, meaning payment will be made only if the company finds the wreckage. "That means they are willing to search the area of 25,000 square kilometres pointed out by the expert group near the Australian waters. I don't want to give too much hope ... to the [next of kin]," he added. Ocean Infinity...

Special Forces Sergeant Major Joe Murray passed away on December 23 and will be laid to rest today at the Sandhills State Veterans Cemetery in Spring Lake, NC. SGM Murray spent 30 years in the service of the US Army, with the vast majority of it being as a Green Beret in the Special Forces. Murray served from 1962 – 1992 and at the time of his retirement was the School Sergeant Major for the USA JFK SWC (US Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School). Murray went to Korea in 1962-63 and then to West Germany where...

It’s not as if Angelina Jolie hasn’t proved her worth as a writer-director before now. Following on from the Bosnian war drama "In the Land of Blood and Honey," and "Unbroken’s" harrowing account of life in a second World War prisoner-of-war camp, Jolie’s fourth narrative feature, confirms her as an exquisite craftswoman and an artist capable of tackling geopolitical complexities. "First They Killed My Father," the official Cambodian selection for the Academy Awards, is based on the memoir of the same name by Loung Ung, whom Jolie befriended in 2002 after the actor became a goodwill ambassador for the UN....

Vietnam's VietJet Aviation said on Thursday (Dec 28) it was standing by a controversial "bikini" calendar, a marketing ploy featuring scantily clad female models that has prompted criticism in conservative South-east Asia and beyond. The annual calendar, which has gone viral online, is part of a broader marketing push by VietJet that has propelled the start-up airline's rapid growth, as it has taken market share from Vietnam Airlines. The publication of the 2018 calendar - which critics say overly sexualises the image of flight attendants and other airline staff - comes as there is a growing debate in the global...

The Resolution calls on Myanmar to allow access for aid workers, ensure the return of all refugees and grant full citizenship rights to the Rohingya.The UN general assembly has urged Myanmar to end a military campaign against Muslim Rohingya and called for the appointment of a UN special envoy, despite opposition from China, Russia and some regional countries. A resolution put forward by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation was adopted by a vote of 122 to 10 with 24 abstentions.

President Trump enthusiastically embraced the red carpets, military parades and fancy dinners that were lavished upon him during state visits on his recent tour of Asia. ‘‘Magnificent!’’ he declared at one point on the trip. But Trump has yet to reciprocate, making him the first president in almost a century to close his first year in office without welcoming a visiting counterpart to the US with similar trappings. Trump spoke dismissively of state dinners as a candidate, when he panned President Barack Obama’s decision to welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping with a 2015 state visit. “‘I would not be throwing...

...You have probably seen my picture a thousand times. Yes, that picture. .. ... I had not been targeted. I had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time... .... Yet as I look back over a spiritual journey that has spanned more than three decades, I realize the same bombs that caused so much pain and suffering also brought me to a place of great healing. Those bombs led me to Jesus Christ... Christmas is not about the gifts we carefully wrap and place under a tree. Rather, it is about the gift of Jesus Christ, who...

VietJetAir surprised passengers on their first Bangkok to Dalat, Vietnam, flight on Monday with a complimentary in-flight bikini fashion show. Did that make cramming in economy seats a little bit more comfortable? The parade of model in floral bikinis was meant to promote the city of Dalat, which is known for its beautiful flower gardens. So upon launching the new route, it makes sense that VietJet Air, a company known for putting scantily-clad women on their planes, would put bikini-clad women — this time with decorative flowers — on the first plane from Bangkok to Dalat. Judging from the reaction...

A 41-year-old San Francisco plumber who was on a losing streak at local casinos and faced eviction for not paying his rent was found guilty Monday of slaughtering a family of five inside their Ingleside neighborhood home after targeting them for robbery. On its seventh day of deliberations, the San Francisco Superior Court jury found Binh Thai Luc, an undocumented Vietnamese immigrant with a violent criminal past, guilty of five counts of murder in the massacre of the Lei family on March 23, 2012. ---------------------------- Before the killings, Luc was convicted in 1998 of committing an armed robbery at a...

For Vietnam veteran John Nugent, who served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, coming home to Newburgh, N.Y., meant some isolation, according to his son Chris, but his love of ham radio allowed him to reach out to other people throughout the world. "It was tough for him. The radio made him feel comfortable, and helped with his transition," Chris Nugent said. The veteran's call signal, WA2EQJ, came alive again Tuesday at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, where the 75-year-old Nugent got his dying wish to broadcast on ham radio one more time....