HANOI (Reuters) - Floods in Vietnam’s central, central highland and southern provinces have left 15 people dead and six missing and displaced thousands, the Department of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control said on Monday.

Flooding from very heavy rain brought by cold air and a tropical low pressure system last week have blocked roads, destroyed more than 200 houses and inundated more than 40,000 other houses in 12 provinces, the department said in a report.

A combined 12,000 hectare of crop land were flooded while more than 40,000 cattle and poultry were dead or washed away, the report said.

Last month, floods following torrential rain killed dozens of people in Vietnam’s central region of Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces and inundated more than 100,000 houses.</s>HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam’s government says floods from torrential rains have killed 15 people and left six others missing in a central region still recovering from deadly floods last month.

The Central Steering Committee for Disasters Prevention and Control said in a statement Monday that the latest floods inundated more than 41,000 homes.

It said the floods, which have largely receded, also caused damage to the region’s infrastructure, agriculture and livestock.

Floods in the region, one of the poorest in the country, killed 31 people last month.

Vietnam is prone to floods and storms that kill hundreds of people each year.</s>This article is part of our premium content.

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Already have an account? Sign in here</s>President Michael D Higgins has begun an eight-day visit to Vietnam and Laos that will focus on boosting bilateral ties, especially in trade, investment, development, education and training.

Mr Higgins is due to meet Vietnamese president Tran Dai Quang at the presidential palace on Monday and later in the day he will also meet Nguyen Thim Kim Ngan, chair of the National Assembly.

A strong focus of the trip will be Irish Aid projects in Vietnam and Laos, and on Tuesday President Higgins will give a keynote address to the country’s oldest university, the Vietnam National University. He will be accompanied by Sabina Higgins, as well as Minister for Foreign Affairs Charles Flanagan

A significant part of the visit will be focused on aid. Vietnam is the only Irish Aid Key Partner country outside Sub-Saharan Africa, and while it continues to have significant development challenges, Vietnam has made major progress in recent years.

In an interview with Vietnam News, Mr Higgins said Ireland and Vietnam shared a struggle for independence, and he said Irish people were impressed by how the Vietnamese people had to defeat not one but several imperialist aggressors.

“I think one of the great challenges facing both countries, here in Ireland and in Vietnam, is to get an economic model that will benefit all the people, when all the citizens have an opportunity to get an education, get housing, etc,” he said.

“In this context, the reduction of poverty from 70 per cent to less than 23 per cent is a very significant achievement,” the president said.

Vietnam is four times bigger than Ireland and has a population of over 88 million. Ireland gave $150 million (€134.88 million) in non-refundable aid to Vietnam between 2007 and 2016, focusing on poverty reduction, support for vulnerable groups, and improving economic management.

Ireland has provided €1.54 million for research into the climate impacts on the Lower Mekong Basin work through the EU-led Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA) from 2012 to 2015.

Ireland provides support to civil society organisations (CSOs) working to pilot and scale up new models in community-based climate-sensitive development. Of the total funding under the bilateral development co-operation programme in Vietnam, administered and co-ordinated by the Irish Embassy in Hanoi, €3.33 million relates to climate finance.

The state visit marks 20 years of diplomatic relations between Ireland and Vietnam.

Bilateral trade reached $402 million (€360.55 million) in 2015, up 28 per cent from the previous year. Ireland currently has 17 investment projects with combined capital of $20.7 million (€18.7 million) in Vietnam, ranking 67th among 115 countries and territories investing here.</s>HO CHI MINH CITY, Nov 7 From textiles and shoes to paper and furniture, Chinese manufacturers are pouring investments into neighbouring Vietnam, hoping to ride on the coattails of the Southeast Asian country's pending trade blitz.

Vietnam's Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union, signed last year, and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), if it clears significant political hurdles in the U.S., would collectively give the country access to markets worth $44 trillion in combined gross domestic product.

Even as doubts linger over the future of U.S. President Barack Obama's TPP once he leaves office, early moves by China Inc to leverage off Vietnam's lower factory wages - about a third that of China's - show a re-centering of the world's factory activity.

Importantly, a base in Vietnam gives Chinese manufacturers access to trade agreements of which China is not currently a part.

"So far this year, I've had more than 30 Chinese wood companies coming to me for consultation," said Nguyen Ton Quyen, who heads Vietnam's Timber and Forest Product Association.

"There's a considerable amount of Chinese wood furniture firms moving their investments to Vietnam, to enjoy tax incentives."

Chinese inflows into Vietnam in 2015 doubled from a year earlier to $744 million and 80 percent of that was in the second half of the year, just after Vietnam signed the EU FTA and the TPP.

In the first nine months of this year, investments from China quadrupled to $1 billion compared with the same period in 2015.

Vietnam has numerous other free trade agreements, including with top investor South Korea, supporting resident giants like Samsung and LG. As a part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, it also enjoys free trade with other members of the 10-nation zone, plus the various bilateral agreements the bloc has with other economies, like China.

Nguyen Chien Thang runs a furniture factory and is also feeling the Chinese surge. He estimates a third of the approximately 500 foreign-owned wood processing firms in Vietnam are from China and Taiwan, adding to competition for his Scansia Pacific, a supplier for Swedish giant IKEA.

"Tax rates here are also much more favourable," said Thang. "Labour costs in their mainland are getting much higher."

Much of the investment is going into Vietnam's textile industry, the second biggest garment exporter to the U.S. after China, supplying brands such as Nike, Adidas, Zara, Armani, and Lacoste.

The U.S. Department of Commerce projects U.S. imports of textile and apparel from Vietnam to jump 45 percent to $16.4 billion by 2025 from 2015 while such imports from China are expected to tumble 45 percent to $23.7 billion.

Vietnam's trade agreements with TPP and the EU require textile manufacturers source their own yarns, dyes and fabrics locally or from within the respective trade blocs.

For Chinese firms in Vietnam, this means securing access to local supply chains. To prepare for TPP, Chinese textile group Texhong Textile is building a $450 million industrial park in northern Quang Ninh province, with an additional $640 million for supporting industries.

To be sure, this year's U.S. presidential campaign has cast deep doubts over the TPP. Before last year, TPP approval on Capitol Hill looked highly likely, but now neither candidate is willing to support a deal that could have implications for U.S. jobs.

Donald Trump has called the TPP a "death blow" for U.S. manufacturing, while rival Hillary Clinton appears to have backtracked on her previous advocacy for the TPP while serving as Obama's Secretary of State.

While U.S. political noise has created anxiety for those invested in Vietnam, there are hopes Clinton might change her tune on TPP or seek an alternative version of it if she becomes president, in contrast to Trump's more stridently protectionist policies.

Amid the uncertainty, Vietnam's ruling party has taken the ratification of the TPP off its agenda this year.

"Vietnam so far hasn't shown a clear opinion on the two candidates ... but Vietnamese people have shown clearly that they want Hillary Clinton to win," said economist and former government advisor Le Dang Doanh.

Even with the TPP in doubt, Chinese firms are looking to leverage off Vietnam's clout as an emerging industrial and trade power.

Ironically, deals like TPP, Obama's signature trade policy intended to boost American influence in Asia and challenge that of China, have actually encouraged Chinese engagement.

Rising investment from China is also changing Vietnam in other ways.

Anti-China sentiment is entrenched in Vietnam, shaped by centuries of perceived Chinese bullying and sustained by recurring wrangles over sovereignty in the South China Sea.

But there are signs Vietnamese are putting nationalist ideals aside and are learning Chinese, in the hope of getting jobs offered by China Inc and swarms of Taiwanese investors.

In the sprawling industrialised province of Binh Duong, China and Taiwan are bringing huge job opportunities, with the two countries accounting for a third of over 100 new investment projects announced in the first five months of 2016.

"I don't like China, or Chinese, but their firms are coming here more and more," said Minh Anh, a university student who juggles Chinese classes at night with university lectures and a part-time job by day.

"Speaking Chinese may widen my job opportunities and help me earn a good job with good benefits."</s>President Michael D Higgins has expressed strong support for a peaceful solution using international law to growing tensions in the South China Sea.

Vietnam and China are in dispute over the resources-rich area known as the Paracels archipelago.

During his state visit to Vietnam, President Higgins said the issue had featured prominently in what he described as very wide-ranging bilateral talks with Vietnam’s president Tran Dai Quang.

“What President Quang wanted to emphasise, and in this would have Irish support, was that settlement of these issues which involve so many partners would be in accordance with international law,” President Higgins told a small group of Irish journalists outside the National Assembly.

The area around the Spratly Islands and the Paracels is emerging as one of the world’s regional flashpoints. Alongside Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan, Vietnam is in dispute with China over its claim to control the resource-rich waters through which some €4.5 trillion worth of trade passes every year.

“Our common position is to settle disputes by peaceful means on the basis of international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” Mr Higgins said.

In July, an international maritime tribunal in The Hague said China’s extensive claims in the South China Sea region were illegal.

“Ireland is a long supporter of the international law of the sea, and we are also supportive of the arbitration and we are also committed to resolution in terms of our support for the United Nations and its institutions,” he said.

Earlier President Quang had mentioned that Vietnam was seeking a peaceful resolution to an increasingly difficult situation.

Just like China, Vietnam believes it has full historical evidence and legal foundations to prove its sovereignty over the Paracels and Spratly, or Truong Sa, Islands in the East Sea, or South China Sea.

However, recently the Philippines, which originally brought the claim to the tribunal, has made conciliatory noises towards Beijing, as has Malaysia.

Vietnam has the strong backing of the United States for its stance on the region.

Last week, as part of efforts to shore up relations, three vessels from the 23rd Chinese naval escort task force docked at the Vietnamese deep port of Cam Ranh, and both navies participated in activities.

China’s claims in the area have prompted Vietnam to step up its fleet of fighters, helicopters and maritime patrol aircraft.

During the day, President Higgins also oversaw the signing of a number of agreements, including deals between Anam Technologies, Ericsson Vietnam and Vietnamobile for SMS services and a strategic partnership between University College Cork and Vietnam National University.

One of the biggest signings was an agreement between Irish company Mainstream Renewable Power to develop, build and operate 940 megawatts of wind power in Vietnam, with a combined investment of over €2 billion.</s>This month, visitors to the Steeple Center gallery can view "Vietnam...a look, then and now," a collection of watercolor paintings and pencil sketches by Rosemount's own Craig MacIntosh and photographs by Wisconsin native Betsy Preston.

Both artists have spent time in Vietnam.

MacIntosh, who has called Rosemount home since 2004, grew up in a military family, spent three years in the army, and served as a platoon leader in Vietnam from 1968 to 1969. He later returned to Vietnam as a humanitarian.

Preston, who holds a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Art from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, traveled to Hanoi, Sa Pa, Hoi An, and Halong Bay in northern Vietnam in April with a group of photographers. Unlike MacIntosh, she has no memories of the Vietnam War.

"I'm going there with a different set of eyes," she said."I think (our works) complement each other nicely."

Preston said both her photographs and MacIntosh's paintings focus on the people of Vietnam. She said a number of war veterans attended RAAC's opening reception for the artists and MacIntosh's work in particular really spoke to them. One veteran shared that a piece depicting fishermen playing cards beneath a shelter shows Vietnam exactly as he remembers it.

"Some talked about how they feel like the country hasn't changed that much," Preston said. "The culture is the same."

RAAC member Mary Kay Lananger, who helped organize the exhibit, said that with Veterans Day approaching, she felt the timing was good.

"Many vets attended, talked, and shared stories," she said. "It was very heartwarming."

"Vietnam....a look, then and now" will be on display through the end of December. The artwork will be available for viewing during the Steeple Center's regular business hours, Mondays through Fridays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It covers the building's first and second floors.</s>President Michael D Higgins has hailed the common experience of Ireland and Vietnam as small countries fighting the imperialist threat of large nations.

In a keynote speech in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, Mr Higgins said the people of both countries had taken part in “an unyielding and irrepressible struggle” for independence.

“We both know, too, how difficult it can be to secure, vindicate and deliver on the promises of freedom, justice and equality that motivated the struggle for independence in the first place,” he said in his address at Vietnam National University.

During his eight-day state visit, Mr Higgins has spoken of speculation that there may have been contact between Michael Collins and Vietnam’s revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh, when they lived in London in the 1920s.

“Whatever the truth of that legend, we know that the impact of colonialism and conflict on our two nations was acute,” he said.

This year, Ireland and Vietnam mark 20 years of diplomatic relations.

Earlier, the President laid a wreath at the Monument of National Heroes and Martyrs, which commemorates those who died in what is known in Vietnam as the “War Against the Americans to Save the Nation”.

The Vietnamese government says that around two million civilians and 1.1 million North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong soldiers died in the conflict, with the total rising to 3.8 million once South Vietnamese victims are factored in.

During the course of a 72 minute speech, the President told of how both Ireland and Vietnam had cultures steeped in ancient civilisations that valued scholarship spiritual cultivation and the arts, but had then suffered terribly at the hands of external powers and had experienced dreadful famine.

“Both our peoples have endured the harmful experience of colonisation, and, in your case, the ambitions of four imperialisms,” he said.

He found a reference point between the heroics of Vietnam’s Trung sisters, the “two ladies Trung” who in 40 AD, successfully led the Vietnamese people’s struggle against the army of Chinese invader Ma Yuan, and that of the Gore-Booth sisters from the West of Ireland, who played a prominent role in Ireland’s revolution and the elder of whom, Constance Markievicz, was one of the military leaders of the 1916 Rising.

“Both of our nations have suffered, in cultural terms, from imperialist theories of culture which sought to justify the racial superiority of the coloniser over the colonised, and to rationalise the ruling of the world by a handful of imperial powers,” he said.

The lack of response received by Ho Chi Minh at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, after the first World War, could be compared with the closed-door reaction to the Irish Republicans when the similarly went looking for independence.

“Both rejections were perceived by the Irish and Vietnamese leaders of the time as proof of the risks of placing trust in concessions from an imperial power,” he said.

The indifference proved how “difficult it can be to secure, vindicate and deliver on the promises of freedom, justice and equality that motivated the struggle for independence in the first place. The decades following the heady atmosphere of the days of declared independence are the most challenging.”

Asked by a student about Ireland’s economic resilience, the President said that what had happened in 2008 was an economic downturn but that the economy was robust during what was actually a banking crisis, and he attacked the lack of regulation of the financial markets.</s>HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam and Ireland have agreed to increase their cooperation in education, renewable energy, information technology and health care, during a visit to the Southeast Asian country by Irish President Michael Higgins.

Among agreements signed Monday by Higgins and his Vietnamese counterpart Tran Dai Quang were three wind power projects in southern Vietnam with the investment of $2.2 billion.

Higgins said both leaders discussed how the two countries can serve as bridge for developing relations with the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations respectively.

They also discussed climate change and sustainable development and how the two countries can meet their obligations under the Paris Climate Conference, he added.</s>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (Tribune News Service) — The Bell Iroquois UH-1 “Huey” helicopter has been called the icon of the Vietnam war.

For veterans of the Southeast Asia conflict, the memories are still vivid. The hard driving rap-rap-rap of its rotors signalled the arrival of troops, supplies, gun support and medical help.

Since 1999, one of those Hueys, the Viking Surprise, has been a major feature at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Angel Fire.

“I’ve seen men put their hand on the nose of that aircraft and be brought to tears. It brings back memories,” said Richard “Dick” Dickerson, a Vietnam veteran and retired National Guardsman who serves on the board of the David Westphall Veterans Foundation.

The memorial was founded by Dr. Victor Westphall to honor his son, David Westphall, who was killed in Vietnam. It became a state park in 2005.

However, years of exposure to the harsh high-altitude sun, fierce winds and dramatic temperature changes of northern New Mexico have taken their toll on the helicopter.

“An aircraft is meant to be flown and if it’s not flown regularly, you need to maintain it,” said foundation board member Jack Swickard, who was a helicopter pilot with the 118th Army Assault Helicopter Company in Vietnam in 1967 and 1968.

Thanks to collaborative efforts of the foundation, the State Park, New Mexico Transportation Department and several private sector companies, the Viking Surprise is about to get a facelift.

“This is just a dream come true,” said Rep. Bob Wooley, R-Roswell, also a veteran and foundation board member.

Roswell is home to several aviation-related companies at the former Walker Air Force Base, which closed in 1967. Wooley’s contacts with aircraft maintenance specialists AerSale and Dean Baldwin Painting, which paints private, military and commercial aircraft, yielded commitments to refurbish the aircraft for free.

“We are really excited to do this kind of project. As a company, we really stand behind our community,” said Dean Baldwin General Manager David Mantay, a former U.S. Navy pilot.

A Taos company, MTM Crane Services, offered to lift the aircraft off the display stand onto the Transportation Department trailer and on Friday, Oct. 21, the Huey began its journey to Roswell.

Transporting the roughly 60-foot long aircraft over the hairpin turns of Palo Flechado Pass between Angel Fire and Taos was a challenge.

“(We) enlisted one of our most talented drivers to navigate the road,” said Transportation Department spokeswoman Emilee Cantrell.

State Police pitched in to provide an escort as the huge transport vehicle made its way to southeastern New Mexico, stopping for the weekend in Santa Fe.

It arrived with great fanfare on Monday, Oct. 24, escorted through Roswell by local motorcycle riders of the Patriot Guard Riders, an organization that honors veterans. Volunteers from Holloway Construction used a crane to unload it at the AerSale hangar.

Swickard, now 73, got to sit in the pilot’s seat and relive old memories. Based on the aircraft tail number, he realized that it was one of the helicopters he had flown in Vietnam when he was 22 years old.

“Helicopters are more difficult to fly than fixed wing aircraft. Every control move affects all other controls in the cockpit,” Swickard said.

Flying in Vietnam, he said, “Your depth perception became extremely good. You could tell when you were two inches from an object with the rotor blade. You could lower the craft into a hole among tree with only inches clearance.”

Dickerson and other foundation board members will meet with representatives from AerSale and Dean Baldwin in mid-November to discuss repairs they want.

“Corrosion is the worst enemy of aircraft. Any corrosion on the metal they will fix,” Dickerson said, “I think that the consensus will be to take it back to the Vietnam era look. I think we’ll pick a paint that will withstand the weather, that will give the longest life to the exterior.”

Vietnam Memorial State Park Manager Kate German said the State Park doesn’t want any specific unit artwork on the Huey.

“It needs to speak to all veterans and therefore, we want to keep it plain,” German said.

The Viking Surprise, built in 1964, saw service with the Army’s 121st Assault Helicopter Company Soc Trang Tigers and Viking Gunship Platoon and later the 118th AHC Bandit and Thunderbird Platoon in Vietnam.

More recently, the helicopter was used by the New Mexico National Guard for general support, including search and rescue and for combat training.

“It was used for all kinds of missions,” said retired National Guardsmen Robert Barrow and Joe Repichowski, who worked with the Huey from about 1991 to 1999, when it went to Angel Fire.

Dickerson expects there will be a large celebration, likely in spring, when the refurbished Huey returns to Angel Fire.

More about the Viking Surprise and Huey helicopters:
• From 1965 to 1973, the Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter was the most common utility helicopter used in Vietnam. It was originally designated HU-1, hence the nickname “Huey.” The designation was later changed to UH-1, according to the Vietnam Helicopters Museum website vietnamhelicopters.org.
• Viking Surprise was fitted with experimental equipment in March 1967, enabling it to lay down a layer of smoke to provide cover for troops in landing zones.
• As a “smokeship” with the 121st Assault Helicopter Company, Viking Surprise, tail number 13670, played a vital role in a rescue operation on Easter Day, March 26, 1967. It had to be repaired and was then assigned to the 118th AHC, according to research by Kate German, manager of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park.
• The New Mexico National Guard received a number of UH-1 helicopters, which provided medevac and search and rescue support for the state, including transport of medical and food supplies to the Navajo Nation during the winters of 1982 to 1985, according to Joseph Vigil, a spokesman for the New Mexico National Guard.
• Retired National Guardsmen Robert Barrow and Joe Repichowski said the Viking Surprise was brought to New Mexico from Arizona around 1991 and was used for all types of missions for the next few years.
• In 1997, the UH-1 aircraft was retired and seven UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters were brought to Santa Fe for the 717th Medical Company.
• The Viking Surprise was brought to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park by the New Mexico National Guard in May 1999.

©2016 the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.)

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Floods in Vietnam kill at least 15.