Vanik: the Baraxus Bridge Chronicles (Book Two)

Adam is a shy, ungainly youth with obsessive compulsive disorder, a love of The Beatles, and a violen Most of the footage has been colourised and transformed with modern production techniques, with the addition of sound effects and voice acting to be more evocative and feel closer to the soldiers' actual experiences. It is Jackson's first documentary as director, although he directed the mockumentary Forgotten Silver in , and produced the West Memphis Three documentary West of Memphis in Jackson, whose grandfather fought in the war, intended for the film to be an immersive experience of "what it was like to be a soldier" rather than a story or a recount of events; the crew reviewed hours of interviews from veterans, and hours of original film footage to make the film Career Albert made his motion picture debut in a drama, The Fool Killer,[1] as a runaway orphan who crossed paths with a disturbed Civil War veteran, played by Anthony Perkins.

He is best known for his work in the film Butterflies Are Free ,[1] in which he played a blind man, starring opposite Goldie Hawn. The following year, he starred opposite Liv Ullmann in the film adaptation of the play 40 Carats. This is a list of sportspersons who play the sport of curling, past and present, sorted by nationality.

Canadian curlers are further sorted by province. The Maggini Quartet is a British string quartet. The Maggini Quartet appear regularly in concert series at home and abroad and are frequent media broadcasters.

Similar authors to follow

Among other notable projects, they have recorded the complete Naxos Quartets cycle by Peter Maxwell Davies. The Quartet's name derives from the famous 16th century Brescian violin maker Giovanni Paolo Maggini. References "Benslow Music Trust". In a career that spanned a quarter of a century, Harvey appeared in stage, film and television productions primarily in the United Kingdom and the United States. His performance in Room at the Top [3] resulted in an Academy Award nomination.

Early life Harvey's civil birth name was Laruschka Mischa Skikne. His Hebrew name was Zvi Mosheh. Harvey grew up in Johannesburg, and w When she crossed over to adult film, she initially performed only in "all-girl" scenes. As offers increased for her to participate in heterosexual scenes, she began working onscreen with Derrick Lane whom she married in She signed an exclusive contract with Vivid Video; eventually tiring of constantly working with Lane, she insisted on working with other men. In fact, her exclusive on-screen commitment to Lane has been credited as the main reason to her waning popularity in adult films.

She has sometimes been referred to as the "brunette goddess of porn" or a "Vivid Queen". He currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and four children. Rubin is a graduate of Occidental College. Controversy During a live on Mark Sunley born 13 October is a former footballer who made 37 appearances in the Football League playing as a centre back for Darlington and Hartlepool United.

He was on the books of Middlesbrough and Millwall, without playing for either in the League, and played non-league football for clubs including Halifax Town, Stalybridge Celtic, Spennymoor United,[1] Gateshead, Guisborough Town and Billingham Synthonia. He played for the club in the FA Youth Cup final, a 3—2 defeat over two legs to Tottenham Hotspur, but never broke through to the first team. The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 15, Plot An interracial family struggles to adjust when they move from Brooklyn, New York to a small town in Washington State.

She is among the few performers to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting. As a professional actress from the late s, she spent four years as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company from , being particularly associated with the work of director Peter Brook.

• Redirects here:!
• Miguel de Molinos: The Spiritual Guide (Classics of Western Spirituality (Paperback))?
• Vanik (Bar'axus Bridge Chronicles #2);
• Laurence Jackson.

During her film career, she won two Academy Awards for Best Actress: Paul Laurence Dunbar June 27, — February 9, was an American poet, novelist, and playwright of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American Civil War, Dunbar began to write stories and verse when still a child; he was president of his high school's literary society.

He published his first poems at the age of 16 in a Dayton newspaper. Much of Dunbar's more popular work in his lifetime was written in the "Negro dialect" associated with the antebellum South, though he also used the Midwestern regional dialect of James Whitcomb Riley. The musical later toured in the United States and t The film follows a boxer who sets out to get his life back on track after losing his wife in an accident and his young daughter to protective services. The film was released on July 24, , by The Weinstein Company. The film marked one of the last films to be scored by James Horner, and one of three posthumous releases to feature his music.

The film and the film's soundtrack album are dedicated to his memory. Billy's particular style of fighting often leaves him beaten and bruised. During a match in which he defends his light heavyweight world title, Billy sustains an eye injury as well as heavy blows to the face and body, leaving him coughing up blood for days.

Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the Unit...

He is finally convinced by Maureen Laurence Tureaud born May 21, [2] , known professionally as Mr. T,[3] is an American actor and retired professional wrestler known for his roles as B. T is known for his distinctive hairstyle inspired by warriors of Mandinka nation in West Africa,[4] his gold jewelry, and his tough-guy image.

In , he starred in I Pity the Fool, a reality show shown on TV Land; the title of the show comes from the famous catchphrase used by his character, Clubber Lang. Early life Tureaud was born in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest son in a family with twelve children. His father, Nathaniel Tureaud, Sr.

I think about my father being Representative — and U. Senator — from the state of Washington. A Cold War liberal and anti-Communist Democrat, Jackson supported higher military spending and a hard line against the Soviet Union, while also supporting social welfare programs, civil rights, and labor unions.

He won election to Congress in and joined the Senate in after defeating incumbent Republican Senator Harry P. Jackson supported the major civil rights of the s and authored the National Environmental Policy Act, which helped establish the principle of publicly analyzing environmental impacts. He co-sponsored the Jackson—Vanik amendment, which denied normal trade relations to countries with restrictive emigration policies.

Early life Jones came from a family of educators, with an uncle who founded the Woodstock Manual Labor Institute in Michigan in After graduating from the University of Iowa in Jones turned down an offer to teach at the prestigious Tuskegee Institute in Alabama,[4] instead opting to teach at the small Utica Institute, a school for African American children located in Utica, Mississippi. While he was there he was recruited by the congregation of St. Based on medal count, this was Great Britain's best ever performance at a Winter Olympic Games until the games were held in Sochi in Russia.

On February 3rd, Great Britain won two medals on one day. This was not to be bettered until the games when 3 medals were won on one day. Olivier in Laurence Olivier — was an English actor who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, dominated the British stage of the midth century.

From he performed in radio broadcasts and, from , had considerable success in television roles. After attending drama school, Olivier began his professional career with small touring companies before being taken on in by Sybil Thorndike and her husband, Lewis Casson, as a bit-part player, understudy and assistant stage manager for their London company. Then and Now was David Cassidy's 16th solo album, released in It became a big hit in the UK, where it reached 5 in the album charts and ultimately achieved Platinum sales status.

It contained new recordings of songs previously released in other albums. Hear' Say Personnel Musicians: Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott — , which was originally published in two volumes in and Alcott wrote the books over several months at the request of her publisher.

Alcott quickly completed a second volume entitled Good Wives in the United Kingdom, although this name originated from the publisher and not from Alcott. It was also successful. The two volumes were issued in as a single novel entitled Little Women. Alcott wrote two sequels to her popular work, both of which also featured the March sisters: Little Men and Jo's Boys Although Little Women was a novel for girls, it differed notably from the current writings for c On May 11, , ABC renewed the series for a fifth season.

The fifth season premiered on October 16, Main Tracee Ellis Ross Dr. Readers cancelled subscriptions and sent hate mail throughout the summer. In a small village in New England of about residents, the locals are in an excited yet nervous mood on June Children gather stones as the adult townsfolk assemble for their annual event, which in the local tradition is practiced to ensure a good harvest Old Man Warner quotes an old proverb: Released as the second single from her debut album Natural Thing, it became the most successful release from the album, peaking at number 90 on the Billboard Hot Track listing CD single[1] No.

Title Writer s Producer Length 1. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus. The live shows started on 12 October Friend finished in third place on 14 December , and then Bailey was announced as the winner the following night, with McDonald as the runner-up. Osbourne, who returned to the show after quitting in , emerged as the winning mentor for the first time. Under the Le, expansion to the south continued, and the entire Mekong River Delta came under Vietnamese rule during the 17th century.

But expansion brought problems, as a weakened Le court slipped into civil war between two princely families, the Trinh in the north and the Nguyen in the south. The division of Vietnam into two separate political entities came at a time when European adventurers were beginning to expand their commercial and missionary activities into East and Southeast Asia. In , a major peasant revolt led by the Tay Son brothers destroyed the Nguyen and the Trinh and briefly united the entire country under Emperor Nguyen Hue, ablest of the Tay Son.

But a prince of the defeated Nguyen house enlisted the aid of a French Roman Catholic bishop and raised a military force that conquered the Tay Son and reunited the country under a new Nguyen Dynasty — When the founding emperor, Gia Long, died in , his son Minh Mang refused to continue the commercial and missionary privileges granted by his predecessor to the French.

In , French forces attacked near Saigon and forced the defeated Vietnamese Empire to cede territory in the area to the French, which became the colony of Cochin China.

In , France completed its conquest of the country, establishing a protectorate over central and northern Vietnam now renamed Annam and Tonkin. In , the three sections of Vietnam were included with the protectorates of Laos and Cambodia into a French-ruled Indochinese Union. The first Vietnamese attempts to resist French rule were ineffectual.

Western-style nationalist movements began to form after World War I , and an Indochinese Communist Party , under the leadership of the veteran revolutionary Ho Chi Minh , was formed in During the joint French-Japanese rule, Communist forces under the umbrella of the Viet-Minh Front began to organize for a national uprising at the end of the war. In March , the Japanese, nearing defeat, disarmed the French and seized full administrative control over French Indochina.

At the same time, the Japanese set up a puppet government, with Bao Dai , the figurehead emperor of Vietnam, as nominal ruler. Shortly after Japan surrendered to Allied forces in August , Viet-Minh forces, led by the Indochinese Communist Party , launched the nationwide August Revolution to restore Vietnamese independence.

Under the Potsdam agreements, Nationalist Chinese troops occupied all of Indochina north of the 16th parallel, while British troops occupied the remainder of the old Indochinese Union. Chinese commanders permitted the Viet-Minh to remain in political control of the north, but the British assisted the French to restore their authority in the south. The agreement also called for a plebiscite in Cochin China to permit the local population in that colony to determine their own future.

During the summer of , French and Vietnamese negotiators attempted without success to complete an agreement on the future of Vietnam. In September, Ho Chi Minh signed a modus vivendi calling for renewed talks early in , but military clashes between Vietnamese and French troops in the DRV led to the outbreak of war in December According to the Geneva agreement signed on 21 July, Vietnam was temporarily partitioned along the 17th parallel, pending general elections to bring about national reunification.

North of the parallel, the DRV began to build a Socialist society, while in the south, an anti-Communist government under the Roman Catholic politician Ngo Dinh Diem attempted with US aid to build a viable and independent state. With the Geneva accords thus abrogated, Vietnamese guerrillas, supported by the DRV, initiated low-level political and military activities to destabilize the Saigon regime.

Their efforts were assisted by Diem's own shortcomings, as he brutally suppressed all political opposition and failed to take effective measures to bring to an end the unequal division of landholding in South Vietnam. Guerrilla activities by the People's Liberation Armed Forces known in the United States as the Viet-Cong were stepped up, and Hanoi began to infiltrate trained cadres from the north to provide leadership to the revolutionary movement. Despite increasing economic and military assistance from the United States, the Diem regime continued to decline, and in November , Diem was overthrown by a military coup waged with the complicity of US president John F.

Kennedy 's administration, which had watched in dismay as Diem had alienated Buddhist elements by his open favoritism toward Roman Catholics. General Minh promised to continue efforts to defeat the insurgency movement in the south but was unable to reverse the growing political anarchy in Saigon. Early in , he was replaced by another military junta. During the next 15 months, a number of governments succeeded each other, while the influence of the NLF, assisted by growing numbers of regular troops that were infiltrating from the north, steadily increased in the countryside.

By early , US intelligence was warning that without US intervention, South Vietnam could collapse within six months. American combat troops were introduced in growing numbers into the south, while a campaign of heavy bombing raids was launched on military and industrial targets in the north. In Saigon, the political situation stabilized with the seizure of power by a group of army officers led by Nguyen Van Thieu and Nguyen Cao Ky.

Encouraged by the United States, the new military regime drafted a constitution, and in elections held in September , Gen. Thieu was elected president of the country. The Hanoi regime attempted to match the US escalation by increasing infiltration of North Vietnamese military units into the south, but under the sheer weight of US firepower, the revolution began to lose momentum, and morale was ebbing. On 30 January , in an effort to reverse the military decline on the battlefield and encourage the growing popular discontent with the war in the United States, Hanoi launched the Tet Offensive, a massive effort to seize towns and villages throughout the south.

The attempt to seize Saigon or force the collapse of the Saigon regime failed to achieve its objective, but the secondary aim of undermining support for the war in the United States succeeded. President Johnson canceled plans to increase the US military commitment and agreed to pursue a political settlement. To bring about negotiations with Hanoi, a complete bombing halt was ordered on 1 November, just before the US presidential election that brought Richard M.

Nixon to office as the new Republican president. President Nixon announced a policy of "Vietnamization," according to which US forces would be gradually withdrawn and the bulk of the fighting in the south would be taken over by RVN forces. The invasion backfired, however, stimulating the rise of revolutionary activities by the Hanoisupported Cambodian Communist movement and arousing protests in the United States that the war was being expanded. The withdrawal of US military forces continued, and in March , the DRV attempted to test the capability of the South Vietnamese forces by launching a direct offensive across the 17th parallel.

The "Easter Offensive" succeeded in capturing the provincial capital of Quang Tri, but further gains were prevented by the resumption of US bombing raids. By this time, both sides were willing to compromise to bring the war to an end; on 26 October , the DRV announced that secret talks between US secretary of state Henry Kissinger and its representative, Le Duc Tho , had produced a tentative agreement. Hanoi agreed to recognize the political authority of President Nguyen Van Thieu in Saigon, while the United States agreed to complete the withdrawal of US forces without demanding the removal of existing North Vietnamese troops in the south.

The negotiations briefly ran aground in late autumn, leading President Nixon to order an intensive bombing assault on the DRV, but the talks resumed in early January, and the Paris Agreement was formally signed on 27 January The Paris Agreement and the withdrawal of US forces by no means signaled the end of the conflict. Clashes between revolutionary forces and South Vietnamese units continued in the south, while provisions for a political settlement quickly collapsed. In January , North Vietnamese forces in the south launched a major military offensive in the Central Highlands.

When South Vietnamese resistance in the area disintegrated, further attacks were launched farther to the north, and by late March the entire northern half of the country was in North Vietnamese hands. President Thieu resigned on 21 April, but his successor, General Duong Van Minh , was unable to achieve a negotiated settlement. Thus ended a war in which some 2,, Vietnamese and more than 56, Americans were killed and an estimated 4,, people were injured. During the next 15 months, the DRV moved to complete national reunification of north and south. Nationwide elections for a new National Assembly were held on 25 April The nation's Communist leadership, with Le Duan the general secretary of the Communist Party and Pham Van Dong the prime minister , remained unchanged, while loyal members of the revolutionary movement in the south were given positions of prominence at the national level.

Economic reconstruction and the building of a fully Socialist society proved more difficult than reunification. Nationalization of industry and collectivization of agriculture had been achieved in the north in the late s, but the south proved more resistant to official efforts to end private enterprise after When the regime attempted to destroy the remnants of capitalism and private farming in the south in , thousands fled, and the economy entered a period of severe crisis. Its problems were magnified by the outbreak of war with China.

In December , Vietnamese forces had invaded neighboring Kampuchea known as Cambodia until and again from to overthrow the anti-Vietnamese government of the revolutionary Pol Pot. A pro-Vietnamese government was installed in early January China, which had been supporting Pol Pot to retain its own influence in Southeast Asia, mounted a punitive invasion of North Vietnam in February After a short but bitter battle that caused severe casualties on both sides, the Chinese forces withdrew across the border. China, however, continued to support guerrilla operations led by Pol Pot against the government in Kampuchea.

During the s, the SRV attempted to recover from its economic crisis. Party leaders worked out a compromise permitting the survival of a small private sector while maintaining a program of gradual Socialist transformation. This leadership promised a new "openness" in political affairs and a policy of economic renovation doi moi to improve the livelihood of the population. A strong conservative coalition of party leaders seriously reduced Linh's effectiveness as they stressed the dangers of political liberalization and slowed the pace of economic reform.

Economic recovery continued to be difficult due to a serious lack of investment capital, resources, and technical skills. The SRV's internal problems were compounded by the continuing dispute with China. To protect itself from Chinese intimidation, Hanoi had formed a military alliance with the USSR and was deeply dependent upon Soviet economic assistance. The continuing civil war in Kampuchea also represented a steady drain on the SRV's slender resources and prevented foreign economic assistance, particularly from the United States.

In December the constitution was amended to remove derogatory references to the United States, China, France and Japan, as an attempt to improve international relations. In August Do Muoi resigned as prime minister. His successor Vo Van Kiet favored free-market reforms. A new constitution was adopted by the National Assembly in April A general election took place in July and, for the first time, independent candidates were allowed to present themselves, but neither of the two deemed qualified were elected.

In January the first direct talks between Vietnam and China since resulted in Vietnam's agreement to withdraw its troops from Cambodia by the end of September and China's agreement to end aid to the Khmer Rouge guerrillas once the Vietnamese withdrawal was achieved. Later, Vietnam insisted that the withdrawal was contingent on the end of all foreign military aid to factions opposing Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The Soviet economic assistance on which Vietnam had depended, withered away with the collapse of the USSR, although technical help from Russia remains important. With the loss of major Soviet aid, Vietnam's relations with the West began to warm considerably. In June , Vietnam announced that all South Vietnamese officials had been released from reeducation camps, a US-mandated prerequisite for lifting its embargo against Vietnam.

At the time Clinton lifted the embargo, there were still 2, US servicemen listed as missing. Vietnam agreed to cooperate with their recovery to the "fullest possible extent. In October Vietnam agreed to accept the forced repatriation of Vietnamese refugees — known as boat people — who were designated economic migrants, not seekers of political asylum. The boat people were in camps around Asia from — The "comprehensive plan of action" adopted by the UN High Commission for Refugees in reduced the number of boat people fleeing Vietnam.

In , the Commission decided that all those still living in camps were to be repatriated. During the s, Vietnam stepped up its efforts to attract foreign capital from the West and regularize relations with the world financial system. At the same time, the country struggled with its intention not to descend too deeply into Western style consumerism, as demonstrated in , when the government, while continuing to court foreign investment, banned consumer-goods advertising in foreign languages.

That move angered Western investors and free-market Vietnamese, but marked the beginning of a countrywide attempt to purge society of overt Western decadence. Analysts attributed the drive to the aging hard-line leadership who looked at the doi moi reforms with intense skepticism. After joining ASEAN in , Vietnam began reframing its trade laws and began instituting legal reforms aimed at codifying its sometimes capricious statutory system. During , a significant year in Vietnam's opening up to the world, the Communist Party held two meetings to discuss the establishment of a law-based civil society to replace the decades-old system of rule by fiat.

In this spirit, the National Assembly passed a series of laws aligning the country with international standards on copyright protection — needed for World Trade Organization WTO membership — and other areas. An extensive document, called the Civil Code, was passed containing articles ostensibly granting the Vietnamese people greater civil liberties.

Other measures were decidedly investor-unfriendly, such as Prime Minister Kiet's decree that no more land would be turned over from rice production to industrial use. In June , the Communist Party held its eighth congress, its first full congress since Much was expected from the congress in light of the country's ambiguous and, at times, conflicting moves toward openness and reform over the 12 years of doi moi. The Party issued decrees in favor of continued economic reform and international investment, but balked at the kind of market liberalization most internationalist investors perceive as necessary to the creation of a viable economy.

After the long war between the Communists and the United States, 30 April marked Vietnam's reunification. Celebrations of the occasion, with military parades and a carnival atmosphere, were followed by the 6 May funeral of former prime minister Pham Van Dong. One of the original troika leading Vietnam during the struggle against France and the United States, Dong born in had been an influential, unswerving Communist conservative.

It remains to be seen whether the inevitable winnowing of Vietnam's "gerontocracy" will result in significant liberalization.

Severe, violent unrest in the countryside during led to punishment of rural officials for corruption, and increased awareness of agricultural concerns. Expressions of rural discontent continued to emerge, even in the form of peasant anticorruption protests in the streets of Ho Chi Minh City. As aftereffects of the Asian economic crisis stunted the growth of Vietnam's economy, the country remained poor at the beginning of the 21st century. In spite of strides in rice production, literacy and education, unemployment outpaces economic growth.

Rural infrastructure languishes, and the urban gap between a rich elite and struggling masses is enormous. Socialist rhetoric and retrenchment failed to heal the divide, which also exists between North and South.

References

Some effort has been made to recognize Party officials from the South, such as early s appointment of Truong Tan Sang, who had been Ho Chi Minh City's Party head, to lead the Party's economic commission. The reformists within the Party have never been completely marginalized, only outmaneuvered by the old-time Marxists. Retired General Tran Do's open criticism of corruption and other failures of the system resulted in his expulsion from the Party in January General Tran Do endured other forms of harassment, but it was not as severe as that meted out to other dissidents, due to his revered war veteran, communist faithful, status.

He died on 9 August Issues of importance relevant to Vietnam's reintegration into the international system have included the status of Vietnamese refugees; border and troop withdrawal disputes with Cambodia, Thailand, and the People's Republic of China; conflicts over the Spratly and Paracel island groups in the South China Sea; conflicts with the United States over the recovery of the remains of US soldiers missing-in-action MIA ; and Vietnamese cooperation in a diplomatic settlement in Cambodia.

Trade between the United States and Vietnam was normalized in December Vietnam initially did not want to be perceived by China as overly friendly with the United States, and the Party elite was reluctant to embark on the economic overhaul that the United States demands. Nevertheless, trade relations between the United States and Vietnam grew steadily in the first decade of the early 21st century. United Airlines began servicing Vietnam in By April , around the time of the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, the United States had become Vietnam's largest export market.

Stronger trade ties helped Vietnam's economy grow considerably. Through the mids into the early 21st century, the country's economy grew at an annual 7. A May report, "Vietnam: Silencing of Dissent" by Human Rights Watch, detailed ways in which those expressing views counter to the Party line are subjected to "harassment and intimidation," although it noted that Vietnam has fewer actual political prisoners than in the past. The US government particularly members of Congress remains critical of Vietnam's human rights policies, including arbitrary arrest and detention of citizens.

In contradiction to assertions of commitment to the cause of human rights , authorities continued to severely limit freedom of speech , press, assembly and association, workers' rights, and rights of citizens to change their government. Print and broadcast media remain firmly state-dominated. In January , the Communist Party ordered the seizure and destruction of unauthorized books written by leading dissidents. The arrival of Internet access in Vietnam began to provide a means for free expression, although so far Internet content is government monitored.

In August , the government passed a decree that imposed stricter regulations on Internet cafes and imposed fines for illegal Internet usage, while opening up provision of Internet services to privately owned businesses, including foreign companies. The government controlled the operation of the sole Internet access provider. In August , the government proposed severe penalties for Internet cafe owners who allow customers to visit antigovernment or pornographic websites.

There were approximately 4, Internet cafes in The controversy between the People's Republic of China and Vietnam over the control of the Spratly and Paracel archipelagoes in the South China Sea dates to the early part of the 20th century. After the Vietnam War , when oil supplies became an issue, the dispute intensified, leading to numerous armed clashes between China and Vietnam.

These competing claims have broad geopolitical implications regarding oil reserves, fishing rights, rights of passage for ships, prevention of nuclear dumping, and security in the region. In , China occupied Mischief Reef, on an island in the area claimed by the Philippines and later that year China signed an agreement with a US oil exploration firm to drill for oil in waters claimed by Vietnam. In March , a meeting of the ASEAN ambassadors was convened in Hanoi and the regional bloc emerged united in opposition to China's move against what they officially recognized as Vietnam's legal territory, marking the first time the ASEAN nations stood up in defiance of Beijing.

Vietnam staked its own claim to the islands when it fired on a Philippines jet in Although the disputes over the islands remained unresolved as of early , all of the claimants except for Taiwan agreed to resolve the dispute eventually through peaceful means. At the ninth Party congress held in April , reform-minded National Assembly chairman Nong Duc Manh was chosen as General Secretary to replace the unpopular Le Kha Phieu, who was increasingly seen as an obstacle to Vietnam's modernization.

In , the Party revised its rules to allow members to engage in private business. By September, more than government officials had been arrested, more than 50 police officers had been suspended from duty, and two members of the Central Committee were expelled from the Party for dealings with Nam Cam, a crime figure involved in drug, prostitution, and protection rackets. In National Assembly elections held on 19 May , approximately candidates competed for seats, some of whom were independents.

However, a government body, the Fatherland Front, was responsible for screening candidates. No opposition parties contested the vote. The next presidential election was to be held in The Communist Party-controlled government of Vietnam has ruled under four state constitutions. The first was promulgated in , the second in , the third in , and the fourth in The constitution of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam DRV , adopted shortly before the war with the French, was never fully implemented because of wartime conditions.

On 1 January , a new constitution was promulgated, instituting a largely presidential system to capitalize on Ho Chi Minh's considerable prestige. The first, by the regime of Ngo Dinh Diem was introduced in The second was put forth when Nguyen Van Thieu was elected president in Like the DRV constitution, it created a modified presidential system, with a cabinet responsible to the legislative branch. Following the fall of the RVN in , the north moved quickly toward national reunification. In December , the SRV adopted a new constitution for the entire country.

The new charter, more doctrinaire than its predecessors, described Vietnam as a "proletarian dictatorship" led by the Communist Party, and called for an early transition to full Socialist ownership. The highest state authority was the National Assembly. Members were elected for five-year terms by universal adult suffrage at age The Assembly appointed the Council of Ministers a cabinet of 33 ministers , the chairman of which ranked as premier.

The Council of State 12 members in served as the collective presidency of Vietnam, elected by the National Assembly from among its own members and accountable to it. In a new constitution was adopted by the National Assembly. Like the constitution it affirmed the central role of the Communist Party, stipulating that the party must be subject to the law.

In support of a free-market economy, constitutional protection of foreign investment was guaranteed. However, land remained the property of the state, with individuals or enterprises entitled to the right to long-term leases that can be inherited or sold. The newly created position of president replaced the Council of State; the president has the right to appoint a prime minister subject to the approval of the National Assembly.

The National Assembly, with a maximum of members, retained legislative power. Members are elected to five-year terms by universal adult suffrage. As of , there were members of the National Assembly. The next election was to take place in The Vietnamese Communist Party is the political successor to the Indochinese Communist Party, created in and formally dissolved in From until , the party operated in clandestine fashion, until it emerged once more as the Vietnamese Workers' Party at the Second National Congress in The party assumed its current name in , shortly after the unification of the country into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

The Communist Party is administered through an assembly of national delegates. National party conventions elect a Central Committee to guide party affairs between sessions of the national convention. The Central Committee in turn elects the Politburo, the highest policy making body, and a secretariat to direct day-today party operations. The Fatherland Front is the linear successor of the Viet-Minh Front, formed in to provide the Communist Party with a broad organization to unify all elements in Vietnam against the French colonial regime.

The Fatherland Front was formed in North Vietnam in as a device to mobilize the population to support the regime's goals. Under the RVN government, development of a political party system in the Western sense never passed the rudimentary stage. President Thieu, who headed the People's Alliance for Social Revolution, tried to consolidate anti-Communist political organizations in the RVN through a multiparty National Social Democratic Front, but formal political organizations were weak and plagued with religious and regional sectarianism.

Wartime conditions and the lack of a national tradition of political pluralism were additional factors preventing the rise of a multiparty system. All such parties were abolished after the fall of Saigon in In the SRV, elections for national and local office are controlled by the Communist Party and the state. In the July general elections candidates contested National Assembly seats. For the first time independent candidates — not Communist Party members or endorsed by organizations affiliated with the Party — were permitted to contest seats, although they did require Party approval in order to present themselves.

Vanik (Bar'axus Bridge Chronicles #2) by Aimee Roseland

Two candidates qualified, but neither was elected. In , the Communist Party held its eighth congress, at which it was widely expected a new generation of leaders would be inaugurated; but, again the aging hard-line leaders were given another five-year term in office as the country struggled with the consequences of 12 years of economic reform and increased international openness.

In 's national elections, the first three "self-nominated" candidates not proposed by the Party or the Fatherland Front managed to gain seats in the member National Assembly. At the ninth party congress held in April , National Assembly chairman Nong Duc Manh was chosen as general secretary, which was seen as a step toward reform. In the 19 May elections for the member National Assembly, some independents competed for seats, although the Fatherland Front was responsible for approving them. Districts, towns, and villages are governed by locally elected people's councils.

Council candidates are screened by the party. Council members' responsibilities include upholding the constitution and laws and overseeing local armed forces units. The councils in turn elect and oversee executive organs, called people's committees, to provide day-to-day administration. The entire system functions in a unitary fashion, with local organs of authority directly accountable to those at higher levels. The highest court in Vietnam is the Supreme People's Court, whose members are appointed for five-year terms by the National Assembly on the recommendation of the president.

In addition, there are local people's courts at each administrative level; military courts; and "special courts" established by the National Assembly in certain cases. Law enforcement is handled by the People's Organs of Control; the president, or procurator-general, of this body is appointed by the National Assembly. Although the constitution provides for the independence of judges and jurors, there is close control of the entire governmental system by the Vietnamese Communist Party VCP and a judicial selection process which favors appointment of jurists supportive of the VCP.

Prison sentences are frequently imposed through administrative procedures without the protections of procedural due process or judicial review. Trials are generally open to the public. Defendants have the right to be present at the trial, to have an attorney, and to crossexamine witnesses. The legal system is based on communist legal theory and French civil law.

Rising crime, including violent robbery and extortion, in the cities, plus endemic corruption and smuggling, provide challenges for under-funded law enforcement agencies and the criminal justice system. Since reunification in , Vietnam has continued to maintain a strong military presence. As of , the armed forces had , active personnel. Of that figure, the Army had about , personnel, the People's Air Force 30, members and the Navy an estimated 15, personnel, in addition to 27, naval infantry troops. Reserves numbered between three and four million. The Army's primary armament included 1, main battle tanks, light tanks, reconnaissance vehicles, armored infantry fighting vehicles, 1, armored personnel carriers and over 3, artillery pieces.

The People's Air Force had combat capable aircraft that included fighters, in addition to four fixed wing antisubmarine aircraft, 26 attack and 13 antisubmarine warfare helicopters. Paramilitary forces include an estimated 40, member Border Defense Corps and local rural and urban militia units with more than five million members. Vietnam was admitted to the United Nations on 20 September The country has observer status in the WTO. Vietnam is part of the Nonaligned Movement. Wet-rice agriculture is the most important segment of the Vietnamese economy. While agriculture has continued growth, transforming Vietnam from a net importer 15 years ago into the second-largest exporter of rice, industry has grown even faster.

Industry in accounted for The most diversified area in Southeast Asia in terms of mineral resources, Vietnam is well endowed with coal , tin, tungsten, gold, iron, manganese, chromium, and antimony. Foods, garments, shoes, machines, cement, chemical fertilizer, glass, tires, oil, coal, steel, and paper are the main industrial products. Most of the nation's mineral resources are located in the north, while the south is a major producer of rice and tropical agricultural products, such as rubber, coffee, and tea.

The war took its heaviest economic toll on Vietnam's infrastructure, which even in the best of times was far from adequate to afford access to and mobilization of the country's agricultural and industrial resources. Further setbacks came in the late s. In , the regime announced a five-year plan, calling for rapid industrialization and Socialist transformation by the end of the decade. According to official sources, in floods destroyed 3 million tons of rice, submerged over 1 million hectares 2. The termination of all Chinese aid in the same year, followed by the Chinese attack on the north in February — March , dealt the economy further blows.

Vietnam's economy had already been weakened by the military effort in Kampuchea known as Cambodia until and again after and by the suspension of food aid from the EC now EU , the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand because of objections to Vietnam's refugee policies. Reportedly, the country came close to general famine in In , faced with serious shortages of food and consumer goods, Vietnamese leaders approved a new program granting incentives for increased productivity and delaying the construction of farm collectives in the southern provinces.

During the — 85 five-year plan, emphasis was placed on agriculture and the production of consumer goods. Policy changes were introduced incrementally with economic liberalization preceding consideration of political liberalization. In Hanoi, the increased presence of a foreign community spurred the availability of western-style restaurants and bars, hotel and airport renovation and upgrading, accessible public telephones, and advertising of consumer goods.

However, with the onset of the Asian financial crisis in , growth, which was 8. Growth increased to 6. The pace of growth was projected to be impressive in — 07, aided by solid growth in industry, but was forecast to decline slightly from the seven-year high reached in Several factors contributed to Vietnam's growing unemployment: However, with capital investment, this labor force could be turned into a resource for growth in labor-intensive manufacturing, considering the low wage base in Vietnam, the high skills levels, and high motivation.

The unemployment rate was estimated at 6. Inflation, which jumped from 3. The Party leadership is concerned about persistent unemployment and underemployment, the widening gap between rich and poor, and increases in bankruptcy, prostitution, and corruption. The CIA defines GDP as the value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year and computed on the basis of purchasing power parity PPP rather than value as measured on the basis of the rate of exchange based on current dollars.

The annual growth rate of GDP was estimated at 7. Household consumption includes expenditures of individuals, households, and nongovernmental organizations on goods and services, excluding purchases of dwellings. It was estimated that for the period to household consumption grew at an average annual rate of 5. It was estimated that in about Vietnam's labor force was estimated at As of , the nation's occupational breakdown was as follows: Unemployment in was estimated at 2.

As of , Vietnamese workers were not free to form or join independent unions. The government-controlled Trade Union Federation of Vietnam VGCL is the sole labor organization, and all workers automatically become members of the union of their workplace. Strikes are prohibited at enterprises that serve the public or are important to the national economy or defense, and the Prime Minister decides what enterprises come under that definition. Most strikes occur against foreign enterprises.

The minimum age for full-time employment is 18, with special provisions for those between 15 and 18 years of age. However, many children work in violation of this law, especially in the informal economy. Working hours are set by law at eight hours per day with a mandatory hour rest period per week. Working conditions are slowly improving. In , there were 32, farms with sown crops and 22, with perennial crops. Agriculture in the north is concentrated in the lowland areas of the Red River Delta and along the central coast to the south. The Mekong Delta, among the great rice-producing regions of the world, is the dominant agricultural region of the south.

Excess grain from the area is shipped to the northern parts of the country. Annual food-grain production averaged 20 million tons in the early s, reaching In the north, two and in some cases three crops a year are made possible through an extensive system of irrigation, utilizing upward of 4, km 2, mi of dikes.

Single-cropping remains the rule in the south, where heavy rains fall for six months of the year and virtually no rain at all during the other six months. The southern region's extensive network of canals is used mainly for transport and drainage, although some irrigational use was attempted under the RVN government. Rice production between and was adversely affected by bad weather and the regime's attempt to promote collectivization, but it began to rebound during the early s. Other crops include corn, sorghum, cassava, sweet potatoes, beans, fruits, and vegetables.

In , estimated production in thousands of tons was sugarcane, 15,; corn, 3,; groundnuts in shell, ; and soybeans, Rubber, formerly a major crop and a leading source of foreign exchange , was grown mostly on large plantations organized under the French colonial regime. As a result of the Vietnam war, practically all of the large plantations in the "redlands" area in the south were shut down, and damage to the trees was severe.

Lucien feels deeply for his chosen family and is absolutely worthy of love. What is your novel about? And the winners are Thank you so much to everyone that participated in my contests! The iPad Mini went to Maria G. The Photo contest ended in a tie between two submissions Yikes! Both participants submitted two photos each so we decided to use their second photo to break the tie, settling the score by one vote.

I hope that everyone had fun playing. I greatly appreciate all the support I received durin. Free iPad Mini Contest! My free iPad Mini contest will begin October 1st and end October 31st with the drawing held November 1st. Receive extra entries for submitting a creative photo of you reading your copy of the Beneath the Veil Anthology.

Vote or submit your photo here. Like the Aimee Roseland Facebook fan page and receive one chance to enter. Bonus entries awarded for tweeting, sharing with friends, and participat. Most writers have a dream. It usually involves a home office and a self-set schedule and freedom. To get the office in the house, you have to make sales. To make sales, you have to write what a decent portion of buyers read. Dawn pours a gilded light through the night clouds, Round and grey and filled with stormy promise. The summer bats weave a wobbly path to their hidden roosts, They know the day's sterile sun is best avoided.

Moist, scented air rises from the shadowed lawns, The musky pine bows, The leaves and flowers.

• How to increase your Emotional Intelligence and hear what people say (Entrepreneurs Brief Guide Book 5);
• .
• Product details.
• Laurence Jackson | Revolvy!
• Hungary - Unionpedia, the concept map.
• SAS 162 Que la bête meure (French Edition).

Few disturb this peaceful quiet. This moment between night and day when you realize you're dreaming. How Science Supports Reincarnation Or: Why I believe you were once Joan of Arc. True instinct is something incredibly amazing. Postcard from The Hermit on the Hill. I was thirteen when I discovered books. I was a painfully shy person for most of my life. Never really connecting with other people and more concerned with homework than watching TV.

I was a hermit and I liked it that way. Then I discovered books and Faith and a Dragon. I was once a religious bigot. A childhood spent choking on the religion my parents liked to cram down my throat had soured me to the faith so many others found solace in. I saw religious books as instruction manuals for the directionless. How-to guides for finding a purpose. Into the bleeding cup is spilled, The burning essence of human life, Our liquid constitution, So quickly cooled beneath the breath, Of ambivilant space, And the freedom to drain away My Mother Who Killed. My memory begins on that day.

There was a life before the killings, but the memory of that one night seems to have eaten up the space that those other experiences once existed in.