Vietnam (Vietnamese: Việt Nam), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is a communist state in Southeast Asia. Situated in eastern Indochina—bordering China, Laos, Cambodia, as well as the South China Sea—it is the most populous country among the mainland Southeast Asian countries.

The name of the country comes from the Vietnamese Việt Nam, which is in turn a reordering of Nam Việt—the name of an ancient Kingdom from the ancestral Vietnamese that covered much of today's northern Vietnam and southern China. Its Chinese cognate, Yue/Yuet, was also a name for ethnic groups living in the proximity of southern China during ancient times.

History

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BBC News | Asia-Pacific | World Edition

Pope warns of 'spiritual desert'
Sun, 20 Jul 2008 04:37:28 -0000
Pope Benedict XVI ends World Youth Day celebrations by warning young people to build a world free of greed.
Car restrictions begin in Beijing
Sun, 20 Jul 2008 05:22:53 -0000
Tough new rules aimed at forcing more than one million cars from Beijing's roads during the Olympics come into force.
Moonies founder 'hurt in crash'
Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:26:59 -0000
The founder of controversial religious movement the Moonies is hurt in a helicopter crash in South Korea, reports say.
Malaysian Anwar in 'sodomy alibi'
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:14:54 -0000
Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim tells the BBC he has an alibi to prove sodomy claims against him are false.
Earthquake hits off Japan's coast
Sat, 19 Jul 2008 03:51:15 -0000
A powerful quake off the eastern coast of Japan sparks a tsunami warning for two prefectures, but no immediate reports of damage.
China steps up tourism to Taiwan
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 06:28:33 -0000
Large groups of Chinese tourists are set to begin arriving in Taiwan, as restrictions further ease amid improving relations.

NYT > Asia Pacific

Western Olympic Ads Cheerlead for China
Sun, 20 Jul 2008 04:41:05 -0000
Global corporations are appealing to nationalism in an advertising blitz the likes of which China has never seen.
Obama’s Visit Renews Focus on Afghanistan
Sun, 20 Jul 2008 03:13:30 -0000
Senator Barack Obama stopped on a high-stakes foreign trip in a country that is increasingly the focus of his clash with John McCain.
Closer Ties With the United States Could Cost India’s Prime Minister His Government
Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:50:32 -0000
With a confidence vote in the Indian Parliament scheduled to begin this week, the government’s scramble to stay in power has started an often brazen round of political bargaining.

L.A. Times - Asia

Too much adoration at Cambodia's Angkor temples
Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700
The crush of tourists at the sandstone ruins is taking a toll, conservationists say. The ancient sandstone temples of Angkor have stood up to endless assaults down the centuries, from medieval raiders armed with clubs and spears to genocidal looters laying land mines.
Scouring Thailand rivers for giant stingrays
Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700
A U.S. biologist hopes to find the largest freshwater fish in the world. His project could help protect the species. Rushing across a temple parking lot, British angler Rick Humphreys yells, "We've got a fish."
Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon, 15 others injured in helicopter crash
Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700
A helicopter carrying the Rev. Sun Myung Moon crashed into a mountainside today as it attempted an emergency landing, injuring the founder of the Unification Church and 15 others, officials said.

UN News Centre - Asia Pacific

Nepal will require continued UN presence to advance peace - envoy
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500
The main political actors in Nepal have agreed that a scaled-down United Nations presence is necessary for at least another six months to help advance peace and development in the country, the world body's top official there said today.
General Assembly President holds talks with top Vietnamese official
Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500
Climate change, the global food and energy crisis, economic development and United Nations reform were among the highlights of wide-ranging discussions between General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim and Viet Nam's Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem.
Myanmar: UN agency calls for funds to assist cyclone-affected farmers
Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500
With Myanmar's main planting season drawing to a close next month, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today that urgent aid is needed to help small farmers in the country's rice bowl, which was devastated by Cyclone Nargis.

Asia - Pacific - International Herald Tribune

Untouchable by birth, undaunted as a politician
By SOMINI SENGUPTA Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:38:27 -0000
Kumari Mayawati, a daughter of so-called untouchables and India's most maverick politician, heads the country's largest state, Uttar Pradesh, through a bold and inventive political coalition.
Obama arrives in Afghanistan
By CARLOTTA GALL AND JEFF ZELENY Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:38:27 -0000
Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday, opening his first overseas trip as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee by meeting with U.S. commanders there before heading to Iraq to receive an on-the-ground assessment of military operations in the two major U.S. war zones.
Afghan militants killed in airstrikes, U.S. says
By Carlotta Gall Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:50:32 -0000
U.S. and Afghan special forces killed two tribal leaders and a number of their followers, U.S. officials said, but villagers gave a different account.
Pope apologizes for sex abuse by Australian clergy
By TIM JOHNSTON Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:38:27 -0000
Pope Benedict XVI publicly apologized Saturday for the sexual abuse of children by clerics in Australia and called for the perpetrators to be "brought to justice."
Taliban take Pakistani officials hostage
By PIR ZUBAIR SHAH AND JANE PERLEZ Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:38:27 -0000
The Pakistani Taliban have taken dozens of local officials hostage, including police, paramilitary forces and even state bank officials, and threatened Friday to begin executing them unless the government released four of their comrades captured last week.
Japanese muckraker energizes revived opposition
By NORIMITSU ONISHI Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:38:27 -0000
For Akira Nagatsuma, an opposition lawmaker who was once a reporter, the goal at hand is clear: breaking Japan's one-party state by rooting out hidden information.

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