Latest news with #VietnameseCommunity
CBC
3 days ago
- General
- CBC
This man can't return to his homeland of Vietnam. Still, he's proud of his heritage
Fifty years after the fall of Saigon, Dong Van Tran is grateful for the life he has in Canada. His journey to Saskatoon wasn't easy.
CBS News
26-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
San Jose leaders to ask nonprofit to add South Vietnam flag to emoji list
As people continue to use emojis more and more frequently, the options are becoming even more important. San Jose leaders are now asking a nonprofit that standardizes emojis to include the flag of South Vietnam. The flag is already prominent in the city. At the Vietnamese Heritage Garden, three flags billow overhead: the American flag, the California flag, and a yellow flag with three red stripes representing South Vietnam. Many refugees, like District 7 City Councilmember Bien Doan, still resonate with it. "By having this freedom flag, it means so much to them," said Doan about some of the Vietnamese community. Doan immigrated to the U.S. back in 1975, right around the end of the Vietnam War. "We had to," Said Doan about his experience. "The communists had taken over Saigon and if we didn't get out, my father would have been imprisoned for a long time." It's a story shared by many Vietnamese immigrants from that time. The flag of South Vietnam is no longer an official flag, but still remains a powerful symbol of anti-communism and cultural heritage. But on most standard smartphones, the only option is the flag representing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Doan's team found this out the hard way. "It started out with a mistake," explained Doan. "One of my vendors punched up Vietnam and an emoji popped up with the red flag and the yellow star, and the community got a little upset about that. Within five minutes, we pulled it down, but by having that it brought it to my attention." He realized just how many people felt a lack of representation. That encouraged him to lead an effort to formally request that the nonprofit that standardizes emojis, Unicode Consortium, based in Mountain View, add the flag of South Vietnam. "We got 11 of us to sign on," said Doan. "Meaning all of the councilmembers, including the mayor." There are already more than 200 flag options on the emoji keyboard. He says this isn't about taking away the Vietnam flag that's already there, but adding another choice. "If you look at many other emojis, you have many, many different options, and why can't we have that?" questioned Doan. "The freedom of choice, and that's what America is all about." Next, the city manager's office will bring the request to Unicode. Doan hopes to meet with leaders there. "We'll have a meeting with Unicode as well and tell them what is the story, how proud we are, what is the sacrifice," said Doan. "How do we bring this forward so when people punch up Vietnam, they will have a choice?" Unicode Consortium clients include tech companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft. They did not respond at the time of this report.
BBC News
12-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Poland has evidence Russia behind shopping centre fire, says minister
Poland's foreign minister says his country has evidence that Russia recruited people on the Telegram messaging service to carry out last year's massive shopping centre fire in to the BBC in an exclusive interview, Radek Sikorski said Moscow's actions were "completely unacceptable" and that a second Russian consulate in Poland had been closed as a result. His comments come after a Polish investigation concluded that the Marywilska shopping centre fire was orchestrated by Moscow's intelligence denied its involvement, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accusing Poland of being "Russophobic". The May 2024 fire destroyed 1,400 small businesses, with many of the staff there belonging to Warsaw's Vietnamese community."We have evidence that they commissioned people living in Poland, they commissioned them on Telegram and paid them to set fire to this huge shopping mall," Sikorski said on Monday. "It was by miracle that nobody was hurt, but this is completely unacceptable."The foreign minister told the BBC he had decided Russia's presence in Poland must be "further curtailed" and that Russia's consulate in Krakow had now been closed in order to try and make it harder for Moscow to "spy" on Poland. "We will take further decisions if they continue these hybrid attacks," Sikorski warfare is a term used to describe how a hostile state carries out an anonymous, deniable attack, usually in highly suspicious circumstances. It will be enough to harm their opponent, especially their infrastructure assets, but stop short of being an attributable act of one consulate now remains open in Poland, alongside the embassy. The mission in the city of Poznań was closed last year after Warsaw accused Russia of acts of sabotage and cyberwarfare. When asked on Monday why Poland did not just sever all diplomatic ties, Sikorski said: "I hope it doesn't come to that."Responding to the closure of the Krakow consulate, Peskov said: "All these accusations are absolutely groundless, baseless."There are a lot of different accusations against Russia being voiced in Poland. This part is absolutely Russophobic and unfriendly towards our country."He added: "As for the reduction of Russia's diplomatic presence in Poland, these are integral parts of a common chain aimed at curtailing the already deplorable state of bilateral relations. Poland chooses hostility and unfriendliness towards us."Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland has detained and convicted several people accused of sabotage on behalf of Russian intelligence foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, meanwhile, told state media: "Warsaw continues to deliberately destroy relations, acting against the interests of citizens". Poland carried out a year-long investigation into the shopping centre incident, before concluding the fire was organised by an unnamed person in Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Sunday said that some of those responsible were already in custody, while all the others alleged to have been involved had been identified and were being searched workers lost important documents and large sums of cash in the fire, which were kept at the shopping centre due to fear of break-ins at shopping centre in Warsaw, Modlinska 6D, was opened in October last year, with traders relocating their businesses to the new site.
Malay Mail
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
Poland boots Russian diplomats over shopping mall inferno in hybrid war showdown
WARSAW, May 12 — Poland's top diplomat said Monday that he ordered the closure of a Russian consulate over 'sabotage' after authorities accused Russia of orchestrating a fire that destroyed a Warsaw shopping centre last year. Since Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv-ally Poland has claimed to be the target of sabotage attempts the authorities blame on Russia. Russia immediately vowed an 'adequate response' to Poland over the closure of the Krakow consulate. 'Due to evidence that it was the Russian secret services that carried out the reprehensible act of sabotage against the Marywilska shopping centre, I have decided to withdraw my authorisation for the activity of the Russian consulate in Krakow,' said Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski. Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said 'Warsaw continues to deliberately undermine relations, acting against the interests of its citizens'. 'An adequate response to these inadequate steps will follow shortly,' she told the RIA Novosti state news agency. In May 2024, a fire completely destroyed a large shopping centre in Warsaw and the 1,400 businesses it housed, most of them owned by members of the Vietnamese community. Authorities opened an investigation and on Sunday they pinned the blame on Moscow. 'We now know for sure that the great fire of the Marywilska shopping centre in Warsaw was caused by arson ordered by the Russian special services,' said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. 'Hybrid war' The justice and interior ministries said in a separate statement Sunday that some of the alleged perpetrators were already in custody, while others had been identified but were still at large. 'Their actions were organised and directed by a specific person residing in the Russian Federation', the two ministries said, adding that they were cooperating with Lithuania, 'where some of the perpetrators also carried out acts of diversion'. Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Poland has detained and convicted several individuals suspected of sabotage on behalf of Russian intelligence services, including assaults, arson or attempted arson. In May 2024, Poland imposed restrictions on the movements of Russian diplomats on its soil, due to Moscow's 'involvement' in a 'hybrid war'. Five months later, Warsaw ordered the closure of the Russian consulate in Poznan, in western Poland, accusing Moscow of orchestrating 'sabotage attempts'. In December, Polish diplomacy said it was willing to close all Russian consulates in Poland if acts of 'terrorism' continued. Russia closed in January the Polish consulate in Saint Petersburg in retaliation. Bordering Ukraine, Poland — a Nato and European Union member — is one of the main countries through which Western nations supply weapons and ammunition to Kyiv to help Ukraine fight Russian troops. — AFP
Washington Post
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Poland orders closure of Russian consulate in Krakow, citing arson attack blamed on Moscow
WARSAW, Poland — Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski said Monday that he was ordering the closure of Russia's consulate in the southern city of Krakow after Polish authorities said Russia was responsible for a fire that destroyed a shopping center in Warsaw last year. The fire broke out May 12, 2024, in the Marywilska 44 shopping center that housed some 1,400 shops and service points, a budget marketplace in a warehouse-like structure in a northern district of Warsaw. Many of the vendors were from Vietnam, and it inflicted tragedy on many in Warsaw's Vietnamese community.
