A little more virginity please
FPT University, a private information technology university in Viet Nam, raised hackles recently when it asked would-be students sitting its entrance exam why unmarried women should be virgins.
Not only were those sitting the examination – presumably a healthy mixture of virgin and non-virgin young men and women – up in arms, but educators and parents were also incensed. A media frenzy followed, with columns of print devoted to discussing this social anachronism, with most pundits, married or otherwise, of the opinion that a woman's virginity had nothing to do with her ability to perform her duties in the workplace.
A professor from the University of Humanities and Social Sciences in Ha Noi said he had encountered the same question 30 years ago while at college. He was firm of the opinion that it was high time Vietnamese society moved on and started debating far more important social issues such as heroin addiction or murder.
Perhaps it would be more apropos for FPT in the 21st century to ask future candidates about the importance of safe sex.
New helmets for old
In a bid to promote road safety, central Da Nang City's Traffic Safety Committee hit on the idea of exchanging motorcyclists' fake helmets for the genuine article for a token VND50,000.
To encourage the public to participate in the scheme, officials announced that motorists found in possession of a fake helmet would be fined.
Civic offices were duly inundated with people wanting a cheap genuine helmet. In the fray that followed bruises abounded and the authorities were forced to suspend the programme.
Now who said the Vietnamese had no respect for road rules?
Don't cry for me Argentina
The biennial Hue festival, which finished on Sunday, was
perhaps the biggest and best ever – at least for the majority of festival goers.
It was memorable for all the wrong reasons for a certain pickpocket who attempted to relieve the Argentine ambassador of his mobile phone.
Unfortunately for the would-be thief, his light-fingered antics were captured by the Venezuelan ambassador, who was taking a snap of his Latin American companero at the time.
After the photo was passed to the police, the 56-year-old thief was arrested and the phone returned to the Argentine ambassador the next day.
It would be fair to say the ambassador was snap happy. — VNS