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When she was a student, Nguyễn Thị Thu Trang was part of a volunteer group that made audio books for visually impaired people. Vbee is the first service in Vietnam to use artificial intelligence to turn Vietnamese text into human speech. — Photo Vbee.vn Meeting with many people who couldn't see daylight, Trang said they had a huge desire to access knowledge. “They want to be able to read books, newspapers and search the Internet. But few tools were available to support their needs, while books in Braille are costly,” she said. While she was working, she realised that merely recording books was not the best solution because it required too much time and effort. As a student with background in technology at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST), Trang believes there could be a big pivot with technology and disabilities. In 2009, when she was a professor at HUST, Trang herself organised a project to record audiobooks for … [Read more...] about Made-in-Vietnam text-to-speech app reads to the blind

* Indonesia is estimated to maintain a healthy growth rate in 2019 and 2020 on the back of continuing strong domestic consumption, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in its 2019 Asian Development Outlook (ADO) released on Wednesday. * Philippine economic growth in this and the next year will be slightly lower than earlier forecast on the back of a slowdown in the global economy and domestic investment, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in its updated report launched on Wednesday. * At the meeting on Wednesday with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on the sidelines of the General Debate of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that strengthened communication with India benefits the two countries as well as the world at large. * US President Donald Trump met with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in New York on Wednesday, a day after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's announcement of … [Read more...] about World News in Brief: September 26

* Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Friday defended multilateralism at the UN General Assembly, saying a multilateral approach is not an option but a necessity in today's interconnected world. * Chinese tourists will make nearly 800 million domestic trips and another 7.5 million overseas during the upcoming week-long National Day holiday, said a report released Friday. * The 86th Mekong River joint patrol led by China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand concluded Friday, as three Chinese and two Laotian law enforcement boats anchored at Guanlei Port, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China's Yunnan Province. * China has initiated relevant domestic legal procedures for its accession to the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The announcement, which sends out a positive signal of China's readiness to become a State Party to the ATT, was made by Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the United Nations General Assembly on September 27. * The Republic of Korea … [Read more...] about World News in Brief: September 28

* At least 20 people were killed and more than 50 others wounded as a 6.5 magnitude quake struck off Indonesia's eastern Maluku province earlier Thursday, a senior disaster official said. * China's State Council Information Office on Friday (September 27) issued a white paper, titled "China and the World in the New Era." * Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent to leaders of European and Asian countries and international organizations a proposal not to deploy missiles, previously banned by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), the Kremlin said Thursday. * US State Department on Thursday imposed a travel ban against Raul Castro Ruz, first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, and his children. * Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday berated the United States for its Middle East policy, saying it dampens the hope for peace and jeopardizes the two-state solution. * Islamic Hamas movement announced Thursday that it is ready to join … [Read more...] about World News in Brief: September 27

19:37 | 12/09/2019 VGP – Viet Nam demands China must immediately end its serious violations and withdraw all its vessels from Viet Nam’s exclusive economic zone. Spokesperson of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang at the press briefing in Ha Noi on September 12, 2019.      >>> VN actively joins negotiation process, seriously enforces UNCLOS Le Thi Thu Hang, Spokesperson of the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry made the above statement at a press briefing in Ha Noi on Thursday. China’s survey vessel group Haiyang Dizhi 8 returned to Viet Nam’s exclusive economic zone and they have continued serious violations of Viet Nam’s sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the Southeast Asian country’s waters as defined by the provisions of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Viet Nam had made its point about the negative effects caused by the activities of the Chinese … [Read more...] about Chinese vessel group’s activities undermine bilateral ties, peace, stability