Photos show city balconies united under red flags for Vietnam's National Day

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — In Hanoi, Vietnam, balconies hold the city’s layers.

French villas lean out with wrought-iron rails. Socialist-era blocks offer concrete ledges, some with cracked walls or missing window panes. New towers push out glass terraces toward the sky.

In the days before Vietnam celebrates its 80th National Day on Tuesday — commemorating its 1945 independence from French colonial rule — these differences fade. From every edge — iron, concrete, or steel — a red flag with a yellow star flutters.

Some hang neatly, others are tied to bamboo poles or taped to walls. On many balconies, families gather to watch parade rehearsals. Laundry and potted plants make room for a view of the street below.

For a moment, the red flags stretching across the city unite the old balconies and new towers — markers of class and time — in a single celebration.

A Vietnamese woman stands for a photograph in front of the Opera House, its balconies decorated with Vietnamese and communist flags in the old quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Vietnamese national flags fly from balconies of a hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Vietnamese and communist flags hang on aa balcony in the old quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A giant Vietnamese national flag is displayed outside a balcony in the old quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam, Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Vietnamese and communist flags decorate a balcony in the old quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A giant Vietnamese national flag hangs from a balcony in the old quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A Vietnamese national flag flies outside a balcony in the old quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Vietnamese and communist flags hang from balconies across streets in the old quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A Vietnamese national flag flies from a balcony in the old quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A Vietnamese national flag flies outside a window in the old quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Vietnamese national flags decorate a building in the old quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Vietnamese national flags decorate the exterior of a cafe in the old quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Vietnamese national flags decorate a balcony in the old quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A Vietnamese national flag flies outside a home in the old quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Vietnamese and communist flags fly outside a house in the old quarter of Hanoi, Vietnam, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

The White House and a bipartisan group of governors are pressuring the operator of the mid-Atlantic power grid to take urgent steps to boost energy supply and curb price hikes, holding a Friday event aimed at addressing a rising concern among voters about the enormous amount of power used for artificial intelligence ahead of elections later this year.

The White House said its National Energy Dominance Council and the governors of several states, including Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia, want to try to compel PJM Interconnection to hold a power auction for tech companies to bid on contracts to build new power plants,

The Trump administration and governors will sign a statement of principles toward that end Friday. The plan was first reported by Bloomberg.

“Ensuring the American people have reliable and affordable electricity is one of President Trump’s top priorities, and this would deliver much-needed, long-term relief to the mid-Atlantic region," said Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is expected to be at the White House, a person familiar with Shapiro’s plans said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement. Shapiro, a Democrat, made his participation in Friday’s event contingent on including a provision to extend a limit on wholesale electricity price increases for the region’s consumers, the person said.

But the operator of the grid won't be there. “PJM was not invited. Therefore we would not attend,” said spokesperson Jeff Shields.

It was not immediately clear whether President Donald Trump would attend the event, which was not listed on his public schedule.

Trump and the governors are under pressure to insulate consumers and businesses alike from the costs of feeding Big Tech’s energy-hungry data centers. Meanwhile, more Americans are falling behind on their electricity bills.

Consumer advocates say ratepayers in the mid-Atlantic electricity grid — which encompasses all or parts of 13 states stretching from New Jersey to Illinois, as well as Washington, D.C. — are already paying billions of dollars in higher bills to underwrite the cost to supply power to data centers, some of them built, some not.

However, they also say that the billions of dollars that consumers are paying isn’t resulting in the construction of new power plants necessary to meet the rising demand.

Pivotal contests in November will be decided by communities that are home to fast-rising electric bills or fights over who’s footing the bill for the data centers that underpin the explosion in demand for artificial intelligence. In parts of the country, data centers are coming online faster than power plants can be built and connected to the grid.

Electricity costs were a key issue in last year's elections for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, a data center hotspot, and in Georgia, where Democrats ousted two Republican incumbents for seats on the state’s utility regulatory commission. Voters in New Jersey, Virginia, California and New York City all cited economic concerns as the top issue, as Democrats and Republicans gird for a debate over affordability in the intensifying midterm battle to control Congress.

Gas and electric utilities sought or won rate increases of more that $34 billion in the first three quarters of 2025, consumer advocacy organization PowerLines reported. That was more than double the same period a year earlier.

Meta's Stanton Springs Data Center is seen Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Newton County, East of Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)