Vietnam Insider - Page 1173 of 1530

New airline to take to skies

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Vietstar Airlines the sixth carrier licensed in Vietnam.

The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) has issued an air operator’s certificate (AOC) to the Vietstar Airlines Multirole Corporation (Vietstar Airlines), which will fly Embraer Legacy 600 and Beechcraft King Air B300 aircraft.

From Brazil, the Embraer Legacy 600 competes on the upper end of the small to mid-sized range of business jets and is considered a “Super Midsize”. It will be transformed into a modern business jet by Vietstar, fitted with VIP seats and furniture and with a flying range of up to eight hours. Vietstar Airlines will sign a contract to provide VIP flight services to individuals, organizations, and businesses inside and outside of the country.

The Beechcraft Super King Air B300, meanwhile, is a twin-turboprop aircraft equipped with modern, high-speed propellers and fitted with eight seats. Vietstar Airlines is also looking to purchase additional Legacy 650 aircraft for its future operations.

In addition to general flights, Vietstar Airlines and other businesses within the Vietstar Airlines Multirole Corporation will also provide maintenance services for commercial aircraft and domestic or international medical services (Medivac). It will actively prepare airport infrastructure projects at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, and Da Nang International Airport. These projects are all in line with the government’s policy of socializing investment in airport infrastructure.

The Vietstar Airlines Multirole Corporation was established by three major shareholders: the Aircraft Repair Company A41 (of the Vietnam People’s Air Force), the Vietstar Aviation JSC, and the Tin Thanh Express JSC.

This is the first airline in Vietnam that is a joint venture between private companies and the national military. The corporation’s goal is to provide passenger and cargo transport within Vietnam, in particular air taxi services for customers with sudden demand. It will also cater to defense requirements, such as military transport and exploration and survey flights.

Other services related to the general aviation industry include maintenance, repair, ground services (both passenger and terminal), cargo services, charter freight, aircraft leasing brokerage, and freight equipment leasing, etc.

There are now six licensed airlines in the domestic aviation market: Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, Jetstar Pacific, Vasco, Bamboo Airways, and Vietstar Airlines.

Source: Vneconomictimes

Seven killed in three traffic accidents in Hai Duong

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At least seven people have been killed and two others injured in three traffic accidents which occurred in the northern province of Hai Duong on Tuesday morning.

Five people are killed when a truck overturns in Hai Duong Province on July 23.

Chairman of Kim Thanh District People’s Committee, Vu Dinh Thanh told Dantri/Dtinews that the accidents occurred early this morning on National Highway 5 in Kim Thanh District.

According to police reports, a man was hit dead by a 16-seated passenger bus while cycling on the National Highway 5 running through the district at 4am. Many people including police, the man’s relatives and passers-by gathered at the accident site. At 5am, a truck while trying to avoid another vehicle overturned on the crowd and left at least five people dead and two others injured.

The accidents caused major congestion on the highway.

Police also said that another man was killed after a container truck collided with a truck in Kim Thanh District earlier the same morning.

Source: Dtinews

Vietjet, Masan buy 77 pct of bonds issued by Viet Capital

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Budget airline Vietjet and food producer Masan have spent VND387 billion ($16.62 million) on the bonds issued by stock brokerage firm Viet Capital Securities.

Vietjet paid VND350 billion ($15.03 million) and Masan VND37 billion ($1.59 million) for the bonds, which were issued this month. The remaining 23 percent of the bonds were purchased by over 100 local and international investors.

The bonds, with an issue price of VND10 million ($430) each, have a maturity period of two years and a coupon rate of 6-8.2 percent per year.

Viet Capital had said in an earlier note that the bond issue aimed to increase its working capital and restructure debts.

There is a low chance of raising money from banks because stock lending is limited at 5 percent of banks’ equity, the company’s CEO To Hai said in the note, adding that issuing bonds therefore was the best way to increase its capital.

The company’s shareholders had also approved an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) to issue an additional 1.4 million shares.

Viet Capital targets a profit of VND850 billion ($36.54 million) this year, down 17.3 percent from last year.

Source: Vnexpress

Top 5 e-commerce platforms in Vietnamese market in Q2 2019

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Shopee, Tiki and Lazada retained their positions as the top three e-commerce platforms in the Vietnamese market in the second quarter of 2019 while Sendo surpassed Thegioididong to become the fourth largest site for the first time.

According to the Map of E-commerce in Viet Nam recently published by market research firm Iprice Insight, Shopee led by traffic with average monthly website visits of nearly 38.59 million.

It was followed by Tiki and Lazada with average monthly website visits of 33.72 million and 28.31 million, respectively.

The quarter saw a change in the fourth and fifth position with Sendo beating Thegioididong to become the fourth largest e-commerce platform by traffic for the first time with average monthly website visits of nearly 28.05 million, compared with 25.35 million of Thegioididong. Sendo’s efforts to deploy technology and improve delivery services were responsible for the impressive advance.

Among the top five e-commerce platforms – Shopee, Tiki, Lazada, Sendo and Thegioididong – in the quarter, Sendo was the only player to see its web traffic grow by more than 10 per cent against the previous quarter, iPrice noted in the release.

Viet Nam’s e-commerce market in the second quarter also saw new player Voso, an e-commerce unit established by local telecom giant Viettel, receiving 211,700 web visits last month, 12 times that of May. Although the site was officially launched earlier this month, Voso has been receiving users since April.

iPrice Insights added that the local market’s performance in the second quarter showed more positive results than in the same period last year. Each player among the 10 most visited platforms saw web traffic slipping by three million visits on a monthly basis in 2018’s second quarter, but this year’s average fall was merely 400,000 visits per month.

This considerable change demonstrates that the local e-commerce market has become more stable and that online consumers not only shop during seasonal sales but also on regular days.

The competition is growing fierce in Viet Nam’s e-commerce market, which is anticipated to reach US$10 billion by 2022.

The ranking was forecast to see significant changes in the last quarter of this year when e-commerce platforms would offer more promotions and discount programmes to stimulate shopping as the year-end approaches.

Iprice Insight is run by iPrice Group, a price comparison platform in seven markets, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, the Philippines and Viet Nam.

According to a report on VNS

Technology graduates find jobs easily

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The worst university majors for jobs were forestry and aquaculture (82.7 percent) and social services (82.3 percent). Meanwhile, the top degree for getting hired right out of university was technology, with 97.3 percent.

More than 97 percent of graduates from technology schools can find good jobs within 12 months after graduation, according to Hoang Cong Dung, deputy director of the Center for Training Support and Manpower Supply, an arm of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET).

The center, after analyzing reports of 183 universities, concluded that the lowest rate of graduates finding jobs was 80.4 percent (environment related majors).

Some technology schools confirmed that the number of graduates each year are not enough to satisfy demand. Technology firms, which suffer from a labor shortage, have visited schools to recruit third-year and fourth-year students. Some of the firms even sign contracts with schools when they begin enrolling students.

The report cited that more than 10 majors which have high percentage (90 percent or more) of graduates find jobs easily, such as business and management (94.9 percent), architecture and construction (94.6 percent), transportation service (94.4 percent), hotel service, sports and personal services (94.1 percent), and computing and IT (93.9 percent).

A report released in 2018 by VietnamWorks, the largest job service provider belonging to Navigos Group, named the 10 most wanted majors in the future with information technology leading the majors.

The report showed that the demand for workers in the information technology industry in the last three years increased by 47 percent. This was explained by the fact that the number of firms in the field has increased by 69 percent compared with 2012, while the number of software firms alone has increased by 124 percent.

Meanwhile, the number of workers available has increased by 8 percent per annum only. It is estimated that by 2020, the industry would lack 500,000 workers.

Nguyen Hoang Lan, a student in Hanoi, said she applied for the University of Trade’s e-commerce faculty, though she loves literature.

“At first, I intended to apply for the Hanoi National University’s Literature Faculty. However, my parents wanted me to choose economics. They said social sciences are useless,” she said.

The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) reported that nearly 200,000 university graduates stay unemployed, a relatively high figure if compared with the number of university graduates every year.

According to a report on Tien Phong

The best B2B Sales, Personal branding course in Vietnam you should attend

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The meaning of B2B sales is quite simply, the act of businesses selling to other businesses.

Running a productive and profitable sales department depends on having the right employees with the knowledge they need to do their jobs effectively. In order to get the most from your sales team, the members need to be continually updating their selling skills. This is true whether the person is a long-time team member or brand-new to your company.

Once we fully understand the company, their target audience and their customers, we then prepare training that is relevant to their industry and their sales process. All of this is even more important in B2B sales as what works in a retail scenario isn’t always relevant for a company selling to another business.

From other side of a sales person, creating a personal brand can be a daunting, mythical task. And one of the easiest ways to get lost in the process is to not know where to start.

Creating the right personal brand will not only help us be known in our field and consistently land work but it could be the difference between “Who are you?” and “Thank you for being here” in our career.

So, Where in Vietnam do we start?

Steve Sidhu, CEO and Founder at CSS Partners will visit Vietnam and share with us about B2B Sales and Personal Branding, which we should attend. Details as below:

Time: 8:00-11:00, 29th August 2019
Venue: SIHUB, 273 Đien Bien Phu, Ward 7, District 3, HCMC
Ticket Fee: 500,000 VND (Professionals) 300,000 VND (Student)
Register at the links: https://forms.gle/dcBb3nQ1KAUpE7BA9

B2B Sales in Today’s Business – How to Increase Sales (Starts at 8:30 am to 9:30 am)

This presentation will focus on sales best practices in achieving increased sales. Steve who has over 20+ years of experience in sales will cover many aspects on where sales people have missed the target or overlooked key components in the sale cycle. The speaker will provide practical examples as a take away coupled with different strategies in achieving the desired results. Many professionals view sales as straight forward however there are many aspects and the speakers global experience and the understanding of cultures will aid greatly.

This topic would benefit any beginners or professionals in sales, lead generation, account managers, business development wanting to take sales to the next level.

Personal Branding and You (Starts at 9:45am to 10:45am)

In this presentation our speaker will talk about personal branding and focus on building your brand & creating products to use as lead generators, and build your reputation and visibility. The speaker will pick on some areas where personal brand visibility is essential in focusing who you represent. Today the world now looks at people how they are perceived in social media. Gone are the days where people thought it’s what you know, rather its now people follow you in the digital world.

This topic would benefit anyone wanting to know more on personal branding and who would like to expand their own brand.

About Steve Sidhu. He is based in Tokyo, Japan, born in Australia and an accomplished, award-winning and results-driven global executive who has excelled at creating new business and utilization using powerful networks and proven strategies in sales. His career which spans many years take’s him into assisting local and global companies with global business development expansion, sales and marketing strategies, personal branding, advisory, sales training and coaching. He has considerable experience and demonstrated success in building relationships with top Fortune 1000 CxO management and companies across the globe and delivering results.

Steve will present on two topics on the 29th August from 8am to 11am at Saigon Innovation Hub. His aim is to educate professionals in two high demanding topics that face people today and in their careers that involve being exposed to the professional world and society.

South Korea’s Hana Bank buys 15% stake in Vietnam’s BIDV

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South Korea’s Hana Bank has agreed to buy a 15% stake in the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) BID.HM for 1 trillion won ($850 million), its parent Hana Financial Group (086790.KS) said on Monday.

According to a report by Ju-min Park and Khanh Vu on Reuters, BIDV, Vietnam’s second-largest listed bank with a market capitalization of $5.26 billion, said it will issue 603.3 million new shares for the stake sale. It pegged the deal value at 20.295 trillion dong ($874 million).

The stake sale is the latest large investment by a South Korean firm in the Southeast Asian country, after conglomerate SK Group in May agreed to buy a 6.1% of Vietnam’s largest firm, Vingroup JSC VIC.HM, for $1 billion.

Vietnam caps foreign ownership in local banks at 30%, but has allowed some overseas banks to open wholly-owned units.

Hana Financial said in a regulatory filing the purchase of the BIDV stake will facilitate its entry into the Vietnamese market and secure sources for its mid- to long-term growth.

Vietnamese banks need as much as $20 billion in the run-up to the adoption of Basel II standards, scheduled for Jan. 1, 2020, Fitch Ratings said in a note last week.

Vietnam’s Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank MBB.HM said last week it was seeking to sell a 7.5% stake to one or more foreign investors this year.

South Korea is the largest source of foreign direct investment in Vietnam, which has over recent years become a production base for several companies such as Samsung Electronics (005030.KS) and LG Electronics Inc (066570.KS).

This article first posted on Reuters

Vietnam becomes largest Asian customer for U.S. blueberries

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Vietnam, which opened its borders to fresh U.S. blueberries in February, already is poised to be Oregon’s largest Asian customer for the fruit, according to Oregon Blueberry Commission Administrator Bryan Ostlund, who recently returned from a 10-day Vietnamese trade mission.

“Six months ago, I would have guessed that we would maybe ship 300,000 to 500,000 pounds to Vietnam this year,” Ostlund said. “I wouldn’t be surprised now if we exceed 3 million pounds.”

The trade mission, organized by the Oregon and Washington blueberry commissions, was designed to get a head start on a market that holds significant promise for U.S. blueberry shippers, Ostlund said. And it worked to perfection.

“It was a success from any way you want to look at it,” Ostlund said.

The mission, conducted earlier this month, included a promotional event attended by the U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam, Daniel Kritenbrink, that generated coverage from major Vietnamese television networks and nationally distributed newspapers.

Also, during the mission, VinMart, a Vietnamese grocery chain with 2,000 stores, increased its sales forecast of fresh U.S. blueberries three times, going from slightly less than 1 million pounds, to 1.2 million pounds, and then to 1.5 million pounds by the time the entourage departed.

“It was one of those moments that make all the work at opening these markets worthwhile,” Ostlund said. “After five years of working on this, to have all the pieces come together was just tremendous.”

He added: “I have the deepest respect for our Vietnamese partners, including the Vietnamese government. This has been a team effort.”

Oregon and Washington growers are poised to be the big beneficiaries of this year’s developments in Vietnam, Ostlund said, given that blueberry harvests in California, Florida, Georgia and other major blueberry producing states have wound down.

“That is why Oregon and Washington jumped in at this time,” Ostlund said. “We kind of shepherded this project to make sure the Oregon and Washington seasons got off to a good start, and, in hindsight, it was a wise choice.”

According to a report by MITCH LIES For the Capital Press, next up for U.S. blueberries could be the Philippines, another market the Oregon Blueberry Commission has been pursuing for five years. The market of 105 million people probably won’t be open in time for this year’s crop, Ostlund said, but he is optimistic it will be for the 2020 harvest.

South Korea, another market the Oregon Blueberry Commission worked to open, is in its eighth shipping season, and is expected to import around 1.5 million pounds of fresh Oregon blueberries this year. No other U.S. state has access to that market.

Efforts to crack open the immense potential of the Chinese market, meanwhile, are at a standstill.

US wary of Chinese products passed off as made in Vietnam

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Vietnam cracks down on tariff-dodging export detours

The Vietnamese government has begun taking steps to clamp down on shipments of products from China and elsewhere that pass through Vietnam and are relabeled as Vietnamese to avoid U.S. tariffs. TOMOYA ONISHI reports on Nikkei

The crackdown follows a series of reports by local newspaper Tuoi Tre that revealed that Vietnamese-made televisions by home electronics maker Asanzo were almost entirely made from Chinese imports.

One of the most important tasks of the workers in the Vietnam plant was to remove “made in China” from a sticker placed on every LCD panel imported from China, Tuoi Tre reported.

After being assembled through a simple six-step process, the televisions were sold as having been made in Vietnam with Japanese technology. Other products, such as ovens, were imported in finished form.

The expose is troubling for the government as Vietnam enjoys an influx of manufacturing companies shifting production out of China amid the trade war. Vietnam’s goods surplus with the U.S. jumped more than 40% on the year to $21.6 billion for the five months through May.

Hanoi will begin a cross-agency effort to hammer out rules to prevent illegitimate transshipments, modeled on global standards, local media have reported.

The new rules will likely spell out requirements for a product to be considered domestically made, such as the percentage of the content of each product that was sourced from Vietnam, as well as how much of the assembly process was handled here. Penalties are expected to be imposed on violators.

Hanoi hopes that the crackdown will mollify Washington, which has been paying closer attention to the Southeast Asian country amid a swelling trade imbalance.

Trump hinted in June that Vietnam could face tariffs if it did not tackle the rerouting problem, calling the country “almost the single worst abuser” on trade.

The crackdown aims to fix loose labeling rules for goods imported for domestic sale, which can be reexported to third countries with their real origins obfuscated. This loophole has made Vietnam an attractive target for rerouting, drawing scrutiny from Washington as its trade war with Beijing drags on.

Exports to countries with which Vietnam has free trade agreements are already required to come with certificates of origin, with strict rules defining what products can be said to be made in Vietnam. Goods imported for the domestic market are a different story.

Such industrialized nations as Japan, the U.S. and European countries each have clear standards for distinguishing locally made products from imports. But in emerging markets like Vietnam, “standards are vague, and there are times when the laws are not applied appropriately,” said Masahiro Ishikawa, acting head of the trade and investment consultation division at the Japan External Trade Organization.

“In reality, country-of-origin labeling is based on the ethics of individual companies,” said an executive at a local arm of a Japanese company with manufacturing facilities in Vietnam.

Nguyen Bich Lam, director general of Vietnam’s General Statistics Office, acknowledged that the country now has no clear rules to deal with such cases as the Asanzo televisions. He said he believes that many domestic and foreign companies regularly engage in similar behavior, doing some simple processing of mostly finished Chinese products before marketing them to Vietnamese consumers as locally made.

This practice has contributed to the transshipment problem. This past May, authorities caught in the northeastern port city of Haiphong a shipment of Chinese shoes about to be reexported after being labeled as Vietnamese.

According to Nikkei, The U.S. Commerce Department imposed duties of up to 456% this month on certain steel products originating from Taiwan and South Korea that undergo final processing in Vietnam. While this does not affect goods from mainland China, it does signal a tougher stance on relabeling.

Four men arrested in northern Vietnam trafficking 33 kilos of drugs

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Hoa Binh police Friday arrested four men carrying 33 kilograms (73 pounds) of heroin from Son La Province.
Vu Dinh Kien, 25, Tran Manh Chung, 30, Tran Duc Thanh, 30 and Ly A Sua, 27 were part of a drug ring that would collect drugs from Son La and take them to Hoa Binh Province and other localities, local media reports said.

Last Friday, Kien and Chung hid 100 packets of heroin, each weighing 330 grams, inside the trunk of a car and were driving it through Mai Chau District of Hoa Binh. Thanh and Sua drove another vehicle in front to look out for the police. But they were arrested in the district’s Dong Bang Commune.

The number of drug busts in Vietnam is rising after the country has become a key trafficking hub for narcotics from the Golden Triangle, an intersection of Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, the world’s second largest drug producing area after the Golden Crescent in South Asia.

The trafficking and drug abuse numbers are increasing despite Vietnam’s tough drug laws, under which those convicted of possessing or smuggling more than 600 grams of heroin or cocaine or more than 2.5 kg of meth face the death penalty.

The production or sale of 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal narcotics is also punishable by death.

Source: Vnexpress

Vietnam bank rankings change as top banks get stronger

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The gap among commercial banks is wideneing with top-tier banks leaving others far behind. However, they are not problem-free.

Eximbank finally organized a shareholders’ meeting after two failed attempts. However, with the presence of more than 94 percent of voting shareholders, 55 percent did not agree with the business plan submitted by the board of management.

The current image of Eximbank, in complete disorder, is different from the past.

In 2012, Eximbank reported impressive business results with the ROE at 14 percent. This allowed Eximbank to become one of two banks listed among the 50 most effective businesses in Vietnam, according to Nhip Cau Dau Tu and Thien Viet Securities.

This was the ‘S-class’ list of companies listing shares on the bourse. Sacombank was also among the list.

However, now, shareholders of the banks are complaining at the banks’ meetings.

Changes in rankings have also occurred among state-owned banks. VietinBank, which once led state-owned banks in terms of business efficiency, is now facing many problems.

Le Duc Tho, chair of VietinBank, noted that ‘VietinBank has reached the critical point’ at a bank’s shareholders’ meeting lately, complaining that VietinBank had not increased charter capital since 2013.

In 2018, its profit was just 37 percent of Vietcombank, another state-owned bank, while the profits of the two banks were nearly the same in previous years.

These names have been replaced by others in the so-called S-class list. Besides Vietcombank, the others which have become well known include Techcombank (TCB), VP Bank (VPB), Military Bank (MB), ACB, HDBank (HDB) and TPBank (TPB), in order of capitalization value.

The average ROE of the seven banks increased steadily in 2016-2018 by 13.58 percent, 18 percent and 22 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, a report of the State Bank showed that the average ROE of the banking sector is 9.06 percent, while the figure is 10.21 percent for state-owned banks.

More and more banks have added their names to the list. In 2016, only two banks found their names in the list, but the figure rose to seven in 2018.

In that year, many banks reported big profits. Vietcombank reported pre-tax profit of VND18.3 trillion, an increase of 61 percent over the year before, which was much higher than that of BIDV and VietinBank.

Nghiem Xuan Thanh, chair of Vietcombank, said the profit of $1 billion in 2019 is within reach.

Among private banks, Techcombank is a big name with record high profit of VND10.661 trillion, up by 31 percent.

Source: VNN

Not enough grounds to conclude molestation occurred in case involving Vietnamese ex-official: police

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Police in Ho Chi Minh City have finished the investigation into a child molestation case involving a former procuracy official and found insufficient grounds to conclude that the alleged molester touched the young victim.

Nguyen Huu Linh, an ex-procuracy official from the central city of Da Nang, was tried in Ho Chi Minh City last month for molesting an under-16-year-old girl inside an elevator of an apartment building in the southern metropolis in April.

However, the 61-year-old was allowed to leave shortly after his trial opened on June 25, as the court decided to return the case file to prosecutors so that conduct a further probe could be conducted.

Upon completing the investigation, police in District 4 concluded that there are not enough grounds to say whether Linh touched any sensitive parts of the little girl when they were alone inside the elevator at the Galaxy 9 apartment building or not.

The alleged sexual harassment occurred at around 9:10 pm on April 1, with Linh seen in footage captured by the CCTV installed in the elevator grabbing and kissing a young girl, thought to be somewhere between five and seven years old.

He was visiting a relative who lives at the Galaxy 9 apartment building on the day of the incident.

Video analysis of the footage shows that there are not sufficient grounds to conclude that Linh used his left hand to touch any of her front body parts, as only his back could be seen during that very moment, police said on July 11.

Nguyen Huu Linh smiles as he leaves a court in Ho Chi Minh City on June 25, 2019. Photo: Quang Dinh / Tuoi Tre

Upon receiving this conclusion from the police, lawyer Tran Ba Hoc, Linh’s attorney, filed a petition asking the police, People’s Procuracy and People’s Court of District 4 to suspend the case and drop the accusation against his client.

Linh admitted to hugging and kissing the little girl on her cheek during an interrogation by police officers, but he claimed his actions were triggered by a combination of alcohol and how “adorable” the little girl was, rather than any sexual desire.

The victim and her family also said all what Linh did with the girl was only kissing her and there were no such actions as grabbing or touching her sensitive parts.

These statements, plus the conclusions of two separate investigations into the case, provide sufficient grounds to suspend the case, according to Hoc, the lawyer.

The lawyer added that the Circular No.1 issued in 1998 by the People’s Supreme Court and People’s Supreme Procuracy dictated that a person is guilty of child molestation if they have such acts as “grabbing and touching erogenous parts of a child” or forcing a child to have those actions upon them.

The act of kissing on the cheek of a child is not included in this circular, which remains to be the only legal framework used to handle child molestation cases in Vietnam, the attorney underlined.

With all these in mind, Hoc said his client should also be given the benefit of the doubt and freed of the child molestation charge.

The victim’s family also said prior to the trial on June 25 that they would prefer criminal charges not to be brought against Linh, instead stating they only wanted a formal apology, explaining that the girl was not harmed.

Vietnamese law, however, allows police to overrule the family’s wishes and press charges if they see fit. In this situation, clear video evidence of the crime was enough to continue with their indictment.

A mass call for action to be taken against Linh previously ripped through the country after the video clip went viral on social media.

In late May, the People’s Procuracy in District 4 officially charged Linh with molesting a child under the age of 16, a crime punishable by up to three years in prison.

He was placed under house arrest in Hai Chau District, Da Nang.

Source: Tuoitrenews

Homeownership remains a dream for young

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Rising house prices have prevented many people from buying their own houses in big cities like Hanoi and HCM City.

Phuc, a resident in Hanoi, said the total income of he and his wife was VND30m (USD1,300) but they still didn’t dare to take a mortgage to buy a house. Phuc has to support his child and parents. If they take a bank loan with a monthly interest of VND10m to VND15m, they would not have any savings for emergencies.

“Several years ago, there was a project with VND900m (USD38,700) to VND1.2bn per apartment but because I hesitated, the opportunity slipped. I registered to several social housing projects but I’ve never been selected, I don’t understand why,” he said.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Manh Hung, a HCM City resident, made the decision to borrow money to buy a VND1.7bn (USD73,200) house immediately and said that it was worth it. Hung said their salaries were not high but stable.

“I only had VND600m then. If I had waited and continued saving, I would have never been able to buy it,” Hung said.

According to Hung, after three years, the price of his house has increased to VND2.3bn (USD99,000). The housing and land prices along that route also increased from VND26m to VND34-36m per square metre.

Salaries of many young people can’t afford to buy houses in Hanoi and HCM City. The average income per capita in Vietnam last year was USD2,587, or about VND5.5 million (USD239) a month. An apartment in Hanoi costs VND20m (USD861) to VND33m per square metre. The prices in HCM City are VND33m to VND37m per square metre. The monthly income hardly increased compared to skyrocketing house prices.

In the first six months of 2019, apartment prices in HCM City increased by 18%. The number of houses for low-income people can’t meet demand. In the second quarter, the supply of Grade C apartments dropped by 34.7% compared to the same period last year and will continue to drop in the coming months since no new projects were started.

In the next decade, HCM City will need one million apartments to meet demand. However, property developers in Hanoi and HCM City are not interested in affordable housing.

According to HCM City Real Estate Association, the authorities need to apply specific and incentive mechanisms if they want to develop the affordable housing sector.

Source: Dtinews

Unhealthy lifestyles lead to more stroke cases

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Experts have expressed concern as younger Vietnamese are increasingly suffering from strokes.

18-year-old Trinh Thi Thanh from Hanoi was admitted to the Military Hospital 108 after falling into a coma and becoming paralysed. Test results show that she had had a stroke and the situation had turned for the worse. She faced high risk of death if not treated in time. The doctors had to use various measures to save her in 40 days.

Meanwhile, a 39-year-old patient at Bach Mai Hospital was less fortunate and couldn’t survive the stroke. His family said he had a headache and took medicines but the pain actually got worse. He then had a seizure and vomited. Despite the doctors’ effort, he died from the stroke.

According to the WHO, strokes are the third most common cause of death in the world after cancer and coronary heart disease. The number of strokes is expected to increase to 1.2 million cases by the year 2025.

In Vietnam, strokes are the top most common cause of death and disabilities. In the past three years, the number of admitted patients has also sharply increased. It is estimated that there are 200,000 new cases are reported each year, 50% of which is fatal. Among the surviving patients, 90% faced severe after-effects such as cognitive disorders, loss of mobility, speaking or swallowing difficulties.

The number of male patients is four times higher than that of females and the age range is getting younger.

The cause of strokes hasn’t changed. However, the ages of patients have become younger due to lifestyles and diets. Luong Tuan Khanh, director of the Rehabilitation Center in Bach Mai Hospital, said 50-60% of patients aged 30 and over were admitted due to high blood pressure. Patients less than 20 years old were admitted due to cerebrovascular malformation.

“People must be careful if they are fighting with obesity or have diabetes and have family members that have suffered from strokes,” Khanh said.

Doctors have also blamed fast food consumption, lack of exercise, and alcohol abuse for the increased number of stroke cases.

Dr Nguyen Xuan Khoa from Hanoi Heart Hospital said patients must be treated within three to five hours after a stroke. Rehabilitation also plays an important role in helping patients recover their health.

If the patients are admitted in time and follow instructions then 70-80% that they can walk again after four to six weeks of exercise. However, some families worry that exercising may trigger another stroke and force the patients to lie still for months.

“Doctors already recommend exercising three to four days after the stroke,” Khanh said.

But more importantly, young people should adopt more healthy lifestyles to avoid strokes in the first place.

Source: Dtinews

Food trucks jazz up Ho Chi Minh city street scene

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Food and beverage market in Ho Chi Minh city has become more vibrant with the introduction of food trucks on city streets.

Food trucks, which are mobile kitchens hosted in the back of a truck or van, typically sell more than one kind of food or drink such as coffee, meat or vegetable skewers, along with light snacks, Vietnam News Agency reports.

While they are often seen at sporting events, concerts or college campuses, food trucks ican be spotted along streets in districts 1, 2 and 7.

The concept of a food truck was initiated by Mexican immigrants in the US and later embraced by many countries worldwide for the last decade.

Many food-truck owners said it was far easier to secure start-up capital for a truck than a restaurant. In fact, many food-truck businesses have been opened by Vietnamese who live in other countries.

Le Thi Trang told Young People, a local newspaper that, in Australia’s New South Wales where she lives, she owns one of the two food trucks selling Vietnamese food in the area. Trang was born in Hue and later moved to Orange City, Australia in 2012. Though she had always wanted to open her own restaurant, she could not because the business is tough.

In 2017, however, when she was randomly scrolling her Facebook feed she noticed a US food-truck model, and then began pursuing her passion. Trang’s food truck offers spring roll, beef noodle soup, vermicelli with marinated char-grilled meat, and banh mi (baguette), among other dishes, with each dish ranging from A$3-13 (US$2.1 – $9.2).

Her mobile kitchen travels beyond Orange City and to other cities in New South Wales, attracting many locals, Trang said, adding that she plans to expand her business and open a supermarket specialising in Vietnamese products.

“In addition to earning income, I hope that Australians via my truck can learn that Vietnam has wonderful dishes,” she said.

Don Le, who owns a similar food truck business called Hanoi Boy in New Zealand’s Cambridge Town, agreed with Trang.

“Despite many challenges, I would love to introduce authentic Vietnamese cuisine to people living in Cambridge Town. I would love to let them feel Vietnam’s heart and soul,” he said.

In Vietnam, particularly HCM City, professional food truck businesses remain a fresh yet promising field.

Truong Toan Thang, 31, a food truck owner on Ven Ho Trung Tam Street in District 2, said that he is positive about his new venture. “I’ve been running my food truck about two months. When I first started out, I only served during the weekend,” he said.

“When I realised that locals love to fly kites on afternoons, I opened my trucks more regularly to attract more customers.” Thang’s food truck initially had items such as coffee, milk tea and snacks. However, he has added fried chicken together with ice cream.

“I find this business quite flexible. What I enjoy most is that I have saved a lot of cash on furniture. Besides the truck, I only had to invest in some small tables and chairs, and that’s about it!” Thang said.

“To be honest, I didn’t expect much from the beginning, but the stable income has encouraged me to try even harder,” he added.

Since Thang loves South Korean food so much, he plans to introduce a new menu consisting of tobokki and kimchi noodles.

In addition to small entrepreneurs, Pizza 4P’s, a professional pizza restaurant chain based in HCM City, has jumped on the bandwagon and opened its own food truck at The Vista An Phuin District 2.

At this food truck, Pizza 4P’s offers pizzas and light bites as well as fun activities such as face painting.

“This activity brings joy to both children and adults,” said Duong Lan Khue, 37, who attended the event with her family last week.

“We’ve been a fan of Pizza 4P’s for a long time. Great food as usual. But what made us really excited was the chill vibe of this event, which can be seen in Western movies,” Khue said.

Nguyen Tran Van Anh, 37, Khue’s husband, said that he was looking forward to seeing more professional food trucks as they add to the vibrancy of HCM City.

“Vietnamese food is already delicious and a different way of dining via food trucks might enhance the experiences of both locals and tourists,” he said, adding that he is also interested in tasting cuisines from foreign cultures.