F1 offers virtual look at Hanoi Street Circuit

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Get a first look at the track layout ahead of the first Vietnam Grand Prix in 2020.

Formula 1’s countdown to the inaugural Vietnam Grand Prix in 2020 has continued with the release of a virtual look at the layout for the Hanoi Street Circuit. On Twister, it said “FIRST LOOK: go onboard for a lap of the Hanoi Street Circuit Coming to F1 in 2020…”

F1 announced back in November that Hanoi would host F1 from 2020 on a multi-year deal, with the first race scheduled for April next year.

Renders of the planned 5.565km-long, 22-corner circuit designed by Hermann Tilke were released at the time of the announcement, but F1 has now released a first look at what a hot lap may look like from the cockpit of a car.

The track design has taken inspiration from a number of the world’s great racing circuits, including the Nurburgring, Suzuka, and even the Monaco street course.

Vietnam marks the first new race to be added to the F1 calendar following Liberty Media’s takeover of the sport in January 2017.

Vietnam IT industry is more than just outsourcing

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Vietnam is known as an outsourcing software destination but local IT businesses are expanding into other technology areas such as AI and fintech.

For years, MNCs like Intel, IBM, Samsung Display, Nokia and Microsoft have chosen Vietnam to outsource their software projects. Last year, Vietnam exported $3.5 billion worth of software, up 11.6 percent from 2017, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications.

But a recent report by HCMC-based IT recruiting firm TopDev showed that local companies are branching out to different areas also.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of them. Technology giant FPT, telecommunications giant Viettel and online gaming giant VNG in recent years have been developing and coming up with solutions to apply AI in real life.

Conglomerate Vingroup has also announced it would establish an AI research institute as part of its technology arm VinTech.

Big demand has resulted in a higher pay check for AI engineers in the country, TopDev says. Its data shows that an AI engineer or machine learning engineer could earn up to $1,678 a month, 21 percent higher than the average salary for an experienced IT developer of $1,318.

Fintech is another area believed to have big potentials in Vietnam, as the development of mobile payment services could increase the number of cashless payments in the country.

Since last October, ride-hailing app Grab has partnered with e-payment Moca to allow users to pay electronically for their rides. Another mobile payment service, Momo, reached 10 million users in Vietnam last year.

There are at least 64 companies providing fintech services in the country, but this figure is still lower than 490 in Singapore, 262 in Indonesia and 196 in Malaysia, TopDev said, adding that this means there are still opportunities in this area for large companies and future startups in Vietnam.

Vietnam’s fintech market reached $4.4 billion in 2017 and is estimated to grow to $7.8 billion by next year, according to consulting firm Solidiance.

The report added that other IT areas that Vietnamese businesses are expanding into are blockchain, software as a service (SAAS) and e-commerce.

IT is a growing industry in the country which is promoting the development of Industry 4.0. A report by recruitment firm ManpowerGroup released in January said that IT will be the industry with the highest recruitment demand this year with 14 percent increase compared to last year.

According to a report on VnExpress

F1 boss promises ‘exciting’ Hanoi street race in 2020

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Formula One boss Chase Carey said next year’s inaugural race in Hanoi will be “uniquely exciting” thanks to a street track he hopes will help make the event a global spectacle.

Carey was speaking Monday after inspecting initial work on the 5.6 kilometre (3.5 mile) track that will combine existing roads with newly-built routes in the Vietnamese capital, which is hosting its first F1 race from April 2020.

“We think this track can really be a special race that provides some uniquely exciting racing and competition,” he told reporters.

“It’s the combination of a city race — we’re in the city centre — a street race which always has some special elements to it, and a track that I think we’ve really had the opportunity to work (on) from day one,” said Carey.

The course has been designed “in a way that we think can deliver some special racing for fans,” he added.

The track is around Hanoi’s My Dinh stadium, about 13 kilometres from the city centre after it was deemed too expensive to hold the race in the city’s famed Old Quarter.

Carey compared plans for the Hanoi track to Britain’s Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, which he called “historic” sites.

Carey said he was happy with Hanoi’s pre-race progress so far but warned organisers to keep at it.

“There’s a lot to get done, so the right thing is to continue to worry, not to take things for granted.”

Formula One announced last year it would host its first ever race in Vietnam as it seeks to gain a foothold in Asia, where the franchise has a patchy track record.

The Marina Bay Sands street track night race in Singapore remains F1’s crown jewel in Asia, with the city state’s Grand Prix drawing 263,000 fans last year.

But Malaysia, South Korea and India have all pulled the plug on hosting races in recent years after hemorrhaging money.

Vietnam — where racing is a marginal sport — is hoping to avoid those pitfalls.

It has not said how much it will cost to host the event, but has vowed not to dip into government coffers to fund it.

Instead the country’s largest privately-owned conglomerate VinGroup is the main financial backer.

Carey hopes Vietnam will adopt a winning formula to ensure it doesn’t go the way of past flops.

“It’s got to have all the elements that creates the race at the centre, creates that excitement, and that energy and that breadth of activities that really enables it to be the spectacle we want it to be,” he said.

According to a report on AFP

Phu Quoc seeks to become Vietnam’s first island city

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Mr. Pham Vu Hong, Chairman of the Kien Giang Provincial People’s Committee, has signed a petition that was then sent to the government on establishing Phu Quoc city on the basis of the existing Phu Quoc Island district, with one island and 21 other islets. If approved, Phu Quoc would become the first island city in Vietnam.

Phu Quoc Island district has an area of 589,275 sq km, or roughly the same size as Singapore. In recent years it has become an international-standard beach holiday, eco-tourism, and entertainment destination. It expects to have 12,000 five-star hotel rooms by 2020 and become a leading tourism resort city in Southeast Asia.

Phu Quoc also become a hub for international transportation and aviation recently, with a range of airlines opening regular and charter flights to the island, such as Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, Jetstar Pacific Airlines, China Southern, and Lucky Air, among others.

The island has a sea area adjacent to ASEAN countries, is near international freight routes, is less than two hours by air from many ASEAN capitals, and is close to economic and tourism centers in regional countries.

According to figures from the Kien Giang Provincial People’s Committee, there are 304 investment projects on Phu Quoc, with total capital of VND361.054 trillion ($15.6 million). Among these, 215 are tourism development projects, 23 are urban development projects, eight are agricultural projects, eight are public service projects, and eight are projects leasing forests.

Under documents submitted to the government, Kien Giang province plans to establish Phu Quoc city with eight wards and a subordinate commune, including Duong Dong, An Thoi, Duong To, Ham Ninh, Cua Can, Cua Duong, Ganh Bau, and Bai Thom, and Tho Chau commune.

After establishment, Phu Quoc city would have a natural area of more than 589 sq km and a population of 127,709. It is located 120km southwest of Rach Gia city – Kien Giang’s administrative center.

According to Notice No. 27 from the Politburo, Phu Quoc Island district is to become one of special economic zones in Vietnam, joining Van Don in northern Quang Ninh province and Bac Van Phong in south-central Khanh Hoa province. However, the National Assembly is yet to pass the Law on Special Economic Administrative Units, so there is no legal basis at this time for establishing these special economic zones.

According to a report on VET

Ride-hailing apps ‘vanish’ from once-crowded Vietnamese market

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A number of apps, both homegrown and international, that were launched last year in an attempt to break the domination of Grab in Vietnam have silently ‘disappeared’ from the market due to apparent tough competition.

Uber’s exit from Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, in April 2018 enabled the regional rival Grab to easily dominate the Vietnamese market, while at the same time encouraged local transport companies to launch their own ride-hailing apps to fill in the blank left by the U.S. tech company.

Among those Vietnamese companies that hopped on the ride-hailing bandwagon were Mai Linh, Fast-Go, Vato, Aber, MLV, Go-ixe, and Xelo.

If many of these names sound unfamiliar to you, it’s because they are.

Even though they were launched with the main goal of competing with the market leader Grab, most of these newcomers struggled to attract both passengers and drivers, despite their appealing promotions and preferential policies.

Many of these Vietnamese apps have therefore left the market even before customers had a chance to know about them.

In June 2018, for instance, Aber, which was developed by a group of Vietnamese engineers in Europe, entered Vietnam’s ride-hailing market, offering as many as six different services including motorbike, car, delivery, and business car.

Aber said it stood out from competitors as the app applied no fare hike during peak hours, and only charged drivers a monthly rate based on their total income that month, instead of taking a cut from every ride they made.

But the company’s attempt to differentiate itself from other ride-hailing apps turned out to make no difference.

Aber has recently announced its temporary absence from the market “for a bigger return”, yet without saying when.

According to a company’s leader, Aber “has to find another direction” amid tough competition from such rivals with a lot of money to spend as Singapore-based super app Grab and Go-Viet, the Vietnamese brand of Indonesian transportation network Go-Jek.

A leader of local app VATO, which claimed to have received US$100 million from Vietnamese bus line Phuong Trang and was expected to be a ‘counterweight’ to Grab and Go-Viet, also admitted the same thing.

“As the competition from Grab and Go-Viet has been quite harsh, our company has to find a different direction,” said the VATO leader.

According to drivers and frequent customers of ride-hailing apps like Fast-Go, MLV, and Go-ixe, the coverage of these applications in the market is quite low, with only a small number of drivers, leading to long waiting time for both drivers and users.

Industry insiders say that the exit of these apps from the ride-hailing industry is already in sight.

Even fiercer competition awaits

Despite the demises of several Vietnamese ride-hailing apps, Tran Thanh Hai, general director of Vietnamese technology startup Be Group Corporation, believes there is still great potential for newcomers to join Vietnam’s technology-based transportation market.

The company launched its ride-hailing platform Be last December.

According to evaluation reports of some international organizations, Vietnam’s ride-hailing market revenue can reach US$500 million a year.

Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City collectively account for 93 percent of the market, meaning there is plenty of room to grow for ride-hailing apps in other localities across the country.

Besides personal transportation, technology-based transportation companies are also expanding to other sectors, including food delivery, where competition is already fierce with two main players, Grab and Go-Viet.

“It is very wasteful to not take advantage of tens of thousands of drivers for other services such as goods delivery, food delivery, and personal shopper,” Hai of Be Group said, adding that his company has plans to join the food deliver sector.

Meanwhile, Grab said it has received an additional $1.46 billion from SoftBank’s Vision fund for business expansion from its current services of financing, food delivery, freight forwarding, digital content and digital payments.

Bui Danh Lien, former chairman of the Hanoi Transport Association, said competition in Vietnam’s technology-based transportation market is like a race to burn money.

“Only businesses with sufficient resources and a wise strategy can stay in and win the biggest market share,” Lien said.

According to a report on Tuoi Tre

Offices for lease yield high profits for investors

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The occupancy rates of office buildings located in advantageous positions are at a record high.

Unlike the housing market segment, offices for lease have been thriving thanks to high demand and the lack of new projects.

According to a report by Kim Chi on Vietnamnet, just after one year of operation, B-class E-Town Central with the total area of 34,000 square meters has a high occupancy rate of 94 percent. It is expected that REE, the investor, will put E-Town 5 (17,000 square meters) into operation in the third quarter, and start construction of E-Town 6, 40,000 square meters soon.

A report from Savills, a real estate consultancy firm, showed that Hanoi had the highest office yield in the world for the second half of 2018, with a market yield of 8.57 percent.

This was the third time since January 2018 the city ranked first in A-class office yield. HCMC dropped to the fourth position though the yield was still relatively high, at 7.36 percent.

The demand for offices will be supported by foreign investors heading for Vietnam because of the US-China trade war. The attractiveness of the office-for-lease segment will also come from the e-commerce boom and demand from technology and finance startups.

Analysts say there are many reasons to predict an optimistic trend in the market segment in upcoming years. The demand for offices will be supported by foreign investors heading for Vietnam because of the US-China trade war. The attractiveness of the office-for-lease segment will also come from the e-commerce boom and demand from technology and finance startups.

Most recently, an area of 10,000 square meters at the A-class Saigon Centre was leased to a well-known e-commerce platform. Sources said the company has to pay $500,000 a month for the business premises.

According to JLL, this was the biggest office leasing transaction in the last 10 years in HCMC.

The ‘co-working space’ movement has also given a push to the office-for-lease segment. The list of co-working spaces now includes dozens of names, including Toong, Hatch! Nest, Nest by AIA, Dreamplex and Saigon Cow.

Having realized the great potential of the Vietnamese market, WeWork, a well-known co-working space distributor from the US, has come to Vietnam.

While the demand is on the rise, the supply of offices for lease is not abundant, as only a few new office building projects have kicked off.

In HCMC, Lim Tower 3 is the only A-class office building to join the market this year. The other important projects, such as The Nexus on Ton Duc Thang street in district 1 and Alpha Town are going slowly and analysts believe that they will not open until 2020.

Office buildings in non-CBD areas are getting ready to receive tenants. These include the B-class Thaco Sala in district 2 and the Tower 1 building in the OneHub hi-tech park in district 9.

The State Bank of Vietnam proposes tighter control over e-wallets

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The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has proposed more regulations to tighten control over the opening and use of e-wallets, the local media reported.

According to the draft circular amending and supplementing Circular 39/2014, which guides the use of intermediary payment services, individuals and organizations wishing to open e-wallet accounts must provide sufficient information.

E-wallet service providers, such as MoMo, ZaloPay, AirPay, Moca and Payoo, have to check the information to ensure that the e-wallet accounts are legal.

Dr Bui Quang Tin from the Banking University of HCMC said it is reasonable to ask e-wallet users to provide their personal information to help prevent the use of e-wallets for illegal purposes.

However, e-wallet service providers should help users to complete the administrative procedures to open e-wallet accounts, Tin added.

In addition, e-wallet users must top up their e-wallets through their bank accounts, which may limit the number of e-wallet users as only 30% of the population have bank accounts.

Nevertheless, Nguyen Tri Hieu, a banking expert, said that the connection between e-wallets and bank accounts is necessary to prevent money laundering and corruption.

Meanwhile, an individual must not conduct transactions valued at more than VND20 million per day and VND100 million per month. The respective figures for organizations are VND100 million and VND500 million.

Hieu proposed doubling the transaction value limits stated in the draft circular, adding that e-wallet service providers should invest heavily in technologies to prevent potential losses.

Tin, however, said that the limits are too high as consumers mainly use e-wallets to pay for goods and services at low prices. In addition, regulations on transaction value limits are not as important as those on the security of e-wallets.

The tighter control over e-wallets may make consumers hesitate to make payments through them, which is not in line with the Government’s policies to encourage noncash payments, according to a representative of an e-wallet service firm.

The representative added that regulations allowing individuals to conduct transactions valued at no more than VND20 million per day were unreasonable. If the draft circular is approved, consumers cannot use their e-wallets to make payments for laptops, motorbikes or mobile phones.

Further, the draft circular regulates that e-wallet service providers are banned from offering credit to e-wallet users, paying interest on their balance or any other activities that may increase the balance of e-wallets.

The country currently has 23 types of e-wallets provided by 26 intermediary payment firms. The volume and value of goods and services paid through e-wallets increased 21% and 161% year-on-year, respectively, in the third quarter of last year, according to SBV.

As of 2018, 4.2 million e-wallets had been connected with bank accounts. Payments through e-wallets are becoming increasingly popular, especially in large cities.

According to a report on SGT

Vietnam just observed its highest temperature ever recorded

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Above GFS model shows a simulation of temperatures in degrees Celsius on Saturday afternoon in southeastern Asia. (TropicalTidBits.com)

Vietnam broke its record high national temperature Saturday, the latest in records to fall as the world continues to warm.

The scorcher set the mercury thermometer soaring to 43.4 Celsius (110 degrees Fahrenheit) in the community of Huong Khe, a rural district in Ha Tinh province. It’s situated in Vietnam’s northern central coast region, about 150 miles south of the capital, Hanoi. Its average temperature is in the 27 Celsius at this time of year. Matthew Cappucci reports on washingtonpost.com

A temperature of 43.4 Celsius is enough to soften your crayons, liquefy chocolate and raise the temperature inside a parked car past 60 Celsius.

The record was first reported by Etienne Kapikian, a forecaster with Meteo France, France’s meteorological agency.

Sweltering heat covered the entire Indochina peninsula over the weekend. Danang hit 37.7 Celsius. Hue topped 40.5 Celsius.

Much of Vietnam’s southern third has held in the 32.2s the past few days. Ho Chi Minh City experienced a high of 35s Monday.

What makes the heat even more striking is that it’s only April. Most places in Vietnam see their hottest temperatures in June or July.

Nguyen Vo lives in Danang. She’s part of a team that just concluded an environmental governance project with the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam. “We have a quote in Vietnamese,” she joked. “There are two seasons here: hot and hotter.”

But lately, the heat has been brutal.

“We’ve been scorching hot. The weather has been a bit strange lately. I had to purchase clothes for cold weather in February, but it ended up being so warm, I didn’t use them,” she said.

Phuong Hoang was in Hue when the temperatures climbed above 100 degrees. “It is unbreathable outside in this heat,” she wrote. “The temperature at 6 a.m. is already 30-31 degrees celsius.” That’s before the sun even came up.

The heat’s not just uncomfortable, she said. It’s taking a toll on residents.

“It is so hard to carry on your day in this,” she wrote. “But people have to. That’s the sad part.”

Air conditioning in Vietnam is primarily available to wealthier individuals. That sort of privilege is rare — the average monthly salary for most workers is less than $150 a month.

Hoang said the hot weather comes on the heels of a dry 2018. “Due to lack of rain, the hydropower dams are working with little water upstream,” she said.

Hoang works with government and private sector leaders to arrange educational programs studying climate impacts in Vietnam. Now she’s getting a firsthand glimpse of just how bad things will continue to get.

“It affects our daily life,” she said.

Saturday’s record follows news that March was the second-warmest on record for the globe.

Local banks expect to get high credit growth limits with Basel II standards

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Some commercial banks expect to get high credit growth limits set by the central bank this year as they have so far met Basel II’s capital safety and risk management standards ahead of schedule.

According to current regulations, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) sets a credit growth limit for the entire year for each bank – depending on its health – to ensure the credit growth target of the entire banking system during the year (14 per cent , equivalent to the rate of 2018).

Currently, the SBV has allowed only six banks to apply Basel II standards earlier than its deadline of 2020. They are Vietcombank, VIB, OCB, MBBank, TPBank and VPBank. VNS reports.

Vietcombank and VIB became the first two banks have been approved to apply Basel II standards by SBV

At a recent annual general meeting of shareholders, Chairman of VIB Dang Khac Vy said VIB expected the SBV to approve its credit growth limit proposal of 35 per cent in 2019 as it was one of the first banks to meet the central bank’s Basel II standards.

MB and TPBank also set high credit growth targets of 20 per cent for this year and are waiting for approval from the central bank. As for MBBank, industry insiders forecast the bank could then ask for another extension to increase its credit growth limit to 30 per cent this year.

Meanwhile, credit growth targets set at other banks, which haven’t met Basel II standards, are lower.

Nguyen Thanh Toai, deputy general director of ACB, said the bank was assigned a credit growth limit of 13 per cent this year, compared with more than 16.4 per cent last year.

Techcombank wants credit growth of 13 per cent while the figure for Kien Long Bank is 15 per cent.

The credit growth limit is even lower at State-owned commercial banks. Vietinbank set a target of only 6-8 per cent due to the pressure to raise the minimum capital adequacy ratio (CAR) while Agribank plans to increase outstanding loans by 11-14 per cent, of which 60 per cent would be agricultural and rural loans.

As lending contributes a large part to banks’ revenue, banks that are granted low credit growth limits but set higher growth targets therefore will have to adjust their operations to meet the growth targets.

Banking expert Nguyen Tri Hieu recommended four main solutions that can help the banks achieve high credit growth and better profits.

First, he said, the banks can re-lend to other banks and credit institutions in the interbank market. It will no longer be limited in terms of growth and will compensate for the restricted lending market.

Another solution is that they can adjust customer groups. Banks can exclude low-profit customers and pay more attention to high-profit ones. Similarly, higher interest sectors, such as consumer loans, should obtain more focus.

They can also reduce capital costs, operating costs such as marketing costs, and other costs to achieve better profit growth.

Finally, banks can boost service activities to increase revenues, compensating for credit growth restrictions.

Pham Thanh Ha, director of the SBV’s Monetary Policy Department, said the credit growth would still be adjusted in accordance with the actual situation and based on the country’s economic growth target of 6.8 per cent and inflation of less than 4 per cent.

Talking about the credit growth target of 14 per cent this year, Hieu said this target is low in comparison to previous years but is consistent with reality. He explained the credit growth target of 14 per cent is appropriate as banks need to return to the concern of internal consolidation and capital structure to operate effectively and healthily.

Vinpearl became the first hospitality company Vietnam to apply facial recognition technology

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Vinpearl, the leading hospitality group in Vietnam officially became the first resort, hotel and entertainment system to apply facial recognition technology based on artificial intelligence (AI).

The technology has been applied to help customers have new experiences such as opening the door automatically, checking in within 3 seconds or paying for services, all with a simple smile. The company said in a statement last Monday.

In the first phase, the application of facial recognition has been implemented at Vinpearl Nha Trang and features check-in and check-out options at Vinpearl Land entertainment areas and restaurants. This technology identifies and authenticates customers’ identities accurately and quickly through observation devices without other control procedures.

The technology at Vinpearl possesses 5 pre-eminent advantages: SPEED – identification within one second, large data processing system with MILLIONS of faces, DYNAMIC security warnings in real time, PRECISION – almost 100 per cent and CONFIDENTIAL customer information at the highest level.

With the combination of Vinpearl’s 5-star services and the new technology, visitors will enjoy three unprecedented experiences: check-in for the whole family at the same time, passing through automatic gates and using personal privileges with the highest privacy. The features of this technology help visitors minimise the waiting time for procedures and the process of moving between Vinpearl’s internal areas. In particular, when using privileged services in buffet restaurants and private games areas … visitors do not need to bring their room cards.

All 43 Vinpearls nationwide will apply the new technology in the future to help customers feel comfortable at check-in desks.

Being the first resort, hotel and entertainment system in Vietnam to apply AI in operation and management, Vinpearl has created a breakthrough for the country’s tourism and hotel industry.

This is also Vingroup’s strategic orientation toward a multi-utility service ecosystem with high technology and AI application, contributing to bringing Vietnam to a worthy position in the world’s technology and service map./.

Face Recognition: is a works by comparing a digital image or video frame with a face stored in a database; find and connect facial features and some other biometric factors to show if the results match.

Face Recognition or Face ID is popular on Facebook’s system to create a personal tagging feature on digital photos. Apple technology company has applied the technology to upgrade security, unlocking phones from Iphone X generation onwards in 2018.

Former President of Vietnam Le Duc Anh dies at 99

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Vietnamese former President, General Le Duc Anh, who was born in 1920 has passed away on Monday, April 22nd, 2019. His son Le Manh Ha confirmed.

Le Duc Anh died at his house here due to illness, according to Vietnam’s National Commission of Health Services for Senior Officials.

The former resident of Vietnam was born in Phu Loc District, Thua Thien-Hue Province in central Vietnam, Le Duc Anh joined the revolution in 1937 and became a member of Vietnam’s Communist Party a year later.

Le Duc Anh served as a president from 1992 to 1997 after acting as a defense minister.

Nguyen Hoai Nam has become the first Vietnamese businessman to own a European football club

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Nguyen Hoai Nam, the CEO of Berjaya Vietnam is now the proud owner of Bosnian football club FK Sarajevo.

The acquisition makes Nam the first A Vietnamese businessman to own a European football club.

Based in the capital of Bosnia – Herzegovina, the football club leads the Liga 12 with only six fixtures to go. Securing the title will vault them into the first qualifying round of next season’s UEFA Champions League. Devdiscourse.com reports.

The football club leads the Liga 12 with only six fixtures to go. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Nam has vowed to bring Vietnam’s footballers to Europe and give them the opportunity to test themselves against the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. This will open up opportunities for young stars like Nguyen Quang Hai, Doan Van Hau and Nguyen Van Toan who helped lead the national team to glory in the AFF Cup in late 2018.

 

GrabTaxi to hit the road in three more provinces

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Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport has approved ride-hailing firm Grab to run taxi services in three more provinces.
The approval comes after the Singapore-based firm’s expansion plans were blocked last year.

GrabTaxi has been cleared to operate in the central province of Thanh Hoa, the southern province of An Giang and the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong.

It currently functions in five localities – Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, the northern province of Quang Ninh and the central province of Khanh Hoa.

In June last year, the ministry had blocked GrabTaxi’s plan to extend its services to provinces like Ninh Thuan, Dong Thap and Gia Lai. Grab Vietnam had asserted then that GrabTaxi was an app for an e-commerce platform, so its operations would be in accordance with the government’s e-commerce laws.

The latest permission does not extend to GrabCar. Both GrabTaxi and GrabCar operate under the same Grab application, but GrabTaxi offers a run-of-the mill taxi service, while GrabCar is a service which connects customers with private cars.

Grab is the leading ride-hailing company in Vietnam. Last year, it acquired Uber in Southeast Asia in return for a 27.5 percent stake.

Source: Vnexpress

Bamboo Airways to introduce three international flights

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Flights to South Korea, Taiwan and Japan to take to skies before end of month.

Bamboo Airways will shortly add three international routes to its schedule, to South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.

The first flight on the Hanoi – Incheon route will take off on April 26, those on the Da Nang – Taipei and Hanoi – Tainan routes on April 27, and those on the Hanoi – Irabaki and Ho Chi Minh City – Irabaki routes on April 28.

The routes will initially be operated as charter flights, with Bamboo Airways coordinating with tour operators to provide aviation services combined with tourism packages for Vietnamese tourists to South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, and to bring tourists from these markets to Vietnam.

Ms. Duong Thi Mai Hoa, Vice President and Deputy General Director of Bamboo Airways, said these first destinations in Asia were carefully selected by the new carrier. “Bamboo Airways aims to establish a key pioneering system to prepare for connecting domestic routes with the region in the long term,” she said.

In Taiwan, Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport ranks in the top 10 busiest airports in the world by passenger numbers and the top 6 in the world by air freight.

In South Korea, Incheon International Airport is Seoul’s main international airport and also the largest in the country. It is one of the busiest transshipment airports for Asia and North American flight networks.

Bamboo Airways plans to operate 37 routes this year, connecting all major cities and popular tourist destinations in Vietnam and internationally. It will conduct 60 domestic flights each day.

To serve its international flight plans, Bamboo Airways has recently signed an agreement to purchase aircraft from Airbus, bringing its total number of Airbus A321neo aircraft to 50. This is part of the fleet development process towards standardizing aircraft lines, with the Airbus A321neo for its narrow-bodied fleet and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner for its wide-bodied fleet.

Source: Vneconomictimes

 

Hanoi man probed for luring 11-yo girl into alley for alleged molestation

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Police in Hanoi have launched legal proceedings against a man who lured two young girls into a small alley in Thanh Xuan District and allegedly molested one of them earlier this month.

Nguyen Dinh Phuc, 41, is being investigated for conducting lewd acts against a person under the age of 16, a source close to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper confirmed on Sunday.

Phuc has been held in custody since April 15 to assist the investigation.

The incident happened in Khuong Trung Ward, Thanh Xuan District on the evening of April 4, when Phuc was traveling on a motorcycle with no license plate and looking for a filling station, according to officers.

The man then ran into P.L.C. ,11, who was walking home with her younger sister after buying some notebooks at a nearby store.

Phuc then told the girls he was looking for a friend in the neighborhood and asked for their help.

He managed to lure the victims into a secluded alley, where he began to grope C.

The girl then pushed his hands away and screamed for help. Her younger sister also started crying.

Fearing he would get caught, Phuc ran away on his motorbike and headed home.

After being informed of the incident, the family of the two girls immediately reported it to police.

A surveillance camera installed at the scene caught Phuc talking with the two girls that day, but his face was not visible in the footage.

As the video went viral on social media on April 8, he hid his motorbike, which could be seen in the clip, at his cousin’s house.

Officers, however, were able to identify him on April 12, and arrested him three days later.

According to the Penal Code, Phuc faces six months to three years in prison.

Source: Tuoitrenews

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