Undoubtedly PDF (Portable Document Format) is the most popular file format in the world. Everybody is using it, from big-shot CEOs and serious entrepreneurs all the way to students, electricians, housewives, and others.
This is all great to know, but you are probably asking by now “Why is it so popular?” Let us explain.
It was created in the early nineties by Dr. John Warnock, the Adobe co-founder. His main idea was to create a lightweight and secure file format that will look exactly the same no matter the operating system and device it is viewed on. He managed to do exactly that and PDF was born.
People immediately started realizing its potential and its popularity never stopped growing. The other great thing about PDFs is that all kind of files can be implemented within the document. For instance, your PDF could consist of images, audio files, videos etc. And the best thing is, all of that can be password protected.
PDF security no matter how important it can cause some real problems. Imagine this, you created a PDF file a long time ago and now you want to reuse it. It would be next to impossible to make some changes to the existing document. You only have 2 options, to retype the whole document or to use one of many PDF conversion software. If you are constantly on the move even using conversion software can be difficult since most of the time your smartphone is the only thing you have with you.
This shouldn’t concern you since there are plenty of mobile apps that can help you convert and edit PDF files. The big problem is finding the right one since most of them provide poor conversion results. One app that has given us great and accurate results is PDF to Word Converter with OCR. It is available on iOS and Android devices. The app has many great features, we will mention some of them, and the rest you will have to find on your own.
You can convert an unlimited number of files no matter their size
Excellent conversion quality
Powerful built-in document scanner with automatic border detection
Scanned and complex files can be converted as well with the help of its industry-leading OCR technology
The app supports cloud services like Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive, OneDrive and more.
It is also important to mention that the app is extremely easy to use and that it has an intuitive user experience. Despite all of that, we decided to share with you a little how-to guide just in case.
Just type “PDF to Word Converter with OCR” in the search bar of any store and download the app.
2. Search and select the file you want to convert
Once the app is installed, open it and select the file you want to convert. You can select files directly from your mobile device, supported cloud services or Gmail attachments.
Another option is to use a built-in scanner in order to take a photo of the document you wish to convert. If you wish to get the best possible result, our advice is to scan the document on a flat surface without any visible background.
3. Upload and convert the file
The conversion will automatically start after the file has been uploaded. Depending on the size of the file you are converting, you will need to wait some time for it to be uploaded to the servers. It usually take less than 30 seconds. After the uploading process is finished, you can close the app in order to save the battery. Once the conversion is complete, the notification will pop-up on your screen.
Now you can open your converted file in the text editing app like MS Word and start editing it.
A Vietnamese American man sentenced to 10 years in jail for stealing a car by a court in Binh Duong Province on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018
Kevin Long Nguyen, 30, was arrested in August, 2017 when he was driving his stolen car.
The owner of the car was a resident of Binh Duong Province. But at the time of the theft, it was being driven by a young woman who had stopped to withdraw cash from an ATM on August 6, 2017.
According to the indictment, Kevin went to the Becamex Tower shopping mall in Binh Duong to apply for a job but failed. When leaving the mall, Kevin noticed the Honda Civic with the key in the ignition, jumped in and drove off, the CCTV camera captured this moment.
Three days later, a group of vigilantes patrolling their neighborhood spotted him driving the stolen vehicle on the street and chased him down. They arrest him and handed over to the local police.
Vietnamese American man Kevin Long Nguyen stands in court in Binh Duong Province where he gets 10 years jail term for car theft. Photo courtesy of Binh Duong Police
Kevin admitted to the local police that, he had tried to sell the car for $20,600 but was unable to find a buyer because he had no vehicle registration certificate.
“Kevin had returned to Vietnam in 2016 after losing his job in the U.S. and stayed homeless for a long time before ending up in jail for car theft”. Said local official.
In another case, American Moon Atfri, 32, was sentenced to seven years in jail for attacking a Grab driver and stealing his motorbike in April 2018.
Vietnam has set up a web monitoring unit that can scan up to 100 million news items per day for “false information”, in a move that tightens its grip on internet freedom.
A series of measures has been rolled out by the state to boost its control of online communication, which critics say is aimed at punishing activists who use Facebook and YouTube as their main platforms. Said the officials on Wednesday, Oct 31, 2018, according to the government’s website.
Lawmakers passed a tough cybersecurity law in June requiring internet providers to store data in the country and remove “toxic content” if requested to do so. Firms like Facebook and Google will also have to hand over user data if asked by the government.
Neither company has publicly commented on the bill.
The move came after a top general announced a 10,000-strong internet task force had been set up to monitor online posts.
Dissidents say the cyber-soldiers flood their Facebook pages with pro-government commentary.
The latest system includes software that can allegedly read 100 million items online daily “for analysis, evaluation and categorization,” said information minister Nguyen Manh Hung.
“It is necessary to legally punish those who publish wrong information on social media… we cannot leave this front unmanned,” he said.
He did not provide details on how the virtual unit functions, or how the so-called dubbed the National Centre on Supervising Information can scan such a large chunk of data.
In a veiled reference to Facebook and Google, he added Vietnam should be “tougher” in asking international internet companies to follow Vietnamese laws, namely requests to remove information.
The communist country has tightened the noose on internet expression and is accused of targeting activists, who rely on Facebook as a widely popular and crucial platform since all media is state-controlled.
The cybersecurity law, which mimics China’s web law and is set to come into effect in January, prompted outcry from the US, the EU and rights groups.
The Ministry of Public security said the bill was aimed at staving off cyber-attacks – and weeding out “hostile and reactionary forces” using the web to stir up violence and dissent, according to a transcript of a question-and-answer session with lawmakers this week.
By Dung Thai, Country Manager (Vietnam) for Asia Collect
To understand the state of debt collection industry in Vietnam, think back to the last ten friends and relatives you lent money to, even if it was as small as 200,000 Vietnamese dong. Now imagine if you had applied this approach to all of them: You demand that they pay you back immediately, or else they will face serious consequences, you tell them.
As ineffective as this collection strategy sounds, it’s currently the status quo for debt collection in Vietnam and even in many parts of Southeast Asia. Banks outsource debt collection to third-party agencies, whose tactics have two major problems: One, they rely on a one-size-fits-all approach to consumers. Two, their main tactic is intimidation, leveraged through constant calls and hostile, field-based collection. Both sides of the marketplace lose out in this equation. Banks boast of poor recovery rates for their non-performing loans and negatively impact their reputation, while consumers remain in debt, as they would prefer to ignore or avoid these kinds of debt collectors rather than engage with them. Banks in Vietnam, in short, are still firmly in the first generation of debt collection, where efficiency is low and risk is high.
How we collect debt from consumers matters
To return to our opening analogy, now imagine if you take a customized approach to each of the friends and family that owe you money, each based on who they are. Nguyen admits he is forgetful, so he is happy to receive regular, friendly reminders for repayment.
Dao’s biggest motivation is to be debt-free, so she likes being told how close she is to fulfilling her balance, as a means of motivation. Tran prefers a firm deadline, so you offer him one by which the full debt should be paid. In much the same way that you are more likely to successfully collect from friends when you take a personalized and friendly approach to each one, banks in Vietnam can boast of a higher collection rate when they think of consumers as individuals and treat them accordingly.
Unlike asking friends and family for repayment, the personal approach in the case of banks is tech-enabled. The second generation of debt collection is sophisticated and tech-driven, and it becomes even more complex in the third, which leverages artificial intelligence and even psychometric analysis – the communications to consumers effectively become as unique as a fingerprint, tailored to what each person will be most responsive to. Banks with the foresight to move toward the second and third generation of debt collection experience an inverse correlation in their favor: As efficiency increases, the risk decreases. By the third generation, risk is low, while efficiency is high.
Transforming the way banks think about debt collection
Of course, many banks in Vietnam may not even be aware of second and third generation debt collection, so a large part of my role is market education. We explain to banks how tech-enabled debt collection will enable them to more efficiently communicate with consumers, do so in a way that is personalized to each one, and ultimately recover more debt. The revenue generated from repayment on non-performing loans will be substantially higher than what they typically get from third-party agencies.
Helping consumers stay debt-free and financially successful
As profit-oriented as banks may be, they still care about their end users. We thus are also careful to explain that other side of the equation: Tech-enabled debt collection will enable more consumers to dutifully make repayments, and ultimately become debt-free.
In a healthier financial state, many of these consumers will return to the same banks as users of their higher value products, such as home loans.
Helping banks accelerate from first generation to third generation debt collection will require more than the deployment of the latest technology. Like the relationship between banks and their consumers, it must begin and be forged with a value that for even a financial institution is priceless: trust.
A Vietnamese cybersecurity law that global technology companies and rights groups have warned could undermine development and stifle innovation, will protect the country from increasing cyber threats, the security ministry has said.
Legislators approved the law in June, overriding strong objections from companies like Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s Google, rights groups and Western governments including the United States.
But the Ministry of Public Security, which administers the police, said the Communist nation was threatened by tens of thousands of large-scale cyber attacks that directly cause serious economic losses and threaten security and social order.
“The enactment of the Cybersecurity Law is essential to meet the urgent requirement to protect cybersecurity,” the ministry said in a question-and-answer session posted on its website.
The law, which comes into effect next year, requites foreign technology firms to set up offices and store data in Vietnam.
Facebook and Google, both widely used in the country, do not have local offices or local data storage facilities.
The ministry said there had been no effective way to control things such as fake news and slander which caused “unfortunate consequences”.
It also said unidentified “enemy” and “reactionary” forces were using cyber space to call for protests and incite riots and terrorism.
Despite sweeping economic reforms and increasing openness to social change, Vietnam’s Communist Party retains tight media censorship and does not tolerate dissent.
Officials from private companies have privately expressed concern that the law will make it easier for authorities to seize customer data and expose local employees to arrest.
The ministry said people’s information would not be disclosed and firms would only be asked to provide user information for investigations or law enforcement under strict procedures.
The law would not prevent people from accessing Facebook or Google, the ministry said, but anyone who violated it would be dealt with strictly.
Reporting by Mai Nguyen; Editing by Robert Birsel, Read original article on Reuters.com
According to the real time updated list of The World’s Billionaires on Forbes.com, Vietnam’s first billionaire in 229th place on list of world’s richest people as of October 30, 2018.
With a net worth of US$6.4 billion, Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong, the chairman of Vingroup had moved up to 228th on the Forbes rich list.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, the CEO of Vietjet Air – an international low-cost airline from Vietnam ranked # 901 with a net worth of US$2.5 billion
Mr. Tran Ba Duong, an entrepreneur and founder of THACO, one of the leading car manufacturers in Vietnam ranked # 1,312 with a net worth of US$1.7 billion
Chairman of the Management Board of Hoa Phat Group, Mr. Tran Dinh Long ranked # 1,827 with a net worth of US$1.1 billion
According to the information on Wikipedia, the World’s Billionaires is an annual ranking by documented net worth of the world’s wealthiest billionaires compiled and published in March annually by the American business magazine Forbes. The list was first published in March 1987.
More information about The World’s Billionaires can be found on Forbes.com
M&A activity in the education sector of Vietnam being heat-up.
An extraordinary general body meeting of the Hoa Sen University was called last Tuesday to discuss the implications of Nguyen Hoang Corporation – a private education group of Vietnam acquiring a large stake in it.
According to a report by Hung Le on VNExpress, given the scale of the transaction and the fact that Hoa Sen has become a prestigious, well known university in the Vietnam, the acquisition has stirred much debate and dispute in the education sector.
Some are wary of education being treated as just another business, and worry about the impact it will have on the quality of education and the original orientations of the universities.
Others argue that this is not a bad thing, that it is normal commercial activity that can have beneficial impacts.
According to experts, Hoa Sen carries a value of around $85.6 million with modern facilities, many students, good reputation and decent growth momentum.
Although it has experienced temporary internal disputes and devaluations, the university is still one of the educational institutions in Vietnam with high revenues from student fees.
Hoa Sen is one of several private universities in Vietnam that have experienced ownership transfers in recent years. Many corporations with strong financial reserves are investing millions to acquire universities and colleges in the country.
Easier path to ownership
Experts say that sale and acquisition of private university stocks have boomed in Vietnam over the past few years, because buying shares in an operating university is far easier than establishing a new one.
Economist Tran Vinh Du told the Thanh Nien newspaper that regulations setting a minimum capital requirement of $42.8 million to set up a university makes it extremely difficult for people to consider starting new institutions, as few have this kind of money to invest.
But for just tens or hundreds of billions of Vietnamese dong, one can buy high stakes in a college or university. The legal processes required to buy a school is much less complex than to establish a new one, he noted.
The Hutech Education Development Joint Stock Company bought more than $4.28 million worth of shares in the HCMC University of Economics and Finance (UEF) in 2014.
The Hung Hau Joint Stock Company has purchased shares in Van Hien University worth $2.58 million, apart from acquiring Van Xuan College and Van Tuong Secondary School in HCMC. The Thanh Tay University is now owned by the Vicostone Joint Stock Company (VCS).
Normal commerce
Du, an Economist said that trading in private university equity was completely normal and something that can be expected to continue for a while.
“Basically, the investment in, or generally speaking, the sale and acquisition of universities at the moment has more positives and negatives”, said Dam Quang Minh, Principal of the Phu Xuan University.
“This is a chance for universities to develop and reform,” he added.
“Another issue we need to be aware of is that these acquisitions are usually transfers of ownership from individuals to institutional investors. This is therefore, better from a management perspective for the universities.”
In January 2018, at the “Finalizing policies and legislation on private universities” conference at the Committee on Culture, Youth, and Children organized by the National Assembly, education experts were still vehemently debating whether private universities should be regarded as businesses.
‘Regulated business’
Some experts found that the transfer of private universities in recent years no different than mergers and acquisitions of ordinary companies. Accordingly, they suggested that private universities be considered “a regulated business.”
Pham Phu, a former lecturer at the HCM City Polytechnic University, said many Asian countries see private universities as semi-for profit organizations.
This means that while private universities are treated as for-profit organizations, they are subjected to management policies that prevent them from becoming fully profit-oriented companies.
Vietnam currently has 84 private schools, of which 60 are universities and 24 are colleges, with over 13,000 lecturers and 330,000 students. Their students account for 14 percent of all students in the country.
To be advised on how to get a Enterprise registration certificate and Investment Certificate for foreign investors in Vietnam, contact GBS – a business legal service company at: info@gbs.com.vn or call +84903189033.
Indonesia’s military chief believes that the body of the crashed Lion Air plane has been found.
Hadi Tjahjanto told a local television channel that a search and rescue team had found what appeared to be “a part of the fuselage of JT610,” referring to the flight operated by Indonesian budget carrier Lion Air, according to the news agency.
He added that the search team had the location coordinates of the wreckage but was trying to confirm that it was indeed the fuselage.
The aircraft carrying 189 people, including crew, from Jakarta crashed into the sea off the island of Java on Monday, shortly after take-off. Officials have said they are not expecting any survivors.
A transport safety official also said that the team looking for the crashed aircraft heard a ping sound late on Tuesday and divers were set to check the site Wednesday morning, Reuters reported.
Transportation and safety officials have been searching for voice and data recorders and other clues to determine the cause of the crash of Lion Air’s brand-new Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet. It was the first accident of its kind for the variant of the top-selling plane.
‘Black boxes’ the focus of probe in Indonesia’s Lion Air crash
Indonesia deployed divers to search for the plane and is also using “pinger locators” to zero in on the aircraft’s cockpit recorders.
Reuters said a witness on a boat at the crash site on Tuesday saw about 60 divers scattered in inflatable boats over slightly choppy waters entering the sea, which is about 35 meters (115 feet) deep. In all, 35 vessels are helping in the search, according to the news agency.
Debris, personal items and human remains have been recovered.
Indonesian transportation officials have said Boeing’s 737 MAX 8 planes will not be grounded, despite uncertainty surrounding Monday’s crash of Lion Air’s brand-new jet.
Lion Air is one of Indonesia’s youngest and fastest-growing airlines, flying to dozens of domestic and international destinations. The airline is a major customer of Boeing.
— Reuters and CNBC's Leslie Josephs contributed to this report.
Vietnam is among the most vulnerable nations to climate change impacts according to a recent International Panel on Climate Change report.
The country’s diverse geography means it is hit by typhoons, landslides, flooding and droughts, weather events expected to worsen in coming years.
Research has found that Vietnam is also home to abundant renewable energy potential, which could help alleviate some of these threats.
October 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a new report on the potential impacts of a 1.5C rise in global temperatures above pre-industrial averages. The report found that massive, destabilizing climate events could start impacting global society as soon as 2040, within the lifetime of most people alive today.
Within the report, which was presented to the Vietnamese government in Hanoi on October 10, Vietnam was named among nine countries where at least 50 million people will be exposed to impacts of rising sea levels and more powerful storms, among other dangers.
“The most pressing threats facing Vietnam over the next couple of decades is that Vietnam is among the top countries vulnerable to climate change,” said Dao Xuan Lai, head of the Climate Change and Environment Unit at the United Nations Development Programme’s Vietnam office, in an interview. “There will continue to be extreme weather events as present, but coming faster than anticipated, more intense, more frequent and more difficult to predict.”
Vietnam’s geography leaves it vulnerable to a number of calamities. Most of its 1,800 mile-long coastline faces the East Sea, which numerous tropical storms and typhoons traverse every year. The mountainous far north is prone to landslides and flash flooding, while the flat Mekong Delta in the deep south is among the most vulnerable regions in the world to rising sea levels.
Mekong River landscape. Image by WWF-Cambodia.
Lai believes this reality presents huge climate change-related challenges for Vietnam.
“In 2017, the final storm of the typhoon season came in late November, which is normally already the dry season in the past,” he said. “So it came with very strong winds and also heavy rain and caused a lot of landslides and flooding in different areas. Since it came during a different season, people were not prepared, and the losses were big.”
The Mekong Delta’s vulnerability is an especially significant problem due to its economic vitality. According to the UNDP, the fertile region produces roughly 70 percent of Vietnam’s agricultural products, including around 55 percent of rice and 70 percent of all aquaculture. Most of these products are exported, and in 2017 agricultural exports earned Vietnam $37 billion, nearly 17 percent of its total GDP.
“So agricultural development in Vietnam not only helps Vietnam’s food security, but also contributes to global food security as well,” Lai explained. “With climate change and sea level rise, the projection is that if sea levels increase by up to 3.3 feet, 40 percent of the Mekong Delta will be inundated, so we would lose 40 percent or even more of agriculture and aquaculture production.”
A severe drought which struck the region in 2016 offered a potential preview of what is to come if climate change continues unabated. Without fresh rain water, the sea worked its way up the many rivers and canals which crisscross the delta.
“In some rivers the saltwater intrusion reached up to 56 miles from the sea,” Lai said. “In Ben Tre Province, basically the entire province was without access to [fresh] water. So people didn’t have water for their daily lives or their livestock, and all economic activities were affected. A lot of things were impacted and people were forced to move.”
Meanwhile, the northern mountains present growing dangers to the people living there. “In at least 15 northern provinces near the border with China, heavy rain often causes landslides, and these landslides are almost impossible to predict,” Lai explained. “It’s a combination of so many factors, including deforestation and agricultural practices, but now heavy rain can come anytime and be very heavy and very concentrated. We cannot predict which slope or mountain will turn into a landslide.”
Therefore, the UNDP specialist argues, people need to be better aware of the dangers present in their specific location, and ultimately make the decision of whether staying in place is worth it as the climate changes.
“They have to decide whether they continue to stay in a certain area that a number of generations have already stayed in,” Lai shared. “Now, the context has completely changed.”
Melissa Merryweather, director of Green Consult-Asia and chair of the Vietnam Green Building Council, believes Vietnam’s major cities present the greatest risk if the IPCC’s findings come to fruition. “The Mekong Delta is kind of unique, it’s one of the few places in the world where you have a regular flooding season, and people have been living for centuries in that area and adapting on a seasonal basis,” she explained.
She goes on: “But when you’ve got the urban settings, that changes drastically because these gentle rural adaptations just don’t transfer.”
Solar panels atop an Intel facility in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Intel via Flickr.
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s largest urban area and economic engine, is of particular concern, as explosive growth has led planners to develop swampy areas to the south and east that previously acted as floodplains.
“Recently, because the city is expanding and because that land is cheap, billions and billions of dollars in investment is pouring into these areas,” Merryweather said. “This is where it becomes a game-changer.”
The Saigon River, a broad, shallow waterway that flows through the city, is already causing high-tide flooding in several districts, leaving roads and businesses swamped even without any rain. This issue is expected to be exacerbated by sea level rise.
“So you combine all of this, the fact that you’ve got billions of dollars in investment in low-lying areas, and flooding reserves being built on, so you’re going to lose that function they’ve always had in the flood cycle, and then with sea level rise it’s a recipe for disaster,” Merryweather stated.
While much of the information regarding climate change in Vietnam is dire, there is reason for hope. Lai explained that UNDP studies have found that the country retains massive potential for renewable energy, the development of which could help offset damage caused by greenhouse emissions.
“We found that Vietnam has available up to 85,000 megawatts of solar, and 21,000 megawatts of wind,” he shares. “If we combine these two figures and if Vietnam can develop all of them before 2050, for example, and we compare it with the figure of total electricity to be installed in Vietnam by 2030, which is 130,000 megawatts, it’s actually very close.”
This will take immense investment from both the public and private sectors, but the energy is there for the taking.
Lai’s message for individuals, meanwhile, is to get educated.
“People need to be more aware and enrich their knowledge about the change in climate,” Lai said. “It’s coming faster and becoming more difficult to predict, so we need to prepare…and express that knowledge so that we can protect ourselves, our relatives and the people.”
Reporting by Michael Tatarski, read full article on Mongabay
Growing Car Rental Companies Mobile Applications coupled with Rise in Number of Tourists will drive the growth of Vietnam Car Rental Market: Ken Research
Growing mobile applications of the car rental companies will prove to be a growth driver for Vietnam Car rental industry.
Increase in the number of tourists in the country will drive the demand for car rental services.
Growth in businesses will further increase the demand for car rental services.
The cab aggregator companies such as Uber and Grab run on the mobile app business model and the popularity of these apps has been rising with elevated internet penetration and increase in number of smart phone users. Various car rental players such as Vinasun, Hertz, Avis and others are also shifting to mobile apps to increase the convenience for customers and to increase the consumer base.
Ken Research in its latest study, Vietnam Car Rental Market Outlook to 2021 suggests that the car rental market in Vietnam is fragmented and nascent, which provides immense opportunity to global and local players to tap the market with technology advancements in the Car Rental industry. This will further lead to various acquisitions and mergers in this industry making a positive impact on the market in terms of revenue generation.Vietnam
Car Rental market is estimated to register a positive CAGR during 2016-2021. Increasing traffic, lack of parking space, convenience, rising tourism, entry of players in the market and promotions and discounts offered to attract the customers will be the key drivers for the growth of the car rental industry in the country.
Tourism industry is on the rise in Vietnam which has made a positive impact on the car rental industry in the country. Few trends that have led to increase in Vietnam tourism include the rise in Chinese and Koreans travelers to the country accounting for 48.0% and 34.0% year on year growth respectively. In addition, 15-day visa-free policy for France, Germany, UK, Spain, Italy and Belarus increased investment in air travel infrastructure. The tourists prefer to use car rental services for travelling to popular destinations and also purchase these services in travelling to and from airport. Tourist destinations in Vietnam including Saigo Notre Dame Cathedral, Temple of Literature, Hoan Kiem Lake, My Khe Beach, Khai Dinh Tomb, Imperial Citadel and others attract visitors leading a positive impact on the car rental services market in the country.
The corporate clients purchase car rental services for meetings with high class individual clients or for employees. These are generally short distance trips. The car rental business has been gaining popularity from this segment over time due to increase in the awareness about the car rental services coupled with the increase in the corporate sector in the country. The popular destinations for the corporate clients include Saigon High Tech Park Entrance, Saigon High-Tech Park, Quang Trunk Software city and KCN VSIP. These clients prefer the medium car and luxury car model. The increase in companies will lead to rise in the corporate clients making a positive impact on the market.
The report provides information on Vietnam car rental market, market segmentation, future growth drivers & competitive landscape of few companies including Vinasun, Mai Linh, Avis, Vina Rent A Car, VN Rent A Car Co. Ltd, Budget, Uber and Grab.
The HCM City People’s Economic Court has once again adjourned the suit filed by taxi operator Vinasun against ride-hailing service Grab, which accuses it of unfair business practices and demands compensation.
The court said on Monday the trial would resume on November 22 after more evidence is collected.
“Cửu Long company, which assessed the losses suffered by Vinasun, was not represented in court and many details need to be clarified.”
It explained that defining the losses would be very important and affect the entire trial.
Vinasun, once a dominant player in the southern taxi market, has seen its market share gradually taken away by Uber and Grab since 2016. Some 2,700 of its taxis are idle because of unfair competition, it has claimed.
Grab, which recently acquired Uber in Vietnam, continues to grow in popularity, especially since the number of smartphone users in the country is rising.
Vinasun claimed the “illegal” operations of Grab in Vietnam were to blame for a fall in its revenues by VNĐ41.2 billion (US$1.756 million) in 2016 and 2017.
A Vinasun spokesperson said his company had based its complaint on the Trade Law and Government’s Decree 37 issued in 2006, which clearly states that the duration of total promotions in a year must not exceed 90 days and each promotion programme should not last beyond 40 days.
Exploiting the lack of clear regulations for software-based transport services, Grab offered “rampant” promotion deals and discounts, including “zero fee” trips, which was similar to dumping of manufactured goods, he said.
According to a survey done by market research company Quốc Việt, 74 per cent of Vinasun customers have already moved to Grab due to low fares and frequent promotions.
Vinasun said while it needs to comply with 13 regulations, Grab has to follow only three, creating unfair competition.
According to a report from the Ministry of Finance, in the 2014-17 period, Grab annouced losses of more than VNĐ1.7 trillion ($74 million) while its registered capital was only VNĐ20 billion ($870,000).
The HCM City People’s Procuracy said there is enough evidence to prove that Grab is a taxi company, and it has violated multiple transport regulations and the Enterprise Law.
Jerry Lim, Grab’s CEO in Vietnam, said the procuracy had no business putting a label to company.
Earlier, he had written to Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc.
There was a large crowd of drivers from Vinasun and Mai Linh, another well-known taxi company, outside the court on Monday, anxious to know the outcome of the suit.
The public has wondered, in the event Grab is penalised, what would happen to other online businesses like Airbnb in Vietnam.
This was the third adjournment since the lawsuit was first heard last February.
All 189 passengers and crew aboard a crashed Indonesian Lion Air jet were “likely” killed, the search and rescue agency said Monday.
The Boeing-737 MAX, which went into service just months ago, vanished from radar 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta, plunging into the Java Sea moments after it had asked to be allowed to return to the Indonesian capital.
Websites that display flight data showed the plane speeding up as it suddenly lost altitude in the minutes before it disappeared.
“My prediction is that nobody survived because the victims that we found, their bodies were no longer intact and it’s been hours so it is likely 189 people have died,” search and rescue agency operational director Bambang Suryo Aji told reporters.
Some 40 divers are part of about 150 personnel at the scene, authorities said, with the plane in water about 30 to 40 meters deep.
Earlier, video footage apparently filmed at the scene of the crash showed a slick of fuel on the surface of the water and pictures showed what appeared to be an emergency slide and bits of wreckage bearing Lion Air’s logo.
The carrier acknowledged that the jet had previously been grounded for unspecified repairs.
The plane had been en route to Pangkal Pinang city, a jumping off point for beach-and-sun seeking tourists on nearby Belitung island, when it dropped out of contact around 6.30 a.m. (2330 GMT).
It was not yet known if there were any foreigners on board.
Images filmed at Pangkal Pinang’s main airport showed families of passengers crying and hugging each other, with some yelling “Oh God.”
“This morning he called asking about our youngest son,” said a sobbing Ermayati, referring to her 45-year-old husband Muhammed Syafii, who was on board.
Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) said there were 178 adult passengers, one child, two infants, two pilots and six cabin crew on board flight JT 610.
The transport ministry had initially said there was a total of 188 people on board.
The finance ministry said around 20 of its employees were on the plane.
Among them were half a dozen colleagues of Sony Setiawan, who was supposed to be on the flight but missed check in due to bad traffic.
“I know my friends were on that flight,” he told AFP.
Setiawan said he was only informed about his lucky escape after he arrived in Pangkal Pinang on another flight at 9:40am.
“My family was in shock and my mother cried, but I told them I was safe, so I just have to be grateful.”
Lion Air said the plane had only gone into service in August.
The pilot and co-pilot had more than 11,000 hours of flying time between them and had recent medical checkups and drug testing, it added.
Lion Air CEO Edward Sirait said the plane had an unspecified technical issue fixed in Bali before it was flown back to Jakarta.
“Engineers in Jakarta received notes and did another repair before it took off” on Monday, Edward Sirait told AFP, calling it “normal procedure”.
Poor safety record
U.S.-based Boeing said it was “deeply saddened” by news of the crash.
Boeing, just days out from its first commercial delivery of the 737 MAX in May last year, reportedly suspended its release due to an engine issue, according to airline safety and product review site airlineratings.com.
It said the engines were a product of a joint venture between U.S.-based General Electric and France’s Safran Aircraft Engines.
Earlier this year, Lion Air announced it was buying 50 Boeing 737 MAX 10 jets for $6.24 billion.
Indonesia’s air travel industry is booming, with the number of domestic passengers growing significantly over the past decade, but it has acquired a reputation for poor regulation and its airlines had once been banned from U.S. and European airspace.
In August 2015, a commercial passenger aircraft operated by Indonesian carrier Trigana crashed in Papua due to bad weather, killing all 54 people on board. In 2014, poor maintenance and the pilots’ inadequate response was blamed for the crash of an AirAsia plane crashed with the loss of 162 lives.
Lion, a low-cost airline which has engaged in a huge expansion in recent years, has been involved in a number of incidents including a fatal 2004 crash and a collision between two Lion Air planes at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta airport.
The Vietnam-EU trade pact can diversify export markets and help reduce reliance on China and the U.S., experts say.
On October 17, the European Commission submitted the EVFTA for signature and conclusion to the European Council.
Once authorized by the Council, the agreement will be signed and presented by the end of this year to the European Parliament for ratification. The European Parliament is set to ratify the EVFTA early next year.
The trade pact, which has been negotiated since June 2012, is considered a game changer as it would eliminate almost all trade tariffs between the two sides.
Luu Bich Ho, former head of the Vietnam Institute for Development Strategies under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said that the deal would play a major role in reducing Vietnam’s reliance on the U.S. and China, the world’s two largest economies.
“This is obviously an opportunity for Vietnam to increase export [to the EU] to avoid being affected should the U.S. seek to limit imports from Vietnam,” Ho told VnExpress International.
It’s also a chance for Vietnam to diversify its markets as it is still heavily dependent on China in trade, he added.
In the first nine months this year, the U.S. was Vietnam’s largest export market, accounting for 19.5 percent of Vietnam’s total exports, a growth of 13.2 percent year-on-year, according to Vietnam Customs.
Although the EU came second and accounted for 17.4 percent, this market has the smallest growth rate among Vietnam’s top six export markets at 10.5 percent.
China was the third largest export market, had the highest growth rate of 29.9 percent. It was also Vietnam’s largest import market, accounting for 27.3 percent of Vietnam’s total imports.
Experts have expressed concern that Vietnam will be negatively affected by the ongoing U.S.-China trade war, with the U.S. limiting exports from Vietnam as part of its protectionist policy and China could export its goods via Vietnam to the U.S. to avoid President Trump’s tariffs.
In this context, the EVFTA opens the door to a more diverse market for Vietnam.
Le Dang Doanh, former head of the Central Institute for Economic Management, said that the trade pact will be an opportunity for Vietnam to see strong growth in its major export sectors, such as textile, fisheries and footwear.
The EVFTA, when ratified, will immediately remove tariffs on 65 percent of the value of EU exports, with the remaining tariffs being gradually eliminated over the next decade.
Meanwhile, 71 percent of EU imports from Vietnam will be tariff-free once the EVFTA enters into force, rising to more than 99 percent over the following 7 years.
In July, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh said that the 99 percent tariff-free rate for exports will be the highest rate for Vietnam in any FTA.
Anh told reporters that if the EVFTA goes into effect next year, exports from Vietnam into the EU could increase by $16 billion in the first one or two years, and reach $75-76 billion in 2028.
Last year, trade turnover between Vietnam and the EU reached $50.4 billion, in which Vietnam’s exports to EU reached $38.3 billion and EU’s exports to Vietnam reached $12.1 billion.
However, others experts have cautioned about the difficulties that Vietnam will face in complying with the new trade pact.
Nguyen Mai, chairman of the Vietnam Association of Foreign Investment Enterprises, said that Vietnam needs to pay close attention to the intellectual property rights as the EU has strict regulations concerning this matter.
The country also needs to improve its labor rights to make sure that workers are protected and not oppressed.
“We need to guarantee good living conditions for Vietnamese workers, as that’s what the EVFTA requires,” he told VnExpress International.
As many as 14,845 traffic accidents have been reported during the first 10 months of this year, killing 6,674 people and injuring 11,549 others, according to the General Statistics Office of Vietnam (GSO).
The number of traffic accidents was 8.2% lower than that of last year, while the number of deaths and slight injuries fell by 2.2% and 19.3%, respectively but the number of serious injuries increased by 1.2%.
According to the GSO’s report, from September 16 to October 15, the country saw 1,603 traffic accidents, down 11.2% against the same period last year. Those accidents tragically claimed the lives of 662 people (down 5.7%), injured 430 (down 14.5%) and slightly injured 800 others (down 19.4%).
Among the most serious accidents in the period was an accident on September 23 in Dien Bien province resulting in the death of one person and three injuries.
Some other serious accidents included one on September 30 in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province which left two dead and five injured, a railway accident on October 2 in Ha Dong district in Hanoi causing five injuries, a bus crash on October 8 in Gia Lai province leaving one dead and six injured, and a motorbikes collision in Thai Nguyen Province on October 24 leaving three dead and four others injured.
Vietnam’s stock market had a mixed day on October 30.
On HSX, the VN-Index closed at 888.69 points, down 0.13 points (0.01 per cent), while the VN30-Index closed at 874.06 points, down 0.37 points (0.04 per cent).
On HNX, the HNX-Index finished at 101.72 points, up 0.55 points (0.54 per cent), the HNX30-Index 182.46 points, up 0.41 points (0.23 per cent), and the UPCoM-Index 51.21 points, up 0.27 points (0.53 per cent).
Liquidity on HSX was VND2.5 trillion ($107.2 million) and on HNX was VND413.6 billion ($17.7 million).
Food and beverage stocks to gain ground included VCF, TLG, KDC, BHN and SAB by 5.9, 3.1, 1.2, 1 and 0.1 per cent, as VNM lost 2.2 per cent.
Gainers in banking were VCB, MSN, BVH, TPB, MBB and CTG by 2.5, 2, 1.8, 0.6, 0.5 and 0.5 per cent, as BID lost 4.5 per cent, STB 0.4 per cent, and VPB 0.2 per cent.
In energy, PGD and PVT gained 2.7 per cent, GAS 2.1 per cent, PVD 2 per cent, PPC 0.9 per cent, and PLX 0.4 per cent, as NT2 closed at its opening price.
The Top 5 shares bought by foreign investors were VJC, VNM, GAS, VCB and MSN.
HSG was the largest net sold share on HSX, followed by HPG, CTD, BVH, and HBC.
MAS was the largest net sold share on HNX, followed by DAE, VCS, SRA and PLC.
