The Vietnamese government wants to stop tourists from using Chinese electronic wallets, saying it results in tax evasion.
Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue has ordered ministries and other agencies to crack down on the use of WeChat Pay, AliPay and illegal points of sale devices at travel hotspots frequented by Chinese tourists. Anh Minh reports on Vnexpress
He has also ordered the State Bank of Vietnam and the Ministry of Finance to consider international financial regulations and come up with solutions to prevent the use of foreign electronic wallets.
He also instructed them to put in place a legal framework to tax such payments.
According to some tour guides in tourist areas, many Vietnamese shop owners have bank accounts in China and payments made by Chinese visitors are transferred directly to those accounts.
Authorities in some tourist hubs frequented by Chinese had flagged difficulties in controlling payments since many used Chinese e-wallets, causing tax losses.
Authorities in Ha Long, Nha Trang and Da Nang beach cities called for technological solutions and specific regulations to stop these payments.
The deputy PM also ordered the Ministry of Planning and Investment to assess the impact of Chinese ‘zero dollar’ tours on the economy and security.
He urged local authorities to carry out surprise checks of tourism companies, shopping malls and restaurants reportedly involved in ‘zero dollar’ tours and publicly announce their penalties.
Huge numbers of Chinese tourists have been coming to Vietnam in recent years, many through ‘zero dollar’ tours that enable them to get free accommodation and meals for shopping at “Chinese customers only” stores for prices a few times higher than the market rate.
These stores are owned by Vietnamese nationals but are actually operated by Chinese investors, and their operations are very hard for authorities to control, one official at the Mong Cai International Border recently told VnExpress.
Fifteen such stores were closed last year after Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told Quang Ninh Province to verify media reports.
In the first half this year Vietnam received 2.5 million Chinese visitors, or 32 percent of all international arrivals, a year-on-year increase of 36 percent.
Firm, tarred by scandal, will pay creditors its remaining cash
Theranos Inc., the blood-testing company accused of perpetrating Silicon Valley’s biggest fraud, will soon cease to exist.
In the wake of a high-profile scandal, the company will formally dissolve, according to an email to shareholders. Theranos will seek to pay unsecured creditors its remaining cash in coming months, the email said.
The move comes after federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and the blood-testing company’s former No. 2 executive, alleging that they defrauded investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars and defrauded doctors and patients.
The executives have denied the charges and face a coming criminal trial.
The dissolution process was precipitated by the fact that Theranos breached a covenant governing a $65 million loan it received from Fortress Investment Group last year. Under the loan terms, Fortress was entitled to foreclose upon the company’s assets if its cash fell beneath a certain threshold.
In the email to shareholders, sent Tuesday, Theranos General Counsel and Chief Executive Officer David Taylor said the company is trying to negotiate a settlement with Fortress that would give the New York private-equity firm ownership of the company’s patents but leave its remaining cash—estimated at about $5 million—for distribution to other unsecured creditors.
Under a liquidation process known as “an assignment for the benefit of creditors,” getting that remaining cash to the unsecured creditors could take six to 12 months, Mr. Taylor said in the email. Most of Theranos’s two-dozen remaining employees worked their last day on Friday, Aug. 31. Only Mr. Taylor and a handful of support staff remain on the payroll for a few more days.
The action followed a failed bid to sell the company. Over four months, investment bank Jefferies Group LLC reached out on Theranos’s behalf to more than 80 potential buyers, and executed nondisclosure agreements with 17 of those parties, the email said, adding: “We assisted those parties with diligence and had numerous follow-on conversations.”
The big-name investors who poured money into Theranos will get nothing. All told, investors in Theranos have lost nearly $1 billion.
Theranos’s founder and chairman, Ms. Holmes, and her ex-boyfriend, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani were indicted on nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in June. Mr. Balwani was Theranos’s president and chief operating officer until he retired from the company in May 2016. If convicted, they each face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution to those found to have been defrauded, on each count.
The indictments followed months of reporting by The Wall Street Journal that raised questions about the company’s technology and practices.
Ms. Holmes sought to disrupt the blood-testing business. At the height of her fame, the Stanford University dropout claimed to have invented groundbreaking new technology that could run the full range of laboratory tests on just a drop or two of blood pricked from a finger.
On the strength of her claims, Theranos rolled out its vaunted finger-stick blood tests in Walgreens stores in California and Arizona and rocketed to a valuation of more than $9 billion, making Ms. Holmes a billionaire and media celebrity. Her bold talk and black turtlenecks drew comparisons to Steve Jobs. The pharmacy chain has said it was misled by Theranos about its technology and prospects.
But as the Journal revealed in a series of articles beginning in October 2015, Theranos’s blood-testing device was unreliable and the company used it for just a fraction of the more than 240 tests it offered to consumers. Behind the scenes, it performed the vast majority of the tests with commercial analyzers purchased from other companies.
Theranos become a symbol of the excesses of the current technology boom. Its failure was dramatic and painful for many. A biochemist who worked at Theranos for eight years committed suicide in 2013 after becoming distraught by its culture of fear and secrecy and its lack of progress with its technology, according to his widow. Tyler Shultz, a grandson of former Secretary of State George Shultz and the first employee to blow the whistle to a state regulator about what he saw as troubling practices, became estranged from his grandfather, a Theranos director.
The roster of Theranos investors—most of whom poured money into the company after its commercial rollout in Walgreens stores in late 2013—included the Waltons, heirs to Walmart Inc. founder Sam Walton; Atlanta’s Cox family; the family of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos; and Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of 21st Century Fox and of News Corp , the Journal’s parent company. Each invested $100 million or more in Theranos—investments that are now worthless.
Foreign players are eager to join Vietnam’s lucrative fintech market, while local banks have been scaling up co-operation with fintech firms to avail themselves of Industry 4.0 opportunities.
Latest figures by the State Bank of Vietnam’s Payment Department show that fintech companies in Vietnam now number around 100, compared to nearly 80 earlier this year.
Market survey firm Solidiance recently released statistics showing that the Vietnamese fintech market’s transaction value currently stands at $4.4 billion, which will climb to $7.8 billion by 2020, nearly doubling in only two years.
This explains why foreign players are seeking ways to inject capital into Vietnamese fintech firms.
South Korean group Keb Hana, apart from negotiating a stake purchase deal with local state-owned commercial lender BIDV, was reported to consider teaming up with a local fintech firm via direct capital injection or through an investment fund.
Similarly, Senjo Group, a major fintech firm based in Singapore with profit averaging at $400 million per year, is targeting payment fintech firms in Vietnam.
Senjo Group’s CEO Gavin Lock assumed that Vietnam will continue to be a tempting market to fintech firms in the coming time and that beside payments, they will possibly engage in lending after setting foot in the country.
Before the entry of Keb Hana and Senjo, China’s Alipay, through a Vietnamese intermediary, was reported to engage in negotiations on buying stake of a local fintech firm.
The State Bank of Vietnam’s statistics show that around $130 million of foreign capital has poured into Vietnamese fintech firms in the past two years.
Some eminent cases involve Korea’s UTC Investment spending VND542 billion ($24 million) on buying a 65 per cent stake in VNPT Epay, MOL Accessportal buying 50 per cent of Vietnam’s top online payment system Ngan Luong, NTT Data buying 64 per cent of Payoo, True Money buying 40 per cent of IPay, and a consortium of Credit Saison, Golden Gate Ventures, and GMO Global Payment buying 25 per cent of Bao Kim.
According to Nghiem Thanh Son, deputy head of the Payment Department under the SBV, with 51 million smartphone users (half of the population), 61 million Internet users (66.3 per cent of the population), and widespread 3G and 4G network, Vietnam provides ideal conditions for fintech development.
While foreign players are keen on joining Vietnam’s up-and-coming fintech market, local banks have been shaking hands with fintech firms to ensure their development.
Tran Cong Quynh Lan, VietinBank’s deputy general director, unveiled that despite having an expansive network with more than 1,000 transaction points, the bank has been cooperating with about 10 fintech firms both at home and abroad.
“It proves impossible for banks to go alone. That is why we team up with fintech firms for development at present and in the future. Leveraging this cooperation, we expect to launch new innovative products late this year or early next year,” he said.
Industry experts assumed that in this transitional period when foreign investors are exploring the potential of the Vietnamese fintech market, local banks need to boost cooperation with fintech firms to ramp up their market share.
Across the ASEAN, governments have been making efforts to create an enabling regulatory system to spur the development of banks and local fintech firms.
The SBV’s recent survey shows that 81 per cent of local banks opt for joining hands with fintech firms for development instead of self-studying products.
If these cooperations come to fruition, the sides will create a sustainable ecosystem to avoid hostile acquisitions and protect local production.
Vietnam International Bank (VIB), has just become the only bank in Vietnam named by Asian Development Bank (ADB) as the Leading SME Trade Bank thanks to VIB’s trade financing nearly US$ 300 million in one year period ending June 30, 2018.
At the TFP Awards and Partners Dinner which was held on September 4, the first day of the Global Trade Review’s annual conference in Singapore, VIB received one of the prestigious awards to recognize leading partner banks in ADB’s Trade Finance Program (TFP).
Based on transactions supported by TFP in one year ending on June 30, 2018, VIB is leading bank in SMEs trade finance. Previously, the Vietnamese bank was also awarded the leading SME Trade Bank by ADB in 2015 and 2017.
Le Quang Trung, Deputy CEO of VIB at the TFP Awards and Partners event in Singapore | Photo credit: ADB/ VIB
VIB is one of 10 banks selected by ADB to join the TFP since 2009, aiming to provide companies with the financial support they need to engage in import and export activities and improve their productivity and competence in the market.
With the purpose to provide trade finance support, TFP works with over 240 partner banks. In 2017, the program supported US$4.48 billion in transactions and 2,822 small and medium-sized enterprises.
Recently, Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded the long-term local and foreign currency bank deposit and issuer ratings of VIB to B2 from B1. The ratings agency has also changed the outlook for the local currency deposit and local and foreign currency issuer ratings of VIB to stable from positive. All other ratings were affirmed.
A convicted felon accused of killing two Vietnamese tour leaders at a Las Vegas Strip casino-hotel made multiple court appearances Tuesday following his return in custody to Nevada from California.
Julius Damiano Deangilo Trotter stood in shackles and sought time to hire a lawyer for his defense in the double-murder and robbery case. Nationalpost.com reported
Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Harmony Letizia gave him until Oct. 4 to do so.
Trotter, 31, is accused of stabbing Sang Boi Nghia and Khuong Le Ba Nguyen to death before their bodies were found June 1 in a room at the Circus Circus hotel.
District Attorney Steve Wolfson has not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty if Trotter is convicted.
Deputy public defender Joseph Abood accompanied Trotter during three separate court appearances at which Trotter wasn’t asked to enter pleas.
In separate cases, he is accused of armed robbery, burglary with a weapon and felony lewdness.
Abood and a prosecutor, Pamela Weckerly, declined to comment outside court.
Trotter remains jailed without bail.
Nghia owned a tour business in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and Nguyen was a tour employee. Police said they arrived in Las Vegas with a tour group from Los Angeles a day before their bodies were found.
Hotel security went to their room on the 21st floor at the request of tour members worried that the two hadn’t shown up for a trip to the Grand Canyon.
Trotter was arrested a week later in Chino, California, after a car chase.
Julius Trotter, 31, accused of killing two Vietnamese tour leaders at a Las Vegas Strip casino-hotel.
FILE – This February 2017, file photo released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department shows Julius Trotter, 31, accused of killing two Vietnamese tour leaders at a Las Vegas Strip casino-hotel. Trotter told a judge during a hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2018, that he’s trying to hire a lawyer for the double-murder case, and the judge gave him until Oct. 4 to do so. Trotter is accused of stabbing Sang Boi Nghia and Khuong Le Ba Nguyen to death before their bodies were found June 1 in a room at the Circus Circus hotel. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via AP, File)AP
When elephants fight, the ants perish: The Khmer proverb captures the sense of peril in the escalating trade war between the United States and China. The world’s two superpowers have locked tusks over tariffs, and the rest of the world — especially Asia — seems in danger of being trampled – NY Times reported.
As the trade war heads into its third month, with the United States set to impose a new tranche of $200 billion in tariffs this fall, expanding the conflict fourfold, one truth is clearer than ever: In a globalized economy, nothing exists in isolation. There is no such thing as a trade war of surgical strikes, in which tariffs hit their targets and leave everything around them unscathed. In its attempt to punish China for unfair trade practices and to reduce a $375 billion trade deficit, the Trump administration is also inflicting harm on some of America’s allies in Asia — forcing them, like ants under the elephants’ feet, to scramble in search of escape.
Consider the predicament of Vietnam. China and the United States, which each have their own violent histories in Vietnam, are now that country’s most important trading partners. Together, the giants gobbled up roughly 35 percent of Vietnam’s exports last year, furthering its transformation from sleepy purveyor of rice and coffee to manufacturing hub. When the trade war broke out, so did the ominous headlines in Hanoi. A rapid devaluation of the Chinese yuan sparked a brief run on Vietnam’s currency and a drop in its stock market. Rumors spread about an influx of cheap Chinese consumer goods and the threat of American protectionism spreading in ways that would affect Vietnam’s vital exports. And there was a tangible concern: Nearly $5 billion of Vietnamese exports are part of China’s value-added supply chain, meaning they may feel the impact of being exposed to punitive American tariffs.
Soon another sort of reaction began taking place. Driven by the dangers of the trade war, many foreign companies with stakes in China — those ants underfoot — have started shifting production away from China to Southeast Asia. One sign of this development was on display in mid-July, when a group of visitors showed up on Vietnam’s northern coast near Ha Long Bay. The men in white shirts and dark ties were not tourists. They represented 72 Japanese businesses, in industries ranging from textiles to electronics, and they were looking for economic refuge. “Many of these Japanese firms have been operating in China,” Nguyen Duc Tiep, an official from the local-investment promotion center, told a Vietnamese magazine. “They want to expand their investment markets out of China to shun risks caused by the nation’s rising production costs and by the U.S.-China trade war, which is making it hard for Japanese firms to export their products to the U.S. from China.”
The Japanese businessmen may be among the trade war’s first economic victims. But the shift of manufacturing away from China is not a new phenomenon. Over the past few years, as wages in Chinese factories have risen sharply, many companies, foreign and Chinese alike, have begun moving at least some of their operations to Southeast Asia to take advantage of lower production costs. In Vietnam, where wages are barely a third of those in China, Adidas now makes twice as many shoes as it does in China, and Intel and Samsung Electronics have made billion-dollar investments there. The country’s export-led growth depends on attracting foreign investment, and now American and Chinese policies may be hastening its arrival. “For many companies, the trade conflict is a catalyst to explore changes they hadn’t contemplated before,” says Jon Cowley, a tax-and-trade partner at the law firm Baker McKenzie in Hong Kong. “For others, it’s an accelerant to a process they’d already started. The trade conflict is just pushing them over the finish line.”
It is still early in the trade war, only two months in, so many of these corporate moves are just taking shape. Still, the race is on to secure excess manufacturing capacity all around the region — in Thailand, Indonesia and elsewhere. In late July, Delta Electronics, a Taiwanese producer of Apple power components, approved a $2.14 billion buyout of its Thai affiliate to cope with the growing trade risks. Also this summer, Hong Kong’s Techtronic Industries (T.T.I.), the maker of Hoover vacuum cleaners and Milwaukee power tools, opened a new plant in Vietnam and another, its sixth, in the United States. Some 76 percent of T.T.I.’s revenue comes from North America. “We have always said we won’t want all our eggs in one basket,” the company’s chief executive, Joseph Galli, said in August, stressing the importance of “a flexible supply chain.”
Supply chains, innocuous as they sound, are a locus of collateral pain in this trade war. The American exports that China is hitting with retaliatory tariffs are mostly simple goods sourced close to home: pork, soybeans, whiskey. But China’s exports to the United States, especially in high-tech, are complex products assembled in China from a staggering array of foreign components and raw materials. A “Made in China” laptop shipped to America, for example, may have a South Korean screen, a Japanese hard drive and a memory chip from Taiwan. A tariff hurts every part of this international supply chain. Asia’s most advanced economies, including Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, are so globalized that they can easily get caught in this protectionist crossfire.
Taiwan may stand to lose the most. It supplies 18 percent of China’s total imports of intermediate goods, or nearly 14 percent of Taiwan’s gross domestic product, according to the Stimson Center in Washington. As Tsai Ming-fang, an economist at Taipei’s Tamkang University, told Bloomberg: “Trump’s tariffs are giving Taiwanese companies further incentives to move to Southeast Asia.”
The dust kicked up by the trade war obscures the fact that Asia is the world’s most dynamic trading region. According to the World Trade Organization, Asia in 2017 had the world’s fastest growth in trade volume for both imports and exports, 9.6 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively. Eighteen months ago, the leaders of Vietnam and 10 other Pacific Rim nations believed the economic outlook would be enhanced even further by the creation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The agreement, which included the United States and Japan but not China, also offered the chance to push back, as a group, against Beijing’s unfair trade practices like intellectual-property theft and forcing companies that do business in China to share their technology.
President Trump rejected T.P.P. out of hand. Now, with diminished influence in the region, the United States wages its trade war alone, leaving many of its erstwhile Asian partners, and many American companies, too, stuck in the middle, seeking the safest way out.
To offset the conflict’s negative impact, Beijing has slashed tariffs to Asian countries, a reminder, it seems, that China will remain the lone superpower in Asia long after the trade war is over. This appeal, however, may not stop the flow of manufacturers out of China to Southeast Asia. The American shoe-and-accessory maker Steve Madden, for example, is shifting its handbag production from China to Cambodia — 15 percent this year, 30 percent in 2019. (A U.S. Fashion Industry Association study released in July showed that two-thirds of all textile companies are expected to lower production in China over the next two years, citing United States trade protectionism as the top challenge.) Moving production to a new location is expensive and complicated. Given the mercurial man behind the trade war, and the chaotic churn of American politics, some executives are holding fast in hopes that it will all go away. But as new tariffs loom for another $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, with 6,031 products on its target list, the trade war no longer looks like a short-term crisis.
As the battle escalates, there’s a worry that Chinese companies may shift more operations southward, too, using ‘’tariff-jumping” tactics to get their goods to the United States. The Vietnamese, at least, are vigilant against Chinese intrusions. Their antagonistic history with their northern neighbor — the millennium under Chinese imperialism, the bloody 1979 border war, the ongoing disputes over the South China Sea — has colored recent protests against Chinese businesses. It almost seems like karmic payback that Vietnam might benefit from China’s conflict with the United States, a country that, despite its own protracted war here, has become one of Vietnam’s strongest allies.
Nobody can predict all of the pain and permutations of the trade war. The Vietnamese government is cautious, even projecting negligible declines in growth over the next five years. Others are far more sanguine. In July, Standard Chartered raised its growth forecasts for Vietnam to 7 percent this year, based on the influx of foreign direct investment. In addition to attracting companies hedging their Chinese bets, Vietnam may also pull in American buyers eager to diversify their imports from outside China. “The consensus before was that T.P.P. would be the catalyst,” says Michael Kokalari, chief economist at the Vietnam-focused asset-management firm VinaCapital. “But the trade war could be the thing that really opens the floodgates.” In Vietnam, fighting elephants just might give the nimblest (or luckiest) ants a chance to thrive.
The Vietnam Offroad Cup 2018 (VOC) is scheduled to kick off on September 29-30 at the Culture Tourism Village of Vietnamese Nationalities on the outskirts of Hanoi, Vietnam.
The event, organized by the Otofun forum, with the support from the ministry of culture sports and tourism of Vietnam. There will be 80 teams and 160 racers from across the country.
According to a thread on Otofun, competitors will take part in the pickup, basic and improved categories.
At the VOC event, apart from enjoying interesting tours, people will get an opportunity to exchange experiences and improve their driving technique.
Vietnamese shares ended lower on Tuesday as investors showed caution over possibilities of a strong market’s correction after it had failed to beat the 1,000-point landmark.
According to a report on VNS, The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange lost 1.37 per cent to close at 975.94 points. The southern market index gained total 0.25 per cent last week.
The HNX Index on the Hanoi Stock Exchange fell 1.39 per cent to end at 111.23 points. It added 1 per cent in the previous week.
The VN Index has lost total 2.22 per cent in the last two sessions from Friday and the HNX Index has slipped 2.08 per cent in the same period.
Nearly VNĐ4.74 trillion (US$210.6 million) worth of 231 million shares was exchanged on the two trading bourses.
The market breadth was negative with 175 gaining stocks against 271 declining while 107 others ended flat.
The decline was due to high investors’ caution as they worried about a market correction after the VN Index failed to beat the 1,000 point landmark last week, Sài Gòn-Hà Nội Securities JSC (SHS) said in its daily report.
Trading liquidity fell from Friday’s figures and it proved investors were hesitant to buy in stocks, SHS said, adding it was difficult to define whether the VN Index just stepped back a little or it was on the way down from 1,000 points.
Investors’ caution spread among all stocks and forced 13 of the 20 sectors to go down, including key industries like banks, real estate firms, securities companies, retailers and construction contractors.
Large-cap VN30 Index recorded an even worse fall, losing 1.87 per cent to 951.14 points at the end of the day, with 24 of the 30 largest stocks by market capitalisation in the basket declining.
Among declining stocks in the VN30 basket were budget carrier Vietjet Air (VJC), Vietinbank (CTG), Vincom Retail (VRE), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) and MBBank (MBB).
Given the signals, “the market may still suffer strong correction” and “the VN Index is likely to drop to the support zone of 970 points in the next session,” Bao Viet Securities JSC (BVSC) said in a note.
In case the VN Index broke down the support zone of 970 points, the market may experience a sharper downtrend on a weekly chart, BVSC added.
You’ve probably heard of multiple measures to ease traffic congestion in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh city, but are you aware that the city plans to restrict motorbikes by 2030?
According to a report by An Phuong on Vietnam News, as far as I know, HCMC is the third city, besides Hanoi and Danang, to come up with a roadmap to limit private vehicles traveling to the city centre and to areas prone to traffic congestion.
As per the proposal’s first phase from now until 2020, the city will increase parking fees, restrict parking for motorbikes and impose a toll on vehicles entering the city centre.
During peak hours between 7am and 7pm, motorbike travel will be restricted between Tân Bình District’s Trường Sơn Street and District 1’s Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai Street, and between Pasteur Street (Lý Tự Trọng – Điện Biên Phủ section) and Nam Kì Khởi Nghĩa Street (Điện Biên Phủ – Lý Tự Trọng section).
Busy traffic scene in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)
The city will also develop its bus network and encourage the use of buses over private vehicles, while continuing to expand pedestrian zones.
After 2020, as the metro system and a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) continue to be developed, the city will limit the number of newly licensed private vehicles, according to authorities.
“I’m glad that motorbikes will not be banned, but only restricted,” said Ms. Ngọc Hân, 35. “The motorbike has always been a part of our culture, and it can’t be abandoned in a snap! Locals need time to get familiar with new modes of transport.”
“I’m concerned, however, about how motorbikes will be restricted. What will determine the restriction? Will it be their brand, the number of people on each vehicle, or what?” she asked.
Minh Hưng, 28, a close friend of mine, said that he had mixed feelings about the new proposal.
“I’m neither anti- nor pro- about this proposal. Even though I believe motorbike restriction will only help our city, I can’t quite figure how the current public transport or road infrastructure is capable of meeting travellers’ demand,” he said.
“Authorities have 12 years to achieve the target, which I’m not sure is realistic, considering what has already been done in Hà Nội,” he added.
Thanh Thuý, 22, had a slightly different opinion.
“Just think about having to walk a long distance under the heat or rain to get to a bus station, not to mention the exhausting waiting time before and during the ride. I can’t justify abandoning my motorbike,” Thuý said, adding that her close friend was once robbed on the bus and has been terrified ever since.
That being said, in addition to quality road infrastructure and accessible, widespread transportation, it is important to improve locals’ awareness of the importance of following traffic regulations and to encourage them to take public transport.
“But the entire to-do list has to be checked before moving on to restricting motorbikes,” Thuý added. And I agree.
According to an article in Sài Gòn Giải Phóng (Liberated Sài Gòn) newspaper, motorbikes will eventually be banned, whether locals like it or not, to make HCMC a smart and modern city in the region.
Vietnam busy traffic scene, motorbike riders wearing mouthpieces (face masks) to protect themselves against smog and exhaust fumes in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)
Among other tasks, the article suggested improving bus connectivity, installing parking lots near bus and train stations to enhance convenience, and permitting the construction of department stores and high-rises only in areas with spacious parking lots and efficient traffic connections.
As long as each area has what it takes to meet locals’ travel demands, it will be designated an area for motorbike restriction or a ban, according to the article.
In Bangkok, motorbikes were successfully banned as locals were offered public bicycles at stations set up at convenient spots along a total length of 365km of roads, the article noted.
In my view, Bangkok has much in common with HCMC in terms of small, narrow streets, so I think that plan might work out!
For me, it was a surprise to hear from people who said they were uncertain about the proposal but were glad that HCMC’s landscape was about to change.
“I’m doubtful that this proposal can actually ease traffic congestion, but it will surely make HCMC a more civilized, modern city,” Minh Hưng said. “Between the motorbike ban and restriction, I prefer the motorbike ban as it leaves people no choice but to commute via private cars and public transport.”
“Though restrictions may seem to be a safe option, which won’t cause much of a media controversy compared to a motorbike ban, it’s not an optimal solution,” Hưng added.
To be honest, I didn’t quite agree with Hưng, but as I had more time to process his rationale, I’ve come to accept that I will never abandon my motorbike unless I’m forced to.
This very much reminds me of more than 10 years ago when I had to switch from wearing a casual cap to a helmet.
All in all, the city will be free from motorbikes sooner or later, and what matters is how the authorities carry out their plan.
My friends and I would love to see a new Saigon, but we can’t imagine our beloved city without motorbikes.
Congratulation! You are this week’s winner. Send DKG to 9183 to receive a top-up card worth VNĐ200,000 (Bt280).
According to a report on VNS, this is just one of the many text messages that pop up on the phone screen of Minh Huong in Hoan Kiem district every day. These advertisements encourage users to try multiple services, from data packages to top-up cards, and from English courses to new real estate projects in town. “It’s totally insane,” Huong said.
“They (the network providers) promised to start blocking all spam calls and messages from 2017, but nothing seems to have changed,” she said.
Huong has two phone numbers with the biggest network providers in the country, Vinaphone and Viettel.
While spam from Viettel invite her to join Keeng, a music social network, watch movies online or use a new mobile money application, Vinaphone advertises data packages, quiz games (which promise rewards far bigger than the cost of a text message) and a variety of promotions.
“It’s funny that most of the messages are sent by the telecommunications providers themselves. If you want to stop receiving the messages, you have to send a message to unsubscribe from services you never registered for,” she said. “It’s just ridiculous.”
Spam messages, unfortunately, are not the only problem.
Thu Van in Hai Ba Trung district is pestered by many spam calls every day.
“It’s crazy how much they seem to know about their target audiences,” Van said.
“They know where I live, how old my children are, and offer exactly what a person like me will need or consider,” she added.
Van presumed that her personal information had been traded from other organisations.
“I try to be patient, but sometimes when we are busy or the calls come early in the morning, I get so annoyed. I react angrily, and they criticise me for being impolite,” Van said.
Most people interviewed said that spam calls were more irritating than messages because they don’t know where they are coming from until they answer.
“They can attack you at anytime, when you are sleeping or working,” complained Quoc Tuan from Hoan Kiem district.
Tuấn said all he could do was block the numbers or not pick up from unknown callers.
“I don’t know where they got my phone number from. It is obviously illegal for my personal information to be traded by other people. However, I have no idea how law enforcement can deal with this type of crime,” he said.
According to Vu Ngoc Sơn, deputy head of Bkav Corporation, despite blocking software, it was impossible to prevent all spam calls and messages as they did not know how many phone numbers were being used for advertising purposes.
Instead of using preactivated sim cards, companies have switched to using registered numbers for telesales, making it difficult to tell whether an incoming call is spam or not.
“Customers do care if those numbers are registered. They consider it spam and feel harassed. At present, there is no potential solution due to the conflict between providers and customers,” Son told the Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper.
Sharing the opinion, Vo Do Thang, director of Athena Cyber Management and Security Training Centre, said that telecommunications providers had to proactively prevent spam because not many people had efficient blocking software on their phones.
“We will have to tolerate this problem until strict regulations are applied,” Thang said.
According to the Viet Nam Telecommunications Agency, in 2017, providers deactivated and withdrew 24 million pre-activated SIM cards to reduce spam calls and messages.
From May, 2017, to March, 2018, 260 million spam messages were blocked. The Computer Emergency Response Center (dial 456) is in charge of receiving and recording spam messages, but is unable to stop spam calls.
Việt Nam spent more than US$2 billion on importing cotton in the first eight months of 2018 – the biggest amount ever spent by the garment and textile sector – Vietnam News reported.
Of the total, imports from the US exceeded $1 billion , according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.
The increase in spending on cotton imports was attributed to growth in garment and textile exports, as Việt Nam depends on nearly 100 per cent imported cotton materials.
Việt Nam estimates it will buy more than $3 billion worth of cotton this year, up $700-800 million against the previous year.
The country has also set a target of earning $34-35 billion from garment and textile exports.
Last year, the textile and garment industry gained a year-on-year increase of 10.23 per cent in export value to $31 billion, beating its target set at the beginning of the year of $30 billion.
The High Command of Chemistry’s Centre for Environment Treatment Technology and Japan’s Shimizu Corporation held a ceremony in Hanoi on September 4 to announce a memorandum of understanding on the cooperation and plan to pilot dioxin treatment technology at Bien Hoa airport, based in the southern province of Dong Nai – Vietnam Plus reported.
The activity aims to overcome the consequences of the toxin left over from the war and study technologies to master dioxin treatment.
A representative from Shimizu Corporation introduced soil washing technology for dioxin treatment, a combination between soil washing and burning technology which could reduce waste and bring about higher economic efficiency.
The project will begin in November 2018, while the field soil washing will be carried out from mid-January to April 2019.
The area surrounding Bien Hoa aiport contains high levels of the chemical and is considered one of the country’s dioxin hotspots. According to assessments from Vietnam and the US, some 500,000 cu.m of dioxin-contaminated land in the airport need to be treated, requiring a large amount of capital and technology
Fox Sports Asia has selected its team of the tournament from the recently-concluded Asian Games 2018 (ASIAD), and three Vietnamese players have made the line-up.
They are right back Vu Van Thanh, centre back Bui Tien Dung and central midfielder Nguyen Quang Hai.
Widely regarded as one of Southeast Asian’s brightest prospects following some brilliant displays as an attacker, Hai’s development continued at the Asian Games as he was deployed in a traditional central midfield role. He not only adapted well to an unfamiliar role but even outperformed Viet Nam’s usual midfield general Luong Xuan Truong, although his campaign ended on a sour note as he missed a costly penalty in the bronze medal playoff against the United Arab Emirates.
Meanwhile, having already been a star in January’s AFC U-23 Championship, Thanh continued his excellent form in Indonesia as Viet Nam stormed to the semi-finals before being beaten by eventual winners South Korea.
The 22-year-old looks a perfect fit for coach Park Hang-seo’s 5-2-3 system, bombing forward with intent whenever he gets the chance, but is also adept at performing his defensive duties.
Talking about Dung, the website said that while it was Bui Tien Dung – the goalkeeper – who shone for Viet Nam back at the AFC U-23 Championship, it was Bui Tien Dung – the centre back – who came to the fore this time around.
The Viettel defender played a crucial role in his side, keeping five consecutive clean sheets from their opening Group D clashes until they conceded in the semi-finals to the South Koreans.
Fox also named goalkeeper Mohamed Al-Shamsi of the United Arab Emirates, centre back Yugo Tatsuta of Japan, central midfidler Odiljon Xamrobekov of Uzbekistan, midfielder Lee Seung-woo of South Korea, and forwards Safawi Rasid of Malaysia, Yuto Iwasaki of Japan and Zabikhillo Urinboev of Uzbekistan in its team.
In other news, more than 25,000 South Koreans have demanded referee Kim Dae-yong be banned following his poor performance in the bronze-medal match between Viet Nam and the UAE.
They have posted a petition on the official website of President of South Korea Moon Jae-in, asking for the Korean referee not to be allowed to officiate international matches. The petition pointed to serious mistakes made by Kim during the match that were obvious to anyone with a basic knowledge of football.
The petition will be online for supporters to sign until October 1. Many South Korean football fans said the referee had treated the Vietnamese players unfairly and denied them a clear penalty kick. The game eventually went straight to a penalty shootout after normal time ended 1-1, with Việt Nam suffering a 4-3 defeat in the shootout.
An investigation into the production of “dirty” peppercorn in the Central Highlands province of Đắk Nông has to led arrest warrants being issued for five suspects, Phan Thanh Hải, head of the provincial People’s Procuracy, confirmed on Tuesday.
According to a report on VNS, Đắk Nông Province Police have arrested Phan Thị Dung, Lê Thị Hồng Thơ, Nguyễn Thị Thanh Loan, Nguyễn Xuân Bảo and Trần Văn Tuấn, Loan’s driver.
According to their testimonies, Phan Thị Dung’s family-run company in the southern province of Bình Phước started mixing black powder extracted from used batteries, rocks, dirt and low quality coffee beans into the peppercorn they were producing in 2015.
Dung’s partners accepted an impurity percentage in the peppercorn of 1 to 2 per cent, so she added other “ingredients” to make greater profits.
Dung bought the raw materials from Lê Thị Hồng Thơ in Đắk Song District and instructed Nguyễn Thị Thanh Loan and Nguyễn Xuân Bảo in Đắk R’Lấp District to produce the final mixture.
On April 22, Đắk Nông Province Police seized nine tonnes of peppercorns at Dung’s factory in Bình Phước District, and analysis found that the mixture contained 18.34 per cent of impurities including a toxic chemical called manganese dioxide.
Prolonged manganese exposure can poison and damage the brain, and the effects are irreversible and can lead to hallucinations and death.
The accused also admitted that from 2015 to 2018, they sold up to 400 tonnes of the mixture for VNĐ9,000 to 12,000 (39 cents to 51 cents) per kilogramme, of which Thơ took a cut of VNĐ1,000 to 3,000.
However, due to a lack of evidence, law enforcement officers can only charge them for the nine tonnes seized from Dung’s factory.
Almost half of Vietnamese think the country is still in recession, a recent Nielsen survey has found.
The Vietnam Consumer Confidence Index Report for the second quarter said while 48 percent of respondents thought the recession persists, 46 percent were positive the country would come out of it in the next 12 months, an increase of 8 percentage points from the previous quarter.
The survey was done for The Conference Board, which describes itself as “a global, independent business membership and research association working in the public interest.”
But Nguyen Huong Quynh, managing director of market research firm Nielsen Vietnam, said the country is not in a recession and has actually been growing at 6-7 percent in the last three quarters.
“Despite the fact that none of the economic key performance indicators indicate the country is in recession, consumers continue to believe that the current situation is not really positive.”
This sentiment could significantly influence consumers’ spending and saving patterns, she added.
Many believe it is not a good time to spend. Up to 70 percent of respondents said that they are willing to channel their spare cash to saving, the report said.
The report also said consumers continue to feel upbeat about their personal state of finance.
Seventy-six percent of respondents thought their personal finances would be good or excellent in the next 12 months, a drop of one percentage point from Q1.
Vietnam’s GDP grew at 7.08 percent in the first half, the highest ever since 2011.
