Facebook apologizes for privacy glitch that affected up to 14 million users

Advertisements

Company says it will notify users affected by bug that led to posts being published publicly that were intended to be private

Facebook said Thursday that it would notify 14 million users that posts they intended to share privately may have been published publicly, the company’s latest setback as it tries to rebuild user trust after the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The issue arose from a bug affecting Facebook’s “audience selector” tool, which allows users to decide whether to publish a post only to their friends or to a broader audience. The tool usually remains on the setting that was used most recently so that a user who only wants to share posts with friends does not have to keep selecting that option. But while the bug was active, from 18 May to 27 May, the setting was automatically changed to public.

“We have fixed this issue and starting today we are letting everyone affected know and asking them to review any posts they made during that time,” Erin Egan, Facebook’s chief privacy officer, said in a statement. “We’d like to apologize for this mistake.”

Facebook said it had reverted the audience settings to users’ prior preference. It will also show affected users a notification with an explanation and apology, and urge them to review any posts they made during the time period when the bug was active.

The company’s quick admission of the error appears to be part of its efforts to increase transparency and regain trust following the Cambridge Analytica revelations. This spring, Facebook was harshly criticized for failing to inform users whose data had been improperly shared with the political consultancy until more than two years after the Guardian had first reported on the issue.

The two privacy lapses involve very different types of data, however. Jonathan Albright, the research director at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, has argued that Facebook’s audience tools, which it often touts as giving user’s control over their privacy, should instead be deemed “publicity settings”, because they only affect the audience of information that a user chooses to publish.

The data involved in the Cambridge Analytica scandal was the massive amounts of information that Facebook gathers from users’ online behavior – such as liking posts or browsing the web – in order to target them with advertising.

Source: Theguardian

Land sales in HCM City drop

Advertisements

Sales of land plots have decreased significantly in HCM City in the last 10 days in districts 2, 9 and Thu Duc, where so-called land fever had broken out over the last few months.

Le Hoang Chau, chairman of the HCM City Real Estate Association, said that according to property brokers in these areas, sales volume had dropped by around 40 per cent compared to the peak period last month.

The land liquidity there has fallen by 60 per cent compared to the previous months. “It’s difficult to predict the status of the market right now,” he said.

Chau attributed the situation to the limited supply of new land plots available for sale. Thus, investors have few choices, while the prices in the secondary market are too high.

Land prices have increased by 30-50 per cent compared to the end of last year and by 100-200 per cent in the past 12-18 months, he said.

The latest development has seen new investors entering the market with caution, while land speculators are finding it more difficult to sell their land plots.

New investors are waiting rather than rushing into the secondary market, resulting in a significant drop in land transactions, according to property experts.

Experts said the current slowdown was a positive sign that was needed to prevent a real estate bubble or crash.

Meanwhile, buyers of housing in which they will live believe that current prices are too high, and therefore they are reluctant to take out bank loans because of the fear of an increase in interest rates.

In addition, sales of land plots in the city’s districts 12, Binh Tan and Binh Chanh have declined recently.

According to a property company which specialises in land plots, the number of successful transactions in these areas has plummeted by 70 per cent compared with the first five months of the year.

The price of land plots in these areas in early January was an average of VND15 million (US$658) per sq.m on Pham Van Hai, Le Minh Xuan and Tan Quy Tay roads, but now has soared to VND25-27 million per sq.m.

The peak time of land transactions occurred in April and May.

Doan Thien Viet, general director of Dai Thang Real Estate Ltd Co, said liquidity had dropped by 50-60 per cent compared to the previous months. Even so, the current price is too high, far beyond the real value.

The Government decision that has made it more difficult to divide land for sale has also contributed to the decline in land sales, according to Viet.

Investors have become cautious in buying big land plots to divide land for sale to secondary buyers.

Nguyen Van Trung, a broker in Binh Thanh District, told Viet Nam News: “Land prices have increased over the last decade, especially in recent years. Now, many investors have begun to sell at the same time.”

Stricter measures from the Government to prevent land fever in to-be-established three special economic zones have also affected real estate investors, he said.

Trung said that land prices in HCM City were expected to stay the same over the next three months or so, and that prices would remain unpredictable until the last quarter of the year.

Source: VIR

Man arrested for raping 10-year-old daughter

Advertisements

A man in Long An Province has been arrested for allegedly sexually abusing his 10-year-old daughter.

Police in the southern province’s Can Giuoc District said on June 7 that they have detained the 47-year-old man to investigate accusations from his daughter.

The man, Hoang, had admitted on June 6 that he had raped his daughter at their house multiple times when there were only two of them home, police said.

The family’s house where the girl was raped by her father

The police said that the daughter had been taken to medical check-up which showed that there were cuts in her vaginal area.

According to a report from police, they got the information on June 6 from a clip in which the girl told her story of being raped by her father many times to a neighbour. The neighbour recorded her story and then decided to post the clip on some social websites.

In the clip, the girl cried when saying that she was forced by her father to have sex with him many times but she did not dare to tell her mother or grandmother because the father threatened that he would kill the whole family if she told them.

The girl’s mother and grandmother who live in the same house seemed shocked when hearing about the story, the police report said. They said they had never noticed any strange or suspicious acts from the father to their daughter.

The grandmother says she is shocked when hearing about what her son did to her granddaughter

The girl then told the police that her father had raped her multiple times for half a year.

According to local authorities, Hoang’s family is poor and his 10-year-old girl doesn’t go to school.

Hoang’s wife said that he was an alcoholic and she left him and took their daughter to live in Can Tho Province since she was small. They have just returned to live together since the beginning of this year.

Meanwhile, police said that they are also working with the families of two other girls in the area, aged 8 and 13, who also accused Hoang of sexually abusing them.

Source: Dtinews

Big difficulties discourage agriculture startups

Advertisements

Loss, inability to access bank loans, unreasonable policies and investors’ indifference all are putting pressure on the CEO of agriculture startups.

“Just before and after Tet holiday, just within three months, we had to receive about 10 delegations of inspectors from state management agencies,” said Nguyen Khanh Trinh, CEO of a clean food supply chain in Hanoi.

Trinh said the word ‘inspection’ occurred in the last 10 months since the day he took office as CEO.

Trinh isn’t a strange name in the startup community. He is also founder and CEO of an online ad firm established in 2004.

Loss, inability to access bank loans, unreasonable policies and investors’ indifference all are putting pressure on the CEO of agriculture startups.

In 2016, he decided to invest in agriculture with the project on Trung Thuc Farm which fertilizes plants and feed animals with worms.

He wants his farm to change traditional cultivation habits and allow Vietnamese to use clean food.

To date, Trinh has opened 20 shops in seven districts in Hanoi and runs a 10 hectare farm in Soc Son, which are considered the initial success of the project.

However, Trinh said he will still have to go a long distance to bring his products to consumers, because of many barriers.

“Too many kinds of licenses are required in one clean food shop, while policies change all the time,” he said.

“We have the food hygiene certificate granted by the National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (Nafiqad). However, when officials from the Market Management Taskforce inspect our shop, they require a certificate on meeting requirements on food safety granted by local industry and trade departments,” he said.

Tran Thi Huong decided to leave a foreign invested enterprise where she worked as an accountant, to start up her business Chum Ngay Viet.

Huong leased land to grow horseradish tree (Moringa oleifera) to sell to vegetable shops, supermarkets and online shops. Later, she shifted to trade herbal products.

To make dry horseradish products, she needed to have a drying machine which is worth billions of dong.

“I heard that banks have the programs on funding agriculture projects, but I did not dare to ask for loans because of the complicated procedures,” she complained.

Only when meeting  engineers from the Hanoi University of Science & Technology could she have a made-in-Vietnam cold dryer system with the price just equal to 1/3 of imports.

However, another problem has arisen. “While Japanese come to Vietnam to buy products, Vietnamese only want foreign made products,” she complained.

Nguyen Hai An, director of the HCMC Hi-tech Agriculture Business Incubating Center, confirmed that agriculture projects meet many difficulties. There have been about 50 startup projects in the field, but only half could succeed and their products could be commercialized.

Source: Vietnamnet

CNN’s Anthony Bourdain dead at 61

Advertisements

New York (CNN)Anthony Bourdain, a gifted storyteller and writer who took CNN viewers around the world, has died. He was 61.

CNN confirmed Bourdain’s death on Friday and said the cause of death was suicide.

“It is with extraordinary sadness we can confirm the death of our friend and colleague, Anthony Bourdain,” the network said in a statement Friday morning. “His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller. His talents never ceased to amaze us and we will miss him very much. Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and family at this incredibly difficult time.”

Bourdain was in France working on an upcoming episode of his award-winning CNN series “Parts Unknown.” His close friend Eric Ripert, the French chef, found Bourdain unresponsive in his hotel room Friday morning.

“Tony was an exceptional talent,” CNN President Jeff Zucker said in an email to employees. “Tony will be greatly missed not only for his work but also for the passion with which he did it.”

Anthony Bourdain in Port of Spain, Trinidad on January 4, 2017.

Bourdain was a master of his crafts — first in the kitchen and then in the media. Through his TV shows and books, he explored the human condition and helped audiences think differently about food, travel and themselves. He advocated for marginalized populations and campaigned for safer working conditions for restaurant staffs.

Along the way, he received practically every award the industry has to offer.

In 2013, Peabody Award judges honored Bourdain and “Parts Unknown” for “expanding our palates and horizons in equal measure.”

“He’s irreverent, honest, curious, never condescending, never obsequious,” the judges said. “People open up to him and, in doing so, often reveal more about their hometowns or homelands than a traditional reporter could hope to document.”

The Smithsonian once called him “the original rock star” of the culinary world, “the Elvis of bad boy chefs.”

In 1999 he wrote a New Yorker article, “Don’t Eat Before Reading This,” that became a best-selling book in 2000, “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.”

The book set him on a path to international stardom.

First he hosted “A Cook’s Tour” on the Food Network, then moved to “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations” on the Travel Channel. “No Reservations” was a breakout hit, earning two Emmy Awards and more than a dozen nominations.

In 2013 both Bourdain and CNN took a risk by bringing him to the news network still best known for breaking news and headlines. Bourdain quickly became one of the principal faces of the network and one of the linchpins of the prime time schedule.

Season 11 of “Parts Unknown” premiered on CNN last month.

While accepting the Peabody award in 2013, Bourdain described how he approached his work.

“We ask very simple questions: What makes you happy? What do you eat? What do you like to cook? And everywhere in the world we go and ask these very simple questions,” he said, “we tend to get some really astonishing answers.”

Bourdain’s death happened after fashion designer Kate Spade hanged herself in an apparent suicide at her Manhattan apartment on Tuesday.

Suicide is a growing problem in the United States. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a survey Thursday showing suicide rates increased by 25% across the United States over nearly two decades ending in 2016. Twenty-five states experienced a rise in suicides by more than 30%, the government report finds.

By Brian Stelter

Airbnb says forced to cancel bookings under new Japan law

Advertisements

A man walks past a logo of Airbnb after a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, November 26, 2015.

TOKYO: Rental site Airbnb said Thursday (Jun 7) it had been forced by Japanese authorities to cancel thousands of reservations ahead of a new law regulating short-term rentals, apologising for the “extraordinary disruption”.

“This stinks – and that’s an understatement,” Airbnb said in a statement, adding it would fully refund cancelled reservations and was also creating a US$10 million fund to compensate affected travellers.

The popular holiday rental site had already suspended the listings of owners who had not obtained a registration number required under the law that comes into force on Jun 15.

But on Thursday it said Japan’s government had required it to cancel all reservations with hosts that have not yet registered, even if they were in the process of seeking a licence.

“This is understandably frustrating, especially since many hosts are close to acquiring their licence,” the statement said.

“It’s particularly disruptive for guests who have a trip to Japan planned for the weeks and months ahead.”

The company said the fund would help travellers who incur extra costs as they rebook accommodation at short notice.

The initial cancellations affect bookings between Jun 15 and Jun 19 but could be expanded.

“Going forward, unless the government reverses its position, we will automatically cancel and fully refund any reservations at listings in Japan that have not been licensed within 10 days of guest arrival,” it added.

The number of Japan rentals on Airbnb had already dropped dramatically after the site over the weekend began suspending listings from hosts who have not yet registered with the government.

The new law requires owners to obtain a government registration number and meet various regulations that some critics say are overly strict.

Hosts can only rent their properties for 180 days a year, and face additional restrictions imposed by local authorities.

In the tourist magnet of Kyoto, for example, rentals in residential areas will only be allowed between mid-January and mid-March, the low season for tourists.

Airbnb and other holiday rental companies have publicly welcomed the law, saying it removes the uncertainty that has long existed in the sector.

And Japanese authorities say the legislation will protect tourists and local residents alike, and is intended to “nurture healthy growth”.

But some Airbnb hosts say the registration process is overly restrictive and intended to benefit the hotel industry.

Rental sites like Airbnb have faced criticism in many markets internationally for driving up housing prices and competing unfairly with the regulated hotel industry.

The controversy over short-term rentals in Japan comes as the country works to boost already-record numbers of tourists and is anticipating an influx of visitors for next year’s Rugby World Cup and the 2020 Olympics.

Source: AFP/Channelnewasia

Vincom Retail holds its first post-listing AGSM

Advertisements

Vincom Retail Joint Stock Corporation (Vincom Retail), a member of Vingroup just held its first annual general shareholders’ meeting (AGSM) on Thursday after listing on the HCMC Stock Exchange.

According to VNS report, in 2017, Vincom Retail recorded a total revenue of VND5.5 trillion (US$244.4 million). Most of the figure was from leasing retail slots, which contributed VND4.45 trillion to the total revenue, an increase of 17 per cent from 2016.

Last year, the company launched 15 new commercial centres, raising the total number of such centres across the country to 46, and improved the performance of the ones that had been opened in 2016.

Vincom Retail has an area of 1.2 million sq.m. for retail lease—the highest in Việt Nam—and attracted 115 million visitors to its shopping centres in 2017, a yearly increase of 42 per cent.

The company earned VND2 trillion in post-tax profit in 2017.

It debuted 1.9 billion shares on the stock market on November 6, 2017, which has been a key motivation for the company to achieve its business targets.

The listing of Vincom Retail on HCMC Stock Exchange was the highlight of the Vietnamese stock market in 2017. Vincom Retail became one of the 10 largest companies by market capitalisation.

The deal was recognized by the international media as the most successful share sale in the Asia-Pacific region in 2017.

In 2018, Vincom Retail targets to lead the retail sector in Việt Nam and continue to maintain its status as the first retailer of the country.

The company will increase the number of shopping centres in all cities, provinces and districts by opening 20-30 new shopping centres this year as well as improve the quality of employees, infrastructure and corporate governance to achieve the best performance.

Vincom Retail targets VND8 trillion in total revenue for 2018 and VND2.5 trillion in post-tax profit. The figures mark an increase of 45 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively, from last year.

In the first quarter of this year, the company posted VND1.6 trillion in revenue, a yearly increase of 16 per cent, and VND702 billion in pre-tax profit, down by 8 per cent year-on-year, as the company had sold its entire stakes in associate businesses in 2017.

US$325 mllion corporate bonds

High-end resort and hotel operator Vinpearl JSC plans to raise $325 million from bond issuance, guaranteed by its parent company Vingroup.

The trust deed will be signed between Vinpearl, Vingroup and Bank of New York, London Branch.

The paying and exchange agency agreement will be signed between Vinpearl, Vingroup, Bank of New York, London Branch, and New York Mellon SA/NV, Luxembourg Branch.

The subscription agreement will be finalised between Vinpearl, Vingroup, Credit Suisse (Singapore) Limited and Deutsche Bank AG, Hong Kong Branch.

The bondholders will be able to convert Vinpearl’s bonds into the amount of Vingroup shares owned by Vinpearl, Vingroup said on Tuesday.

According to Vingroup’s annual report of 2017, Vinpearl holds more than 90 million Vingroup shares, accounting for 3.14 per cent of the giant property developer’s charter capital.

Vingroup is currently listing more than 2.63 billion shares on HCM Stock Exchange with the code VIC, having rallied 13.3 per cent in the last seven trading sessions to VND124,700 per share on Thursday.

Vietnam police arrested Chinese criminals, who wanted by Interpol

Advertisements

Police in the central province of Khanh Hoa said Thursday they had handed over to their Chinese counterparts two dangerous Chinese criminals wanted by Interpol since 2007.

According to Interpol, Xie Jing Ping, 39, and Xie Ying Po, 42, have been charged with a series of violations involved in gangland killings, illegal gambling rings, wildlife smuggling, election destruction, and property damage. VNExpress reported

Xie Jing Ping (L), 39, and Xie Ying Po, 42, were arrested in Nha Trang City on Sunday. Photo courtesy of Khanh Hoa police

The Chinese brothers had been on the run for a long time and illegally entered Vietnam in April via the Cambodian border.

They were arrested from a luxury apartment on Tran Phu Street in the coastal beach city of Nha Trang on Sunday.

Khanh Hoa Province, home to Nha Trang, has received more than 700,000 Chinese tourist arrivals so far this year.

However, the central province has become a notorious magnet for Chinese fugitives on the run.

Last November, the provincial police seized two Chinese criminals wanted by Chinese police for swindling.

Five months earlier, two Chinese nationals turned themselves in at the Khanh Hoa police station after Chinese police issued an international arrest warrant for them.

The number of Chinese tourists visiting Vietnam skyrocketed 37 percent to 2.15 million in the first five months this year, official data show.

By An Phuoc

Understanding Cyberbullying

Advertisements

The Internet has made the world a smaller place in a good way. We are now able to connect with friends and family who live far away with just an Internet connection. Social media has made keeping in touch with old classmates more accessible, and it even enables us to create new relationships with people who have the same interests. The Internet has made connecting with people around the world more straightforward, and the field of communication has reached great heights, enabling development across many industries possible. From these advantages that came with the advent of social media, some problems came along with it.

Cyberbullying is a form of bullying that occurs using electronic means, sometimes referred to as online bullying. According to a study by researchers at The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, it has become one of the most common types of bullying amongst teenagers. Cyberbullying can happen over cellular phones, computers, and tablets and come in many forms like text messages, comments or posts on social media accounts, online message boards, and forums. This type of bullying is usually open for the public to see and can be witnessed by millions of people who have access to the Internet.

The most common types of cyberbullying are negative, false, embarrassing, or mean content that bullies post online to cause their victims emotional or mental harm. Just like traditional bullying, cyberbullying can cause long-term harmful effects on the victim. The victim’s self-esteem and confidence could be adversely affected, and constant online harassment can cause depression. Statistics show that there’s a connection between cyberbullying and physical harm. 5% of young people who suffer from cyberbullying has reported self-harm, and 3% have reported suicide attempts as a direct result of cyberbullying.

Why is cyberbullying so prevalent? Technology has made the Internet accessible to almost everyone and as each year pass by, the users of devices that connect to the Internet become younger. Another reason is that it’s easy to create an anonymous account on the Internet and bullies feel like they have the power to humiliate and hurt their victims without consequences. However, some cyberbullying can be considered as a crime.

Because of the recent rise in cases of cyberbullying, legislators in some states have started creating laws to stop online bullying or harassment. However, the implementation of these laws often falls into the hands of school officials, which could be a problem since cyberbullying is usually hard to notice. Since the harassment is taking place in digital platforms, teachers may not be able to see or hear when it occurs unless they start patrolling each of their student’s social media accounts.

In California, bullying in educational facilities is not limited to traditional bullying but also includes the use of electronic means. The law also states that each student has the right to get an education from schools and campuses which are safe, secure, and peaceful. What this means is that if a cyberbully is found to be guilty of using an electronic communication device to threaten another student’s life, they can be punished with up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $1,000 because the act is considered to be a misdemeanor.

Laws against cyberbullying are still improved, and while these are being worked on by legislators, it’s best to keep a closer eye on your children for signs of cyberbullying. Although the methods of harassment are different, the symptoms to watch out for between cyberbullying and traditional bullying is the same.

By Hogan Injury

Swiss airline launches flights to Vietnam

Advertisements

Leading Swiss carrier Edelweiss has announced the start of a bi-weekly service between HCM City and Zurich starting on November 15 this year – VNN reported

It will operate an Airbus A340-300 aircraft with a capacity of 314 passengers.

The flights will leave HCM City on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Some travel agencies are already accepting bookings and plan to sell tickets online.

The first ever air route between Việt Nam and Switzerland will reduce travel time, and promote trade and tourism, officials said.

Edelweiss hopes to carry 10,500 visitors from Switzerland to HCM City every year.

According to a report from Việt Nam’s General Statistics Bureau, in the first five months of this year Việt Nam received 16,500 Swiss tourists, 4.2 per cent more than in the same period last year.

Suspect In Las Vegas Hotel Double-Murder Captured In LA

Advertisements

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA/AP) — A man was captured in Los Angeles Thursday morning for the killing of a Vietnam tour operator and one of her employees at a Las Vegas Strip hotel last week.

Thirty-one-year-old Julius Trotter was arrested by FBI agents and Las Vegas police Thursday following a pursuit in the L.A. area.

A photo of Julius Trotter from a previous arrest. (Las Vegas Metropolitan PD)

On the afternoon of June 1, 38-year-old Sang Boi Nghia and a man, believed to be her coworker, were found stabbed to death on the 21st floor of the Circus Circus hotel. Investigators believe the two were stabbed during a burglary, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Police said the attack probably happened about 2 a.m. on June 1.

The two victims were visiting Las Vegas as part of a tour group. Officials said police were summoned after hotel security went to the room at the request of tour members who became concerned that Sang Nghia and the man didn’t show up for a trip to the Grand Canyon.

Their Vietnamese tour group had arrived May 31 in Las Vegas from Los Angeles, authorities said.

Nghia’s daughter, Chau Nghia, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that her mother owned a tour business in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and the male victim was a tour employee. He was not immediately named.

On Wednesday, detectives with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI Criminal Apprehension Team identified Trotter as the suspect and worked through the night to find him. It is unclear why Trotter was in L.A.

Anyone with information on the case should call Las Vegas police at 702-828-3521.

Ho Chi Minh City Television willing to pay for World Cup telecast rights

Advertisements

The Ho Chi Minh City Television (HTV) is willing to collaborate with national broadcasterVietnam Television (VTV) to obtain telecast rights for this year’s FIFA World Cup.

An HTV source close to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper said that its general director, Duong Thanh Tung, would send a letter to VTV on Thursday regarding their possible cooperation in the purchase of the 2018 FIFA World Cup broadcasting rights.

According to an HTV official, such collaboration is not unprecedented as the two television networks joined hands to buy the telecast rights for Germany 2006.

As VTV had a larger audience, it was in charge of paying two-thirds of the US$2 million asking price, while the Ho Chi Minh City-based broadcaster took care of the rest in that 2006 deal.

However, the national television station did not cooperate with HTV in the following FIFA World Cup editions.

As for the telecast rights for Russia 2018, the HTV official said that VTV can also cooperate with other cable television networks in the country, namely VTVCab, K+, SCTV, and FPT.

“We cannot let football lovers in Vietnam miss such a big party as the FIFA World Cup,” he stated.

As the world’s biggest football competition is only a week away, it would be difficult for broadcasters to sign advertising deals with local businesses as the latter need time to balance their budgets and set up advertising plans.

“However, HTV is willing to suffer some losses for the greater cause, which is serving our viewers and building up trust and reputation,” the official remarked.

In its 21st edition this year, the FIFA World Cup will be competed from June 14 to July 15 in Russia.

Switzerland-based Infront Sports & Media, distributor of this year’s FIFA World Cup telecast rights, previously offered all 64 matches of the championship at $15 million to Vietnamese broadcasters.

However, VTV said it would only pay $8 million at most for the rights, thus the negotiation has yet to conclude so far. The national broadcaster is the only station allowed by the government to bid for the telecast rights.

Nguyen Ha Nam, a senior VTV official, asserted to Tuoi Tre on Thursday afternoon that no agreement between the state television and Infront has been reached yet.

Rumors were circulated earlier the same day that the national broadcaster had obtained the telecast rights for the FIFA World Cup.

“We are exerting our best efforts to negotiate with the telecast rights distributor and will made an official announcement when the talks are complete,” Nam stated.

The prices of the FIFA World Cup telecast rights for the Vietnamese market have spiked over the last decade, from $2 million in 2006 to $7 million for the last games in 2014 in Brazil.

According to a document published by FIFA on June 2, Vietnam is the only among more than 200 countries and territories in the world where no entity has acquired the telecast rights of Russia 2018.

By Duy Khang, Tuoi Tre News

Pupils pray for exam luck at Temple of Literature

Advertisements

Many students visit the Temple of Literature in Hanoi to seek luck for their high school entrance exam.

On Wednesday morning, around 95,000 students in Hanoi started the high school exam which will end on June 10. It is seen quite tough due to the sharp rise in the number of candidates compared to the total target of the city’s high school in the year is just 63,050.

Despite the scorching hot weather, thousands of students came to the Temple of Literature after finishing procedures to attend the exam on June 6. Many went there along with their parents.

Many tried to touch the flamingo statue when they are banned from touching the doctoral steles which sit on the backs of stone turtles, hoping this would bring them luck.

Nguyen Kim Ngan in Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi, said her child had to study very hard for the exam, so she took her the temple as a way to help her to be more relaxed.

Lots of students used bare hands to write what they prayed for the exam on the wall.

Source: Dtinews

Passenger fined VND7.5m for injuring airline staff member

Advertisements

A passenger was fined VND7.5m ($331) on June 7 for throwing a mobile phone and injuring a Vietjet Air member of staff after getting angry over a missed flight.

The 32-year-old man from Thai Nguyen Province checked in at Danang Airport at 10 pm on June 3 but he was told that his flight had already left and he would be transferred to another flight the following morning. He was angry that he hadn’t been informed about the change.

When the staff warned him to not smoke in the airport, the man suddenly threw his mobile phone at the member of staff which cut her eyelid. The security guards quickly came to apprehend the man and the employee was taken to hospital. The man later admitted that he had been drinking before and lacked self-restraint.

According to Vietjet Air, due to bad weather, 10 flights from and to Chu Lai Airport in Quang Nam Province were cancelled. Many flights from Danang Airport had to take off sooner than scheduled.

The take-off time of the Danang-Hanoi flight on June 3 was moved from 11 pm to 8 pm. Vietjet Air said they had informed the passengers but the man provided wrong phone numbers and didn’t receive the notification.

The Middle Airport Authority fined the man VND7.5m.

Source: Dtinews

Two Vietnam universities among world’s best

Advertisements

Two Vietnamese universities are among the top 1,000 universities in the world, according to the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings.

Viet Nam National University, HCM City and Viet Nam National University, Hanoi are in the list of world’s top 1,000 universities for the first time. — Photo topuniversities.com

Viet Nam National University, HCM City and Viet Nam National University, Hanoi are in the list for the first time, joining 60 other universities that are making their debut in the rankings this year.

The ranking was published Wednesday following an examination by QS of data from 4,763 universities in 151 countries around the world in 2018.

Viet Nam National University, HCM City is in the group of universities ranked 701st to 750th, while Viet Nam National University, Hanoi is in the 801st to 1,000th group.

Four US universities – Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Harvard University, and the California Institute of Technology maintained their hold on the top spots, while the United Kingdom’s University of Oxford ranked 5th in the world.

The QS World University Rankings is an annual publication of university rankings by London-based Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). Being the only international ranking to have received International Ranking Expert Group (IREG) approval, the QS ranking is viewed as one of the three most widely-read university rankings in the world, along with the Academic Ranking of World Universities and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings

The QS World University Rankings evaluates universities according to six metrics – Academic Reputation, Employer Reputation, and Faculty/Student Ratio, as well as Citations per faculty, International Faculty Ratio, and International Student Ratio.

Professor Nguyen Huu Duc, vice director of Viet Nam National University, told online newspaper dantri.vn that the rankings proved the quality of training and prestige of the two Vietnamese universities were becoming increasingly recognised by the global academe and employers.

Researches conducted by Vietnamese universities were cited more and had a wider reach, as evidenced by their scores in the citation index which showed that lecturers of Viet Nam National University, Hanoi were cited an average 4.5 times each.

Source: VNS
Exit mobile version