Viettel launches Mytel in Myanmar with heavy promotions

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Viettel Group will introduce international roaming fees for Myanmar when it launches its Mytel mobile phone network in the country on June 9, 2018.

Accordingly, Viettel will charge calling, texting, and data for its international roaming customers in Myanmar at the same rate as in Vietnam.

Notably, calls for Viettel subscribers travelling in Myanmar to other Viettel numbers in Vietnam or Mytel numbers will cost VND2,000 (88 cent) per minute (one seventh of other networks’ rates), texting will be VND500 per message (other networks charge VND5,000-7,000 on average), and data will cost VND200 per MB (95 per cent less than in the past).

Besides, Viettel subscribers travelling to Myanmar will not be charged to receive phone calls.

To mark the grand opening of Mytel in Myanmar, along with Viettel, other members of the Viettel Group, namely Unitel (Laos) and Metfone (Cambodia), will also offer international roaming promotions for Myanmar.

In addition, Mytel will offer the same promotion for international roaming in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

With the new international roaming policy, Viettel becomes the first mobile service provider in the world to charge no international roaming fees in several countries in the region.

Doan Dai Phong, director of Viettel’s International Business Centre, said, “Myanmar is one of the first roaming markets for Vietnam. In the spirit of ‘Roam like home,’ meaning international roaming fees are as cheap as domestic ones, we expect all Viettel subscribers coming to Myanmar to experience our ‘flat world’ in the telecom and mobile services sector.”

Mytel is the brand name of Telecom International Myanmar—a joint venture between Viettel Global, a Viettel subsidiary, and its two partners in Myanmar, Star High Public Company and Myanmar National Telecom Holding Public (MNTH).

Viettel will offer the same promotion for international roaming in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

Mytel has the total investment capital of $1.5 billion, accounting for up to 66 per cent of the Vietnamese-registered investment capital in Myanmar.

With the project, Vietnam jumped from the 10th to 7th among 49 countries and territories investing in Myanmar, and is the second largest ASEAN investor in the country (as of the end of May 2018).

Mytel is the 4th mobile phone network in Myanmar, following state-owned MPT, which has a 42 per cent market share, Telenor from Norway (35 per cent), and Ooredoo from Qatar (23 per cent).

Myanmar has been Viettel’s foreign market with the highest economic growth rate, at 7 per cent so far, and the largest population (53 million). Myanmar is Viettel’s strategic international market in 2018. It also has high growth in the telecommunications and IT sectors.

From having the lowest mobile phone usage rate in the world (higher only than North Korea), Myanmar has experienced a stunning growth in per capita mobile phone SIM usage from 10 per cent to 90 per cent in only three years of opening its economy.

The total number of subscribers has risen from 600,000 to over 16 million.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Myanmar could increase its economy’s scale four-fold to $200 billion by 2030.

The IMF also said the finance, banking, energy, telecommunications, and IT sectors offer the most opportunities for foreign investors in terms of both market potential and human resources.

Vietnam pricing attracts tourists

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Vietnam clocked 1,161,114 tourist arrivals in May, up 19.4% over the same period last year.

The official estimate for five months was released by Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Tuesday.

Arrivals for five months, January to May, reached 6,708,428 up 27.6% over the same period last year, mainly on the back of competitive pricing and improved air connectivity.

Asia remains the top supplier with 5,099,239 arrivals for the five months, up 33.2%.

China was the top supplier with 2,153,302 visits up 37%. The second highest supplier, South Korea, delivered 1,441,756 arrivals, up 62.1%.

Japan remains a robust supply market for Vietnam with 344,264 visitors, up 6.6% and Taiwan with 283,550 visits increased 14.5% during the five-month period.

Arrivals from Singapore improved 5.4% to reach 112,818 visits, attributed to more convenient direct flights particularly on low-cost airlines. Arrivals from Malaysia at 220,468 improved 12.5%, again due to an increase in flights.

However, pick-up in Asian market was also attributed to Vietnam’s competitive pricing this year. In the highly lucrative events business market it is out performing Thailand price-wise by around 30%. This has resulted in a significant increase in corporate meetings and incentives through superior bidding against Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Macau.

Outside of Asia, the US outbound travel market supplied 31,665 visits up 15.8%, while visits from Russia clocked 300,747 up 9.2%. There is likely to be decline in travel from Russia during the World Cup weeks.

Source: Ttrweekly

High Profitability And High Volatility In The Vietnamese Stock Market

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Vietnam Equity FVMR Snapshot
that FVMR stands for Fundamentals, Valuation, Momentum, and Risk. Those are the factors that we look at to get an understanding of the market. This Vietnam Equity FVMR Snapshot is a bottom-up aggregate of 74 Vietnamese companies and all forecasted figures are consensus estimates. seekingalpha.com reported

Fundamentals: High profitability in Vietnam
The return on equity (ROE) in Vietnam is expected at 16.2% in 2018CE* and 18.6% in 2019CE*. This is well above the global average at 14.1% and 14.3% for 2018CE* and 2019CE* respectively. The two consumer sectors have the highest ROE in Vietnam at about 25-26% in 2018CE*, while the Energy sector has the lowest at about 10.8%.

Looking at the dividend payout ratio (DPR), Vietnam is below the Global average. Consumer Staples pay out the largest share of profit as dividend. The lowest DPR you find is in the Real Estate and Materials sectors.

Valuation: Vietnam trades above the World
Vietnam trades above the World on price-to-earnings (PE) and price-to-book (PB) for 2018CE*. The Materials sector trades at the lowest PE and PB. If we look at the PEG ratio, though, Materials looks a bit expensive at a 2018CE* PEG ratio of at 2.6. Still, the sector offers the best 2018CE* ROE/PB at 8.8%.

Real Estate trades at the cheapest 2018CE* PEG ratio of 0.6, followed by Consumer Discretionary at 0.9. Health Care and Energy have the highest PEG ratios, and hence appear most expensive on the measure.

As mentioned, Materials offers the most ROE for the PB you pay, while Consumer Staples, Energy, and Real Estate give you the least.

Momentum: EPS growth for Vietnam is slightly below the global average
The 2018CE* EPS growth for Vietnam is slightly below the global average. Real Estate and two consumer sectors have the highest 2018CE* EPS growth expectations. Info Tech and Industrials are expected to see falling earnings.

Central bank approves VPBank’s capital charter hike

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The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has approved the plan of Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank) to increase its current charter capital.

VNS reported, the hike from VND15.7 trillion (US$690 million) to VND25.2 trillion was approved at a VPBank shareholder meeting held on March 19, 2018.

The bank’s management board will take responsibility for the capital increase pursuant to current laws and regulations. VPBank was also required to submit a revised application of their charter capital to the central bank.

The document takes effect within 12 months from the date of signing. However, the document will lose its effectivity if the increase in charter capital is not completed in the allowable time.

In the first quarter of the year, VPBank’s total consolidated assets reached over VND284 trillion, representing a 24 per cent year-on-year rise. The bank’s deposit mobilisation and issued valuable papers stood at VND209.9 trillion, up 13 per cent from the same period last year.

Meanwhile, lending rose 24 per cent from the corresponding period last year to VNĐ185.6 trillion.

Vietnam factory output picks up as exports boom

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Vietnamese manufacturing growth picked up again in May amid record export growth, with an industry gauge suggesting the fastest rise in new business since March last year.

According to a report by Financial Times, the latest Nikkei-Markit manufacturing purchasing managers’ index for Vietnam rose to 53.9 in May, from 52.7 in April.

The May reading was the sharpest increase since April 2017 and also marked the thirtieth-straight month the gauge has been above the 50-point mark separating expansion from contraction.

Andrew Harker, principal economist at IHS Markit, which compiles the survey, said:

“A record rise in new export orders is the key highlight … helping to drive growth across the sector. Output price inflation continued to ease as companies often favoured holding down prices to help secure sales rather than passing on sharp rises in input costs.”

By Edward White

Japan, Vietnam leaders meet to seek stronger partnership

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TOKYO (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang met on Thursday to discuss stronger bilateral ties through stepped-up economic and security cooperation and human exchanges.

Japan and Vietnam aim to bolster their “extensive strategic” partnership, with this year marking the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Strengthening cooperation with Vietnam is also seen important as Japan has been promoting its “free and open Indo-Pacific strategy,” a policy that the Abe administration has been pursuing in an apparent bid to counter China’s maritime influence in the region.

Through the meeting between Abe and Quang in Tokyo, Japan also hopes to strengthen economic ties with Vietnam, a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, in improving connectivity through infrastructure development, Japanese officials said.

The two countries are planning to promote human and cultural exchanges, with Vietnamese people comprising one of the largest foreign populations in Japan as of 2017.

Quang, who assumed the current post in 2016, is on a visit to Japan as a state guest.

On Wednesday, Emperor Akihito welcomed Quang in what may be his last state banquet before he abdicates next April.

Source: Nikkei Asia

Vietnam manufacturing improves continuously in May

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TOKYO – The Nikkei Vietnam Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, or PMI, rose to 53.9 in May from 52.7 in April. A reading above 50 signals an improvement, while one below 50 points to a contraction in manufacturing activity.

New orders rose at a sharper rate than in April, helped by a record expansion in new export business. Growth of output and employment also picked up. Business conditions have now strengthened on a monthly basis throughout the past two and a half years.

Andrew Harker, Associate Director at IHS Markit which compiles the survey said “A record rise in new export orders is the key highlight from the latest PMI, helping to drive growth across the sector.” Harker also pointed out output price inflation continued to ease as companies often favored holding down prices to help secure sales rather than passing on sharp rises in input costs.

Source: Nikkei Asia

Hoi An enjoys a breathtaking floral explosion in summer

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Tourists come to the ancient town this May will be amazed by the beautiful blooming flowers around the city.

Profusion: The golden shower tree embellishes the yellowed walls of Hoi An when it blooms in summer.
Street decoration: The first thing that tourists arriving in Hoi An during summer notice are the golden shower trees in bloom.
Color contrasts: Shadows of the yellow blooms adorn a typical “Hoi An wall.”
Blazing pink: Bougainvillea, also known as the paper flower, is very popular in Vietnam, and Hoi An is no exception.
Multiple hues: Hoi An hosts bougainvillea flowers in many colors, including pink, orange and white.

 

Creeping fragrance: The Chinese Honeysuckle in bloom is a double treat. Its white and red flowers exude a heady fragrance in the night. Some honeysuckle species yield edible berries.

 

Carpet of flowers: The peacock flower tree, which blooms only in warm weather, is prone to shedding and strewing them on the ground below.
Night light: As it gets darker, colorful lanterns cast their glow on Hoi An streets, including the flowers that line them.

 

Source: Vnexpress

Vietnam drops four places among best countries for raising kids

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Vietnam has dropped four places as the best places for children in the Save the Children Fund’s 2018 End of Childhood Index Ranking.

The ranking and report titled The Many Faces of Exclusion were released to mark International Children’s Day on June 1. The ranking was conducted based on the events that rob children of their childhoods and prevent them from reaching their full potentials.

Vietnam’s ranking dropped from 92 to 96. Thailand was ranked 85, the Philippines 104, followed by Indonesia at 105 and Philippines at 119.

The risk of malnutrition and child labour among poor households in Vietnam is seven times and eight times greater than the rich families respectively. Vietnam also has the least improvement for the children’s nutrition. Over 24% of children under five years old in Vietnam are malnourished, three times higher than the average rates in South East Asia’s and the Asia Pacific region.

This is Save the Children’s second End of Childhood index which ranked 175 countries based on the risks to the children including lack of education, child marriage, teenage pregnancy, child labour and domestic violence.

Singapore and Slovenia were both ranked as best places for children. Norway, Sweden and Finland followed while Niger and several countries in Africa were at the bottom.

Save the Children called for countries to improve the living conditions for children so that no child will die from preventable causes.

Source: Dtinews

Embassies, int’l organisations join in preventing plastic pollution in Vietnam

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Twenty-two embassies and international organisations in Vietnam will sign a code of conduct on the prevention of plastic pollution on June 4, to mark World Environment Day (June 5), according to the Canadian Embassy in Vietnam.

Initiated by the Canadian Embassy, the campaign aims to raise public awareness of the adverse impacts of plastic pollution and call for changes in behaviours, institutions and policies, thus helping to reduce plastic waste in Vietnam.

The expected signatories are the Asian Development Bank, the embassies of Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, the US, the EU, 16 agencies, foundations, and programmes, and the offices of the UN, and the World Bank.

They will commit to assessing single-use plastic products in their offices and encouraging their staff and partners to reduce plastic products.

Following the ceremony, there will be a roundtable workshop on plastic pollution, during which policy makers, business executives, scholars and environmental activists will discuss the challenges to plastic waste reduction and propose measures to effectively address the issue.

The Canadian Embassy said that approximately 300 million tonnes of plastics are produced globally each year, half of which is used to create single-use products such as bags, bottles and straws. One million plastic bags are used every one minute.

According to earthday.org, 8.3 billion metric tonnes of plastic has been produced since plastic was introduced in the 1950s. The amount of plastic produced in a year is roughly the same as the entire weight of humanity. 91 percent of plastic waste isn’t recycled. And since most plastics don’t biodegrade in any meaningful sense, all that plastic waste could exist for hundreds or even thousands of years.

Of note, eight million metric tonnes of plastic winds up in the oceans each year. That’s enough trash to cover every foot of coastline around the world with five full trash bags of plastic compounding every year.

A recent international survey revealed that Vietnam is one of the five countries in the world discharging the most plastic waste, with about 1.8 million tonnes dumped each year.

Source: Dtinews

Tiki continues taking losses, e-commerce firms ‘burning’ money

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Despite big losses, e-commerce firms area still continue to pump money into e-commerce websites. It’s still unclear when the tough days will end.

The annual finance report of VNG showed that Tiki, its e-commerce website, incurred a loss of VND282 billion in 2017. If counting the loss of VND40 billion in 2016, the total loss in the last two years had reached VND322 billion.

Tiki, together with Lazada and Shopee, is among the websites which have a large share in the e-commerce market.

A source said Shopee Vietnam now has 120,000 orders a day, while the average value for each order is VND140,000. Lazada Vietnam has fewer orders, but the value of each order is higher.

Established as a website specializing in retailing English books in 2010, Tiki later received investments from different sources and then got a VND380 billion investment from VNG in 2016 after it expanded the business, selling electronics, fashion products and other items.

Tiki has continued reporting losses since receiving capital from VNG. Sources said the startup has not made profits in the last eight years of operation.

Like Tiki, Lazada and Shopee are also not making profit in Vietnam, it is believed. However, investors keep injecting money into them.

JD.com, the second largest e-commerce firm in China, together with a group of investors, made a $44 million investment in Tiki in late 2017. It continued pumping more money into Tiki in early 2018.

The annual finance report of VNG showed that Tiki, its e-commerce website, incurred a loss of VND282 billion in 2017. If counting the loss of VND40 billion in 2016, the total loss in the last two years had reached VND322 billion.

Investors keep making investments in e-commerce websites. Predictions say the market may be valued up to $10 billion by 2020 with a two-digit growth rate.

An analyst commented that when investors inject money into e-commerce, they ‘bank on the future’ and cannot expect profits in the first years of operation.

Even Amazon, the website with the highest revenue in the world, still makes low profit compared with revenue. Its CEO Jeff Bezos focuses on increasing revenue rather than making profits for the giant.

Selling more product items, offering price discounts, running sale promotion programs and improving customers’ care service, while having to pay for staff, delivery and storage fees, all cost a lot of money.

Beyeu, Deca, Lingo and Foodpanda, which did not have money to spend, had to leave the market.

It’s unclear when e-commerce websites will stop reporting losses. However, they said if the websites focus on attracting more clients and gaining larger market share, there is no possibility for them to make profits in the next few years.

According to the Vietnam E-commerce Association (Vecom), the e-commerce market grew by 25 percent in 2017, and the high growth rate would be maintained through 2020.

US$1=VND22,000

Source: Vietnamnet

Switzerland’s largest airline opens new route to Vietnam

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On May 30, Edelweiss, Switzerland’s leading leisure airline, announced it will open a direct air route between HCM City and Zurich this November, serving two flights per week as part of the carrier’s plan to expand its flight network in Asia.

This is the first direct air route between Vietnam and Switzerland, aiming to reduce travel times, stimulate tourism demands, and trade between the two countries.

Some travel agents are preparing to launch online ticketing services to help passengers to purchase tickets easily.

Edelweiss CEO, Bernd Bauer, said that Vietnam has become popular among Swiss people thanks to the attractive destinations on offer.

The airline expects to serve 10,500 passengers traveling from Switzerland to HCM City each year, earning a revenue of US$32 million per year.

The new air route helps to bring tourists from Switzerland and Europe closer to Vietnam and provides a wide range of options for connecting flights from Zurich to other famous tourist attractions through the Swiss airline.

At present, Edelweiss are working with major travel operators in Vietnam to design tour packages for the new route between Vietnam and Switzerland. The predicted passenger growth for the route suggests an increase of about 10% per year over the next 3-4 years.

According to the General Statistics Office, in the first five months of the year, more than 16,500 Swiss passengers arrived in Vietnam, up 4.2% against the same period last year.

As a wealthy country, Switzerland’s tourists tend to spend more when holidaying abroad than visitors from other nations.

Source: VOV

100 smokers die a day, could double by 2030

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HÀ NỘI — Smoking now claims over 100 lives in Việt Nam every day and the number is expected to nearly double in 2030.

The data is reckoned by the Việt Nam Tobacco Control Fund under the Ministry of Health.

According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), conducted by the ministry and the General Statistics Office in 2015, 53.5 per cent of non-smokers, equal to 28.5 million of adults were exposed to tobacco smoke at home, and 36.8 per cent of non-smokers, who worked indoors, equal to 5.9 million of adult, were exposed to tobacco smoke at the workplace.

In the meantime, another statistics of the ministry showed that it is estimated about 60.7 per cent of students started smoking at the age of 7-13.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said that non-communicable diseases contribute to 73 percent of all deaths countrywide. Tobacco use is one of the major causes.

Medical experts said tobacco smoking is a leading factor causing an increasing risk of contracting heart-related diseases. The increase is proportional to the amount of tobacco and the smoking time.

It costs the country’s smokers a total of VNĐ31 trillion (US$1.36 billion) each year. In addition to the cost of smoking, the total cost of treatment and damage due to illness and premature death for 5 groups (lung cancer, gastrointestinal-respiratory cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart attack, and stroke) caused by smoking over VNĐ23 trillion (about $1 billion) per year.

Risks for pregnant women

According to the United States’ Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking during pregnancy causes additional health problems, including premature birth (being born too early), certain birth defects, and infant death.

Smoking makes it harder for a woman to get pregnant. Women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely than other women to have a miscarriage. Smoking can cause problems with the placenta—the source of the baby’s food and oxygen during pregnancy. For example, the placenta can separate from the womb too early, causing bleeding, which is dangerous to the mother and baby.

Smoking during pregnancy can cause a baby to be born too early or to have low birth weight—making it more likely the baby will be sick and have to stay in the hospital longer. A few babies may even die.

Smoking during and after pregnancy is a risk factor of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). SIDS is an infant death for which a cause of the death cannot be found.

Babies born to women who smoke are more likely to have certain birth defects, like a cleft lip or cleft palate.

Nicotine is a health danger for pregnant women and developing babies and can damage a developing baby’s brain and lungs.

The world’s lowest price

Việt Nam is among world’s top 15 countries with the lowest tobacco prices with a pack of cigarette is sold at the prices of VNĐ6,000-20,000 (24 cents-88cents).

Experts believe the low price of tobacco products is the main cause leading to its widespread use.

The tax on tobacco products in the country currently is quite low compared to other countries, about 35-40 per cent of retail price while the world average rate is 56 per cent and much lower than the WHO’s suggested 70 per cent.

In response to the situation, the Ministry of Finance proposed two plans to raise tax on tobacco at a meeting held early May.

The first plan is to collect the special consumption tax of VNĐ1,000 (4 cents) per pack of 20 cigarettes and VNĐ10,000 (44 cents) per cigar from 2020. In the second plan, the special consumption tax will increase as in the roadmap from 75 per cent to 80 per cent in 2020 and 85 per cent in 2021.

However, many experts said the rate is still low. They suggested that the additional charge should be VNĐ2,000-5,000 (11-22 cents) per pack of 20 cigarettes.

Phan Thị Hải, deputy director of the Tobacco Consequences Prevention Fund under the Ministry of Health, said the ministry agreed with the suggested additional charge.

Đào Thế Sơn, a lecture of the Hà Nôi-based Commercial University, by increasing tax to VNĐ5,000 per cigarette pack, Việt Nam can stop 1.8 million people from smoking, prevent 900,000 smoking-related early deaths and get VNĐ10.7 trillion ($470 million) in the State budget each year.

In addition to raising tobacco tax to reduce the number of smokers in the country, authorised agencies have also launched supporting programmes to help smokers in quitting tobacco. For example, Hà Nội-based Bạch Mai Hospital and HCM City-based Gia Định Hospital have run hotlines to give advice for thousands of smokers in an attempt to quit tobacco for several recent years.

The programmes have shown initial positive results.

In another movement, the health ministry organised a meeting to mark the World No Tobacco Day (May 31) and National No Tobacco Week in Đà Nẵng (May 25-31) in Đà Nẵng City last week. —VNS

Source: VNS

Vietnamese woman sentenced to 13 years for causing death, hiding body of grandchild

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Pham Thi Xuan at the People’s Court in the north-central Vietnamese province of Thanh Hoa on May 29, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A 66-year-old woman in Vietnam has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for causing the death of her newborn granddaughter and staging a kidnap to hide her body.

The provincial People’s Court on Tuesday handed down the sentence to Pham Thi Xuan, 66, for “murder” as per Article 93 of the Penal Code.

Xuan was found guilty of causing the death of her grandchild, 23-day-old L.M.A., and attempting to hide and dispose of her body.

According to the indictment, the elderly woman came from her hometown in the northern province of Thai Binh to her son’s house in Bim Son Town, Thanh Hoa Province to help take care of A., his daughter, in November 2017.

On November 25, Xuan was holding A. in her arms when she tripped and fell. The baby was weak and wheezing after the fall.

Le Van Thuan, Xuan’s son, was picking up his eldest son from a martial art class, while his wife was at home cleaning their bedroom at the time of the incident.

Instead of calling for help, Xuan assumed the child would not survive and planned to hide the truth as she feared her son and daughter-in-law would be mad at her.

The woman then wrapped a blanket around the newborn, put her in a plastic bag, and hid her in a bush about 30 meters from the house.

She returned and pretended to be unconscious, later claiming that a strange man and woman had attacked her and kidnapped the child.

The following day, the grandmother put the bag containing the baby’s body among other bags of rubbish so that it would be taken away by garbage collectors.

On November 27, the corpse was found at the landfill.

Xuan turned herself in to police on the afternoon of the same day.

By Duy Khang, Source: Tuoi Tre News

Unruly in the skies: Passenger assaults crew member during smoking row

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A woman in her 20s assaulted a female flight attendant after she was caught smoking in the toilet on a plane en route to Vietnam, according to Incheon police Tuesday.

The 25-year-old passenger was reportedly drunk when she was caught by the flight attendant smoking in the bathroom of the plane, leaving from Incheon International Airport to Noi Bai International Airport at 11:30 p.m. last year on Aug. 21.

Budget airline Eastar confirmed that the passenger flew into a rage — kicking her in the stomach — after the flight attendant, 23, tried to stop her from smoking and capture the incident on video with her smartphone.

The Incheon District Court views that the passenger, who possibly suffers from depression, committed the assault under the influence of alcohol.

The court ordered the woman to serve four years in prison suspended for a year and pay a 1 million won (S$1,245) fine.

Source: Asiaone

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