Investors in public-private partnerships fear changing state policies

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Investors are reluctant to pour money into infrastructure projects under the PPP (private public partnership) mode because of fear of new policies which could lead to losses or bankruptcy.

VCCI’s (the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry) head of Legal Department Dau Anh Tuan cited the example in Ba Ria – Vung Tau province of an enterprise signing a contract on an infrastructure project.

Later, as policies changed, the state changed the calculation method under which the land price was set for the project. It was 14 times higher than the price shown in the contract previously signed. With the sharp increase in the land price, the business plan failed.

“This is too much of a risk,” he said.

Vu Quynh Le, deputy director of the Bidding Management Agency, said that investments in PPP projects remain below expectations because of difficulties during implementation.

As PPP projects require long-term investments, they may bring risks to enterprises, especially policy risks.

Le said that investments under PPP mode are covered by different laws, including the Law on State Budget, Public Debt Management Law, Investment Law, Public Investment Law, Enterprise Law, Land Law, Construction Law and Environment Protection Law.

But the laws don’t attach much importance to the special characteristics of the PPP mode.

According to Pham Quang Dung, president of Tasco, an infrastructure developer, under current laws, involved parties have to strike a balance after implementation of projects.

The problem is that many state agencies get involved in the process, including State Audit, independent auditing firms and inspectors, which give different results and conclusions.

“The State needs to choose one agency to draw up a balance sheet and set certain times for work,” he said, adding that enterprises are tired of the process because it can last indefinitely.

Luu Xuan Thuy, deputy CEO of Deo Ca Corporation, complained that state agencies still make administrative decisions intervening in the implementation of projects. They sometimes even change the provisions of contracts.

This is the major reason that investors, especially foreigners, hesitate to undertake PPP projects, he said.

“Investors are not interested in PPP projects because of the high policy risks,” he added. “Very few investors can satisfy requirements set in Decree 15 on PPP mode of investment.”

Dung from Tasco said he hopes the problems will be settled as a law on investment under the PPP mode is being drafted.

However, he warned that if the law doesn’t stipulate a reasonable way to share risks, potential investors will not be interested in PPP projects.

Source: VietNamNet

Facebook data leak hits half a million users in Vietnam

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The world’s largest social media network said it will send a note to those users next Monday.

With almost 70 percent of its population on Facebook, Vietnam was the ninth most heavily hit country by the social network’s security breach scandal, which involved the personal data of 87 million users worldwide being leaked.

A survey released by Facebook on Wednesday showed the personal data of 427,446 users in Vietnam had been leaked.

As of July 2017, more than 64 million out of 92 million Vietnamese people were using the social media network.

The U.S. stands top of the countries hit hardest, followed by the Philippines, Indonesia and the U.K.

Facebook Inc said on Wednesday that the personal information of up to 87 million users worldwide may have been improperly shared with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, up from a previous news media estimate of more than 50 million.

Mike Schroepfer, Facebook’s chief technology officer, said on Facebook’s newsroom site on Wednesday that starting on Monday, Facebook will show people a link at the top of their News Feed so they can see what apps they use and the information they have shared with those apps.

“People will also be able to remove apps that they no longer want. As part of this process we will also tell people if their information may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica,” he said.

Facebook first acknowledged last month that personal information about millions of users wrongly ended up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica.

Mark Zuckerberg will testify about the matter next week before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, Reuters reported on Thursday.

London-based Cambridge Analytica, which has counted U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign among its clients, disputed Facebook’s estimate of affected users. It said in a tweet on Wednesday that it received no more than 30 million records from a researcher it hired to collect data about people on Facebook.

Zuckerberg, on a call with reporters, said Facebook should have done more to audit and oversee third-party app developers like the one Cambridge Analytica hired in 2014.

Source: VnExpress

Former South Korean president Park Geun-hye found guilty of abuse of power and coercion, sentenced to 24 years in prison

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Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye, left, arrives to attend a hearing on the extension of her detention at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea

A South Korean judge said Friday that ex-President Park Geun-hye is guilty of abuse of power and coercion. The details came in a nationally televised verdict as Judge Kim Se-yun read a lengthy statement at Seoul Central District Court.

Park was sentenced to 24 years in prison and received a $16.9 million fine. Prosecutors aimed for a 30-year prison term and a $112 million fine for Park, according to Reuters.

Park, 66, has been held at a detention center near Seoul since her arrest in March 2017, but she refused to attend Friday’s court session, citing sickness.

Park was removed from office early last year following months of massive rallies that saw millions take to the nation’s streets calling for her ouster. She is the first South Korean president to be removed from office through a court proceeding and the third president to be convicted of a crime.

The court found that Park and Choi Soon-sil, a friend of Park, colluded to receive billions of won from large corporations, such as Samsung, to fund Choi and her non-profit organizations.

Once seen as the darling of South Korean conservatives, she was dubbed “Queen of Elections” by local media for her track record of leading her party to victory in tight races and still has a small group of fierce supporters who regularly stage rallies calling for her release.

Park maintains that she’s a victim of “political revenge” and has been refusing to attend court sessions since October. She has previously maintained her innocence.

Park is the daughter of late dictator Park Chung-hee, who ruled South Korea from 1961-1979.

Source: Business Insider

Vietnam’s credit institutions expect better results in second quarter

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The majority of credit institutions in Vietnam anticipate that their business performance will improve in the second quarter of the year, according to a survey conducted by the State Bank of Vietnam.

Three in four institutions said their results would be better in the April-June period, while 84% anticipate improved results throughout 2018, of which around one fifth said the improvements would be substantial.

More than 72% of credit institutions expect their pre-tax profits in 2018 to grow in comparison with the previous year, with an average increase of 18.2%, although the figure is lower than the 19.3% increase as predicted in the previous survey.

Credit institutions said the better results would come as a result of their improved policies and customer services, as well as significant increases in demand for their services and products.

Stronger management and operational safety rules are also a factor that is expected to help credit institutions enhance their business performance, according to the survey.

Concerning the health of their customers, 76% of credit institutions said the overall risk is currently at a normal level, while 18% said the risk is low, compared with the previous quarter’s respective figures of 76% and 15%.

The liquidity of the banking system is also expected to improve and maintain its positive status in the coming quarters while banks’ outstanding credit is anticipated to expand by 4.85% in the April-June period and 16.3% in all of 2018.

Source: Dtinews

Planned railway set to steam through Vietnam’s north and link up with China

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The new line is expected to boost trade and economic development in the region.

Vietnam is working on a plan to build a railway line that will run through eight northern cities and provinces and up into China to boost economic development in the region and trade with its giant neighbor.

The planned railway will run 391 kilometers (242 miles) from Lao Cai Province in the far north to Yen Bai, Phu Tho, Vinh Phuc, Hanoi, Hung Yen, Hai Duong, Hai Phong before ending at Lach Huyen Port in Hai Phong City.

Running at speeds of 160kph for passenger trains and 90kph for freight trains, it will connect to Hekou Yao County in China on a 6.29km track from Lao Cai.

The railway will be the most important in Vietnam in terms of transporting goods and passengers, Nguyen Ngoc Dong, deputy transport minister, told a meeting in Hanoi on Thursday.

The route will support logistics in the northern region and contribute to socio-economic development, while boosting Vietnam’s trade with China, he said.

China Railway Engineering Machinery Research and Design Institute will act as the consultant on the project, including the Chinese section.

“Vietnam’s transport ministry is working with the Chinese side to come up with a final solution to link the lines, and may give priority to building the connecting section first,” said Dong.

Vietnam currently operates a railway from Lao Cai to Hanoi that steams through Vinh Phuc, Phu Tho and Yen Bai. It was built by the French in 1906.

In February, transport officials from Vietnam and Cambodia in February agreed to push forward with a plan to build a railway between Ho Chi Minh City and Bavet, home to a special economic zone and a casino kingdom.

The 250km route will be part of a larger network that also connects Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and China.

Source: VnExpress

Vietnamese hackers earn VND1 billion a month selling Facebook accounts

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Hackers are creating phishing pages and websites with interfaces similar to Facebook’s, to steal users’ names and passwords.

“An experienced hacker can collect 10,000 users’ accounts a day. Each account is priced at VND3,000-5,000. This means they can earn VND1 billion a month by selling the ‘corpses’ of these accounts,” said Tri Duc, an IT expert who works in the US and monitors many Vietnamese groups of hackers.

Experts see the tricks as only ‘rudimentary traps’, but tens of thousands of users fall into that trap every day.

“Not everyone is vigilant enough, especially those who often use dubious applications. The websites with pornographic content may have latent risks,” Duc said.

Vietnamese hackers also hijack international accounts for different purposes.

Facebook recently allowed Vietnamese users to connect personal accounts to create fanpages. This feature has been exploited by hackers for a long time. Hackers also prefer Indonesian accounts because of the ease and the high number of people in the country.

Selling ‘bogus’ accounts

After hijacking a user’s account, hackers change the names and replace the avatar with images of Vietnamese “hot” girls, then make friends with thousands of people.

The “raw” accounts, after changes in names and cover images, are called by Vietnamese hackers “change” accounts. They then set these accounts to create pages, and friends will become page followers.

They then combine the numbers of ‘likes’ from the pages.

“The fanpages with millions of likes are sometimes offered for sale on MMO websites. Despite efforts made, Facebook still cannot settle the problem,” said Le Minh Hiep, who called himself a Facebook service provider.

Also according to Hiep, hacked accounts can be used to gain Facebook’s confidence. In general, Facebook will trust accounts that have been operating for years and updating regularly.

Once gaining confidence, the accounts will have a higher success rate in creating ads and sending spam messages than newly created accounts.

In addition, hacked accounts will be used as ‘zombies’ for trading likes, comments and video views.

“Some veteran hackers now own 3-4 million accounts of this type. They are sold to serve the tricks that dodge Facebook’s rules,” Hiep said.

In related news, a large number of Vietnamese online businesses utilising the social network as a trading platform has been affected as Facebook has just blocked API. Blocking API is believed to be a move to reaffirm the apology after the scandal of Cambridge Analytica company breaking into 50 million users’ personal information.

Source: VNN

Grab says it will not pay any back taxes owed by Uber in Vietnam

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Despite departing Vietnam this Sunday, Uber allegedly still owes over $2.3 million in back taxes.

Ride-hailing firm Grab Vietnam on Thursday said it would not be paying any back taxes rival Uber might still owe in Vietnam despite its deal to acquire the latter’s operations in Southeast Asia.

“This matter is Uber’s responsibility. Grab did not buy Uber’s legal status in Vietnam, which is the unit bearing all legal responsibilities for settling tax-related issues with the tax department,” a Grab representative said, adding that all questions related to the issue should instead be sent to Uber.

An official from Ho Chi Minh City’s tax department said that the department is still waiting for Grab to submit an official report on the acquisition deal before deciding on how to handle the issue.

Commenting on Grab’s announcement, lawyer Doan Van Hau, chairman of the Vietnam Lawyers’ Commercial Arbitration Center, said Grab’s refusal is in violation of Vietnamese law and international practices.

Quoting Vietnam’s Enterprise Law, he stressed that Grab as the acquirer is responsible for paying all back taxes owed by its target firm Uber.

“Even if Uber and Grab have their own agreements on how to handle this issue, then those agreements must still conform to Vietnamese law,” Hau said.

In September last year, Ho Chi Minh City’s tax department ordered the Netherlands-based Uber B.V. to pay VND66.7 billion ($2.91 million) in back taxes and tax evasion penalties by December 23. However, the company only paid VND13.3 billion after complaining to the Ministry of Finance that it should not be subject to certain taxes according to Vietnam’s agreement on double taxation avoidance with the Netherlands.

The tax department subsequently asked five local commercial banks to help it collect the outstanding sum from Uber’s accounts, but failed after discovering the company does not have a bank account in Vietnam.

Uber has since filed two lawsuits against the department and has yet to pay the remaining VND53 billion.

Source: Vnexpress

V is for Vietnam, not volatility

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Despite the return of market volatility, a Vietnam equity fund managed by JP Morgan Asset Management has soared to the top as best performer, according to data from FE Analytics.

Global equity markets have been volatile this year, led by a market correction in February and prompting analysts to herald “the return of volatility” after years of calm, incremental upside. The S&P 500 plunged 6% to 2,648.94 after the first five days in February, according to Bloomberg data, but the first quarter as a whole has been jumpy.

Yet Vietnam investments may provide some insulation. JP Morgan Asset Management’s Vietnam Opportunities Fund was the best performing equity fund, returning 107.41% on a three-year period ending 31 March, among the universe of SFC-authorised funds with AUM of at least $100m, data from FE Analytics shows.

But investment opportunities in Vietnam are difficult to find, said the fund’s manager, Isaac Thong, in a previous interview.

“There is a lack of high-quality, well-rounded companies [in Vietnam], and because of that, fund managers have to search through many companies to find some gems,” he said.

The fund, which received a Gold award in Fund Selector Asia’s Fund Awards in Hong Kong this year, has been consistently in the top quartile, with a cumulative five-year return of 129% ending June 2017 versus 15.7% for the sector.

A number of industry players have warned about a more volatile market environment this year, such as Bank of Singapore, Pictet Asset Management and Eastspring Investments.

Could Vietnam be a safehaven? In the first quarter of 2018, the MSCI Vietnam Index returned 17.59% and the S&P 500 returned -0.76%, according to FE data.

The next four best performing funds are two China-focused funds, which are both managed by UBS Asset Management, and two technology funds, one managed again by UBS AM and the other by Blackrock.

The top five performers in Q1 2018

Source: FE. Universe is SFC-registered products with at least $100m in AUM.
All fund NAVs converted to US dollars for comparative purposes.

 

Vietnam continues to reduce poverty

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Poverty in Vietnam continues to fall, particularly amongst ethnic minorities, who saw their rate of poverty decline significantly by 13 percentage points, the largest decline in the past decade, says a new World Bank report.

According to Climbing the Ladder: Poverty Reduction and Shared Prosperity in Vietnam, released today by the World Bank, improving income from highland agriculture can help Vietnam further reduce poverty, which has fallen by almost 4 percentage points since 2014, to 9.8 percent in 2016. Ethnic minorities – many of them living in highland areas – account for 72 percent of Vietnam’s poor, and encouraging them to grow more profitable industrial crops may improve their earnings.

“Vietnam has achieved tremendous results in reducing poverty and improving the quality of life for millions. The decline in poverty amongst ethnic minorities is encouraging, and more focused efforts on improving their incomes can further broaden their opportunities and reduce persistent inequalities,” said Ousmane Dione, World Bank Country Director for Vietnam. “The aspirations of those with less opportunities cannot be ignored.”

Outlining recent trends and patterns of poverty in Vietnam, the report proposes solutions for that untapped agriculture potential in highland areas where the poor are concentrated. Land use and cropping decisions, for example, contribute more to agriculture income differences between households. Low-income families in highland areas use their land to grow basic crops such as rice or maize instead of raising more profitable crops such as coffee, black pepper, or rubber.

Improving access to credit may help highland farmers make the necessary investments for higher-earning agricultural production. Strengthening earning capacity can help narrow inequalities between groups. The average per capita consumption of ethnic minorities, for example, remains less than 45 percent of the Kinh and Hoa. Moreover, the poor faces a widening gap in terms of access to upper secondary education and improved water and sanitation.

At the same time, the report recognizes that 70 percent of Vietnam’s population is now classified as economically secure, including the 13 percent who are now part of the global middle-class. These income classes are growing rapidly, rising by over 20 percentage points between 2010 and 2017. An average of 1.5 million Vietnamese joined the global middle class each year since 2014, confirming that households continue to climb the economic ladder after escaping poverty. The rise of the consumer class changes society’s aspirations and the focus of the poverty and shared prosperity agenda shifts from combatting extreme poverty to effecting broad improvements in the quality of life and supporting the further expansion of the middle class. Rapid job creation and an ongoing transition to wage employment are driving gains in poverty reduction and shared prosperity.

The report suggests several areas of strategic priorities to further reduce poverty and promote shared prosperity, including:

  • Boosting labor productivity and investing in infrastructure to sustain job creation and wage growth without losing competitiveness.
  • Implementing education reforms designed to equalize opportunities and develop workforce skills.
  • Spurring agriculture structural transformation through changing farmland use patterns, strengthening land user rights, and improving skills of the poor farmers.

While reducing inequality remains a challenge, the report notes that the number of individuals vulnerable to falling back into poverty declined to only 2 percent between 2014 and 2016. In contrast, the period saw the middle class expanding by more than 3 million people.

One of the prioritized areas under the new World Bank Group Country Partnership Framework with Vietnam for the period from FY18 – FY22 is inclusive growth, with a specific objective for the “economic integration of the poor and vulnerable groups” under which the Bank will provide support for targeted interventions to expand economic opportunities for people in lagging areas.

Source: MD

Vietnam set for Heineken F1 event in Ho Chi Minh City!

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Vietnamese F1 fans will get their first glance of a Grand Prix car next month, when David Coulthard races through Ho Chi Ming City thanks to Heineken.

The Dutch brewing company and F1 partner is set to organise an event entitled “Perfect Experience with F1” which will blend beer, music and demo runs by Coulthard with a Red Bull Racing charger.

The event will also support Heineken’s long-standing commitment to responsible driving by raising awareness for its “When you Drive, Never Drink” campaign that wa slaunched last September in several countries, including Vietnam.

“The ‘Perfect Experience with F1’ campaign is an important opportunity for us to contribute to consumers’ driving awareness and behavior after consuming alcohol,” said Mr. Leo Evers, Managing Director of Heineken Vietnam.

“F1 has always focused on the message ‘Think before you drive’. We will continue to spread the message of ‘When You Drive, Never Drink’ at subsequent events in Vietnam.

“Heineken shook hands with Formula One Management (FOM) to become a Global Partner of Formula 1 in 2016, aiming its sponsorship at promoting its responsible drinking campaign.”

Liberty Media, F1’s commercial rights owner, is rumored to be working on a deal to bring an F1 Grand Prix to the streets of Hanoi sometime in the near future.

Former F1 boss Bernie Ecclstone came close to signing a deal with Vietnam a few years ago, but ultimately declined to award a franchise to the country because of its complete lack of motorsport history.

“The deal I could have signed with Vietnam would have been $64 million,” he told Forbes last month.

“Liberty are going to get the deal done with the people in Vietnam for sure.”

Source: F1

Vietnam suffers nationwide shortage of rabies vaccines

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Hospitals across Vietnam have emptied their stock of vaccines for rabies, while new shipments are not expected to arrive for the next few weeks.

Patients bitten by animals were told to go home and wait as there were only two remaining venues in Ho Chi Minh City where they could get vaccinated against the deadly disease as of Wednesday afternoon.

There are two types of rabies vaccines in use in Vietnam, Verorab and Abhayrab, which are produced in France and India, respectively.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the Vaccination Center for Children and Adults (VNVC) in Phu Nhuan District and the Gentical General Clinic in Tan Binh District were the only two places in Ho Chi Minh City where the vaccines were still available.

However, patients visiting VNVC were asked to book an appointment at least two days in advance, while only the Indian-made Abhayrab was available at Gentical.

A similar shortage is reported in Hanoi, where there are only 300 doses of Verorab left at the municipal Preventive Medicine Center.

“We save the French-made vaccines for patients who had already received at least a dose, while the Indian-made drugs are used for those getting vaccinated for the first time,” said Nguyen Nhat Cam, director of Hanoi’s Preventive Medicine Center.

According to doctors, Verorab is clinically proven to have no adverse effect on female fertility or embryo development, and therefore is prioritized for use on pregnant or breastfeeding women.

Meanwhile, there is no evidence to suggest or rule out that Abhayrab can cause birth defects, so doctors are advised to weigh the pros and cons before prescribing the vaccine for pregnant women.

Limited doses of the two vaccines have been made available at the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City as a temporary measure while it waits for new shipments to arrive, a doctor told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

According to a representative of Sanofi Pasteur, a distributor of Verorab in Vietnam, supply of the French-made vaccine is running out due to rising global demand.

It is expected that the earliest shipment of Verorab will arrive in Vietnam in May, the representative said.

Source: Tuoi Tre News

Vietnamese doctor awarded 2018 Nikkei Asia Prize

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Nguyen Thanh Liem, a leading paediatric surgeon, has been awarded the 2018 Nikkei Asia Prize in the Science and Technology category.

Liem is director of the Stem Cell and Gene Technology Institute at the Vinmec Times City International Hospital.

He is expected to travel to Tokyo, Japan, to receive the award on June 14.

Liem, who was also former director of the National Paediatrics Hospital and Vinmec Times City International Hospital, will be the first Vietnamese physician to be honoured with the prestigious award.

“I was pleasantly surprised when I heard the news. I never thought I would get the prize because I believed my scientific research was still modest compared to other scientists and researchers in the region,” Liem said.

Last year’s prize went to Michael Ming-Chiao Lai, a world-renowned Taiwanese virologist, for his long-term dedication to research on coronavirus, hepatitis C and D viruses and especially for his contribution to the prevention of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003.

This year, Liem has been awarded the prize for his outstanding achievements in scientific and clinical researches on paediatric endoscopic techniques and stem cell transplantation. He has also performed many complicated surgeries to separate conjoined twins, giving hope to parents and twins in the country.

During his tenure as director of the National Paediatrics Hospital from 2002 to 2012, he created nine new surgical techniques.

Prof. Liem performs a stem cells transplant at the Stem Cell and Gene Technology Institute in Hanoi. — Photo courtesy of Vinmec Times City International Hospital

At the Stem Cell and Gene Technology Institute in Ha Noi, Liem has recently achieved remarkable results in the transplant of bone marrow mononuclear cells to treat children with bronchopulmonary dysplasia. His State research project has successfully applied stem cell therapy to treat 30 cerebral palsy and autistic children at the Vinmec Times City International Hospital since July 2016.

“Among the 30 children, 28 have improved their disease condition. Of them, five have had very positive changes, 19 positive changes and four have changed. Only two kids did not respond to the treatment,” Liem said.

Established in 1996, the annual Nikkei Asia Prize recognises outstanding achievements and contributions to the region’s sustainable development and creation of a better future for Asia. The prizes are awarded in three categories: Economic and Business Innovation, Science and Technology and Culture and Community. Recipients may be an individual or a group or organisation in any Asian country, except Japan, and is awarded three million yen along with a certificate.

Previously, several Vietnamese have been awarded Nikkei Prizes in the categories of culture and regional growth, including film director Dang Nhat Minh in 1999, agriculture expert Vo Tong Xuan (2002), novelist Bao Ninh (2011), chairman and CEO of FPT Corp. Truong Gia Binh (2013) and chairwoman and CEO of Vinamilk Mai Kieu Lien (2015).

Source: VNS

Hanoi tightens monitoring over officials’ luxury weddings

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Dozens of state officials in Hanoi have been punished for organising extravagant wedding parties.

In 2012, the government issued Directive 11 ordering state officials to set a good example by not holding luxury weddings. The weddings must not have more than 300 guests or be held at five-star hotels or resorts.

At a review meeting, the city party committee concluded that most officials had followed the regulations in the past five years. Many people have criticised officials for luxury weddings, questioning them how that they were able to hold such wedding with meagre wages. It is also said that many officials may use the weddings for personal benefits.

Directive 11 also banned officials from attending weddings during work hours or using state vehicles.

The city party committee praised Dong Anh District for setting up a regulation that if an official invited more guests than allowed, most of his co-workers will not attend. However, there are still many officials ignored the rule.

An official in Thanh Tri District was reprimanded for inviting too many guests. He claimed that there are too many relatives to cut down the tables. Ha Dong authorities also punished 20 officials. Last year, the chairman of Vat Lai Commune, Ba Vi District, was reprimanded for holding his child’s wedding during work hours.

Ngo Van Nam from the Department of Culture and Sports said officials should not hold extravagant weddings while there are still many people in difficulties. “The more modern society becomes, the less complicated practices should be,” he said.

He went on to say that the officials are putting others in a difficult situation if they invite all 2,000 co-workers at their departments and even in other departments to the weddings. According to Nam, most officials will not be able to afford luxury weddings anyway.

“If there is any luxury weddings the media and even co-workers will file a report,” he said.

Hanoi People’s Committee continued to ask the authorities at all levels to follow the directive and submit reports every six months.

By Quang Phong (Dtinews)

Facebook’s new policies leave online community in chaos

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Facebook, the favoured social network in Vietnam, has issued new policies in the last few days that have frustrated the huge community of users in the country.

On March 27, 2018, fanpages and online services simultaneously reported problems related to apps developed on Facebook and Messenger platforms in Vietnam.

The log-in to the website system via Facebook accounts has been suspended. Relevant apps like Facebook Shop and third-party developed apps using API (application program interface) to collect users’ personal information are not working.

The chatbot system still works normally with old scripts, but it is interrupted when connecting with new chatbots.

“The apps of Vietnamese developers connecting with Facebook and messengers all have been suspended,” Nguyen Thanh Tung, a programmer who gives support to sales websites in HCM City, said on March 29.

Tung said the features related to user information on websites and apps requiring users to provide personal information have all been affected.

“It has become chaotic and we cannot do anything except wait,” Phan Ha, a seller on Facebook, complained. Her business has been stagnant because the tools to sum up orders and interact with customers cannot be used.

According to Doan Trung Thong from an e-commerce business in Hanoi, online salespeople must use tools for conservation management on Messenger and interact with customers.

If they cannot use the apps, they have to use the default toolkit of Facebook, which is less effective.

On March 26, 2018, Facebook informed developers using Messenger about the changes related to API and third-party apps. The social network is reconsidering existing API to restrict the volume of data collected from users.

The API reconsideration was followed by the launch of a feature to create personal pages and the removal of the feature after a short time.

Vietnamese Facebook users days ago repeatedly received notices about new personal pages created by their friends. In fact, the feature was provided a long time ago, but it was locked later and reopened some days ago.

Many users complained about notices which caused inconveniences to them. On March 30, Facebook locked the feature in Vietnam unexpectedly, as it did when launching.

The feature is still being used in other countries.

Facebook is facing problems from the Cambridge Analytica scandal which led to the leakage of personal information of 50 million customers. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has apologized for the scandal.

Source: VNN

Vietnam’s three most newsworthy divorce settlements

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Divorce disputes of public figures have always received ample publicity, especially where assets worth millions of dollars or thousands of jobs hang in the balance. So here are the three most noteworthy cases of divorce property settlement in Vietnam.

$65-million separation of coffee magnates

In April 2015, Dang Le Nguyen Vu, founder, president, and general director of $65-million coffee giant Trung Nguyen Group, abruptly dismissed Le Hoang Diep Thao, permanent deputy general director of Trung Nguyen and also Vu’s life partner who was the co-founder of the coffee empire.

In October 2015, general director Vu hosted a last minute board of directors (BOD) meeting with the main purpose to eject Thao from her position at the company. The extraordinary meeting took place without the presence of Thao as the main target of the meeting, aiming to replace her as the legal representative of the company.

Parallel to this, Thao filed for divorce for the first time. In addition, she also petitioned the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court for immediate measures in order to secure her joint ownership rights with her spouse in the company during the divorce proceedings.

Trung Nguyen, Vietnam’s largest coffee brand, specialises in the production, processing, and distribution of coffee in the domestic and foreign markets. Currently, the coffee giant has a total charter capital of VND1.5 trillion ($65.85 million), 93 per cent of which belong to the group’s two co-founders, Dang Le Nguyen Vu and Le Hoang Diep Thao.

Half billion dollar post-love settlement

In 2011, the property settlement between Bui Duc Minh and Nguyen Thanh Thuy, vice president of Bao Son Group, drew the public’s attention as the total assets involved in the dispute rounded up to $500 million.

In late 2010, Minh filed an appeal against the final judgment of the Hanoi People’s Court on their divorce because the judge’s settlement of mutually-owned assets, residential land, and shared debt obligations of both partners did not meet his expectations.

In early 2012, given the unresolved property settlement, Minh was arrested by the Hanoi police to be investigated for slander.

Three decades of dispute

Le An, who was born in 1938 and became one of the wealthiest Vietnamese entrepreneurs by net worth, was involved in a 30-year divorce settlement with his first ex-wife, Le Ngoc Lan.

In 1965, An and Lan purchased a house in Ho Chi Minh City briefly after they got married. In 1980, the fat-cat businessman was captured for illegal border crossing and was later sentenced to four years in prison.

When An was released, his spouse filed for a divorce and obtained an approval from the People’s Court, which he spent the next 30 years appealing against. In 2013, the business tycoon gained the final judgment from the city court, stating that the house in Tan Binh district, Ho Chi Minh City would belong to Le An.

The 30-year divorce settlement with his first wife was not the only legal dispute the business tycoon had to cope with. To date, after five failed marriages, Le An was reported to be involved in back-to-back settlements over allegations of lying, cheating, and manipulating his ex-wives. Currently, the 78-year-old business tycoon is “happy with his sixth wife who is 55 years younger.”

Source: Vnexpress

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