Vietnam - Global pulse News
  • Russia’s Putin to go to North Korea, Vietnam

    Russia’s Putin to go to North Korea, Vietnam

    Russian President Vladimir Putin is set up to go to North Korea and Vietnam, the Kremlin revealed on Monday.

    Putin’s see to North Korea on Tuesday and Wednesday follows an invite from ruler Kim Jong Un, a declaration stated, explaining the journey as a “friendly state go to.” Putin is then due to take a trip on to Vietnam for 2 days.

    Russia preserves close ties to North Korea, which is seen with terrific suspicion in the West. The separated communist nation with nuclear aspirations is thought to be providing Russia with ammo for its war versus Ukraine.

    Kim paid an unusual foreign see to Russia in September.

    In Vietnam, the Kremlin revealed that Putin would fulfill the presidents, federal government and the Communist Celebration. The talks are to concentrate on broadening the 2 nations’ detailed tactical collaboration.

    In 2015, the International Bad Guy Court in The Hague provided an arrest warrant for Putin, in relation to declared Russian war criminal offenses in Ukraine.

    He is for that reason limited in his global contacts and can just go to allied nations that – like Russia – do not acknowledge the court.

    Because the start of his brand-new term of workplace in May, Putin has actually gone to Belarus, China and Uzbekistan.

  • Rights groups prompt Thailand not to extradite Vietnamese activist, stating he’s at threat if sent out home

    Rights groups prompt Thailand not to extradite Vietnamese activist, stating he’s at threat if sent out home

    BANGKOK (AP) — Human rights groups advised Thailand on Thursday not to extradite a Vietnamese activist apprehended in Bangkok, stating that he might be at threat if restored to Vietnam.

    Y Quynh Bdap, who had United Nations refugee status in Thailand, was gotten by regional authorities on Tuesday, the day after he had actually met Canadian Embassy authorities as he pursued asylum there, according to the Peace Rights Structure, a Thai company that had actually touched with him.

    The co-founder of the Montagnards Represent Justice group was founded guilty in absentia in Vietnam in January on claims that he was associated with arranging anti-government riots in Vietnam’s main highland province of Dak Lak last June.

    Vietnamese authorities had actually been investigating in Thailand about him, with Thailand’s support, which sent him into concealing 6 months back, Bdap stated before his arrest in a video declaration.

    In the June 7 video, supplied to The Associated Press by Kannavee Suebsang, a Thai opposition legislator who is active in human rights problems, Bdap stated he had “definitely nothing to do with that violent event.”

    “I am a human rights activist defending spiritual liberty and promoting for individuals’s rights,” stated the 32-year-old Bdap, who got away to Thailand in 2018.

    “My activities are tranquil, consisting just of gathering and composing reports on human rights infractions in Vietnam.”

    Thai migration authorities informed the AP they would check out the case, however then never ever supplied any details or remark.

    Bdap is now being kept in a Bangkok jail waiting for an extradition hearing, which might take about a week, according to Person Rights Watch.

    UNHCR, the U.N. firm for refugees, stated that it could not talk about private cases, however that it “actively engages” with Thailand’s federal government to guarantee essential worldwide commitments are honored, consisting of not by force returning refugees to a nation where they are most likely to be based on persecution.

    “States have the main duty to offer security and security to individuals on their area, consisting of refugees and asylum-seekers and individuals whose lives might be at threat if they were returned,” representative Liana Bianchi stated.

    Calls to the Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand went unanswered.

    Vietnam has actually long been slammed by rights groups and others for its treatment of the nation’s Montagnard minority, a term loosely utilized to describe numerous mainly Christian ethnic groups that reside in the main highlands and surrounding Cambodia.

    Human Rights Enjoy has stated numerous have actually been driven to look for asylum in Cambodia and Thailand as Vietnamese authorities have actually subjected their neighborhoods to intimidation, approximate arrests and mistreatment in custody.

    “Y Quynh Bdap would be at genuine threat if gone back to Vietnam,” stated Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director for Person Rights Watch.

    “Thai authorities need to right away launch this popular spiritual liberty supporter and refugee. Returning him to Vietnam would be an infraction of Thailand’s commitments under Thai and worldwide law.”

    The company has actually been important of Thailand for its record on sending out home dissidents from Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and China to unpredictable fates, in what they stated in a current report was a quid-pro-quo kind of global repression, in which those nations sent out home dissidents desired by Thailand.

    The nation has actually validated the International Convention for Security of all Individuals from Imposed Disappearance, which worked Thursday, however it’s uncertain whether Bdap’s case will fall under its province.

    “Cooperation in between states in finding maltreated opposition groups is a worrying circumstance for human rights,” Kannavee stated.

    He pointed out examples of Thai activists showing up dead in Laos and Cambodian opposition groups being assembled in Thailand.

    “This is occurring all over,” Kannaveee stated.

    “Multinational repression truly does take place and the exchanges of these dissidents occurs frequently, whether in secret or completely view of the general public.”

    Bdap was founded guilty in January on terrorism charges and sentenced in absentia to ten years in jail for his supposed participation in the Dak Lak riots, at a time when he remained in Thailand.

    In General, about 100 individuals were pursued supposed participation in the violent riots at 2 district federal government workplaces in which 9 individuals were eliminated, consisting of 4 law enforcement officers and 2 federal government authorities. Fifty-three were founded guilty on charges of “terrorism versus individuals’s federal government,” state-run Vietnam News reported.

    Days after the decisions, Vietnamese Foreign Ministry representative Pham Thu Hang declined criticism that Vietnam had actually utilized the trial as a chance to punish ethnic minorities, stating the federal government required to “strictly handle terrorism according to worldwide law,” the Vietnam News reported.

    “All ethnic backgrounds residing in an area of Vietnam are equivalent,” he stated.

    Unlike Uyghur refugees forever apprehended by Thai authorities, Bdap deals with a more trustworthy danger of extradition given that he has actually been criminally founded guilty in his homeland, Peace Rights Structure stated.

    In the video entreaty Bdap tape-recorded before being collared, he advocated the “assistance of the United Nations, NGOs, and federal governments of democratic nations.”

    “Please secure me,” he stated.

  • Analysis-Vietnam eyes greener power however count on coal to avoid blackouts

    Analysis-Vietnam eyes greener power however count on coal to avoid blackouts

    By Francesco Guarascio and Khanh Vu

    HANOI/HOA BINH, Vietnam (Reuters) – Lights are off and cooling is down at the head office of Vietnam’s state-run electrical power supplier EVN as the nation’s leading power energy attempts to “lead by example” to prevent a repeat of in 2015’s debilitating blackouts, a main informs visitors.

    However lots of companies around Vietnam’s capital Hanoi seem disregarding the call to save power, keeping ornamental however otherwise purposeless neon lights on the exterior of skyscrapers on all night.

    The problems in reducing usage show the difficulties dealing with Vietnam a year after abrupt interruptions triggered losses of numerous countless dollars to international producers with financial investments in the Southeast Asian nation.

    Vietnam is pursuing a patchwork program of energy-saving procedures, grid upgrades, regulative reforms and a huge boost of coal power as it looks for to avoid electrical power deficiencies, according to federal government information and interviews with authorities and specialists.

    However Trinh Mai Phuong, EVN’s interactions director, discusses throughout a media go to that even the greatest facilities upgrade underway, a brand-new $1 billion transmission line linking the centre of the nation to the extremely industrialised north that was hard struck by blackouts in 2015, might not suffice.

    “I would not state it is a video game changer,” he stated of the line that might be finished as early as this month, keeping in mind power usage is anticipated to strike record highs in the coming weeks as the nation braces for more heatwaves.

    The skyrocketing power need is making it significantly tough for Vietnam to fulfill environment modification dedications while supplying adequate power to please big financiers such as Samsung Electronic Devices, Foxconn and Canon.

    Wider sector-wide reforms are required over the longer term, foreign financiers and experts stated.

    EMERGENCY SITUATION STEPS

    In the short-term, Vietnam is banking primarily on coal to offer adequate trustworthy electrical power. It might be simply enough – or not – however in either case it might indicate a blow to the nation’s dedications to lower dependence on nonrenewable fuel sources.

    Coal usage increased enormously in the very first 5 months of 2024, with coal-fired power plants accounting usually for 59% of electrical power output, surpassing 70% some days, according to EVN information.

    That was up from almost 45% in the exact same duration in 2015 and 41% in 2021, when Vietnam started preparing strategies to cut coal that encouraged global donors to dedicate $15.5 billion to assist stage out the fuel.

    Thanks to a brand-new coal-fired power plant that came online in 2023, coal represented 33% of overall set up capability in 2015, up from 30.8% in 2020, taking Vietnam even more far from the objective of reducing that to 20% by 2030.

    Energy preservation is another essential pillar of the strategy. EVN and its regional systems have actually motivated energy-hungry customers, consisting of foreign producers, to conserve power with customized procedures, specifically in peak hours.

    However that dangers Vietnam’s credibility as a reputable location for financial investment and might impact future production growth strategies, according to foreign financiers who decreased to be called due to the fact that they were not authorised to speak to media.

    The matter must be resolved by resolving generation and circulation problems, and not from the usage side, 2 foreign financiers stated.

    Vietnam’s market ministry did not respond to an ask for remark.

    CLEANER ALTERNATIVES

    Vietnam is utilizing just a portion of its set up solar and onshore wind capability due mainly to administrative difficulties.

    It has actually not authorized policies to kick-start overseas wind jobs and hold-ups pet dog jobs to construct power plants sustained by imported melted gas, which is cleaner than coal.

    The 4 energy sources together must represent more than 40% of set up capability by 2030, according to the federal government’s strategies, though experts are sceptical.

    Hydropower is forecasted to be up to less than 20% of set up power generation by the end of years from more than 30% in 2020.

    However some capability is being included the north where requirements are greater.

    Among Vietnam’s biggest hydropower plants at Hoa Binh is including 2 General Electric turbines to its existing 8, which will increase its overall capability to 2.4 gigawatts from less than 2 GW now by the 2nd half of 2025, stated Dao Trong Sang, EVN’s supervisor of the growth task, throughout a check out to the dam.

    The Hoa Binh plant, integrated with the brand-new transmission line that brings electrical power to the north from different plants, might include 8% capability to the power-hungry north.

    REFORMS REQUIRED

    The power crisis cannot be fixed without long-awaited reforms, specialists state, though development to date has actually been sluggish.

    In April, the market ministry provided an upgraded approach for figuring out electrical power rates, an action towards potentially restoring jobs stuck for many years due to the fact that of an absence of clearness about tariffs.

    Nevertheless, the approach might require designers to carry extreme danger, complicating their access to fund, stated a Vietnam-based authorities who decreased to be called due to the fact that they were not authorised to speak to media.

    A different draft decree allowing producers to purchase electrical power straight from manufacturers is viewed as near approval after years of internal argument, according to a number of experts.

    Using direct power purchase contracts (DPPAs) might make it simpler for international business to prevent greater tariffs on exports and increase using renewables to assist them fulfill ecological, social and governance requirements.

    However the DPPA guidelines require to be integrated with other reforms, such as clearer arrangements to straight link factories to power-generation jobs, the authorities stated.

    (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio and Khanh Vu; Modifying by Jamie Freed)

  • Who requires the Orient Express? Vietnam restores steam train travel

    Who requires the Orient Express? Vietnam restores steam train travel

    Current visitors to Vietnam have most likely admired the newly-soaring horizons of capital Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon, the most significant metropolitan location in what has actually been for 20 years among the world’s fastest-growing economies and a center for the similarity Intel and Samsung.

    However holidaymakers will quickly be dealt with to a blast from the past, after 2 old steam trains were reconditioned by engineers from state operator Vietnam Railways for business usage in the centre of the 1,650-kilometer-long nation.

    Integrated In the 1960s, quickly after completion of French colonial guideline and as the Vietnam War was magnifying, the engines are to be utilized from next year to range from Da Nang, Vietnam’s 3rd city and website of a US military base throughout the war, to Shade, a UN-designated World Heritage Website due to its temples and palaces.

    Called “Transformation Express”, the throwback train partially stimulates the Communist Viet Cong, which took control of the nation after beating the United States in the mid-1970s.

    The trains are to include “retro-style” carriages reminicent of an Orient Express-style set from the “Poirot” investigator stories.

    Engineers dealt with restarting the engines for more than a years, according to the group behind the endeavor, which is jointly-operated by Indochina Rail and Wafaifo Optimisers, a hospitality organization.

    Passengers are to be dealt with to not just to surroundings such as bays, mountains and lagoons throughout the day-long journey, however likewise to “themed dining” throughout an hour-long stop at Lang Co, before the last stop at the reconditioned train station in Shade, royal seat of royal Vietnam prior to the French intrusions of the 19th century.

    Vietnam hosted over 18 million travelers in 2019, before the Covid border closures and lockdowns. In 2015 the number topped 12 million.

    Vietnam is famous for its so-called Train Street: On the approximately 50-metre thoroughfare in central Hanoi, locomotives thunder down a railway line that runs perilously close to residential buildings, many of which have been turned into cafés, bars and souvenir shops. Chris Humphrey/dpa

    Vietnam is popular for its so-called Train Street: On the around 50-metre road in main Hanoi, engines thunder down a train line that runs perilously near to domestic structures, a lot of which have actually been developed into cafés, bars and keepsake stores. Chris Humphrey/dpa

  • A fire in an apartment in Hanoi, Vietnam, eliminates 14 individuals and hurts 6, state media state

    A fire in an apartment in Hanoi, Vietnam, eliminates 14 individuals and hurts 6, state media state

    HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — An over night fire in a studio apartment structure in Hanoi, Vietnam, eliminated a minimum of 14 individuals and hurt a minimum of 6 others, state media stated Friday.

    The main Vietnam News Firm stated the fire began around 12:30 a.m. and was accompanied by numerous surges.

    The hurt are steady and being dealt with at Hanoi Transportation Healthcare Facility.

    It took an hour to snuff out the fire, and state media reported 24 homeowners remained in the structure, 7 in the owner’s household and 17 renters.

    The structure remained in a narrow street in main Hanoi with numerous spaces readily available for lease.

    The fire began with a little yard in front of the structure that was utilized as a garage for the sale and repair work of electrical bikes, state media reported.

    ___

    AP reporter Aniruddha Ghosal in New Delhi added to this report.

  • Vietnam’s leading security authorities To Lam verified as president

    Vietnam’s leading security authorities To Lam verified as president

    BANGKOK (AP) — Vietnam’s leading security authorities To Lam was verified Wednesday as the country’s brand-new president. He managed authorities and intelligence operations over a duration when rights groups state standard liberties have actually been methodically reduced, and its secret service was implicated of breaking worldwide law.

    Lam was verified by Vietnam’s National Assembly after his predecessor resigned amidst a continuous anti-corruption project that has actually shaken the nation’s political facility and organization elites and has actually led to numerous high-level modifications in federal government.

    Vietnam’s presidency is mostly ritualistic, however his brand-new function as president puts the 66-year-old in a “really strong position” to end up being the next Communist Celebration basic secretary, the most essential political position in the nation, stated Nguyen Khac Giang, an expert at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

    Communist Celebration General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong was chosen to a 3rd term in 2021, however at age 80, he might not look for another term after 2026.

    Trong is an an ideologue who sees corruption as the gravest danger dealing with the celebration. As Vietnam’s leading security authorities, Lam has actually led Trong’s sweeping anti-graft project.

    Lam invested more than 4 years in the Ministry of Public Security before ending up being the minister in 2016. His increase happened while Vietnam’s politburo lost of 6 of its 18 members amidst the broadening anti-graft project, consisting of 2 previous presidents and Vietnam’s parliamentary head.

    Lam lagged a lot of the examinations into prominent political leaders, stated Giang.

    Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is viewed as the other significant competitor to perhaps be successful Trong, Giang stated.

    The present vice-speaker of Vietnam’s parliament was verified Monday as the National Assembly speaker after his predecessor, Vuong Dinh Color, resigned amidst the anti-graft project. Up until his resignation, Color was likewise commonly viewed as a possible follower to Trong.

    This extraordinary instability in Vietnam’s political system has actually scared financiers as the nation attempts to place itself as an option for business aiming to move their supply chains far from China.

    A flood of foreign financial investment, specifically in production of modern items like smart devices and computer systems, raised expectations it might sign up with the “4 Asian Tigers” — Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, whose economies went through quick industrialization and published high development rates.

    However the scandals and unpredictability — consisting of the death sentence for a realty magnate implicated of embezzling almost 3% of the nation’s 2022 GDP — have actually brought with them unpredictability and governmental reticence to make choices. Financial development slipped to 5.1% in 2015 from 8% in 2022 as exports slowed.

    Throughout Lam’s years heading the general public Security Ministry, Person Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other guard dog companies have actually highly slammed Vietnam for its harassment and intimidation of critics.

    In 2021, courts founded guilty a minimum of 32 individuals for publishing important viewpoints about the federal government and sentenced them to numerous years in jail, while authorities jailed a minimum of 26 others on made charges, according to Person Rights Watch.

    Under Tam’s watch as Vietnam’s leading security manager, civil society dealt with more curbs, foreign help constraints presented in 2021 were tightened up in 2023, the nation imprisoned environment activists, and laws were presented to censor social networks, stated Ben Swanton of The 88 Task, a group that promotes for liberty of expression in Vietnam.

    “With To Lam’s climb to the presidency, Vietnam is now an actual authorities state,” stated Swanton, including that the Vietnamese judgment Politburo was now controlled by present and previous security authorities. He stated he anticipated even more surge of repression and censorship.

    While Vietnam was under a COVID-19 lockdown in 2021, a video emerged revealing Turkish chef Nusret Gokce, widely called Salt Bae, feeding Tam a gold-encrusted steak in London. Regardless of efforts to censor it, the video went viral, stiring prevalent anger from individuals sustaining infection lockdowns that worsened financial deprivations.

    Meantime, a Vietnamese noodle supplier called Bui Tuan Lam, who followed the video with a parody of Salt Bae, was jailed on charges of spreading out anti-state propaganda and sentenced to 5 years in jail.

    It was likewise under Lam’s period as public security minister, in 2017, when German authorities state Vietnamese business owner and previous political leader Trinh Xuan Thanh and a buddy were abducted and dragged into a van in downtown Berlin, in what authorities there called “an unmatched and ostentatious infraction of German and worldwide law.”

    Vietnam has actually kept that Thanh gave up to Vietnamese authorities after averting a worldwide arrest warrant for almost a year. Germany stated he and his buddy were abducted, and reacted by summoning Vietnam’s ambassador for talks and expelling its intelligence attaché.

    Thanh was sentenced to life jail time in 2018 after being prosecuted in Vietnam.

    Revealing espionage-related charges in 2022 versus a male implicated of becoming part of Thanh’s kidnapping, the German Federal District attorney’s Workplace stated the kidnapping was an “operation of the Vietnamese secret service” performed by Vietnamese representatives and members of its embassy in Berlin along with numerous Vietnamese nationals residing in Europe.

    The suspect, recognized just as Ahn T.L. in line with German personal privacy laws, was founded guilty in 2023 of helping and abetting a kidnapping as a foreign representative and sentenced to 5 years in jail.

    “The relationship in between Germany and Vietnam continue to be shaken by this criminal offense to this day,” the German court stated at the time.

    Another suspect, recognized as Long N.H., was founded guilty in 2018 in a Berlin court of espionage-related charges and sentenced to almost 4 years in jail.

  • Vietnam to Focus On Financial Development as Obstacles Mount

    Vietnam to Focus On Financial Development as Obstacles Mount

    (Bloomberg) — Vietnam’s federal government will focus on supporting financial development in the middle of sticking around obstacles from weak worldwide need, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai stated.

    A Lot Of Check Out from Bloomberg

    Gdp development has actually gotten however it still deals with numerous obstacles, Khai stated in an address to the National Assembly as it assembled for the summer season session Monday. Commercial activity is recuperating at a sluggish rate, he stated.

    Vietnam, which has actually developed into a production powerhouse and took advantage of moving supply chains in the middle of US-China stress, is feeling the impact of raised rate of interest internationally as they depress need for items. Although the economy’s growth has actually been amongst the fastest in Asia, it’s still listed below the pre-pandemic level of 7%.

    The nation will make every effort to satisfy the greatest financial output possible, Khai stated, while including that the Southeast Asian country deals with the possibility of high inflationary pressure this year.

    While the Israel-Hamas war has up until now had a restricted financial effect internationally, any escalation in stress with Iran might possibly choke trade circulations through the Strait of Hormuz — which some price quote might lead to a $1 trillion drop in world GDP.

    Vietnam’s federal government targets financial development of 6%-6.5% this year — greater than the 5.8% forecasted by the International Monetary Fund. The main inflation objective is in between 4% and 4.5%.

    The federal government will continue policies consisting of decreasing loaning rate of interest, postponing financial obligation payments and lowering taxes to support service, Khai stated.

    Vietnam’s economy slowed in the very first quarter owing to an irregular healing in exports and production activity. The return of an environment of political stability is anticipated to support belief going on.

    The Communist Celebration revealed the election of a brand-new president and the chairman of the National Assembly over the weekend, in visits that might assure financiers that the revolving door of leading political leaders will end.

    A Lot Of Check Out from Bloomberg Businessweek

    ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

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  • Shopping complex fire inflicts tragedy on Vietnamese community in Poland

    Shopping complex fire inflicts tragedy on Vietnamese community in Poland

    Nguyen Van Son struggled to hold back tears as he stood outside the vast burnt carcass of a shopping complex that was engulfed in flames three days earlier in Warsaw.

    The 42-year-old Vietnamese trader had his entire livelihood inside — unsold clothing in three shops, equipment in two nail salons and a large sum of cash in his office. All, he presumes, consumed in the fire that broke out before dawn on Sunday and spread fast.

    The fire destroyed the Marywilska 44 shopping center, home to some 1,400 shops or services in an industrial area on Warsaw’s northern edge. Hundreds of the businesses there were run by people from Vietnam.

    “It all burned, I don’t have money in my pocket,” Nguyen, who moved to Poland from Vietnam 18 years ago, said on Wednesday outside the burnt structure. He estimated his loss at 2 million Polish zlotys ($500,000).

    “I don’t have work now,” he added. “I don’t know how my life will go on.”

    An association of Vietnamese entrepreneurs described the blaze as a “terrible tragedy” for the Vietnamese community in Poland. The community represents the largest non-European immigrant population in Poland. The Vietnam Embassy in Warsaw told the AP that it estimates the population at between 20,000 and 30,000.

    People gathered at the wreck of the shopping complex Wednesday described losing passports and other important documents in the flames in addition to huge sums of cash. They said they felt it was safer to keep them in their place of work, where they spent the majority of their time, and not their private homes due to a fear of break-ins. One woman said she and others faced obstacles opening bank accounts. Many of those affected did not want to be interviewed, or were not able to express themselves in Polish or English.

    There were no reports of injuries in the fire, which began around 3:30 a.m. Sunday. Prosecutors opened an investigation on Monday. Some, including Poland’s political leaders, have raised questions about the causes of the fire.

    The fire was one in a string of blazes in Poland in recent days that also included fires in an apartment building and at a landfill in Warsaw and at a chemical waste landfill in the far south of the country.

    “It is difficult not to have a suspicion or fear that the series of fires that took place in Poland is not accidental, but is an attempt to destabilize the situation in Poland by external factors,” President Andrzej Duda said on Tuesday.

    Prime Minister Donald Tusk said there was “no reason to believe that any of the recent fires were the result of external forces. But this in no way reduces the threat of possible sabotage and diversion.”

    Last fall a fire broke out in another center of Vietnamese trade in Wolka Kosowska, a town near Warsaw.

    On Wednesday, Vietnamese merchants approached security guards seeking information about when they might be able to access the site to see if there is anything to salvage. They didn’t get answers, and were told the site remained potentially dangerous. All hoped that officials could help cover some of their losses.

    Some received food donations, including big bags of rice, and hygiene products provided by charitable foundations.

    One vendor who turned up at the scene of the fire on Wednesday was 28-year-old Lena Ninh, who has lived in Poland for 15 years.

    Her parents called her Sunday afternoon with news that the hall was burning. She was shocked at how fast it spread.

    “In a matter of a few hours we lost everything — our wealth, our life’s work. Now thousands of people are out of work,” she said. “We have no plan yet, we have no direction for how to live now to support the family.”

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  • New luxury train route in Vietnam offers stunning coastal views, afternoon tea

    New luxury train route in Vietnam offers stunning coastal views, afternoon tea

    There’s nothing quite like settling back into your train seat, the urban skyline out the window fading into lush natural landscapes as you make your way to your next destination.

    According to rail experts, an increasing number of luxury travelers are looking to experience this sensation, all part of a global shift towards slower and more sustainable tourism activities.

    Anantara is among the hospitality giants now tapping into this demand, with the high-end hotel brand offering a new five-hour luxury train experience in southern Vietnam that connects the popular resort destinations of Na Trang and Quy Nhon – its second route in the country.

    The first “The Vietage by Anantara” luxury train carriage launched in 2020 – a six-hour journey connecting Da Nang and Quy Nhon.

    Ananatara’s head of PR and marketing for Vietnam, Kate Jones tells CNN the new carriage heads in the opposite direction and aims to expose travelers to even more of Vietnam’s beautiful views. Like the first Vietage carriage, it will be attached to Vietnam’s state-run commercial railway that runs up and down the country.

    Each Vietage carriage has six private booths and a sit-up bar. - Courtesy Anantara

    Each Vietage carriage has six private booths and a sit-up bar. – Courtesy Anantara

    “The main difference is that the new route connecting Nha Trang and Quy Nhon passes through many more coastal areas than the journey between Da Nang and Quy Nhon,” says Jones.

    “There is a selection of really quite stunning bays and some striking coastline facing the East Sea. There are some mountainous areas and still plenty of rice paddies and lotus ponds, but the coastal scenery is the biggest view ‘pull’ for this five-hour journey.”

    This is slow travel at its best – the trains hit an average speed of 51.9 kilometers per hour (32.2 mph) according to Anantara.

    That gives guests on the Quy Nhon-Nha Trang route plenty of time to enjoy their complimentary afternoon tea set, which includes local caviar, Vietnamese artisanal cheeses, a selection of cold cuts and premium Vietnamese teas.

    For the six-hour journeys between Da Nang and Quy Nhon, passengers are served a pre-ordered three-course gourmet meal.

    Guests on either route also get complimentary snacks, free-flow wine, cocktails, mocktails, teas, coffee and soft drinks, plus a 15-minute head and shoulder treatment.

    The Quy Nhon-Nha Trang route includes an afternoon tea set. - Courtesy AnantaraThe Quy Nhon-Nha Trang route includes an afternoon tea set. - Courtesy Anantara

    The Quy Nhon-Nha Trang route includes an afternoon tea set. – Courtesy Anantara

    The Vietage carriage is fitted out with a sit-up bar, restroom facilities and six private booths that seat two, each of which comes with power outlets, charging stations, free wifi and amenity baskets with pillows, blankets and other essentials.

    Travelers can reserve their seats online at Thevietagetrain.com, while those wanting to combine their rail journeys with a stay at one of Anantara’s properties – – Anantara Hoi An Resort, Anantara Quy Nhon Villas or Avani Quy Nhon Resort – can book packages through those individual hotel websites.

    The cost of a one-way Vietage journey is $420 per person. The new route departs from Nha Trang Train Station at 2 p.m., arriving at Dieu Tri Station in Quy Nhon at 6:29 p.m. For those preferring to travel in the opposite direction, trains depart Dieu Tri Train Station at 2:15 p.m. – arriving at Nha Trang Train Station at 6:36 p.m.

    The original route departs from Da Nang Train Station at 8 a.m., arriving at Quy Nhon’s Dieu Tri Station at 2:03 p.m. There is also an evening option that departs Quy Nhon at 7:00 p.m., arriving in Da Nang at 12:53 a.m. the following day. This Vietage journey is slightly cheaper, costing $315 per passenger.

    As for demand, Jones says many are turning to rail travel rather than “rushing through airports to get from A to B.”

    “The domestic aviation industry in Vietnam right now is also facing some challenges with the disappearance of two airlines and a reduced fleet with the national carrier, so overall air travel is currently not popular, plus overly expensive,” she says.

    “The Vietage is the only experience of its kind in Vietnam and, of course, with the return of the Belmond train, the awareness of luxury rail travel is growing in Southeast Asia.”

    In addition to traveling slowly and more sustainably, Jones says rail travelers gain real visual insights into the country, taking in scenes like “rural villages, fishermen casting their nets, farmers in fields with the water buffaloes – things you definitely don’t experience at 35,000 feet.”

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  • IHG expands Vietnamese portfolio with two new brands

    IHG expands Vietnamese portfolio with two new brands

    Global leader in hospitality IHG Hotels & Resorts is accelerating its growth in Vietnam by introducing two new luxury and lifestyle brands – Hotel Indigo and the Vignette Collection.

    The expansion reflects Vietnam’s booming tourism industry.

    Domestic travel remains strong, with more than 108 million trips made last year. International arrivals are also surging, exceeding pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter of 2024 and reaching 4.6 million.

    IHG anticipates welcoming 18 million international visitors to Vietnam in 2024, driven by rising travel demand from its neighbouring Asian countries with growing middle classes and economies.

    Hotel Indigo will debut in Ho Chi Minh City with the opening of Hotel Indigo Saigon The City. The property will immerse guests in local culture, sights and flavours.

    Meanwhile, the Vignette Collection, known for its one-of-a-kind experiences, will make its Vietnamese debut in Hoi An. The upcoming hotel will be close to the city’s famed UNESCO Heritage Site, offering a luxurious stay in a historic central coast location.

    IHG’s expansion goes beyond these two new brands. The company plans to open the InterContinental Ha Long Bay Resort in Ha Long City in 2025 – its first property in the area. This will be followed by Holiday Inn Resort Halong Bay in 2026.

    IHG is also introducing its InterContinental brand to Thanh Xuan Valley in Vinh Phuc, creating Vietnam’s first valley resort under the brand.

    With 18 existing hotels and 26 more in the pipeline, IHG is committed to Vietnam’s growth. Its entry to Ha Long Bay, Hoi An and Vinh Phuc demonstrates its confidence in the market’s potential.

    By 2028, IHG aims to more than double its presence in the country, reaching more than 44 hotels.

    “IHG expands Vietnamese portfolio with two new brands” was originally created and published by Hotel Management Network, a GlobalData owned brand.

     


    The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.

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  • Veterans bring memories to Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall

    Veterans bring memories to Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall

    It was poignant and bittersweet for the Vietnam veterans who arrived at Wickham Park this week for the opening ceremony of the Vietnam Traveling Memorial, many of them carrying with them the memories and trauma of previous decades along with the flags and memorabilia of their service.

    Monday evening a group of veterans took part in placing wreaths at the wall and conducting the opening ceremony at the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall at Wickham Park in Melbourne. The 300 foot 3/5th scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., will be in place all week, and the 36th Florida Vietnam and All Veterans Annual Reunion, hosted by Vietnam and All Veterans of Brevard, runs from Thursday through Sunday.

    The patriotic tribute, which kicks off this annual reunion, featuring honor guards, commemorations and silent reflection. Volunteers and veterans spent painstaking hours erecting the wall, which will be open for visitors 24 hours a day during the reunion.

    Vivid memories of Vietnam War

    Mike Echols was barely out of high school on his first deployment as a U.S. Army medic to Vietnam in late 1968, but he carries with him the vivid memories of violence, seeing the horrors of war firsthand even six decades after the fact. “I’ve never come to one of these before, but I see it now,” he said. Echols had driven with his wife from Martin County for the ceremony. “Being at something like this lets you know you’re not alone.” “A lot of these guys saw and went through worse stuff than I did. We help each other, that’s what it’s all about for me,” he added.

    Doc Russo, the chairman of Vietnam and All Veterans of Brevard, has been organizing the traveling memorial wall at Wickham Park for 36 years. The event is part of the annual reunion of Vietnam Veterans who converge in Brevard County to pay homage to the comrades they lost and remember their service in one of America’s longest wars.

    This will be the last year his organization is handling the traveling wall, which will be taken over by a group of younger veterans with the nonprofit Veterans Memorial Reunion Inc.

    “It most definitely rejuvenates us guys that these younger guys are willing to take over. It’s a good core group that we have,” Doc Russo said. “Most of them have been coming to the reunion for years. So they know what happens here. They just don’t know the behind the scenes. We definitely have confidence in them.”

    Russo echoed what veterans like Echols said about the events, that it provided a therapeutic outlet for those who served in some of the most brutal conditions imaginable. “This reunion is basically a safe place. They can come and talk to anybody about anything. And they’re going to find someone who’s been there and done that and talk to somebody who isn’t necessarily a 20-something therapist just out of school,” Russo added.

    The transition of leadership for the Vietnam Memorial Wall comes two years after Russo was charged by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which regulates charitable organizations, with two third-degree felonies: submitting false information on a document and failure to register as a charitable organization.

    The FDACS bank review showed employees were compensated with money that was not reported between February 2020 and April 2020, the affidavit said. That case is currently still pending in the court system.

    Tyler Vazquez is the North Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-480-0854 or tvazquez@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @tyler_vazquez

    The Monday evening placing of the wreaths and opening ceremony at the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall at Wickham Park in Melbourne.

    The Monday evening placing of the wreaths and opening ceremony at the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall at Wickham Park in Melbourne.

    At the Monday opening ceremony, Vietnam and All Veterans of Brevard Reunion Chairman Doc Russo, in center, with some of the members of Veterans Memorial Reunion, Inc., who will organize future reunions. The 300 foot 3/5th scale traveling memorial wall will be in place all week, and the 36th Florida Vietnam and All Veterans Annual Reunion, the last one hosted by Vietnam and All Veterans of Brevard, will be held May 9-12.At the Monday opening ceremony, Vietnam and All Veterans of Brevard Reunion Chairman Doc Russo, in center, with some of the members of Veterans Memorial Reunion, Inc., who will organize future reunions. The 300 foot 3/5th scale traveling memorial wall will be in place all week, and the 36th Florida Vietnam and All Veterans Annual Reunion, the last one hosted by Vietnam and All Veterans of Brevard, will be held May 9-12.

    This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Veterans bring memories to Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall in Melbourne



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  • Vietnam Memorial Wall comes to Robertsdale bringing healing, gratitude

    Vietnam Memorial Wall comes to Robertsdale bringing healing, gratitude

    ROBERTSDALE, Ala. (WKRG) — A convoy of motorcycle escorts and blue lights surround an 18-wheeler traveling on Interstate 10 that some say carries precious cargo.

    “A lot of these Vietnam veterans didn’t get to have a homecoming when they came back,” said Tim Tetz site manager for The Wall that Heals. “They came back and they were spit on, they were called names.”

    This time, children waving American flags lined the streets like 6th grader Bailey Cotner. “It was exciting, loud and just awesome.”

    Gulf Shores police officer recognized for saving man’s life

    “I just really love our country and love the people that fight for our country,” added classmate Finley Sherrer. “It’s just amazing.”

    All for an exhibit they were hoping to heal old wounds. “This is a homecoming they deserve to have,” said Tetz.

    Some people call Vietnam the forgotten war but this week in Robertsdale, Vietnam veterans will be remembered.

    “I was in front of the truck,” said veteran Kim McDowell. He helped escort the tractor-trailer and will see the memorial wall for the first time when it goes up at the Robertsdale Coliseum. It will be personal for him. His cousin’s name, Larry McDowell, is among the over 58 thousand names on the wall. “I’ll probably cry like I do now. It’s an honor. It’s what the sacrifice, what we love of America is for.”

    Thirty of those names are from Baldwin County. Their pictures are on display inside the coliseum. “The sacrifice that these young people graduated high school and put on that uniform and gave their lives for this country,” said veteran Kenneth Marsh who first approached the city administrators about bringing the wall to Robertsdale.

    The wall and traveling museum will open at 8:30 Thursday morning and will remain open around the clock until 2 o’clock Sunday afternoon in honor of the men and women who served and giving them something many never had according to Tetz. “Finally giving the recognition that is owed to this generation that served.”

    For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRG News 5.

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  • ‘Story of a hero;’ Miamisburg soldier posthumously inducted into Ohio Military Hall of Fame

    ‘Story of a hero;’ Miamisburg soldier posthumously inducted into Ohio Military Hall of Fame

    It’s almost been 54 years since a local man died saving another person’s life in the Vietnam War.

    Miamisburg native Sergeant Gary Lee McKiddy saved one person and died trying to save another after their helicopter crashed on May 6, 1970.

    >>PHOTOS: Bill introduced to grant Medal of Honor to Miamisburg soldier killed in Vietnam

    As reported on News Center 7 at 5:00, Gary was one of 17 veterans inducted into the Ohio Military Hall of Fame.

    Rick McKiddy is grateful for the award his brother received but won’t stop until he is given the highest honor for his sacrifice – the Medal of Honor.

    This medal is the highest award for valor in action against an enemy force that can be bestowed upon a service member of the United States Armed Forces.

    “He was more than a brother, a hero. He was like our second father,” Rick said.

    It’s still hard for Rick to talk about his brother, as he was only 13 years old when he lost Gary.

    “There’s nothing he wouldn’t do for anybody,” Rick said.

    Gary proved that sentiment, and it cost him his life.

    >>RELATED: ‘It was an act of heroism;’ Bill would grant Medal of Honor to Miamisburg soldier killed in Vietnam

    After graduating from Miamisburg High School, he enlisted in the army.

    While in Cambodia, his chopper went down. Gary pulled a man named Jim Skaggs from the burning aircraft, but he died trying to save the pilot.

    “The ammunition that was cooking off inside the chopper…Blew up and killed both of them,” Rick said.

    Gary was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame on Friday. Rick was given a medallion in Gary’s honor.

    “We’re going to see if Miamisburg Historical Society would like to display this,” Rick said.

    When Gary was laid to rest, he was awarded the Silver Star and since then, his family has been fighting to get that award upgraded to Medal of Honor.

    >>PHOTOS: Veteran saved by Miamisburg soldier killed in Vietnam says Medal of Honor would be ‘a validation’

    “Every Congressman and Senator from the State of Ohio from 1970 until current has fought to upgrade the Silver Star to the Medal of Honor,” Rick said.

    In 2023, News Center 7 first reported on a bill that was introduced to eliminate the now-expired time limit for when the Medal of Honor application for Gary had to be submitted.

    The legislation is still sitting in the Senate’s Armed Services Committee, but Rick is still fighting for it.

    “I think about my brother, if he hadn’t kept going, we wouldn’t be here talking about it. But the fact he couldn’t let his friend die, his comrade, all I’m doing is tell the story of a hero,” Rick said.

    Rick said he had an encouraging conversation with Governor Mike DeWine, who told him to keep fighting and that his brother has not been forgotten.

    Photo credit from McKiddy family

    Photo credit from McKiddy family

    Photo credit from McKiddy familyPhoto credit from McKiddy family

    Photo credit from McKiddy family

    Photo credit from McKiddy familyPhoto credit from McKiddy family

    Photo credit from McKiddy family

    Photo credit from McKiddy familyPhoto credit from McKiddy family

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    Photo credit from McKiddy family

    Photo credit from McKiddy familyPhoto credit from McKiddy family

    Photo credit from McKiddy family

    Photo credit from McKiddy familyPhoto credit from McKiddy family

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    Photo credit from McKiddy familyPhoto credit from McKiddy family

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  • E-waste is overflowing landfills. At one sprawling Vietnam market, workers recycle some of it

    E-waste is overflowing landfills. At one sprawling Vietnam market, workers recycle some of it

    HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (AP) — Dam Chan Nguyen saves dead and dying computers.

    When he first started working two decades ago in Nhat Tao market, Ho Chi Minh City’s biggest informal recycling market, he usually salvaged computers with bulky monitors and heavy processors. Now he works mostly with laptops and the occasional MacBook.

    But the central tenet of his work hasn’t changed: Nothing goes to waste. What can be fixed is fixed. What can be salvaged gets re-used elsewhere. What’s left is sold as scrap.

    “We utilize everything possible,” he said.

    The shop he works at is one of many in a market that spreads across several streets filled with haggling customers. Most repair shops are a single room crammed with junked electronic devices or e-waste with tables placed outside. Workers, many of them migrants from across Vietnam, repair or salvage items like laptops, scarred mobile phones, camera lenses, television remotes, even entire air conditioning units. Other shops sell brand-new electronics alongside old, refurbished items.

    The bustle is emblematic of a world that is producing more e-waste than ever — 62 million metric tons in 2022, projected to grow to 82 million metric tons by 2030, according to a report by the United Nation’s International Telecommunications Union and research arm UNITAR. Asian countries generate almost half of it.

    “We are currently generating e-waste at an unprecedented rate,” said Garam Bel, e-waste officer at the U.N.’s International Telecommunication Union.

    Managing that waste is crucial. It’s filling up landfills at an alarming pace and dangerous chemicals like lead leak into the environment and harm human health. It also means missing out on recoverable resources — $62 billion worth in 2022, according to the U.N. report.

    And that waste is rising five times faster than formal recycling.

    Less than a quarter of electronic waste was properly collected and recycled in 2022. Some of the rest winds up in the hands of informal waste workers, like Nguyen, in different parts of the world. That’s especially the case in Southeast Asian nations where, the UN report found, none of the electronic waste is formally collected or recycled.

    Nguyen, 44, is one of three employees in the shop. His long years in the business have led to relationships with regular customers, including some other computer repair centers who rely on him for tricky jobs. It requires keeping up with changing trends and technology, so he’s constantly learning via friends and the internet.

    He works 11 hours a day for a monthly salary of around $470 — about 2 1/2 times the minimum wage in Vietnam’s biggest and most expensive city — with quick meals as his only breaks.

    It’s demanding work that doesn’t come with health benefits or a retirement plan. Nguyen’s health is OK, but he worries about potentially dangerous chemicals in the electronic devices he dismantles without protective gear.

    Then there’s Ho Chi Minh City’s increasing extreme heat. The little shop can feel like an oven, particularly in summer.

    “Sitting here can feel like death,” he said. “I just have to endure. I must work to make a living.”

    Informal waste workers like Nguyen can help solve a problem that plagues formal operations: Getting their hands on enough waste to make recycling cost-effective. They don’t wait for people to bring it to them.

    In Vietnam, for instance, waste workers fan out to people’s homes and collect waste that can be salvaged from bins at street corners. Others, like Nguyen, have established networks to acquire discarded electronics.

    “We source used items from everywhere — anyone who sells, I buy,” he said.

    Formal recycling companies typically have certifications for dismantling and recycle electronic devices using sophisticated machinery. They also take more precautions for the health risks of e-waste, which can include toxic components. For instance, crude processes like melting plastic circuit boards to recover valuable copper can expose people to highly toxic and persistent chemicals called dioxins that, in high levels, are linked to birth defects and cancer. Some devices also contain mercury.

    Copper, gold, silver and even some tiny amounts of rare earth minerals — necessary for smartphones, computer displays and LED light bulbs — can be recovered from recycling. Only about 1% of the demand for 17 of those key minerals is met through recycling, according to the U.N. report. Bel, of the U.N.’s International Telecommunication Union, said he had no data on how much of those minerals are recovered via informal recycling.

    Bel said that formal recyclers should try and work with informal workers to get access to more waste without hurting the livelihoods of the informal workers. That could have other advantages, like mitigating health risks for the informal workers, and ensuring that they don’t cherry-pick the most valuable parts of any waste and dump the rest.

    Such collaborations are already being attempted in some places. In the Indian capital of New Delhi, for instance, a company called EcoWork has built a co-working space where informal recyclers can dismantle their waste. They can use modern machines to do it more safely, and aggregating it means better prices while also saving on transportation costs. And that makes it easier for companies that want to buy the salvaged materials at a scale that isn’t possible otherwise.

    “You can’t just say: Stop the informal sector from working on e-waste,” said Deepali Khetriwal, the co-founder of EcoWork.

    Nguyen said that a similar collaboration of informal and formal waste workers in Vietnam would be great for informal workers in Vietnam. He’d have more computers to fix and salvage and make more money. “If we could formalize our work, that would be perfect,” he said.

    The Southeast Asian nation is among the few countries in the region with laws to deal with e-waste. It set up a national plan to manage e-waste in 2020, aiming to collect and treat 70% of it by 2025, and has been trying to integrate informal workers into formal systems to give them better protections.

    Stopping isn’t an option for the tens of thousands of mostly women waste collectors like Nguyen Thi Hoan, 52. Unlike waste recyclers, where there are many more men, the collectors trudge several miles daily in Vietnam looking for trash. It’s one of the few things that women on the margins can do.

    Hoan moved to Ho Chi Minh City over a decade ago from the coastal Binh Dinh province in central Vietnam to try to escape poverty. She wakes every day at 4 a.m. in the tiny room she shares with two other people. She pushes her scrap cart – her biggest investment, costing $40 — around Nhat Tao market from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., collecting scrap from shop owners.

    Electronic waste is the most valuable and she still remembers the time somebody sold her an old refrigerator. But all waste, ranging from aluminum or iron to the ubiquitous plastic and paper, has some value. On rare good days, she can collect up to 30 kilograms and make around $8.

    She rarely takes breaks, but sometimes stops for water out of exhaustion from pushing the heavy cart around in extreme heat. At those times, she enjoys reading Doraemon comics — Japanese comic books about a time-traveling robotic cat – that she finds on her routes or gets as gifts from those who know of her fondness for the comics.

    “I have to devote myself to this job as it’s my only option,” she said.

    ___

    Ghosal reported from Hanoi.

    ___

    The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • Apple CEO says company is ‘looking at’ manufacturing in Indonesia

    Apple CEO says company is ‘looking at’ manufacturing in Indonesia

    JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company is “looking at” manufacturing in Indonesia as he met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Wednesday.

    “We talked about the president’s desire to see manufacturing in the country, and it’s something that we will look out,” Cook told reporters after the meeting.

    Widodo’s administration has worked for years to bring manufacturing to the country to power economic development, while Apple is seeking to diversify its supply chains away from China, where most of its smartphones and tablets are assembled.

    The company began moving some production to countries like Vietnam, and more recently India, after shutdowns to fight COVID-19 in China repeatedly disrupted the company’s shipments.

    “I think the investment ability in Indonesia is endless. I think that, there is a lot of great places to invest, and we’re investing. We believe in the country,” Cook said.

    The previous day, Cook met Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Hanoi, where he said Apple plans to invest more in Vietnam and increase spending on suppliers in the Southeast Asian manufacturing hub.

    “Given the slowing Chinese economy as well as the Chinese government’s ongoing efforts to squeeze out foreign companies and replace them with domestic brands, Apple wants alternatives for manufacturing,” said Chris Miller, an associate professor at Tufts University whose work focuses on technology and geopolitics.

    “It has already invested more in India and Vietnam, but it is likely looking at other partners in South East Asia to additional manufacturing and assembly operations,” Miller said.

    Cook’s visit to Indonesia came after Apple announced its fourth Apple Developer Academy in the country, to be located in Bali. The company first launched the program to train app developers in Indonesia in 2018, in the capital Jakarta.

    Widodo’s government has sought to leverage the country’s reserves of nickel and other raw materials to bring in manufacturing, banning export of raw commodities such as nickel and bauxite to oblige companies to build refineries domestically.

    Indonesia’s minister of communication and information, Budi Arie Setiadi, said Wednesday that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella would visit Indonesia at the end of April. ___

    Associated Press writers Victoria Milko in Jakarta and Zen Soo in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

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  • Apple CEO says that he wants to increase investments in Vietnam

    Apple CEO says that he wants to increase investments in Vietnam

    HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Apple CEO Tim Cook said Tuesday that he wants to further increase investment in Vietnam a day after the company announced it would spending on suppliers in the Southeast Asian manufacturing hub.

    Vietnam has become more important to Apple as the company seeks to diversify its supply chains away from China, where most of its smartphones and tablets are assembled.

    The company began looking at moving its production to countries like Vietnam, and more recently India, after shutdowns to fight COVID-19 in China repeatedly disrupted the company’s shipments.

    Cook made his comments while meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, according to state media outlet Voice of Vietnam. Apple also said that it would increase its spending on suppliers, according to a press release on Monday.

    “There is no place like Vietnam, a vibrant and beautiful country,” said Cook, according to the press release, adding that the company’s annual spending in the country had doubled since 2019.

    No details were shared about the plan. Cook arrived in Hanoi on Monday for a two-day visit during which he met students, programmers and content creators.

    Apple began operating in Vietnam over a decade ago, and says it is responsible for creating over 200,000 jobs there. Vietnam is also among the top five leading mobile game producers globally.

    Apple has 26 suppliers with 28 factories in Vietnam, according to its 2022 list. Most of these located in northern provinces, where they can be easily connected to existing supply chains in southern China. Northern Vietnam has also historically been a hub for making electronics and has cheap, skilled labor.

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  • Real estate tycoon’s death sentence is a turning point in Vietnam’s anti-corruption campaign

    Real estate tycoon’s death sentence is a turning point in Vietnam’s anti-corruption campaign

    HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The unusually harsh death sentence given to a real estate tycoon in Vietnam was a pivotal moment in the decadelong “Blazing Furnace” anti-corruption campaign as the Vietnamese business community wrestled with an uncertain future Friday.

    Real estate tycoon Truong My Lan, who was sentenced to death Thursday by a court in Ho Chi Minh city for orchestrating the country’s largest ever financial fraud case, was one of Vietnam’s most important businesspeople for years. She has been convicted for fraud amounting to $12.5 billion — nearly 3% of the country’s 2022 GDP — and for illegally controlling a major bank and allowing loans that resulted in losses of $27 billion, state media outlets reported.

    Vietnam typically gives death penalties crimes like terrorism or murder and, according to Amnesty International, has among the highest rates of capital punishment worldwide. But a death sentence for a financial crime is rare in the country.

    Thursday’s sentencing marked a “big turning point” in the ongoing anti-corruption drive in Vietnam, said Nguyen Khac Giang, an analyst at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

    “It signals that the party’s commitment to a crackdown on corruption has … expanded,” he said.

    The Communist Party’s so-called Blazing Furnace campaign began in 2013, but it wasn’t until 2018 that authorities began scanning the private sector. Since then, several owners of Vietnam’s fast-growing businesses have been arrested. The trial for Trinh Van Quyet — the former chair of the real estate company FLC, which also owns Vietnam’s third-largest airline, Bamboo Airways — will likely be heard next. He was arrested in 2022. Giang said Lan’s trial was “an example” for upcoming cases.

    The anti-corruption campaign is a hallmark of Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam’s top politician. The 79-year-old ideologue views corruption as a grave threat facing the party and has vowed that the campaign will be a “blazing furnace” where no one is untouchable.

    It’s making foreign investors jittery while dampening Vietnam’s economic outlook at a time when the country has been positioning itself as the ideal home for businesses looking to shift their supply chains away from China. Vietnam already lost two presidents in a little over a year and the country’s bureaucracy has ground to a halt with terrified officials choosing to do nothing lest they be in the crosshairs.

    Lan’s death sentence sent “shockwaves” across the Vietnamese business community, creating a “sense of uncertainty” about the future, said Giang.

    The real estate sector in particular is floundering. An estimated 1,300 property firms withdrew from the market in 2023 and high-rises lie empty in major cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh. Add to this poor global demand and reduced public investment slowing Vietnam’s economic growth down to 5.05% last year, compared to 8.02% in 2022, according to government data.

    Meanwhile, despite the long campaign against graft, public opinion about corruption in Vietnam remains mixed, according to an annual survey built on interviews with nearly 20,000 people known as the Vietnam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index. It found that, while fewer people were asked for bribes, the number of people who felt the government was serious about fighting corruption had actually dipped in 2023 from the previous year.

    Giang said that these were now “uncharted waters” for Vietnam, making it impossible to predict what lay next.

    “We haven’t really seen anything like this before,” he said.

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  • What to know about the Vietnamese real estate tycoon sentenced to death in fraud case

    What to know about the Vietnamese real estate tycoon sentenced to death in fraud case

    HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A Vietnamese real estate tycoon was sentenced to death Thursday in the country’s biggest ever financial fraud case, a shocking development that underlines an intensifying anti-corruption drive in the southeast Asian nation.

    Truong My Lan, a high-profile businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022. The 67-year-old was formally charged of fraud amounting to $12.5 billion –- nearly 3% of the country’s 2022 GDP.

    Lan’s arrest, her sentencing, and the scale of the scam shocked the nation and beyond. Death sentences are not uncommon in Vietnam, but it is rare in financial crime cases and for someone this high profile to be sentenced.

    Here is a look at the key details of the case:

    WHO IS TRUONG MY LAN?

    Lan was born in 1956 and started out helping sell cosmetics with her mother, a Chinese businesswoman, in Ho Chi Minh city’s oldest market, according to state media Tien Phong.

    She and her family established the Van Thinh Phat company in 1992, when Vietnam shed its state-run economy in favor of a more market-oriented one that was open to foreigners. Over the years VTP grew to become one of Vietnam’s richest real estate firms, with its projects including luxury residential buildings, offices, hotels and shopping centers.

    Lan met her husband, Hong Kong investor Eric Chu Nap-kee, in 1992. They have two daughters.

    WHAT IS SHE ACCUSED OF?

    Lan was involved in the 2011 merger of the beleaguered Saigon Joint Commercial Bank, or SCB, with two others in a plan coordinated by Vietnam’s central bank.

    She is accused of using this bank as her cash cow, illegally controlling it between 2012 to 2022, and using thousands of “ghost companies” in Vietnam and abroad to give loans to herself and her allies, according to government documents.

    These loans resulted in losses of $27 billion, state media VN Express reported Thursday.

    She was accused of paying bribes to government officials –- including a former central official who has been sentenced to life in prison for taking $5.2 million in bribes –- and violating banking regulations, government documents said.

    The court sentenced her to death saying that her actions “not only violate the property management rights of individuals but also pushed SCB into a state of special control, eroding people’s trust in the leadership of the (Communist) party and State.”

    WHY IS THIS HAPPENING NOW?

    Lan’s arrest in October 2022 is among the most high-profile in an ongoing anti-corruption drive in Vietnam that has ramped up since 2022.

    Weeks after her trial started in early March, former President Vo Van Thuong resigned after being implicated in the so called “Blazing Furnace” campaign that has been the hallmark of Communist Party general secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the country’s most powerful politician.

    While Lan’s arrest and the scale of the scam shocked the nation, the case also raised questions about whether other banks or businesses had similarly erred, dampening Vietnam’s economic outlook and making foreign investors jittery.

    This is happening at a time when Vietnam has been trying to argue its case for being the ideal home for those businesses trying to move away from neighboring China.

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  • Vietnam property tycoon sentenced to death in $27 billion fraud case

    Vietnam property tycoon sentenced to death in $27 billion fraud case

    Ho Chi Minh City — A top Vietnamese property tycoon was sentenced to death on Thursday in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated $27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, the chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade.

    “The defendant’s actions… eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the (Communist) Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in southern business hub Ho Chi Minh City.

    Lan denied the charges and blamed her subordinates.

    Vietnamese property tycoon Truong My Lan (C) looks on at a court in Ho Chi Minh city, April 11, 2024, where she was sentenced to death in one of the country's biggest fraud cases, with damages estimated at $27 billion. / Credit: STR/AFP/Getty
    Vietnamese property tycoon Truong My Lan (C) looks on at a court in Ho Chi Minh city, April 11, 2024, where she was sentenced to death in one of the country’s biggest fraud cases, with damages estimated at $27 billion. / Credit: STR/AFP/Getty

    After a five-week trial, 85 others also face verdicts and sentencing on charges ranging from bribery and abuse of power to appropriation and violations of banking law.

    Lan embezzled $12.5 billion, but prosecutors said Thursday the total damages caused by the scam now amounted to $27 billion — a figure equivalent to six percent of the country’s 2023 GDP. The figure dwarfs even the amount that FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried was recently convicted of swindling his customers out of, estimated at around $10 billion.

    Still, the death sentence is an unusually severe punishment in such a case.

    Lan and the others were arrested as part of a national corruption crackdown that has swept up numerous officials and members of Vietnam’s business elite in recent years.

    The Vietnamese property mogul appeared to say in final remarks to the court last week that she had thoughts of suicide.

    “In my desperation, I thought of death,” she said, according to state media. “I am so angry that I was stupid enough to get involved in this very fierce business environment — the banking sector — which I have little knowledge of.”

    Vietnamese property tycoon Truong My Lan (front row 3nd L) looks on at a court in Ho Chi Minh city, April 11, 2024. / Credit: STR/AFP/GettyVietnamese property tycoon Truong My Lan (front row 3nd L) looks on at a court in Ho Chi Minh city, April 11, 2024. / Credit: STR/AFP/Getty

    Vietnamese property tycoon Truong My Lan (front row 3nd L) looks on at a court in Ho Chi Minh city, April 11, 2024. / Credit: STR/AFP/Getty

    Hundreds of people began to stage protests in the capital Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, a relatively rare occurrence in the one-party communist state, after Lan’s arrest in October 2022.

    Police have identified around 42,000 victims of the scandal, which has shocked the Southeast Asian country.

    Lan, who is married to a wealthy Hong Kong businessman also on trial, was accused of setting up fake loan applications to withdraw money from SCB, in which she owned a 90% stake.

    Police say the scam’s victims are all SCB bondholders who cannot withdraw their money and have not received interest or principal payments since Lan’s arrest.

    Prosecutors said during the trial that they had seized more than 1,000 properties belonging to Lan.

    Authorities have also said $5.2 million allegedly given by Lan and some SCB bankers to state officials to conceal the bank’s violations and poor financial situation was the largest-ever bribe recorded in Vietnam.

    The woman who was offered the bribe — Do Thi Nhan, the former head of the State Bank of Vietnam’s inspection team — said during the trial that the cash was handed to her in Styrofoam boxes by the former CEO of SCB, Vo Tan Van.

    After realising they contained money, Nhan refused the boxes but Van declined to take them back, state media reported.

    More than 4,400 people have been indicted during Vietnam’s corruption crackdown, across more than 1,700 graft cases, since 2021.

    A top Vietnamese luxury property tycoon — Do Anh Dung, head of the Tan Hoang Minh group — was sentenced to eight years in prison last month after he was found guilty of cheating thousands of investors in a $355 million bond scam.

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  • Vietnam sentences real estate tycoon Truong My Lan to death in its largest ever fraud case

    Vietnam sentences real estate tycoon Truong My Lan to death in its largest ever fraud case

    HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Real estate tycoon Truong My Lan was sentenced Thursday to death by a court in Ho Chi Minh city in southern Vietnam in the country’s largest financial fraud case ever, state media Thanh Nien said.

    The 67-year-old chair of the real estate company Van Thinh Phat was accused of fraud amounting to $12.5 billion — nearly 3% of the country’s 2022 GDP. She illegally controlled the Saigon Joint Stock Commercial Bank between 2012 to 2022 to siphon of these funds through thousands of ghost companies and by paying bribes to government officials.

    Lan’s arrest in October 2022 was among the most high-profile in an ongoing anti-corruption drive in Vietnam that has intensified since 2022. The so-called Blazing Furnace campaign has touched the highest echelons of Vietnamese politics. Former President Vo Van Thuong resigned in March after being implicated in the campaign.

    But it’s the scale of Lan’s trial has shocked the nation. VTP was among Vietnam’s richest real estate firms, with projects including luxury residential buildings, offices, hotels and shopping centers. Analysts said the scale of the scam raised questions about whether other banks or businesses had similarly erred, dampening Vietnam’s economic outlook and making foreign investors jittery at a time when Vietnam has been trying to position itself as the ideal home for businesses trying to pivot their supply chains away from China.

    The real estate sector in Vietnam has been hit particularly hard: An estimated 1,300 property firms withdrew from the market in 2023, developers have been offering discounts and gold as gifts to attract buyers, and despite rent for shophouses falling by a third in Ho Chi Minh City, many in the city center are still empty, according to state media.

    In November, Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam’s top politician, said that the anti-corruption fight would “continue for the long term.”

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