A man who unsuccessfully tried to rob a bank in Da Nang was sentenced to death Thursday for killing a security guard who chased him from the crime scene. Nguyen Manh Cuong, 25, will receive capital punishment for his conviction on three charges: murder, robbery and “the illegal purchase and …
Read More »Inadequate infrastructure costs Vietnam Airlines $20M loss
Insufficient infrastructure at crowded domestic airports, especially Hanoi’s Noi Bai and Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat, cost Vietnam Airlines VND500 billion (US$20.6 million) in losses this year. Dang Ngoc Hoa, president of the national flag carrier, said at a meeting with the Ministry of Transport on Thursday that …
Read More »Graduation exemptions for IELTS entice more Vietnamese youths
Four times more 16–22-year-olds took the 2022 IELTS tests compared to 2018 as Vietnam exempts students with certain IELTS scores from testing for English on high school graduation exams. According to a report on study of foreign languages in Vietnam released Wednesday by the Vietnam National Institute of Educational Sciences …
Read More »Singapore readies sales tax hike as demographic crunch looms
Singapore households are bracing for a sales tax hike that takes effect in the new year as the government shores up coffers ahead of an expected surge in social spending in the rapidly ageing city-state in the years ahead. The goods and services tax, which is levied on everything from …
Read More »China asks citizens to leave Myanmar border district, citing security
China’s embassy in Myanmar on Thursday asked its citizens to leave a northern district along the countries’ shared border, citing heightened security risks as ethnic minority armed groups battle the junta. Fighting has raged across Myanmar’s northern Shan state since October, when the so-called “Three Brotherhood Alliance” of ethnic minority …
Read More »Vietnam could shrink to 3.6 million people by 2500: UN
The United Nations predicted Vietnam’s population to shrink to only 3.6 million in the year 2500 if the current low birth rate is not improved. Vietnam’s total fertility rate this year is at 1.95 children per woman, a drop compared to last year’s 2.01 ratio and a replacement ratio of …
Read More »Vietnamese plane with cracked window lands in Japan
A Vietnamese plane carrying 94 passengers from HCMC to Japan landed at the Narita Airport with a cracked cockpit window on Dec. 26. The plane was flying 12,300 m in the air at noon when the glass of its left-front cockpit window cracked, the Mainichi reported. The aircraft continued its …
Read More »900 streets in HCMC qualify for sidewalk rental
Nearly 900 streets in five areas of Ho Chi Minh City have sidewalks wider than three meters, meeting the conditions to be leased for commercial use. The list was released by the city’s Department of Transport in a document guiding the implementation of regulations on using roadways and sidewalks for parking …
Read More »Vietnam president reduces death sentence to life for 18 prisoners
President Vo Van Thuong signed a decision on Wednesday to reduce death penalties to life imprisonment for 18 prisoners who filed petitions for commuted sentences. The decision is made as stipulated in the Constitution and laws, and at the proposals of the presiding judge of the Supreme People’s Court, the …
Read More »Gaza population in ‘grave peril’, says WHO
The population of Gaza is in “grave peril”, the head of the World Health Organization warned Wednesday, citing acute hunger and desperation throughout the war-torn Palestinian territory. The WHO said it delivered supplies to two hospitals on Tuesday, with only 15 out of 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip functioning …
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