International

By Nam Anh  &nbspMay 24, 2019 | 04:19 pm GMT+7 Vietnam has set a target for banks of less than 2 percent of interal NPL on their books in 2019. Photo by VnExpress The banking sector managed to keep its internal bad debts ratio below 3 percent at the end of Q1, according to the central bank. According to a report of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), results from this year’s annual general meeting season showed strong bad-debts control by the 17 listed banks.  While the majority reported internal non-performing loans (NPL) of 1-2 percent, some have even managed to keep it below 1 percent.  ACB reported the lowest NPL of 0.73 percent, followed by Vietcombank with 0.97 percent, MBBank with 1.33 percent, HDBank with 1.45 percent, and TPBank with 1.89 percent.  According to the report, since 2012, banks have recovered a total of VND907.3 trillion ($38.96 billion) worth of bad debts. Last year alone they recovered VND163.14 trillion ($7 billion), … [Read more...] about Central bank says bad debts well under control

Vietnam will play Thailand in a highly anticipated game in King’s Cup 2019 next month, but one of several headaches confronting coach Park Hang-seo is the centre-forward position. Given the shining performance of Toan in V. League 1 this year, he can be Park's choice to solve the striker math on the national team. Toan is currently the best Vietnamese striker in the league with five goals and four assists that have helped his club Hoang Anh Gia Lai FC to sixth position out of 14 clubs on the table. He has been praised for his speed, off-ball movement, positioning and finishing. He has also improved his dribbling skills significantly. He stunned everyone with two speedy goals in a V. League 1 match between Hoang Anh Gia Lai FC and Quang Ninh FC last month. It took Toan just four seconds to run 35 meters to score the first goal, which means his average speed then was 31.5 kph. The second goal was even more impressive, with Toan running 49.3 meters in just five seconds, reaching an … [Read more...] about Vietnam’s national football offense could strike a surprise

Pangolin scales smuggled from Nigeria are discovered by customs officials in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, May 23, 2019. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Chi 100 bags with six tons of pangolin scales were found hidden in two containers labeled dry cashew nuts shipped from Nigeria on Thursday. The contraband shipment was sent from Nigeria to a commercial service company in Ho Chi Minh City and discovered by customs authorities in the nearby Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province. The black market value of six tons of pangolin scales is estimated at several dozen billion dong (VND10 billion = $429,500). Pangolin trafficking is not rare in Vietnam, although it is legally protected and categorized as endangered. Earlier this month, Saigon customs officials seized seven tons of pangolin scales imported from Africa in a shipment that was also labeled cashew nuts. Last week, customs officials in the northern port city of Hai Phong said they had seized eight tons of pangolin scales from Africa in March. … [Read more...] about Six tons of pangolin scales seized in southern Vietnam

By Ngoc Dinh  &nbspMay 23, 2019 | 06:00 pm GMT+7 A scene in the film The Tap Box (Song Lang). The film, Song Lang in Vietnamese, has won the Gold Tripod and Milli awards from the Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS). The film’s cinematographer Bob Nguyen received the Golden Tripod for best cinematographer in the Features – Cinema category, and the Milli Award - Cinematographer of the year, at the 48th annual National ACS Awards for Cinematography held recently. With the latest prizes, the film has received a total number of 20 awards to date. The Tap Box (2018) centers around the relationship of a cai luong artist (Vietnamese reformed theater art performer) and a debt collector in the 1980s in Ho Chi Minh City. Directed by Leon Le, the film tells a romantic story while depicting a prime time of the Vietnamese theater art. It earned critical acclaim within the country as well as at international film festivals. The film has been screened in various … [Read more...] about Film The Tap Box wins Australian awards for cinematography

The arrests followed a raid on a luxury residence in Sarawak State in the northeast Malaysia. The trio had been placed under surveillance for a long time, police said. The Malaysia man, 24, was found positive for drugs. The Vietnamese women, whose names have not been released, were in their 20s, Malay Mail reported. While searching their residence in the coastal city of Mire in Sarawak, the police found various types of drugs including ecstasy and ketamine worth RM82,201 ($19,605). They also found jewelry and 28 pieces of gold-plated keys worth RM30,752 ($7,331). "Their activities began in 2018 and they focused mostly on entertainment centers around Miri, and they are being investigated under the Dangerous Drugs Act, which carries mandatory death penalty upon conviction," Malaysian police officers said. Possession of drugs is a serious offense in Malaysia and punishable with death by hanging. Last month, a Malaysian court rejected a Vietnamese woman’s appeal to set … [Read more...] about Two Vietnamese women arrested in Malaysia drug raid

Hua Quoc Hung, vice chairman of the Tan Binh People’s Committee, said that the district was seeing the implementation of multiple drainage projects for the airport through several canals, including A41, Hy Vong, Tan Tru and Nhat Ban. But the infrastructure inside and outside the airport was "unsynchronized," as these projects are helmed by many different units, each doing its part without following a common guideline, he said at a meeting on Wednesday. Hung said drainage pipes installed for the A41 canal lie lower than the canal, for example. As a result, rainwater flows from outside into the airport, while it is supposed to flow the other way round. As the units responsible for construction inside the airport do not inform local authorities beforehand, construction has been carried out in inappropriate places, he said. Pham Duc Hai, vice chairman of the HCMC People’s Committee, said several drainage projects in Tan Binh District are going "very slowly." "Projects that … [Read more...] about Saigon airport flooding blamed on lack of coordination

Coach Park Hang-seo will name his squad for the Thai tournament at the end of May. But the goalkeeper's spot remains a tricky one for him with all three goalies in the national team facing questions about their club form. Dang Van Lam, the main man, played superbly in the 2018 AFF Cup that Vietnam won and 2019 Asian Cup where the team entered the last eight. Thai club Muangthong United then bought him for $500,000. Dang Van Lam in the AFF Cup final between Vietnam and Malaysia on December 16, 2018. Photo by VnExpress/Duc Dong But he has had a horror run at the club so far, conceding 19 goals in 11 matches. Muangthong United have lost seven matches, drew two and only won two. Last year they finished fourth in the table, but now they are last among 16 clubs, and on the verge of relegation. Lam's understudies in the national team are having bad runs in the V. League 1, the top professional football league in Vietnam.  The third-choice goalkeeper, Nguyen Tuan … [Read more...] about Vietnam and their trouble with goalkeepers

86 of them are in the driving department, with 46 main drivers. The rest are substitute drivers and technicians. All drivers have been trained and have practiced in Beijing, China for a year. Their experience ranges from driving 5,000-20,000 kilometers. "To prepare for the commercial operation, we have done both practical training and simulator training, including dealing with unexpected events," said driver Tran Thanh Long. Over 500 people will work in the operating center to manage trains, maintain infrastructure, distribute tickets and discharge other responsibilities. Over this and next month, they will run drills for emergency evacuation, handling a large number of passengers and dealing with malfunctioning trains. The Vietnamese staff have been trained by Chinese experts. A representative of the contractor said that "most Vietnamese staff have met training standards and can operate the metro line immediately." A total of 600 staff will be operating Hanoi's first metro line. … [Read more...] about 600 Vietnamese staff trained for Hanoi’s first metro line

More arrests were expected as police in nearly 60 countries pursue investigations stemming from an Interpol operation launched two years ago into a hidden "dark web" site with 63,000 users worldwide,international police group Interpol said Thursday. Fifty children were rescued following the arrests. Police are trying to identify an additional 100 in images that had been shared on the internet's uncharted corners. Interpol said its Operation Blackwrist began after it found material that was traced back to a subscription-based site on the dark web, where people can use encrypted software to hide behind layers of secrecy. Dark web sites can't be found through search engines, and users need to have the specific URL address to land on a site. Interpol enlisted help from national agencies worldwide, with the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) department eventually tracking the site's IP address, where new photos and videos were posted weekly. The first arrests came in early 2018, … [Read more...] about 50 children saved after police bust paedophile website: Interpol

A source from the central province’s tourism department revealed that they are working closely with representatives from Google and YouTube, the Google-owned video-sharing platform, to come up a final list of the 12 video bloggers, or Vloggers. The list will be announced next week. The Vloggers, followed by millions of subscribers on their respective YouTube channels, will take a tour of Quang Binh to explore its beautiful scenery, try out its cuisine and share their experiences with their fans. The field tour is part of efforts to boost tourism to Quang Binh, home to the world’s largest cave, Son Doong. The province was also a filming location for the 2017 Hollywood blockbuster Kong: Skull Island. Last year, Quang Binh received 3.9 million tourists, up 18 percent over the previous year. Colossal caves, most of them protected, in the Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park, have given Quang Binh, one of Vietnam's poorest provinces, an opportunity to improve people’s … [Read more...] about Prominent YouTubers to vlog about Vietnam’s Kingdom of Caves