Local & International News

 

Technology

Vietnam may delay higher power price amid Asia’s worst inflation

Vietnam, battling Asia’s highest inflation rate, may put off increases in electricity prices even as the country faces “chronic” power shortages.

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/en/business/9038/vietnam-may-delay-higher-power-price-amid-asia-s-worst-inflation.html

 

Vietnam PC software piracy rate falls down

Vietnam’s personal computer (PC) software piracy rate fell two percentage points to 83% last year, marking the first fall after three consecutive years of unchanged piracy rate of 85% in 2007-2009, the Business Software Alliance (BSA) said on Wednesday.

http://en.baomoi.com/Home/sciencetechnology/english.thesaigontimes.vn/Vietnam-PC-software-piracy-rate-falls-down/149416.epi

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Business

It’s time for long-term investors

Vietnam’s stock market has been in drastic decline, dampening investor sentiment. But David Gerald, President and CEO of Securities Investors Association (Singapore), says it’s time for long-term investors to jump in. The Saigon Times Daily spoke with him on the sidelines of a recent seminar on corporate governance in HCMC.

The Saigon Times Daily: Vietnam’s stock market capitalization has been falling in recent times. Has Singapore’s stock market experienced the same thing?

David Gerald: Singapore’s stock market is also volatile; the index is always moving up then down. It all boils down to supply and demand. People start selling because of uncertainties, causing excess supply. The market quickly reacts to this by pulling the price down.

http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/Home/interviews/businesstalk/17252/

 

Hanoi Real Estate Longs for Capital

What the Hanoi property market is undergoing has become a hard question for participants as well as experienced experts in real estate. Everyone wonders whether the impacts of macro-economic policies aiming for real estate market sustainable development will pull realty price back to its real value or not.

For years, the realty price graph in Hanoi has always been upward or at worst stood still for several months. However, it has witnessed some changes since Quarter II, 2011, price in segments has stayed still and begun going down; some segments have even fallen sharply, such as segments of condo and project ground.

http://vccinews.com/news_detail.asp?news_id=23330&parent_id=0&cate_id=13

 

World Bank: Worst is over for Vietnam

Annual inflation has hit 20 per cent and rising, the trade deficit is widening and the first signs of financial distress are appearing in the real estate sector. But the worst of Vietnam’s latest bout of macro-economic instability is behind it, according to the World Bank.

At a briefing in Hanoi on Thursday, Deepak Mishra, the World Bank’s lead economist in Vietnam, argued that the country was now “on a declining path of instability”.

http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2011/06/02/worst-is-over-for-vietnam-says-world-bank/#

 

VN groupon vouchers cost more than the discounts

Groupons, restaurant and service discount vouchers that are sold online, have become popular among Vietnamese students and white-collar workers due to their attractive discounts. Anyone can buy groupons with the click of a mouse and have them delivered to their house. However, the quality and reliability of the coupons is suspect it is not guaranteed by groupon websites.

http://tuoitrenews.vn/cmlink/tuoitrenews/business/vn-groupon-vouchers-cost-more-than-the-discounts

 

Vietnam moves to limit dollar hoarding, trade gap

Vietnam lowered the ceiling on dollar deposit rates on Thursday in its latest attempt to limit the circulation of the US currency in the economy, which is struggling with a widening trade deficit and stubbornly high inflation.

http://www.thanhniennews.com/2010/Pages/20110602230538.aspx

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Politics

Why the South China Sea is turning more turbulent

Nearly a year after the US stepped into a simmering dispute between China and smaller countries in the region over potentially oil-rich islands in the South China Sea, tensions are rising again.

Since March, both Vietnam and the Philippines have accused Chinese forces of aggressive acts in disputed areas. Military experts say China’s sustained military buildup enables it to project more naval power in an oceanic region where the US Navy has long held sway. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates was due to meet Friday with his Chinese counterpart at a security summit in Singapore. “We are not trying to hold China down,” he told reporters Thursday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20110603/wl_csm/388306_1

 

Thousands in Hong Kong to mark Tiananmen crackdown

Thousands of people in Hong Kong were Saturday to mark the bloody 1989 crushing of democracy protests in Beijing, as China defies international condemnation with a roundup of political dissidents.

Pro-democracy groups hope to draw 150,000 people to the annual candlelight vigil in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park, the only commemoration on Chinese soil, to remember the 22nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110604/wl_afp/hongkongchinademocracytiananmen

 

China violates sovereignty

Viet Nam is demanding China immediately stop taking actions that violate Viet Nam’s sovereignty and rights of jurisdiction over its continental shelf and exclusive economic zone as well as pay damages for past violations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Nguyen Phuong Nga told a press conference in Ha Noi yesterday.

The demand was prompted by an incident last Thursday in which Chinese marine surveillance vessels cut exploration cables of the ship Binh Minh 02, belonging to the State-owned oil and gas company, PetroVietnam Group, while the ship was conducting seismic surveys of the continental shelf of Viet Nam.

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/Politics-Laws/211778/China-violates-sovereignty.html

 

Philippines protests to China over oil rig plan

The Philippines said Wednesday it had formally protested to Beijing over recent activity in disputed waters of the South China Sea and Chinese plans to anchor an oil rig there.

http://en.baomoi.com/Info/Philippines-protests-to-China-over-oil-rig-plan/2/149179.epi

 

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Education

 

Vietnam has many redundant bad bachelors, few skilled workers

In 2005-2009, the number of universities and junior colleges increased by two folds, while the number of vocational schools decreased. The number of university students is three times bigger than the number of vocational school students.

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/en/special-report/9034/vietnam-has-many-redundant-bad-bachelors–few-skilled-workers.html

 

Local universities booming in Vietnam

The school upgrading has been taking place everywhere in Vietnam: intermediate schools (2-year training) have been upgraded into junior colleges (3-year training), while junior colleges have been upgraded into universities (4 or 5-year training). Is this the reasonable development orientation for Vietnam’s education?

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/en/education/8934/local-universities-booming-in-vietnam.html

 

UNICEF helps maintain education in disasters

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) will join with two local agencies in improving the educational sector’s capacity in the next two years to help it ensure quality education for children in case of natural disasters.

http://en.baomoi.com/Home/society/cpv.org.vn/UNICEF-helps-maintain-education-in-disasters/149185.epi

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Health

 

WHO: Cell phone use can increase possible cancer risk

Radiation from cell phones can possibly cause cancer, according to the World Health Organization. The agency now lists mobile phone use in the same “carcinogenic hazard” category as lead, engine exhaust and chloroform.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/05/31/who.cell.phones/index.html

 

Potentially unsafe toys flood Vietnam

Imported children’s toys without safety stamps have overwhelmed the domestic market and caught the eyes of little customers in the days preceding International Children’s Day June 1 despite a regulation for quality stamps which was passed nearly one year ago.

http://en.vietnamplus.vn/Home/Potentially-unsafe-toys-flood-Vietnam/20116/18680.vnplus

 

Functional food over-advertised in Vietnam

Functional food is getting familiar in Vietnam and they are over-advertised as “panacea”. Functional food is noisily advertised on newspapers, televisions and the Internet. All of advertisements describe functional food as miracles. For example, googling “collagen functional food” in Vietnamese, one will have 444,000 pages after 0.10 seconds.

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/en/society/8935/functional-food-over-advertised-in-vietnam.html
 

 

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