News headlines track

Việt Nam’s headline inflation rate increased by 1.69 per cent in the first quarter of this year, putting pressure on the new Government to curb the rate going forward. — Photo vov.vn HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam’s headline inflation rate increased by 1.69 per cent in the first quarter of this year, putting pressure on the new Government to curb the rate going forward, according to a quarterly report on macroeconomic growth. The report, conducted by a group of researchers from the Việt Nam Institute for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR), was discussed during a launching ceremony in Hà Nội on Tuesday. The Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade supported the research. Việt Nam’s inflation rate hike in the first three months of 2016 was attributed to increasing fees for medical services and education, and the recovery of commodity and service prices in the world. New developments in the global economy, along with domestic changes, make it a … [Read more...] about VN’s headline inflation rises in first quarter

An elevated section of HCM City’s Bến Thành-Suối Tiên metro line runs along the Hà Nội Highway. — VNA/VNS Photo Mạnh Linh Viet Nam News HCM CITY – Progress on the metro continues, but a tax dispute has left some necessary equipment languishing at port, Lê Nguyễn Minh Quang, head of the HCM City Management Authority for Urban Railways told a press briefing on Friday. The elevated sections of the Bến Thành-Suối Tiên metro line from Ba Son terminal to Long Bình maintenance depot will install tracks next month, Quang said. Nearly 70 per cent of the metro’s elevated sections have been completed, according to Quang. He added that the installation of tracks would be carried out on the completed sections simultaneously with the building of the uncompleted ones. Equipment used for metro track installation, however, is now “stuck” at port, he added. He said that previously the Ministry of Finance had announced a zero per cent tax rate on imported equipment and goods used for … [Read more...] about First metro line to get tracks

by Thu Vân “Your pens are the sharp weapons in the cause of telling the truth…” Thus began a letter that President Ho Chi Minh wrote to intellectuals and journalists in the southern part of the country on May 25, 1947. He also said in the same letter that “journalists should act like brave soldiers in the revolution to gain back unity and independence for the country.” One cannot imagine loftier ideals for this profession. Today, the lofty ideals may remain, but there are times I feel these are gathering dust in the shelves of our memory as the profession goes through one existential crisis after another. More than seven decades after President Hồ Chí Minh wrote the famous letter, it is fair to say journalism has gone through many changes, all over the world. Today, the profession is wedded, one could even say welded, to technology and business, and this creates a host of challenges in terms of the profession succeeding in the market place, in capturing the readers’ or … [Read more...] about Some good news, some bad news, some hopeful news

An intersection point between the railways and the streets in Hà Nội. — VNA/VNS Photo Minh Sơn Viet Nam News HÀ NỘI — The Hà Nội Police Department has proposed to move the Hà Nội Railway Station and all the inter-provincial rail tracks to the suburbs to avoid traffic congestion and fatal accidents in the inner city. Speaking at the conference on reviewing traffic safety in the first seven months of this year on Tuesday morning, Major General Phạm Xuân Bình, deputy-director of the department, said that Hà Nội was among the five cities left in the world that was using inter-provincial rail tracks with many intersection points in densely populated areas. Currently, there are about 10 kilometres of rail tracks in the inner city, which lead to traffic congestion and pose potential risks of accidents. Thus, it was necessary to move the Hà Nội Railway Station and its rail tracks out of the inner city, he said. Bình said it would help eliminate traffic conflicts between … [Read more...] about Hà Nội police propose to move inter-provincial rail tracks out of inner city

MARRAKECH/VIENNA — Criminals, especially drug traffickers, may have laundered US$ 1.6 trillion, or 2.7 per cent of global GDP, in 2009, according to a new report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. According to the report, less than 1 per cent of the global flow of illicit money is being seized and frozen, due to difficulties in tracing the financial pattern of organised crime. The report, titled Estimating illicit financial flows resulting from drug trafficking and other transnational organised crime, supports the 2-5 per cent estimated range of global GDP set out by the International Monetary Fund to measure the scale of money laundering. "Tracking the flows of illicit funds generated by drug trafficking and organised crime and analysing how they are laundered through the world's financial systems remain daunting tasks," acknowledged Yury Fedotov, executive director of UNODC on Tuesday. Launching the report in Marrakech during the fourth session of the … [Read more...] about ‘Dirty-money’ trade hard to track

Judicial reform on track, but more work needed (16-02-2006) President Tran Duc Luong talks with delegates on the sidelines of the meeting yesterday. — VNA/VNS Photo Nguyen Dan HA NOI — The recorded results of judicial reform provide groundwork for a breakthrough in further streamlining of the justice system in Viet Nam, President Tran Duc Luong said yesterday. At a national meeting held to review judicial reform, the President said continuing the process was urgent, adding that success so far could be attributed to a higher awareness in all sectors from central to grassroots levels involved in judicial reform. More than 700 delegates from judicial and internal affairs organisations of Viet Nam attended the meeting. Luong, who is also head of the Central Committee for Judicial Reform, said: "We have done well so far in making laws to consolidate the system of judicial bodies, define these organisations’ rights and powers, enrich human resources, and … [Read more...] about Judicial reform on track, but more work needed