International

Excited Vietnamese football fans were driving around on Hanoi and Saigon Saturday afternoon, sporting both Vietnamese and South Korean flags. In an apparent rehearsal ahead of the final showdown of the AFF Cup between Vietnam and Malaysia at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi Saturday night, fans took to the streets hours before the match set to begin. A van with Vietnamese fans, sporting flags and banners, runs through a street in Hanoi. A female Vietnamese fan cheers on a street. People gather in the heart of Hanoi, waving flags and cheering in jubilance. CĐV xuống đường cổ vũ tuyển Việt Nam trước giờ G Before the final match, Park Hang-seo, the South Korean coach of Vietnam’s national team said the fans’ enthusiasm might create pressure for his players. "But I hope they would stay as calm as possible to prepare for the match." Malaysian coach Tan Chang Hoe affirmed that the team would … [Read more...] about AFF Cup final: Vietnamese cities go festive hours before Malaysia clash

By Ngoc Dinh  &nbspDecember 14, 2018 | 06:39 pm GMT+7 Rice terraces in Sa Pa Town in the northwest province of Lao Cai. Photo by Shutterstock/Efired A report by travel website Skyscanner names Vietnam as a new top destination among Asian Pacific (APAC) travelers. In its APAC Travel Trends Report 2018, Scotland-based Skyscanner listed Vietnam as one of the top countries in terms of increasing popularity. Vietnam has moved from the 8th place in 2017 to the 6th place in the list of top destinations for APAC countries in 2018. South Korea is just ahead of Vietnam, moving from 7th position in 2017 to 5th position in 2018. The report was prepared based on an analysis of Skyscanner’s quantitative data, including information from online surveys, travel data analytics and third-party research. A nation’s popularity rank was determined by how often a certain place was searched from October 2016 to September 2018 by travelers from eight Asia Pacific markets … [Read more...] about Vietnam emerges a new favorite among Asia Pacific travelers

Seven of ten top searches were related to football, according to Google data. The football-relevant search terms included World Cup, AFF Cup, U23, ASIAD Games, and VTV6 and VTV3, the Vietnamese channels broadcasting the football championships live. Xoi Lac TV, the YouTube channel that broadcasted pirated ASIAD football matches at the start of the tournament, before Vietnam secured the broadcasting rights, was another much searched for site. Bui Tien Dung, a goalkeeper, topped the list of people who was most searched for during the year. He proved his skills at the 2018 AFC U23 Championships held in January in China, where Vietnam finished runners-up for the first time. Top government officials also attracted great attention from online users. Former Politburo member Dinh La Thang, who was sentenced to 30 years in jail for deliberately violating state regulations on economic management, ranked fourth in the search list. Late President Tran Dai Quang, who passed away on September 21 in … [Read more...] about Google confirms Vietnam’s biggest love is football

Overall, the average increase across all regions will be 5.3 percent. Starting January 1, the minimum wage will increase to VND4.18 million ($179.25) in region one, VND3.71 million ($159.09) in region 2, VND3.25 million ($139.38) in region 3, and VND2.92 million ($125.23) in region 4, according to a decree recently issued. The four different minimum wage regions are supposed to reflect the cost of living in each area. Region 1, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, has the highest minimum wage, while region 4, rural areas, has the lowest. Businesses use the minimum wage to calculate salaries for their workers by multiplying the base level by a coefficient assigned to each worker based on their skills and experience. Some representatives of businesses have said that the minimum wage increase will affect business results of companies, especially small and medium ones. According to a survey released by employment website Jobstreet.com late last year, salaries in Vietnam are rising faster … [Read more...] about Vietnam to up minimum wage by 5.3 pct in 2019

At least 22 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have sent a letter to the White House, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department, expressing "deep concern" about the government's reinterpretation of a treaty signed in 2008 with Vietnam, The Atlantic reported. The agreement clearly states that Vietnamese-Americans who came to the U.S. before the two countries normalized diplomatic relations on July 12, 1995, would not be subject to deportation. However, the Trump administration is reportedly seeking to overturn the deal and send thousands of Vietnamese immigrants back to Vietnam, although they have lived for decades in the United States. Many Vietnamese-Americans who came to the United States at a young age "were resettled in struggling neighborhoods without support or resources to cope with significant trauma from the [Vietnam] war," the letter says. "As a result, some made mistakes that funneled them into the criminal justice system." The letter also … [Read more...] about Trump move on Vietnamese immigrants ‘despicable’