Lions and buffalos fighting

At a Wednesday meeting between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the delegation of the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council (USABC), the council's president Ted Osius said U.S. businesses consider Vietnam a strategic market and are ready to commit to long-term investments in the Southeast Asian nation. Osius said the delegation were highly supportive of the Vietnamese government’s moves towards a more digital and green society. He also encouraged steps the country has taken in infrastructure development, such as the construction of new highways and metro rail public transit options, the Vietnam Government Portal reported. U.S. ambassador to Vietnam Marc Knapper said the American grouping at the meeting was the largest U.S. business delegation to ever visit Vietnam. He said this confirmed the commitment of the U.S. government and the private sector to support a strong and prosperous Vietnam via cooperation. At the meeting, the delegation proposed new ideas and opportunities for business … [Read more...] about Major US companies laud Vietnam as strategic market

PM Pham Minh Chinh presents flowers to congratulte the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union on its 92nd anniversary at the dialogue on March 22. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked the youth of Vietnam to play a pioneering role while chairing a hybrid dialogue with young people nationwide on March 22. The dialogue focused on three topics: education and training for the building of high-quality young human resources meeting requirements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, improving physical health and the cultural and spiritual life of the youth, and creating an environment for the young to make self-improvement, start careers, and innovate. In his message to over 20 million young Vietnamese people both at home and abroad, PM Chinh affirmed that the Party and State always attach importance to the youth’s role in national development and safeguarding, and that throughout history, the youth have always played a crucial part as late President Ho … [Read more...] about Prime Minister calls on youth to play pioneering role

Vietnamese boxer Nguyen Thi Tam beat Botswana athlete Modukanele Lethabo Bokamoso in the Round of 16 of the 2023 IBA Women’s World Boxing Championship in India on Tuesday to advance to the quarterfinals. With a height advantage, Tam showed a preemptive strategy. She scored an almost absolute point in each of the first two rounds of Tuesday’s showdown. In the third round, Lethabo Bokamoso appeared to be physically weaker and even kissed the canvas once. In the end, Tam won 5-0, including four rounds with absolute points of 30. Her opponent in the quarterfinals is Spain’s Fuertes Fernandez Laura, who ranked ninth in Europe in 2022. The fight will take place at 7:30 pm on Wednesday (Vietnam time). Before Tuesday’s match, Tam had left a great impression on the audience and participants at the championship after her 5-0 victory over Kazakhstani opponent Kyzaibay Nazym, who won the world championship in 2014 and 2016 and was also crowned the Asian champion in 2021. … [Read more...] about Vietnamese female boxer through to world championship’s quarterfinals

Fed Chair Jerome Powell sought to reassure investors about the soundness of the banking system, saying that the management of Silicon Valley Bank "failed badly," but that the bank's collapse did not indicate wider weaknesses in the banking system. The Federal Open Market Committee policy statement also said the U.S. banking system is "sound and resilient." Even so, Wall Street ended sharply lower after Powell told a news conference that officials were still intent on fighting inflation while also eying the extent to which recent bank failures had cooled demand and slowed lending. The much-anticipated rate hike by the Fed, which had delivered eight previous rate hikes in the past year, sought to balance the risk of rampant inflation with the threat of instability in the banking system. But in a key shift driven by the sudden failures this month of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank, the Fed's latest policy statement no longer says that "ongoing increases" in rates will … [Read more...] about US Fed delivers small rate hike amid global banking turmoil

At the meeting (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The Party Central Committee’s Inspection Commission convened its 27th meeting in Hanoi from March 21-22 under the chair of its head Tran Cam Tu , who is a Politburo member and Secretary of the Party Central Committee. The commission decided to give a warning to the Party Civil Affairs Committee of the People’s Court of Dak Lak province in the 2015-2020 tenure and its Secretary and Chief Justice of the provincial People’s Court Ngo Duc Tho as a disciplinary measure. The Party Civil Affairs Committee of the Dak Lak provincial People’s Court violated the democratic centralism principle, working regulations, and personnel work, showed a lack of responsibility, and loose leadership, resulting in the provincial People's Court and several district courts violating the Party rules, State laws, and regulations of the court sector in trial proceedings. The above violations and shortcomings caused serious consequences and negative … [Read more...] about Party Central Committee’s Inspection Commission convenes 27th meeting

The Vietnamese government is willing to assist, share experience with, and support its neighbor Cambodia in hosting important events this year within its capability, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said during a meeting on Tuesday with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Prak Sokhonn. Cambodian Deputy PM Sokhonn was in Vietnam for an official visit between Monday and Wednesday and to co-chair the 20th Vietnam-Cambodia Joint Commission on Economic, Cultural, Scientific and Technological Cooperation held on Tuesday. Cambodia will this year host its seventh National Assembly election, the 32nd Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), the ASEAN Para Games, and the 12th summit of the Cambodia - Laos - Vietnam Development Triangle Area. PM Chinh expected the two sides to effectively implement high-level agreements and joint statements. In 2022, their bilateral trade reached over US$10 billion, up some 11 percent year on … [Read more...] about Vietnam willing to support Cambodia: Vietnamese PM

A wood processing plant in Binh Duong. The wood processing industry is making efforts to regain growth momentum. — VNA/VNS Photo Vu Sinh Faced with a slump in export orders, woodworking firms have been striving to stay afloat in various ways. Do Thi Kim Loan, general director of Sao Nam Trading and Production Co., Ltd, which makes wooden flooring, said the company’s export orders are down 35-40 per cent year-on-year this year as orders from the US market, its major export market, drop sharply. “With exports to the US plunging, we seek to export to Canada and accept outsourcing orders from Australian customers. “Australian wood flooring importers ship materials to my company, we carry out the final processing stages, pack and re-export them. “This is an adaptation to partially offset the decline in our major market.” Binh Duong-based furniture company Bao Hung has also seen a sharp drop in orders from the US, its key market, this year. Phung Quoc Cuong, its marketing … [Read more...] about Wood industry strives to regain growth momentum

The picture was not uploaded by social media influencers on an adventurous vacation -- it's an advertisement by people smugglers. Technology-savvy criminals using the popular video-sharing app are posing a growing challenge to Mexican and U.S. authorities fighting a regional migration crisis. "Departing this weekend. People from Mexico interested in crossing to the United States, leave your messages," the TikTok post said. Another account offering to smuggle irregular migrants through the violence-wracked Mexican border state of Tamaulipas shows a photo of minors in an inflatable boat on a river. "We also make crossings with children and family," it said. An AFP investigation found dozens of similar accounts around the region, including in Guatemala, Colombia and Ecuador. And using the hashtag #pollero -- a slang term for a people smuggler -- one account offered "safe work" for drivers in the southwestern U.S. state of Arizona for payment of up to $15,000. "If you have … [Read more...] about People smugglers use TikTok to promote their services

Major General Do Thanh Phong (L), deputy head of the comunications and training department at the General Department of Politics under the Vietnam People's Army, and Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces Senior Lieutenant General Alvaro Lopez Miera at the event (Photo: VNA) Havana (VNA) - The Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence and the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) of Cuba have completed their joint production of the first episode of a documentary series on the 60-year defence relations between the two countries. The episode, namely ‘Two hearts beat as one’, was handed over to the Cuban side and screened at a ceremony in Havana on March 20. Speaking at the event, Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces Senior Lieutenant General Alvaro Lopez Miera and Chief of the Political Directorate of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba Lieutenant General Victor Rojo Ramos highly appreciated the quality of the production. The episode was … [Read more...] about First episode of Vietnam-Cuba defence relations documentary completed