English through the news

Vietnam in danger of becoming a dump as China says no to trash China's ban on scrap imports has left the “developed” world scrambling for solutions and Vietnam facing the prospect of becoming a trash basket. Tragedy of errors: Hanoi hospital switches babies, accepts mistake six years later One of the mothers, divorced by her husband who blamed her for adultery, is not yet ready to return the ‘wrong’ child. When you want to take a hike in Vietnam Five trekking options from different regions in the country, some of which are not for the faint-hearted. Vietnam’s Cong Café to open first branch in South Korea The Cong Café franchise will open its first overseas branch in the Yeonnam-dong neighborhood in Seoul on July 31. The men who lorded over Vietnam's drug valley Before two drug lords were gunned down by the police last month, Long Luong Commune had been a narcotics haven for over a decade. Vietnam probes outrageous fraud in … [Read more...] about Weekly roundup: Vietnam’s trash dilemma, exam fraud, trekking guide and more

Cambodian officials have promised to grant two-year residency cards to roughly 70,000 ethnic Vietnamese currently facing deportation to Vietnam where they have no legal status either. Officials said on Monday that they plan to issue the short-term documents to people of Vietnamese origin who can prove they arrived in Cambodia before 2012. There will be an application process but most people are likely to pass, officials said, as cited by the Phnom Penh Post. A drive to revoke their Cambodian documents, which were deemed “improperly issued”, has rendered many of them stateless, as they have no Vietnamese citizenship either. Nouv Leakhena, deputy head of the Immigration Department at Cambodia’s Interior Ministry, said the government recognized that many ethnic Vietnamese have lived in Cambodia for up to 30 years, some since before the Khmer Rouge regime. “Immigration officials cannot be nationalistic,” he said, as cited in the report. People of … [Read more...] about Cambodia offers ethnic Vietnamese short-term residency in migrant crackdown reprieve

Officials in Vietnam's southern island resort of Phu Quoc are consulting provincial police and foreign affairs officials on how to deal with a Russian woman who has been begging on the street in recent days, an act deemed illegal under Vietnamese law. The 20-year-old woman appeared in a photo which has gone viral on Facebook this week, showing her in meditation posture next to a pot and a sign that says she needs money. Phu Quoc officials said they have found a place for her to stay temporarily, but they do not know what to do with her next. She said she has been begging her way through Cambodia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, spending the nights in parks or jungles and begging for money during the days to pay for food and other goods. Tran Chi Dung, director of Kien Giang Province’s tourism department, told Tuoi Tre newspaper that foreigners begging in Vietnam is nothing new, and many have been seen asking for money by performing in the street. “Compared to … [Read more...] about Vietnam officials flummoxed by Russian beggar on popular tourist island

The Criminal Investigation Agency under the Ministry of National Defence, in cooperation with military prosecutors, issued the decision on Tuesday, the Vietnam News Agency reported. Hien is now under house arrest. The investigation is part of a fraud and land management case that saw former colonel Dinh Ngoc He sentenced to 12 years in jail in July last year. Hien, 65, was retroactively dismissed as the Commander of Vietnam People's Navy per a decision by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc last month for making "very serious" violations when he was the naval commander between 2004 and 2015. For his wrongdoing, he had already been dismissed from all party positions in June. The Communist Party of Vietnam has four modes of punishment against members: reprimand, warning, demotion and expulsion. Hien, along with Vice Admiral Nguyen Van Tinh and Rear Admiral Le Van Dao, were responsible for several land management violations, said the Central Inspection Committee, the party's top … [Read more...] about Vietnam probes former top naval officer for negligence

Instead of suing the culprits, denouncing abusers to agencies, or seeking support from the community, victims of school physical abuse tend to conceal the cases and keep everything secret. Many student abuse cases have been reported in recent months. However, experts believe that the reported cases are just the ‘tip of the iceberg’, while many other cases have never been brought to light, and the abusers have not been punished. Secondary school students  A high school teacher in Hanoi commented that parents hide information and are uncooperative with the police. A niece of a teacher was the victim of a lewd act by a neighbor when she was 9 years old. The father of the girl vowed to denounce the neighbor of committing lewd act. However, he later gave up the intention after his wife warned that the girl would not have a bright future and she may be ‘left on the shelf’ because men will refuse abused girls. “Parents are afraid of their reputation, … [Read more...] about Many school physical abuse cases never brought to light