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Hoping to transform Vietnam’s tech sector into a global leader in industry and trade, three successful Vietnamese engineers have returned home from lucrative jobs abroad to invest in the motherland.

Their projects are just three out of dozens of innovations being developed at the high-tech business incubator of the Saigon Hi-Tech Park in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City.

AI-powered toy: New friend for Vietnamese children

Tong Vu Than Dan’s AI children’s toy may look like an ordinary wooden playset at first glance, but the hi-tech car set actually provides the opportunity for kids to conquer various transportation scenarios using an AI-powered car.

Dan, 38, had been a mechanical engineer for several American companies, as well as a professional in Japan’s semiconductor industry, before returning to Vietnam to take up a position at Intel Products Vietnam.

Despite his success at the international level, Dan felt he needed to give back to his home country. He left his secure corporate job behind and embarked on a mission to elevate Vietnam’s AI industry.

According to Dan, the idea to create an AI-powered toy was inspired by his child’s addition to smartphones. Dan felt that creating an intersection between toys and technology was an opportunity to engage children without the need for a screen.

His invention, named Kodimo, is the result of that inspiration – a highly educational, modern update to typical wooden blocks that children can use to create roadways and other infrastructure designs.

After investing three years and billions of dong (VND1 billion = US$43,000) into Kodimo, Dan is finally beginning to see success, with two versions of the AI toy currently being trialed in the South Korean market. Each toy costs about VND5 million ($217) and can currently be found on various e-commerce sites.

Instructions and language programming for the toy are in English.

“The great thing about this toy is that it uses technology to promote imagination and creativity in a way that is very familiar to children. That is why I believe this project will be successful,” Dan explained.

Vietnamese product for Vietnamese market

Luong Vu Dang Quang (R) presents laser devices to Nguyen Van Nen (C), secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, at a startup product launch event in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: T. Trung / Tuoi Tre

Luong Vu Dang Quang worked for a U.S. electronics company in Vietnam before serving as the head of R&D at a tech company in South Korea.

But even with his success, the 41-year-old felt the need to use his talent in order to bring Vietnamese-made products to the Vietnamese market.

Since leaving South Korea, Quang has founded Amed, a startup focused on optics and laser technologies for medical equipment.

After seven years of producing laser equipment for medical and beauty applications meant for other countries, Quang figured he had the skills to start his own company in the field in order to reduce his country’s reliance on expensive, foreign-made products.

“I can absolutely make the same products here in Vietnam at a much cheaper price,” Quang explained.

Despite his experience in the sphere, Quang faced many risks by choosing to launch his company in Vietnam. In South Korea, unlike in Vietnam, materials like circuits and screws are quality-ensured.

It took nearly all of his savings, but Quang is currently earning revenues with the sale of his first product – a ‘fractional carbon dioxide laser resurfacing device’ currently in use at 108 Military Central Hospital in Hanoi. He also exports other devices to the U.S. and South Korea.

Quang and his associates are currently conducting research on skin pigmentation treatment devices, hoping to create such products in Vietnam in order to reduce costs for customers in the country and other Southeast Asian markets.

An engineer on a mission

Le Trung Hieu sets up the Ewater filtration system with his associates at a factory in Vietnam. Photo: T.H. / Tuoi Tre

Ahead of the North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit in 2019, engineer Le Trung Hieu was sent to Hanoi to carry out a special mission: installing a water filtration system he designed into Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi Hotel – the site of the historic meeting between the leaders of the two countries.

Ewater – Hieu’s device – was invented in 2016 as a means of treating water electromagnetic technology instead of chemicals.

Hieu has since applied technology to several areas, including steam boiler treatment, industrial water treatment, and agricultural water treatment.

He has so far installed more than 3,000 products in Vietnam and around the world, including at the Da Nang City Hall and Landmark 81 skyscraper in Ho Chi Minh City.

“A lot of people call me crazy when I gave up my high-paying job to launch my startup, but luckily my products were beloved by the community,” Hieu said.

“I’m really motivated to keep researching more porducts.”

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A senior official who is the de facto number two of the Communist Party has taken sick leave to seek treatment for an unspecified disease.

Dinh The Huynh has run the influential Central Committee Secretariat since February 2016.

The Party announced on Tuesday that it has deputized Tran Quoc Vuong, chairman of the Central Inspection Committee, to take charge in Huynh’s absence.

The Secretariat oversees the Party’s day-to-day policy implementation. Both Vuong and Huynh are members of the elite Politburo, the Party’s decision-making body.

It is not clear how long Huynh will be out of action for. Before taking charge of the Secretariat, he headed the Party’s propaganda body.

Vuong was Vietnam’s top public prosecutor until 2011, when he was installed as Chief of Staff of the Party’s Central Committee. He was selected to chair the Central Inspection Committee in January 2016.

Officials of Cam Giang District in the COVID-19 epicenter of northern Hai Duong Province fined two Chinese technical experts a total of VND15 million (US$651) for leaving their residence in unnecessary cases while the district is locked-down to curb the ongoing virus outbreak.

H.C.L., 48, and H.W., 51, were found traveling on a motorbike and an electric bicycle on a road by the paddy fields in Hoang Gia Village, Cam Vu Commune at around 5:30 pm on Saturday.

Both the Chinese woman and man are working at Vietnam Baodi Technology Company Limited in the Cao An industrial cluster in Cao An Commune, Cam Giang, according to police investigation.

They are temporarily staying at the house of Vietnamese man, Pham Van Oanh, in Phu An Village, Cao An Commune.

The two Chinese nationals’ COVID-19 tests have returned negative for the novel coronavirus.

They had also not been in direct or indirect contact with any infected cases.

In their written report to local authorities, the two Chinese citizens admitted to having left their residence in unnecessary circumstances.

As a result, they were fined VND7.5 million ($325.3) each for their violations.

Hai Duong Province has been the biggest COVID-19 epicenter of Vietnam recently, registering a total of 615 community-based COVID-19 cases, including four recent infections announced by the Ministry of Health at 9:00 am on Monday, in the latest outbreak that has hit the country’s 13 cities and provinces since January 27.

Hai Duong authorities decided to impose 15-day social distancing in the area from February 16.

They had also issued a decision on February 5 to lock down and quarantine the whole district of Cam Giang, one of the six COVID-19 hotspots in the locality, until further notice.

January 27 marked the resurgence of COVID-19 in Vietnam after the country had spent almost two months with zero domestic infections.

A total of 795 local cases have been detected in 13 provinces and cities, making it the most serious wave to have struck Vietnam after the first-ever COVID-19 patient was recorded in the country on January 23, 2020.

Besides Hai Duong, which accounts for the majority of the new local infections, Quang Ninh logged 60 cases, Gia Lai 27, Hanoi 35, Bac Ninh five, Bac Giang two, Ho Chi Minh City 36, Hoa Binh two, Ha Giang one, Dien Bien three, Binh Duong six, Hai Phong one, and Hung Yen two.

The national tally stood at 2,387 coronavirus cases, including 1,488 local infections, as of Monday morning, with 1,717 recoveries and 35 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health.

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According to Betty Nguyen herself via her twitter account she is leaving cable news giant CNN for broadcast television network CBS. According to her twitter feed, Nguyen will miss CNN and says her colleagues were “top notch.” Betty Nguyen is credited with being the first Asian American to anchor a national news broadcast in the united states. She was honored by the Smithsonian Institute for the accomplishment in 2007. In 1975 Nguyen and her family fled South Vietnam near the end of the Vietnam war to come to the United States. Nguyen was less than a year old and once here in the states she went on to receive a Bachelors degree in broadcast journalism. Her last interview at CNN was with the Dalai Lama.

LUBBOCK, Texas — A historic winter storm has killed at least 21 people, left millions of Texans without power and spun killer tornadoes into the U.S. Southeast on Tuesday.

The brutal cold has engulfed vast swaths of the United States, shuttering COVID-19 inoculation centers and hindering vaccine supplies. It is not expected to relent until the weekend.

Officials in Texas drew criticism as the state energy grid repeatedly failed, forcing rolling blackouts. Freezing weather stilled giant wind turbines that dot the West Texas landscape, making it impossible for energy companies to meet escalating demand.

University student Corbin Antu found a way to snowboard in the flat West Texas plains town of Lubbock. He clung to a tow rope as friends in a pickup truck pulled him up and down silent white streets.

“This is my first time snowboarding out in Lubbock. Trust me, it’s not disappointing,” Antu said. “There is so much powder out on the ground it feels like it’s Colorado almost.”

Deaths, no power, vaccine delays

At least 21 people have died in Texas, Louisiana, Kentucky and Missouri including four killed in a house fire in Sugar Land, Texas, where the power was out, according to police and local media.

President Joe Biden assured the governors of hard-hit states that the federal government stands ready to offer any emergency resources needed, the White House said in a statement.

Roger Hake gets an assist from his truck lights as he clears snow from his driveway before the sun comes up in Webster, near Rochester, New York, U.S. February 16, 2021. Photo : Jamie Germano/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle/USA Today Network via REUTERS

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said at a midday news conference that 1.3 million people in his city remain without power. The city is looking for businesses that still have power to open their doors as warming centers.

“It’s critically, critically important to get the power restored as quickly as possible. It’s priority number one!” Turner said.

Officials in south Texas warned citizens to not bring grills or propane heaters indoors. Hospitals have treated people for carbon monoxide poisoning as they tried to heat icy homes using those items.

Turner said vaccination centers in Houston would remain closed on Wednesday and probably Thursday. The Texas Department of State Health Services said vaccine shipments around the state would be delayed.

“No one wants to put vaccine at risk by attempting to deliver it in dangerous conditions,” department spokesman Douglas Loveday said by email, adding “it is not safe for people to be out across much of Texas.”

In neighboring New Mexico, a state spokesman said by email there were delays in some Pfizer vaccine shipments, which were expected to be brief.

The deep freeze grounded operations at the Houston Ship channel and curbed output in the nation’s largest oil field: the Permian in West Texas. Several oil refineries remained offline.

Freeze will linger

Storms dumped snow and ice from Ohio to the Rio Grande through the long Presidents Day holiday weekend, and treacherous weather was expected to grip much of the United States through Friday. Forecasters predicted up to 4 inches of snow and freezing rain from the southern Plains into the Northeast.

“We’re calling it Storm System No. 2, with very similar placement to the previous storm,” said meteorologist Lara Pagano of the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

Shoppers crowd a display of bottled water at a United Supermarkets location not long after the city announced it had 2-3 hours of water left at normal consumption, due to loss of electric power caused by the winter storm in Abilene, Texas, U.S. February 15, 2021. Picture taken February 15, 2021. Photo: Ronald W. Erdrich/Reporter-News/USA Today Network via REUTERS. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT

An Arctic air mass descended over much of the country, pushing temperatures to historic lows on Tuesday, Pagano said. In Lincoln, Nebraska, a reading of minus 31 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 35 degrees Celsius) on Tuesday shattered a record set in 1978 of minus 18F (minus 27C).

In typically toasty Dallas-Fort Worth, minus 1F (minus 17C) broke a record set in 1903 of 12F (minus 11C).

“It’s just dangerous,” Pagano said.

With more than 4.4 million power outages in Texas alone, authorities shut down inoculation sites and scrambled to use 8,400 vaccines that require subzero refrigeration before they spoiled after a backup generator failed, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said. Doses were rushed to area hospitals and Rice University to be injected into the arms of people already at those locations and who did not have to travel on slick roads.

In the Southeast, a low-pressure system that developed along the Arctic front created fuel for storms that unleashed at least four tornadoes, said meteorologist Jeremy Grams of the weather service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. One ripped through the Florida Panhandle and two through southwestern Georgia on Monday.

The fourth, most severe twister left three dead and homes flattened after it swept overnight through North Carolina’s coastal Brunswick County in the state’s southeastern corner between Wilmington and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, the local sheriff’s office said early on Tuesday.

After a brief lull on Tuesday, rough weather including potential twisters was expected to return on Wednesday into Thursday, Grams said.

“Those very same areas could be impacted – that will include tornadoes and damaging winds,” he said.