Vietnam pursues legal action against Catholics following protests

 http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=11629
Hanoi, Jan 30, 2008 / 02:47 pm (CNA).- The government of Vietnam is seeking legal action against the Archbishop of Hanoi following Catholic prayer vigils and protests seeking the return of church lands confiscated after the communist takeover.
The police newspaper Capital Security on Tuesday reported that the Vietnamese government is conducting legal investigations of Archbishop [...]

Vietnam hikes rates to cool double-digit inflation

 http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2008/01/30/afx4590630.html
HANOI (Thomson Financial) – Vietnam’s central bank Wednesday said it would raise benchmark interest rates for the first time since December 2005, battling double-digit inflation which has sparked popular anger and labour unrest.
Aiming to cool bank lending, the State Bank of Vietnam will from February 1 raise the base rate used by commercial banks to [...]

Vietnam police launch probe against Catholic protesters

 http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g3JfrKP7zcbmCSc9AwtfgI5zISCw
HANOI (AFP) — Police in communist Vietnam have launched an investigation into Catholic land dispute protests that swelled to about 2,000 people late last week, state media and a police officer said Tuesday.
Parishioners and priests have been holding daily vigils for over a month near Hanoi’s main St. Joseph’s Cathedral, demanding the return of a [...]

Vietnam jails 2 dissidents for disseminating propaganda against government

http://www.pr-inside.com/vietnam-jails-2-dissidents-for-disseminating-r410154.htm
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) – A court in southern Vietnam sentenced two dissidents to six years in prison each for passing out leaflets calling for the communist government to be overthrown, the judge said Tuesday.
Truong Quoc Huy, 28, and Hang Tan Phat, 24, were convicted of disseminating propaganda against the government at the one-day trial Tuesday, [...]

Vietnam: Archbishop protests at anti-Catholic media bias

http://www.indcatholicnews.com/vietmed325.html 
The Archbishop of Hanoi, Most Rev Joseph Ngô Quang Ki has protested over the way Vietnam’s state-controlled media has dealt with recent news about the Catholic Church there.
For weeks, while thousands of Catholic took part in peaceful prayer vigils in several towns, calling for the return of confiscated church property, the media was completely silent, [...]

Hanoi police launch investigation into land dispute with church

http://www.pr-inside.com/hanoi-police-launch-investigation-into-r409822.htm
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) – Police in Hanoi have launched a criminal investigation into a land dispute with the Catholic Church, while state-run media on Tuesday accused church leaders of abusing their power to incite followers to confront the communist government.
Catholic parishioners and priests have been holding daily vigils for the past month at [...]

Vietnam: government issues ultimatum to Catholic protesters

 http://www.indcatholicnews.com.nyud.net/vietnew325.html
Local government delivered an ultimatum to the Archbishop of Hanoi’s Office ordering that sit-in protesters must leave the ground of the old building of the apostolic delegation, and that the cross erected on Friday and all the statues must be removed. The dateline was set at 5pm last night local time. .
During the Friday clash [...]

Strikes spreading in Ho Chi Minh City

 http://news.monstersandcritics.com/business/news/article_1388205.php/Strikes_spreading_in_Ho_Chi_Minh_City
Hanoi – Thousands of workers at four factories in Ho Chi Minh City have gone on strike, Vietnamese press reported Thursday, joining 8,000 shoe factory workers who laid down their tools early this week, as inflation concerns sparked labor unrest in the country’s largest city.
The companies hit included Japanese-owned sewing machine manufacturer Juki, with 1,400 [...]

Vietnamese suffer “sticker shock” as inflation rises

 http://www.reuters.com/article/inDepthNews/idUSSP16251620080128?sp=true
HO CHI MINH CITY (Reuters) – Every time Vietnamese factory worker Nguyen Thi Ha goes to the supermarket, she finds that prices on the shelves have climbed, evidence of a country facing its highest inflation rate in more than a decade.
Vietnamese are suffering from “sticker shock” as inflation hit 12.6 percent [...]

Vietnam’s Third Way poses party teaser

 http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/JA29Ae02.html
As Vietnam’s rapid economic expansion gathers pace, the country’s communist party leaders are having an increasingly difficult time maintaining their so-called “Third Way” model of economic development, where centrally planned strictures and market dynamics uncomfortably co-exist.
The question merging over the transitional economy is whether, more than 20 years after the launch of market-oriented doi moi [...]