AFP: After boom years, inflation bites in Vietnam

HANOI (AFP) — Hit with Asia’s highest inflation rate and a surprise 30 percent hike in petrol prices last week, some Vietnamese are rediscovering bicycles and the frugal lifestyle of bygone years.
Galloping consumer prices — fuelled by record global oil, food and commodity costs — have rocked many countries, but few have been hit harder [...]

Vietnamese miracle begins to run out of fuel for Vietnam Airlines

From The Times
July 28, 2008

Leo Lewis

The surge in jet fuel prices, a stock market plunged into crisis and outright panic among foreign investors are set to derail plans to privatise Vietnam’s largest airline.
The sale to foreign investors of between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of Vietnam Airlines has been [...]

AFP: Thousands on strike at SKorean footwear plant in Vietnam

HANOI (AFP) — Nearly 14,000 workers at a South Korean footwear company in Vietnam have gone on strike to demand higher salaries, blaming the action on rising consumer prices, state media said Sunday.
The workers of Hwa Seung Vina in southern Dong Nai province stopped work Saturday, asking company leaders to raise their incomes by at [...]

Vietnam inflation hits 27 percent, trade gap widens

HANOI (AFP) — Vietnam’s annual inflation rate hit 27 percent in July, the government said Thursday, as rocketing food and fuel costs saddle its economy with one of Asia’s toughest battles against rising prices.
The figure was only a little higher than June’s 26.8 percent, but the government’s decision earlier this week to hike retail petrol [...]

Vietnam: Eight Vietnamese Writers Receive Prestigious Human Rights Prize (Human Rights Watch, 22-7-2008)

Writers Banned, Censored, Harassed, and Jailed
(New York, July 22, 2008 ) – Eight Vietnamese writers are among a diverse group of 34 writers from 19 countries to receive Hellman/Hammett awards this year in recognition of the courage they showed when facing political persecution, Human Rights Watch said today.
The Hellman/Hammett awards, administered by Human Rights Watch, [...]

Carly Zalenski decided to build a school for children in Vietnam. It took her two years. She was 12.

Carly Zalenski’s eyes filled with tears as the dusty bus rattled down a dirt road in southern Vietnam. The 14-year-old and her family had traveled by plane from Canton, Ohio, to Ho Chi Minh City and then by bus deep into the Mekong Delta. Now, as they approached the village, hundreds of [...]

Vietnam lifts fuel prices, raises inflation risk

HANOI, July 21 (Reuters) – Vietnam raised domestic fuel prices by as much as 36 percent on Monday, the first hike in five months, raising the spectre of even higher inflation, more interest rate rises and slower economic growth.
The steep increase in the price of petrol and diesel came as a shock to consumers, many [...]

Illegal marriage brokerage raided in Vietnam

Police in Vietnam say they have raided an illegal marriage brokerage in Ho Chi Minh City, in the latest in a series of such actions.
They say 11 South Korean men were caught selecting potential brides from among 112 young women from the Mekong delta region.
Four Vietnamese marriage brokers are said to have been taken in [...]

Vietnam suspects anthrax in mass food poisoning

HANOI (AFP) — Health authorities in communist Vietnam suspect the bacterial livestock disease anthrax caused an outbreak of food poisoning in the country’s far north, a health official confirmed Wednesday.
Hundreds of people fell ill, and at least one person died, after eating beef in a village in Meo Vac district in the [...]

Say a prayer for Vietnam

WASHINGTON – Days after taking up the presidency of the United Nations Security Council in a long-sought affirmation of its international standing, the government of Vietnam issued dark warnings to Buddhist leaders not to turn the funeral of the 87-year-old patriarch of their banned church into an “anti-government rally”.
Instead of issuing threats to continue its [...]