2 dead, 1 missing as typhoon-triggered downpours punish northern Vietnam

Inclement weather has delayed many flights to and from Hanoi.

Heavy rains triggered by Typhoon Mirinae, the first to hit Vietnam this year, have felled trees and brought traffic to a halt on many roads in the capital city of Hanoi, leaving one dead and nine injured.

All casualties were caused by trees falling onto passing vehicles.

Hung Yen Province reported another death as of 3 p.m. Thursday, according to the National Committee for Search and Rescue.

Elsewhere in Thanh Hoa Province, a fisherman has remained unaccounted for after strong winds capsized his boat.

Typhoon Mirinae made landfall in the northern provinces of Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, triggering heavy rains with gusts of wind blowing up to 90 kilometer per hour.

Vietnam Airlines, the national flag carrier, said it had to delay at least 20 flights to and from Hanoi, AFP reported.

On Thursday morning fallen trees littered Hanoi’s streets as howling winds swept through the city.

“Many people on motorcycles were knocked over on the road by strong winds," said Le Van Thuy, a motorbike rider. "I had to stop and lie my motorbike on the pavement."

Emergency teams have been dispatched to clean up numerous fallen trees, said Nguyen Xuan Hung, the deputy director of Hanoi Green Tree Park Company, adding that strong winds and saturated ground have caused trees to fall across the city.

Vietnam is hit by an average of eight to 10 tropical storms between July and October every year, which often cause heavy material and human losses.

And the Cheapest Beach goes to… Vietnam

TravelBird, a Netherland-based travel site, has recently released its Beach Price Index. Cua Dai Beach of the famous Hoi An City in Vietnam finished bottom, 250th, which means it’s the cheapest beach to go to.

At a cost of $12.34, beach-goers at Cua Dai can get these five essential items that TravelBird used to calculate the index:

100ml of SPF 30 sunscreen at $1.82.

500ml of water at $0.46 - bottled, local brands such as La Vie, if you prefer mineral, or Aquafina, if purified.

330ml of beer $1.9 - not a surprise, the same price gets you six draught beers this size at the Old Quarter in Hanoi.

An ice cream at $0.82 - even cheaper inland and prices vary.

Lunch for one, drink included at $7.32.

The bottom ten of the list, though surveyed 66 countries worldwide, is made up of Vietnam and India’s beaches only. Without even trying, Vietnam took all four bottom positions, leaving the rest for India.

By the way, just recently, Hanoi has been named the most affordable city to visit by the infamous TripAdvisor. Perhaps soon, someone will name Vietnam the cheapest travel destination overall. 

And here comes the full bottom ten, for your reference:

1	Cua Dai Beach, Hoi An, Vietnam	£9.34
2	Ho Coc Beach, Ho Coc, Vietnam	£9.44
3	City Beach, Nha Trang, Vietnam	£9.87
4	Long Beach, Phu Quoc, Vietnam	£10.23
5	Varkala Beach, Kerala, India	£11.23
6	Benaulim Beach, Goa, India	£11.44
7	Palolem Beach, Goa, India	£11.61
8	Cavelossim Beach, Goa, India	£11.76
9	Agonda Beach, Goa, India	£11.98
10	Mandrem Beach, Goa, India	£11.99

One more thing. People usually don't bother checking out anything in between the top and the bottom ten, but for anyone planning to travel to South East Asia, it's worth to have a look. Vietnam's beaches, whichever way you look, are still a lot cheaper than their counterparts in Malaysia, the Phillipines, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand.

Vietnamese fishermen arrested after taking police, military officials hostage

27 fishing boats surrounded police and military officials and seized them in response to the arrests of other fishermen.

Police in An Minh District in the southern province of Kien Giang arrested seven fishermen on July 9 who were involved in the bizarre alleged capture of eight police and military officials earlier this month.

Police have already filed criminal proceedings against the fishermen, who are accused of inciting other people and being directly responsible for the incident.

Five border guards, one district military official and two policemen from An Minh District seized four fishing boats in the waters of Van Khanh Tay Commune at 10 p.m. on July 2 for illegal operations. The fishing boats were understood to have come from Ha Tien Town, about 100km from Van Khanh Tay.

When the officials accompanied the fishermen and their boats to the nearby Kim Quy Border Guard Station for further investigation, another 27 fishing boats from Ha Tien chased them 'arrested' the officials, before taking them all the way to Ha Tien.

They were released on July 3 after Kien Giang authorities negotiated with the fishermen.

Chinese vessels sink Vietnamese fishing boat near Paracel Islands

Chinese ships even stopped another Vietnamese fishing boat from rescuing the fishermen at sea.

A fishing boat from Vietnam's central province of Quang Ngai has been sunk by Chinese ships near the Paracel Islands, said an official from Vietnam’s Zone II Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in the central city of Da Nang on Sunday.

“A boat with five people on board was sunk by Chinese vessels at 11:00 a.m. on July 9. They survived by hanging onto the sunken vessel and were finally rescued by another Quang Ngai fishing boat,” the official said, adding that the fishermen are on their way back to shore.

A report from Quang Ngai’s Committee on Natural Disaster Preparedness, Search and Rescue sent to the National Steering Committee for Search and Rescue and Vietnam Fisheries Resources Surveillance said two fishing boats, one run by captain Huynh Van Khanh, 31, and the other by captain Vo Van Luu, 50, headed out to fish near the Paracel Islands on July 2. When they arrived they were hounded by two Chinese speedboats. At noon on July 9, two Chinese vessels, numbers 46102 and 56103, rammed and sank Luu’s boat and prevented Khanh’s vessel from being able to approach and rescue the five fishermen at 7:20 p.m. the same day.

The five fishermen are in stable conditions and in contact with Quang Ngai’s Border Guard.

An unidentified vessel sank a Vietnamese fishing boat at night on May 3 in the waters off the Paracel Islands, leaving 34 fishermen floating at sea for hours. On March 6 and 18, two Vietnamese fishing boats operating around the waters were attacked and robbed by Chinese marine surveillance ship 46101. At least three more Vietnamese fishing boats were also attacked in March, according to fishermen.China used force to take control of the Paracel Islands from Vietnam in 1974 after a naval clash, which has been strongly opposed by the latter. Vietnam claims indisputable sovereignty over the islands and has resolutely asked China to return the archipelago to the Southeast Asian nation.

Controversy over draft decree to control Grab and Uber car services

A proposal for a new draft decree on the auto transport business compiled by Vietnam’s Directorate for Roads states that Uber and Grab taxis should have signs on their cars to differentiate them from conventional taxis.

Do Quoc Binh, chairman of the Hanoi Taxi Association, said that the draft does not make it clear what requirements taxi firms like Uber and Grab need to meet to have signs attached to their cars. Traditional taxi firms are forced to have their headquarters and business licenses on display, and their drivers require training.

Binh added that conventional taxis, which have meters inside the cars, come under the control of state authorities. However, he was unsure of who will take responsibility for Uber or Grab taxis, which currently calculate fares using online programs.

In an interview with VnExpress on May 5, Deputy Minister of Transport Le Dinh Tho said that the draft does not reflect the views of the ministry and needs adjusting.

Tho also said that the ministry will not differenciate Uber and Grab cars from traditional taxis. To ensure fair competition, all taxis are required to comply with rules regarding the age of the car, driver training and vehicle safety.

Thailand overtakes China to become Vietnam’s top car supplier

Over the first four months of this year, three out of ten cars imported into Vietnam were made in Thailand.

Data from Vietnam Customs showed that Thailand outperformed both China and Korea to become the country's largest car supplier over the four-month period.

Specifically, there were more than 10,000 cars imported from Thailand, accounting for about 35 percent of the total volume, while Korea accounted for 5,369 units (18.5 percent) and China was at 4.216 units (14.5 percent).

During the same period last year, Thailand was Vietnam's third largest car supplier, making up nearly 20 percent of the country’s car imports. China topped the market with 25.2 percent, followed by Korea at 22.1 percent.

A car trader explained that the majority of made-in-Thailand cars imported by Vietnam are pickup trucks.

“Thai pickup cars have flooded the Vietnamese market as the import duty is fairly low at just five percent. The special consumption tax is also only 15 percent instead of 40 to 130 percent for other vehicles,” he added.

When the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement takes effect, the import tax on cars among its members will fall to 30 percent in 2017 and zero in 2018.

Vietnam Customs said Vietnam imported more than 29,000 cars in the first four months of this year, down 16.7 percent on-year. Import value also dropped 16.4 percent to $732 million.

Vietnamese official quits election amid luxury car scandal

Deputy Chairman of Hau Giang People’s Committee Trinh Xuan Thanh on Wednesday said he will not seek another term in office until the investigation into his alleged misuse of an official plate on a private Lexus has been completed.

The news that Thanh would not be running for re-election to the provincial Party Committee was confirmed by Nguyen Quoc Ca, vice chairman of Hau Giang's People’s Council.

Thanh said he had voluntarily withdrawn from the race and stated that it “would not be too late to run for reelection later” after an investigation into his case was launched on June 9.

Hau Giang People’s Committee is expected to meet on June 16 to elect its leaders for the 2016-2021 tenure, including the president, vice president and members of People’s Council Standing Committee.

Holding the post of vice chairman of Hau Giang for a year, Thanh was considered a “qualified official”. He was recently elected to the National Assembly with the highest number of votes among the six candidates elected in the province.

In early June, the media reported Thanh’s alleged abuse of an official plate on hisluxury car that has sparked public interest.

Thanh is in the spotlight for three reasons. First, he used a blue license plate on a private Lexus LX570 that should only be used by official vehicles according to Vietnamese law. Second, PetroVietnam Corporation where Thanh was chairman from 2007 to 2013 incurred heavy losses during that time. Third, why has he continued to move up to more powerful positions despite his track record.

“The blue plate was licensed by the local police after having been approved by provincial leaders of Hau Giang to help me do the job,” he said. “I am willing to return the plate if it upsets the public.”Thanh previously made clear that he did not own the car but had borrowed it from a friend in Hanoi when he was transferred to Hau Giang. He also said the car originally bore a white plate with a Hanoi registration number.

Thanh added he would not ask for another public car as a replacement because Hau Giang is still a poor province. On June 13, Hau Giang People’s Committee admitted they had been wrong to issue the blue plate to Thanh.