HCM City’s fire victims die from suffocationVietNamNet Bridge – Victims of a deadly fire on Friday early morning at a HCM City’s apartment building died from suffocation, said Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thanh Huong, deputy director of the city’s Department of Firefighting Police. Residents of the apartment have been shifted to block C of Carina Plaza and the opposite City Gate building for safety. The city’s leaders have asked authorised forces to ban residents from entering the scene to avoid possible collapse of concrete pieces. “It was too dangerous to allow suffocating residents to run out of the building or jump outside from the top floors,” said HCM City’s Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Thien Nhan. — VNA/VNS Photo Dinh HangAt some 1.30am, the apartment building of Carina Plaza residential area suddenly burst into flames.

Getting to the art of the matterAn exhibition featuring the work of Czech graphic artist Jiří Slíva will open to public from 3pm on March 26 at the Viet Nam Fine Arts Museum. Exhibition Café Nonsens features humorous drawings and lithographs, many inspired by the theme of cafés, one of Jiří Slíva’s favourite subjects. Entitled Café Nonsens, the exhibition features humorous drawings and lithographs with many inspired by the theme of cafés, one of Slíva’s favourite subjects. Jiří Slíva’s work displays the best of the Czech art of cartoons and book illustrations. Café Nonsens will run until March 30.

In 2017, the country has reported 141 measles cases mostly in the North. Dr. Duong expressed his concern of he possible outbreak of measles especially between kids under the age of 15 and infants below nine months old. The rate of vaccination in disadvantaged and mountainous distract and in industrial parks is very low ; accordingly it is highly likely that risk out measles outbreaks. This explains why many kids below nine months caught measles because they are not inherited good immune from their mothers. The Ministry of Health plans to provide vaccination for kids at the age of six months old.

US’s antidumping duty ruling lacks legal basis: MARDThe US’s recent ruling to impose unprecedentedly high anti-dumping duties on tra fish fillets from Vietnam lacks a legal basis, said the Agro Processing and Market Development Authority (APMDA) under the Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). Accordingly, Vietnam’s frozen Tra fish fillets will be subject to antidumping duties of 2.39 – 7.74 USD per kilogramme. According to the agency, Vietnam’s tra fish exports to the US slid from 22.3 percent in 2016 to 19 percent in 2017. Impacts of the anti-dumping duty ruling and the catfish investigation programme of the US would worsen the situation. Earlier, the VASEP and domestic tra fish business also oppose the DOC’s unfair decision.-VNA

Vietnam co-founds UN Group of Friends on Drowning PreventionThe UN Group of Friends on Drowning Prevention made debut at an event co-chaired by the permanent missions of Vietnam and Fiji at the UN headquarters in New York on March 22. The event to debut the UN Group of Friends on Drowning Prevention on March 22Addressing the event, Ambassador Nguyen Phuong Nga, head of Vietnam’s Permanent Mission to the UN, stressed that drowning claims 360,000 lives a year across the globe, higher than malnutrition or maternal mortality. Statistics show that drowning usually occurs in low- and middle-income countries while the drowning rate is also higher among vulnerable groups. She noted that Africa has the highest drowning rate, but the highest child drowning rate is in the Asia-Pacific region. With the support of the Bloomberg Philanthropies and Royal National Lifeboat Institution, the UN Group of Friends on Drowning Prevention was founded by the permanent missions of Vietnam, Fiji, Bangladesh, Ireland, Tanzania and Thailand to the UN with a view to improving public awareness of and promoting support for drowning prevention.

Former CEO of FPT ‘calls Vietnamese birds back’VietNamNet Bridge - Nguyen Thanh Nam, former CEO of FPT, the largest domestic information technology group, now chair of Funix Online University, is calling on overseas Vietnamese talents to come back to Vietnam to do business. “It is a pity that many Vietnamese talents have left the country,” he explained. “We have successfully called some Vietnamese talents to return to Vietnam. In Vietnam, business opportunities are numerous,” he said. Vu said there are problems in Vietnam which affect the investment environment, but there are always two sides of the coin.

New regulation imposes VND-billion fines for using ‘freebie' softwareNew rules imposed by the Penal Code for software piracy, including crippling financial fines up to VND1 billion ($45,400), the suspension of operations, and so on, are expected to mitigate and hopefully terminate piracy in Vietnam. While infringements seem to have gone down from the VND2.5 billion ($113,636) in financial fines for software piracy in 2015, local software piracy remains rampant in different forms and degrees. According to VNCERT, one of the main causes of these incidents may be attributed to businesses using software of dubious sources, leaving their computers vulnerable to malware infection. “Over the years, the enforcement and protection of copyrights, property rights, and ownership rights for computer software have achieved impressive results. Nevertheless, computer software piracy is still a widespread issue with different forms and varying degrees of abuse.

HCM City leader asks apartment fire checks after Carina Plaza visitSecretary of Ho Chi Minh City’s Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan on March 23 requested screening all firefighting plans in all apartment buildings in the city while inspecting Carina Plaza apartment complex where a fire broke out, killing 13 people and injuring 28 others early on the day. Secretary of Ho Chi Minh City’s Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan inspects Carina Plaza apartment complexThe blaze broke out at 0:30 am from the parking basement, and its smokes suffocated 11 out of the 13 victims. Stressing the serious consequences of the fire, Nhan asked for drastic measures to tackle the consequences, as well as further investigations on firefighting work at Carina Plaza and other apartment complexes in the city. Visiting the victims and their families at Nguyen Tri Phuong hospital, he expressed his deepest condolences to families of the deceased. Carina Plaza is a high-end apartment complex including three buildings with 15-21 storeys and 736 apartments.

Ceremony held to welcome RoK President in HanoiPresident Tran Dai Quang and his spouse hosted the official welcome ceremony for the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s President Moon Jae-in and his spouse in Hanoi on March 23 morning. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese Ministry of Transport and the RoK Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport signed a MoU on cooperation in infrastructure, transport and transport technology development. The RoK Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport also signed another MoU on cooperation in urban construction and development with the Vietnamese Ministry of Construction. Also on March 23 morning, President Tran Dai Quang and Moon Jae-in visited the President Ho Chi Minh relic site. President Moon Jae-in is paying the first-ever State visit to Vietnam from March 22 to 24.

Commercial banks still ailing from bad debts curseDespite significant efforts to resolve bad debts over the course of 2017, commercial banks will likely carry a total VND60 trillion ($2.64 billion) of bad debts into 2018. On December 31, 2017, collective bad debts at 13 randomly-surveyed commercial banks, including Vietinbank, Saigon Hanoi Commercial Bank (SHB), VPBank, Techcombank, and TPBank, mounted up to VND60.533 trillion ($2.66 billion), which was a 0.7 per cent rise against early 2017. Several market analysts asserted that, "Despite the favourable conditions provided by Resolution No.42/2017/QH14 on handling bad debts in credit institutions, commercial banks will likely carry a huge volume of unresolved bad debts from 2017 into 2018." 42/2017/QH14 on handling bad debts in credit institutions, commercial banks will likely carry a huge volume of unresolved bad debts from 2017 into 2018. Until the end of 2017, Asia Commercial Bank (HNX: ACB) was reported to have the lowest proportion of bad debts (0.7 per cent) among the randomly surveyed commercial banks.

Trump replaces National Security Adviser HR McMaster with John BoltonPresident Donald Trump is replacing US National Security Adviser HR McMaster with Bush-era defence hawk and former United Nations ambassador John Bolton. Mr Trump tweeted to thank Gen McMaster, saying he had done an "outstanding job & will always remain my friend". Who is John Bolton? A strident neo-conservative, Mr Bolton helped build the case that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, which turned out to be wrong. Known for his walrus moustache, Mr Bolton does not appear to have greatly moderated his views since his last spell in government.

Thrills and chills at Broadway's Frozen musicalAs the musical version of Disney's hit film Frozen opens on Broadway, reporter Elysa Gardner takes a trip to Arendelle with some excited fans. Their destination, technically speaking, was Times Square, where Disney's latest stage outing, an adaptation of its 2013 screen musical Frozen - the highest-grossing animated film of all time - was in previews. "I want to see what the characters look like in real life," said nine-year-old Margaux Knepper, from suburban Long Island. Other audience members got a kick out of Mattea Conforti, the super-perky actress who played Anna as a young girl at Saturday night's performance. There was also praise for the graceful Ayla Schwartz, who played young Elsa.

Vietnam reaps fruits of 30 years of FDIVietNamNet Bridge - Thirty years have elapsed since Vietnam ratified the Foreign Investment Law in 1987. The chair of the Vietnam Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises Association (VAFIEs), Nguyen Mai, commented that foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) have made great contributions to Vietnam’s export turnover by exporting valuable processed and manufactured products. Bac Ninh province, for example, has shifted from an agricultural to an industrial province with industry and service value now accounting for 92 percent. Hi-tech manufacturingLe Hoai Quoc, head of HCMC Hi-tech Park (SHTP) Management Board, said that SHTP attracted $7 billion worth of investment in the last 15 years, including $5.3 billion worth of FDI. Experts from Standard Chartered Bank have predicted that Vietnam will continue seeing strong FDI inflow this year, especially in the manufacturing sector.

Foreigner admits fault in conflict with HCM City restaurant staffAn Irish man who was attacked by three security guards at a restaurant in HCM City has made his apology for his bad behaviour after getting drunk. Patrick Mullen (right) apologised to the restaurant owner (left) for his behaviour at the police stationPatrick Mullen said that on March 17 which fell on St. Patrick’s Day, he drank until the early morning of the next day. After that Mullen came to the restaurant. Mullen immediately insulted them and hit a security guard in his face, so the three security guards of the restaurant attacked Mullen. At the police station on March 21, Mullen apologised to the restaurant owner for his behaviour and hoped that the security guards will be allowed to continue working at the restaurant.

Dung expressed his delight at the rapid and effective development of economic-trade and political relations between the two countries. Regarding economic ties, Vietnam’s interest in Italian enterprises has encouraged Italy to share its economic and trade-related experience, she said. The European Union – Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), which takes effect this year, will further facilitate bilateral economic and trade links. He said that economic ties between the two countries have grown sharply, with trade exceeding 390 million USD. He noted that the growing economic, trade and investment cooperation served as a foundation for the two countries’ long-term ties.