Vietnam

Today's news: only 51.7% of South Koreans want to get married, 28.3% intend to have children 'with certainty'; Hanoi reports annual crop losses of three billion dollars, Mekong Delta in crisis; Elections in India scheduled between 19 April and early June; The Israeli government instituted the annual national day of remembrance of the 'catastrophe' on 7 October; Russian President Putin re-elected with 87.17% of the vote.

There has been no definite news about their fate since 4 March. The arrest took place without a warrant or explanation of the reasons. They are relatives of Pastor Y Khen Bdap, who was also sentenced in 2004 to four years for 'disturbing public order' for religious activities. The community had already been subjected to sectarian violence and persecution in the past.

The government blames US-based Montagnard Support Group Inc and Montagnard Stand for Justice for attacks on Communist Party headquarters in the Dak Lak area. Despite recent overtures, Vietnam’s Christian minority is still victimised and persecuted.

Called WYO4Children, the project was launched at the home of the Sisters of Mother Teresa in Binh Duong. The World Youth Orchestra Foundation directed by Maestro Damiano Giuranna is behind the initiative designed to promote the growth of abandoned children by teaching them music.

At least four people have been arrested since the beginning of the year, according to Radio Free Asia. A former Miss World contestant was fined for posting a gossipy video about the entertainment world. Despite opening up its economy, Vietnam censors social media.

Today's news: Beijing strengths law on state secrets to include those related to 'work'. Mayors of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv confirmed in local elections in Israel. The fourth spill of treated Fukushima water into the ocean is expected today. Hanoi ready to ratify UN convention on trade union freedom by the end of the year.

Built in a year, next to a parish church, the new facility is home to some 40 seminarians from the country’s northern dioceses. Archbishop Joseph Vũ Văn Thiên led the ceremony, also attended by the Papal Representative to Vietnam, Archbishop Marek Zalewski, who took office a few weeks ago in the Vietnamese capital.

Police use summons and fines for far-fetched reasons in order to end wives’ support for their husbands jailed for “propaganda against the state”.

The number is even more significant given Japan’s demographic winter, and growing labour shortages. Topping the list are workers from Vietnam with 518,364, or 25.3 per cent of the total.

The two countries now rank 7th and 10th in Asia in terms of GDP, but while Vietnam is experiencing rapid growth across all sectors, several reports highlight Thailand’s woes because of overreliance on existing strengths amid new challenges, experts say.

Japanese law would provide for foreign female interns to have a pregnancy while receiving the necessary subsidies from the company, and then resume the internship. But according to Jiho Yoshimizu, representative of the nonprofit organization that carried out the investigation uncovering the abuses, "their human and reproductive rights are in fact violated by the current Japanese labor system."

Changes will enter into force on 1 January 2025, affecting mainly prices and land management. According to critics, corrupt officials and large private companies will continue to benefit at the expense of ordinary people. Former Deputy Minister Đặng Hùng Võ laments that in many cases, the government takes land to hand it over to private firms, and the revised law is not likely to change this.