Vietnam

Tet Nguyen Dan, to be celebrated on 29 January, is increasingly a source of anxiety due to financial pressures and social expectations. Psychotherapy institutes report an increase in requests of up to 30 per cent in the weeks leading up to the holiday. Psychologists highlight the conflict between traditional values and urban lifestyles.

The pact was signed by Russian Prime Minister Mishustin on a visit to the Vietnamese capital. Cooperation agreements also in the digital economy and wireless communications. The aim is to strengthen bilateral trade, which between the two countries amounted to just $3.6 billion in 2023. Moscow seeks new markets to circumvent Western sanctions.

Y Hưng Ayun, pastor of a house church in Tara Puôr, shot in the knee by two men with covered faces in an ambush last Sunday. The government monitors independent churches it does not approve, seizing Bibles and equipment. In September, Y Phô Êban, 57, in Cuê village, was also threatened; he laments that they are “not allowed to gather.”

Decree 147 in force from next month strengthens restrictions on data collection and content removal. Users: the regulation is good for the government and bad for companies. Inmates can be fined for spreading false information and prosecuted for anti-state propaganda.

To meet rising demand, the Vietnamese government has announced that coal-fired plants, which still account for 48.7 per cent of total electricity production in the country, will operate for a record number of hours. In the meantime, the electric vehicle business is growing, with domestic manufacturer VinFast signing partnerships and conquering market shares.

In the town of Bando, Ibaraki prefecture, at least 20 men and women lived in a community. There was also a restaurant and a karaoke bar in the disused facilities. There are 600,000 Vietnamese working in Japan, but they are also the largest group among the nearly 10,000 trainees who have ‘disappeared’ in the country over the past year.

AsiaNews met the bishop of Ha Tinh, in the north of the country, among the participants at the Synod that concludes this weekend. Waiting for the signing of full relations between Hanoi and the Holy See. Faith and spirituality are ‘very important’ elements, as is the ‘evangelisation’ of migrants and the diaspora. Concern over tensions in the seas and wars in the Middle East.

Elected by parliament, he takes over from Tô Lâm who became party secretary (the most senior post in the country) after the death of Phú Trọng. The goal is to maintain political stability in the country at a time of an internal power struggle and anti-corruption campaign. In his first speech, Cường promised to boost defence and an independent, multilateral foreign policy.

The court found the real estate tycoon guilty of embezzlement. In the first trial concluded in April, the judges had imposed the death penalty, against which an appeal is pending. Hanoi has handed down over 2,000 death sentences in recent decades with more than 400 executions.

Tech giants plan to invest heavily in South East Asia, boosting regional economies, from Singapore to Malaysia. Demand is expected to grow by about 20 per cent per year for the next five to seven years. Microsoft has already pledged over two billion dollars in Malaysia for cloud infrastructure and AI.

Despite being granted refugee status by UNHCR, the court granted Y Quynh Bdap's extradition request from Hanoi. The activist has filed an appeal and a new asylum request with the Canadian embassy. The ambiguous attitude of Thailand, which opens its doors to temporary reception but is not a signatory to the UN Convention, offers no real guarantees.

At the Angelus, the pontiff expressed his closeness to the people affected by Typhoon Yagi and the families of Israeli hostages found killed in Gaza a few days ago. Francis mentioned meeting the mother of one of them. “[L]et the negotiations continue, and let peaceful solutions be found!” he said. He also urged the faithful to ask, “Who is Jesus for you?”