Money

The trial Mobile Money service allowed by the Prime Minister will set a precedent for applying a "sandbox" scheme for new services and professions in digital society. Sandbox is a controlled institutional framework applied to new technologies, products, services and business models. It is an environment for technology firms to try their new technological apps and business models. After the trial period, management agencies will review the trial implementation and then accept or reject it. Using laws to set rules to deal with new issues arising from the application of new technologies is a challenge. The apps may have a rapid impact on society that management systems may not be able to keep up with. Many traditional business fields have changed, and businesses have to utilize technology to work more effectively. It is impossible to manage new services and business models within the existing framework, because policies tend to lag behind practice. Therefore, a sandbox is a wise …

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Peter Scott, an Australian from Queensland, was happy to hear that the Vietnamese government plans to reopen the famous resort island to vaccinated foreign tourists from next month after nearly two years of closing national borders. "That's the best news I've heard in the last 18 months. I'll wait a few more weeks to return to Vietnam." Scott said he has already traveled to Phu Quoc four times and was impressed by the beauty of long, sandy beaches, peaceful fishing villages and busy night market. "It's a really beautiful island. I was taken by a local to visit fishing villages and enjoy seafood." But the foreigners that VnExpress International spoke to were also unanimous that quarantine requirements would be decision-influencing factor in making a trip to the Mekong Delta island. Their concern was that although Vietnamese authorities agreed to reopen the island, they did not specify whether fully vaccinated visitors would be exempt from the 14-day quarantine or have the …

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T-shirts with images of personal QR Codes containing vaccination information have been launched in the market. Local newspapers report that Hanoi has asked the Ministry of Health to give guidance on allowing people who have two vaccination shots to travel. This has spawned several business ideas. Citizens may have to show their printed vaccination certificates or QR Codes certifying vaccination. If they use QR Codes, they will have to use smartphones and have their QR Codes scanned at checkpoints. To make the process convenient and time saving, personal QR Codes can be printed on T-shirts. If so, they will not have to show their smartphones to officers at checkpoints. The price of one T-shirt, including the printing fee, is VND100,000-150,000. Nguyen Truong Vu, a T-shirt seller, said that he can print the customized QR Codes. “The T-shirts help their owners scan QR Codes very quickly and conveniently. The owners don’t have to spend time to take their smartphones from …

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The State Bank of Vietnam, which is the country’s central bank, has issued a new fiat to restrict an e-wallet user’s monthly transactions to no more than VND100 million (US$4,324). This payment cap is stipulated in Circular 23/2019/TT-NHNN dated November 22. The order will take effect on January 7, 2020. A user’s transactions to pay for legitimate goods and services and tranfer money between e-wallets powered by the same company are limited to VND100 million a month, according to the circular. The central bank has crossed out a proposed article capping the transactions’ value at VND20 million ($865) a day. Such abolition of a daily cap will spur cashless payment, e-wallet service providers said. The fiat also requires that users top up their e-wallets via checking accounts, debit cards, or transfers from their peers, who use the same e-wallet service. Users are permitted to use e-wallets to pay for goods and services, transfer money to other users, and credit their …

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This should have been a good year for her. She had been planning to enroll for a master's degree but the Covid-19 outbreak derailed her plans. She has delayed her academic plans indefinitely because she fears studying online will not cut it. Living in a small house with her family in Hanoi's Cau Giay District, Hong now has no specific plans for her future though she claims to be a person who likes to plan ahead. All day long negative thoughts keep cropping up in her mind. She fears her anxiety disorder, for which she had taken treatment for one year, is returning. She is caught up in angst. She fears she will not be able to catch up with her peers. She is despondent she has not been able to achieve what she should have at 25 such as being financially independent and moving out on her own. Her anxiety is so great that when sees a knife she imagines it falling and impaling her leg. "The uncertainty makes my anxiety worse, creating a vicious cycle that I don't know how to …

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Young Nung boys and girls in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai make friends and date when they work in the fields or go to market fairs. The groom’s family takes the bride to their home. Luon singing sessions at night are also good opportunities for them to find a partner. When a boy and a girl fall in love, the boy’s family sends a matchmaker to make a proposal to the girl’s family. Tran Chi Nhan, deputy head of the Culture Office of Hoang Su Phi District, Lao Cai Province, says a love proposal is the first step of a marriage. “At the proposal meeting, the boy’s matchmaker asks the girl’s parents to allow their daughter to marry. They meet again 10 days later at an engagement ceremony, to which the boy’s family brings an offering that includes a rooster, a bottle of wine, and confectionaries. Then they cook the rooster. The rooster’s legs are given to a shaman who uses them to predict a lucky date for the wedding ceremony,” says Nhan. At the engagement …

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For the Rơ Ngao people in Kon Trang Long Loi Village, the wicker basket is a cultural symbol of the entire ethnic community. VNA/VNS Photo Khoa Trương Throughout Việt Nam there are various traditional crafts in need of preservation, such as the Văn Lâm embroidery in Ninh Bình Province, Bát Tràng pottery in Hà Nội, and basketry of the Rơ Ngao ethnic group in the Central Highlands' Kon Tum Province. For the Rơ Ngao (a branch of the Ba Na ethnic minority), basketry is considered absolutely central to the very soul of their cultural identity. A Yak, 62, learnt to make baskets from his father as a young boy. It was during trips to the local forests that he became entranced by his father’s stories about the art and craft of basketry. When he was just 12 years old he wove his first basket, a skill that is essential for any Rơ Ngao man to gain a wife. “For us Rơ Ngao people, for a man to be considered the head of a family he must be a skillful weaver who can make …

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Here are today’s leading news stories: Politics -- Vietnamese State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation left Hanoi on Saturday night for an official visit to Cuba, which is scheduled to run from September 18 to 20. COVID-19 Updates -- The Ministry of Health documented 9,373 COVID-19 cases, including 4,237 in Ho Chi Minh City, on Saturday evening, raising the country’s tally to 677,023, with 448,368 recoveries and 16,857 deaths. -- The National Ethics Committee in Biomedical Research on Saturday approved the mid-term evaluation report of the third phase of clinical trials for Vietnam's homegrown Nano Covax COVID-19 vaccine. -- The central city of Da Nang recorded no local infection for the first time in 70 days on Saturday even though authorities had been conducting mass testing over the past days, according to the municipal steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control. -- The Ministry of Health has required authorities in …

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