Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp. has requested Vietnamese authorities check the import of its cars into Vietnam, saying it has only one official distributor in the country, news website VnExpress reported. The request came after a company in Hanoi filed paperwork to clear customs for nearly 100 Toyota cars, claiming it has been authorized by the Japanese auto maker to import the cars into Vietnam. Toyota Motor Corp. rejected the claim, saying Toyota Vietnam is its [...]

Police in the southern province of Ba Ria – Vung Tau on Wednesday said they are investigating a ring accused of illegally transporting people into Australia by sea. The police said they have detained the ring leader, 47-year-old Nguyen Dinh Chien, and two other people on charges of smuggling people into foreign countries.

Last week newly-appointed Transport Minister Dinh La Thang made the headlines with bold statements about dealing with traffic jams in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi – the country’s largest cities. He promoted public transport, appealing for officials to take the bus at least once a week to set a good example. He also claimed that he himself had traveled by public bus incognito to inspect their services, and concluded that their quality generally met [...]

What’s wrong with Ec 10? The dozens of Harvard University undergrads who walked out of the school’s famous introductory economics course this month think they know.The students’ general criticism is that Ec 10, in which some 700 students are enrolled, “espouses a specific — and limited — view of economics.” Their specific criticisms are that economics as taught in this class, formally called Economics 10, failed to prevent the financial crisis and does nothing to [...]

Silence is golden; it’s also a good way to have fun, approximately 300 attendees at the Silent Party, held on October 22, recently learned.The party, held by the Ho Chi Minh City’s Deaf Culture Club and group of volunteers, allowed attendees aged from 2.5 to 67 years old, to express their ideas without words. The party also featured draught beer, team games, a self-service buffet — all for VND 250,000.

The United States urged Asia to do more to stimulate global growth to offset the eurozone crisis, ahead of a summit in Hawaii where Washington is seeking to shape the rules for the emerging Pacific region.After hosting a meeting of Asia-Pacific finance ministers, US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said talks had been dominated by how to make growth more balanced and sustainable in the future, given the crisis in Europe.

FPT Securities Joint-Stock Co., a brokerage unit of FPT Corp. (FPT), Vietnam’s biggest publicly traded telecommunication and software company, canceled its share listing scheduled for next month amid a stock-market slump.