There have been times when the gap between domestic and global gold prices mounted to over VND 20 million per tael. It’s not to mention the difference in price between the Saigon Jewelry Company Limited (SJC)’s gold bullions and gold of other brands.

The Ministry of Construction recently submitted to the Government a set of policy options for revision of the 2014 Housing Law of which the most controversy one is the idea of setting a definite term for apartment ownership.

On the early morning of April 8, nearly a hundred people queued outside the Social Security Agency of Ho Chi Minh City’s Thu Duc city, some of them even showed up from 4a.m. They were waiting for their turn to file requests for lump-sum withdrawal payment from the social insurance fund.

In early April, the domestic financial market wobbled as the State Securities Commission announced its decision to cancel nine issuances of corporate bonds by three companies under Tan Hoang Minh Group during the period from July 2021 to March 2022, with a total value exceeding VND 10 trillion (nearly USD 439 million), for disclosing false information and concealing information.

The Government has recently submitted to the National Assembly Standing Committee a draft resolution on overtime work under which the monthly maximum number of extra working hours would rise to 72 from the current limit of 40.

Vietnam's current law has so far identified acts of child abuse and at the same time devised penalties for violators. However, it seems not enough to guarantee the safety for children. According to experts, the alarming child abuse in the country is attributable to several causes, such as misconception of child discipline, social indifference of child violence, and light penalties for perpetrators.

The number of criminal cases showing signs of money laundering in Vietnam is on a rapid increase, reaching over 11,000 cases per year on average. In some cases, the appropriated money amount mounts to trillions of Vietnam dong. Every day, the Anti-Money Laundering Department of the State Bank of Vietnam receives, analyzes and processes thousands of reports on suspicious transactions.

Early this month, many local media outlets reported that a shipment of more than 22,000 powder milk cans that were emergency relief gift from the Vietnamese community in Australia for underprivileged children in Ho Chi Minh City during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic had been stuck at customs warehouses for nearly a month and could not be taken out.

According to the criteria for age-based film classification set by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, C18 films must not contain full nude scenes, unless these scenes “conform to the content of the film and are neither too long nor overly repeated.” However, “how long is too long” remains unclear under current regulations.

Adapting to social distancing conditions is not easy for anyone, let alone foreigners who do not have a family around for support. This is the exact situation of many expats in Vietnam during the recent outbreak of COVID-19 in the country.