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.
