Vietnam

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Vietnam sentences real estate tycoon Truong My Lan to death in its largest-ever fraud case

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Real estate tycoon Truong My Lan was sentenced Thursday to death by a court in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam in the country’s largest financial fraud case ever, state media Vietnam Net said.

https://apnews.com/article/vietnam-truong-my-lan-sentence-fraud-trial-f0b97cf206f5656e09eb9c410861a153?

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Vietnam court may commute tycoon’s death sentences if she repays $11 billion

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A court in Vietnam on Tuesday upheld the death sentence for real estate tycoon Truong My Lan but said it could be commuted to life if she reimburses some $11 billion, or three-fourths of what she defrauded in the country’s biggest financial crime.

https://apnews.com/article/vietnam-truong-my-lan-death-sentence-a51f557f092de27163b7c2baf1f803b4?

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Vietnam celebrates 50 years since war’s end with focus on peace and unity The fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, marked the end of a Vietnam divided into the communist North and U.S.-allied South. Thousands camped overnight on the streets of the former South Vietnamese capital, which was renamed Ho Chi Minh City after it fell to North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops, to get the best vantage point to watch a military parade. Read more.

What to know: The Vietnam Communist Party’s general and the country’s top official, To Lam, told crowds the past decades had led to ever-increasing unity. “In a spirit of closing the past, respecting differences, aiming for the future, the whole party, the people and the army vow to make Vietnam become a country of peace, unity, prosperity and development,” he said.   Chinese, Laotian and Cambodian troops marched behind Vietnamese army formations, including some wearing uniforms similar to what was worn by northern Vietnamese troops during the war. Helicopters carrying the national flag and jets flew over the parade near Independence Palace, where a North Vietnamese tank smashed through the gates on the final day of the war   The emphasis on reconciliation and not, like previous years, on military victory reflected how Vietnam was approaching the changing tides of the global economy and geopolitics today, said Nguyen Khac Giang, an analyst at Singapore’s ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute. In 2023, Vietnam upgraded its relations with the U.S. to that of a comprehensive strategic partner, the highest diplomatic status it gives to any country, though there are new signs of strain in the relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump’s imposition of heavy tariffs.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Photos from 1975 document the fall of Saigon   As communist troops streamed into Saigon, a few remaining reporters kept photos and stories flowing   The war may have ended, but its memorialization in popular culture has endured. See our picks on what to watch, read and hear

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> Tourist boat in Vietnam capsizes during sudden thunderstorm, killing at least 35 people with four others missing (More) | South Korea floods and landslides kill at least 17 people (More)