The city of Hanoi is choking in air pollution and its city council hopes to reduce it by banning motorcycles from the inner city by 2030. The city aims to remove some 2.5 million old motorcycles from its streets between now and 2020.Hanoi, with an estimated population of 7.8 million people, is considered one of the most air polluted cities in Southeast Asia with its air quality consistently rated as “Moderate” to “Unhealthy” throughout 2017.

Shrimp is a popular seafood around the world. The European Union (EU), United States (US) and Vietnam were the world’s largest shrimp importers in 2016. Vietnam also happens to be the third highest exporter of shrimp.Shrimp exports were so profitable that many small rice farmers in the Mekong Delta switched to shrimp farming some 15 years ago.

The Mekong is Southeast Asia’s lifeblood, pumping life into some of the region’s biggest cities. It is the seventh longest river in Asia and the 12th longest in the world. The 4,350-kilometre river runs from the Tibetan Plateau through China’s Yunnan Province, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. The Mekong is important to the region for a number of reasons. First, it acts as an important fishery resource for the countries it flows through.

With China and the United States (US) as its largest export destinations, Vietnam is seeking ways to insulate itself from an escalating trade war between the world’s two biggest economies.The National Center for Socio-Economic Information and Forecast has submitted a report detailing the potential impact of the trade war to the planning and investment ministry, Luong Van Khoi, deputy director general at the centre in Hanoi, said in an interview.“If the US and China escalate the tension with t

For Southeast Asia’s biggest economies, 2018 wasn’t supposed to be like this.If a widening trade war wasn’t enough to contend with, a global wave of policy tightening, strong oil prices and domestic politics are also weighing on growth prospects for the region.

Over the weekend, talks on denuclearisation between United States (US) Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo and Pyongyang seemed to have elicited differing reactions from both sides.

Vietnam’s new cybersecurity law could force Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc. to choose between access to one of Asia’s fastest-growing digital economies and protecting their users’ privacy.The law, which goes into effect 1 January, 2019 after the National Assembly passed it this month, requires foreign internet companies to store data within the country and open local offices.

Vietnam boasts one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, optimistic citizens and a stable government. But below the surface of positive data points lies discontent that spilled over during recent protests across the country.On Sunday, hundreds of anti-riot police blanketed central Ho Chi Minh City, the nation’s thriving commercial centre, to prevent demonstrations after thousands of Vietnamese took to the streets across the nation the previous week.

To consolidate its growing economy, Vietnam is looking to launch Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to boost growth and to attract foreign investments to the country. The three SEZs are slated for development in Van Don, North Van Phong and Phu Quoc. According to Vietnam Investment Review in January 2018, draft laws for the SEZs are being discussed and are nearing completion. Vietnam’s economic growthVietnam’s economy in 2017 was deemed to be one of the best performing in the region.

Vietnamese lawmakers have just passed a cybersecurity bill which would allow the government there to essentially censor the internet. The bill which was passed with an overwhelming majority by Vietnam’s rubber stamp parliament has come under fire from many quarters.