Vietnam Laws

New Law for State-Run Firms: The nation's National Assembly has passed a landmark law forcing state-owned companies to fend for themselves, a move foreign economists have urged as vital to the country's economic reforms, the Vietnam News reported. Lawyers say the new law is a crucial step in Vietnam's plan to sell shares in its public sector firms and set up a stock market to attract foreign and domestic investment.

Thao Pham walks in her pink high-top sneakers along a row of motorcycle helmets at the eVo shop on Hai Ba Trung Street. Her current helmet, with a "Funny Love Pucca" cartoon character pattern, is so yesterday. And there's a sale, 30% off. The 21-year-old tries on a winged "Snoopy in Car" model, a red-and-white ladybug helmet and the "Monokura Boo," featuring a black-and-white pig, before wandering off. So many helmets, so little time. "I wear different ones depending on my mood," says Thao, an office worker.

Vietnam will allow its citizens to travel abroad at their own expense for education, medical treatment, marriage or visiting relatives, Radio Hanoi announced. Nine categories of people will be eligible for foreign travel under a Feb. 26 law. Since Vietnam was reunified under a Communist government in 1975, authorized foreign travel has been restricted to state business or labor and student programs. Hundreds of thousands have left as refugees or emigrants.

With highway fatalities soaring to levels reminiscent of wartime body counts, Vietnam has said "enough" and implemented a safety program that targets the culprits and the victims of the carnage--motorcyclists without helmets. The centerpiece of this campaign to cut road deaths and save an estimated $85 million a year in related costs is phasing in a mandatory helmet law, which, so far, just about everyone has ignored.

In a country with only 100,000 or so computers and a state-controlled media, Vo Dinh Thi's idea was almost revolutionary. Even his mother said he was foolish to throw his money away on such a hare-brained scheme. But Thi went ahead and remodeled his little cafe on Le Duan Street, two blocks from the abandoned U.S. Embassy. He taught his staff to make the best cappuccino in town and he put in three computers, offering customers something that is still rare in Vietnam: e-mail.

With highway fatalities soaring to levels reminiscent of wartime body counts, Vietnam has said "enough" and implemented a safety program that targets the culprits and the victims of the carnage--motorcyclists without helmets. The centerpiece of this campaign to cut road deaths and save an estimated $85 million a year in related costs is phasing in a mandatory helmet law, which, so far, just about everyone has ignored.

Le Huu Dung is a freewheeling capitalist. With a basket of vegetables balanced on the front of his bicycle, he serves customers easily but can still pedal clear of trouble at the first sign of police. "They try to chase us away, but then we come back," the eager 18-year-old said, adding proudly, "They never catch me." Dung is one of an army of illegal sidewalk vendors who have taken communist Vietnam's open-market economic reforms quite literally.

Thao Pham walks in her pink high-top sneakers along a row of motorcycle helmets at the eVo shop on Hai Ba Trung Street. Her current helmet, with a "Funny Love Pucca" cartoon character pattern, is so yesterday. And there's a sale, 30% off. The 21-year-old tries on a winged "Snoopy in Car" model, a red-and-white ladybug helmet and the "Monokura Boo," featuring a black-and-white pig, before wandering off. So many helmets, so little time. "I wear different ones depending on my mood," says Thao, an office worker.

To avert protests over the flying of the Vietnamese flag at this month's graduation, the president of Cal State Fullerton has decided that none of the 79 international banners representing students' homelands will be displayed. Instead, students' home countries will be listed in the graduation program, said university President Milton A. Gordon.

When the Americans fled Saigon in 1975, they left behind U.S. military jeeps, Caterpillar tractors and an ambitious plan to expand the crowded southern capital across the Mekong River into Thu Thiem, a sparsely populated peninsula crisscrossed with canals and rice paddies.

In a country with only 100,000 or so computers and a state-controlled media, Vo Dinh Thi's idea was almost revolutionary. Even his mother said he was foolish to throw his money away on such a hare-brained scheme. But Thi went ahead and remodeled his little cafe on Le Duan Street, two blocks from the abandoned U.S. Embassy. He taught his staff to make the best cappuccino in town and he put in three computers, offering customers something that is still rare in Vietnam: e-mail.

New Law for State-Run Firms: The nation's National Assembly has passed a landmark law forcing state-owned companies to fend for themselves, a move foreign economists have urged as vital to the country's economic reforms, the Vietnam News reported. Lawyers say the new law is a crucial step in Vietnam's plan to sell shares in its public sector firms and set up a stock market to attract foreign and domestic investment.

Le Huu Dung is a freewheeling capitalist. With a basket of vegetables balanced on the front of his bicycle, he serves customers easily but can still pedal clear of trouble at the first sign of police. "They try to chase us away, but then we come back," the eager 18-year-old said, adding proudly, "They never catch me." Dung is one of an army of illegal sidewalk vendors who have taken communist Vietnam's open-market economic reforms quite literally.

Vietnam will allow its citizens to travel abroad at their own expense for education, medical treatment, marriage or visiting relatives, Radio Hanoi announced. Nine categories of people will be eligible for foreign travel under a Feb. 26 law. Since Vietnam was reunified under a Communist government in 1975, authorized foreign travel has been restricted to state business or labor and student programs. Hundreds of thousands have left as refugees or emigrants.