Vietnam to remove death penalty for embezzlement, sparing tycoon's life
Vietnam will remove the death penalty for eight offenses from next month, including embezzlement and activities aimed at overthrowing the government, parliament said on Wednesday, sparing the life of a tycoon in a $12 billion fraud case.
The National Assembly, the country's lawmaking body, unanimously ratified the amendment to the Criminal Code earlier on Wednesday to abolish the death penalty for the crimes, it said in a statement.
Other crimes that will no longer lead to the death penalty include vandalizing state property, manufacturing fake medicine, jeopardizing peace, triggering invasive wars, espionage and carrying drugs, the official Vietnam News Agency said.
The maximum sentence for these crimes will now be life imprisonment, the report said.
Those who were sentenced to death for these offenses before July 1 but have not yet been executed will have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment, the report added.
These will include real estate tycoon Truong My Lan, the chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group, who was sentenced to death last year on embezzlement charges.
Lan's lawyers didn't immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
'According to the amendment of the Criminal Code, her sentence will automatically be reduced to life imprisonment,' lawyer Ngo Anh Tuan, who is not part of Lan's defense team, told Reuters.
Ten offenses will remain subject to capital punishment in Vietnam, including murder, treason, terrorism and the sexual abuse of children, according to the report. Drug trafficking will also remain a capital offense.
Capital punishment data is a state secret in Vietnam and it is not known how many people are currently on death row in the country. Lethal injection is the only method of execution after firing squads were abolished in 2011.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Japan Reiterates It Cannot Accept 25% Car Tariffs From US
(Bloomberg) -- Japan's chief trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said the country can't accept the US's 25% tariffs on cars, adding that the Asian nation's automakers produce far more cars in the US than they export to America. US Renters Face Storm of Rising Costs US State Budget Wounds Intensify From Trump, DOGE Policy Shifts Commuters Are Caught in Johannesburg's Taxi Feuds as Transit Lags Mapping the Architectural History of New York's Chinatown Japanese automakers make roughly 3.3 million cars in the US a year, a number that's far larger than the 1.37 million that they ship there, Akazawa told reporters on Thursday before leaving for Washington to hold his seventh round of trade negotiations with US counterparts. The companies have invested more than $60 billion in the US and created 2.3 million local jobs, Akazawa said. 'We have repeatedly explained to the US that Japan's automobile industry has made an enormous contribution to the US economy, and we intend to keep explaining this clearly and seek understanding,' Akazawa said. 'In any case, we consider the 25% automobile tariff to be unacceptable.' The auto tariffs are a sticking point in the bilateral negotiations as Washington focuses on its deficits in the sector, while Tokyo tries to protect its key economic pillar. After six rounds of talks over more than two months, the two sides have yet to come to any sort of agreement over tariffs. Of the 3.3 million cars made in the US, about 300,000 are shipped from the US to other nations, also helping to generate a trade surplus for the US, according to Akazawa. Still, Japan's trade surplus with the US last year stood at ¥8.6 trillion ($59.4 billion), the fifth largest on record. Roughly 82% of the gap was due to cars and car parts. The differential has put the nation in Trump's crosshairs as he tries to reduce US trade deficits using tariffs. Akazawa heads for the US capital after Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and US President Donald Trump last week failed to strike a deal over the higher US tariffs at the Group of Seven summit. As with other nations, Japan faces a combination of across-the-board tariffs and sectoral ones. The former is set to rise from 10% to 24% on July 9 barring a deal while the latter is comprised of a 25% levy on cars and auto parts and a 50% tariff on steel and aluminum. Tokyo has maintained its stance that it will try to settle all the tariff disputes in one go with a package that also addresses sectoral tariffs. Akazawa on Thursday said he will keep in mind the July 9 deadline while he voiced caution over weakening his negotiating position by setting a firm deadline. The tariffs are already hitting the Japanese economy with exports to the US slumping, particularly for cars. The economy is facing a risk of entering a technical recession ahead of an upper house election on July 20. --With assistance from Mari Kiyohara. (Updates with more context from fourth paragraph onward.) Inside Gap's Last-Ditch, Tariff-Addled Turnaround Push How to Steal a House Luxury Counterfeiters Keep Outsmarting the Makers of $10,000 Handbags Apple Test-Drives Big-Screen Movie Strategy With F1 Ken Griffin on Trump, Harvard and Why Novice Investors Won't Beat the Pros ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Chinese Toymaker Takes Drastic Action to Survive Trump's Tariffs
(Bloomberg) -- Ah Biao, the founder of a toy factory in southern China that makes magnetic puzzles and sensory tubes for American children, is still in business despite brinkmanship by US President Donald Trump. US Renters Face Storm of Rising Costs US State Budget Wounds Intensify From Trump, DOGE Policy Shifts Commuters Are Caught in Johannesburg's Taxi Feuds as Transit Lags Mapping the Architectural History of New York's Chinatown When Trump hiked tariffs on China from 54% to 145% in early April, Ah Biao — a moniker his colleagues and friends call him — rented a factory in northern Vietnam. He packed 90 sets of iron or steel molds into 60 boxes, some weighing over than 700 kilograms (1,540 pounds), which were shipped to the Southeast Asian country for production to evade levies. Four weeks later, Trump abruptly lowered those tariffs back down to 30% in a 90-day truce with Beijing. Those same molds were quickly moved from a Chinese border town where they were awaiting customs clearance and rushed back into production in Shenzhen. Some production lines are operating 24 hours per day in two shifts. Furloughed workers — who kept their jobs after Ah Biao decided not to implement a plan to lay off a third of them — returned with full pay and overtime. Sixty more people were hired. In the meantime, Ah Biao is fervently keeping track of what's left of shipping availability to get his toys into the US as quickly as possible. Ah Biao, founder of Shenzhen Kate Plastic Products Co., is emblematic of millions of exporters across China's vast $4.7 trillion manufacturing sector. For all the attention on Trump's pledge to bring mass manufacturing back to American shores, one thing has become clear: China's factories are finding ways to remain central to the global supply chain. 'I felt that it was useless to just worry, you just have to do what you have to do. We can only act according to circumstances,' said Ah Biao, who declined to use his full name due to sensitivities around discussing geopolitical topics, of the ups and downs of the past few months. 'In short, the world is round, and we will always find a way.' That was already evident from the US President's first trade war with China, when exporters responded to tariffs by pouring out into Southeast Asia; Chinese businesses own over half of Cambodia's factories now, according to the country's industry ministry. Now in Trump's second, more damaging trade barrage, the exporters are also more determined to survive. The abrupt whiplash of trade negotiations has underscored the nimble resourcefulness of Chinese exporters, and their ability to stay relevant even as scores of countries try to slow the flow of imports from the world's second-largest economy. 'The US was willing to lower tariffs because it's very unlikely that Chinese products can be totally replaced in the short term,' said Jacqueline Rong, chief China economist at BNP Paribas SA. 'From the US standpoint, this was essentially a stress test that made it clear that there's no way to break away from China's supply chain in a short period of time.' Ah Biao, known to his US customers as Bill, said the company always valued relationships with American clients, who delivered large, stable orders for years uninterrupted — the US is its biggest market. During the supply chain and geopolitical chaos of the pandemic, the company's clients started asking it to look into diversifying manufacturing from China. He spent a month in Vietnam in 2022 in search of a new production base, but was disheartened by what he saw — upfront rental costs were extremely high, hiring skilled workers was difficult and shipping raw materials and equipment from China was expensive. The challenges there made the company realize it would take more time than expected to plan for the move. In the years since, Ah Biao said the company maintained good relations with his US clients, the biggest of which is Learning Resources Inc., a retailer of educational toys. His factory produces educational toys for the Vernon Hills, Illinois-based company, which sued the Trump administration in April over the tariffs. At its peak, as much as 80% of Learning Resources's products were made in China, Chief Executive Officer Rick Woldenberg told Bloomberg News, but as US relations with China worsened he decided to build up supply chains elsewhere. 'After Trump 1.0, we believed that the clock was ticking and our fear was not Mr. Xi,' he said, referring to Chinese President Xi Jinping. 'Our fear was American politicians.' Woldenberg, whose products include the popular Farmer's Market color sorting game and the Code and Go Robot Mouse sold online and at stores including Target and Walmart, said he sees no choice but to move manufacturing away from China. He's had tough conversations with long-term suppliers over the last several months. 'We've told our factories they need to move and we've told them that it's an urgent matter and we told them we have to move,' he said. 'I don't know where is safe. I can tell you that the wind is blowing in such a way that I don't feel secure in my future to have a manufacturer in China — I really don't.' At the start of 2025, about 60% of Learning Resources's products came from China, with the rest sourced from Taiwan, South Korea and elsewhere. That level, Woldenberg said, is 'low for our industry, but we now know not low enough.' While some see Trump's attempt to curb imports from China in the context of a superpower rivalry between the world's two biggest economies, manufacturers have yet to receive any direct state support. Officials are concerned about manufacturers' plans to lay off workers or shift overseas, but financial assistance is unlikely as local governments in China are grappling with high debt levels, said multiple Guangdong-based Chinese exporters and one government worker who have direct knowledge of such discussions, and who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to sensitivities around the issue. The Department of Commerce of Guangdong Province didn't reply to a faxed request for comment. The US and China agreed to maintain tariffs at their current, lower levels following discussions in London earlier this month. But Ah Biao no longer holds out hope that things between the US and China will improve in the longer term. 'It would be great if the two sides talk and make compromises, but it won't bother me much if it doesn't go well,' said Ah Biao. 'We've been through the worst.' That pushed Ah Biao to pull the trigger finally on his Vietnam move, and he isn't the only one. In the first quarter of this year, combined investment from China and Hong Kong into Vietnam reached nearly $2 billion, up 23% from the year before, according to Vietnamese government data. 'We are hearing from Chinese companies,' said John Dwyer, founder of Peregrine Management International, a Hanoi-based firm that assists companies looking to relocate to Vietnam. 'Their customers want to start production in Vietnam factories. They are looking for ways to de-risk themselves.' Shifting to Vietnam inevitably means that some of Ah Biao's workers must relocate, too. To sweeten the offer for his more senior employees, Ah Biao said that he may consider to raise their compensation by 50% at least, with guaranteed vacation time for them to go back to China to see their families. It's a big, and expensive, gamble for Ah Biao, but at 40, retirement is still too far away to contemplate folding. He thinks he's young enough to make big bets during a time of turmoil to scale up his business, but he has learned a valuable lesson of not putting all of one's eggs into one basket. 'I always tell my people that we should act like an 'unkillable cockroach,'' said Ah Biao. 'It's deeply embedded in our DNA.' --With assistance from John Boudreau, Linh Vu Nguyen, Yujing Liu and Allen K Wan. Inside Gap's Last-Ditch, Tariff-Addled Turnaround Push How to Steal a House Luxury Counterfeiters Keep Outsmarting the Makers of $10,000 Handbags Apple Test-Drives Big-Screen Movie Strategy With F1 Ken Griffin on Trump, Harvard and Why Novice Investors Won't Beat the Pros ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Iran's defense minister goes to China on first reported foreign trip since conflict with Israel
Iran's defense minister has traveled to diplomatic and economic ally China on his first reported trip abroad since a 12-day clash with Israel that briefly dragged the US into a new regional conflict. Aziz Nasirzadeh is one of nine defense ministers that Chinese state media say attended a gathering of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a China- and Russia-led regional security grouping that has grown in prominence as Beijing and Moscow look to build alternative international blocs to those backed by the United States. The two-day gathering began Wednesday in the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao, a day after a ceasefire between Iran and Israel quelled what had been days of aerial assaults between the two, punctuated by a US strike on three Iranian nuclear facilities. The SCO gathering coincided with a meeting of NATO leaders at The Hague, where US President Donald Trump said the US would meet with Iran 'next week' about a potential nuclear agreement. Beijing's gathering, part of events for its rotating SCO chairmanship, spotlighted China's role as a key international player, even as it remained largely on the sidelines of the Israel-Iran conflict – and the importance Tehran places on its relationship with Beijing. Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun did not directly address the conflict in remarks to gathering nations Wednesday, as reported by Chinese state media, but aimed to position China as a country with an alternative vision for global security. 'Unilateralism and protectionism are surging, while hegemonic, high-handed, and bullying acts severely undermine the international order, making these practices the biggest sources of chaos and harm,' Dong said, employing language typically used by Beijing to criticize the US. The Chinese defense chief called for SCO countries – which, in addition to China and Russia, include India, Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus – to enhance coordination and 'defend international fairness and justice' and 'uphold global strategic stability.' Attending countries 'expressed a strong willingness to consolidate and develop military collaboration,' according to China's official news agency Xinhua. Iran's Nasirzadeh 'expressed gratitude to China for its understanding and support of Iran's legitimate stance,' Xinhua also reported. The minister 'hopes that China will continue to uphold justice and play an even greater role in maintaining the current ceasefire and easing regional tensions,' he was quoted as saying. Chinese officials have condemned Israel's unprecedented June 13 attack on Iran, which took out top military leaders and sparked the recent conflict, as well as the subsequent US bombing. It's also backed a ceasefire and criticized Washington's foray into the conflict as a 'heavy blow to the international nuclear non-proliferation regime.' A key diplomatic and economic backer of Iran, Beijing has moved to further deepen collaboration in recent years, including holding joint naval drills. Chinese officials have long voiced opposition to US sanctions on Iran and criticized the US withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. China remains by far Iran's largest energy buyer, though it has not reported purchases of Iranian oil in its official customs data since 2022, according to analysts. Chinese-made chemicals needed to produce missile fuel have been delivered to Iran in recent months, CNN reporting shows. In recent days, China has appeared unwilling to become further entangled in the conflict past its diplomatic efforts, analysts say, instead using the situation as another opportunity to paint itself as a responsible global player and the US as a force for instability. Founded in 2001 by China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to combat terrorism and promote border security, the SCO has grown in recent years in line with Beijing and Moscow's shared ambition to push back against a US alliance system they see as suppressing them. While not an alliance, the group says it aims to 'make joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region.' The SCO has long been seen as limited, however, by overlapping interests and frictions between members, including Pakistan and India, which earlier this year engaged in a violent conflict, as well as China and India, which have longstanding border tensions. Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh also attended the Qingdao meeting, the first visit from an Indian defense chief to China since a deadly 2020 border clash between the two countries. CNN's New Delhi bureau contributed to this report.
